We're gonna we're gonna begin
our second service Number 17 in the hardback, number
17, come thou fount. Number 17. Come Thou Fount of every blessing,
tune my heart to sing Thy grace. Streams of mercy never ceasing,
call for songs of loudest praise. Teach me some melodious sonnet,
sung by flaming tongues above. Raise the mount, I'm fixed upon
it, mount of Thy redeeming love. Here I raise my Ebenezer, hither
by Thy help I'm come. And I hope by Thy good pleasure
safely to arrive at home. Jesus saw me when a stranger,
wandering from the fold of God, He to rescue me from danger Interposed
His precious blood O to grace how great a debtor Daily I'm
constrained to be Let Thy goodness, like a fetter, bind my wandering
heart to Thee. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel
it, prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart, oh, take and
seal it, seal it for thy courts above. Our second hymn will be number
442. Praise him, praise him. 442. Praise Him, praise Him, Jesus
our blessed Redeemer. Sing, O earth, His wonderful
love proclaim. Hail Him, hail Him, highest archangels
in glory. Strength and honor give to His
holy name. Like a shepherd, Jesus will guard
his children. In his arms he carries them all
day long. Praise him, praise him, tell
of his excellent greatness. Praise him, praise him, ever
in joyful song. Praise Him, praise Him, Jesus
our blessed Redeemer, for our sins He suffered and bled and
died. He our rock, our hope of eternal
salvation. Hail Him, hail Him, Jesus the
crucified. Sound His praises, Jesus who
bore our sorrows. Love unbounded, wonderful, deep,
and strong. Praise Him, praise Him, tell
of His excellent greatness. Praise Him, praise Him, ever
in joyful songs. Praise Him, praise Him, Jesus
our blessed Redeemer. Heavenly portals fly with Hosanna's
ring. Jesus, Savior, reigneth forever
and ever. Crown Him, crown Him, prophet
and priest and king. Christ is coming over the world
victorious. Power and glory unto the Lord
belong. Praise Him, praise Him, tell
of His excellent greatness. Praise Him, praise Him, ever
in joyful song. Thank you. You may be seated. I'd like to read Psalm 44, starting
with verse 1. We have heard with our ears,
O God, our fathers have told us what work thou did, what thou
hast done in their days in the times of old, how thou did drive
out the heathen with thy hand and plantest them, and how thou
did afflict the people and cast them out. For they got not the
land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own
arm save them, wasn't by our works, but thy right hand and
thine arm and the light of thy countenance. that's the Lord
Jesus Christ, because thou hast a favor, thou had favor unto
them. Thou art my king, O God. Command
deliverances for Jacob, the sin. Through thee will we push down
our enemies. Through thy name will we tread
them under that rise up against us. For I will not trust in my
bow, Neither shall my sword save me. Our weapons of our warfare
are not carnal. But thou hast saved us from our
enemies and hast put them to shame that hated us. In God we
boast all the day long and praise thy name forever. Selah. Lord, we come before you thankful
for this time that we can have together. We ask that you'd once
again turn us from this flesh to behold the Lord Jesus Christ
and what he's accomplished for us. We ask that you'd be with
Eric as he declares that to us. We ask that you'd give him what
he needs. We ask that you'd be with us
here as a local assembly, that you'd grow us in the love and
the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, and that you'd give us
your spirit, that we would be able to worship you in spirit
and in truth. For we know without your spirit
that this would just be in vain. We ask that you'd continue to
be with Brother Scott and put your hand to healing on him.
We ask this all in Christ's name, amen. Alright brethren we're gonna
be in John chapter 1 John chapter 1 verse 14 I'm gonna read the text because
we're just looking at this verse here John 1 14 And the word was made flesh and
dwelt among us and we beheld his glory the glory as of the
only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth. Now, I've
titled this message, The Significance of the Word Made Flesh. The Significance of the Word
Made Flesh. And so, we'll first be looking
at the Word being made flesh, and then we'll look at the duality
of Christ's two natures, being God and being man. And then,
we'll close it with, what's the significance? What's the purpose
in the word being made flesh? Now, I think you'll recognize
there's a certain beauty in looking at verse one and then verse 14. Because in verse one, John labors
to make us to know that this word is God. He not only was
with God, but He is God Himself. And so, verse 1 says, In the
beginning was the Word. And He's speaking of His deity
there. And then verse 14 says, And the
Word was made flesh. God was made flesh. And so, when this Word was made
flesh, He didn't cease to be God. He didn't change what he
was when the Word became flesh, but rather Augustine, back around
400 AD or so, had noted that he took unto himself that which
he was not. He took humanity to himself. And I think it's important for
us to to look at this because I don't think we really grasp
the immensity of what's being said, right? When it says that
the word was made flesh because most of us, probably all of us
here have grown up our whole lives hearing of Christ's birth,
right? We've heard of his birth and
we've seen how that God became flesh. And it's likely because
really We tire of hearing it often because it's due to the
dullness of our own flesh. We're tried with it. So I pray
that today's message won't be a trouble or a trial to your
flesh as we look at these scriptures, but that rather we behold Christ
our Savior and what he did for us, his people, to bring us to
Himself. Now, to you that hear the Word,
you know that the Eternal Son, the Eternal Son of God, He took
upon Him human nature. He became flesh and the scriptures
tell us why He became flesh over in Galatians 4 verses 4 and 5. Galatians 4 verse 4 says, But
when the fullness of the time was come, He wasn't always flesh. God, He was divine always, always
from the beginning, always with God, eternal God, always with
Him and always God. But in the fullness of time,
that constraint where we find ourselves in this flesh here
constrained by time and space and other Weaknesses God sent
forth his son made of a woman made under the law why? To redeem them that were under
the law that we might receive the adoption of sons now We don't
you know we struggle to comprehend What's being said here right
and and if you if you struggle to comprehend that? Christ, who
is fully God, the Son of God, who is fully God, and yet fully
man, and it's hard for you to understand that, don't feel bad.
It's one of the mysteries of our faith. It's one of the mysteries
of our faith, right? I was speaking to a Muslim I
worked with many years ago, and he told me, plainly, he said,
he's either man or he's God, but he's not both. And that's
how man sees it. He's either man, fully man, or
he's fully God, but he can't be both God and man. And even the Greeks, I don't
remember which branch of their philosophy it was, but they couldn't
imagine God becoming flesh because flesh is sinful. They understood
that flesh is defiled and It's sinful. And that's true. If Christ
was born of Adam's seed, he would be defiled because Adam's seed
is corrupt. And that's the importance of
the the virgin birth, that Christ was not formed of Adam's seed,
but that he was formed of God. God created Adam. God can create
the second Adam, too, in Mary's womb. Right. So do these scriptures. Right. Do the scriptures. point
to the triunga. Do they reveal the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Ghost, and what the Son accomplished? Well,
the union of these two natures in Christ, it is one of the great
mysteries of our faith. There's a familiar verse that
many of us know, 1 Timothy 3, 16, right? Great is the mystery
of godliness, right? He actually says, without controversy,
great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh,
justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles,
believed on in the world, received up into glory. The Word becoming flesh is the
mystery of godliness revealed to us. God's revealing to us
true righteousness, and He's revealing to us the Father, and
that we don't compare to Him. We come up short of the glory
of God in all things. And so, there's scriptures that
emphasize Christ's humanity, right? We see that there are
scriptures that speak of His humanity. Jesus wept, we're told
there in John. Jesus wept. And then in Hebrews
2, verse 9 speaks of his humanity and verse 10 of his divinity.
In verse 9, Hebrews 2, 9 says, but we see Jesus. And what a humble title that
is for him to be called Jesus. The name given to him and assigned
to him at his coming when the angel announced his coming, who
was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering
of death." God made the Son. When He became flesh, He made
Him lower than the angels, because angels aren't constrained by
the confines that we find ourselves in this flesh. Angels can do
things that we can't do as men. And the scriptures say that He
became flesh. for the purpose that he might
suffer and die, because God cannot die, and God does not suffer.
But the Son of God died and suffered in the room instead of his people. And it says that he did this
for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that he
by the grace of God should taste death for every man. That highlights
his humanity to us. He really is a man, only then
Man dies that which is spirit doesn't doesn't die that which
is of God doesn't doesn't die and so From there though the
Hebrews 2 10 proceeds with haste to reveal his divinity that he
is God He's not just a man. He's not just like you and me,
but he is God himself which shows the sufficient worth of what
he accomplished for us right because we though some of us
might be moved to lay down our life for someone we love, right? But even if we do that, we can't
even pay off our own debt of righteousness that we owe, let
alone begin to chip away at the debt of righteousness that another
owes. And yet Christ did that very
thing. He had no sin for himself to
pay off, but he paid the sin debt of his own people full all
of them every one of them because he himself is God and able his
blood is precious and Righteous and able to accomplish that work
It says in Hebrews 2 10 for it became him for whom are all things
and by whom are all things That's God our Creator and bringing
many sons unto glory to make the captain of their salvation
perfect through sufferings and so our Savior the Word of God
became flesh to accomplish our redemption, to accomplish our
reconciliation to holy God, right? Because we had no other means
of saving ourselves. We had no ability to work a righteousness
of our own. And so Christ came and he paid
that debt in full. And then our Savior, transitioning
from his humanity spoken of in scripture, he himself says in
Revelation 1.8 that he is God. He said, I am Alpha and Omega,
the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is and
which was and which is to come, the Almighty. And so he is fully
God as though he were not man. fully man, as though he were
not God. And yet, when he became flesh,
his deity wasn't altered. It wasn't confused or removed. He laid aside his glory, but
he's still God. He's still the Son of God. And
we see it in the many miracles that he performed, commanding
the wind and the waves to be still at his voice. He walked
upon the water. the ability to Peter to walk
upon the water. He knew the things which he knew,
which no man could know. And he was, well, you could say,
well, others, if they believe and have faith, they could do
those things too. Perhaps they could, but he alone reveals to
us the Father. He is the light and life of men. He's the light of God, whereby
we know and have fellowship with God and are reconciled to God
and know Him, only through Christ Himself, all right? And so He's
able to give life to whom He will, and that's only the power
of God and not man. We can't do that, all right?
We can't will to salvation, will to life any, but He does. It's of His will and according
to Him, all right? Now, though He was a man, He
never sinned. Peter says in 1 Peter 2.22, who
did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. You think
about that. Probably Mary and Joseph didn't
realize how wonderful of a child they had until they began to
have children of their own. And then they saw the difference
between Christ and his brethren. But Christ did not sin because
he's not formed of Adam's corrupt seed. And that's why it's so
important for us to see that. And we realize, we understand
doctrine just from that very truth that we are sinners because
we are of our father Adam's seed. And that corrupt seed is passed
on through man's seed. and the woman there. And so when
we're born, when we're formed, there's already enmity against
God. We're already natural born enemies
of God, our creator. God who gives us this breath
which we breathe. And so we come forth lusting
for the things that we lust for and doing the sins that we do
because that's what we are by nature. And we can't change or
alter that fact. And so when we see Christ's birth,
we see that the scriptures make a point for us to know that it
wasn't of Adam's corrupt seed. So over in Luke 1, Luke chapter
1 in verse 34 and 35, when the angel was announcing the conception
of Christ in her womb, what did he say? Well, first Mary asked
unto the angel, asked the angel, well, how can these things be,
seeing as I've never been with a man? I've never known a man. She never slept with the man
and could conceive. She was a virgin. And so the
scriptures make that point so that we understand she was a
virgin when she conceived. And the angel answered and said
unto her, the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power
of the highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore also that Holy
thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son
of God. And then we know Joseph, he was
going to break off the engagement because he wasn't married to
her yet, alright, he had never lain with her, laid with her,
so he was going to break off that engagement because she was
found to be with child and naturally you would think, She did something
she shouldn't have done there. And so Matthew 1.19, Joseph,
her husband, being a just man and not willing to make a public
example, was minded to put her away privily, right, or privately. But while he thought on these
things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in
a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take
unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her
is of the Holy Ghost. So we see that Christ is formed
of the Spirit of God and of Mary, but the sin being passed in man's
seed, he wasn't born of man's seed, but of Mary and the Holy
Ghost there. So, the duality of Christ's nature
is prophesied. There's two natures that are
spoken of in the Scriptures that we should know that this is how
Christ would would come forth, right? It's not something that
we've conveniently made up, speaking of Christ, to just fit in and
make it seem more viable or more real to us, but rather the scriptures
told us of these things, of his manhood and his deity, right? Genesis 3.15, I will put enmity
between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed,
right? This is why I say, Mary, Mary,
the Lord, conceived in her womb Christ, but born of her seed,
not of man's seed in the Holy Ghost there. Right? It shall
bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. You can't bruise
God's heel. We can't affect or harm or hurt
God in any way, but a man can be bruised, a man can lay down
his life. And then we're told that he would
be a prophet, like Moses. Moses was told to say this, the
Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst
of thy brethren. He would come as a man, like
unto me, unto him ye shall hearken. And then that he would descend
from David's lineage. Through Mary, descending from
one of the royal sons of David, Samuel 7, 12 says, well Samuel
speaking to David said, when thy days be fulfilled, and thou
shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after
thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish
his kingdom. He shall build an house for my
name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
not of Mansi, but through Mary, who came from the lineage of
David. And then we're told that he would
suffer and know sorrow. And men suffer, and men know
sorrow. God doesn't suffer, and God doesn't know sorrow. He's
perfect and complete in himself. And it says, Isaiah 53.3, he's
despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief. So as a man, he may know Christ
is complete, but I mean as a man Christ knows sorrow and acquainted
with grief. So that's of his humanity, but
what of his deity? Did the scriptures speak of him
as God or as just a man? Is he fully God? So Isaiah 7.14
says, Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold,
a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name
Immanuel. And Emmanuel is God with us.
And in Matthew, he confirms this to us, saying, Behold, a virgin
shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall
call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is God with
us. All right, if you're there in
Isaiah, go to Isaiah 9.6. In Isaiah 9.6, the Lord spells
it out more so for us that we might understand who this child
is. Isaiah 9, 6 says, unto us a child
is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon
his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor,
the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. All right? And then the Lord
speaks of him in his deity, of coming to his temple, to the
people of God. He says in Malachi 3, Verse 1
Malachi 3.1 He says, Behold, I will send my messenger, and
he shall prepare the way before me. And the Lord, whom ye seek,
shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant,
whom ye delight in. Behold, he shall come, saith
the Lord of hosts. Who is this Lord? Who is this
one that would come and dispel the confusion and the darkness
that we, born of Adam's seed, find ourselves in and not being
spiritually dead and separated from God? He says over in Micah
5.2, Micah 5.2, he said, but thou Bethlehem Ephrata. Though
thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall
he come forth unto me, that is, to be ruler in Israel. And listen, he says, whose goings
forth have been from of old, from everlasting. And so this is God. This is the Word of God, which
became flesh for us. And then the Word says in John
1 14, the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. He dwelt
among us. Now, what he's saying there is
he tabernacled among us. He tabernacled among us. Well,
what is that tabernacle? Well, that's a reference to the
tabernacle that was built in the wilderness, right? When Moses
and the people came out of Egyptian darkness and Egyptian bondage,
the Lord gave them the tabernacle in the wilderness, which they
prepared. And God met with the people there. And God was revealed in all his
glory and all his power to the people there in the wilderness.
Now that tabernacle was made of Goat skins dyed red and badger
skins. It probably looked awful. It
probably looked on the outside like a pretty ugly thing. And that's a good picture of
our Savior who was despised and rejected of men. It says that
we hid, as it were, our faces from Him. We didn't look upon
him, we didn't desire him. Men didn't desire him because
he was beautiful to look upon. But he came and even in all his
outward ugliness, if you will, inside he's beautiful, he's glorious. What he accomplished and who
he is and what he's done for his people is glorious to behold. Though we didn't esteem Him,
just as probably the enemies of God didn't esteem the tabernacle
of God, yet within, inside that tabernacle, we see the glory
of God. And so it is with Christ that
in Him we have revealed to us the glory of the Father, that
we might know Him and fellowship with our God and our Savior. Just as God met with the people
there in the tabernacle, so our God meets with us in Christ,
in whom we live and dwell. In Him, He's the light and the
life of men. He's the revealer of the Father. He's the one who makes known
to us who God is and what we are in our need of the Savior. And then it says, we beheld His
glory. the glories of the only begotten
of the Father, full of truth, full of grace and truth." And
so that brings us to our beholding of Christ. What's the significance
of the Word being made flesh? What is the importance of Christ
being made flesh? Why is that important? That He's
man and God. Well, it has everything to do
with our salvation. And the Apostle, I say this to
you now because the Apostle said, we beheld His glory. We beheld His glory. And what
he's saying there is, we considered Him well. We looked at His coming. We saw what He did. We heard what He said. We were
witness to the miracles. We beheld Him. We considered
Him very well. And I think that's good for us
some 2,000 years later to consider this one, Christ himself. Over
in 1 John 1, verse 1 and 2, you should go there. 1 John 1, this
would be after Hebrews. James, Peter, and then John.
1 John 1, verses 1 and 2. He says, that which was from
the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with
our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled
of the word of life." He's speaking of their beholding of Him. We beheld Him. We handle Him. We know He's flesh. We know He's
a man. He ate with us. He spoke with
us. We brushed up against Him. We know who He is, and we beheld
Him. We considered Him very well and
says the life was manifested and we have seen it and bear
witness and show unto you that eternal life which was with the
Father and was manifested unto us. And so they considered him
very well. They didn't lay down their lives
and forsake everything. And all of them, except for John,
was killed because of the faith and the hope that they have in
Christ. They didn't do that carelessly. They did that because they beheld
Him, and they recognized this is no ordinary man. This is the
God-man sent of God to save His people from their sins. And so, as they beheld Him, we
are to behold Him. to consider well who this one
is that was made flesh this God who came down and was made in
the likeness of our sinful flesh yet without sin himself and the
reason why is because in the light of the everlasting gospel
He's revealed to us what we are in ourselves, that we shall stand
before holy God one day. And are your works sufficient? Are they righteous to stand before
God? Mine aren't. My works aren't
righteous. I don't want to stand before
God in my own righteousness. My hope is in Christ. I heard
a little bit, I have to listen to it. Someone sent me a message. They don't attend here, It was
a works message of law. And the man was saying, I don't
want to go to hell. I don't want to go to hell. Well,
what are you doing about it? None of us wants to go to hell.
But what are you doing about it? There ain't a thing I can
do about it. There ain't nothing I can do
to change that. But God has provided the one
who does change that. He's provided his son who put
away my sin. That's my hope. He's declared
that He's done that work of salvation for me and obtained my righteousness
to stand before Holy God and be accepted and received of Him. I'm not going to tell you about
accepting Christ. I'm going to declare to you Christ
who accepts His people because of what He's accomplished for
them. And all those in whom God forms that faith and gives that
hope in them, they hear and they believe. They receive him, as
it were, by the gift and the power of God, making them to
hear what they are. And the scriptures tell us that
there's none righteous, no, not one. The scriptures say we've
all gone out of the way and are together become unprofitable
to God. We don't build up works of righteousness
and cause God to look at us and say, wow, look at that one, well
done, good job, you're a good one, come on, I'll take you to
myself. No, he's showing us that we're
coming up short, that it's not sufficient to save us or to stand
before the light and the glory of God. And so there's none that
doeth good, no, not one. And we know that because he's
made it known in his gospel. in mercy, in kindness to us. He's made known what we are in
ourselves, that we need the Savior. We need this one who is the Word
of God, who has made flesh and did this work for us. It's not the law that's gonna
save us, and it's not our religion. It's not being faithful to our
religion. It's being made faithful to Christ,
to look to Him and to stay upon Him and that our eye be set upon
him. He's the savior. And so God sent
his Christ for this very purpose. The son of God became a man. He didn't cease to be God, but
he took on him the weakness and the infirmity and bore the reproach
of man and the hatred of man against himself and put up with
the sin and the filth of of that, you know, you ever walk into
a place when you know what's going on and you just see people
who don't know what's going on and you're like, man, these people
really don't have a clue. Well, Christ came to this earth
and none of us has a clue of how to worship God and none of
us has the light and knowledge of God except he revealed it.
And Christ came being perfect and holy and righteous and bore
long with us in patience that he should save us. And so he
became a man to be that fit and perfect sacrifice to make atonement
for the sins of his people, to reconcile us to holy God so that
God is now satisfied. And according to His riches in
grace, right? Not according to the works we
did, but according to His riches in grace, He has forgiven us
and reconciled us and revealed Himself to us in regeneration
by His Spirit, giving us life, making us to see and to know
Him and to behold Him, right? Making our eyes to see Christ
who is the Savior, making our ear open to hear His words and
to believe Him, revealing faith in us, believing the testimony
of God concerning His Son. Even though we've all heard it
so many times before that God should send His Son in the likeness
of our sinful flesh yet without sin to do this work for us. So
turn over to Matthew 13. Because many do hear this, right?
Many hear it and they don't behold. They don't behold Christ. They
don't consider, why did Christ come? Why did he take upon him
the likeness of my flesh? Matthew 13, 15, and 16. The reason
why many hear and don't believe is he says, for this people's
heart is waxed gross, right? Full of fat. So that they, it's
just sludged down and heavy fat as it were the fat of sin and
death and their ears are dull of hearing and their eyes they
have closed lest at any time they should see with their eyes
and hear with their ears and should understand with their
heart and should be converted and I should heal them but he
says blessed are your eyes for they see and your ears for they
hear And so I pray that as we hear of Christ this morning and
that the word was made flesh that our God would bless that
word to your heart, right? Blessed are your eyes and those
who do see and those who hear they are blessed of God to behold
Christ and to give him thanks for his salvation and to rejoice
in the salvation in his son. And therefore you that are blessed
to see these things and to hear these things. The Word says,
spoken by Peter in Acts 2.38, repent and be baptized every
one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins.
And ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost for the promises
unto you and to your children and to all that are far off,
even as many as the Lord our God shall call. Because in Christ
Jesus alone, that's how you shall be saved and deliver yourselves
from this untoward generation. Right? It's in Christ Jesus alone. And so that's why the Word was
made flesh. And why we behold His glory. Thanking God, knowing that it's
all of His work and not our own. So, I pray that the Lord would
who have blessed that word to your heart and caused you to
rejoice. And you that have repented, be
glad and been baptized. Repenting meaning you that have
turned from dead works religion to believe the word of our God,
to believe Christ and what he's accomplished. So, pray he blessed
that. All right, let's close in prayer. Our gracious Lord, we thank you,
Father, for this work which you did in laying aside your glory
and taking upon you the weakness of this flesh to obtain a righteousness
for your people, that we should be one in you, that we should
behold you and see you and believe what you've accomplished for
us. Lord, help us. for you know the weakness and
the infirmity of our flesh. And yet Lord, we are so thankful
for your great grace and your mighty salvation, which has prevailed
for us and made us righteous and reconciled us to God. Lord,
we pray that you bless this word to our hearts and Lord that you
help us to walk in the spirit of your grace and power. Father,
we are so thankful for Johnny and Scott being able to come.
We pray that you would give him, give Scott comfort and continue
to heal his body. And Lord, we, we pray that you
would bless our time of fellowship, bless the food, which you've
provided for us and bless our time of fellowship. It's in Christ's
name. We pray and give thanks. Amen.
All right. Now, um, Brother Levi and Ken,
if you guys would come up and hand out the elements there,
the wine and the bread. And then Levi, if you would pray. Father, thank you for assembling
us once again, Lord. We pray that or anything good that we think
we see in ourselves, Lord. Don't distract us from trusting,
Lord. We pray that You just give us
hearts, Lord, to trust Him and love Him in Your name, we pray.
Amen. Just so you know, I'll be reading
from Matthew 26 today. wow wow All right, so Matthew 26 verse
26 says, and as they were eating, all right, we're gonna eat after,
but they were eating and Jesus took bread and blessed it and
break it and gave it to the disciples and said, take, eat, this is
my body. Verse 27 says, And he took the
cup and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye
all of it, for this is my blood of the New Testament, which is
shed for many for the remission of sins. Brother, if you would close this
in a hymn, and then we'll be dismissed and have a meal together. Our closing hymn will be number
222. There's the fountain, 222. There is a fountain filled with
blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins. And sinners plunged beneath that
flood lose all their guilty stains. ? Lose all their guilty stains
? ? Lose all their guilty stains ? ? And sinners plunged beneath
that flood ? ? Lose all their guilty stains ? ? Dying thief
rejoice to see ? ? That fountain in his day ? And there may I,
though vile as He, wash all my sins away. Wash all my sins away. Wash all my sins away. And there may I, though vile
as He, wash all my sins away. Dear dying lamb, thy precious
blood shall never lose its power. Till all the ransomed church
of God be safe to sin no more. Be safe to sin no more. Be safe to sin no more. Till all the ransomed Church
of God Be safe to sin no more. E'er since by faith I saw the
stream Thy flowing wounds supply, Redeeming love has been my theme,
And shall be till I die. and shall be till I die, and
shall be till I die. Redeeming love has been my theme,
and shall be till I die. And this, for lips being stammering
tongue, lies silent in the grave. Then in a nobler, sweeter song,
I'll sing thy power to save. I'll sing thy power to save. I'll sing thy power to save. Then in a nobler, sweeter song,
I'll sing thy power to save. Dismissed. I feel like it's always encouraging
to think of what's up here and just another better service.
I feel like it's everybody has that same thought. For some reason,
it's just encouraging when everybody drinks the wine. It's like saying,
hey, man, we have you.