The importance of maintaining divine order and proper conduct within the church, drawing parallels between God, Christ, man, and woman. It highlights the Apostle Paul's instructions in 1 Corinthians 11 regarding headship, head coverings, and the Lord's Supper, stressing that these practices are not arbitrary but reflect a God-ordained structure. The message concludes by underscoring that true worship and fellowship are rooted in understanding and adhering to this divine order, leading to unity, discipline, and evangelism.
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being with you and I want to express my deep appreciation for your love and hospitality getting to stay with the angels once more being bombarded with all of Larry's criticism he loves me so he can do that really it's been a delight a special delight to be with you I was mentioning earlier I think it was yesterday that how I enjoyed that weekend that And I was here with Jerry and Salifas for their wedding and stayed over for the meetings on Sunday. And I just had a lovely time. That Saturday night with the young people, we had close communion over there. You could hardly breathe. It was communion at home where we had our young people's meeting that night.
It's a good homemade ice cream. And you know, that always tops it off good. That's always an order, homemade ice cream. Even in the winter time, we'd like it in the winter time. And then the Sunday meetings, and I was just enjoying them, and then hearing the things we've been hearing, hearing that there's a new assembly functioning in the town. And I made this comment today. I'd be glad if there was ten or twelve more, you know, a city the size of this. If we had local assemblies, if really we're local, you know, there'd be a lot of assemblies. And I thank God for the evangelistic fervor of so many and the desire to see the work expanded. I'm just thankful for what you're doing here in Omaha, in particular in the assembly here at Keystone Chapel. And I appreciate it, alone in my wife, I had called her and had her to come up as a special treat for me.
because he likes to come up as well, and she could be with the Christians at Atlantic, and then to come over here to the conference, so happy to have my wife along with me. So many times when I travel, she's not with me. And some of you have never traveled, don't really know what it's like to do without your mate. And I've wondered about those dear widows and widowers who've suffered so much, and one came to me recently in the last few days with the old brother Don. I've been so lonely. But isn't it good that the best friend is Jesus? And he'll never leave us alone. He'll never leave us alone. We're not alone in that sense. Now we may lose our mate in life. And that's a trauma that I've never experienced yet. Many have gone through. But I'm confident that the Lord is sufficient to take care of even that.
Just a few quick comments. Our brother John is so good at giving us those quotes. Don't you enjoy that? He's just got something for everything. I noticed he mentioned the Joneses. So I think I'll tie on with that. I walked in a field office one day out in the oil field, West Texas, and a magnetor shop. Some of you might understand that. If you've been around the oil field, where they have these big pump jacks that pump the oil up out of the ground, have the pop-pop motors, and have to have magnetos on them. And on the desk of this man's business area of the shop is sort of a business area where he took care of the administrative affairs and the bills and all of that, the necessary part. On his desk he had this sign, about the time you catch up with the Joneses, a refinance.
What a disillusionment, isn't it? Then I believe he mentioned inferiority. Two men were having a discussion one day and someone overheard one say to the other, I'm just so terribly disturbed. I've got a terrible inferiority complex. And his friend says, man, you ain't got no inferiority complex. You're just inferior. Now remember, we are inferior to our Lord. And in strength, we're inferior to our enemies, of ourselves. And it's good to keep that in mind. And then, as another one, third one, kind of have three points here.
Some of you, perhaps, were a little bit wounded or offended when I said something about the ladies, but all I can say is this. For the poor way that I said it, I'd sure apologize. But for what I said, I don't think I would. I'd like to read it once more, and then I'm going to make a comment. Titus chapter two. As you well know, I had nothing to do with writing the book. I do well just to read it. And I'm serious about that. That's not a false humility because right now that's all a blur. When the lighting is good, I see pretty good. But if the lighting is a little bit dim, old Uncle Peavine's eyes seem to get a little blurred. Starting at verse three.
Verses one and two, we have elders who do not take oversight as it's called in times. But verse three, elder misses. That is, it's the same word for elder, but in the feminine gender, referring to the age or older women. The older women, likewise, that they be in behavior, have become a holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things. that they may teach the young women. Now, for the life of me, I haven't any way to divide that up. It just said to teach the young women. So the old Addie said, if the shoe fits, you've got to wear it.
I'm sorry, but teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, to treat, chase, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands that the word of God be not blasphemed. I don't think that I'm going to be able to change much other than say that if I said it in a wrong way, please forgive me. I wasn't sure that I did, but if I did, I sure want to be forgiven of saying something in a wrong way. But God said keepers at home. You may find that a little bit. You say, hey, Donald, I've been accused of being a woman hater. I really have, but I'm not.
I love my sisters in Christ. But I do believe this. If women... in general, would take their place in the home like the Altus. See plenty of jobs for men. They would be. Get them out of leadership places. Our country is in a mess because of women, in part, in part. Did you notice how I said that? And when I mentioned that there were four homes breaking up in a certain geographical area up in Canada a while back when I was there, and I said out of the four or three of them, the woman was chasing after another man. and all three of them were working, I didn't say at that time, I thought I was careful enough, I didn't say that every woman that worked goes tomorrow. I hope you're intelligent enough to realize I didn't put it that way.
Please don't be offended. When in fact, read now with me verse four one more time, that they may teach the young women to be sober, verses four and five, to love their husbands, to love their children, to screech, chase, Keep us at home. I just haven't got any Greek. And I guess, Brother John, you had to study Greek at Moody, didn't you? You were around at some. I haven't got any Greek, and I certainly don't know Hebrew. When I was in Israel, I said, you know, Cologne. That's about all I can say. Among the Arabs, Merseys, they picked up a little French there, I think. But I don't know how else to say it.
My wife... has been a home worker. And that's not holding either one of us up. But I'm saying that's what we saw in Scripture. What I saw in Scripture, he knows and he's here to testify. And I believe as we get women back in the homes where they belong, things will be a lot better in the assembly and in the world. I believe that. Now there may be some. Someone raised the question, what about the widowers? They're obviously going to have to do something. But what about those who are not widowers? What about those mothers that have children, and they farmed them out to somebody else to raise while they're going out and making money, when in fact their husband's working.
Now, I want to give you the third little point that I had, and got it down on a dear brother's card, your business card. I'll keep that. A friend of mine told me about a little religious cartoon in a magazine. A mutual friend of mine and Tommy. And that particular cartoon depicted the Apostle Paul as some short fellow. Now his Hebrew word or his Hebrew name, I'm told, means small. Saul means small. Of course that doesn't fit too good with Saul, the first king of Israel, because he was head and shoulders taller than any other man. But anyway, someone has indicated that means small. I'm not sure.
I'm only quoting somebody else. That may be an error. But it depicted a little short fellow. And he's walking on a dusty road, and he's going toward the city of Corinth, and under his arms he has a bunch of scrolls. You know, that's to represent Bible scriptures and things like that, the Word of God. And up ahead you can see a great big sign says, welcome to Corinth. And coming out to meet Paul is a whole band of women. And their jaw is really set. And they've got these placards holding up. Paul is a male chauvinist. And his only comment at the bottom was, I see you got my letter.
Perhaps you got my point. Beloved, if we don't get our homes in order, we're never going to have the assembly in order. Never going to. I didn't finish yesterday. I had other areas I was going to take up. And it won't do to try to start today because I'd have to lay the platform and go on, but I want to take up something that's closely attended to worship in Chapter Eleven of First Corinthians, please. And I certainly can with deep respect and honesty say I appreciate the messages of our brethren. Don't you, I believe that they've been speaking to us out of the Word of God. They've been encouraging us in the things of God. They've been pricking us in areas.
Was there anybody here that evaded any pricking while ago? When John was speaking, weren't we all here? I think all of us. And I think that John admitted he himself is here. All of us are here. But we're to take it and go on and learn from God's word. Chapter eleven now of the Book of First Corinthians. Just a little bit of teaching to sort of cap off what I was trying to say earlier. Beginning at verse one, be you therefore followers of me even as I also am of Christ. Now you notice that a repeat. of a similar expression found in chapter four and verse sixteen. Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me. That's twice the Spirit of God has allowed that man to say that in the same letter, twice in one letter.
And then in chapter three and verse seventeen of the Philippian letter, he says essentially the same thing. He says, Be ye followers of me, and mark those who walk, so you have us for an example. So it's a very kindred expression. Then in verse two, Now, praise you, brethren, that you remember me in all things and keep the ordinances, and the same word rendered ordinances here, that is from the written testament, that's translated here ordinances, is also in other places translated traditions. Let us bear in mind that there are two obvious kinds of traditions. There are traditions that exist among us today that are not really biblical concepts in themselves.
They may not be opposed to a biblical concept, or in fact they may be opposed to a biblical concept. I think it's pretty general that we are traditional concerning breaking of bread. Don't most of us eat the Lord's Supper in the morning on the first day of the week? I would say that's traditional, but I don't find it contrary to biblical concept, do you? And if you did, you'd cease doing it. When in fact, when the Lord instituted that particular meal... That institution, it was the Lord's Supper, not the Lord's breakfast. It was an evening, and I've heard all kinds of reasoning from Brethren, but, you know, I still go back to this same precious book.
It was at night. So that's a tradition, but I do not find it, I do not find it to be contrary to the biblical concept. However, the moment someone says it has to be in the morning, ah, I find that a tradition that is anti-British. in its biblical concept. It's against biblical concept. It's a tradition of men, and it has to be condemned. How many brethren have fought over the element? This morning there was a table before us. There was bread there. If I'm anywhere near accurate in my assessment, the bread was leavened. In the glass that we call the cup, it was fermented.
And yet some have battled over those elements. You know, it's got to be this. And others say, no, it's got to be this. When, in fact, if they'll read their Bible, carefully and do their study, like good spiritual leaders ought to do, they'll learn. That in First Corinthians chapter eleven, and we'll look at the verse, I'll give it to you. Brother Lyle told me I had lots of time. Look at it now in verse twenty-six, for as often as you eat this bread, and I quoted it this way this morning, as often as you eat this the bread and drink this Z cup, you do show the Lord's death till he comes.
The word Z that I added in my quotation of that is found in the original language. It's called the definite article, which means when it's used in Cornet Greek, the character or quality of an item is totally lost sight of. Without the definite article, the character or quality of an item is absolutely emphasized. For in Greek, there are no indefinite articles, as I said yesterday, no A or N. And so the Greek mind, when he reads a verse, a sentence, a statement, and it has the definite article to him, he knows that the character or quality of the item is lost sight of.
So the Lord is saying, as often as you eat this, the bread, without any thought of the character or quality, whether leavened or unleavened, it can be either. And then he goes on to say, and as often as you drink this, the cup, using the definite article, whether it's fermented or non-permented, fruit of the vine, it matters not. And yet brethren have battled over that. I've seen pamphlets to prove this is right and wrong. The other is just the opposite side. No, this is right. Isn't it up, Tickie? And Brother John, I think it goes back. I'm afraid of it. It goes back to the root thing there. Cry. I'm afraid it does. That's Tickie says, O-N-L-Y. I know that you didn't quote that, and so let me throw this one in.
O-N-L-Y. Only by pride comes contention. Only. Brethren, we needn't contend. And when we do, we don't have to go far to find the problem. Proverbs So it could be either one. I was noticing the elements this morning. It was no hindrance to me. The bread was leavened. Obviously our Lord used unleavened. The cup would be fermented. And I think that's what he used. But either way. It could be scriptural. So he says in chapter eleven in verse two. He said, I praise you, brethren. It wasn't that good that the apostle praised him. There was so much he couldn't praise him for, but he did praise him in this. I praise you, brethren, that you'll remember me in all things and keep the tradition as I deliver them to you.
And our tradition in the other sense. Now, I mentioned tradition. That doesn't mean it's necessarily a Bible tradition, something that was to be followed. Here it's used in the sense of something that was passed on from the apostles to the churches, to the assemblies. It was given of Christ to the apostles. They passed it along until the written word was given. And he commends them for us. And so I'd like to say in my little closing message this afternoon, in this matter of worship, on the sphere of worship, we've got to be very careful that we follow the tradition of the apostles, what they gave us. And when we do, we'll be doing it right. Then he says in verse three, I would have you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of the woman is the man, the head of Christ is God.
So we have God, Christ, man, woman. Now there's two pairs. Two in deity and two in humanity. If we look at them in one way we see them like this. Was God any better than Christ? No. But God was greater than Christ. Yes. John fourteen twenty eight please. John fourteen twenty eight. We'll kind of rattle the pages to help us wake up maybe. I know it's pretty. Sunday afternoon after a lovely meal like we've been served and all the loving hospitality and sweet fellowship we've enjoyed, it's just awfully easy to sit down and get relaxed and we miss the point.
Besides, I'm just not all that able to keep everybody awake. Just about every meeting I go through, I put somebody at least. And I think if I was sitting out there, I'd be struggling for sure. Chapter fourteen and verse twenty eight. You have heard how I said unto you, Jesus, who is disciples, I go away and come again unto you. If you loved me, you would rejoice because I said I'd go into the Father. For my Father is greater than I. Now once more, if you don't mind looking up, we had God, Christ, man, woman, two pairs, deity, humanity. Then I moved my hand in this direction. God is no greater than than the sun in our mind.
But suddenly we read this verse and he is greater. Greater than what sense? In position. So we switch our words. We know that God is no greater than the sun, but God is, excuse me, God is no better than the sun, but God is greater than the sun. In position. Man is no better than the woman, but greater in position. Then we turn it this way. For the Son willingly stepped down and made himself subject to the Father. There are many verses on that. We couldn't suppose to have the time to do that. But you can start in John chapter four, John chapter five, John chapter six, John chapter eight, John chapter fourteen. Over and over again you can hear the Lord saying words similar to this.
I came not to do my own will but the will of him that sent me. My need is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work. And on and on and on he speaks of himself being subject to the Father. And that's the role of the woman being subject in that sense to the man. So we see in chapter eleven, this particular divine order of head shift, God is the head of Christ. Christ is the head of the man. The man is the head of the woman. Then in verse four, every man praying or prophesying, having his head covered dishonors his head. His head is Christ. And those are functions of a man in the local assembly. Some people have said, but Donald, you don't have the gathering of the local assembly, the verse seventeen. I said, pardon me. I've already read chapter five before I got to verse seventeen.
And he says, when you're gathered together in my spirit. And I read chapter ten, and I saw there. So you can say what you will, but I do believe it has envisioned here the gathering of the local assembly. Then he says, but every woman that prays or prophesies, and I would like to suggest to you that's not her role. When you read first Timothy chapter two, you see that the fear of the man's prayer is everywhere, not so of the woman. Every woman that prays or prophesies, having her head uncovered, dishonors her head, for that is even all one is if she were shaven. Or if the woman be not covered, let her also be shorn. It says, God won't the woman shorn? I don't believe that. Then he says, let her also be covered. It is shame for a woman to be shorn and shorn, let her be covered.
Now he says, in verse seven, for the man, and he ought not to cover his head, for as much as he is the image and glory of God. The woman is the glory of the man. The man is not of the woman, but the woman of the man. Neither is the man created for the woman, but the woman for the man. But this cause ought the woman have authority on her head because of the angels. or the messengers. Nevertheless, neither is the man without the woman. Neither is the woman without the man of the Lord. For as the woman is of the man, that's original, that's Genesis chapter two, even so as the man also by the woman, and that's procreation ever since, but all things of God. Judging yourselves, verse thirteen, is it coming for a woman to pray to God and cover? Now, notice we're going to see three coverings and three perspectives and several things about this section, then moving into the Lord's Supper.
I'll give you the broad outline that I have of the chapter. All right, judging yourselves as companies that are women, faith, or God uncovered, does not nature itself teach you that if a man have long hair, it is a shame unto him. But if a woman have long hair, it's a glory to her. For her long hair. Now please don't be offended in saying that. It makes exactly what the Greek New Testament says. Does anybody here have a translation that says long hair in that verse? Anybody? I guess no one. Okay, look it up for yourself. It is the same word in all three places. In verse fourteen, does not even make yourself teach you that if a man have comé, now that's where we get our English word for this apparatus that some of us carry.
Comé, comb. If a man have comé, long hair, it is a shame unto him, but if a woman have comé, long hair, It is a glory to her for her komei. Same word. Her long hair is given her for a covering. Now, the word covering here is peri-belayu. Vallow is the Greek word meaning to throw, like you throw a baseball. And peri, which we call peri, simply means a round. And you're very familiar with that. Most of you are perimeter. Periphera. Pericardium. Periscope. The word is many times in our English dictionary.
It simply means around. So her long hair is thrown around. That's the natural covering. She doesn't take that one on or off. But the cataclypso is the volitional covering that she does take on and off. So that if a woman was standing at her sink at home, washing her dishes, and a glass happens to be broke, and she cuts her finger very severely, What's the first thing we should want to do? Pray. Isn't that the first thing? Isn't that number one? Lord, I need help, wisdom. And then she dashes off for the band-aid or whatever else she's going to do or call the doctor. But remember, if she doesn't have her covering on, she can't pray.
No, no, no, no. Her long hair is given her for a covering. That's her natural covering. But when she comes to the assembly, her volitional covering comes on because she's going to cover up the glory. What is it? The head of the woman's demand. And that glory is not going to compete with His when there's divine order. Because He's going to cover her head. But her long hair is her natural cover. She can pray anywhere like that, silently. In the assembly, He doesn't pray anything but silently. He prays at all. And certainly doesn't prophesy. Now we see that in the last section, verses one through three, his headship, verses three through sixteen, are four through sixteen is head covering.
And the last one, verses seventeen through thirty four is head remembering. But before we get into head remembering, remember three different Greek words in verses four through sixteen. Katai is a simple preposition that means down, and that's what's used concerning the man. That's found in verse four. It's just a simple preposition meaning D-O-W-N. Every man that pray to prophesize something down on his head. He dishonors his head. And then the word for the woman's covering, the volitional covering, that that she puts on with her will, is Catechalipso. And then the natural covering, her long hair is the Peri-Balaius. Okay, then we see three objects in view. Man in verse seven. Messengers are angels in verse ten.
And God in verse thirteen. We see obviously a reason. God does not want. His glory blanked out with a covering. but man's glory should be blanked out in the presence of God's glory. And so we see not only glory in view, but we see submission and authority in view. And then in chapter eleven, verses seventeen through thirty four, we see head remembrance. It's the Lord's Supper. Now there are some who have true tradition, and when I say tradition, I call it legalism. I was told by a dear brother in Christ just a few short years ago when I was up in Toronto area speaking at a Bible conference in a particular gospel hall, a large conference.
He called me aside. He said, Donald, I want you to know your own trial. I'm putting it very frankly. He knew where I'd come from. And I was in a particular assembly that's over the door at this gospel hall. And I said, thank you, brother. I appreciate your concern. I respect you as a Bible teacher. And I want you to know that I've enjoyed your ministry. But I'd have you to know that I hate legalism. And I hate liberalism. Neither one of them are right. So I'm not going to join forces with some sort of group called Gospel Hall or Gospel Chapel. Then I'll be a servant of men. But I want to walk a balanced path with my God.
And there's room on that balanced path for every child of God. So in some circles... Back to the last section now, the Lord's Supper, head remembering. In some circles, the Lord's Supper has to be in the morning, for they say the Lord's got to be first. Now I'm not going to ask for everybody to raise their hand. I've heard that expression, but I know goodwill some of you have heard it. Maybe some of you have said it. But may I say to you, dear friend, that if it's got to be in the morning, how is it that the Lord instituted it at night? He could have instituted it before that. He didn't have to pick the feast of the Passover to institute something for Christian practice down to the age.
If you remember in the upper room, he gave some things there. He could have told him about the Lord's Supper there at an upper room at a time in the daylight if he'd have wanted to. Because I believe that he is infinite. I believe that. He has infinite wisdom and his infinite wisdom. He could have designed the time, but he chose to institute it at night and call it. It's called the Lord's Supper through his word. So I would suggest that if we have to do it exactly like the Lord did it. Now, there are those who say, now it's going to be exactly like the Lord did it that night. On the other side of the thing. And some say it's got to be in the morning, though. Some say it's got to be at night. Let us notice if it has to be exactly like the Lord instituted it, real quickly now. Number one, it's got to be at night. Number two, it's got to be in an upper room.
Number three, there'll be no sitting. The word they sat on is the Greek word meaning recline. That explains precisely why John's leading on Jesus' bosom. Number four, there'd be no women there. Number five, it's got to be unleavened bread. Number six, it's most likely to be wine. Or at that time, there would be no ripe grapes in Israel. That's the month they did, which is the first month of the Hebrew calendar. And there are no ripe grapes in Israel. Not even any leaves on the vine. Some of us were over there at that time of the year. And there's not even any leaves on the vine. But that's great. And number seven, the hymn thing will be after, not before.
Oh, you see, brethren, the Lord doesn't put us in some sort of legalistic mode. He gives us great liberty in worship. There's to be spontaneity. That's the point I didn't get to yesterday. Spontaneity rising up out of our heart. The one who's worthy of all praise and adoration and love and devotion. Well, we get ourselves in all kinds of legalistic bindings if we've got to watch out. Those are traditions that will hurt us. Then you'll see in that chapter that there's great liberty to have the Lord's Supper either in the morning or at night or noonday. And someone's going to come along and say, but now look, at the Lord's Supper, someone can't say a certain verse.
That's teaching and therefore this is, you know, where are you going to get verses for all those things? Let's don't put the faith of God in some kind of legalistic box. Let's give them that absolute liberty. to be submissive to the Spirit of God. And as the Spirit of God raises up worship, it ascends to our God. And if we want to have our collective worship time prior to eating the Lord's Supper, beautiful. I'm in agreement with it. But it's an arrangement we've made. Yes, it is. It's an arrangement we've made. We could come together, and as the table was up here holding the element, we could have walked in this room and someone could have given thanks for the bread. And we could have eaten of it. And someone given thanks for the cup.
And we could have drank of it. All of us together. And there couldn't be one spiritual thing wrong with that. Did you know that? Not one thing. Now, I'm sure someone is fine fault. But do you rather know of any scripture that mitigates against that? I don't. But we enjoyed a beautiful time of worship, didn't we? Didn't you enjoy that this morning? Of thinking about the Lord. And praising the Lord. And just loving the Lord. Oh. A precious time. And that's our liberty. And may we guard. those liberties that we have in the Lord. Treasure them and thank God for them. Now, quickly, seven things connected with the supper that I want to mention, and our time is almost gone. You'll see, number one, in this chapter, the invitation.
It is not the elders of the assembly that really invited us to the Lord's supper, but the Lord himself. So I'd like to start with the invitation. Notice, if you will, in verses twenty-four and twenty-five, When he had given thanks, he broke it and said, Take eat. That's the Lord himself. This is my body which is broken for you. This do, and remember to me, and just for the sake of time, we'll just mention this one. There's the invitation. The Lord himself does the inviting. Number two, the convocation. Five times in this section, verses seventeen to thirty-four, five times is seen as a collective matter. And may I say to you while you're looking at those with me, that we remember this was written to an assembly.
The Lord's Supper is linked with an assembly. Whether it's to the order. Whether it's to the guidance. And so in verse seventeen, and this that I declare unto you, I praise you not, that you come together, that's one time. Verse eighteen, that's when you come together. Verse twenty, that's the third one. When therefore you come together, that's the third one. When therefore you come together, that's four times. And then number thirty-four is the fifth. Five times he speaks of our coming together. And this is the gathering together of the assembly. And there is where the Lord's Supper takes place. Now, in keeping in mind, we have the invitation. The Lord himself does the inviting. We have the convocation. It's the saints coming together as an assembly.
I've never seen the Lord's Supper outside the assembly. In the epistles. Or in the out. So much so that when the Apostle Paul went to a certain place, sometimes it said he waited some seven days, and then upon the first day of the week, that's when the disciples came together to break bread. He met with them. So we see the invitation of the Lord, the convocation of the saints, and then we see the examination. Look at verse twenty-eight, but let a man examine himself until he could eat of that bread and drink of that cup. A man told me, just a few years back, shortly after we moved back to Fort Worth, Texas, and a phone conversation from Dallas, he said, Donald, I don't believe you're correct in your position concerning the Lord's supper.
I said, well, then tell me what is correct. Well, he said, I heard you say thus and so at a certain, certain place. I said, yes, I didn't say that. I believe that. What are you telling me is right? Well, he says, you have no right to examine anyone. The Bible says let a man examine himself. I said, explain that. And so he did. And this is what he said. Here is an assembly of believers that have received each other and they form a corporate body. And he says that anyone can walk in and sit down and break bread that wants to without any word. May I say to you, I don't believe that. Do you realize the Holy Spirit gave two different Greek words for reception? And both of them are employed. And every one that breaks bread in the assembly is to have been received. He received.
The word defami is used. And the word lambano. Lambano is self-prompted taking. Decomise receiving what's offered. And the word decomise is usually linked with a letter being written, going from one assembly to another. The scripture makes it very clear that just those who are received. So when I came this weekend, it's hopeful that you received me. I think you did. I'm sure that you did. And I received you. So I'm to be a part of the assembly here. Otherwise, I shouldn't be a part of breaking bread. And all of you dear saints of God who came to be with us. The assembly should have in a very real way. welcome you and received you. And I think they did, because I think everybody here feels welcome, don't you? Don't you feel that you're really welcome and a part of the assembly?
But suppose somebody comes and they say, now look, you don't have any right to examine me. I'll tell you we do have a right. And the reason I believe that you're received, because they believe you're a Christian, walking in fellowship with the Lord. And so if there's no such thing as reception that just anybody walks in, sits down, breaks it, it may be a child of the devil. It may be someone that's walking in sin. Now, there's a right and a wrong way to do that, even. A friend of mine that I was pleading with for five years to see the wrong of denominationalism, and he was a missionary to Quezonango Guatemala. Finally, after five years of communicating with him, he finally separated from the group and the name he was connected with, came back to the state, came to visit me at my home in Fort Worth, and Leonard and Lynn said, was there at the time. So, Leonard and I talked with the man for quite a while, and Lynn was having meetings with us at the time, so he was very busy, and he said, I've got to get busy doing some studying for tonight.
I said... I'll stay with this dear brother and make some recommendations. So I made a recommendation that was a Saturday. I said, why don't, in route to San Antonio, back to your home, why don't you stop at a certain place and visit the Christians there? And I said, you tell them that I recommended, et cetera, and I believe they'll receive you, no problem. But as it was, he started out, but something happened to the car, I guess, and he was late getting there. So he flipped it on the back seat, back toward the back, and the meeting was already in process. So one brother got up, to give thanks for the bread. He gave thanks for the bread. He walked up there and got the bread, broke it open, started patching that, and he noticed a strange fellow back. He's a great big fellow. It'd be hard to overlook him. So a great big fellow sitting back at the back.
And after he's got the bread started, he walked back. He said, Sir, are you a Christian? He said, Is this sin? He said, Are you living in sin? He said, No, sir. He said, Are you holding unsound doctrine? He said, No, sir. Okay. That's not the end of it. Then a brother got up to give thanks for the cup. And he's a great big fellow. I mean, he's really big. And he got up and gave thanks for the cup. And he walked up to get the single cup. He started to pass it. Got it to go and look back. And there's a same face. So he walked back. Are you a Christian? Had a big, heavy voice, you know. Are you a Christian? Yes, sir.
Are you living in sin? No, sir. The same thing. I would suggest that's not the way to recede this. God helped us to use a little bit of gumption. What they kindly could have said, Dear sir, we've already started. It could be that you'd be in agreement with what we're doing, and possibly you wouldn't be in agreement with what we're doing. We're just so glad that you're here. Why don't you watch what we're doing? And if you're in agreement and you'd like to, we'd be more than happy to talk with you about being received after the meeting's over. rather than go back and put that fellow under a dripping faucet and a shining light and the third degree right in the middle of the Lord's Supper meeting. I just, it's my soul.
It does it well. You know, if it's before the meeting, have someone at the door. Have some capable men there. Men of love and discernment. Men of ability. And when people come, greet them. Thank God they're there. And if they're fellow believers that you know are welcome at the Lord, welcome them. Make it known to the saints and everybody knows that they're welcome to be a real part. But if they're not a Christian, greet them so cordially that they're glad that they're there themselves. And let them know that the Lord suffers for those who've been received. But if they were in agreement with what you're doing after the meeting, you'd be more than happy to talk to them about what's taking place. There's always a right and a wrong way to do things. So we see, let a man examine himself. That's talking about those who are already in the assembly, beloved.
And the man at Corinth in chapter five didn't examine himself. And what had to happen? The assembly had to examine. He had to be put out. Let a man examine himself. It's twofold. Number one, I examine my position. Am I really in Christ? And I'll tell you every time in my mind, I go back to the time that God saved this wicked sinner. It warms my heart, and I'm delighted to eat the Lord's supper. You think about it, Christian. Child of God, you think about it. When God saved you from such an awful set as hell, doesn't warm your heart and burn within you as you think about it. And then you examine a second aspect. Not only your position in Christ, but your path. Are you walking with Christ? And I kind of like what you said a while ago, John, about people getting right one minute.
Because he said in that same chapter, that section of the chapter, I hear the divisions among you. And that isn't the B. We should clear up our problems. If there's some problem, let's resolve them. So we can do it in a right manner. And then, of course, after we have the invitation of the Lord, the convocation of the saints, we have the examination. Then we have the participation. For as often as you eat thisty bread, we're to eat it, not just look at it, and drink thisty cup. We're to drink it, not just look at it. So we have the participation. Then we have number five, the assimilation. That's a little more difficult. Whoever eats this bread and drinks this cup with the Lord unworthily eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.
That's assimilation. Taking in what it was that he went through in his body to purchase us with his own blood. So when I eat of that bread, I'm saying, Oh God, I'm partaking of the only sacrifice that was offered that could take away my sins. I'm a partaker of that sacrifice. Look it up in chapter ten of the book of Romans, where we have in chapter ten, the Lord's table, chapter eleven, the Lord's supper, they're distinct. And then when I drink of that cup, I'm saying, Lord, I'm a partaker of that precious blood that flowed from your body that redeemed me from such an awful death. And so that's discerning the Lord's body. And so we have that. Then we have two more. You remember that verse that says, As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup you do, show or proclaim the Lord's death.
That's commemoration. Looking back. Until he comes. That's anticipation. And we're anticipating he's coming. This may have been the last supper. Won't that be wonderful? Hallelujah. That'll be the greatest thing. If that was the last supper when the Lord is going to come before the next one comes. Because the apostles met upon the first day of the week. So if our first day of the week comes and we're not in our place. Hey, we're not following the example of the apostles. Now, three quick things in closing that we see. Number one, the Lord's Supper calls for unity. You see that in verses seventeen through thirty-four. I won't have the time to elaborate on it. Number two, it demands discipline. God wants us to discipline our lives and walk close with the Lord and with one another.
And number three, it promotes evangelism. Can you really... eat of the bread and think of the cup? Proclaiming his death till he comes and not want to go out and tell the whole wide world that Jesus saves? Beloved, I believe that, and I think you, John, or you or Tom, or somebody, I'd emphasize the point I was going to when I was dealing with those verses in First Peter chapter two, that if we really worship, we're going to serve. If we really been before the Lord in adoration, we've got to go tell somebody about Jesus as Lord. Father, we thank thee for him, who's been the object of our study, our conferring in this conference, our deliberations, our preaching, our singing, even the object in our fellowship.
We thank thee for him, our Lord Jesus Christ, and desire to make him known to others by life as well as lives. Help us to that end, and bless this dear assembly who sponsored this conference.