T.B. Welch, Glad Hearts, and a Potent Table

Let's pray, and we'll get to work. Father, we do ask that you would bless our time this morning together in your word. God, that you would speak your words through my message. Father, I confess, my weakness, Lord, that I am a sinner, that I am not wise, and that, Lord, without your help, my words fall flat this morning. Lord, unless you build your church, we labor here in vain, we gather in vain. And so we do thank you, God, for your great promises, that you are the great gift-giving God from heaven to earth, top to bottom that you've given everything that we need. And so give us thankful hearts, give us ears to hear, eyes to see, Lord, soft hearts. to receive your word. We do come under its authority this morning, not my authority, but yours, and ask that you would bless our time in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. So this morning, I'd like to begin our time with a little bit of family history. And I'm talking about not just this little family we call refuge church, but this great, big, weird family of saints that we call the church. Lots of strange things have happened in our history, in this family history. If you come to Pastor Dan's Sunday school class at 8.30 on Sundays here in this room, you probably have heard quite a few of those strange things that have taken place in our family history, like that time that the Apostle Paul had to confront the Apostle Peter to his face publicly about his tribal partiality at the

heard quite a few of those strange things that have taken place in our family history, like that time that the Apostle Paul had to confront the Apostle Peter to his face publicly about his tribal partiality at the dinner table. That was, that happened. Or the time later after the apostolic age when we've had fist fights break out at church councils trying to determine the nature of Jesus, his human and divine We've had lots of family disputes, strange events, weird uncles, all that sort of thing. And what we're doing here is as we continue down this family line, we're all slowly being conformed to the family likeness, which ultimately is the likeness of Jesus, that we're all on a trajectory because of his grace towards. But if you look back through church history, you will conclude very quickly that we are definitely. still in the toddler stage. We're definitely still in the toddler stage. One of those strange moments took place about a century and a half ago in the year 1869. And I think it's actually kind of funny because this is a super Baptisty sort of weird thing. And 1869 is an an anagram of 1889, the London Baptist Confession. But I digress. Anyway, like two of you got that joke. In 1869, there was a Welsh gentleman who was actually a Methodist passer by the name of Tom. Thomas Bramwell Welch. And he figured out this clever way to stop the pesky thing that kept

there was a Welsh gentleman who was actually a Methodist passer by the name of Tom. Thomas Bramwell Welch. And he figured out this clever way to stop the pesky thing that kept happening every time a grape was crushed into juice, which is called fermentation. Okay? Every time, when the Lord Jesus created the world, one of the things that he did was he created this wonderful, wonderful plant called the grapevine. And one of the things that he did with the grape, the noble grape, and I'm kind of convinced that he did this, partly to give Baptist and Presbyterians something to argue about when they weren't arguing. about baptizing babies. He made the skin of the grape the perfect natural environment for this little microorganism called wild yeast. And what this yeast likes to do, it's on almost every grape that's ever been grown in the wild, is it likes to sit on the skin of the grape and just wait there until the grape is broken, falls to the ground, maybe people pick it and crush it in the juice. And then it jumps into action, and it immediately does like what a toddler, would do with an unattended candy bowl. It just starts eating all of the sugar in the grape. And the Lord made this little chemistry experiment in that where what it does with that sugar, in the lack of oxygen, I'm told by the chemists out there, that it makes alcohol out of it. So you're like, where is this going?

experiment in that where what it does with that sugar, in the lack of oxygen, I'm told by the chemists out there, that it makes alcohol out of it. So you're like, where is this going? What is about to happen? God made grapes to turn into wine. And so from Noah, all the way back in Genesis, until this vineyard in the year 1816. There wasn't really much that you could do to make grape juice not turn into wine. But old TB Welch, he was not pleased with that. He was not pleased with that. In fact, lots of Christians at this time were fairly dissatisfied with this little chemistry experiment of the Lord Jesus is with this grape because of what people kept doing with it. Right? People kept doing, like Noah, first instance of drunkenness in the Bible, kept drinking too much of it and sinning. It kept getting drunk. And so they got clever, learned how to pasteurize the juice, stop it from turning into wine. And what we got was this product called Dr. Welch's patented, unfermented wine. And the reason that it was invented was because Thomas Welch did not want to continue having alcoholic wine at the communion feast of the church. And so he started a little bit of a campaign, and eventually his son had to take it over because it was pretty unsuccessful for at least a couple decades. But eventually this took root. And pretty soon he was successful in getting a lot of American churches to replace the potent

And so this strange sermon this morning is going to center around the question of why in the Bible should we use wine for communion? And you're like glancing at the trays in front of me with a skeptical eye. What's in them? We'll get there. So why wine for communion? And we'll focus on three reasons. And the first thing. actually is a historical reason. Why should we use wine for communion? And number one, because it's consistent with the practice of the church through history. Obviously, if what I've just told you is true about pasteurization and stopping grape juice from fermenting into wine, the church didn't really have the option of using non-alcoholic juice for communion until nearly the year 1800. Unless you had access to a vineyard, grapes happened to be in season. And the pastor went outside, grabbed a handful of grapes and crushed him into the bowl. right before service every week and then, you know, sternly had a talk to the yeast. Like, please, you know, don't ferment too quickly. We've got an hour and a half until communion. Grapes, for the vast majority of human history, you either ate them fresh, you turned them into wine, or you dried them into raisins. And most of the grape production was turned into wine, which helped with sanitizing water. We would often mix the water with a little bit of wine so that the water would be sanitized. We see Paul to Timothy. He instructs this young pastor in his letter to Timothy.

We would often mix the water with a little bit of wine so that the water would be sanitized. We see Paul to Timothy. He instructs this young pastor in his letter to Timothy. He says, hey, Timothy, take a little wine with your, take a little wine for the sake of your stomach. Apparently, Timothy had been having some gastrointestinal issues, and Paul prescribed, Dr. Paul, prescribed that he would mix a little bit of wine into his diet. And so think about the implications for that in terms of this church gathering. That means that until about 150 years ago, churches just didn't even have the option of not using real alcoholic wine for the Lord's table when they came to communion. And so it wasn't as if there wasn't drunkenness happening before this in history. Obviously, again, from Noah onward, people had been abusing this good gift of wine. So it wasn't like that wasn't an issue. That was present. And yet the church, for most of its history, used alcoholic wine for their communion. And so that's the first reason that we should at least be very slow, right? If the church has done something for 1,900 years, we should probably be slow to kick that fence over before we figure out, hey, why is that fence there? Why is that fence there in the first place? Okay, so history is a good argument. But if we were to leave it there that we should use wine, because we've always done it that way,

Why is that fence there in the first place? Okay, so history is a good argument. But if we were to leave it there that we should use wine, because we've always done it that way, obviously, all of the good Protestants in the room should, like, be readying their hammer and nail so they can start nailing their theseses to the door, because we're Protestants. soul of scriptura, right? We believe that the scriptures are the highest court of authority for life and doctrine, not the traditions of the church, however valuable they are. So what is written? That should be the question that we ask. And so number two, we ought to use wine for communion because it's biblical. It's biblical. The Lord Jesus instituted this feast that we come to every week with wine, not an alcoholic grape juice. And this is Matthew 26. If you'd look there with me to verse 17, we're going to read through the Lord's institution of this feast. Matthew 26, 17. We read now, on the first day of unleavened bread, the disciples came to Jesus, saying, where will you have us prepare for you to eat the Passover? They're coming to celebrate the Jewish feast of the Passover. And since Jesus was not just a good law-biting Jew, he actually fulfilled the law perfectly. Jesus kept the feasts of the Old Testament. So they're asking, where are we going to celebrate the Passover? Verse 18, he said, go into the city to a certain man and say to him,

Jesus kept the feasts of the Old Testament. So they're asking, where are we going to celebrate the Passover? Verse 18, he said, go into the city to a certain man and say to him, the teacher says, my time is at hand, I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples. He invites himself over. And the disciples did as Jesus had directed him, and they prepared the Passover. When it was evening, he reclined at the table with the 12, and as they were eating, he said, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me. And they were very sorrowful and began to say, to him one after the other. Is it I, Lord? He answered, he who has dipped his hand in the dish with me will betray me. The son of man goes, as it is written of him, but woe to him, or woe to that man by whom the son of man is betrayed. It would have been better for that man if he had not been born. Judas, who would betray him, answered, is it I, rabbi? He said to him, you have said so. Now, as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it, broke it. and gave it to the disciples and said, take, eat, this is my body. And he took a cup. And when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, drink of it all of you. For this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day, when I drink it new with you in my father's kingdom.

Jesus' blood is like that. It's the blood of a new covenant. That when he looks at those who are marked by his blood, that the angel of death and judgment passes over us and lets us live instead of die. That Jesus shed his blood to sprinkle us clean. That Jesus washes us by his blood. That Jesus shed his blood so that our blood need not be shed. Right? And we take this feast every week. We center our worship around the word and around this table. Why? Because it's not a naked memorial, meaning this isn't just a mere symbol, that though we don't believe there's an unbiblical idea that the bread and the wine turn into the literal physical body of Jesus and his literal physical blood. We reject that idea as contrary to scripture, but we do believe that Jesus' spiritual presence is actually here with us, that he is at this table with us as we come and remember him and look to his cross, that this is his table. And so every week, as we approach this table, we also look to 1 Corinthians 11. Maybe you've wondered about this. And we read part of this section where Paul wrote, whoever therefore eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. This is a serious, serious feast. But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord,

discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. This is a serious, serious feast. But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world. This is a serious place where we come to not just look to Jesus in his cross, but in looking to the cross, we inevitably have to look at our sin, right? Repent of our sin and come and confess our sin. Go before the throne of grace as we've seen in Hebrews to receive mercy and grace for our sin from our great high priest there who advocates for us and says, yes, give them mercy, cover them in my grace. Don't look at his record. Look at my righteousness. Look at my record. And so as a sidebar to our conversation this morning, this table is for who? This table is for believers. It's for believers who have trusted in Christ by faith, who have been baptized in obedience to the Lord's instruction. And when we've done that, this table is open to you. Whether you're visiting from another church every week or not, this table is for Christians. It's not the table of refuge church. It's the table of the Jesus. And so we invite our children to this table when they've believed and when they've been baptized. And we say, basically, it's as if the father invites us in his house and says, look, there's the waters of baptism, go wash up over there, and then come to the table for the meal, the family meal. It's the picture that we're seeing every week. God's saying, I would eat with

there's the waters of baptism, go wash up over there, and then come to the table for the meal, the family meal. It's the picture that we're seeing every week. God's saying, I would eat with you. I would eat with you. I would sit down with you as a friend, and I would share bread with you. Looking forward to this great feast when we will do this in the kingdom without sin present at all. All of what I've just said, that's the center of this feast. Okay, that's the center. But I want to point out something that's peripherally, fairly plain. No. No. No. No. I love kids. We love kids at refuge. Keep having them. Keep having them. Keep bringing them. I want to point out something plain that if we couldn't pasteurize the Jews till 1869, Jesus wasn't pouring welches. Okay, he didn't go to the Walmart and get the welches off the shelf and pour it in the cup and say, this is my, this juice is my blood. No, no, he was drinking wine. He was drinking wine. We know that this was real alcoholic wine because in 1st Corinthians 11, guess what the jacked up church in Corinth was doing? They were getting drunk at communion, which seems like a fairly serious sin. Paul had to rebuke them and say, some of you, when you come to this feast, some of you get drunk and some of you go hungry. Well, one of the implications of that, other than that the church is always been a very messy sort of thing and none of us should feel out of place so long as we're willing to say, I'm a sinner just like the Corinthians. Well, one of the implications is that, yes,

always been a very messy sort of thing and none of us should feel out of place so long as we're willing to say, I'm a sinner just like the Corinthians. Well, one of the implications is that, yes, they used wine. And so we ought not to substitute what the Lord implemented in this feast for our own replacement, right? We ought to just follow what he did. He instituted it this way. He's the Lord of Creation. Not only did he institute it, he's the one who invented the grape in the first place. He knew it was going to happen. He knew it. He knew it. He invented. He invented it. He invented. yeast and grape and he put the two together and he watched and he said, just wait, something glorious is going to happen. And that's the third reason. We should use wine for this feast, not only because of the context directly in the Lord's Supper passages where wine was clearly used, but because of how wine is represented and of what wine represents throughout the scripture. There's a reason biblically that Jesus used wine. In fact, we could say obviously, well, it was calling back to the Passover. Well, there was a reason that Jesus used wine even deeper than that. This wasn't a random selection of a beverage. This wasn't a random selection. He couldn't have just grabbed a bottle of orange juice or our LDS neighbors used water in their version of the Lord's table. He couldn't have just grabbed a can of Coke, not because it hadn't been invented only, but because it wouldn't mean the same thing. If you read the Bible and you were to circle every time

going? I've never read that in my Bible. Yes, you have. If you've read your Bible, you've seen this. Think about the sermons that wine preaches in Scripture. As we began the sermon this morning in Psalm 105, 14, and 15, what did it say? That God gave wine to gladden the hearts of men. when you sit down at your dinner table and you open a nice bordeaux and you poured in your glass with your ribby steak, I'm not going to go down the ribby steak side trail, I promise you. And you eat them together and you think that's glorious. And your heart lifts. God intended for that to happen. That was part of God's intention when he invented wine. Psalmist tells us that God gave wine to glad in the hearts of men. What does that preach to us? Well, it preaches what all of God's good gifts preach to us, right? That our father is not as many pagans would have us believe a miser in heaven just hoping that we won't do anything that's enjoyable. And as soon as we do, he's like scribbling it down, I better write a law against that. They found a new way to have fun. Uh-oh. That's not what father's like. Good fathers aren't like that. Our father in heaven is not like that. Our father in heaven is not like that. Our father in heaven smiles over his people as they enjoy the feast and the cup and the marriage bed and music and dancing. Some of the old school Baptists in the room are like,

Our father in heaven smiles over his people as they enjoy the feast and the cup and the marriage bed and music and dancing. Some of the old school Baptists in the room are like, he's going to say card playing next. Just wait. God is not the God of stale bread and lukewarm water. Yes, the proverbs tell us that it's better to have a house full of harmony with the bitter herb and the stale bread than a houseful of strife with feasting. But you know what's better than both of those? A houseful of harmony with the Lord and with our neighbor and feasting. That's the best. That's the house. In fact, that's the house he's bringing us to, we'll see. Even the alcoholic, intoxicating elements of alcohol and wine preach something particular in Scripture. They preach judgment. In fact, the cup of God's wrath for sin in the Old Testament and the New Testament is called the cup of staggering in Isaiah 51, Psalm 60, Psalm 75. It's called the cup of the wrath of God in Jeremiah 25 in Revelation 14. What does that mean? That the cup of God's wrath that the Lord Jesus drank for us so that he could give us the cup of his friendship was not an inert cup. It was the cup that made men stagger. It was a potent cup. Even the alcoholic nature of wine preaches to us

cup that made men stagger. It was a potent cup. Even the alcoholic nature of wine preaches to us about the judgment of God for sin. Wine preaches as well, this feast that is to come with the Lord, the wedding supper of the lamb in Revelation 19, 6 through 9. prophesied in Isaiah chapter 25 verse 6 it says on this mountain, Yahweh, the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of welches great, no, a feast of well-aged wine, the good stuff. He goes back and he says, what's the best year? Bring out those bottles from my winery. Of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well-refined. Wine preaches as well, through the first miracle, public miracle of the Lord Jesus in his earthly ministry that God is in Christ filling up the cup of legal requirement and condemnation with the gladness of forgiveness and grace. You may remember the wedding feast at Cana. Jesus had not begun his public ministry. He goes to a wedding feast which is a week-long celebration, and the bride and the groom are on the verge of being shamed because they've run out of wine. And you don't do that. That's your job. Groom. Provide wine. And so Jesus' mother comes to Jesus and she says, Jesus, can you do anything about this? And he says, it's not my time yet. And she pleads with him and Jesus says, okay, bring the ceremonial

And so Jesus' mother comes to Jesus and she says, Jesus, can you do anything about this? And he says, it's not my time yet. And she pleads with him and Jesus says, okay, bring the ceremonial washing jars full of water, full of over 100 gallons of water. And what does he do? He turns over 100 gallons of water into the best, finest, wine, potent, unmixed. Ceremonial washing jars, don't miss that. What's that preaching? I'm filling up. the ceremonial washing of the law that can only, like water, remove dirt from the body, I'm filling that up with my blood. I'm filling that up with my wine. What does my wine do? It fills up the law. It can do what water can do. It can do something better than water can do. Not just remove dirt from the body, but satisfy the commands and make a wedding feast from shame. Wine preaches. Okay, all of that bringing it together at the heart of this sermon that God wrote into the grape. What is it? What is wine? It's crushed grape and it's leaven. What is that telling us? That the grape that is crushed is the grape that is exalted. That the Lord Jesus is like that. This is imagery straight out of the book of Revelation. That the Lord Jesus was crushed for us, that his blood was shed so that he might be exalted to rule. And until he was crushed, he could not bring us to glory. But he was crushed and he does bring us to glory. But he was crushed and he does bring us to glory.

that we're going to do. First, I'm going to this morning take a few minutes the rest of our time and answer what I think are the three most common what ifs or concerns or what abouts that may be percolate in your mind. And then as well, second, I'm issuing a free invitation. If you have a concern about this, you're like, I didn't grow up that way. I'm concerned about that. I still have questions. Come up after the service, number one. But be at the business meeting number two. 3.30. That's a family meeting. If you call refuge home, please. be there. Not just for this, for all kinds of reasons, but please be there because we have an open forum for questions. I think any of your questions there, the elders will, not just me, the elders will answer any questions that you have, and we'd love to address those things with you if you have questions that I haven't answered by the end of the sermon or at the end of our time today. So, that being said, three most common questions that I've heard when floating this idea. What do you guys think about? Maybe we put in a little wine for our welches that people like. one. What about the kids? Right? You're thinking, Brian, like a year ago, whatever it was, you said we're lowering the kids ministry age so that all the kids, you know, above six, and we have lots of kids under six in the room as well, are going to be in the room. I see your nefarious plan. You get all the kids in the room, and then you give them a bunch of alcohol. What's wrong with you? That's not very pastoral. So, well, actually, that's exactly what we're doing. I think it is. What about kids? And my first

kids in the room, and then you give them a bunch of alcohol. What's wrong with you? That's not very pastoral. So, well, actually, that's exactly what we're doing. I think it is. What about kids? And my first answer would be kids are most welcome to this table. Kids are most welcome to this table. When they enter through faith in Christ, through the waters of baptism, children are most welcome at this table. The Lord Jesus loves, delights, to welcome children to himself, particularly your children. Did you know that? Deuteronomy 7.9. Maybe you're like, that's Old Testament. Is this for us? Well, well, yes, first, second Corinthians chapter one, Paul tells us something very important. important, that when we come to the promises of the Old Testament, we don't say those were for ethnic Israel, not for us. No, we say that in Christ, all of those promises find their yes and their amen. And I am in Christ, and so those promises are for me as well. God's true sons of Abraham. So what about kids? Well, in Deuteronomy 7.9, we're told that not only does God delight to keep his covenant with you, who love him, you who love him, who's that. God's regenerate. born again, by the spirit, new heart, heart of flesh, God's law, written on your heart, Christians, that for those who love him, God delights to show his covenant faithfulness to the

born again, by the spirit, new heart, heart of flesh, God's law, written on your heart, Christians, that for those who love him, God delights to show his covenant faithfulness to the thousandth generation. So raise your kids in the faith. You have strong promises. You have strong promises of the Lord to look back on and say, the God that saved me tells me that he delights to keep his covenant, not just to my children, but to my God. great, great, great fill in 99 grandchildren. It's like 40,000 years down the road, just say no. That's the kind of God that we serve. He's that level of covenant faithfulness. He delights to show his mercy in his covenant faithfulness to our children. What that means is that he delights to save our children from their sin. He loves to do that. So Ephesians 6'4 fathers, don't provoke your children to anger, but raise them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Why? Because you have strong promises to look back on and say, I'm not doing this in vain, right? I'm not doing this under my own strength. I'm not just hoping that maybe God will, no, God said that he delights to do this. And so when your children believe the gospel, around your dinner table, in catechism class, here on Sundays, and when they come through the waters of baptism, then they are welcome at this table. They're just as welcome as this table as the seasoned Christian who's been saved for 50 years,

here on Sundays, and when they come through the waters of baptism, then they are welcome at this table. They're just as welcome as this table as the seasoned Christian who's been saved for 50 years, just as welcome, because this is not a table. table of our merit. It's not a table of our earning. It's a table of God's family meal that he invites us in through Christ. The church has literally been doing this for over 1,900 years. I know that some of our modern concepts make us slightly uncomfortable with the idea of giving children alcoholic wine at 10 a.m. The church has been doing this for 1,900 plus years. The small amount of wine they receive at communion, won't hurt them in any way whatsoever. And I know that, not just medically, I know that because this is a table that the Lord instituted and called his people to, and the Lord does not call his people to harm. He doesn't call them to do things that are going to harm them. He only ever instructs us for our good and for his glory. And so, just in case, you were wondering, even though I don't think we should actually care if the Lord gives us clear instructions, it's also legal in the state of Utah to do this. It is legal. Most states in the United States allow children to come and drink wine at communion for religious purposes. Once again, shall we obey God rather than men, or men rather than God know, even if they came and said, hey, you're not allowed to do that. We should say, well, Jesus said I did, and he, you know,

evident. They're obvious. Anybody can see these. What are they? Sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalry, rivalry, dissentions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. And then he gives us warning. This is serious. I warn you, as I warned you before Galatians, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Drunkenness is a sin, and the only solution to this sin is repentance. When we're faced with human misuses of God's good gifts, however, what are our natural and first instincts almost always to do? thing we tend to do is pass the blame. We make an excuse to excuse us from culpability for that sin, and then we pass a law or institute a ban. But think about what that would be like if we did that with God's other good gifts. Right? Martin Luther, the reformer, he famously wrote this in a letter to one of his friends. Do not suppose that abuses are eliminated by destroying the object which is abused. Men can go wrong with wine and women. Shall we then? then prohibit and abolish women. He says, the sun, the moon, and the stars have been worshipped. Shall we then pluck them out of the sky? Here's what he's getting at. Biblically, we do not deal with the abuse of God's good gifts of lawful things by universally prohibiting the object of the

Shall we then pluck them out of the sky? Here's what he's getting at. Biblically, we do not deal with the abuse of God's good gifts of lawful things by universally prohibiting the object of the abuse, but rather by bringing the abuser to Jesus to be transformed in his desires. There's only one thing that can actually do this. It's the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And ever since the garden, we have been developing elaborate strategies to go anywhere other than the gospel of Jesus Christ to deal with our sin. Adam, where are you? Did you eat of the tree that I told you not to? Well, Lord, it was the woman that you gave me. I'm not really morally culpable, Lord, because you put me in this garden and you gave me this beautiful woman and she brought this fruit to me, and it was you and it was her. I didn't do it. Okay, I ate the fruit, but that wasn't my fault. Was it? Yes. It was Adam's response. And we go on, and I know this might hurt, but hear me out. God, I'm not a drunk, I struggle with the disease of alcoholism. It's a disease. See, would you tell a cancer patient to repent? It's a disease. It's an ism. It's not a sin. I need treatment, not repentance. Right? Yes, those who sin chronically in drunkenness will need medical intervention in order to repent.

to repent? It's a disease. It's an ism. It's not a sin. I need treatment, not repentance. Right? Yes, those who sin chronically in drunkenness will need medical intervention in order to repent. of their sin when they wean themselves, when they're weaned off of alcohol. But it's inward transformation of heart and of desire that's the root issue, not external legislation. And we've been so steeped in this terminology of alcoholic alcoholism instead of drunk, drunkenness. Those are the language of the scriptures. Drunkard, drunkenness, not alcoholic syndrome, disease, instead of sinful condition. Some of you are probably offended with how I'm talking right now. because of this. I want you to stop and look at that offense and think, where is that coming from? Is that coming because I've been categorized by the categories of the world, in the language of the world, rather than with the scriptures? And I think you'll find that that is the case. But the Bible tells us emphatically and repeatedly that what we do not need is psychology. We don't just need another doctor, those things can be helpful. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 6, do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? He says, do not be deceived neither the sexually immoral

unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? He says, do not be deceived neither the sexually immoral similar or less than he says, nor drunkards will inherit the kingdom of God. Drunkards will not inherit the kingdom of God. They need the repentance of faith, not a special category of Christianity carved out for them that allows them to marry an identity declaration like alcoholic with an identity declaration like a Christian. There are no alcoholic Christians. There are only Christians. When the Lord changes our identity, he supersedes all human identity categories, all human identity categories. The solution to the sin of drunkenness is given in the very next verse. It's not continued identification with the old category. I'm an alcoholic for life. Unbiblical. No, you are not. If you are a Christian and you've repented of your sin, you are not. alcoholic. You are no longer a drunkard. You are a new creation in Christ. He says, and such were some of you. You used to be a pervert. You used to be a swindler. And you are going to hell because of it. Because of what you did and what you desired to do. But the Lord Jesus has come. He's taken out your heart of flesh. Your heart of stone. He's given you a heart of flesh. He's internalized the law on you. He's given you his spirit. And now you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of our God.

that causes your brother to stumble. Maybe you think, what about that verse? There's a whole sermon on Romans 14 that I actually really would like to preach. And I realized about yesterday that we didn't have time to preach two or three sermons. I only had time for one this morning and God willing will get to the book of Romans in the future. But for the sake of our discussion now, it's important. important that we back up and we don't try to make Paul and Romans 14 argue with Paul in 1 Corinthians 11. But it's important that we back up and we don't let our theology end up putting Paul in Romans 14 into a boxing ring with Paul in 1st Corinthians 11 and say, who wins? Because that's not how this works. The same Paul wrote both of those texts. There are principles underneath that tell us how we are to deal with them. And this is what I would tell you. Abstaining from alcohol is absolutely permissible in your day-to-day life. Don't take anything that I'm saying if your conscience doesn't allow you to drink through in your day-to-day life, any kind of alcohol, don't. Don't sin against your conscience. Don't start having wine with dinner if it stumbles your conscience. Romans 14 does allow us in our day-to-day life if we feel particular temptation in this area or live with those who do to abstain out of love for our brother. But it's clear that Paul is not saying that the local church as a corporate body ought to abstain from wine for communion since he teaches the use of wine as a universal in 1 Corinthians 11.

that the local church as a corporate body ought to abstain from wine for communion since he teaches the use of wine as a universal in 1 Corinthians 11. So Romans 14 may lead you not to serve alcohol at certain meetings if certain guests are present as it does in our home, but it shouldn't lead you to rework the ordinances of the church if somebody objects. It's also clear that we can't make Romans 14 into an argument that any consumption of wine at any time or alcohol is sinful because it might stumble somebody somewhere theoretically. is the Christian who says that all alcohol consumption is sin and that the Bible, the wine in the Bible times wasn't alcoholic or any of those kinds of arguments. They're just mistaken. They're just wrong. And I can show you that they're wrong because the Lord Jesus drank wine and the Lord Jesus served wine to others. If that was sinful in itself, then the Lord Jesus would be a sinner and he could not have saved us. But obviously that's heresy. The Lord Jesus gives us an example here of how to receive God's good gifts without sitting with them. And lastly, the goal for our weaker brothers is that they would ultimately be strengthened by grace through the ministry of the word and fellowship so that their conscience would be freed from extra biblical legal requirements so they could enjoy with a clean conscience. That's the ultimate goal. It's not that we would all become weaker brothers. It's that the weaker brothers would become stronger brothers. And again, we know this

enjoy with a clean conscience. That's the ultimate goal. It's not that we would all become weaker brothers. It's that the weaker brothers would become stronger brothers. And again, we know this because by the end, there will be no weaker brothers left. The wedding supper of the land, when we're all glorified and our desires are perfectly conformed to the desires of Christ. We will all sit down and nobody will abstain from wine. We will all have a glass of wine. Isaiah 25, Wedding Supper of the Lamb. We will all be feasting at that supper together. And maybe you're wondering to yourself, why does this matter? Right? This seems to be straining at gnats. Here's why. Obeying God and how he's asked us to worship him is all. always an issue at the center and not the periphery of our theology. Obeying God and how he's instructed us to worship him, that's a central issue, not a peripheral issue. It's never a peripheral issue. In fact, so serious was it that in the Old Testament, when some of the men of Israel brought strange fire in worship to the Lord, he killed them for worshipping him in a way contrary to how he instructed them to worship him. The table of the Lord's Supper comes with similar warnings. Some of you have died because you've taken this cup, and this bread in an unworthy manner. You've come with known serious, unrepentant sin, and you've continued to drink from this cup and taking this bread. And in doing so, you are drinking judgment on yourself, Paul said, and some of you are dead. That is in the

and you've continued to drink from this cup and taking this bread. And in doing so, you are drinking judgment on yourself, Paul said, and some of you are dead. That is in the Bible, the New Testament, the instruction of the Apostle Paul. It's a serious feast. How we worship God is central, not peripheral. When God's people begin to allow unbiblical legalisms to creep into our thinking in fellowship and worship. It dulls our witness. It fetters us. Fetters our freedom. It limits our fruitfulness. It's easy to say, why not grape juice? Isn't it easier than controversy? Isn't that a small thing? And then I would ask, if we're free to substitute that, why not water like our Mormon neighbors? Are there any other areas where we're allowed to exchange God's instructions and worship to him for other instructions that we find more palatable, culturally? And the answer is, God forbid. No, we should not want to do that. When extra-biblical legalisms creep into a church, they do what rabbits and rules always do, which is multiply. You've probably noticed that. Almost all of us have an experience of some kind of church life at some point where the legalisms had multiplied to such an extent that pretty soon there was no dancing, no feasting, no card playing, all kinds of rules that didn't have a verse attached to them? Multiplied. What does that do? It fetters us. It preaches falsehoods about the Lord Jesus. And that's tragic because we serve a God

said, glory, let's preach with this wine and this supper. Our hope is that whether today or over the next months and years, that those would eventually become unnecessary as they were for most of church history, and that we would be able to take this feast with a clean conscience as it was originally intended completely. And finally, this is my last thing, I swear, and then I'm going stop speaking. Think about the name of this feast. What is this? It's communion. What is communion? Communion is fellowship. Why is it called that? It's called that because in this feast, we are all being strengthened by the same food. Eating with somebody is serious business in scripture. It means that you are becoming the same thing. You're being strengthened by the same food to go out and live your life, strengthened by the same meal. What is the meal we're being strengthened in? our Lord. What we're preaching in this meal is that we're one body in communion with Jesus vertically, and because of our vertical relationship with Jesus, we have horizontal peace with one another. And so here's my last warning. It would be the height of folly for us to break our communion over communion. That would be one of the most ridiculous things that we could possibly do. This is a meal of our fellowship with Christ and our fellowship with others. So you are free to have concerns and issues of what we're not free to do is divide. Please, please don't be argumentative or divisive

our fellowship with Christ and our fellowship with others. So you are free to have concerns and issues of what we're not free to do is divide. Please, please don't be argumentative or divisive about this meal and about the elements of it. And so that said, come to the business meeting tonight, come up afterward if you have more questions. I'd love to pray and speak with you more about this. But let's pray and ask the Lord to bless our meal and then come to the Lord's table together. Father God, we do thank you that in you, therefore, since you've, we have peace with God by faith in that we can not just come to you, but come to each other, that we have peace across sin with each other. We have fellowship in this body. Lord, thank you for giving your body on the cross so that we could become united as your body, for shedding your blood for us so that we could be forgiven our sin. Lord, let not a day or a week pass that we don't marvel afresh at the glory of the cross, at the glory of what these elements of the Lord's table point us to. Lord, lift our eyes, glorify that work of Jesus in our midst, and we do ask, Lord, that you would give us humble hearts towards one another and towards your word, and we ask all these things in Jesus' name for His glory and our joy.

would give us humble hearts towards one another and towards your word, and we ask all these things in Jesus' name for His glory and our joy.

in Jesus' name for His glory and our joy.