Zoe's mom, Mary, back. She's
been out for a couple months with a broken rib. And we're
so glad you're back, Mary. And Digna and Estevan have been
out. And they're back this morning.
So what a blessing to have you all. And it's good to have the
Miller family with us from Crossville, the church where Donny Bell pastors.
They're here on vacation. They're sitting right down front
here. So we're happy that they're here. Psalm 122. I was glad when they said unto
me, let us go into the house of the Lord. Our feet shall stand
within thy gates, Oh, city of peace. That's what Jerusalem
means. Our feet are planted on that
rock of ages, the Lord Jesus Christ. Jerusalem is builded
as a city that has come packed together. She's a strong city. Whether the tribes go up, the
tribes of the Lord, all 12 tribes, under the testimony of Israel,
to do what? to give thanks unto the name
of the Lord. That's what we're here to do,
to worship him, to ask him to enable us to express from our
hearts gratitude, thanksgiving, and praise to him for his goodness
toward us. Bert's going to come lead us
in the hymn on the back of your bulletin. Would you please stand? you Praise ye the God of grace, who
gave to Christ a race, vast multitudes. Chosen by His decree, Christ's
work on Calvary from sin would set them free. Praise ye the
Lord. Praise ye the Son of God, Who
on this earth has trod Our substitute, Died for us willingly, For our
iniquity, Gave us His purity. Praise ye the Lord, Praise ye
the Spirit of life, Who came into our night, Revealed God's
Son. Grace poured into ourselves,
In Christ we were made whole, His name let us extol. Praise ye the Praise ye the Trinity, the blessed
Godhead three. T'will be our joy, all saints
in unity, to sing eternally. And this our song shall be, praise
ye the Lord. Be seated, please. For our scripture reading today,
I'm going to read from, I guess, one of the most glorious passages
in all the Word of God. As a matter of fact, all believers,
I would say, when I read the first four, first five verses
of this, you would know right where to go. And it is the Lord
is my shepherd. And As I was looking at this,
I seen some things in here that I didn't even know. You know,
you think you become familiar with these, but I would like
to just, let's read this because it's a glorious verse of scripture. Psalm 23. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall
not want. He maketh me, notice that, he
maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside
the still waters. And I understand that sheep won't
drink water from a running brook. That it's, you know, they just,
they won't do it. It has to be still and calm. And here is the passage of scriptures
that really captivated me, and it just, it blessed my soul.
He restoreth my soul. And as I begin to look at that
word restore, he bringeth back home is a good
definition that I can find. He bringeth back home. And what
it showed me that the Lord, my shepherd, When He had completed
His work, His glorious death and His burial and for paying
for our sins and His ascension, He took back home the names of
His sheep, His church. He bringeth back home. What we
lost in the fall of Adam, Christ restored. That which where we
already were. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth
me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yea, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou
art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort
me. Thou preparest a table before
me in the presence of mine enemies. We're in enemy territory. Now,
I mean, that's where it is. And the Lord has established
us a place here where we can be fed. Thou anointest my head
with oil, my cup runneth over. Surely, goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days of my life. And I will dwell in the
house of the Lord forever. Let us pray. Holy and gracious
Father, we come here again, Lord, to truly worship you and thank
you for all that you've accomplished in the person of our Lord Jesus
Christ. the good shepherd who gave his
life for his sheep. And we do thank you for it, Father.
And we just pray again, Lord, that you would be exalted, that
you would give grace to our brother Greg as he preaches again what
you've laid on his heart, from your heart to his to ours, that
we might be able to go away from here rejoicing and giving you
thanks. before we ask it in Jesus' precious
name. Amen. We're going to sing to him now
on the hardback hymnal number 294. Number 294. Savior, like a shepherd lead
us, much we need thy tender care. In Thy pleasant pastures feed
us, For our abuse Thy foes prepare. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus,
Thou hast bought us Thine we are. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus,
Thou hast bought us Thine we are. We are Thine, do Thou befriend
us, be the guardian of our way. Keep thy flock from sin, defend
us, seek us when we go astray. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus,
hear, oh hear us when we pray. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus,
hear, oh hear us when we pray. Thou hast promised to receive
us, poor and sinful though we be. Thou hast mercy to relieve us,
grace to cleanse and power to free. Blessed Jesus, blessed
Jesus, early let us turn to Thee. Blessed Jesus, blessed Jesus,
let us turn to Thee. Early let us seek Thy favor,
early let us do Thy will. Blessed Lord and only Savior,
with Thy love our bosoms fill. Blessed Jesus, Blessed Jesus,
Thou hast loved us, loved us still. Blessed Jesus, Blessed
Jesus, Thou hast loved us, loved us still. Be seated, please. If we were able to rejoice in
Psalm 23 and sing that hymn we just sang about Christ being
the shepherd of the sheep, then I hope that this message will
be the blessing from God to our souls.
I want you and me to find Christ to be our all. I want us to be able to say with
David when he said in Psalm 23, go back with me there for just
a moment, we use that Psalm 23, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. I shall not be in want. He's
everything I need. The Lord told that woman at the
well, if you drink of this water that I give you, you'll not thirst
again. You'll not need to go anywhere
else. If the Lord is to be our shepherd,
we've got to understand something about the nature of sheep. Now,
scripture says in Mark chapter four, verse 34, that without
a parable spake he not unto them. And the disciples asked the Lord,
why do you speak to them in parables? And the Lord said, because it's
not for them to know. the mysteries of the kingdom
of God. But it's for you to know. There
is no parable used more frequently in the scriptures than that of
a shepherd and his sheep. I suppose it's a little unfortunate
for us that most of us have had little or no experience with
sheep. Would not have been the case
to those that our Lord was speaking to here in Israel. But I've had enough experience
with myself to know something about the nature of sheep. Five things about sheep. Sheep
are dumb. Sheep are dirty. Sheep are dependent. Sheep are defenseless. And sheep
are directionless. Now that's true in the natural
world when it comes to sheep, as I understand it to be. But
I'm not concerned about us really knowing much about the world
of sheep. I want you to know about yourself,
as God describes you and me in his word as a dumb sheep. Our world values highly education
and intelligence. and I guess in the right place,
it's an okay thing to have. You can be very skilled, very
accomplished, very well-educated, very well-traveled, very well-read.
You can be very naturally intelligent and not have any understanding
whatsoever when it comes to the gospel of God's grace. For that
can only come by the Spirit of God. The natural man cannot receive
the things of the Spirit. We are dumb. And until we come
before the Lord as dumb, we'll not know anything. The Lord said,
Father, I thank Thee that Thou hast hid these things from the
wise and the prudent and revealed them unto babes. Now babes are pretty dumb. I
mean, they just are. Young children don't have much
going for them as far as understanding the things around them. Their
world is very limited, isn't it? And the Lord said, lest you
become as a little child, you shall not enter into the kingdom
of God. Lord, would you be pleased to make me before thee a dumb
sheep? A sheep who doesn't know anything? can't do anything, doesn't have
anything. Lord, I'm completely dependent upon you to reveal
to me the truth of the gospel. I can't see beyond the physical. I'm like a little child. I'm
just living in my own little world. And if I'm going to have
any understanding of the world of the Spirit, you're going to
have to reveal that to me. The Lord said in the book of
Corinthians, He said, Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this
world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? Yes,
he has. And the gospel does just that.
The gospel puts the wise, the prudent, the intelligent, puts
him in his place, knocks him off his high horse, and causes
him to realize, Lord, if you're going to be my shepherd, I'm
going to have to be dumb before you. I'm going to have to just
admit my lack of understanding. I can't
enter into how it is that the work of salvation was finished
before the foundation of the world. I can't see that. That's
something you're going to have to teach me by faith. I can't
understand how it is that the full justice of God was satisfied
in the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary's cross.
I can't enter into that. I can't receive that. Lord, I
don't understand it. You're going to have to teach
it to me. Lord, this matter of regeneration, this matter of
being born again by the Spirit of God, I don't understand it. I'm like Nicodemus. Nicodemus
said, how can I enter into my mother's womb again and be born
again? Nicodemus, that which is of the flesh is flesh. Lord,
I'm a man of flesh. than that which is of the Spirit
of Spirit. The flesh profiteth nothing. Well, that's not so
in the world. The flesh profits much. God says
the flesh profiteth nothing. It is the Spirit that giveth
life. Have you ever stood before God as a dumb sheep? You're not going to know Christ
as your shepherd. until he brings you to that place. Second thing I know about sheep,
more as I said before from my own experience than from anything
I know about the natural world of sheep, is that sheep are dirty.
Now our children have these little white fluffy stuffed animals
and they think that's what sheep are. From what I understand about
sheep, they're stinking, filthy, dirty animals. A sheep can actually
have its wool so thick and become so dirty that when it falls over,
it can't get up. It's called being cast down. And when a sheep is cast, it'll
die in that position if the shepherd doesn't come and get it back
up. But the weight of the filth that's matted into the wool is
so heavy that the sheep can't get himself back up on his feet.
Now, does that describe you? Does that describe you? Can you
say with the Apostle Paul, in me, that is, in my flesh dwelleth
no good thing? Can you say with the prophet,
from the top of my head to the bottom of my feet are nothing
but putrefying sores, Lord, I'm a leper? I can't find a square
inch of clean flesh anywhere on my body. If you've ever stood
in the presence of Christ, that's the only conclusion you can come
to. If you're like Isaiah and able to say, I saw the Lord high
and lifted up, the first thing out of your mouth is going to
be, I, woe is me, I am undone. I'm a man of unclean lips. I
live among a people of unclean lips. You'll be like that woman
at the well in John chapter four. He told me everything ever I
did. All things ever I did, all things
ever I did was nothing but sin. Her shame was not just the fact
that she had had five husbands and the man she was living with
was not her husband. Her shame was that everything she ever
did was sin. Everything. Is that true of you? It's really not true of most
folks. Most folks would not be able
to say, I'm vile. My righteousnesses are as filthy
rags before God. Most folks can't say that. You
say, well, preacher, this is supposed to be a positive day.
You know, this is the high day of the year, isn't it? The only
hope that we have of finding life in Christ is to come before
him as a filthy, dirty, dead sinner. This is the most positive
message you're ever going to hear. The only people that need
a Savior are sinners. The only people that need to
be made alive are those that are dead. The only people that
need to be found are those that are lost. There's no hope of salvation
outside of this. This is not a, you know, beat
people up and make them feel bad about themselves. No. You can't feel bad enough. You really can't. Say, well,
preacher, you don't know what I've done. I'm here to tell you
it's a whole lot worse than you think it is. It's a whole lot
worse than you think it is. We are dumb and we are dirty. And we'll know nothing about
the Lord Jesus Christ as our shepherd unless we are made to
be sheep. Sheep. Now we can dress ourselves
up pretty good and put on smelling salts and get, you know, and
present ourselves before one another in an acceptable fashion.
But not before God. Not before God. You stand in
the presence of God and you're going to find out that everything
about you is sin. That's what a sinner is. But
here's our hope. The hope is that there's a faithful
saint and this faithful saint is worthy of all acceptation.
It's worthy to be accepted by all. Christ Jesus came to save. Who? Sinners. of whom I am chief. He only saves sinners. And He saves every one of them.
And if He's made you to be a sinner, that's a miracle of grace. That's
a work of the Spirit of God if He's made you to be a sinner. Most folks aren't sinners. Not
only are sheep dumb, not only are they dirty, but they are
completely dependent. He maketh me to lie down in green
pastures. Appreciate the emphasis on that,
Wayne. He leadeth me beside the still
waters. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in paths of righteousness. That's the only hope we have. We're dependent on Him for all
our righteousness. We have no righteousness of our
own. The only hope of righteousness we have is that of the Lord Jesus
Christ. When that woman at the well said,
He has revealed to me everything that I ever did. Not only did he show her that
everything she ever did on her own was sin, but he also showed
her that everything she ever did in the person of her substitute
was perfect righteousness. We're dependent on him for that
righteousness. We have none of our own. For the justice of God
to be satisfied against our sin, we're completely dependent upon
Him. His sacrifice on Calvary's cross
is the only thing that God will accept for the putting away of
our sin. But He has accepted it. And all
the sins of all God's people have been put away. For eternal
life? Eternal life? How are you going
to get a hold of eternal life? How are you going to achieve
eternal life? Eternal life. Men have all sorts
of weird ways of trying to do it, don't they? Men in medicine now are talking
about living to be 200 years old or whatever. There's nothing
new about that. The fountain of youth is right
up the road here. You know, Ponce de Leon, the first governor of
the state of Florida was looking for that, wasn't he? How are you going to get a hold
of eternal life? You are dependent upon Him to give it to you. I give unto them life, as many
as thou hast given me. We've got to be chosen in the
covenant of grace, don't we? We've depended upon the Lord
to do that. We're dependent upon him to redeem
us. On Calvary's cross, we're dependent
upon him to regenerate us, to open the eyes of our understanding.
Why? Because we're sheep. We're dumb, we're dirty, and
we are dependent. How are we gonna have faith?
How are you gonna have faith? God's not pleased with your faith.
He's just not. We've got to have the faith of
Christ. That's the faith that saves. It's not you just believing
harder and somehow getting enough faith. For by grace are you saved,
yes, through faith, but that faith's the gift of God. It's
not of works, lest any man should boast. God has to reveal to us
the faithfulness of the Lord Jesus Christ so that we can say,
I'm found in Him. I'm found in Him. Not having
my own righteousness which is of the law, but that righteousness
which is by the faith of Jesus Christ. Sheep are dumb. Sheep are dirty. Sheep are dependent. Does this
describe you? Maybe you've never been around
a live sheep in your whole life. That's okay. The spiritual truth
of this is very real, isn't it? Sheep are defenseless. They are
defenseless. They are the prey of many predators,
and they cannot defend themselves. The only animal they ever fight
with is another sheep. Isn't that the way we are? Truth is, we have predators too,
don't we? Satan's too powerful for us. Sin is too enticing. The world is too contrary to
us. We are defenseless. Rededicate
yourself all you want, commit yourself, grit your teeth and
say, I'm going to do better, and you'll find out that you're
just as defenseless tomorrow as you were yesterday. You don't
have the power. The flesh is too strong. Sin is too deceiving. The law. What are you going to
do about the law? The law of God is unyielding.
It's inflexible. The law of God says guilty. How are you going to defend yourself
before God against his holy law? How are we going to do it? We
can't. Why? Because we're sheep. We're
defenseless. We need the shepherd. to be before God, our righteousness,
our law-keeping. Sheep are directionless. Oh, they just don't know which
way to go, do they? There's a way that seems right unto a man,
but at the end, that way leads to death. The broad road, the
sheep just follow the crowd. They follow the flock, don't
they? Wherever the mass is going, that's where I'll go. And they
are directionless. Does this describe you? Are you in need of a shepherd?
A shepherd to care for your soul? A shepherd to save you? A shepherd to receive you into
his flock? A shepherd to go out and find
you lost and wandering in the wilderness? That's what he does. Well, listen about this shepherd. Four things I want to tell you
about the shepherd. I just told you five things about the sheep.
Four things I want to tell you about the shepherd. First thing
is that he is one shepherd. Ezekiel chapter 34 verse 23. I, God says, will set up one
shepherd over them and he shall feed them. Even my servant David,
he shall feed them. He shall be their shepherd. There's one shepherd. Not many shepherds, there's one
shepherd. The scripture says, if the eye
be single, then the whole body shall be full of light. I can't
look anywhere else. I've got to look to the one shepherd
who is the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't you love the story of John
and James on the Mount of Transfiguration? Peter, James, and John, and Moses,
and Elijah showed up, the law and the prophets, and the Lord
discussed with Moses and Elijah those things which he would accomplish
in his death. What was he going to do? He was
going to fulfill all the prophecies and he was going to satisfy the
demands of the law. And Peter speaks up and he says,
let's build tabernacles. We'll build three, one for you
and one for Moses, one for Elijah. And then the Lord revealed, unveiled
his humanity and the light of his glory shined forth and Peter
found himself on his face in the dirt. And the scripture says,
when they looked up, they saw no man save Jesus only. Peter, forget about a tabernacle
for Moses and Elijah. It's all about me. Mary chose that one thing that
was needful, didn't she? When she sat at the feet of the
Lord Jesus Christ. I will set up one shepherd for
my sheep. Turn with me, if you will, to
2 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians chapter 11. Look at verse two. Paul says
to the church at Corinth, for I am jealous over you with a
godly jealousy, for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may
present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest by
any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so
your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in
Christ. If he that cometh to you preacheth
another Jesus, another Jesus. Yes, there's lots of Jesuses
in this world. Listen to what men say about
the Lord Jesus Christ. Try the spirits and see whether
they be of God. See if they're describing the
one who's revealed in the word of God, or they're describing
some little wimpy Jesus who's trying to save folks, but he
just can't get it done. Paul said, I fear lest you be
corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he
that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached,
or if you receive another spirit, which you have not received,
or another gospel, which you have not accepted. He says, you might well bear
with. You see the word hymn is in italics.
It's not there. Paul's saying, bear with me.
Bear with me. Listen to what I'm telling you.
We've got one Christ, one husband, one head, one shepherd over the
sheep that feeds his flock. And dirty, dumb, dependent, directionless,
and defenseless sheep run to that one shepherd. Not only is
he one shepherd, but John chapter 10 verses 10 and 11 tells us
that he is the good shepherd. Will you turn with me there?
John chapter 10. The thief That's the man who
would rob Christ of his glory and salvation. That's the man
who would pride himself in a prayer that he prayed, a decision he
made, a work he performed. That's a man who would strip
Christ of the successful work of redemption that he accomplished
on Calvary's cross and make it an offer of salvation rather
than an accomplished salvation. The thief cometh not but to steal
and to kill. That's all he does. He robs from
Christ's glory and he kills men's souls and to destroy. I am come that they might have
life and that they might have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd and the
good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. Oh Lord, would you cause your
goodness to pass before me? That's what the Lord told Moses,
I'm going to put you in the cleft of the rock, I'm going to hide
you in the shepherd, and I'm going to cause my goodness to
pass before you. I looked up this word good in
the Greek dictionary, and here are some synonyms that it gives. for this word in the original
language when the Lord said, I'm the good shepherd. We use
that word so loosely, don't we? We say, well, he's a good man.
Well, the Lord said, there's none good but God. He's the standard
of goodness. And so it is, he's the standard
of beauty. He's handsome. He's excellent. He's eminent, He's choice, He's
surpassing, He's commendable, He's praiseworthy, He's admirable,
He's honorable, He's noble, and He's pure. These are the words
that the dictionary uses to describe or to define this word, good,
and they only can apply to Christ. He's the one shepherd and He
is the Good Shepherd. And in 1 Peter chapter 5, turn
with me there. 1 Peter chapter 5. Verse one, the elders which are
among you I exhort who am also an elder and a witness of the
sufferings of Christ and also a partaker of the glory that
shall be revealed. Peter says, yes, I'm an elder. I witnessed the sufferings of
the Lord Jesus Christ and my hope My hope is in the glory
that shall be revealed in me, the salvation of my soul. And
he says to the church, he says to the elders, feed the flock
of God, which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by
constraint, but willingly, not for filthy lucre, but of a ready
mind, neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being
examples to the flock. And when the chief shepherd shall
appear, When the chief shepherd, he's not only one shepherd, he's
not only a good shepherd, but he's the chief shepherd. Now,
how do you know if an under-shepherd is really an under-shepherd that
belongs to Christ? How do you know if he's a true
preacher of the gospel? Because he always points to the
chief shepherd. That's all he does. He just keeps
pointing to the chief shepherd. He just says what John the Baptist
said, behold, the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of
the world. He's not in it for filthy lucre. He's not in it
for followers. He's not lording it over men.
He's pointing men to Christ. He has a burden for their souls
and he's telling them about the only one who can save them, the
chief shepherd. Hebrews chapter 13. Hebrews chapter 13. Verse 20. Now the God of peace
that brought again from the dead, our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd
of the sheep. Oh, he's not only one shepherd
and a good shepherd and a chief shepherd, he's a great shepherd.
He's a great shepherd. He's able to save to the uttermost
those who come to God by him. He's a great shepherd. He's the
God of peace, the great shepherd of the sheep through the blood
of the everlasting covenant. You see that? Make you perfect. Well, that's where I need to
be. I need to be perfect before God. How am I going to be there? Only if I'm in the Great Shepherd. He's got to satisfy the demands
of the law for me. He's the Great Shepherd in that
he accomplished our warfare and pardoned our iniquity. He did
not fail, nor will he ever be discouraged. He has obtained
eternal redemption for us. He'll not lose one of his sheep. He will present every one of
them faultless before the throne of God with great joy. Why? Because he's a great shepherd.
and he's able to save to the uttermost. What does that mean?
Let your soul consider the most eternal bliss in glory that you
can possibly imagine and you haven't gotten to the uttermost. Let the eye of faith look in
hope. to the glories that shall be
revealed in us, and you haven't gotten to the uttermost. Let
your heart anticipate the beauty and the fullness of Christ, who
you now look at through a glass dimly, and you haven't gotten
to the uttermost. You say, well, preacher, I can't
look there because my sin is too overwhelming to me. Let your conscience plunge itself
in the deepest, darkest recesses of your sin and you haven't gotten
to the uttermost. It's worse than you think it
is. He is able to save to the uttermost. Now here's the glory of the gospel,
and I'll close with this. The shepherd became a sheep. The shepherd became a sheep.
He was born in the likeness of sinful flesh. He was born of
a woman, born under the law. He took upon him the body of
his sheep. And all the characteristics of
sheep What was the first one? They're dumb. Now he wasn't dumb
in the sense that we're dumb, but the scripture says that as
a sheep before his shearers, he opened not his mouth. He was dumb before his shearers. Why did he open not his mouth?
Because he had no charge to make. He had no defense. He, when he
bore the sins of his people on Calvary's cross, he became a
dumb sheep. and he became a dirty sheep.
You think you're dirty? All the filth of all of God's
elect of every generation was piled on the Lord Jesus Christ. The burden of that weight is
beyond our imagination. The truth is that you and I are
not conscious of a fraction of our sin. He was perfectly conscious
of every sin that you've ever committed and every sin that
every one of God's people has ever committed and suffered the
wrath of God as a result of that. And cried out, my God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? He had to forsake him. Why? Because
he was a dumb, dirty sheep. He couldn't cry for help. He
couldn't call for the legion of angels to come deliver him.
He couldn't offer a defense. Why? Because the shepherd became
a sheep. And he was defenseless. He was
defenseless. As the sin bearer, he could not
defend himself before God. Dependent? Oh yes. He depended on the Father
perfectly, perfectly. Father, into thy hands I commend
my spirit. He depended upon God to honor
the sacrifice that he had made on behalf of his people. The
Lord Jesus Christ, the shepherd of the sheep, became a harmless,
inoffensive, meek, mild, and gentle sheep in order to bear
the burden of our shame. In his mouth was found no guile. When he was reviled, he reviled
not again. When he suffered, he threatened
not. The scripture says the Lord Jesus Christ is that holy, harmless,
undefiled, separate from sinners, and higher than the heavens. If we are to say, the Lord is
my shepherd, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall
not want, I shall not be in want, of anything because he's everything
to me. I'm a sheep. He took on my nature,
for which cause he's not ashamed to call me his brethren. He took
on my nature. He suffered under the hand of
God, that which I deserved. He's the lamb of God, isn't he?
Slain before the foundation of the world. And when John saw
him sitting upon his throne, he said, I saw him as a lamb
that had been slain. The shepherd became a lamb. Let's pray together. Our Heavenly Father, we approach
thy throne of grace with hope, with boldness, with courage,
with confidence, knowing that we have an advocate before thee. One who's presented himself on
behalf of his people for our righteousness. One who's satisfied
thy divine justice. One who's put away thy wrath.
We ask now that your Holy Spirit would enable us to look to him,
to rest in him, to rely upon him for all our salvation so
that we can say with our brother David, the Lord is my shepherd,
I shall not want. We thank you for this table.
We thank you for the simplicity of it. For the way in which it
reminds us of the body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
we pray that as we receive this bread and wine, that you would
give to our hearts the faith to look beyond these common elements
and to see the spiritual truth that they represent. For we ask
it in Christ's name, amen. I ask the men if they'll come
and distribute. We're gonna sing number one in
the Saltback Temple, you can remain seated. See the table spread before you,
see the feast of bread and wine. These are symbols of our Savior,
tokens of His love divine. Bread that's broken is His body
Crushed beneath the wrath of God Wine poured out is a reminder
Of our Savior's precious blood Children of our God, remember
how he bought your soul and mine. In remembrance of our Savior,
eat the bread and drink the wine. Jesus came, God incarnate, to fulfill God's holy law. On the cross he made atonement
and retrieved us from the fall. Let us ne'er forget the promise
Jesus made to come again. Soon he comes, our King, to call
us home to glory. Praise his name! With this hope and expectation,
We rejoice to keep this feat, Celebrating our redemption, Till
we lean on Jesus' breast. celebrating our redemption. That's
what we're doing. This table is just a physical
picture of what we just preached. And the Lord gave us this blessing
and said, as often as you do it, Bread's unleavened. No sin. He took away our sin,
the sacrifice of himself once and for all. This bread represents
his righteousness. We do it in remembrance of him. Don't you love what the Lord
told Moses? So you take that lamb, the shepherds become a
lamb, you kill him, take his blood, put it on the doorpost
on the lawn of the house and get in the house. Don't come
out of the house. Don't stick your hand out the window. Stay
behind the blood. And when I see the blood, I'll
pass by you. We do this in remembrance of
him. I hope the Lord gives you all
a wonderful day together with your family. Remember to pray
for us in Sarasota. We'll be preaching over there
tonight. Brethren over there, send their
love and their appreciation to you. Let's stand together. Brother Hugo, would you dismiss
us please in prayer? Thank you that you have provided
us a shepherd father. Thank you that you have provided
us this blood that takes away our sin. And the Lord Jesus Christ's
righteousness that provides us the righteousness before you.
Father, thank you for this. You actually help us remember
throughout the week. of us to look forward to your return in
the United States of America. In the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Amen.