Let's open our Bibles now to
Exodus chapter 12. Exodus, the 12th chapter. We'll begin our reading in verse
21. Then Moses called for all the
elders of Israel and said unto them, draw out and take you a
lamb according to your families. and kill the Passover. And you
should take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that's
in the basin and strike the lentil in the two side posts with the
blood that is in the basin. And none of you should go out
at the door of his house until the morning for the Lord will
pass through to smite the Egyptians. And when he see it, the blood
upon the lentil and on the two side posts, the Lord will pass
over the door. and will not suffer the destroyer
to come in unto your houses to smite you. And you shall observe
this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons forever.
And it shall come to pass when you become to the land which
the Lord will give you, according as he hath promised, that ye
shall keep this service. And it shall come to pass when
your children shall say unto you, what mean ye by this service? That ye shall say, it is the
sacrifice of the Lord's Passover, who passed over the houses of
the children of Israel in Egypt when he smote the Egyptians and
delivered our houses. And the people bowed the head
and worshiped. And the children of Israel went
away and did as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron. So
did they. Thank God for his word. Let's
bow together in prayer. Our father, we bow before you
this morning, a thankful people. How can we begin to thank you
for all your countless many blessings to your people in Christ our
Savior? We thank you for a Savior who saves his people from all
of their sin. Him who we will remember this
morning. Remember his sacrifice as we
take the bread and the wine. Remember his body broken for
our sins. His blood shed to put away the
sin of his people. Father, how we thank you for
a savior who saves to the uttermost the worst of sinners who come
to him, trusting him to be all of their salvation. Father, how
we thank you for the blessing that you've sent us, the preaching
of the gospel. We thank you you blessed your
word in calling out your sheep, feeding your sheep, instructing
and edifying and comforting your people by the preaching of the
word. You've preserved us a place where
we can hear your gospel preached and come together with your people
in worship. Father, how thankful we are. How we thank you for
your calling, saving, regenerating, keeping grace. You've shed your
grace so abundantly upon this congregation. Father, we're so
humbled. We say with David, who am I?
What is my house? Who are we that you'd be so merciful
to us? Father, we're thankful. Thankful
for this opportunity to meet together and worship. And Father,
I pray you'd make this hour a special hour of worship, that you'd send
your spirit upon us and enable us to worship from the heart.
Not just go through fleshly motions of religion, not just playing
at religion, but Father, that you enable us to worship. Father,
I pray you'd reveal your glory, your redemptive glory in this
place this morning. Oh, if we could see Christ our
Savior, the Redeemer of his people, the successful, victorious Redeemer,
I know our hearts would worship. Father, we're thankful. And we
pray, Father, that you'd bless others, your people, wherever
they might meet together today. Bless your word, where it's preached.
We pray a special blessing, our brother Eric, as he's preaching
in Witherspoon. Bless him mightily, Father, for
your glory and for the good of your people. Father, for those
that you've brought into the valley of trouble and trial,
we pray for them. We pray that you give them a
special portion of your presence, that you'd heal, that you'd comfort,
that you would deliver. But Father, above all, that you
would give them a special portion of your presence. Comfort their
hearts with your presence and give them a fulfillment of your
promise that your grace is sufficient. Father, all these things we ask
and we give thanks in that name which is above every name. In
the name of Christ our Savior, amen. All right, for our visitors this
morning, just in case you don't know, we're looking through a
series of questions that were asked in the scriptures and attempting
to answer them. And the question I want to look
at this morning, the title of this message, is what mean ye
by this service? In verse 26, Moses tells the
people, it shall come to pass when your children shall say
unto you, What mean ye by this service? The children of Israel
here are observing the very first Passover. They're observing it
as slaves in Egypt, and after this night, they're gonna be
set free from Egypt. And Lord commanded them, here's
how he's gonna deliver them from the house of the bondman. They're
gonna observe the Passover, put the blood on the door. And Moses
tells them, now you keep this Passover every year to remember,
to celebrate, how the Lord set you free from slavery in Egypt. It will be a constant reminder
to you. Now, I would just imagine that everybody who was there
on that first Passover, I bet that night was so significant.
They always remembered it. Wouldn't you think? They had
to remember eating that meal with the staff in their hand,
their shoes on their feet, their loins girded. They were ready
to leave that place. They had to remember the father putting
the blood on the door, coming in, shutting the door, and say,
now nobody go out till morning. We're going to sit here and eat
the Passover together. And there they sat. The Lord passed through
the land, killed the firstborn in every home that did not have
blood on the door. They had to remember hearing
that wail that went up from the Egyptian houses. Don't you reckon?
Look back at chapter 11, verse 6. Lord told Moses how this thing
is going to shake out in verse six. He says, and there should
be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there
was none like it nor shall be like it anymore. And they heard
that whale. Look at the chapter 12 verse
30 and Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants
and all the Egyptians. And there was a great cry in
Egypt for there was not an house where there was not one dead.
Now whoever heard that cry, don't you reckon they had to remember
it. There wasn't one like it before or after. They remembered
it. But over the years, most of Israel would not have a first-hand
memory of this night, would they? People would die, children would
be born, did not have first-hand memory of this night. And since
children are curious by nature, they would ask their parents,
why are we doing this? What does all this mean, all
this ceremony during the week of the Passover? Why can't I
have soft white bread? Why do I have to have this hard
unleavened bread? Why are we doing this? You know, it's a
very good thing when children ask questions. I encourage children,
you ask questions. Ask questions of your parents
because it's a good way to learn. You ask a question about something
you don't know, that's a way to find out what you don't know.
Ask questions. I love it when children ask questions.
Now, that can kind of strike fear in the hearts of parents
sometimes, can it? You know, one thing parents need
to do, you two need to remember this. When you have a child,
something you gotta learn how to do is talk and pray at the
same time. Your child's gonna ask you a question, you're gonna
be praying, Lord, show me how to answer this question. You
know, you gotta talk and pray at the same time. But when your
children ask you, what do you mean by this service? You don't
have to wonder. The Lord tells us what to say.
Look at verse 27. And then you shall say, It's
the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover, who passed over the houses of
the children of Israel in Egypt when he smote the Egyptians and
delivered our houses. That's the answer. That's the
answer we're to give. And the children of Israel observe
this Passover every year, remembering how the Lord set them free from
bondage in Egypt. And it wasn't by a mighty army,
was it? It was by the blood. It was by the blood, by the sacrifice
of the lamb. They were remembering to worship
God and thank Him for His redemption of them. Now this morning, we're
going to observe the Lord's table. And I want to quickly look at
what the Passover means and then tell you in case somebody's wondering,
what do you mean by this surface, this bread and wine? What do
you mean by it? I hope to tell you. Now in the Passover, number
one, look back at the beginning of chapter 12. The Passover says,
This is what we mean when we observe the Passover. There's
got to be a lamb. Chapter 12, verse 3. Speaking
unto all the congregation of Israel, saying in the tenth day
of this month, they shall take to them every man a lamb, according
to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house. Now the
reason it says everybody's got to take a lamb is that if sin's
going to be put away, there must be a lamb sacrificed. God's justice
demands there'll be death for sin. And the lesson of the Passover
is this, either the firstborn dies or the lamb dies as my substitute. There's got to be death. And
the only way that I cannot die is if the lamb dies in my place
as my substitute. Now this is so important because
the Passover lamb that they selected is a picture of Christ our Savior. John the Baptist identified in
this way. Behold, now this is a wonder. You look and see this.
the lamb of God, come to take away the sin of the world, come
to take away the sin of his people as a lamb who would suffer and
die in their place as their substitute. And his blood has put away the
sin of his people. When the father sees the blood,
he's satisfied. He knows sin has been paid for.
Christ died as a substitute for his people so his people can
never die. Now the death of Christ, who's
a substitute for his people, satisfied the justice of his
father. The death of Christ, his blood
paid the sin debt of God's people in full. Now there's no more
debt. Where there's no sin, there's
no debt. The blood of Christ took away
the sin of his people. And that's what enables the father in holy,
exact, righteous justice to pass over his people and not put them
to death. Christ already died in their
place. His death satisfied God's justice. That's why God doesn't
kill you. There's been lambs slain in your
place, in your stead. So there's got to be a lamb.
But number two, there's got to be a lamb for me. Moses said,
you take a lamb for every house, for every house. There's got
to be a lamb for every firstborn. See, there had to be a lamb slain
for every firstborn. There couldn't be one that counted
for all the firstborn in Egypt. There had to be a lamb for every
firstborn. That lamb had to die or God,
when he passed through that night, would kill that firstborn. Here's the picture. It's not
good enough just to know there's got to be a lamb. It's not good
enough just to know there's got to be a sacrifice. It's not good
enough to know all men are sinners, so men need a sacrifice for their
sin. It's not even good enough to
know that the blood of the lamb must be shed and must be applied
to the doorpost. It's not good enough to know
each step that must be done. If I'm gonna be delivered from
God's justice, the Holy Spirit has to show me I need a lamb. A lamb must be killed for me.
A lamb must die for my sin because I can't pay for it. See, here's
where business is done. First thing God shows his people
when he saves them is the Holy Spirit's got to teach me I'm
a sinner. It is one thing to know all men, all sons of Adam
are sinners. It's another thing to know that
I'm a sinner, that I'm the chief of sinners. It's another thing
altogether to know God would be just in sending me to hell. Me. Me. Christ, the lamb of God,
he's got to suffer and die for my sin. He's got to take what
I deserve or I will. I'm a sinner. I'm the sinner
and I need a lamb for me. I need Christ to die for me.
So there's gotta be a lamb. There's gotta be a lamb for me.
But now thirdly, it can't just be any lamb, can it? The Passover
says, I need a perfect lamb. The lamb's got to be perfect
if he's going to get the job done. Verse five says, your lamb
should be without blemish. A male of the first year, you
should take it out from the sheep or from the goats, and you're
going to watch it for 14 days. Now the lamb that the father
would go out and select for that Passover lamb. It can't be sick
and old. It can't be a lamb that's going
to die soon anyway. It can't be a three-legged lamb, you know,
that's not worth much. You can't sell it for as much
on the market. This lamb must be in the prime of his life.
He's got to be perfect. He's got to be completely healthy.
It's got to be at the time when he's at his most physical strength. Because when this lamb dies,
he can't die of disease. He can't die of old age. This
lamb's got to die because his life was sacrificed. He died
as a substitute for the firstborn, so the firstborn could live.
Now here's why it's so important, this lamb must be perfect, because
this lamb is a picture of Christ, the lamb of God. The Lord Jesus
Christ came and he died, but now he didn't lose his life against
his will, did he? No, all he had to do is say his
name, say I am, and that mob couldn't take him, it all fell
down backwards, didn't it? No, he didn't lose his life against
his will, He didn't lose his life because he hung there so
long on the cross. He didn't have the strength to
live anymore. That's not why he died. Christ died because
he gave up the ghost. He gave up the ghost. He gave
up his life as a ransom for sin. When the sacrifice was done,
when the transaction was complete, the price for the sin of God's
elect was paid in full, he cried, it is finished. And he gave up
the ghost. Even then, nobody took his life
from him. He gave it up. Christ, our savior,
willingly gave his life. He willingly suffered and died
for you, his people. He did that willingly. Oh my
goodness. And he did it so you'd never
die. He did it so the father and his justice would pass over
you. And since the Lord Jesus is the perfect, sinless, spotless
lamb, the lamb of God, his pure, sinless blood is so precious,
it paid for all of the sin of all of his people. His pure blood
is able to wash his people white as snow. Now the father, he's holy. This
is the error of man's religion. They always leave out this part.
God's holy. He requires perfection. God can
only accept a perfect sacrifice for sin. If you and I don't have
a perfect sacrifice, we'll be damned. The father requires a
perfect sacrifice. So that's what he provided for
himself when he sent his son as the lamb, the perfect lamb. By his sacrifice, he would put
away the sin of his people. So there's got to be a lamb.
There's got to be a lamb for me. for my sin, the lamb must
be perfect. But here's the fourth thing,
that lamb must die. Verse six says, and you should
keep it up until the 14th day of the same month. And the whole
assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the
evening. Remember when I read the account
of the last Passover, Luke said that the time of the Passover
must be killed. The lamb must die. The Passover,
is a picture of the redemption of spiritual Israel. That's why
the lamb has to die. You see, sin demands death. There's
got to be, God's justice demands it. Either the substitute or
the firstborn. The lamb or the firstborn. And
if that lamb dies, the firstborn will live. And it's the only
way the firstborn can live. If the lamb dies as its substitute,
See, the lamb must shed its blood. It can't just shed its blood
and live. It's got to shed its blood and
die. It can't just give a pint of blood, you know, and suffer
a while, but, you know, can recover. The lamb's got to shed its blood
and die. Because that's what justice demands.
It's the only way sin can be put away. That's what the writer
to the Hebrews said. Hebrews 9, verse 22. Without
the shedding of blood is no remission. If there's going to be remission
of sin, Blood's gonna have to pay it. And it's gonna have to
be perfect, sinless blood. Now again, that Passover lamb,
he's a picture of Christ, the lamb of God. Christ died as a
substitute for his people. And if Christ died for you, you
can never die. His death satisfied God's justice
for your sin. Christ shed his blood to pay
for the sin of his people. He shed his blood to wash them
white as snow so that the Father will accept him. And I'm telling
you, he got the job done. The Apostle John wrote this in
1 John 1 verse 7. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
son, cleanses us from all sin. All sin, his perfect blood got
the job done. There's no sin left if Christ
died for you. That's why the blood had to be
shed. Only the blood of God could atone for the sin of his people.
Christ shed his blood to make atonement. All right, now here's
the fifth thing. This is very important. Each
of these are so important, aren't they? The blood of the lamb must
be applied. Verse seven says, and they shall
take of the blood and strike it on the two side posts and
on the upper door post of the houses wherein they shall eat
it. Now God is passing through in judgment this night. Sin demands
death. In Egypt that night, there was
death in every single home. It didn't matter whether you're
Israel or Egyptian. There was death in every home
that night, either the firstborn or the lamb. There was death
in every home. And God said, when I see the
blood of the lamb on the door, I'll pass over you. When there's
blood on the door, this is what God knows, there's already been
death in this home tonight. Justice is satisfied by the death
of the substitute, so I can pass over this house in justice. So yes, the blood must be shed. God's justice is gonna be satisfied,
the blood's got to be shed, doesn't it? There must be death for sin. That's what blood represents,
death. But the firstborn's gonna die
if the blood's not applied to the door. What if the father
of that home did everything else right? Picked out a lamb, looked
like a good, healthy, strong lamb. He watched it for 14 days.
At just the right time, when Moses said, in that evening when
all of Israel was killing, he killed his lamb at just exactly
the right time. Not a minute early, not a minute
late. He caught that blood. Caught it in a basin like God
told him to. They went in and they roasted that body. The whole
body, the legs and the pertinence thereof. And boy, they didn't
sodden it all down with water. They went and ate that lamb roast
with fire, with bitter herbs that they eat it. The whole family
ate that lamb with a staff in their hand, their shoes on their
feet, their loins were girded. Father went in and shut the door.
And he said, you know, it really doesn't matter if you apply the
blood to the door. It doesn't really matter. Everything's been
done right. The blood's been shed. What would
happen if the father did that? He's first born to die. The blood
must be applied. Now here's the picture. Christ,
the lamb of God, he must die as my substitute. He must die
bearing my sin to put my sin away. I know he died for a multitude
no man can number, but he's got to die for my sin, my sin. He's got to die the death that
I deserve as my substitute or I'm going to die. Now Christ
has died. That's an historical fact. Jesus
of Nazareth died on the cross. I know Christ died and I know
he shed his blood. But if his blood is not applied
to my heart, I will perish. I'll perish. Now, scripture speaks
of the blood being applied to our hearts. This is what it means.
It means the new birth. The new birth. It's where God
gives a new righteous nature, the new birth. You remember how
Moses here told him to apply that blood with hyssop? Hyssop
was just a little kind of bushy, leafy plant, you know. As far
as I can tell, they never used it for anything but dipping into
blood and applying the blood. They'd dip the hyssop in the
blood and they'd sprinkle blood, apply the blood to the doorpost. David, Psalm 51, verse 7, said,
purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean. Wash me and I'll be
whiter than snow. Now why did David say hyssop
there? Because the only way I can be clean, the only way I can
be washed whiter than snow is the blood. It's not the hyssop. It's what the hyssop is used
for, to dip in the blood and sprinkle me with the blood. And
I'll be clean. I'll be white as snow. What David is saying here, you
apply the blood of Christ to my heart and I'll be born again.
I'll have a new nature. I'll be born with a new nature
that's righteous and clean. Now you can't say, oh, the sacrifice
of Christ is all it takes and it doesn't matter about the new
birth. It doesn't matter about, oh no, it matters a great deal.
It matters a great deal. The blood of Christ must be applied
to my heart. God's gotta give me faith in
Christ. God's gotta cause me to be born again. God's got to
give me a new heart. I need God to apply the blood
of Christ to my heart or I'll perish. Now look over at Deuteronomy
chapter 15. This whole thing of the Passover
is given to us as a picture of redemption. The redemption of
the souls of spiritual Israel. You know, over the years when
God would talk to Israel and he'd talk to them about this
night and how they were set free from Egypt, God never said, remember
how I set you free from Egypt. You know what God said? You remember
how I redeemed you from Egypt. Here's one of those times, Deuteronomy
15, verse 15. And thou shalt remember that
thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt and the Lord thy God
redeemed thee. That's how he set his people
free, by redemption. Redemption by the blood. So this
Passover is given to us as a picture of how God redeemed his people.
And Israel observed this Passover. Thousands of years they observed
this Passover. I guess roughly 2,000 years they
observed the Passover Until Christ was crucified until Christ our
Passover was slain for us and after that There are no more
Passovers because Christ had come and fulfilled the picture
that Account of the the first Lord's table that I read to you
in Luke 22 to begin the service That was also the last Passover
The last Passover, the first Lord's table. We don't observe
the Passover anymore, do we? We're not gathering up lamb and
killing the lamb and applying blood to our door. We're not
doing that anymore. Because Christ came and fulfilled that. But
we do observe the Lord's table. And our children might wonder,
what mean ye by this service? This bread and this wine, what
does all that mean? Our children sit, and I know
they wonder, about the wine. I know they do. I know of children
who, we used to pass that thing down the pew. Remember how we
did that? Savannah's life, I'm just going
to tell it to Savannah Grace. You know, she's like one of them
little things that bob in a cup of water. She'd stick her head
right down in there and she would want to smell that wine. I mean,
she got her nose this close. They wonder, what is this wine?
Maybe some child Went and stuck their finger in one of those
emptied out and tasted it. What does this wine taste like?
They do that, in case you don't know. And they wonder, what mean
ye by this service? Boy, it gets quiet. It gets awful
quiet. All the adults, they seem to
be so somber, very serious minded. And the room is so quiet. And
they hear the men break that bread. And they hear it crunching
and being broken. and they see the men passing
out and they, boy, everybody seems so serious, don't they?
This is special. They hand out the wine and all
the parents seem so serious. Why is this so special? Why does
this seem to be so special for God's people? Well, let me give
you three reasons. Here's what we mean when we take
the bread and the wine. Number one is this, when I take
this bread, in this wine, I'm making a public confession before
God, before my friends, my family. I'm making a confession. I'm
a sinner. I'm a helpless, lost, undone,
helpless, hopeless sinner, and I need Christ to save me. When
I take this bread and this wine, what I'm confessing is, I am
so sinful. I mean, I'm so sinful. It's so
embarrassing. My sin and my guilt. I'm so sinful. The only way that I could be
saved is if the son of God dies in my place. I'm confessing I'm
so sinful. My sin debt is so high. I'm so
stained with sin through and through that only the blood of
God can pay for my sin. I'm so sinful, I'm so vile, I'm
so filthy in my sin, it takes the very blood of the son of
God to cleanse me of my sin. That's how sinful I am. When
I take that bread and that wine, this is why I'm confessing. I'm
a sinner and I need God to save me. Only God can save me. Number
two, when I take this bread and this wine, I'm confessing that
almighty God has given me faith in Christ. So I take this bread
and this wine. I'm making a public confession
for God, my family, my friends. I'm confessing. I believe. I mean, I trust this with all
my heart that Christ, his obedience, and his sacrifice, that's all
it takes to save me. It's not by my works. I didn't
work to earn it, and I don't work to keep it. It's all Christ. alone. It's Christ who saves.
I believe that. When I take that unleavened bread,
now what's unleavened bread? Leaven in scripture is a picture
of sin. And if you just had, you know,
Heiner's white bread and you left it sitting out, it'd rot. It'd be no good. We've had this
unleavened bread, I think it's been eight years. Same as the day we bought it. Unleavened bread is a picture
of the sinless body of Christ. That's why when he died, his
body did not decay. It had no sin. Oh, he was made
sin for his people, but blood put it away, didn't it? That's
why he didn't decay. He's sinless and the perfect
obedience of Christ. He lived 33 and a half years
under God's law and he obeyed it perfectly. He never sinned.
He never even wanted to sin. Never even thought about sin.
He never even thought about sin, but didn't do it. He never sinned. And it's his obedience. It's
the obedience of Christ, my representative, that makes me righteous. His
obedience is my obedience. My religious orthodoxy doesn't
make me righteous. My morality, that doesn't make
me righteous. Christ is my righteousness. And when I take that bread, you
know what I'm saying? He's the only righteousness I want. Not
only is he the only righteousness I have, he's the only righteousness
that I want. I take that bread and I eat it.
It crunches in my teeth and I swallow it. I'm confessing that Christ's
broken body is the only way my sin can be put away. His body
had to be broken. His back had to be lacerated
like it was. That crown of thorns had to be
thrust upon his head. They probably busted his lips,
smacking him and punching him in the face. That lip had to
be broken for me. His body had to be broken. Those
nails broke through the skin, his hands, and his feet. Painful
that must have been, but it had to happen to put my seat. His
body had to be broken. He's already dead. That Roman
soldier had to thrust that spear into his side, and out flowed
blood and water. Why? His body had to be broken. and his body broken for my sin. When I take that bread, that's
what I'm saying. All my hope of salvation is his broken body. He suffered what I deserve. He's
my substitute. And when I take the wine, what
I'm confessing is this. All of the hope I have of salvation,
all the hope I have of the cleansing of my sin, is the blood of Christ. That's all I have, and that's
all I want. I'm not looking for any other
hope. I'm so happy to hang all my hope on the blood of Christ,
aren't you? Now, if the Lord's given you faith to believe Christ
like that, when the men hand out this bread and this wine,
you take it, and you eat it, and you drink it, because only
God could give you faith in Christ like that. All right, here's
the third thing. Look over at 1 Corinthians chapter
11. When I take the bread and the
wine, I take that to remember, to remember Christ my Savior,
to remember. I do that because that's what
God told us to do. Remember I read that to you in Luke, the Lord
told him, this do in remembrance of me. Listen to what the Apostle
Paul says, instructions for the Lord's table. First Corinthians
11, verse 23. For I have received of the Lord
that which also I delivered unto you. that the Lord Jesus, the
same night in which he was portrayed, took bread. And when he'd given
thanks, he'd break it and said, take ye, this is my body broken
for you. This do. Don't do something else.
This do, in remembrance of me. And after the same manner also,
he took the cup when he had supped, saying, this cup is the New Testament
in my blood. This do ye, as often as you drink
it, in remembrance of me. Now I take that bread and wine
to remember my Savior. To remember how He suffered,
how He sacrificed Himself for my sin. I can't even tell you what a
great, I mean, you just, human language, it's impossible to
express the sacrifice of Christ. That He would sacrifice Himself,
and who would He sacrifice Himself for? Wretches like you and me. I mean, it's just, you can't,
Imagine a greater story than that. You'd think we'd never,
ever forget such a sacrifice, wouldn't you? But I say through tears, we do.
We do because of the flesh that we live in. Our flesh is constantly
at war against the spirit, trying to get us to trust in something
the flesh can do. Trying to get us to trust in
something of our own self-righteousness, just trust anything. Other than
Christ alone, the flesh will tell you, trust Christ plus your
works. But not Christ alone. The flesh is constantly at us
that way, isn't it? At the spirit. Well, we need
to be reminded of Christ's sacrifice for us. Now, we're reminded of
Christ's sacrifice every single time the gospel is preached.
The sacrifice of Christ, his righteousness is not in the message.
It's not worth preaching, not worth listening to. We're reminded
of the sacrifice of Christ every time the gospel is preached in
our life. But the Lord's table is a special time. It's a special
time. It's a tangible thing. It vividly reminds the believer
of Christ's body broken for my sin. His blood shed for my sin. And I would be very, I would
just not very careful. I'd be adamant to stay away from
tangible things being part of our worship service. Because
worship is spiritual, isn't it? Salvation is spiritual, not tangible.
But our Lord gave us this tangible thing. This bread to be broken
and eaten. This wine to be drunk in faith,
picturing his broken body And His shed blood, He told us, this
is what you do. To remember me. And this is not
just a religious ceremony. It really isn't. This observing
the Lord's table is very, very important. Because when we take
this table, we're fully showing the Lord's death. We're fully
showing. This is such a simple, simple
thing. Bread and wine. This common,
everyday order. Elements, you know just it can't
be more simple than this But this bread broken and eaten this
wine drunk Fully shows how God saved his people from their sin.
I'm not making that up look at verse 26 and 1st Corinthians
11 For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup You
do show and that word show is fully tell the Lord's death till
he come taking the elements of this table tells the whole story,
how God saved his people from their sins. And if your only
hope, your only hope of forgiveness, your only hope of righteousness,
your only hope of eternal life, your only hope of salvation,
is in Christ and Christ alone, you take these elements and eat
it, remembering Christ the Savior when the men pass it out. All
right, one of you men will distribute the bread. Let me read these instructions
to you again. The apostle says, for I have received of the Lord
that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the
same night in which he was betrayed, took bread. And when he'd given
thanks, he'd break it and said, take, eat. This is my body, which
is broken for you. This do in remembrance of me. Gary, would you give thanks for
our Lord's body? Our dear Heavenly Father, we
truly have been blessed this morning. Will you go ahead and
have a pastor preach on to us this most precious, precious
ordinance in which you have commanded that we should keep, that we
should remember, truly understand what's been done to you in the
memory of your death, to know that only by that very sacrifice
of that day And we have become one. There is no other human. So as we break this bread, we
pray, we pray blessings. We remember your broken heart. How you suffered. The wrath, the war, your sins. God bless you. This is over to
us. We keep this with us. We take this with us. Throughout
the day, throughout the days of our lives, we remember, precious,
is this ordinance that we do. We don't do these things in repetition. We do these things with our heart,
that you have given us. We do these things in Christ's
name. After the same manner also, he
took the cup when he had supped, saying, this cup is the New Testament
in my blood. This do ye, as often as you drink
it, in remembrance of me. Wayne, would you give thanks
for the blood? Our greatest, holy, heavenly Father, we thank
you for bringing us to this place this morning. Here's this message
for the Lord. blood for our saviors. Save us
blood, as in the way that we were sent to save you. Remember that today, as we speak
to you, allow us to thank the Lord and remember the precious
blood of his chosen followers in each and every day. We give
honor to this place, we call this the comforter, the sacrifice,
the required drink of whiskey, and all the way through, in real estate, stay home, enforce
the clerks, do not forget me, increase my safety and privacy,
or at least let me know what his approach is when he's looking
for someone. He seems to be asking for his
name. You know, when we observe the
Lord's table, it's a very, very somber thing. It's almost like
we're sitting at the foot of the cross. But can you think of anything
that makes you happier? It's been a good morning. Now, when
the Lord and his disciples observed the last Passover and the first
Lord's table, it says they sung a song and went out. So, Sean,
you come lead us in singing a song. I like what Wayne prayed there,
when we go out, I pray we don't forget. I pray we don't forget. All right, Sean. If you would, turn to song number
466 and stand as we sing Christ liveth in me.