Good morning again. You don't have to turn in your
Bibles. Most of you are familiar with this passage. I just want
to read it to begin our service. God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble. Therefore, will not we fear? Though the earth be moved, And
though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, though
the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains
shake with the swelling thereof, there is a river. The streams whereof shall make
glad the city of God. And when John was caught up into
the heavens in the book of Revelation, he saw that river clear as crystal
flowing from the throne of God. And the Lord said, come and drink
freely from the river of life. Oh, I pray he'll enable us to
do that today. Let's stand together. Tom's going
to come lead us in 186, 186, and your heart back to him. Yeah. The church's one foundation is
Jesus Christ her Lord. She is his new creation by water
and the Word. From heaven he came and sought
her to be his holy bride. With his own blood he bought
her, and for her life he died. He left from every nation, yet
one o'er all the earth, Her charter of salvation, one Lord, one faith,
one birth. One holy name she blesses, partakes
one holy food. And to one hope she presses,
with every grace endued. Mid toil and tribulation and
tumult of her war, she waits the consummation of peace forevermore. Till with a vision glorious her
longing eyes are blessed, And the great church victorious shall
be the church at rest. Yet she on earth hath union With
God the three in one, And mystic sweet communion With those whose
rest is one. Oh, happy ones and holy, Lord,
give us grace that we, like them, the meek and lowly, on high may
dwell with thee. Please be seated. Good morning. Who is a god like under the? Micah Chapter 7 and verse 18. Micah is right after Jonah. Right
before name. Who is a god like under the that
pardoneth iniquity? that passeth by the transgressions
of the remnant of his inheritance. That's us. We're the remnant
of his inheritance. We're in the end times. Most
of the children of God have already gone on to be with the Lord.
We're the remnant of his inheritance. He retaineth not his anger forever,
because he delighteth in mercy. God has shown every child of
God mercy that he would never deserve. He will turn again. He will have compassion upon
us. He will subdue our iniquities. We come into this world a sinner,
we live a sinner, we die a sinner. Unless God subdued our iniquities,
there's no limit to what we would do. He must subdue our iniquities. And thou will cast their sins
into the depths of the sea. There are seven things that God
has done for us in these two verses. He has pardoned my iniquity
before the foundation of the world. He has passed my transgressions
because I am one of the remnant of his heritage. But we as children
of God kind of take these things for granted. Looking at these
two verses from the other side, Greg's preached several times
on the other side of the coin. No sin, no salvation, no heaven,
no hell. We are comforted by this. But
if a person believes in free will, the worst blasphemy that
there is, that I'm equal with God, then these verses are terrible. Because God will not pardon my
transgressions if I believe in free will. God will not pass
by my iniquity if I believe in free will. God will not make
me a part of his inheritance if I believe in free will. He
will retain his anger forever and he will not show me mercy. God will not turn again if I
believe in free will. He will not have compassion on
me. He will not subdue my iniquity. And he will not cast my sin into
the depths of the sea. As long as I believe in free
will, I am without hope and without God in this world. That's the
other side of these two verses. Our side is comfort. and assurance
and love for a savior that would die for us and give us all these
things. They have none of this comfort.
They have none of this assurance. God blesses his children with
knowledge of what he has done for us. God called us in total
ignorance, but he doesn't leave us that way. We realize that a man cannot
justify himself with God. That's the difference between
free will and free grace. Father, we come before you this
morning, father, to proclaim your name father, because you
brought us to the knowledge that you will be merciful to who you
will be merciful and father and who you will you hardness. We
ask, Father, that you'd give us the grace to have open ears,
Father, and open eyes, that you'd be with grace. He brings a message
this morning that you'd confirm us in the faith, Father. You'd
build us up on this Lord's day and a communion day that we might
go out into the world next week, Father, fully assured that thou
art with us every minute. We thank you, Father, for your
grace, for your compassion, and for your mercy for bringing us
the knowledge of salvation for doing for us what we could never
do for ourselves. Be with Greg, Father, as he brings
the message. Give him the wisdom, Father,
the liberty to bring us the gospel and give us the grace to receive
it. We ask these things in Jesus' name, amen. Let's stand together once again.
We'll sing the hymn that's on the back of your bulletin. Precious Savior, friend of sinners,
we as such to Thee draw near. Let Thy Spirit dwell within us
with that love that casts out fear. Matchless Savior, let us
know Thee, as the Lord our righteousness. Cause our hearts to cleave unto
Thee, with Thy presence blessed. Open now thy precious treasure,
let thy word here freely flow. Give us, us a gracious measure,
tis thyself we long to know. Come and claim us as thy portion. Let us all find rest in thee. Leave us not to empty notions. We would find our hope in thee. Please be seated. Caleb is going
to bring special music now. Jesus, keep me near the cross. There a precious fountain, free
to flow a healing stream, flows from Calvary's mountain. In the Christ, ? Of the cross
be my glory ever ? ? Till my raptured soul shall find ? ?
Rest beyond the river ? ? Near the cross a trembling soul ?
? Love and mercy There the bright and morning
star Sheds his beams around me In the Christ of the cross Be
my glory ever Till my raptured soul shall find Bless me on the
river. Near the cross, O Lamb of God,
bring its scenes before me. Help me walk from day to day
with its shadows In the Christ of the cross be
my glory ever, till my raptured soul shall find rest beyond the
river. Near the cross I'll watch and
wait, Hoping, trusting ever Till I reach the golden strand Just
beyond the river In the Christ of the cross Be my glory ever
Till my raptured soul shall find rest beyond the river. Thank you, Caleb. In the cross, in the Christ of
the cross, the Lord made part of his law
in Exodus chapter 20, thou shalt not make unto thee any graven
image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that
is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth.
thou shalt not bow thyself down to them, nor serve them." There's a whole lot of folks
calling themselves Christians that are bowing down to and worshiping
a cross. We worship the Christ of the
cross and the only way to worship Him is in the Spirit. In the
Spirit. We are the true work and circumcision
which worship God in the spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and
have no confidence in the flesh. Will you open your Bibles with
me to Mark Chapter 8, please? Mark Chapter 8. I've titled this
message, One Loaf. One Loaf. And I'd like to introduce this
message by asking you a question. Is Christ enough for you? All by Himself. And I remember hearing a brother
say, well, if He's all you've got, He is. If He's all you've
got, He is. And so, is Christ and all you
have for your acceptance with God. Is Christ all you have for
the hope of your salvation, for your peace with God? Is He all
you have to provide for you, not only in the life to come,
but in this life? That's all we've got. One loaf. Now you know in the Bible, as
we've seen on many occasions, the boat represents, as does
the garden that we saw in the previous hour, the church. Many
similitudes in the scriptures, and one of them is the boat,
is here the Lord is in a boat again with his disciples. And we begin reading in verse
14, now the disciples had forgotten to take bread. neither had they
in the ship with them more than one loaf." All they had was one
loaf of bread. And he charged them saying, take
heed, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven
of Herod. And they reasoned among themselves
saying, It is because we have no bread. And when Jesus knew
it, he saith unto them, why reason ye because you have no bread?
Perceive ye not yet, neither understand? Have ye your hearts
yet hardened? Don't you know what I'm saying
to you? Having eyes, see ye not? You remember the most often quoted
verse from the Old Testament to the New Testament is found
in Isaiah chapter 6 and here's one of the places where it's
quoted in the New Testament. When the Lord sent the prophet
Isaiah to preach the gospel and he told Isaiah, he said, they're
going to have eyes but they won't see. They'll have ears but they
will not hear. Their hearts will be hardened.
And Isaiah said, Lord, how long do I preach to such people? And
he said, till the cities be without inhabitants and the land be utterly
desolate. Isaiah just keep preaching, keep
preaching, but they're gone. And so the Lord's rebuking them
now. Don't you understand? Are you
like those ones Isaiah was talking about? Do you have eyes, but
you don't see? Have you ears, but you hear not?
And do you not remember? When I break the five loaves
among the 5,000, how many baskets full of fragments took you up?
And they say unto him, 12. Now the significance of the feeding
of the 5,000 and the feeding of the 4,000 is seen more in
the number of baskets that are left over than in the number
of people that are fed. And so the Lord's using these
two miracles to illustrate what it is that He's saying to them
about the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod. He's
telling them, beware, a little leaven leavens a whole lump.
You put just a little bit of yeast in a lump of dough and
it's going to infect the entire thing. And if you allow any of
the error of the Pharisees or any of the error of the Herodians
to enter in, it will destroy the gospel. So he said, don't
you remember when I fed the 5,000 with the five loaves and three
fishes, how many baskets did you take up? And they said, 12. We took up 12 baskets. Now what
does the number 12 represent in the scriptures? It's the whole
church of God. The 12 tribes of Israel, we see
in the book of Revelation, 12 times 12,000, 144,000, representing
the whole church, all of God's elect, all of God's elect. The church is exactly the same
size today as it was before Adam was ever made. And the church
of the Lord Jesus Christ is the same size in eternity as it is
today. Why? Because God's already written
the names of every one of his elect in the Lamb's Book of Life.
And that's the church. And they're represented by this
number 12. You remember the New Jerusalem that John saw coming
down from heaven? How many foundations did it have? It had 12 foundations. The apostles
of 12. How many gates were in or into
the New Jerusalem? All of one pearl. One pearl. One Christ. He's the pearl of
great price. He's the only entrance into the
new Jerusalem, but there's 12 gates, three facing north, three
south, three east and three west, that all the church of God might
enter in to glory. You do know that's what this
life's all about, right? It's not about anything else.
It's not about you, it's not about me, it's not about politics,
it's not about this nation or that nation. It's about the salvation
of God's people. It's about the redemption of
God's elect and the glorification of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
what everything's about. And the Lord says, if you allow the leaven of the Pharisees or
the leaven of Herod to enter into the gospel, it'll destroy
the message of salvation and the hope that my people have. So it reminds them, how many
baskets did you take up? Well, we took up 12. And when the seven among four,
verse 20, and when the seven, among the 4,000. How many baskets
of fragments took you up? And they said, seven. Now what
does the number seven represent in the word of God? What did
God do on the seventh day of creation? What did he do? He rested, why? Because his labor
was finished. His work was done. And if we
go to the book of Hebrews, turn with me there to Hebrews chapter
four. Verse one, let us therefore fear
lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest. Any of you should seem to come
short of it. That's, that's our, that's our
concern. Oh Lord, I don't want to fall short of your rest. I
don't want to, I don't want to infect the gospel with the leaven
of the Pharisees or the leaven of Herod. For unto us was the gospel preached
as well as unto them, speaking to those Old Testament Israelites.
But the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed
with faith in them that heard it. They did not believe God. They didn't understand what the
gospel was about. For we which have believed do
enter into rest. rest from our labors rest for
our souls as he said as I have sworn in my wrath if they shall
enter into my rest although the works were finished from the
foundations of the world the Lord Jesus Christ is the lamb
that was slain before the foundation the world the work that God required
for the redemption of our souls The Lord is telling us was accomplished
in the covenant of grace that was established before time ever
began. The work's finished. And then when the Lord Jesus
Christ bowed his mighty head on Calvary's cross, what did
he say? It is finished. The work which the Father had
given me to do, I finished it. I fulfilled everything that was
required in that covenant of grace. And now my people have
rest. for their souls. And so the Lord
is saying, how many fragments when I fed the 5,000? How many
baskets? 12. There's the church. How many baskets did you take
up when I fed the 4,000? Seven. There's your rest. For he spake in a certain place,
verse four, of the seventh day on this wise, and God did rest
the seventh day from all his works. And in this place again, if they
shall enter into my rest, seeing therefore it remaineth that some
may enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered
not in because of unbelief. Look at verse 11. Let us labor
therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after
the same example of unbelief. What are the means by which God's
going to enable us to enter into his rest? What we're doing right
now. What we're doing right now. By his own will, James says,
begat he us with the word of truth. And now he says, for the
word of God, the word of God, the gospel preached in the word
of God, is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged
sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and
of the joints and the marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts
and the intents of the heart." When God speaks, He just, He
discerns our hearts, doesn't He? He causes us to realize,
Lord, I'm a sinner. I don't have anything in my heart
that would be worthy of thy salvation. Neither is there any creature
that is not manifest in his sight, but all things are naked and
open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do." Oh, we do. There is a God with whom we must
do. How are we going to stand in
the presence of a holy God? We're going to have to find rest
for our souls. Seeing then, here's how we're
going to find it, seeing then that we have a great high priest. Oh, we do. He's entered into
the heavens. He's taken with him the names
of those for whom he's lived and died. The word of God did
not return back unto him void. that is passed into the heavens,
Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession." What
is our profession? What is our profession? It's
finished. The Lord Jesus Christ has accomplished
the salvation of His people. For we have not a high priest
that cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin. We don't know anything about
temptation. We really don't. We sin in our temptation. Now, I don't understand what
this verse is talking about. But I know that the Lord Jesus
Christ carried temptation to its ultimate end without ever
sinning. Without ever sinning. Now that's
temptation. That's temptation. Let us therefore
come boldly unto the throne of grace. Now that word boldly means
with confidence. It means with confidence. What
is our confidence? We have an advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one. And God says, let us come
with confidence, knowing that we have acceptance, we find mercy
and grace to help us in our time of need. We can come with confidence. So there's the seven. The seven
has to do with perfect rest. Perfect rest. The 12 has to do
with a perfect church. All redeemed, not one of God's
sheep shall be lost. All hundred, and you know that
would, that number 144,000 is symbolic. It's 12 times 12,000. It's all
the people of God. It's the number 12. And they're
all going to be saved. Now, what does that have to do
with the Pharisees and Herod? Now, go back with me to Mark
chapter 8, verse 21. And he said unto them, How is
it that you do not understand? And not another word is spoken
about it." Not another word is spoken about
it. There were parables when the Lord, when the disciples
went to the Lord after he told a parable in public and they
said, Lord, what do you mean by that? And he had to interpret
it for them. He doesn't interpret this to
His disciples. And He doesn't here in this text
interpret it for us. Nevertheless, all of Scripture
interprets this admonition that we receive from the Lord. The Leaven of the Pharisees. was the error of the Pharisees. Well, you can summarize it with
one word, works. Works. They mixed works with
grace. They would have said, as people
say today, yes, God is sovereign. We got to do our part. We've
got to prove our salvation. We've got to perform our works
in order to earn favor and acceptance with God. It's self-righteousness. The Pharisees used religion to
call attention to their own works and promote themselves as holier
than thou. Self-righteousness. That's what
the leaven of the Pharisees was all about. They weren't able
to rest in the finished work of Christ because they were laboring
to do their part. Robbing Christ of His glory.
And the Lord says, beware of the leaven of the Pharisees.
And that's what the seven fragments are all about. That's what the
seven fragments are The seven baskets of fragments. So the
Lord is answering what the leaven of the Pharisees was in reminding
them of how many baskets of fragments were taken up after the feeding
of the 4,000. What was the leaven of Herod?
Well, the Herod family, beginning with Herod the Great, who you
remember sought to have the Lord Jesus Christ put to death when
he heard from the kings that came from the East that a King
of the Jews had been born. And he sent his men to have him
found and killed. And the Lord sent Joseph and
Mary down to Egypt for two years until Herod the Great died. And
then you have the Herod that the Lord Jesus Christ was brought
before. And then you have Pilate's wife who is called Herodias
who was of the Herod dynasty. These people were part Jewish
and they saw the Romans had put them in positions of power to
control the Jews in Palestine, keep things under wraps. And
they saw their involvement with the Jewish religion nothing more
than an opportunity to promote themselves in this world, to
provide for themselves more power and more pleasure in this world. In short, the leaven of the Pharisees
had to do with popularity. The leaven of the herods had
to do with power and pleasure. And the Lord is warning me and
you, don't compromise the gospel. Don't use religion. Don't use
religion for the sake of impressing other men with your works. Don't
use religion for the sake of just improving your position
or your power or your pleasure here in this life. That's not
what it's about. That's not what it's about. It's about the salvation of God's
church. Now these, this leaven of the
Harrods, you see it so much, you see it in your own heart,
don't you? You find yourself crying out to God more passionately
for material needs and physical problems than you do sometimes
for your spiritual need. It's like, that's the leaven
of the Harrods. that they used religion to improve
their position and their pleasure in this world. Have you ever heard someone say,
don't be so heavenly minded that you're of no earthly good? I've
heard that statement made. It's a lie. That's not possible. It is not possible. to be so
heavenly-minded that you are of no earthly good. As a matter
of fact, just the opposite is true. The more heavenly-minded
you are, the more earthly value you'll be to your brethren and
to the service of God. But see, these Herodians were
so earthly-minded, they just saw religion as an opportunity
to improve their pleasure and their position in the world.
And the Lord's warning the disciples said, you got one loaf of bread
in the boat and that's me. And you be careful. You be careful
for the leaven of the Pharisees. Don't mix works with grace. For
if it is of grace, it can no longer be of works. Otherwise,
grace is not grace. Don't rob me of my glory. Find
your rest in my finished work. those seven baskets and find
the hope of your salvation in knowing that your names are written
in heaven. You remember when the disciples
first went out and preached the gospel and they came back rejoicing
because the demons were subject unto them? And what did the Lord
say to them? Rejoice not that the demons are subject unto you,
but rejoice rather that your names are written in heaven.
There's the 12 baskets. So the 12 baskets refer to the
11 of the Herods and the 7 baskets refer to the 11 of the Pharisees. And the Lord's interpreting His
admonition with these miracles. And He doesn't give them any,
He just says, be careful. And every child of God who knows
anything about their hearts knows that they are recovering Pharisees. They know that they are way too
in love with the things of this world. Way too bound to the things
of this world. What did the Lord say? If, Colossians
chapter 2, if you be risen with Christ, seek those things which
are above, not the things of the earth. Set your affections
on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of
God. And what did Paul say in Philippians? Finally my brethren,
finally my brethren, whatsoever things are true Whatsoever things
are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are
of a good report, if there be any virtue in them, think on
these things. Where are those things that are
true? Where are those things that are good? It's being heavenly
minded. It's being heavenly minded. It's being reminded and what
I'm trying to do right now is remind you and me that this world
is not our home. We make the temporal, what did
Solomon say after he evaluated all the things of his life? He
said, vanity of vanities all is vanity. You cannot be too
heavenly minded. You cannot be. That's our problem,
isn't it? Our problem is that we're not
heavenly minded enough. Our problem is that we get so
caught up with the things of this world. And the leaven of
the Herods, what were the Herods doing? They were using religion
to enrich their own position, their own life. How oftentimes,
how oftentimes we're tempted to do the same thing. Turn with
me to Psalm 73. Psalm 73. David was tempted in
this. We look at the world, we look
at the prosperity of the wicked, we look at our own troubles and
trials, and we have thoughts of accusations against God. verse 12 of Psalm 73. Here's David speaking. Behold,
these are the ungodly who prosper in the world. They increase in
riches. And David said, verily, I have
cleansed my heart in vain. I believe God in vain. I look
at the prosperity of the wicked and I think, what am I doing?
They're getting along better than I am. Now that's the leaven
of the harrods. And I've washed my hands in innocency. For all the day long have I been
plagued and chastened every morning. Anybody that tells you that coming
to Christ is going to guarantee you a more comfortable life in
this world is lying to you. is lying to you. To the contrary, to the contrary,
believing on the Lord Jesus Christ is going to put you in conflict
with this world. But the leaven of the harrots,
isn't that it? Look it, for all the day long
I've been plagued and chastened every morning. If I say I will
speak thus, behold, I should offend against the generation
of thy children. David said, I can't tell anybody what I'm
thinking in my heart. If I was to speak, The accusations
that I'm mulling over in my heart, it would be an offense to my
brethren. It'd be a stumbling block to someone else. Well, the Holy Spirit inspired
David to write these thoughts down, not though they'd be a
stumbling block to us, but so they'd be an encouragement to
us. When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me. Until
I went into the sanctuary of God, then understood I their
end. Surely thou did set them in slippery
places, thou casted them down into destruction. How are they
that brought into the desolation as in a moment? they are utterly
consumed with terrors. As a dream, when one waketh,
so, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image. Thus my heart was grieved, and
I was pricked in my reins. So foolish was I, and ignorant
I was as a beast before thee." David said, David said, I didn't
have any more understanding than an animal. thinking this way,
that I was jealous of the prosperity of the wicked and that I was
suffering because of my faith. But then I understood their end
and I understood my end. Nevertheless, verse 23, I am
continually with thee Thou hast holden me by my right hand. Thou shalt guide me with Thy
counsel, and afterwards receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven
but Thee? And there is none upon the earth
that I desire beside Thee. My flesh and my heart faileth,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. The leaven of the Pharisees was
the leaven of mixing works with grace. Mixing
works with grace. And the leaven of the Herodians
was using God for nothing more than earthly gain and earthly
comfort and earthly profit. And the Lord's warning us, oh,
don't worry about the fact that you don't have a bunch of bread
and man, you've got one loaf, that's enough. You've got me.
You've got me. You know, the Lord likens this
life to a narrow road that leads to everlasting life. And this
road has a precipice on both sides of it. On one side, there
is the precipice of licentious living. On the other side, that
was the Herods. They just indulged themselves.
You remember when Paul was preaching to the philosophers on Mars Hill? And by the inspiration of the
Holy Spirit, he records in the Word of God the Epicureans and
the Stoics. Those two philosophies summarize
everybody's philosophy of life. Epicureanism is the Herods. That's
indulging yourself in the pleasures of this world and seeing the
purpose of your life nothing more than pleasure and power
and using God in order to increase your benefits. The Stoics, that
was the Pharisees. We'll make sacrifices and we'll
do all these works in order to earn favor with God. And here
this road is. And it's got on one side It's
got legalism. On the other side, it's got lawless,
licentious living. And in the middle of the road,
there's liberty. Liberty. Now I want to conclude
by telling you a story. 1972, I was in the passenger seat of
a of a muscle car. I don't know if you all remember
1969 Dodd Superbee, I was sitting in the passenger seat, the front
seat, my buddies in the back seat, we're traveling from Milwaukee
to Chicago. Buddies in the back seat fell
asleep, I fell asleep, the driver fell asleep. I was the first one to wake up.
Looked at the speedometer, we're going over 100 miles an hour
and we're off the road in the ditch on the left side. And I
woke up the driver and he did what anybody would have done.
He overreacted. He overreacted. Fortunately,
the road was wet. The car spun out. We went all
the way across four lanes of traffic and ended up in the ditch
on the other side of the road. And I'll tell you that story.
In order to say, someone asked Charles Spurgeon one time, they
said, how do you reconcile God's sovereignty with responsibility? And Spurgeon said, I don't have
to reconcile it. They're both already friends. If I preach against legalism, you're going to overcorrect the
car and end up in the ditch on the other side of the road. If I preach against lawless licentious
living, you're going to overcorrect the car and end up in the ditch
on the other side of the road. How do we keep the car in the
middle of the road? Looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of
your faith. And you won't have anything to
do, or you'll be able to at least identify the leaven of the Pharisees,
that's legalism, and the leaven of the Herods, that's licentious
living. We have a tendency to overcorrect,
don't we? We have a tendency to be like
a pendulum. We swing from one extreme to
the other, and the only thing that's going to keep us in the
middle of the road, causing us to trust the Lord Jesus Christ
for all of our salvation at the same time, at the same time,
being obedient and responsible to Him, is to keep our eyes on
Him. Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. That's works. That's legalism.
That's self-righteousness. Beware of the leaven of the Herods. That's using religion for your
own pleasure and profit in this world. Seven baskets were taken up.
That's rest. Twelve baskets were taken up.
That's the kingdom of God. That's where we're headed. That's
where we're to have our affections set. How are we going to get
there? How are we going to get there?
Looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith,
who for the hope that was set before Him endured the cross,
despising its shame. Our merciful Heavenly Father, We thank you for the understanding
that you give us by your spirit and in your word, and oh Lord,
how we pray that you would guard our hearts and keep us looking
to thy dear son for it's in his name we ask it. Father, we ask
that you would bless this table, that you'd be pleased to remind
us of our need for eating of the flesh of the Lord Jesus Christ
and drinking of His blood. Oh, His life and His sacrificial
death. What hope. We ask it in His name. Amen. I'm going to ask the men if they'll
come and distribute the bread and the wine, please. 191. Just remain seated, please,
and sing 191. Here, O my Lord, I see Thee face
to face. ? Here would I touch and handle
things unseen ? ? Here grasp with fervor and eternal grace
? ? And all my weariness upon thee lean ? Here would I feed
upon the bread of God. Here drink with thee the royal
wine of heaven. Here would I lay aside each earthly
load. Here taste afresh the calm of
sin forgiven. I have no help but thine, nor
do I need. Another arm save thine to lean
upon. It is enough, my Lord, enough
indeed. My strength is in thy might,
thy might alone. Mine is the sin, but thine the
righteousness. Mine is the guilt, but thine
the cleansing blood. Here is my robe. As I mentioned earlier, the word
sacrament, which a lot of people would refer to what we're doing
right now as a sacrament, we don't. A sacrament means that
it infers grace. There's no grace to be received
by eating of this bread and drinking of this wine in and of itself
as elements. The grace is given to us through
faith. Through faith. This is a memorial. It's a memorial. It's an ordinance
that God has given us to remember. The Lord Jesus Christ said, as
often as you do this, do this in remembrance of me. We're looking
back as we take this bread. He said, this is my body, which
has been given for you. Take it and eat. At the end of the supper, he
took the cup. There's a little bit of symbolism
missing for us in that they all drank from the same cup. But he said, this is the blood of
the new covenant. The blood's been shed for you. Without the
shedding of blood, there's no remission of sins. God said,
when I see the blood, when I see the blood of that lamb, that
spotless lamb, I'll pass by you. Lord said do this in remembrance
of me. I have the special privilege
of pastoring this church and it is a great privilege. And
one of the greatest joys that I experience as a pastor is the
young people that we have in our congregation. I'm so very
thankful for them, and I'm so very proud of them. I'm thankful
for them being here. I'm thankful
for the way they respond to the preaching. And over the past few years,
no one has encouraged me any more than Rachel Wachey. Rachel is graduating from high
school this year. And every year at this time of
the year, we have a tradition in our church of recognizing
our graduates. And so I want to ask Rachel,
would you come up here, please, Rachel? Come on. You have your
speech ready, right? your commencement speech. Rachel,
the church wants to give you this Bible. It's been engraved
and wrote some things on the inside of it. Just want to thank you for being
an encouragement to us and we're proud of you and very thankful
for you. Let's pray for Rachel together.
Our merciful Heavenly Father, we're We're thankful for the
fellowship of the saints that you give us one with the other,
and Lord, for the way that you knit our hearts together in the
love of Christ. Thank you for the encouragement that we're
able to receive and give one to the other. And we pray now
for Rachel and ask Lord for your hand of protection and providence
and provision to continue to be on her. Pray that you would
Always show her the glory of Christ and cause your word, Lord,
to be, as we read earlier, living, two-edged sword, dividing us
under the thoughts and the intents of the heart. Lord, revealing
to us the glory of thy dear son. We ask it in his name. Amen. You're dismissed. Thank you.