Communion Special Part 1

Transcript of FLOT Line Episode 592 aired on January 1, 2017

Good morning and welcome to the FLOT Line. I’m your host Rick Hughes and for the next few
minutes, please stay with me. I’m going to offer you 30 minutes of motivation, inspiration,
education, all of it being done without any type of manipulation. No games, no gimmicks, no con
artists here, no solicitations, we’re just asking you to give us some time. Listen as I try to verify
and identify the plan of God for your life and if I can do this then you have the freedom, the free
will to orient and adjust to the plan if you’d like to, that’s up to you. We’ve been on the air over
10 years in many cities across the country. Always here, not with human speculation but with
some Biblical revelation as to how the Christian life works and what it’s all about, building a
FLOT line in your soul, a main line of resistance, an analogy to a forward line of troops. Paul did
this in the Bible when he talked about putting on the armor of God and standing against the
strategy of the devil. We’re trying to show you there are at least 10 problem-solving devices
found in the Bible and if you learn them and use them, then you form a main line of resistance.
You can stop the outside sources of adversity before they ever become the inside sources of
stress. Remember adversity is inevitable, stress is optional and remember bad decisions limit
future options. One of the worst decisions that we make is to ignore the mandates of God. Often
you may wonder why you suffer, why you go through certain things. We do suffer often because
of our own bad decisions. We mismanage our money, our health, our personal relationships and
they indeed cause a great deal of suffering and this suffering does indeed create stress in your
life, worry, fear, anxiety, etc. There is something else too.
When we ignore the mandate of God
in regard to communion, when we don’t pay any attention to what the Bible teaches about
communion, we invite discipline into our lives as per 1 Corinthians 11:27 and 29.
We’ll
cover that in this next study or so but before I get to that passage, I want to talk to you a little bit
about the communion table. I don’t know how often you take communion in your church. That’s
none of my business but I encourage you to take communion if you are a believer because Jesus
our Lord told us in Luke 22:19-20 to remember Him and He gave the disciples the bread and the
cup.
He [Jesus Christ] wanted them to remember Him by having this last meal with them
and giving them communion. So the communion service is a remembrance service. It’s a
test, it’s a test of what you remember.
Many times people take communion and don’t really
remember anything. Some people even nod off during communion. Some people don’t know
what to think, I mean their mind may wander as they wait for the bread to be passed to them or
they wait for the cup to come to them. They just let their mind drift and let their mind wander
and they don’t really focus on anything. I want to teach you today what you should focus on
when you take communion. When the bread for example is passed to you, what you should be
remembering, what you should be thinking about. This is critical when Jesus said,
“Do this in
remembrance of Me.”
So communion is a test. It’s a test to see what you remember and it’s also a
test to see that you do it accurately. I’m going to go over first, what we should remember and
592-Communion-Special-p1-transcript.pdf
then I’ll go over, maybe not this class, maybe next week, I’ll go over how we do it inaccurately.
How if we get it wrong, we wind up suffering because of this. So let’s start off with the bread. In
your church maybe they give you a wafer or some piece of bread. I don’t know what they give
you but when they give you that piece of bread or that wafer and the pastor says, “Take and eat
and do this in remembrance of Me,” what are you actually remembering? Remember this, you
probably should write this down and if you don’t, you should write to me and let me send you
this disc with these messages on it so you’ll know what to remember.
The bread represents the
body of Jesus Christ our Lord and our Savior, the anointed Son of God.
When we take the
bread, we’re remembering the body of Christ, okay? There are some things we have to remember
about the body of Christ that are unique, that make Him very unique, not like any other person in
the universe and that’s the first thing you should remember and pray about. See that’s what
communion is about. You bow your head, you have that wafer in your hand, and you’re
remembering until the pastor tells you, “Take and eat.” You’re remembering first of all, the virgin
birth. The virgin birth, it’s critical that you remember this
. Remember Jesus Christ was born of
a virgin and therefore had nothing to do with sin.
Why is it necessary that He be virgin born?
The reason is because Adam’s original sin is the origin of sin in the human race and Jesus our
Lord could have nothing to do with sin or He would not have been the qualified Redeemer. He
would not have been the Lamb without spot and without blemish and so Romans 5:12 tells us
this.
“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin, and now death has
passed on all because all have sinned.”
Not Christ, He was not born of a man, He was born of a
virgin. No man had anything to do with His birth. Listen to Matthew 1:18-25.
“Now the birth of
Jesus was on this wise. When as His mother Mary was espoused to Joseph before they came
together
[this means before they had sexual intercourse, before they came together]
she was
found with child of the Holy Spirit and then Joseph her husband being a just man and not willing
to make her a public example was minded to put her away privately. But while he thought upon
these things, behold the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream saying, ‘Joseph, you son
of David, fear not to take unto you Mary thy wife for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy
Spirit and she shall bring forth a Son and you will call His name Jesus, for He shall save His
people from their sins.’ Now all of this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of by
the Lord by the prophet saying these words, ‘Behold, a virgin shall be with child and shall bring
forth a Son. They shall call His name Emmanuel which is being interpreted, God with us.’ Then
Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him and took unto him
his wife and he knew her not
[this means he had no sexual relationships with her, he knew her
not]
until she had brought forth her firstborn Son and he called His name Jesus.”
The fact that
no man had anything to do with Mary’s pregnancy is indeed proof positive that our Lord did not
receive the imputation of Adam’s original sin upon His birth because this sin nature is passed
down through the man and had Jesus been conceived by the seed of Joseph, He would have
received Joseph’s sin nature. Had the Lord been conceived by the act of procreation then Joseph
would have given Him his sin nature and we would have had a flawed Savior and our Savior
592-Communion-Special-p1-transcript.pdf
would then have been in the same boat as we are in, the boat needing redemption. Thank
goodness our Father planned a miracle, a miracle birth of virgin conception. Now we know that
Mary eventually copulated with Joseph. She had at least two more daughters and four other sons,
six children by Joseph altogether, we know this. When you take communion you are reflecting
on this fact.
When you hold that piece of bread in your hand one thing you should
remember is that without the virgin birth there would be no redemption of sinners and the
justice of God would never be satisfied, thus we could not be saved. That bread represents
His virgin birth.
Remember this.
Secondly, remember that bread represents His
celebrityship.
Superficial human celebrityship is nothing compared to the true celebrity of the
universe which is Christ our Lord. When we consider the impact of this event, we realize that no
other person’s birth in the history of the world was announced by a messenger from God,
nobody. No messenger from God announced anyone’s birth except Jesus. Listen to Luke 2:8-14
identifying the real celebrity of the universe.
“And there were in the same country shepherds
abiding in the field keeping watch over their flock by night. And low, the angel of the Lord came
upon them and the glory of the Lord shone round about them and they were very afraid. And the
angel said unto them, ‘Fear not, for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be
to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the
Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you, and you shall find the Babe wrapped in swaddling
clothes, lying in a manger.’ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly
host praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace and goodwill
towards men.’”
Divine celebrityship is much more recognized than human celebrity status. In the
year 2016 many celebrities have passed away and people mourned their passing because they
looked up to and admired them. Jesus was the only divine celebrity and He has not passed away.
He is alive and He’s awaiting the shouted order of His Father to return. He [Jesus Christ] is a true
celebrity since He is indeed the Son of God and His life and popularity are recognized today.
Jesus Christ is the most influential person in the history of the world.
Yes celebrityship, that
piece of bread represents His celebrityship. That piece of bread represents His virgin birth. That
piece of bread represents His impeccability, I.M.P.E.C.C.A.B.I.L.I.T.Y. This concept recognizes
that during the entire duration of His human life while He was on this planet, He never sinned.
Even though He was tempted just like you and just like me, He never sinned. You know, as God
He was not able to sin but as man, He was able to sin not. The Latin term
non posse peccare,
not
able to sin, and then
posse non peccare,
able to sin not.
As God He was not able to sin. As man
He was able to sin not. Had He sinned, then His act of redemption would have been
insufficient.
He could not have redeemed us had He sinned. He was not a sinner, He never
sinned, He was impeccable. Matthew 4:1-11,
“Then Jesus was led of the Spirit into the
wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, He was
afterward very hungry and the tempter came and said, ‘If You’re really the Son of God, command
these stones to be made into bread.’ Jesus answered and said, ‘It is written, man shall not live by
bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.’ Then the devil took Him
592-Communion-Special-p1-transcript.pdf
up to the holy city and set Him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to Him, ‘If you’re the Son
of God, cast Yourself down. For it is written, He shall give His angels charge concerning You
and in their hands they shall bear You up lest at any time You dash Your foot, even against a
stone.’ And Jesus replied, ‘It is written, you shall not tempt the Lord your God.’ So then the devil
took Him up to an exceedingly high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and
the glory of all of these kingdoms and he said unto Him, ‘All these things I will give You if You
will fall down and worship me.’ Then said Jesus unto him, ‘Get thee hence Satan, for it is written,
‘Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.’ And then the devil left
Him and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.”
Three times our Lord was tempted in an
unbelievable way by the devil, a way that you and I probably would have failed especially that
part about giving you all the kingdoms of the world. Maybe you would have bought into this one
too. Did you notice how our Lord always quoted Scripture?
Scripture was the strength that
Jesus Christ had in His soul.
He knew His Father’s Word and this is not the only time that He
was tempted. My goodness, the Pharisees, the scribes, the religious people, the lawyers, they all
went after Him. They all plotted His death. They all wanted to murder Him. He told the disciples,
“I’m going to be crucified. I’m going to be killed, but you will see Me alive, don’t worry. Just
pick up your cross and follow Me.” Yes, when you hold that bread in your hand you are thinking
about a virgin born Savior. You are thinking about an impeccable person. You are thinking about
the only true celebrity of the universe, Jesus Christ, and you should be thinking about Him being
the King of kings.
That bread represents Jesus, the King of kings.
In 1 Timothy 6:15 the Bible
says,
“Which in His time He shall show who is the blessed and only potentate, the King of kings
and the Lord of lords.”
His title over all of humanity is King of kings and His title over all the
angels is Lord of lords. He’s divine royalty, Jewish royalty directly descended from David,
battlefield royalty by victory of the resurrection, the ascension, and being seated at the right hand
of the Father. Thus His title throughout the Bible is King of kings, Lord of lords, and the Bright
Morning Star. In Hebrews 1:3,
“Who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of
His person and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had Himself purged our
sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.”
In Hebrews 1:13,
“But to which of
the angels said the Father at any time, ‘Sit on My right hand until I make thine enemies thy
footstool?’”
In 1 Timothy 1:17,
“Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise
God be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.”
Jesus, the King of kings. Jesus, the Lord of
lords. Jesus, the Bright Morning Star. You should remember this. Did you write them down? Are
you holding that piece of bread in your hand? Are you thinking about His virgin birth and
thanking the Father for this? Are you thinking about His celebrityship and how He was
worshiped? Are you thinking about His impeccability? Are you thinking about the fact that He’s
the King of kings and the Lord of lords? Think about this one, He is hypostatic union. In the
person of Jesus Christ there are two natures, divine and human, inseparably united without
mixture, no loss of separate identity, without loss or transfer of properties or attributes, the union
being personal and eternal. The Orthodox term that we use for this in theology is theanthropic. It
592-Communion-Special-p1-transcript.pdf
means the God-man.
He is the most unique person in the universe, undiminished deity, true
humanity, in one body forever, hypostatic union.
You can’t kill God, you know this, but as
man, He laid His life down as a substitute for us. He’s in heaven today, the only one in heaven in
a resurrection body, King of kings and Lord of lords, resurrected in heaven. The Bible tells us
this. The Bible says clearly in John 1:1-2,
“In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with
God and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.”
Jesus is God. Jesus is a
human, He is the God-man. Philippians 2:5-11 says,
“Let this mind be in you which was also in
Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but
made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Himself the form of a servant, and was made in
the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself and became
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him
and given Him a name which is above every name. That at the name of Jesus every knee should
bow, things in heaven and things in earth, things under the earth and that every tongue should
confess that Jesus is the Lord to the glory of God the Father.”
Hypostatic union, virgin birth,
wow, can you remember these things? When you put that piece of bread in your hand, before you
put it in your mouth, before the pastor says, “This do in remembrance of Me,” can you remember
this?
Remember He is virgin born, He is the only true celebrity, He was impeccable, He is
the King of kings, the Lord of lords, and is hypostatic union, God-man in one body forever.
This is what the bread that you put in your mouth represents. This is what you are to remember
Him by. That’s what we have communion for, to remember His work. What about the cup? When
you take that little cup and before you drink that little cup and the pastor says, “It is our tradition
that we all retain the cup until all have been served.” What’s in that cup? Well it’s some juice and
what is that juice representing?
First of all the juice represents the removal of the barrier
between God and man. Apart from the impeccability or the sinless perfection of Christ,
there could be no removal of the barrier between God and man.
His impeccability had to
happen before we could be reconciled. Listen to Hebrews 2,
“For as much then as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood, He Himself also took part of the same, that through death He
may destroy the one that had power over death,”
that is the devil. Jesus Christ our Lord came to
this earth for the express purpose of removing the barrier between God and man. That’s why your
human solutions are no solution. Only the divine solution could resolve this problem.
The
spiritual death of Christ on the cross which is the identification with our sin, is the very
thing that satisfied the justice of God and God being propitiated.
He was satisfied. Simply
put, let me put it this way, the perfect righteousness of God could not accept the relative
righteousness of man and so the barrier in order to be removed, Romans 5:8,
“God commended
His love towards us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
This act of substitution
provided peace between God and man. Man was reconciled to God, the barrier removed. God
was satisfied by the payment made by His Son and thus 2 Corinthians 5:19,
“To this witness God
was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them and
hath committed unto us the very word of reconciliation.”
Wow, reconciliation, the removal of the
592-Communion-Special-p1-transcript.pdf
barrier, when you start to take that cup remember this, the barrier was removed. Remember
imputation, given over to, assigned to, ascribed to. You see this is a real imputation and a judicial
imputation, there are two of them in the Bible. God the Father imputed our sins to His Son on the
cross, that’s a judicial imputation. When we believe in Christ, His righteousness is imputed to us,
a judicial imputation. Listen to 2 Corinthians 5:18.
“All things are of God who has reconciled us
to Himself by Jesus Christ and given unto us the ministry of reconciliation,”
this is the same
verse I quoted earlier, so that we could have this ministry to the world. He reconciled us to God.
His imputation, and we are given His righteousness. He was given our sin and God was satisfied,
the barrier was removed and justification took place. It is the official judicial act which occurs
every time anybody believes in Christ. The justice of God acts on your behalf, it pronounces you
justified. This means you have a relationship with God forever. Why? Because you have the
perfect righteousness of Christ imputed to you. That’s the righteousness God recognizes, not your
own righteousness. Remember justification is not any forgiveness. Forgiveness is a matter of
subtraction. Justification is a matter of addition. By grace you are justified, you are sanctified,
and that’s a technical theological term, to be set apart as a member of the royal family of God.
It’s your status quo, you’ve been set apart for a special purpose. You have been made heir to all
that Christ is heir to. You have been adopted into God’s royal family forever. You have eternal
life, eternal security, eternal destiny because of the work of Christ on the cross. Sanctification,
hagiazo,
the Greek word.
“And this is the record that God has given to us eternal life and this
life is in His Son,”
1 John 5:11.
“He that has the Son has life, he that hath not the Son of God
hath not life.”
Not only have you been sanctified and set apart, you been redeemed, redeemed
out of the slave market of sin. Jesus Christ paid for your freedom. He purchased you, He is your
redeemer. Ephesians 1:7,
“In whom we have redemption through His blood and the forgiveness
of sins.” “For as much as you know
[1 Peter 1:18]
that you were not redeemed with corruptible
things such as silver or gold from your vain conversation received by tradition, but with the
precious blood of Christ, as of a Lamb without blemish and without spot.”
You are going to take
communion?
Remember when you take that cup, the barrier was removed between God
and man, the imputation of His righteousness to you and your sin to Him. Remember
justification, God justified you. Remember sanctification, you were set apart. Remember
redemption, you were redeemed.
These are the things you remember. These are the things you
should scroll through your mind and pray and thank God for every time you partake of the
communion elements.
When you sit there numb, with your mind wandering and drifting, not
knowing what it’s all about except this ritual without any reality to it, it’s an embarrassment and
an insult to the character of God. If you don’t know what you’re doing, why are you even doing
it? I hope you’re paying attention because next week we’re going to show you what happens
when you do it the wrong way and how you can suffer big time for not obeying God when it
comes to doing communion in the right way. Until then, this is your host Rick Hughes saying
thank you for listening to the FLOT Line