I have finally been able to convince my father
-in -law during this trip here that he should
say a few words to us in this time of meditation
tonight. He is a very dear man. Some of you have
gotten to know him and their visits here and
you know that he is a man of God. I guess my
favorite picture of him is found in our wedding
album. We particularly chose this picture because
of what it suggests. There's a picture of him
at our reception, and he is standing next to
me with his mouth open, obviously talking, and
has his arm, his hand on my arm and his other
hand on his bullfold. And I've been trying to
figure out ever since, was he putting it away
or taking it out? I don't remember him taking
it out. But that's my favorite picture of him.
But tonight he's going to share with us. He is
on the staff at Calvary Baptist Church in Covington,
Kentucky. And he and my mother -in -law will
be heading back tomorrow to home there. But I'm
glad that tonight, Papi, as we call you, you've
consented to speak to us. Come and share the
word. You notice he said I was going to say a
few words. In other words, he meant be brief.
Amen. In the year 1934, I was ordained to the
gospel ministry. So in December of this year,
I will have been in the ministry fifty years,
and I admit to you that I know so little about
preaching yet. There is so much I still have
to learn. But I remember what an old preacher
said to me in the early part of my ministry.
He said, Young man, as long as you are green,
you are still growing. So I will be growing because
I recognize that In so many areas, I have to
say, I just don't know about this. It's a privilege
to be with you tonight. We always enjoy coming
and visiting with you folk here, especially our
family, our youngest daughter, and the three
or four grandchildren. The pastor said something
about When he introduced us to the class this
morning, he said, my wife's name is, mother -in
-law said, now her name is Mary Frances, isn't
it? Eagleston. And she said, yes. And he said,
now you tell me what your name is. I said, Harmon
Eagleston. And when he had my wife's middle name
in there, I just couldn't let him get by with
that. I said, well, my full name is Harmon Brooks.
Now, that means nothing to you all, but Jonathan's
middle name is Brooks. I tell you, he's something
special. It's always a solemn time when we come
to the Lord's Supper. It's a time of rejoicing.
But yet it should sober us when we realize the
price that Christ paid for our redemption. And
tonight, briefly, I said briefly, I'd like for
us to think about three different looks when
we come to the Lord's table. Three looks when
we come to the Lord's table. Do you have your
Bible with you tonight? Hold your sword up, would
you? I'll declare. Mark, is that your Bible or
your wife's? It's mine. It's yours. All right.
All right. Would you let me see it after the
service and see if his name is in it? Yes. All
right. Always bring your Bible with you when
you come to the house of God. Follow along as
the preacher reads the word. And as he preaches
it, I often say this, when I was growing up on
the farm, we milked about eleven cows night and
morning. And you know, we didn't have the milkers.
Here were the milkers. And I never went to milk
without a bucket. Now that's logical, isn't it?
I always say, don't come to church without the
Bible, the sword of the Spirit. One time preaching
at Calvary, I said, how many of you have your
Bibles? And every one but a young lady said,
well, I have my little New Testament. I said,
well, that's a dagger. It's all right. It's a
dagger. It's a part of God's Word. Now tonight
I'd like for you to open your Bible to 1 Corinthians
11. In the first part of the chapter, Paul praises
the Corinthian believers because of the way they
had obeyed his preaching, his oral teaching.
He said, I praise you for the way you have observed
and kept and obeyed the instructions of the Lord
through my oral teaching. But when he comes to
the 17th verse, he said, no, I've got something
I can't praise you for. I have something I have
to rebuke you for. And that something was, when
they came to observe the Lord's Supper, In the
early church they had what they called a love
feast before the supper. And the rich members
would bring their baskets full of food, abundance
of food, and they would get off and eat their
food together. And the poor folk, those who were
possibly slaves, and they had to come right from
work to the service. They had very little to
eat. And as they sat and watched the rich people
eating their food, I'm sure they drooled. They
thought, I'd sure like to have some of that steak.
But that's the way they did. Instead of doing
it together, little group over here, little clique
over here, and they didn't observe the Lord's
Supper together. Paul said, I want to tell you
something. You can't observe the Lord's Supper
like that. You can go through the form, but it's
not observed in the Lord's Supper. And so then
in verse 23, we break in there, follow along
as I read. I have received of the Lord that which
also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus
the same night while he was being betrayed, took
bread. And when he had given thanks, he break
it and said, Take eat. This is my body which
is for you. This do in remembrance of me. After
the same manner also he took the cup. After supper,
saying, This cup is the New Testament or covenant
in my blood. This do ye as oft as ye drink it
in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat
this bread and drink this cup, ye do show or
proclaim, preach, or declare the Lord's death
till he come. Wherefore whosoever shall eat this
bread and drink this cup of the Lord in an unworthy
manner shall be guilty of the body and blood
of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and
so let him eat of that bread and drink of that
cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily
eateth and drinketh damnation or judgment or
chastisement unto himself, not discerning the
Lord's body. For this cause many are weak and
sickly among you, and many sleep, many had already
died. onto the chastening of the Lord. But if
we would judge or carefully examine ourselves,
we should not be judged. But when we are judged,
we are chastened, we are disciplined of the Lord
that we should not be condemned with the world.
Wherefore, my brethren, when you come together
to eat, tarry one for another. And if any man
hunger, let him eat at home. that ye may come
not together unto condemnation or to judgment,
and the rest will I arrange when I come." The
Apostle Peter said of our Lord in 1 Peter 2 verse
7 that he is precious to them that believe. Isaiah,
speaking of coming Messiah, said one of his names
would be wonderful. I tell you, our Blessed Redeemer
is so precious that it takes many, many names
to just partially reveal to us how wonderful
he is. Three of the most commonly used names
of our Savior in the New Testament is Lord, Jesus,
and Christ. Those three names together are found
about eighty times in the New Testament. Here
is an example, 2 Corinthians 8 and 9. Isn't that
a wonderful verse? Lord Jesus Christ. Of course,
Lord is his divine name, bringing out to us the
deity of our Savior. Jesus is his human name,
meaning Savior. He who was God became man. And
then Christ, meaning the Anointed One, also equivalent
to the Hebrew word Messiah. He is the anointed
one. In my scraping through the New Testament,
I found that several times the word Lord is used
as a possessive adjective. In fact, three times
here in the 11th chapter of 1 Corinthians, we
have the word Lord used as an adjective, a possessive
adjective. Revelation 1 .10 is another time.
The word Lord, as the name of our Savior, is
used as an adjective. Revelation 1 .10, John
says, I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day.
The Lord's day. Of course, some believe that
that means the day of the Lord that John speaks
about in the book of Revelation. Others think
it's referring to the first day of the week.
on which the early saints gathered together to
worship the Lord. I rather take it with that
meaning. John, on the island of Patmos, away
from his home, away from other believers, nobody
knew what he was going to be doing that Lord's
Day. But I tell you what, he was in the Spirit
on the Lord's Day, meaning that the Spirit of
God so possessed him that he was able to write
to us the wonderful book of Revelation, the Lord's
Day. And then here in 1 Corinthians 11, we have
the word Lord used as an adjective again in verse
26. Notice verse 26. For as often as ye eat this
bread and drink this cup, ye do proclaim the
Lord's death, the Lord's death. There are some
who are higher critics and it's hard for them
to accept the miraculous in the Bible. They deny
that Jesus really died. He just fainted. He swooned
and the cool air of the sepulcher caused him
to come back, revive from that fainting condition.
The Bible more than once says he died. Romans
5 -6, for when we were yet without strength,
in due time Christ died for the ungodly. Who
are you going to believe, the skeptics or the
Bible? Christ died. Romans 5 -8, but God commendeth
or demonstrated his love for us. In that while
we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. I tell
you, he didn't just faint. He didn't just die.
He didn't just shroom. He died the Lord's death.
Then come to verse 29, you have the word, Lord,
again. Verse 29, for he that eateth and drinketh
unworthily, notice it's an adverb. It's not describing
the person that eats. It's an adverb describing
the manner in which we eat. So many folks say,
oh, I'm so unworthy. And the Bible said that
unworthy ones should not partake of it. If there's
anyone here tonight, you're saved. And you feel
that you're worthy of coming to the Lord's table.
Would you stand to your feet now and tell us?
We're all unworthy. He's not talking about that.
He's talking about the manner in which we partake
of it. If we partake of it unworthily, we eateth
and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning
the Lord's body. There you have it again, the
Lord's body. It could have two references there.
The Lord's body could be referring to his body
as represented in the bread and the fruit of
the vine. We could come to the Lord's table and
not realize that the bread and the fruit of the
vine is representative of his body that was given
as a sacrifice for our sins and his blood that
was shed for us at Calvary. Or it could be referring
to his spiritual body. You know the Lord Jesus
has a body on earth now. A spiritual body. And
every born -again person in this age is a part
of that body. Some are in heaven now, some are
still on earth, but we're all members of that
body. And we became members of his body when
we got saved. We were baptized by one spirit
into the one body of Christ. It could be referring
to that. This could be a rebuke to these who
were in Corinth eating the Lord's Supper in the
way they were eating it. Little group over here,
little group over here. He said, listen, you're
not recognizing the fact that all believers are
in the body of Christ. You're not discerning
the body of Christ, the Lord's body. And then
we come to the 20th verse. Go back, I mean, now
to the 20th verse. And here you have the word
lords again. Listen, when you come together therefore
into one place, it is not possible to eat the
Lord's Supper. The Lord's Supper. This is the
only time in the New Testament you have the expression,
the Lord's Supper, referring to that meal, that
memorial meal that he had with his disciples
on the night before his crucifixion, before he
went into the Garden of Gethsemane, had that
supper. Well, I wonder why it's called the Lord's
Supper. Well, I can think of just three reasons
quickly. One is he instituted it. That's why
it was the Lord's Supper. He instituted it. A
second reason was it was given in the evening.
And that's why they call it supper. You know,
in the Bible, the evening meal was always called
supper. What do you call it? In some circles
they call it dinner. It's all right. I wouldn't
pick at you about that. But I just know that
down south we called it breakfast. The Bible
called the morning meal breakfast, evening meal
lunch or dinner, I mean the noon meal, and then
the evening meal supper. And it was supper. And
a third reason they called it the Lord's Supper,
it spoke of Him. It spoke of Him. It was the
Lord's Supper. The Lord's Supper. And in the
scripture we read tonight, It pointed out to
us that when we come to the Lord's Supper, there
are three looks that we ought to always take
when we come to the Lord's Supper. The first
look we should always take is a backward look.
Somebody said, never look backward. Never look
backward. But here we are admonished to look
backward in verse 24 and 25. Listen to verse
24 and 25. this New Year, as often as you drink
of it, in remembrance of me." In remembrance
of what? In remembrance of the time when he at
Calvary offered his body as a sacrifice for our
sins. He said, take, eat this as my body. This
represents my body. And he said, when you drink
of the fruit of the vine, Remember that at Calvary
I shed my precious blood that you might have
remission of your sins. Yes, that's the backward
look. Look back. Look back to Calvary and remember
what he did for us there. What did he do for
you there and me? Listen, his body. was the atoning,
satisfying sacrifice to the Father that made
possible our redemption. His precious blood that
was shed there made possible the forgiveness
and cleansing of our sins. It was shed. We have
a song, Grace that is greater than all my sins.
One of the stanzas goes there where the blood
of the lamb was spilt. Spilt. When Dr. Fred Brown,
great church evangelist of today, was preaching
in the Philadelphia area when he was a young
man, and he said he noticed in the service a
quaint little fellow with a little goatee. very
quaint, just a little goatee, very well kept.
He said at the close of the service, that man
came up to Dr. Brown as a young preacher and
said, young preacher, you made a terrible mistake
tonight in your message. Well, you can imagine
how Dr. Brown must have felt. If he'd have found
a hole, he could have crawled through it. He
would have. He said, well, I know I make a lot
of mistakes, but he said, What was my mistake
tonight? He said, you said when the blood of
Christ was spilt. Dr. Brown said, yes, I remember
saying that, but what's wrong with that? He said,
you go home and get your dictionary and look
up and see what the word spilt means. You know
what it means, don't you? Accidentally done.
I had many a milk bucket. The milk was spilt
in it, but it was accidentally done. Ah, listen,
the blood of our Savior was not accidentally
done. It was done with a purpose. A purpose.
And so, that's the backward look. Tonight, as
we come to the Lord's table, let's look back
to Calvary. Have you ever been to Calvary? No.
Some of you have been to the Holy Land. I haven't
been there in person, but I tell you I've been
there by faith. I've been there by faith. By
faith I could see Him dying on Calvary's cross
for a hell -deserving sinner like me. Never forget
to take the backward look when you come to the
Lord's Supper. And then we ought to look forward
in verse 26. For as often as ye eat this bread
and drink this cup, ye do proclaim, ye do preach,
ye do declare the Lord's death till he come.
Aren't you glad he's coming again? We look backward
to what he did for us at Calvary to make possible
our redemption, and we look forward to his coming
for the completion of our redemption. Don't forget
to look forward to his coming. Expect him every
day, great preacher of the past, as he'd retire
for the night before he'd pull the blind. He'd
look out into the starry heavens and say, perhaps
tonight, Lord, perhaps tonight. He'd get up the
next morning, raise the blind, look out into
the sky and say, perhaps today, Lord, perhaps
today. Let me tell you something. If we would
look forward to the coming of the Lord every
day, He would purify our lives. He that hath
this hope in him purifyeth himself even as he
is pure. Ah Yes, he's coming again And he's going
to complete our redemption. That's why we ought
to look forward to that He said preacher. I don't
understand you I'm redeemed already You're just
part way redeemed. So am I I don't have my redemption
body yet Romans 8 speaks of how we look forward
to the redemption of the body. I don't have my
redemption body yet, and you can't kid me, you
don't have yours either. Man came into Dr. Ironside's
office on the West Coast one time, and he was
a mess. Oh, he just looked terrible. And Dr.
Ironside got talking with him and he said, I
want you to know I've got my redemption body.
I've got my redemption body. Dr. Ironside looked
over his glasses and said, if that's the redemption
body, I think I'll keep the one I've got. Ah,
listen, this is the forward look. Look forward
to the day when the Lord Jesus will come again.
Surely I come quickly, he says. That doesn't
mean he's going to come soon, necessarily, when
he said that. It meant when the time of his coming
arrives, he'll come with the speed of thought.
He'll come suddenly. That's the backward look.
But now let's look at the other look. Let's look
at the other look, is that right? Anyways, there's
the other look now. The backward look, the forward
look, and then there's the look within. This
is going to hurt us. We're going to say ouch.
Jonathan failed and hurt his knee. Oh, it was
really a terrible, terrible Scratch on there,
you know. Oh, it was terrible. He had to have
a band -aid on it. And it felt better as soon
as he got that band -aid on there. But he said
to me, he said, here's my ouch, my ouch. This
is going to hurt us now. This is going to make
us say ouch. Here it is in 1 Corinthians 11 and
verse 28. But let a man examine himself. And
after self -examination and getting things all
straightened out, let him eat of the bread and
drink of the cup. That's the inward look, the
inward look. Those of us here in this service
this evening who have been born from above, we
not only need to look back to Calvary, not only
look forward to look forward ahead to His coming.
But we need to look within. Look within. Examine.
We do a lot of examining of others, don't we?
We need to examine ourselves. We're coming to
the Lord's table. We're coming to the Lord's
Supper. Let's for the moment turn our eyes upon
ourselves. Is everything all right between me
and my father? Do I have unconfessed sin in my
life? And I know about it. I know what they are.
But I've never confessed them to him as my father
and said, Father, I'm sorry. Forgive me. How
about it? Examine yourselves. The inward look.
The inward look. How is it between you and other
believers? Are there some believers here in this
fellowship that maybe you just have bitterness
in your heart for them? You just kind of avoid
them. You don't like to speak to them. You don't
like to get close to them. You have things in
your heart that have grieved the Spirit of God.
Can I have things like that in my life that I
need to confess? Examine yourselves. That's the
inward look. Will you do that just a moment?
Examine yourself. Husband, examine yourself.
You think, boy, I'd like to examine my wife.
You examine yourself. Examine yourself. Everything
all right between you and the Lord? Everything
all right between you and your wife, you and
your husband? If not, now you don't have to make
a show of it. Just in the quietness of this moment,
confess to God. whatever might be there that
shouldn't be there. And if we confess our sins,
He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The
backward look, the forward look, and the inward
look. Would you let me close with a thought from
the 21st verse of this chapter. 1 Corinthians
10. Well, no, it's not the 21st verse. It's the
24th verse. And when he had given thanks, he
break and said, take eat, this is my body, which
is for you. I don't like to close a service without
having a gospel appeal. And here it is. Harold
Fickett, who has written a number of good books,
I enjoy his books that I have in my library.
He points out that there's no word in the best
manuscripts for the verb broken. He said, in
fact, it's just the preposition there, my body,
which is for you. He said the Lord was literally
and actually saying, he said the four could be
up and over. up and over. He said, the Lord was
really saying, this is my body which is over
you. A picture of the substitutionary atonement
of Jesus Christ. You know, atonement has the
meaning of covering. Over you! The wrath of God
that we deserve to have administered to us for
eternity. The body of Christ comes between us
and that wrath. Then he told about an experience
that J .C. Massey, a great preacher in the East
in his day, told about himself, on himself. He
grew up on a farm in South Georgia and his mother
was known and famous for her ability to make
feather beds. Feather beds. Of course, they don't
have those anymore. I wish I had one when it
gets 25 below zero. But anyways, his mother was
known for making feather beds. And she'd always
told him, said, now listen here, don't you ever
get on the headboard of any bed and jump into
the feather bed. She almost threatened him with
death. If you did. One day his mother was out
in the barn washing and she sent him into the
house to get something. He went into the house
to get what his mother wanted. He was doing real
good in obeying until he got in there. And he
climbed up on the headboard of one of those beds
and he dived into that feather mattress, feather
bed. Oh, it was so much fun. And he kept doing
it. Got up on the headboard, dived into the feather
mattress, feather bed. All of a sudden he heard
the swishing of a skirt. His mother came in,
and he knew that payday had come. He threw himself
on the bed. stomach down, back up, and she was
getting ready to administer the punishment he
deserved. An older brother at that time saw the
situation and he threw his body over the body
of little JC and he said to his mother, he said,
Little JC is not big enough to take the punishment
and said let me take the punishment for him.
Throw his body over the body of little JC Massey.
The mother looked and tears began to flow down
her cheek. She was a devoted Christian. She realized
in what was taking place there was a picture
of Calvary where Jesus died in my place, in your
place. And then she looked at both of those boys
and she said, you all get out of here as quick
as you can. Oh my friend tonight, that's why
we look back to Calvary because there he died
for you and me. Have you ever looked to Him in
faith and repentance of sin? If you haven't,
tonight would be a good time to do that. Good
time to do it. If there's just one here tonight,
you've never had that birth from above, and you
realize you're a sinner and you're on the way
to hell, deserving to go there. Let the Spirit
of God work in your heart. Work that repentance
toward God in faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Then after you get saved, you can have that backward
look. You can have that forward look. And when
you come to the Lord's table, you'll have that
inward look. That'll be so helpful. Let's pray.
Father, thanks for Calvary. Lest I forget Gethsemane,
lest I forget thy agony, lest I forget your love
for me, lead me to Calvary. As we come to the
Lord's table tonight, Lord, help us to have all
three looks and maybe be strengthened spiritually.
as a result of taking the three looks again.
In Jesus' name, amen.