Well, if you'd turn with me in
your Bibles to John chapter 18. I love to think of how absolutely
powerful and sovereign our God is, and I was thankful for Simon
so wonderfully reminding us of that again and again. It's amazing,
isn't it? The Lord Jesus Christ was the
Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world, and the Lord Jesus
Christ is the one, as Simon would have read if he read on, but
He's the one that created all things, were made by Him, and
without Him was not anything made, that was made. Isn't it
amazing to think that when he created this world and then flooded
it and then in a sense recreated it when the mountains rose up
and all of the landscape we have in this world today is a post-flood
landscape according to the Word of God. And so he raised up the
mountains and the waters came off and the mountains were formed
and the valleys were formed and one of those valleys that he
formed was the valley Kidron. And the mountains that he formed
on either side of the Valley Kidron were the place of Jerusalem
and the place of the Mount of Olives. And he created the olive
trees and he created the man to use the olive press and make
the olive press there. He did it all, didn't he? He
did it all. And our God cannot change. Our God has no reason to change. And what he determined eternally
to be done is what is being done. As much as we are in awe and
wonder at the creative power of our God in that first creation,
you go out and you look at the stars. My son's out from England
and there are almost zero stars in foggy, smoggy England. We spent an hour or a bit of
time out watching the moon rise and seeing the stars the other
night. And as much of a wonder it is
that the Lord Jesus Christ created all of those stars and all that.
We just, trillions and billions, we have no idea how many there
are. Every time we find out something
about them all we realise that we didn't know very much the
previous time we knew something. And it just is a picture of the
immensity of our God, the immensity of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
Hebrews chapter 1 says that He is so immense that he can wrap
this universe up like you put a cloak around your shoulders. What a God we have! What a God
we have! So great is our God that all
of what we see here in John Chapter 18 is in large measure something
that's a living word and an active word and something that's being
replayed in the lives of all of God's people. I want us to
just look briefly at some of the aspects of this and they
just leap out at us from the words of Scripture. So let's
just read some of these verses down to verse 11. John Chapter
18. Jesus had spoken these words
he went forth don't you love that he went forth he went forth
in eternity he went forth from his father sent into this world
into a body that his father had prepared for him he went forth
into the womb of Mary and he went forth and he always goes
forth. What a great God. He's active. The point is that he's the one
that makes it happen, doesn't he? He's the one that goes forth.
He created this garden. He ruled the thoughts and ruled
the actions of those men who, while these words were being
spoken, were preparing themselves to come down and arrest him. He went forth with his disciples
over the brook Cedron, where was a garden, into which he entered
and his disciples. And Judas also, which portrayed
him, knew the place. For Jesus oft times resorted
thither with his disciples. So it was he who goes to where
Judas would know he was. Our God reigns and rules so wonderfully. Judas then, verse three, having
received a band of men and officers from the chief priests and the
Pharisees, came thither with lanterns and torches and weapons. They've come to arrest the light
of the world with all the lights of men. Jesus therefore, knowing
all things that should come upon him, Everything about our Lord
Jesus Christ is a should. There are no maybes, there are
no ifs, there are no possibilities, there are no options. It's should. Should come upon, he went forth
and he said unto them, Whom seek ye? And they answered him, Jesus
of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, I am. Please leave the he out. He's
using the exact same words that were used when Moses asked, whom
shall I say sent me? And it's exactly the same words
and the same words that the Lord Jesus Christ used throughout
John's Gospel when he declares himself to be God. And that's
why John's Gospel has a different aspect in these matters and especially
around these sorts of things, because the purpose of John's
Gospel is to establish the fact that Jesus Christ is God Almighty. that he is God Almighty in human
flesh. That's why he uses this word
repeatedly. Jesus saith unto them, I am. And Judas also, which betrayed
him, stood with them. As soon then as he had said unto
them, I am, they went backward and fell to the ground. Then
he asked them again, asked he them again, whom seek ye? And
they said, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus answered, I have told you
that I am. If therefore you seek me, let
these go their way. That the saying might be fulfilled
of which he spake, of them which thou gavest me, I have lost none. Then Simon Peter, having a sword,
drew it and smote the high priest's servant and cut off his right
ear. The servant's name was Malchus.
Then said Jesus unto Peter, put up thy sword into the sheath. The cup which my father hath
given me, shall I not drink it? The Old Testament scriptures
remind us again and again that the Lord Jesus Christ was coming
to go forth in Habakkuk. Chapter 3 verse 13, he says,
Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, even for the salvation
of thine anointed. Thou wentest the head out of
the house of the wicked by discovering the foundation unto the neck. He went forth. Our great God
went forth. Our great God doesn't change. He doesn't change. What on earth
in all of creation could ever change Him? He's sovereign over
everything. He changes not. It's a lovely
picture that we tried to look at as the Lord might lead us
last week of him going with all of his band and he went with
them, he went forth with his disciples over this brook, exactly
as David went forth with all of his household over that brook
a thousand years before this. 2 Samuel chapter 15 verse 16. The king went forth and all his
household after him And the king just left behind in the palace
in Jerusalem, just 10 concubines to keep the house. They were
the ones that Absalom defiled and defiled himself at the same
time. The king went forth, the sixth
verse, the king went forth and all the people after him. What
a great picture of our God. Every year on the Day of Atonement,
the scapegoat was led by a fit man across the brook Kidron and
into the wilderness. Glorious picture, isn't it, of
the sins that were laid on that goat being taken away to a place
where they could never be found again, removed from them. removed from them because they'd
all been laid on him. Christ drank of the brook in
the way. Simon spoke about it. This brook
in the way is a sewer, the sewer that took all of the offal and
the blood and everything. It's a picture, isn't it, of
sin. It marks every sin. Transgression and iniquity. And Kidron's stream spiritually
still flows, isn't it? He drank and his people drank. And this was the brook that,
as we looked at last week, this was this brook and the cup which
contained all of the sins of all of God's people was placed
into the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ and he looked into that
cup. and he was in agony, terrible agony. We have, and we ought,
resist sin in our lives. What a saviour we have. We've
never resisted sin to the shedding of our blood. We've never resisted
sin to the point of our hearts breaking and the capillaries
in our flesh bursting from a broken heart. We won't know ourselves, nor
our God, until we see ourselves in light of Kidron's stream. You might turn with me to Lamentations,
chapter nine. It comes after the book of Jeremiah,
between Jeremiah and Ezekiel. And like all of the scriptures,
these are pictures of the Lord Jesus Christ and statements about
the Lord Jesus Christ and him crucified. It's Lamentations,
just chapter 1 of Lamentations. I just want to read a few verses
out of here. Verse 8, I'll begin there. Jerusalem
hath grievously sinned, therefore she is removed. All that honoured
her despise her, because they have seen her nakedness. Yea,
she sigheth and turneth backwards. Her filthiness is in her skirt. She remembereth not her last
end. Therefore she came down wonderfully,
she had no comforter. O Lord, behold my affliction,
for the enemy hath magnified himself. The adversary hath spread
out his hand upon all her pleasant things, for she has seen that
the heathen entered into her sanctuary, whom thou did command
that they should not enter into thy congregation. All her people
sigh. They seek bread, they have given
their pleasant things for meat to relieve the soul. See, O Lord,
and consider, for I am become thine. The only person who could ever
make that statement is the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross at
Calvary when he was made a curse. You see, we are vile. He became
vile. Listen to what he goes on to
say in verse 12. It's lovely, isn't it? The Lord Jesus Christ
was going forth to this, wasn't he? But as I said, when we know ourselves
to be like that brook Kidron, We'll only ever know that when
we know Him in who He is and His holiness. Listen to what
Job said. You remember what he said in
verse 11. He says, Listen to what Job said
of himself when he finally meets the Lord and he was always the
Lord's child and he's always loved by God Almighty and he
went through this terrible trial not knowing what was going on
behind the scenes. And Job, in defense of himself,
as all of Adam's children did, sought at last to defend his
righteousness, that he was righteous. And then I love the order of
it. If you go back into Job, you'll see in those last few
chapters that Elihu, who represents the Lord Jesus Christ, came and
preached the gospel to Job. His soul's not going down to
the pit. Why? Because I've found a ransom.
And then after the gospel is preached by the servant of God,
then God comes and speaks to Job. And in Job chapter 40 verse
4 is a verse that so few of Adam's children have ever uttered, knowing
what it says in the reality of what they are. Moreover, the
Lord answered Job and said, Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty
instruct him? He that reproveth God, let him
answer him. You're now speaking to God and
God's speaking to you. And then Job answered the Lord
and said, Behold, I am vile. "'What shall I say unto thee? "'I will lay mine hand upon my
mouth. "'Once I have spoken, but will
not answer. "'Yea, twice, but I will proceed
no further.'" Isaiah met God in the temple. And he heard those seraphim saying,
holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. John chapter 12
makes it abundantly clear from the lips of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Job met the Lord Jesus Christ as God Almighty in that temple,
in that temple that represents him in every way. He is the altar,
he's a sacrifice on the altar, he's the candlestick, he's the
incense, he's the mercy seat. Everything about that temple
spoke of the Lord Jesus Christ and him crucified, and Isaiah
met him. Immediately, Isaiah, when he
met him, he knew what the book said Ron had in it, didn't he?
He says, woe is me, I'm a man of unclean lips and I live among
a people of unclean lips. Woe is to pronounce eternal damnation
upon yourself. Isaiah, in the previous verses
and the previous chapter, he's pronouncing woe on all the nations
around and all of a sudden it's not about the nations. I've met
God and it's about me and Him. And I am vile and He is holy. And the only possible hope for
my eternal soul is that there is a ransom and there is a substitute. Daniel said, and Daniel's one
of those remarkable characters in the Old Testament where there's
not a thing said against him. Spotless he was. Daniel said
when he met the Lord in chapter 10, he said, my comeliness is
turned into corruption. What was beautiful. Saul of Tarsus
met God Almighty on the road to Damascus. and he who was proud
in his faithful obedience to the law of God. realised two things. There are
two things that are realised at the same time in all of these
people's lives, isn't it? They realise who God really is,
and they realise at the same time who they really are. And
that's what happens when God Almighty speaks with power. The power that we hear spoken
of in this Word before us today. John heard the voice of the Lord
Jesus Christ in heaven. He may well have walked with
the Lord faithfully for 70 years when this event happened. And
the Lord speaks to him in Revelation chapter 1. And John falls at
his feet as a dead man. So it doesn't stop at conversion,
it's an ongoing activity in the lives of God's people. We continually
need to hear the word of God speaking powerfully to us. and
the Word of God reminding us of who He is and who we are and
who we're dealing with when we are talking about these things
of religion. I was telling Norm earlier, I was reading, because
this is about the Word of God and the power of the Word of
God, there's a book on preaching in my office and it's called
When God's Voice is Heard. And I thought, well, it'd be
really interesting to have a look through this book and see what these
people say. And I have searched in vain to find a paragraph or
a sentence or even a phrase which talks plainly and simply about
the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's written by people who almost
universally despise the notion of particular redemption and
despise the notion of perfect and complete and eternal and
efficacious substitution, which is what this passage is about. So let's read on as we come back
to it, but I pray that God's voice would be heard, that we
would just hear him, that he would be the one who speaks.
I need to hear him speak. When the students of mine at
Hebron used to ask about devotions and things, and they were all,
nearly all of them from a religious background, they were children
of missionaries and they were sort of outwardly very pious
and And I said to them, the best
advice I can give you about studying the Word, reading the Word of
God, is you get up in the morning and you open your scriptures
and you read until you find a word or a phrase that grips your heart. And then you just read around
that word and you meditate on it and it's amazing the light
that God shines upon his word in the hearts of his people.
We are utterly dependent upon God to reveal himself to us and
he will reveal himself as he's promised. He'll reveal himself
through his word. He'll reveal himself through
the preaching of his gospel. This is the word which by the
gospel is preached unto us. So let's go on and look at this
story briefly. We've looked at Judas in the
past. You can go back and look at those messages if you want
more information. But our Lord was not hiding from Judas. And the band, and I remind myself
and I remind you that that band may have contained 750 men, but
certainly was a huge company of people that Judas and the
Pharisees and others had gathered. Romans and chief priests and
temple soldiers. But he went out to them. He went
out to them. He's not hiding. All things that should come upon
him 3. The Judas, then, having received
a band of men and officers, the chief priests and Pharisees,
come thither with lanterns and torches and weapons to capture
the light of the world, who preached openly in their synagogues and
in their temple courts every morning. They are a picture of fallen
men. And just briefly, the history
of Judas. According to the scriptures,
he was chosen to be an apostle. And yet the Lord Jesus Christ
said in John chapter 6, I've chosen you. You didn't choose
me. I've chosen you. And one of you
is a devil. So he had a long time to contemplate what was
lying before him, Judas. And in verse, in chapter 13,
at the beginning of this Upper Room Discourse, just a little
time, short time before all these events, the supper being ended,
the devil now having put into the heart of Judas Iscariot,
Simon's son, to betray him. In verse 27 of chapter 13, after
the Lord Jesus Christ had given the sign, he'd handed Judas a
piece of bread dipped in some sort of dressing, and he handed
it to Judas, and Satan entered him. Then said Jesus unto him,
that thou doest do quickly. And we need to be reminded that
Judas's path, Satan having entered him, wasn't to the bars and the
brothels of Jerusalem. It was to the very heart of the
most religious people you could possibly imagine, into the hands
of the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the others. Judas did what
Judas wanted to do. He was not coerced, he was not
forced. The evil that was always in his
heart was now unrestrained. And the keeping of the Lord who
kept him from all of this was withheld from him. When the Lord
gives people over and the Lord takes his hand off. We ought to be careful and fearful. Those who think they stand according
to the Apostle Paul needed to be wary of falling. And the other thing that we need
to be reminded of Judas, the beginning of Judas is According
to what we read in the scriptures of Judas's journey, we know that
his journey began in the Garden of Eden, and his journey began
when he was conceived, and his journey began when he came forth
from his mother's womb speaking lies. But Judas's immediate journey
to hell began when he found it offensive that Mary honoured
the death of the Lord Jesus Christ in that supper in Bethany. And
he walked out of that house where the light of the world was, and
he walked out of his own volition. because he found it offensive
that the Lord was honoured. He left a house that was filled
with the perfume of the anointing of the death of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He worked out. And he walked
all that way to Jerusalem and betrayed the Lord Jesus Christ
and the Pharisees were glad. And now he's had these several
days intervening, he's had those days to ponder his steps He's
had those days to come to the Lord, yet he's given over to
his own evil way. In Luke's gospel, we have the
horrifying incident that Judas came to him and he kissed him.
And it's really interesting that in the original, he kissed him
again and again. He just didn't peck him on the
cheek once. He kissed him again and again. Judas, according to Acts 1, verse
25, went to his own place. His own place. Nothing so hardens
the heart of man as religion without Christ, and religion
in the presence of Christ and his elect people, and that person
walks. in his own way into the darkness. Chapter 18, verse 4, let's go
down. I just love this verse. Jesus,
therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him, went
forth and said unto them, Whom seek ye? He knew all things that
should come upon him. He's always known all things
that should come upon him. As horrifying as it was for him
to be made sin, he knew all things that came upon him. And he went
and he set his face like a flint to go to Jerusalem. The purpose
of him coming was to go to Jerusalem. The reason for him creating the
brook Kidron was that he could cross it. The reason for there
being a Jerusalem, the reason for there being a world today
is because of this particular event. It's good for us to spend
our time carefully pondering these things. He began this Last
Supper with his disciples saying that in verse one of chapter
13, now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that
his hour was come, that he should depart out of this world under
the father, having loved his own, which were in the world,
he loved them to the end, continually. And especially in the latter
part of his ministry, he was telling his disciples again and
again, this is what's going to happen to me. Matthew 20, verse
18, behold, we go up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man shall be portrayed
unto the chief priests and the scribes, and they shall condemn
him to death, and shall deliver him to the Gentiles, to mock
and to scourge and to crucify him. And the third day he shall
rise again. For the joy set before him, he
went to the cross. And when he came in resurrection
glory and spoke to his disciples, he said, these are the words
which I spake unto you while I was yet with you, that all
things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses
and in the prophets and in the Psalms concerning me. All of
it concerns him. All of it concerns him. And all
of it radiates from and to this great event. But ponder it. We don't know what lies before
us and we get surprised and we suffer all sorts of terrible
things. But the Lord Jesus Christ, to add to his sufferings, he
had a perfect knowledge of all the torments he must endure as
our substitute. He knew them all. When he looked
at those people and saw those people in Jerusalem, he knew
the ones. that were plotting that night.
Years beforehand he saw them and he knew them. He knows all
things. Don't you love that? Knowing all things that should
come upon him. All things. Known unto God are
all his works from the beginning of the world. Our God is in the
heavens. He has done whatsoever Every time he crossed this brook,
he knew full well that that cup was going to be given to him
and the cup was going to contain all of the horror of the sins
of all of his people and God the Father would give him a cup
and the cup would be in his hand. Every time he saw a lamb anywhere,
he knew that he was the Lamb of God that was coming to be
the sacrifice. He knew, and he was reminded
again and again, that he must soon be offered on the altar
of divine justice as the Lamb of God. All the inhabitants of
the earth, our God is God, all the inhabitants of the earth
are reputed as nothing, says Nebuchadnezzar when he met the
Lord. And he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven
and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay
his hand nor say unto him, what doest thou? He's God. That's just simply what it is
to be God, isn't it? God is God. Distract me as much as you. Okay. He worketh all things after the
counsel of his Father. you will only ever adore an absolutely
sovereign God. A God who tries and fails will
never be worshipped. He'll never be bowed to. He never wants. Anytime you hear
someone say, God wants. God has no hands but your hands
and no feet but your feet. What a load of rubbish. Where
on earth do you find even a hint of that sort of nonsense in the
scriptures? Our God does. He never wants, He never wishes,
He never offers, He never tries. He went forth. And it's interesting
isn't it, when the multitudes in John chapter 6 came to the
Lord Jesus Christ and they wanted to make Him a King, He went away and hid Himself
from them. And now the enemies come to make him a king with
a crown of thorns and nailed this sacred body to the cross.
And what does he do? He hastens to go forth to meet
them. Triumphant our Saviour is. We
must remember that these events are to remind us of how great
and how big and how sovereign our God is. And listen, let's
read on in John 18 verse 4. Jesus, therefore, knowing all
things that should come upon him, he went forth and said unto
them, Whom seek ye? Whom seek ye? And they answered
him, Jesus of Nazareth. And Jesus said unto them, I am,
I am God Almighty. And Judas also, which betrayed
him, stood with them. As soon as he had said unto them,
I am, they went backward and fell to the ground. We read it earlier in Psalm 27. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is
the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? Wouldn't
it be wonderful if he was the strength of our life all the
time, and we really knew it, and we really believed it, and
we really loved it. And whom shall I be afraid? When
the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to
eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. Do you have any doubt
from this? that when our God says in Philippians
chapter 2, that every knee shall bow, there's any doubt about
that? Doesn't matter how many billions of people. That at the name of Jesus, God
has highly exalted him and given him a name which is above every
name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow. How do
you get up when you've been knocked to the ground? You've got to
get up with your knee first, haven't you? Unless you're a
fancy gymnast, but we actually, they were on their knees as they
got up. And he gave them the strength to get up. Every knee
shall bow of things in heaven and things in earth and things
under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. It was all promised
in the Old Testament. Isaiah says they shall come forth
a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of
his roots. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,
and the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of
counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of fear of the
Lord, and shall make him of quick understanding and the fear of
the Lord. And he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes,
nor neither reprove after the hearing of his ears. But with
righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity
the meek of the earth. He shall spite the earth with
the rod of his mouth, just as to say a word, and with the breath
of his lips he shall slay the wicked. My immediate thoughts are, he
has declared in John Chapter 17 that he has power over all
flesh. He who spoke those words, is
God Almighty the same today? Wouldn't it just be wonderful? if he would speak his words of
comfort with that power to our hearts again and again and again. When we are troubled, if he would
just speak, I am thy God and I am with you. If he would just
speak, peace be with you Go in peace. If he would just speak,
your sins are forgiven you. Go in peace. The Word of God. How the Lord Jesus Christ honoured
the Word of God. Don't you love that story of
the centurion who needed desperately to have his servant healed? And as the Lord was on his way,
he sends messengers to him and says, look, I'm a man under authority
like you. I say go, and he goes, and I
say come, and he comes. He said, you don't have to come
down to my hovel. You just speak the word, and
my servant will be healed. And the Lord Jesus Christ has
this great faith, great faith. He gives the faith. Of course
it's great. But he causes his people to just love his word. And then he asked them again,
and I'll be closing soon, asked them again, whom seek ye? And
they said, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus answered, I have told you
that I am. If therefore you seek me, let
these go. Let these go their way. Let these go their way. And this is fulfilling the prophecies,
fulfilling the words he prayed in John chapter 17. I'm not going
to lose one of them. Not one. No one's going to take
them out of my hand. No one's going to take them out
of my father's hand. No one is going to disturb the purposes
of God Almighty. That the saying might be fulfilled
which he spake of them which thou gavest me, I have lost none. I want to remind myself and remind
you that at the finish of John chapter 17 when he was praying,
he said, I have declared unto them thy name and will declare
it. In all that he's doing, he's
declaring the name of God. He says, I've lost none. A king has a people and he doesn't
lose one of them. He is the prophet of God, isn't
he? He is the word of God and he speaks the word of God. And
he is the priest of them which thou gavest me. I have lost none. I have lost none. If you seek
me, if you seek me, the Lord Jesus Christ stands between us
and our enemies. He stands between us and all
of the enemies that you can possibly think of, of our souls, and he
says, you can have me, and you let these go their way. This is just a lovely declaration
of the substitution declared by our Lord Jesus Christ. He
goes to the battle, willingly, sovereignly, triumphantly. He must tread the winepress alone.
He doesn't need the help and aid of men. He says to all that
would oppose us or cease cause us to feel obligated to perform
something before the law of God, the holiness that God demands,
the righteous obedience we owe God, the law in all of its broadest
and most minute details. Our Saviour says, you can have
me and you let these go their way. The last enemy to be defeated
is death. The wages of sin is death. The
payment must in righteousness be finalised. And he finished
this glorious, glorious time by declaring, it is finished,
it's paid in full. Everything that you owe God,
everything that you owe God is paid by him and him alone and
is paid in full. That's what that word from the
cross declares. want us to come back and look
at some of this again next week I want us to see a picture of
this in verse 10 Simon Peter Then Simon Peter,
having a sword, it was a fisherman's knife, he drew it and smote the
high priest's servants and cut off his right ear and the servant's
name was Malchus. I want us to see the picture
of what it means for him to say you can have me and let these
people go free. This servant was there at the
behest of the Romans and the high priest. What happens if
you go to a Roman soldier and you attack a Roman soldier with
a sword? What's the punishment that Rome
would require of you? It's really simple, isn't it? They don't need a trial. Execution,
death is what Peter earned himself by that act. Death is what he
earned, wasn't it? If he'd been arrested by the
Romans that day, they would have just dealt with him in an instant. Death is what was earned. And the Lord Jesus Christ stands
between Peter and what was righteously coming to him under And he takes that man's ear and
heals it, such that there is no wound, nor is there any evidence
of there having been a crime. Don't you love the fact that
our record before God Almighty is the record of the Lord Jesus
Christ? Perfect obedience, perfect love. All of our sins gone completely
and there is no record of them anymore. Don't you think that's
wonderful? I think that. I find that, as
a sinner, I find that just so comforting. And I find it particularly
comforting because God said it and not me. God said it and not
me. My sins and thine iniquities
I will remember no more. I pray in something of what that
means to us we might be able, enabled by the Lord to eat and
drink worthily. To eat and drink worthily is
to look to him and not to ourselves for anything. is to rely completely
and utterly upon His work. All of my standing before God
Almighty is wrapped up in who the Lord Jesus Christ is and
what He's done. That's what we're drinking and eating, aren't we?
We're doing this in remembrance of Him. We're doing this in remembrance
of Him. To remember Him, you must know
Him. He's taken the cup of cursing,
the cup of the fury of the wrath of God, the cup of trembling,
and he's given to us the cup of blessing. That's what, by
Paul, who was a sinner like the rest of us. The cup of blessing
which we bless, is it not the communion, isn't that a lovely
word, the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we
break, is it not the communion of the body? We were one with
Him. We were one with Him. That's
what He's saying, isn't it? He was there. He was one with
Him in all of His life in perfect righteousness before God. He
was one with Him in His death on the cross of Calvary. He's
one with Him in the grave. He's one with Him in the resurrection.
He's one with Him exalted and seated together with Him in the
heavenly places. What a wonderful thing to be
a partaker of. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we pray that
you cause us to see again and again, see through the veil of
this flesh, which so often and evidently hides us from the wonder
of the glory of the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
that you would come yet again and speak words of comfort to
the hearts of your people, that we would hear our Saviour cry,
it is finished. You alone, Heavenly Father, can
make His body and His blood precious to us. We pray that you'd grant
us the faith to eat and drink worthily. have with his body and his blood.
For we pray these things in his precious name and for his and
your glory, our dear Father. Amen.