Sunday Message (1st service) - Pastor Brad Neuschwander (June 7, 2026) | Life Bible Church

Welcome to the Life Bible Church podcast. We

want to thank you for joining us today, and we

hope you find today's sermon impacting as you

listen to it wherever you are in your daily walk.

To find service times and watch messages online,

see our website at lifebiblechurch .org. Now,

enjoy this week's message. I'd like you to turn

in your Bible, if you would. We're going to deviate

a little bit. talked to Pastor Trent, and of

course, Scotty, thank you for your message, and

of course, Dr. Alan Myers did a great job. The

fact is, Valina, in my bag there are reading

glasses, if you would grab those for me. I honestly

am a little bit surprised of how much I forgot.

Thank you. As I came back in, I I know I took

vacation because I normally don't, I'm not this

way. Everything stays up here and I must have

stopped the hard storage file somewhere. But

when I came back, things were dropping 12 and

14 hours later. Diane Baker was talking to me

about something pretty important, a person in

our church that was having surgery. And I'm like,

yeah, okay, okay. And then 14 hours later, I

woke up in the morning and went, oh, that's what

she was saying. I called Diane. I said, I am

so sorry. I must have been still defragging.

Would you please tell this person? And so I'm

just kind of getting back into the rhythm running.

This morning, this weekend, as I was just studying

and asking the Lord what he wanted to do today

in us and through us. I felt very compelled.

You know, the book of Jude, as the half -brother

of Jesus wrote in that little book, he said,

I was gonna write to you about our common salvation.

But the Holy Spirit, in essence, what he writes

is he changed it, that I might talk to you about

the faith that was once delivered for all. And

as I was, Pastor Trent and I were talking, back

and forth and I had given him some instruction

on what I wanted him to teach last week on Pentecost.

And I thought he did a great job. I was involved

in that process of that message and I was planning

on doing part two and I probably will. But as

I sat down to deal with Pentecost, I felt like

the Lord really spoke to me. He says, I want

you as you're teaching on Pentecost to go back

and bring an understanding of Passover. Now,

we know we often hear, and I'm going to probably

move into a little more apostolic teaching this

morning, but for many of us, Passover, we have

an understanding. And I'm not going to ask questions

this morning of who understands Passover, but

there are probably this one feast represents,

and Trent talked about it last week, Pastor Trent

did, in regard to Passover represents the cross.

If we don't have a, if I could say it this way,

if we don't have a wide enough base, understanding

wise, theologically wise, you're going to miss

things in the New Testament that the Holy Spirit

actually wrote through the apostle Paul, wrote

through the apostle Peter, wrote through the

apostle John, that they would have come to the

scriptures with an understanding. Of what those

things really meant. Why? Because they lived

out Passover. They lived out Pentecost. And they

lived out tabernacles. As a Jewish people. And

they understood at least. What those things meant

to them. And it was only after the cross. And

after the resurrection of Jesus. that the Holy

Spirit would now take what they were so familiar

with and begin to expand it and bring light to

it in ways that they only had not thought of.

Because to them, it was already established.

But when Jesus died and rose again, all that

they had known in a physical, literal, weak...

three weeks a year of celebrating it in natural

form would come to an understanding that Jesus

had fulfilled every aspect of the feast and they

were coming into that. And so as we go back to

Passover this morning, I want us to start with

a New Testament scripture. You got your finger,

if you will, put it in Exodus 12, and I want

you to flip to the New Testament now, and I want

you to look at 1 Corinthians. Keep your Bible

marker in 12, but I want you to start this morning

with our key verse, 1 Corinthians chapter 5.

1 Corinthians 5 · chapter mention

Now this is a, if you understand and have read

any of 1 Corinthians, what I'm going to draw

from this morning Is probably one of the most

sensitive passages. In the body of Christ. It

is the passage. Are you ready? Of excommunication.

And you go. How in the world. Are we going to

get from Passover. Through excommunication. And

Scott. I didn't tell you this. But this morning.

No just kidding. We're gonna, I'm just kidding.

We're gonna deal with this thing because if you

don't understand why the Holy Spirit would bring

this aspect in, you've not actually built a base

wide enough for what God is wanting to do. And

there are passages in the New Testament that

Most of us in modern, I can say it, in modern

church skip over because we don't like the tenor

of what is being written. Turn to somebody and

say, but that's not me. That's right. First Corinthians

chapter five, verse seven and eight says this.

For Christ, our Passover lamb has been sacrificed.

Let us. Come on put your hand on your heart.

Let us. Come on say it with me. Let us. Therefore

celebrate the festival. Not with old leaven.

The leaven of malice and evil. But with the unleavened

bread of sincerity and truth. That's the New

Testament folks. That is the Holy Spirit. speaking

through the Apostle Paul, letting us understand

something today, and hopefully, Lord, you'll

highlight this, that he was now bringing revelation

to, and why this is important, he was bringing

revelation to a Gentile church. How many know

we are that? There's very few. I saw Brother

Steve Diamond today. He would represent a Messianic

fulfilled Jewish person who has accepted Jesus.

If his daughter is here, she'd be one too. There's

very few Messianic Jews with us this morning,

but the reality is predominantly in the Western

culture here, we have Gentile churches. And so

our problem is because we don't understand maybe

the Bible from a Jewish platform or even from

the understanding. And that was Paul's writing

constantly to various works, especially in Ephesians,

in Galatians, now in first and second Corinthians,

he was constantly bringing in things that would

have had a Jewish mindset. Fact is in Ephesians

two, the last verse that pastor Trent left us

off on last weekend was what you who were far

off And having been estranged from the covenants

and estranged from the ordinances of Israel have

now been brought near and the two now have been

made one. For most of us, we're still in the

far off, dude. We're in that, what does that

even mean? Well, it means that because God chose

them out and chose one man, Abraham, to build

a a people through that race that he would make

them a new nation. See, Abraham, he didn't start

off Jewish. Let me just give you a newsflash.

He was pretty much Iranian. Put that in your

theological peace pipe for a moment. He was from

Chaldea. He was a Syrian -Iranian background.

God chose him because of faith. And because of

faith, he actually then made him his own nation,

own people. And there's a whole lot to that.

But the whole point is, through Passover, God's

going to bring some realities of what he was

trying to show in the very beginning with his

people that was actually a worldwide thing. So

for Christ is our Passover lamb. Paul couldn't

say it much clearer than this. Christ is. Come

on, somebody say it with me. Christ is our Passover

lamb. Just let that settle a little bit with

all the stinking gobbledygook that you've heard

on the internet. Trying to tell you that you

need to actually live out a Jewish feast in order

to understand it. That is absolute Greek word

crapale. Because why? The apostle Paul, who was

a Jew of Jew, who was the highest studied ranking

person in all of Judaism, says what? Jesus Christ

was the lamb at Passover that was sacrificed

that they all did in shadow and type not knowing

when he would come. Woo! But we're gonna keep

the festival not naturally. but spiritually.

And if we don't get this in our heart spiritually,

we're missing the very thing that God wants us

to actually have in his church. We see here that

the Holy Spirit is communicating through the

apostle Paul to the Gentile churches, multiple

key truths. The Holy Spirit brings the apostle

Paul to teach the Corinthian church about Jesus

Christ and about the Passover lamb and the reality

of the feast, here we go, of unleavened bread.

These truths in God's word were written down

by Moses, most scholars believe that, wrote the

five books or collected and wrote the five books

of the Bible and we would call that the Torah.

The apostle Paul now is bringing the church through

the Holy Spirit into an understanding of truth,

power, and a source of victory used by God as

he brings his people out of Egypt in the Exodus.

The account of Israel coming out of slavery and

out of the dominion of oppressive rule is not

just something that happened back then. It is

significant in meaning and importance to our

gatherings, our faith, and our relationship with

God. Everything that God does, please hear me

say this, is never lost. Everything that he's

done is never lost. Why? Because everything that

God does is connected to him. And if it's connected

to him, you want to be part of it. But you have

to also understand how to actually receive it.

Many people still get bound, that was the Galatian

church's issue, still get bound by the law thinking

they have to do more than operating in grace,

truths, and obedience by the Spirit. They yoke

themselves back to a form of slavery. Now, It's

significant for us to know the meaning and the

importance of what God did at Passover, what

God did through the Exodus. Why? Because it's

a direct line to you and I about experiencing

freedom. Because if Christ is the Passover lamb,

it is also Christ who is the deliverer. If Christ

is Passover and Passover is connected, which

we will see here in a moment, to communion. Passover

represents cross. Cross was the whole reason

for the communion of bringing the disciples to

the table and now moving it from just a feast

that was distant to now a feast with God. We

move from talking about the lamb. Come on, let

me say this this way. We move from talking about

the lamb. To actually living with the lamb. Fellowshiping

with the lamb. The one who is God is having the

meal with the disciples in the upper room. It

was celebrating Passover, but it shifted from

Passover to communion. Why? Because the cross

was right there. And they had taken... They had

taken the lamb in and now he would be given.

But once he was resurrected, it shifted everything.

Why? Because now he would become the pinnacle

of revelation of all things that were mysteries

speaking about him. So the apostle Paul now brings

this Corinthian church, into the revelation of

the Passover. They didn't seem to get it. So

he actually brings it in in chapter five before

he's about ready to do something in the church.

And why this is so significant is, number one,

they never knew, had not known the truths of

Passover. Two, they had not really allowed the

weight of it to sink in. Or three, They had totally

forgotten and disregarded why it was so important.

But one thing is clear. The Holy Spirit was not

going to allow the Corinthian church to miss

the truths revealed in Passover and bring that

spirit of understanding back into the church.

No other New Testament church had the kind of

instruction that the Apostle Paul gave the Corinthian

church. And I don't know if you realize this,

but there are multiple things in the book of

Corinthians that actually reference communion.

Ephesians doesn't deal with it. Galatians doesn't

deal with it. Only Paul. through the Holy Spirit,

dealing with the Corinthian church to deal with

this issue of communion, the supper, and the

relationship to their preparation around it.

Why? Because the truths of Passover are founded,

and this is gonna be found in this table right

here, are founded in purity, in purpose, and

in the power of the blood of a pure lamb. That's

Christ. Remember what Paul said? Christ, our

Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. So the purity,

the purity for the people is found in that truth.

The power or the purpose of living for God. In

purity and in someone else's righteousness is

found in Christ. The power of the blood that

cancels what was against us and cancels the accusations

are found in this truth because of the purity

of who gave its life. And it also, as I look

at the scriptures, it also recognizes that in

Passover, it becomes our first representation

of real partnership in the Old Testament. Now,

not just from the selection of Abraham, because

we know in Abraham's life in Genesis 14, he encounters

this priest of the Most High God named Melchizedek,

and there was a whole issue of... of transference,

of allegiance, and the tithes and offerings being

given to God because of Melchizedek. And Melchizedek

offered bread and wine, which is a representative

of this table today. But as a nation is concerned,

as a whole people group is concerned, it wasn't

just mano y mano, Jesus. Because I think Melchizedek's

office was Jesus prior to the cross coming to

reveal himself in covenant relationship with

Abraham. I don't have time to go into that this

morning. But the reality is there's no other

place that we get now a whole nation actually

coming to a place that represents the communion

table except this first account coming out of

Exodus. The whole nation. sits down at a table.

Think about that. The whole nation sits down

at a table. God had so designed it that when

he chose to deliver people and finally bring

them out of what they had been bound, notice

the very first thing. Oh my goodness, I'm gonna

preach on this a little bit. The very first thing

that he does is he doesn't lead them in celebration

and in joy. That comes next. The very first thing

he does in leading them to actually reveal himself

before he reveals his full delivering power is

he invites them even in a mindset that still

had slavery, fear, had all sorts of issues in

that people, he invites them to come under the

power of the blood and to sit at a table because

positionally under that blood, he chooses now

to have fellowship with them. If you read the

account of Exodus and you read, and we will,

and I probably, Unfortunately, won't be able

to get to all the things that I put down this

weekend that we have, but I'm laying this out

because that's the nature of God. God's nature

is to start when we have no idea of who he is.

The people of Israel only had remembered Abraham,

Isaac, and Jacob as almost a bygone thing in

their history. But God, Didn't look at it that

way. It was as fresh to him 430 years later as

it was when he covenanted with Abraham and said,

this is what I was going to do. And the very

same reality is true that when you come to this

table, the very same thing that he did with Abraham

and the same thing that he did with the children

of Israel, bringing them out, the same power,

the same purity, the same... purpose of knowing

him is found at the table and under the blood.

And the church must understand that as we come

to this reality, these sacred truths that are

there, the blood of a holy qualified lamb and

all the other elements that brought divine protection

to the Lord's people were right in the midst,

you ready, of the plague. You see, the reality

of the table and the eating and the process of

being, he even wrote in there that there had

to be an expectation of faith and deliverance

as they even ate the meal. They were to be fully

dressed, staff in hand. What does that mean?

That doesn't mean staff. you know, I come up

to Scott as I'm eating the meal and I'm going,

okay, I'm dressed, I'm fully ready. Now, staff

in hand. Okay, that doesn't mean that those that

I'm in charge, no, it meant my walking stick.

It meant the walking stick that what you would

have had and I would have had as a male Israelite

person would have had my name on it and it would

have had the history of who, I was, but had the

name of my God on it. And God positioned them

even in Exodus to say, when you eat this meal,

after you've applied the blood and after you've

cooked the lamb to the way I've told you to cook

it with bitter herbs, and after you have spent

time removing the leaven from your house, you

sit at the table with all of your house. And

you sit ready, dressed fully, staff in hand with

what? Ready for me to do what I promised I would

do. It was a picture that God was now moving

in a whole nation to prepare them through blood

and a meal to do what he promised to do and to

bring them out of what had consumed them. And

even though their minds weren't ready, even though

their thinking and their appetites and their

whole value system had been corrupted. I don't

know why I'm looking at you, why I'm saying this.

Had been, no, I'm messing with you. Had been

corrupted by Egypt and slavery. God positionally

was ready to do for them what they could not

even imagine. It was only a hope. But God says

it's way more than hope. I'm gonna start to bring

you under the reality of what I need you to begin

to develop faith because this is just the beginning

of what I wanna do in you and through you. God

reveals in the Exodus account that he's bringing

people to a place of freedom and deliverance.

As he gives his people mercy and victory over

death, God gives... His people, the truths of

these freedoms at Passover. The Passover lamb.

Again, we're looking from 1 Corinthians 5, 7

and 8. It says, Jesus Christ is the Passover

lamb sacrificed. It's through the lamb and through

the blood and the atonement that united fragmented

disillusioned people. By God's mercy and grace.

I don't know if you understand this this morning,

but as we get ready to take the table of the

Lord a little later this morning, that is the

very same thing that is supposed to be happening

in this church body. Fragmented people. People

that have had disappointment, disillusionment,

wherever you've walked, whether you've... Whether

you've come out of families that went because

you've turned to Christ have forsaken you. Whether

you've come out of broken homes, broken relationships,

no matter what your journey has been, at the

table, God looks to take all of the fragmentation,

all of the disillusionment, all of the things

that has been part of your life and bring you

into what? A place where people who've been called

by his name and now have the blood over their

lives, now actually become part of the family

of God. And the fragmentation and the estrangement

is supposed to be broken. That's why Paul The

apostle Paul spent so much time on this on the

Corinthian church. Why? Is because that's what

they modeled multiple times is they modeled what?

Division, fragmentation. We'll deal with it in

time, God willing. He dealt with it in the very

first chapter where he starts, he says, I hear

there are divisions among you. I urge, and then

he calls them out by name. How would you like

to have your name recorded in the Bible for being

one who starts arguments and division? I mean,

for 2 ,000 years, you were in the opening chapter

as not a blessing. So don't tell me the Holy

Spirit's a gentleman and he'll never put anything

down that will embarrass you. Read 1 Corinthians

chapter one. urge you to tell Eunice and so and

so to get along that sounds like our children's

workers class come on he had to deal with it

in the first chapter then he had to deal with

it 10 chapters later in chapter 11 saying I hear

there are divisions among you First Corinthians

1 was dealing with theological divisions. Well,

I follow Paul and I follow Peter and I follow

Paulos. And Paul says, I don't give a rip. Shut

up and follow Jesus. And then he has to deal.

Now he got the theological thing straight. Now

he has to come over and he has to deal with the

behavior. And they are having serious behavior

issues. They're preferring rich versus poor.

They're preferring the have versus the have nots.

There's actually some racial tension in the midst

of it. And Paul is ashamed. He said you should

be shamed. Huh. No wonder Western church doesn't

like to preach this message. He deals too. major

issues that creating a divide at the communion

table. Theological issues? Oh, come on. If you

haven't followed any church history, that's been

a big one. Well, I don't like that teacher, and

I don't know if I like that, and I don't know

da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da -da. Come on.

Who baptized who? Paul, I'm so glad I only baptized

a few of you. That was the father of that work

through the Holy Spirit saying, I'm glad I wasn't

too deeply involved in your lives because of

the stupidness of this argument. Do you understand

that's what he was saying? Anyways, let's get

back to the notes. When God brings disillusioned,

fragmented people back. to what? The beginning

of what his desire was, a whole household, a

whole family under the blood. Every tribe, every

family, not just bonded by their natural blood

ties, but bonded by brothers and sisters and

their families under the blood of the lamb and

the mercy of God. In Jesus Christ, we the church

are giving something better than what the people

had before Christ. So if that was the whole picture

there, how much more is it to be applied here?

You see, our covenant, the covenant that we have

is not secured by a natural animal. Ours is secured.

By the blood of the only begotten son. That's

why the whole book of Hebrews says you have a

better covenant. And in better, it actually means,

are you ready? Stronger, deeper, wider. Well,

we should say that together. Stronger, deeper,

wider. Now here's the problem. A lot of Western

church thinking doesn't believe that. That somehow

the new covenant isn't superior at every level.

But the Bible is very clear on it. The covenant

that we have in Jesus Christ is stronger, deeper,

wider, and better. When it says better, it means

in every realm. Now, John 1, 29 says it this

way. Jesus is the lamb of God who takes away

the sin of the world. We heard Paul, that was

the apostle, that was the writer of the apostle

John writing of John the Baptist's revelation

that the Holy Spirit told him there was one coming

that was better than him. Notice the phrase,

better than him. Whose sandals he wasn't worthy

to untie. It was the very first statement of

John the Baptist. Who was the highest prophet

in the old covenant. Had been told by the Holy

Spirit. There's one coming after you that's higher.

Means what? Better. In every aspect. And Paul

picks up on that revelation. He says Jesus Christ.

Is our Passover lamb. Who has been sanctified.

Sacrificed. Christ is now our Passover. The father

brought. Our full atonement. Atonement means

what? Payment. Payment for the sin. Through his

son. First Corinthians 7. For Christ our Passover

lamb. Has been sacrificed. Meaning what? Full

payment has been made. Meaning what? else needed

nothing else can be added nothing else can be

taken away it is forever complete it's complete

Hebrews 8 6 says it this way the priestly work

that has been given to Jesus is much greater

than the work that was given to other priests

in the same way the new agreement that Jesus

brought from God to his people is much greater

than the old one. The new agreement is based

on promises of better things. I don't know how

much clearer we can get with that. With this

truth then, with this truth of better, the Holy

Spirit is what? Communicating Jesus is the fulfillment

of Passover. It was Jesus' flesh that was given

both as a perfect lamb and it was Jesus' blood

that was required as the only payment for sin.

If you read the Old King Jimmy or New American

Standard, you'll read the word propitiation.

And that's a large word to say it was the only

form of payment God would settle the account

and call it paid in full. Romans says it this

way, Romans 3, 25. For God presented Jesus as

a sacrifice for sin. People are made right with

God. Now please hear me this morning if you've

never heard the gospel because this is it right

here. People are made right with God when they

believe that Jesus sacrificed his life and shed

his blood. The sacrifice shows that God was being

fair when he held back And did not punish those

who sinned in times past. For he was looking

ahead to include them in what he would do in

the present time with his son Jesus. God did

this to demonstrate his righteousness. For he

himself is fair and just. And he declares sinners

to be made right in his sight when they believe

in Jesus Christ. That's the gospel. 1 John 4,

9 and 10 says this, by this the love of God is

revealed in us, that God sent his one and only

son into the world that we may live through him.

In this, excuse me, in this is love. Not that

we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent

his son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

So the apostle Paul, is now writing to correct

and adjust some spiritually critical thinking

errors and practices of the people of God who

were saved in the Corinthian church. How do we

know that? Because before he starts correcting

theological issues with Eunice and all the others

between Apollos and Peter and Paul, what's he

say? To the saints in Corinth. He declares to

them, remember? You believed, and by saying you're

a saint, he wasn't actually honoring Catholic

church. He was actually saying, because positionally

of what you've confessed by the blood of Jesus

Christ, God considers you a saint. A saint being

what? one that's been made righteous by God's

mercy and grace positionally. And I'm writing

to you to let you know this is your high calling

and God has brought you to him. And now the rest

of this letter is going to actually begin to

help your thinking, your attitude, your speech,

and your understanding of how to fulfill that

calling of a saint. That's why we read the Bible.

So Paul is what? He's now getting into, and you

can just think it this way. Paul, through the

Holy Spirit, is now getting into your saintly

mind. And he's starting to what? Kind of rearrange

some things. Because how many know in your Christian

journey, and I'm not looking at anybody particular.

How many know in your Christian journey that

you can settle on some things in your heart and

mind in the midst of being saved that aren't

actually salvific? You can be saved and have

errant wrong thinking about not just one thing.

The whole point of renewing our mind with the

word of God, The whole point of cleansing and

sanctifying work of grace is to do what? It's

to change your heart and give you grace that

he helps you do this thing that he gave you.

He's not expecting you to do it by your own manpower

or womanpower. He's doing it by grace. But you

have to partner with him to allow your mind to

actually embrace how and why he's doing what

he's doing. Because you can actually resist the

work of grace in your life. Oh, somebody, come

on. Now look at it. The apostle was expanding

the people of God to look inwardly and to look

internally while they were taking the supper.

The only way you can get this is if you understand

Passover. Because in the midst of all that Passover

represented positionally, representing freedom,

representing deliverance, representing the death

angel passing over, representing faith, representing

in haste, representing expectation of God to

do more, you also have to understand that it

was a requirement that you personally had to

go around your house into every, now hear me,

into every corner, sweeping from countertops,

if they had such a thing, to floors, to every

area to do what? Clean the house of leaven. You

cannot, please hear me, church, and this is why

the Apostle Paul was dealing with this. You cannot

separate Passover lamb and the blood of the lamb

from the cleaning of the house of leaven. And

that's what the Western church has done. It's

made only a, oh, look how wonderful the blood

of Jesus is, and has removed our part of what

God instituted in Passover, which was... because

of the blood and because of how I'm coming to

pass over you, you have a responsibility that

I'm instituting now that will actually be our

partnership that we start together. You see,

we miss that valuable part. It's not that we

can pay for the leaven. The leaven has been paid

for to be swept out. But our part, See, this

is the truth of every form of deliverance and

it's the truth of why deliverance is always attached.

And I didn't mean to go here, but I need to go

here because I'm hearing the Lord say this. This

is why deliverance is attached to the cross.

And how the Western church can't figure this

out is a mind blower. That we could not believe

in a deliverance that has connection to power,

authority, and rule that was in Egypt. And that

it personally needed to be dealt with in their

own home. That the blood protected came over

the household, but the personal leaven Was now

not because God came into the house and swept

it out. It's because the fear of the Lord. And

the partnership that would come. With what was

outside of the house. If God didn't spare me.

Was now the motivation to operate in faith and

obedience. To get what was in my house clean.

How we don't connect that. Is mind boggling.

That we actually have three ring circuses. To

try to defend. The fact that there is a demonic

power. Are you stinking kidding me? Do you understand?

I challenge you. I double dog dare you. To look

back at the ten plagues. And understand. And

it says it in scripture. Every one of those plagues

was connected to one of the small G deities of

Egypt. Every one of them. So God was doing what?

Putting the Kung Pao on the so -called Pow Wow.

He was dropping the hammer, baby. And he was

dealing with deliverance. Before their full deliverance.

Do you want me to go back? I hear the beach a

-callin'. No, no, no, no. I mean, just think

about that. This meal that he sets up is so incredibly

connected. That's why we can say at the cross,

The cross is the reason for salvation, but it's

the reason for healing. It's the reason for deliverance.

And it is the reason that you can actually believe

God for provision in your world. Those four things

are actually better than what they had. Now,

this is important that you drill down on this.

Because this meal that God has them set to under

his blood is what? It compels us to take inventory.

The whole point of the meal is that, yes, you're

sitting with the son of life himself. But as

you are, you allow the love, the grace. and the

respect of what he's done to begin to work internally.

And you begin to say, shine a light in me. Shine

a light in me. That's why Paul writes us now.

We're gonna go a little deeper. You doing okay?

That's why Paul writes his 1 Corinthians 11,

18. He says, for in the first place, When you

come together as a church, I hear that there

are divisions among you. So remember, he already

dealt with divisions in chapter 1. Now here's

his dealing with divisions in chapter 11. He

goes, and I believe it in part. Meaning, here's

the Apostle Paul and here's the Holy Spirit saying,

this is not just somebody tattling on somebody

else in the church. Come on, does this not sound

like church? This verse is church. Do you know

how many emails, how many phone calls I get?

Hey, do you know what's on Facebook with so -and

-so just put up there? No. I don't have Facebook.

Maybe you should think about that too. Well,

they're doing this. All right. Scott. Can you

check out so -and -so? Paul says, and in part,

I believe it. Now, this is one of the most, I

will guarantee you, there'll be a few of you

in this room that get this. I did not get this

until I really studied this, even this year.

So I'm just saying, you probably all got this,

but I'm not the sharpest knife in the butter

drawer, but once I get it, I can spread butter,

all right? He says, for there must be factions

among you in order that those who are genuine

among you may be recognized. Hey, remember that

whole thing of the Holy Spirit won't embarrass

you? Here Paul goes again. Do you know what he's

saying here? So that when you come together,

Is it not the Lord's supper that you eat? What

was he saying? He's saying at the communion table,

the things that are being displayed now in the

Corinthian church are actually the factions of

social separations, personal preferences, divisions,

and ideologies to try to make oneself better

than the other. is actually revealing something.

And guess what he says? It's not what you think

it's gonna be. It's the opposite. He says, it's

revealing those who are really genuine in their

pursuit of Christ versus those that are playing

church. The apostle Paul had already dealt, as

we saw in chapter one, theologically. Now he

was dealing with the division in the gatherings.

And the Corinthian church, I'll have to give

them credit. They had one part down that we don't

do well in Western culture today. They at least

assembled to gather together. Now listen to me.

This is a lesson for many of us. In all of their

disagreements of who they wanted, Paul, Apollos,

Peter, this person, that person. This was the

only place that the Apostle Paul letters, 1st

and 2nd Corinthians, wrote to them about their

fickleness of how they liked orators and how

they divided themselves in the church that he

planted, even against himself. It's the only

letter he ends up dealing with this. Why? Because

they were bringing divisions and it shows us

what? Paul didn't say, well, just pick this one.

He said, no, get your eyes on Jesus. And now

he says these divisions, even in their divisions,

rich, poor, preferences, selfishness, poverty,

overabundant blessing, even in all of the category

from all the, if I could say it this way in today's

technical cultural terms, in all their socioeconomic

categories, the church found a way to get together.

as a group and still have a meal. We have whole

articles today being written by so -called Christian

people that are telling people that they don't

have to go to family dinners to visit grandparents

or parents if they disagree with them politically

or ideology. That is anti -Bible and it's anti

-Christ. Antichrist. Absolutely straight up.

See? Even the devil doesn't like it. Do you understand

that? Anytime that you would move away from actually

moving to a place of selflessness and love to

substantiate your own desire not to be bothered.

You have just moved from truth and love and light

to your own darkness and your own form of reasoning.

I'm going to just drive this in. The whole point

of Christ bringing you to this table and to this

place is that you get to now like me. And we

get to... I know, I know. Lose some weight, Pastor.

Okay. And we get to love one another that we

would have probably never found each other except

what? The blood of Jesus and the commonality.

Come on. And the commonality of his togetherness.

The idea now that you don't like that you're...

Your parents or your grandparents voted independent,

Republican or Democrat. And now you're not going

to share the gospel turkey bird at Thanksgiving

because it's just too stressful on your little

mind. You better check your relationship with

Jesus because it is the opposite of what he tells

you to do. The opposite. And if you're reading

that stuff, you better find the nearest public

toilet and flush it. Because it is not worth

the paper it's printed on. I love everybody.

So it's come down here. Hallelujah. It's come

down that the church has now gathered. Think

of it. In all their division. In all of their

faction. In all of their disagreement. In all

of... their displays of unrighteous behavior

in the church, guess what? They didn't buy the

latest century current cultural economic boulder

dash that somehow they have to isolate to themselves.

And when Paul saw it beginning to manifest, he

wrote on behalf of the Holy Spirit and he brings

a jerk in their tail to jerk that knot out that

was beginning to form. He said, now the Holy

Spirit is pointing out that there are issues

of division that are not theological. These are

soulish. They're preferential. And they're carnal.

These are issues that are spawned out of selfishness,

separation, entitlement. If that isn't a word

for today, I don't know what is. I don't know

where that came from, but I wrote it down, so

I'll take credit for it. Hallelujah. It was entitlement

between the haves and the have -nots. Those that

would prefer themselves over others, even to

the point of having excess in their behavior

and in their carnal nature to the detriment of

those that had been brought to the table that

didn't have anything. Their actions of the heart

revealed both to the Lord and to the church body

who really had genuine loyalty to their God,

their faith, and adherence to him alone. You

see, the apostle declares that the rest of the

body would be able to clearly see who were genuine.

Genuine in what? in their allegiances to Christ

versus allegiance to themselves. Then, just a

few verses later, and this is the one we end

up talking about, but we don't often talk about

that set of verses. Then we come to the great

famous passage. of chapter 11, verse 27 through

32, that says this. Then whoever, therefore,

eats the bread and drinks the cup of the Lord

in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning

the body and the blood of the Lord. Let a person

examine themselves so that they eat the bread

and drink the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks

without discerning the body, eats and drinks

judgment to himself. That is why many of you

are weak and ill and some have died. If we judged

ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But

when we are judged by the Lord, It is his discipline

so that we may not be condemned with the world.

Now, I'm not gonna preach on that, but that's

a whole message in itself that the Western church

doesn't believe either. That God would actually

not bring sickness on you. God never puts a curse

on you, but you actually open yourself up to

one. Remember we talked about deliverance? Remember

we talked about cleaning the leaven? It's carried

all the way over from Passover even to right

here, even at the table. Saying one of the issues

that is dealt with in the Christian church of

infirmity and issues that are not going well

inside of things is connected to not discerning

your thoughts, your heart, and things you've

opened your spirit up to that are contrary to

the... of the written word of God. Are we there?

I know I got EF Hutton quiet in here. Okay. The

apostle Paul brings now into their understanding

this earthly reality of this sacred meal. And

he actually says it. If you want to go deeper

into the deliverance side of things, he actually

says it in 1 Corinthians chapter 10. When he

1 Corinthians 10 · chapter mention

says it this way, when we bless the cup of the

Lord's table, aren't we sharing in the blood

of Christ? When we break bread, aren't we sharing

in the body of Christ? And though we are many,

bring it down just a bit. Though we are many,

we all eat from one loaf of bread showing that

we're one body. Think about the people of Israel.

Notice what he does again. He takes the Corinthian

church from their cultural current mindset and

he brings them back all the way back to Israel

and saying, listen, it's not just about Israel.

It's about what God instituted inside of them

that they were to get so that they would carry

this and not allow the culture of the day. To

change what is so important. So they're playing

here. Which means I'm circling. Tower to control.

Control tower to plane. Find a landing. Okay.

So that brings us back to our introduction. In

1 Corinthians chapter 5. Now, do you understand?

1 Corinthians 5 · chapter mention

I had to go, I'm building you a base here to

understand both the table of the Lord and to

understand the cross and the connection to Passover.

Why would Paul, why would the Holy Spirit put

on the apostle Paul's heart to write to the Corinthian

church in chapter five when dealing with an offender?

Of the most egregious sorts. The Bible says.

That in the church. A man. Had his father's wife.

Without being weird. It was saying. He had taken

her sexually. We don't know whether or not. It

was previous. His father's wife. Because father

had passed on. That he took that wife. And it

was still a violation. Listen. A violation. of

the law in Leviticus 17. Paul brought them back

to the truth of God's heart and God's mind. In

a New Testament church, he brought them back

to the spiritual reality of the violation of

what opens up someone to depravity. But then

beyond just that, he moves them to the process

of saying, do you not know Christ? is our sacrifice

lamb, clean out the old leaven. So that phrase

is Exodus. Let me just get there. I'm skipping

a bunch. Is Exodus 12. I will come back to get

this, but. Exodus 15, 12, 15. Right after he

talks about what he's gonna do with the blood

on the doorpost. Seven days you shall eat unleavened

bread. On the first day, on the first day, on

the first day, you shall remove the leaven out

of your houses. For if anyone eats what is leavened,

from the first day to the seventh day, that person

shall be cut off from Israel. Exodus 12, 20.

Again, you shall eat nothing leavened during

this time. In all your dwelling places, you shall

eat unleavened bread. Why? Because the reason

Paul would bring up unleavened bread and leavened

bread was the whole cutting off of Israel. Why?

Because God, and I'll stop here and we'll pick

it up whenever we have communion again. Because

at the beginning of Passover, once he sheds the

blood on the doorpost, you're now cooking the

lamb. You're now eating at the table. Now all

of your children and the house, if you don't

search for the lamb, remove the leaven leaven

is what jesus talked about it over and over and

over let me just give you a few the leaven of

herod the leaven of the pharisees the leaven

of the sadducees the leaven of the galatian church

that was taking place of legalism he goes over

and over leaven always represents what that which

starts at one place and permeates Through the

whole part of it. It's what? It's yeast. Leaven

is in the natural, when you read it in the scriptures,

what is leaven? Leaven for us Gentiles is yeast.

That if you cook with yeast and put a little

in the lump of dough, the whole batch of dough,

it won't be divided. Leaven will permeate all

the way through. What was Paul driving at? He

was saying, listen, you're tolerating leaven

because you've missed the very key principle

in the process of Passover of taking this meal

with Christ. When Christ gives you his blood

that is perfect and he gives you his body that

is perfect, he now brought you in Passover to

eat of that meal, but your part was to what?

Search your heart and remove the leaven. For

you not to search your heart, not to remove the

leaven and only have of the blood and the bread,

you're actually living a alternate truth. You're

actually stripping. The power of God's holiness

from Jesus. You're saying, I don't have to yield

to the mercy and the grace. You owe this to me.

Let me say that again. By not searching my own

house. I don't make myself righteous. You don't

make yourself righteous. All I can do is have

an open conscience and an open mind to say, Lord,

search me. Like David said, let there show me.

Is there any way in me? If there is, Lord, take

it out. That is the process of coming to the

table. If I don't do that, I've actually said,

I don't value your holiness and your righteousness.

You owe me your love. God never started Passover

that way. He started it with the beginning of

an invitation to say, I'll bring the blood. I'll

bring my mercy. I'll bring my covering. I'll

bring deliverance. I'll bring your freedom. But

now your responsibility to partner with me that

will go for the rest of our journey together

as I walk with you and you walk with me is that

when we come to this part, you will search your

house and you will choose to live. in bread that

does eat bread that doesn't have leaven. That's

spiritually. Because leaven represents sin. Leaven

represents pride. Leaven represents the ability

that it puffs up our own thinking that now we

don't actually have to submit to the thinking

of God. That was Paul's direct encounter in 1

Corinthians 5 when he says, You should have mourned,

but instead you are what? He uses it in the old

King James. It says this, but you're puffed up.

What was the picture? You're like a loaf of bread

that has now had yeast in it and it has over

bloated and blown you up that you are so far

from the truth because you've evaluated yourself

by yourself. Come evaluate yourself by this bread.

And by this cup. That's why Paul. You ever wonder

why? And I said it last communion. You probably

didn't remember. It's okay. I love you. It's

why the one place in 1 Corinthians 11. When he

talks about communion. In the one gospel and

in Corinthians. Paul brings back this. He says

every time you eat of this bread. And you drink

of this cup. You remember the Lord. Now that

makes the penny drop a little more. You're remembering

what? His holiness. Yes, you're looking forward

to the future. Yes, you're looking forward to

the return. But you're remembering he was an

obedient son. You're remembering that his blood

was pure. There was no sin in him. Everything

he did, he did to please the Father. And when

you recognize you can never do that, it's his

life in you and the grace in you. You respect

the bread and say, God, I'm getting out the things

that are inconsistent. And at this moment, I

ask you to cleanse me. want a clean place to

have a meal with you. Can we just do that right

now? Father, in the name of Jesus, as we get

ready to come to the table of the Lord this morning,

I'm praying that there would be a searchlight

that would be released now over every heart and

over every mind. Lord, it's the light of your

purity, the light of conviction. Lord, you said

the Spirit of God would convict of sin and of

judgment. Not judgment of us, Lord, but of judgment

of the sin already rendered. Our job is to ask

and to sweep the leaven and take it to the place

where you paid for it. If we have ought against

anyone, if there's been any trespass that we're

holding in our heart, we look internally and

say, we cannot take this cup and this bread while

holding on to offense. We remove every form of

division. And we remove every form of mindset

that would cause our hearts to be divided and

factions and our opinions that have been carnal

or selfish. We say in Jesus' name, God, Begin

to search me. Turn the light on me. Let me begin

to look internally. Let me begin to look in the

light of your purity and of your word, knowing

that you love me. That's why you're bringing

me to this point. It's the blood and the body

of Christ that draws me to love, to begin to

remove the things that I have joined myself to.

Forgive me. Forgive me, Jesus. for any form of

malice. And Lord, we didn't get to that part,

but we will. So leave the leaven of malice and

wickedness behind and embrace the unleavened

bread of sincerity and truth. Oh, Jesus, a sincere

faith, a sincere love, a love for the truth,

a love for the purity, a love for the righteousness

of God. Lord, we leave that unleavened bread

that causes division and we put down... Down

the walls. And we say let nothing be done. From

selfish ambition. But God let me be reconciled.

To you and to the body. Whoever you call. Is

my brother. Whoever bears your name. Is my brother

and sister. Male, female, slave or free. As they

follow Jesus in impurity. I am connected to them.

Lord I choose your plan. I choose your plan.

And I ask now that you would just cleanse us.

And Lord, this meal would be sacred and holy

and blessed now in Jesus name. Thank you for

taking the time to listen to this week's message.

We are so grateful for those who tune in each

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