Unfamed love. We don't have it
anywhere else, do we? Psalm 46. Says God is our refuge
and strength. A very present help. In trouble. In trouble. The Lord's. Shown us anything at all about
our sin. We know that we are in trouble. Unless Christ puts
him away, unless he stands on our behalf before God, we're
in trouble, aren't we? And he is a very present help
in time. No one's ever come to him in
trouble and not found help. All right, let's stand together.
Brother Tom? Number 58, in the hard back tendon, number 58. Jesus, the very thought of Thee
With sweetness fills my breast But sweeter far Thy face to see
And in Thy presence rest Nor voice can sing, nor heart can
frame, Nor can the memory find A sweeter sound than thy blessed
name, O Savior of mankind. O hope of every contrite heart! O joy of all the meek! To those who fall, how kind thou
art! How good to those who seek! But what to those who find of
this, nor tongue nor pen can show, the love of Jesus, what
it is, none but his loved ones know. Jesus, our only joy, be
thou as thou our prize wilt be. Jesus, be thou our glory now
and through eternity. Please be seated. Good morning. Romans chapter
nine, if you will. Romans chapter nine, beginning
in verse six. There'll be a little mark before
you start. That means this is a beginning
of a paragraph. This is a new thought. not as
though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not
all Israel which are of Israel, neither because they are the
seed of Abraham are they all children, but in Isaac shall
thy seed be called. That is, they which are the children
of the flesh. These are not the children of
God, but the children of the promise are counted for the seed. because this is the word of promise. At this time will I come and
Sarah shall have a son. And not only this, but when Rebecca
also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac, because
the children being not yet born, neither having done any good
or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might
stand, not of works, but of him that calleth. It was said unto
her, the elder shall serve the younger, as it is written, Jacob
have I loved, but Esau have I hated. What shall we say then? Is there
unrighteousness with God? God forbid, because he saith
to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I
will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then
it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but
of God that showeth mercy. If I believe that I have the
last word in salvation, if I believe I can accept or reject Jesus,
That makes me as God to know good and evil didn't work in
the garden and it's not going to work now. Father, we thank you that because
of our lack of strength, our lack of morality, our being so
involved in sin, Father, that in your wisdom and your grace,
Father, you chose some out of mankind to be your children,
that you gave us the heart, Father, and the mind to believe that
along with the belief you gave us a need, Father, to come to
Christ. Father, we thank you that you've
opened our eyes and our hearts to the fact that without Christ,
we can do nothing. We'd ask father you'd be with
our sister Jennifer as the doctors work over her that you would
spare her father to be here with her family and with her brothers
and sisters in Christ. We'd ask especially for Greg
this morning father that you'd give him the grace father and
the liberty to bring a message that glorifies Christ. We ask
these things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, amen. Let's stand together once again.
We'll sing hymn number 11 from your Spiral Gospel Hymns hymn
book, number 11. ? With broken heart and contrite
side ? ? A trembling sinner, Lord, I cry ? ? Thy pardoning
grace is rich and free ? ? O God, be merciful to me ? I spite upon
my troubled breast With deep and conscious guilt oppressed
Christ and His cross my only plea O God, be merciful to me No works nor deeds that I have
done can for a single sin atone. To Christ the Lord alone I flee. O God, be merciful to me. And when redeemed from sin and
hell, with all the ransomed throng I dwell, my raptured song shall
ever be. God has been merciful to me. Please be seated. Brie Waite,
she's going to bring special music now. Be Thou my vision, O Lord of
my heart. Not be all else to me, save that
Thou art. Thou my best thought, by day
or by night. Waking or sleeping, thy presence
my light. Be thou my wisdom, and thou my
true one. I ever with thee, and thou with
me, Lord. Thou my great Father, I thy true
son, Thou in me dwelling, and I with thee one. Riches I heed not, nor man's
empty praise, Thou mine inheritance now and always, Thou and only
first in my heart. I can offer Thee my treasure
Thou I, king of heaven, my victory
won. May I reach heaven's joys, O
bright heaven's sun. Heart of my own home, whatever
befall. Still be my vision, Thank you, Brie. That was a blessing. Will you open your Bibles with
me to Isaiah chapter 60. Isaiah chapter 60. And I just noticed that there's
an article in your bulletin that I wrote a few weeks ago that
you might find helpful to give to people who ask that question
about. I know each of us have friends and family members that
often ask questions about what do you think about of the tragedies
that take place. You read the article and it just
pointed out to you, might be helpful to you. I don't intend to make a political
statement by this, by the title of this message, but I've titled
this message, A Sanctuary City. A Sanctuary City. Politically speaking, I'm sure
that the situation is much more complicated than anybody would
be able to solve. But spiritually speaking, there
is only one city that we can find protection from the law
in. And the Lord refers to his church
as the city of God, a sanctuary city. in our text and I would
say by way of introduction that there will be a law enforcement
officer that will evaluate the papers of every person in the
city and those who are not there legally will be deported to everlasting
darkness. I want to make sure that I'm
in this city legally, don't you? The Lord told a story about a
man who gave a feast for his son, a wedding, and the king
came in and found someone that was in that wedding that didn't
have the proper garments on and cast him out into utter darkness. When the Lord Himself, who is
set as King upon the holy hill of Zion, evaluates the inhabitants
of the city of Jerusalem, He's going to require them to have
a legal right to be there. And he tells us in Micah chapter
six what that legal right is. He says, what doth the Lord require
of thee? What doth the Lord require of
thee? To do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.
Now, how am I, a sinner, going to do justly? I've got to have
one to stand in my stead and present himself on my behalf.
Doing justice before God. God's standard of justice is
very high. And doing justly before God is
believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ love mercy. They love mercy and our God delights
in showing mercy. They realize that the only hope
that they have of being in this sanctuary, by the way, this is
the only city that's going to survive. Every other city is
going to be destroyed. The only city that's going to
survive is the city of God described in our text. So to do justly
is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, to love mercy is to delight
in the fact that we have a righteousness before God that we didn't have
anything to do with. It was given to us purely by
mercy and to walk humbly, to walk humbly with our God is to
walk in faith, realizing that the only reason I have acceptance
with God is because of the beloved, the one who presents himself
on my behalf." Now that's what God requires. God requires His
law to be satisfied. He said, not one sin will go
unpunished. Sin must be punished. Now if we don't have a sin bearer,
if we don't have an advocate with the Father, If we don't
have one who God made to be sin for us, that we might be made
the righteousness of God in him, then we will bear the burden
of our own sin. And David put it like this. He
said, oh, if he should mark iniquity, if God should take notice of
one of my sins, I won't be able to stand in his presence. So
the law has to be satisfied and sin has to be put away. How can
I be a member of this city? How can I be sure when the immigration
and customs officer comes and checks my papers that I'm not
going to be deported from this city of refuge? I've got to be
found in him. Not having my own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that righteousness which is by the
faithfulness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Isaiah chapter 60, what a glorious
picture of this city. My hope this morning is that
the Lord will put on each of our hearts a desire to be citizens
of this city. That we, like the one I described
in the first hour, the manslayer, will flee to the city of refuge
and find sanctuary, safety in that place. Because in the end,
and this passage describes what's going to happen to the world
and what's going to happen to this city. This is the only city
that's going to survive. No other city will be left standing. Isaiah chapter 60 verse 10, and
the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls. Their kings shall
minister unto thee. For in my wrath I smote thee,
but in my favor I will have mercy on thee. Now, all the promises
of God toward Israel in the Old Testament are made yea and amen
in Christ. Old Testament Israel is a picture
of the New Testament church. and all the pie. I heard this
morning that there is, I guess they're going to move the capital
of Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and that our president is going
to be going over there and all the men that believe that the
promises that were made for Israel were still relevant for that
nation are excited and thinking that Wow, this is the signs of
the times. The end is coming. Jerusalem
is now being, there's nothing holy about that city. That's
a pagan city. And the promises that God made
for Jerusalem are made for the spiritual Jerusalem. That one
that John saw coming down from heaven. This is a promise to
his church. It doesn't have anything to do
with that city over there in the Middle East. It has everything. That city will be destroyed.
It'll be destroyed just like every other city in the world.
This sanctuary city that's being described here spiritually speaking
is the only city that's gonna survive. It's the church. It's
the church. And so he says, the sons of strangers
shall build up thy walls. And in the previous passages
we saw last Sunday that he's talking about the Gentiles. The
Gentiles, those dogs who God is pleased to save will build
up the walls of the new Jerusalem, the church of the Lord Jesus
Christ. For in my wrath, I smote thee,
but in my favor have I had mercy on thee. Now that statement can
be made of the Lord Jesus Christ, can't it? You see, you can't
separate Christ from His church. What's true about His church
is true about the Lord Jesus Christ, in the same way that
what's true about your body is true about your head. You're
united, you're one person. And there is but one church,
and one Lord, and one God and Father of us all, and one faith,
and one baptism. Not many churches, there's one. And the Lord is saying, now I
smote you for a little while. Oh, and the wrath of God did
fall from heaven. The fiery wrath of God came on
that sacrifice that hung on Calvary's cross. And that fire was quenched. It was quenched, wasn't it? The
fire was put out. And I'm going to have favor on
you now. I'm going to have great favor. This word is the word
grace. Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. He was pleased with Him. He had
favor with God. See, this is the only body that's
going to have favor with God. He's not pleased with anything
or anybody else. He's not pleased with your righteousness.
He's not pleased. You know, people say, well, just
do your best. God will be satisfied. No, He
won't. No, He won't be satisfied. He's satisfied with Christ. And when He gives you faith,
He makes you satisfied with the same one that He's satisfied
with. And so He's saying here that though I smote you for a
little while in my wrath, in my favor have I had mercy on
thee. Therefore thy gates shall be
opened continually. Now the gates are open now. The sheep gate was opened to
the city of Jerusalem when the Lord Jesus Christ went through
that gate as the Lamb of God and laid down His life for His
sheep. And the gates are open now. And
the Spirit, the Spirit of God, He's the one who speaks to our
hearts. And the bride, that's the church, that's the sanctuary
city, that's the new Jerusalem, say, come, come. In the Old Testament, the priests
were stationed outside of the temple. And there were other
priests stationed outside of the Holies of Holies. And if
anyone came close to the temple that wasn't proper, that wasn't
supposed to be there, particularly when the high priest was in the
Holies of Holies making that blood sacrifice on the mercy
seat, those priests were there to protect. They were there to
stay away, don't come near, don't come near. The priest is acting
on our behalf. Our presence would do nothing
but defile it, and then what happened? When the Lord Jesus
Christ bowed His head on Calvary's cross, what did He say? It is
finished. And those priests were in the
temple at the very moment making sacrifice. And the Scripture
says that not a few of them believed. In other words, they were the
ones who physically saw that veil rent from top to bottom.
God tore it. And now the priests are no longer
saying, stay away. Now what are they saying? Thy
doors are open continually. Come. Come. Your forerunner has
gone before you. He has presented himself on your
behalf. You can come to the throne of
grace now with boldness, with confidence, knowing that God
is satisfied with His blood. Come into the presence of God.
And now the Lord says, the gates to this city. They're open. The Lord's saying like some of
the mayors of these sanctuary cities are saying, come to our
city. Come to our city, find safety. And that's what we're saying.
Come to the city of God. The gates are open. If you don't come, it's your
fault. It's your fault. thy gates shall be opened continually,
they shall not be shut day nor night, that men may bring unto
thee the forces of the Gentiles."
Now you can look that word up. Maybe it's in the margin of your
Bible. It's the word wealth. When the
Gentiles come, they're going to bring everything. They're
going to lay everything on the altar. We come to Christ. He owns it all, doesn't He? He
owns everything. And they come, and that their
kings may be brought. Now, when the Lord describes
the church in Revelation, He calls them kings and priests. Kings, in that they have authority
with God. Priests, in that they have access
with God. They're sons of the king. They're children of God. And
so he says that the kings are going to come for the nation
and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish, yea, those
nations shall be utterly wasted. This is the only city that's
going to survive. Come to the sanctuary city. Come to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Enter into your rest. The glory of Lebanon shall come
unto thee. The fir tree, I love the way
the Lord describes the trees of righteousness which are the
plantings of the Lord. You know, we delight in fellowshipping
with other believers. And we don't have that with anybody
else outside of Christ. And yet, If we didn't have Christ,
most of us would have nothing in common. We come from so many different
experiences, so many different cultures, so many different walks
of life. We wouldn't have any interest
in one another if it wasn't for our union with Christ. And now
the Lord is describing these trees of righteousness, which
are the plantings of the Lord." He said, some of them are fir
trees, some of them are pine trees, some of them are box trees,
but they're all planted together to beautify the place of my sanctuary
and I will make the place of my feet glorious. I'm going to
walk among the trees. I'm going to be right there in
the forest and they're going to be following after me and
my feet, my feet, Like burnt brass, the scripture describes
the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ when that fiery wrath of God
fell on Him and Calvary's cross. And what are our feet? We have
feet of clay, don't we? feet in the scriptures represent
our creatureness, our humanity. Even the Seraphim, the highest
of all the angels in glory, who were hovering over the throne
of God in Isaiah chapter 6 and crying, Holy, holy, holy is the
Lord God of hosts. They had six wings. With two
of them, they covered their feet, didn't they? They covered their
feet. They were ashamed of themselves
in the presence of God. Oh Lord, let me look to his feet. His feet are beautiful. The sons also of them that afflicted
thee shall come bending unto thee. Now this is a description
of the church in glory, in heaven. We'll see that. The church is
If you want to, I mentioned earlier about these people who are all
excited about Jerusalem now becoming the capital of Israel. They would
call their theology dispensationalism in that they believe that there
are different dispensations of time whereby God acts differently. In a sense, there are three dispensations. There's the Old Testament church.
There's the New Testament church. and then there's the church in
glory. Those are the three times. And the Lord's going to describe
the Old Testament church in the next couple of verses as a church
built with stone and wood. He's going to describe the New
Testament church as a church that's built with iron. And then He's going to describe
the church in glory as one that's built with gold and silver. and
wood and stone, brass and iron, and gold and silver. Look, here's
the church. The sons also that afflicted
thee shall come bending unto thee, and all they that despise
thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet, and
they shall call thee the city of the Lord, the Zion of the
Holy One of Israel. Now you can look up the word
Zion, it means a parched land. That's the translation of the
word Zion and it's used multiple times in the scriptures to describe
the church. And there we are. We just look
to ourselves like a parched land, don't we? We look to the world
like a parched land. Who cares about what we're doing
here this morning? Who in this city, you know there's
2 million people that live in this city? The three counties,
Osceola, Orange, and Seminole County, the population is 2 million
people. Who cares about these few that
are gathered here in Apopka? We're just a parched land to
them, aren't we? And yet, this is the city that's
going to survive when everything else is destroyed.
This is the sanctuary city. It's the only place that's going
to survive time and be found in the presence of God. And all
those who look upon the church in disdain now, well, the scripture
says every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that
Christ that Jesus is the Christ to the glory of God the Father. One day, the Lord Jesus Christ
is going to parade before all of creation his trophy of grace. He's gonna take that bride like
we do at a wedding and he's gonna walk her down the aisle and he's
gonna say, look, she's been made beautiful with my comeliness.
And she's the one that I'm married to. She's my city. She's where I'm going to reside
for all eternity. The Zion of the Holy One of Israel. There's only one that's holy,
only one. Our holiness before God, He that
sanctifyeth and they that are sanctified are all as one whereby
He is not ashamed to call them His brethren. Our holiness before
God is by virtue of our union with Him. He is the Holy One. You see that capital O? He's
the Holy One. None like Him. None's like Him. Lord, make me sanctified, make
me holy in Christ. In that city, there'll be nothing
but righteousness, nothing but holiness, no sin. He's going to go on to describe
it. Look what he says. Whereas thou hast been forsaken
and hated so that no man went through thee, I will make thee
an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations. You know, hope that is placed in something
that you can see is not hope. The eyes of faith are not looking
at physical things. The eyes of faith are looking
beyond the physical to the fulfillment of the promises that God has
made in His Word. This is the city of refuge. This
is the sanctuary city. This is the city whereby the
Lord Jesus Christ is residing on His throne. And the 24 elders,
which is another picture of the church, are gathered around the
throne, and they're all praising Him. Verse 16, Thou shalt also suck
the milk of the Gentiles, and shalt suck the breast of kings,
and Thou shalt know that I The Lord am thy Savior. You did not save yourself. You
did not, you did not manipulate God. You did not obligate God. You didn't offer God any, no,
like that man with a withered hand. He wasn't looking to be
healed, was he? The Lord said, hey, you stand
up. And he healed him. He gave him a hand that was able
to work. Thou shalt know that I am the
Lord thy Savior. Who saved you? Who saved you? Who gets all the glory for your
salvation? The Lord says here, everybody
in this city, everybody in this city is going to know But the
only reason they're there is because the Lord saved them. Thy Redeemer. We're looking at
verse 16 now. Thy Redeemer. That's how He saves
us. He saves us by redeeming us.
To be redeemed is to be purchased. Gomer had to be purchased. She
was a harlot. And Hosea had to go down to the
slave market and buy her back to himself, didn't he? And there
we are. He had to pay the price of a
slave. What was the price of our redemption? Scripture makes
it clear. Nothing less than the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. In the day in which you sin,
you shall surely die. The only thing that God's satisfied
with is the blood of His Son. for the redemption of our sins.
Christ died in our stead. He is our savior. He is our redeemer,
the mighty one of Jacob. Oh Lord, I look to myself, I'm
just a Jacob. I'm a Jacob. Give to me a new
name. Give to me a new name. Call me
Israel. a prince because Lord by nature
I'm a supplanter. I deceive myself and I don't
know the truth and can't know the truth unless you make me,
make me to know the truth. And here it is, here's the three
dispensations of time. Here's the church seen in its
three stages. For brass, I will bring gold,
and for iron, I will bring silver. For wood, brass, and for stone,
iron, I will also make thy officer's peace and thy exactor's righteousness."
So in the Old Testament, we have a church built with wood and
stone. The altars are made of stone.
They're fueled with wood. The sacrifice is laid on that
altar over and over and over again. And then the Lord says,
you've been building this church with wooden stone, I'm going
to bring iron and brass. And his feet were like brass
burned in a furnace. And his tongue is like an iron
sword. And he rules, he rules according
to Revelation with a rod of iron and he has written with a pin
of iron in stone. And that's where we are right
now. And yet one day, the wood and the stone, the iron and brass
are all going to be changed. And the only thing that's going
to survive for eternity is gold and silver, pure gold, pure silver. That's what the new city is going
to be made out of. It's how the Lord describes the
city, doesn't he? Roads paid with gold? Don't misunderstand
that. You know, those of you that have
done a little construction, I can't think of a material that we use
in any level of construction that is less valuable than blacktop
by weight. I mean, it's just, you know,
it's what we make our roads out of, isn't it? and we walk on
it, we don't think anything about it. In heaven, that which we value
most in this world, gold? We're going to be walking on
it. It's not going to be of any value to us. You see, this city
built with gold and silver is not to entice us to want to live
in a sanctuary city that's wealthy. It's a picture of how the Lord
Jesus Christ. He's that hammered seed of gold,
isn't He? He's the pure gold of Ophir.
We're going to be, as far as physical gold is concerned, we're
going to be walking on it. We're not going to be thinking
about the value of that. Our eyes are going to be fixed
on Him. Verse 18. Are you a member of
the sanctuary? Have you fled to this city? Are you an alien? Are you a legal alien or an illegal
one? Violence shall no more be heard
in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders, but thou
shalt call thy walls salvation and thy gates praise. What a
glorious picture. We're going to be, we're protected
now by the walls of salvation. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
salvation and Jonah said salvation is of the
Lord. It's all of him from election
to redemption to sanctification, to adoption, to glorification.
Salvation is a work of God's free grace in the finished work
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And here we have as walls to
protect us salvation. And we have gates, gates of praise. The Lord Jesus Christ said, I
am the gate. No man can come to the sheepfold
but by me. There's but one gate into this city. There are not
multiple gates in this city. There's one gate. And he said,
that gate is going to be called praise. We praise him and give
him all the glory and all the honor for opening up the gate
to the city. What a day it'll be. Violence
will no more be heard in the land. No more sin, no more destruction. when the scripture says that
there'll be no more tears. Well, He'll wipe away their tears.
It's not that we're going to get to heaven and be crying because
we're going to remember what we did. No. What He's saying
is that when you enter into this city, there's no tears. No tears. No sorrow. There's no sin. There's
no death. Verse 19, the sun shall be no
more thy light by day. You're not going to depend on
the rising and the setting of the sun for your light. Neither for brightness shall
the moon give thee light unto thee, but the Lord himself shall
be unto thee an everlasting light and thy God, thy glory. Oh, come to this city. Come to this city. Get in this
city. It's the only city that's going
to survive. It's not going to be like any
city we have in this world. We're not going to be dependent
upon the sun to come up and the moon to shine night and night.
The Lord Jesus Christ will be the light of that city. There
will not be a shadow in that city. Not a shadow. You say, well, light shines from
one point to whatever gets in its way. Well, there won't be
anything in its way. The life is just going to surround everything. Thy God shall be thy glory. The
sun shall no more go down, neither shall thy moon withdraw itself. The son of righteousness. Now
we know now, we live in a city that's built with brass and iron. And the sun goes down on us,
doesn't it? You lose fellowship. and you lose the awareness of
his presence. And the Lord, when he senses
any hypocrisy, what's he withdraws himself, doesn't he? Self-righteousness. But not in that city. For the
Lord shall be thine everlasting light and the days of thy mourning
shall be ended. No more mourning, no more sorrow,
no more trouble. No more sin. This is our hope. This is our hope. This is what
every child of God lives for. This is what they long for. They're
looking and waiting and watching for the eastern sky to split
and the trump of God to sound and the voice of the archangel
to cry. the dead in Christ to be raised,
and those of us which are alive to be caught up together with
them in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. So
comfort ye one another with these words." Isn't that what the Lord
said? Comfort ye one another. What comfort are we going to
have otherwise? There's no hope in this world. Solomon got it right. He indulged
himself in women, wine, and wealth. And he had it all, more than
any other man. And what conclusion did he come
to? Vanity of vanities. All is vanity. It's empty. There's
no substance to it. It's a facade. It's a lie. It's
a mirage. We're like a man crawling through
the desert and we get to what we think is an oasis and it's
not there. It's not there. Verse 21, Thy people also shall
be all righteous. Susan, no more sin. perfect righteousness,
no separation, there'll be no more sea. One of the things that
the sea represents in the scriptures is separation and we know that
the continents are separated by seas physically in the scripture
when it describes heaven says, and there shall be no more sea,
no more sea. My people also shall be all righteous. They shall inherit the land forever,
the branch of my planning, the work of my hands, that I may
be glorified." And he's going to get all the glory for all
eternity. Oh, Lord, put it in our hearts now to glorify Thee
that we might be prepared when that immigration and customs
Officer comes and checks the papers on every
person in this sanctuary city and said, Lord, I belong there. And the little one shall become
a thousand and the small one a strong nation. That means we look now at our
numbers and we seem so small and insignificant, and we are
on the world's standards, aren't we? But in that day, every believer
from every generation and every assembly of God's people are
gonna be gathered into one church, one church, one city, and thousands
upon thousands upon 10,000 shall be there, and they're all gonna
be worshiping God. Glorifying Him forever. Notice how this passage ends.
I, the Lord, will hasten it. He is going to hasten it. Here is my final admonition,
my final encouragement, my plea with you. This is not going to
take long before this happens. Don't wait. Don't say, well,
I'll settle things with God later. Come right now. It's the only
city that's going to survive. What a sanctuary it is. It's the city of God. And it's for aliens. That's what
it's for. strangers, people that are not
of this country, this world. Our Heavenly Father, we're thankful
for the revelation that you've given us of that hope and glory. We thank you, Lord, for all that
you did in order to prepare for us and to present yourself on
our behalf. Lord, we thank you for this table
and for the simplicity of it. We thank you for all that the
bread and the wine represent, and we ask, Lord, that you would
open the eyes of our understanding and cause us to set our affections
on Christ and to look to him for all our righteousness in
his perfect life of obedience and to look to him in his sacrificial
death for our justification before thee. Lord, bless the table. Bless your people. Prepare our
hearts now for that day when we'll. Receive this. Feast in glory. But we ask it
in Christ name. Amen. Ask the men if they'll
come please and distribute the bread and the wine for the time. The him on the back of the bulletin,
the him on the back of your bulletin. Just remain seated, please. you The King of Heaven a feast has
made, and to his much-loved friends. The faint, the famished, and
the sad this invitation sends. Beggars approach my royal board
Furnished with all that's good Come sit at table with your lord
And eat celestial food My body and my blood receive,
it comes entirely free. I ask no price for all I give,
but, oh, remember. ? O let thy gracious bidding, Lord
? ? Though vile and base we come ? ? O speak the reconciling word
? ? And welcome wanderers home ? Which wine and milk and heavenly
meat We come to buy and live Since nothing is the price that's
set And we have not to give Impart to all thy flock below the blessings
of thy death. On every begging soul bestow
thy love, thy hope, thy faith. May each with strength from heaven
endued say my beloved's mine. I eat his flesh and drink his
blood in signs of bread and wine. I knew that was going to happen. Signs. Isn't that what we were
just saying? The bread and the wine is a sign. It's not the
substance. The substance is Christ. He's the substance. And the only
way to know Him is spiritually. We know Him by faith, don't we? For by grace are you saved through
faith. So though we take this bread
physically into our body, we understand that it's a symbol,
it's a sign of the spiritual feasting on the body of Christ
for all our righteousness before God. We do this in remembrance
of him. the end of the supper, he took
the cup. He gave it to the disciples and he said, this is the cup
of the new covenant. That old church, it was built with stone
and wood. This is the beginning of the
new covenant church, which will be built with brass and iron
and a picture because the Lord went on to say, I'll not drink
again of this cup until I drink it in glory. That's that city
of silver and gold, isn't it? The Lord said, do this in remembrance
of me. And all God's people said, amen,
amen. Let's stand together. Brother
Cyril, would you close us in prayer, please? I know it's a huge crisis. I
paid the price for our sin. Okay.