One day last week, I think it
was Wednesday, I got a call fairly early in the morning from Brother
Darwin Pruitt. We chatted a little bit and he asked me, do you suppose
men have any idea what they're doing when they take their families
and themselves away from the Church of God and the ministry
of the gospel? He had in mind a particular man
we're both aware of who moved his family away from the place
where he could worship God. And in doing so, moved himself,
his wife, and his children out from under the sound and influence
of the gospel of God's grace. And I said to him, I'm sure he
has no idea what the ramifications are. At the time Darwin called,
I was working on this message, the basic outline I preached
to you several occasions in the past. My subject tonight is three
gospel ordinances. Let's begin in 1 Timothy chapter
3. 1 Timothy chapter 3. Verse 14, these things write I unto thee,
hoping to come to thee shortly. But if I tarry long, that thou
mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house
of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and
ground of the truth. He's talking about a local church
and a pastor. In these pastoral epistles, 1st
and 2nd Timothy and Titus, Paul's purpose in writing is to teach
us how we ought to behave ourselves in the house of God, in this
local assembly, which is the church of the living God, the
assembly of God's saints living in him. the pillar and ground
of the truth, the pillar that upholds the truth of God from
one generation to the other. Paul's object is to teach us
how we ought to function as a body of believers in this world, how
we ought to behave in the house of God. In the house of God,
when we come together in the assembly of God's saints, We
worship our God by the means and in the manner set before
us in Holy Scripture. Now that involves very simple,
basic things. In this house of worship, as
your pastor, I am determined that these and these only shall
take place in this place. The reading of Scripture, the
public reading of the Word of God, I have practiced since the
first day I came here as your pastor. Whenever we have a public
worship service, we have a time set aside distinctly for the
public reading of the word of God. We're told in the book of
Revelation, the opening chapter, blessed are they that read and
hear the words of the prophecy of this book. I encourage you
men, when you read the scriptures, to read them just as they stand
without comment. Just read the scriptures. There's
a place just giving honor to the word of God. We meet in the
house of God and pray. We don't make a show of prayer.
We don't all gather around and jibber jabber at one time and
pretend to be agreeing in prayer. We meet together for prayer.
to pray for one another, to pray for God's saints, to seek God's
direction and God's blessing as a congregation, and particularly
in the service we've gathered for this hour. We always meet
back in my office, the men do, and we have scripture reading
and prayer. So much a vital part of the ministry of any local
church. Someone asked Mr. Spurgeon on
one occasion, to what do you attribute the great success of
your ministry? That man who in his day was so
greatly used of God. And without a moment's hesitation,
this was his answer. The men in our congregation pray
for me. They pray for me. He recognized
the value of that. We meet in the house of God to
read scripture and pray. We meet to give praise to God
in the singing of psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. That's
the purpose of our singing. Not just to have a good time,
not just to feel good, but every song to direct our hearts to
give praise to God for his great grace. Lindsay takes great care
in picking out the hymns we sing. He takes great care that those
songs express accurate doctrine. We're not going to sing what
we don't preach and don't believe. And that those songs focus not
on men and not on ourselves, but rather on God and God's grace. And we meet for the preaching
of the gospel, which is the centerpiece of all public worship. The primary
aspect of all public worship is the preaching of the gospel
of God's grace, the expounding of Holy Scripture, so that God,
by the preaching of the word, calls out his elect, giving them
faith in Jesus Christ. And by the preaching of the word,
God's saints are edified, strengthened in the knowledge of God, given
understanding in the word of God. I have had many on various
occasions who write to me. I have it every day. Somebody
will write to me or call me and ask me a question about a point
of scripture. And those who do, those who do are always, never
an exception, They are always people who do not give themselves
in commitment to a local ministry and a local pastor. That's always
the case. That's always the case. They
ask lots of questions, always full of questions. I've had testimony
from most of you at one time or another. It's amazing. Have it through the consistent
preaching of the scripture. I have questions come up, you
answer them. Never know what they are. Never
talked to me about it, but the questions are answered by the
faithful exposition of Holy Scripture. That's the purpose of meeting
together to worship God. We don't practice anything else. We don't do anything else in
the house of God. And there are three ordinances
set before us in the New Testament that are to be maintained for
as long as time stands. These three ordinances, baptism,
Church membership and the Lord's Supper are of primary importance. These three ordinances and these
alone, baptism, church membership, and the Lord's Supper. Let me
give you an example of it in Acts chapter 2. Acts chapter
2, turn there if you will. You'll remember Peter had preached
the gospel. Just a simple declaration of
the fact of Christ's death, his burial, his resurrection, his
accomplishments as our Redeemer, having accomplished the redemption
of our souls by the sacrifice of himself. And God the Holy
Spirit was poured out by the resurrected Redeemer. And Peter
declared that Jesus Christ is Lord. He's seated now upon his
throne, exalted and magnified as Lord. When he had finished
preaching that day God had added to the church 3,000 souls 3,000
people were converted in one day Baptized and added to the
church the can acts chapter 2 verse 41 Then they that gladly received
his word Were baptized and the same day there were added unto
them about 3,000 souls And they continued steadfastly in the
apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and
in prayers. And fear came upon every soul,
and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. And all
that believed were together, and had all things common, and
sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men as
every man had need. And they, continuing daily with
one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to
house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,
praising God and having favor with all the people. And the
Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved." Now,
in this passage, we see a clear display of these three ordinances.
Here is baptism. They that gladly received his
word were baptized. Those who gladly believed the
gospel preached to them were baptized. And then they were
added to them, to the church, about 3,000 souls brought together
in membership of one body as believers. And then they observed
the Lord's table, continuing daily, steadfastly in the apostles'
doctrine and fellowship, and in the breaking of bread, and
in prayers. Now, let's examine these things
as they're given to us in the Word of God. Let me begin by
making a statement that needs to be made. We recognize the
Church of God is much bigger than this little congregation
or any other single congregation. We live in this part of the country
where back in the middle 1800s, J.R. Graves and James Pendleton
and some others started what's known as landmark doctrine. And
they insisted that the Baptist church succeeded from Baptist
churches all the way back to John the Baptist, and the no
expression of the church except local church, and many other
things go along with it. Well, that's just not so. That's
just not so. The church of God is made up
of all God's elect in every generation, in every part of the world, beginning
with our father Adam, saved by God's grace after the fall in
the garden, to this day. Some of God's elect in his church
are with him in heaven now, some upon the earth, and some yet
to be born. But all who are born again are
born into the kingdom of God, which is the church of God universal. You may recall that one of the
first things I said to you after I came here as your pastor is
we need to recognize that our responsibility to God and his
people extends far beyond these four walls. We have a responsibility
to the church of God in our generation all over the world. And it is
our privilege and our responsibility to serve God's church universally. This family of God, everyone
named after Jesus Christ the Lord. This universal church is
that church of which the Savior speaks when he says, upon this
rock, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it. Turn to Hebrews chapter 12. Let
me show you what the apostles says concerning this. Hebrews
chapter 12, verse 22. But ye, brethren, are come unto
Mount Zion, unto the city of the living God, the heavenly
Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general
assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven,
and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men
made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant,
and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than
that of Abel. We as God's people have not come
to Mount Sinai. We've not come to some physical
mountain, but we come together in the house of God. And as we
do, we come together with God's people around the world at the
throne of God in heaven, worshiping him in spirit and in truth. So
we have a real vital connection with God's saints throughout
the world as the church of the living God. Now, having said
that, I hasten to say this. because I'm often accused by
these folks who like to make accusations. Well, Fortner doesn't
believe in a local church. I started to say, I beg your
pardon. No, I resent that. Nothing is more important in
the life of a believer than the church of God in its local expression. This local assembly, most important
thing in my life. I said that with that lady sitting
here. The family of God, most important thing in my life. This is God's church, God's family,
God's people. And everything done in the work
of the ministry is conducted through a local church, just
like this, by the record of the New Testament. The scriptures
speak very plainly. The Great Commission was given
to and is carried out by local churches. Local churches support,
maintain, and send out pastors, missionaries, and evangelists
to preach the gospel. Brother Bob Pontzer just a few
weeks ago, last week, read back in the office 1 Corinthians chapter
12, and he made a statement that he's made many, many times in
the last 34 years. He said, When we send Brother
Don to preach the gospel, we can't go, but we go through him. That's what local churches do.
We support missionaries. We support other preachers and
pastors. We support other churches, do
what we can to assist them in the cause of Christ. Local churches
administer the ordinances of baptism and the Lord's supper.
The local church family, Is a family a brotherhood a body of believers
united together in christ Let's look at that passage in first
corinthians 12 bob read back in the office a couple weeks
ago first corinthians 12 verse 25 Paul says in verse 25 there should
be no schism no division in the body but that the members should
have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer,
all the members suffer with it. A one member be honored, all
the members rejoice with it. Now ye are the body of Christ
and members in particular. Every local church, Grace Baptist
Church of Danville, every local church, ought to be a miniature
of the church universal. A people building together for
an habitation of God through the Spirit. A people building
together for habitation of God through the Spirit. Many, many
years ago, back in 1989 or 90, someone there, preaching down
in Newcastle, Australia in a Bible conference, and there's a fellow
preaching with me from South Africa. He didn't have anything
good to say except one thing, and I won't forget what he said.
It's something that I had forgotten up until that time. I knew it,
I'd studied it, I'd read it, but I'd just forgotten it, put
it out of my mind. I suppose it was at a time when I needed
to hear it, and it stuck. He reminded us that in the building
of the temple, When the temple was built by Solomon, not a sound
of a hammer was heard in the building of that temple. The
rocks were cut, the stones were cut out in another place, and
they were brought to the place where the temple was built. And
they were laid on the foundation and laid one next to the other,
but none was cut exactly to fit. They were cut a little bit too
big, just a little bit too big. So when they would have two stones
here and another one is placed here, they would set the stone
and work it and work it and work it until it rubbed and rubbed
and rubbed and just fit together. That's how God describes this
church, the church of the living God, a holy temple, living stones
fitted together by the grace of God. so that by the rubbing
effect one stone has on another, we find our place in the house
of God, and thus God builds his temple. Christ is the head of
each church. Upon his ascension, he gave gifts
to his church, pastors, evangelists, teachers. He gave gifts for the
perfecting of the saints and the edifying of the body of Christ.
What a great privilege and blessing it is to be a part of a true
gospel church. And with that great privilege,
we assume a great responsibility. 45 years ago, 45 years ago, I married that lady. And we started a family. Oh,
what a delight, what a privilege, what a privilege. But when I
married that lady, I assumed total responsibility for her
forever. I assumed total responsibility
for her forever. I didn't have an inkling what
it involved when I was 18 years old. I made the commitment, didn't
have an inkling what it involved. And little while we had our daughter,
and I had already assumed total responsibility for her. We'd
just been married a couple of years, Faith was born, and oh,
and I knew the responsibility. Oh, what a responsibility. Joy!
Oh, joy! Why, I was just busted with joy
to tell it to folks. But responsibility. And I didn't have an inkling
what it involved. But I was committed to taking care of those two women
forever. Committed to it. It's called
family. It's called family. In dark and
in light. In good and in ill. When you
feel like it and you don't feel like it. When you feel good about
it and don't feel good about it. When it gives you joy and
it causes you pain and grief, the responsibility is still the
same. It's still the same. So it is
with this family. What a privilege God's given
us. What a responsibility God's given us. Most folks don't have
the privilege. Most don't have the responsibility.
He's given us in this place a family of believers to whom we are mutually
committed for good forever. That's what's involved. What
a privilege. What a privilege. What a responsibility. I have often given this thought Some
years ago I wrote a brief article in this direction in a bulletin. I'm not sure I could find it
right now. It was a long time ago. Just suppose, just suppose
everybody in Grace Baptist Church of Danville behaved just like
I do. Everybody gave just as generously
or niggardly as I do. Everybody attended just as faithfully
or irregularly as I do. Everybody cared for and prayed
for one another just as faithfully or just as seldom and irregularly
as I do. Everybody was just as committed
or not committed as I am. Reckon how long this place would
survive. Reckon how long it would stand.
Reckon what it might become. Now obviously I can't deal with
these three ordinances in any extent whatsoever with any depth. I want to simply define them
for you and remind you what God has given us. First, baptism. We've baptized a good many folks
here. Not many as we'd like to, but
a good many. Most of you, I baptized myself
right here, right here. What is that? That burying of
men in water, what is that? Baptism is the believer's public
confession of faith in Christ Jesus. It is the believer's public
confession of faith in Christ. It's not meritorious, it doesn't
save, but it pictures how God saves sinners by His grace. When
our Lord Jesus came to John in Matthew chapter 3, he came from
Galilee to Jordan to be baptized to John the Baptist, and John
saw him and he said, oh no, I can't do that. I know who you are. I can't baptize you. I need for
you to baptize me. And the Lord Jesus said to John,
suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfill all
righteousness. How on this earth Does baptism
fulfill righteousness? How do you really imagine? Do
you really imagine that by me ducking you in that pool in water,
somehow or another you coming up out of that water, suddenly
you have done something to make you righteous or to fulfill righteousness? No, not at all. Not in reality,
but symbolically. It's a picture of the fulfillment
of all righteousness. How does God make sinners righteous? By the obedience of one man,
Jesus Christ his son, as our substitute unto death. Our Lord
Jesus came here and lived in righteousness as our representative. And he went to Calvary to die
as our substitute under the penalty of God's holy law because of
our sins made his. And when he died, he was buried. And three days later, he came
up out of the grave. He was buried as one made guilty
of sin by God making our sins his. And when he was buried,
God buried his dead out of his sight and he came forth three
days later. This is the language of scripture
justified in the spirit. freed from sin so that he no
longer has anything to do with that sin for which he suffered
death and we suffered death in him. That's how righteousness
is fulfilled for us. That's how the Son of God brought
in everlasting righteousness. And in our baptism, we confess
that we were crucified with Christ, dead with Christ, buried with
Christ, risen with Christ to walk with him in the newness
of life. Baptism, then, is a vivid, symbolic
picture of the gospel. And Ananias said to Saul, to
Paul, after he was converted, Saul of Tarsus, after he was
converted, he said, arise and be baptized and wash away thy
sins. Not that baptism washes away
sin. It doesn't do it. But it symbolically
shows us how sin's washed away through the sacrifice of the
Lord Jesus Christ. So that Peter says, baptism is
a figure whereby we are saved as the answer of a good conscience
toward God. Baptism is the believer's public
identification with the Lord Jesus Christ, his people, and
his gospel in this world. Baptism is the believers' avowal
of commitment to Christ. You remember Jephthah when he
made the vow to God and said, whatever comes out of my house,
that I'll sacrifice to you. And he went home to his daughter.
And when he saw her, his heart was broken. He didn't realize
what he'd said. He didn't have any idea what it was going to
cost him to keep that vow. He had no idea. How could he
have known? How could he have known? And
when his daughter came back, he said to her, I've lifted my
hand to God. I can't go back. I can't go back. In May of 1967, I took my place in the waters
of baptism, in a watery grave, and I said to my family and to
my friends and to the Church of God and to the world, I now
belong to the Son of God, lock, stock, and barrel. He's my Lord. He calls the shots. I want it
that way. I have nothing of my own, nothing
I possess. He's Lord. Everything I am and
everything I shall ever have is committed to him, his gospel,
his people, and his glory. Everything. David, I've lifted
my hands to God. I can't go back. Can't go back. That's what baptism is. Baptism. is the believer's publicly avowed
commitment to Christ, his gospel, his people. I don't ever try
to recruit folks to be baptized. I don't ever put pressure on
folks. In fact, most of the time somebody
comes to me and wants to talk to me about baptism, I say just
sit and listen for a while so you find out what it involves. young children really press me,
I don't ever baptize them, because I want them to wait until they
can think as adults and understand what the commitment is. I wouldn't
recommend a 10-year-old to get married, and I wouldn't recommend
a 10-year-old to get baptized. Wait until you know what it involves.
It's called commitment, the commitment of your life to God. the commitment of your life to
God, identifying yourself with Christ and his people. And yet,
this is something our Lord commands all who believe to do. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ. He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. We can't follow Christ's example. Obey his word or satisfy the
requirements of our renewed consciences until we've been immersed in
the name of Christ and publicly committed ourselves to him. Second,
church membership. Church membership is the believer's
fellowship and communion with Christ in his body. We read in
the New Testament how that Paul assayed to join himself to the
disciples at Jerusalem. When he wrote to the church at
Rome, he recommended Phoebe to the fellowship of that church.
Again, this is something I never press. I'm not here to try to
increase numbers. I'm here to preach the gospel
God adds to his church so that she should be saved. I'm not
much of one for any kind of show of things, but church membership. Light baptism is for believers
only. The fellowship of believers in
a local church is vital to our spiritual welfare. Our individual
spiritual growth in grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus in
many ways is dependent upon our relationship with God's church
and God's people in many, many ways. This particular man I mentioned
earlier, none of you know him. You don't need to think about
who he is. took his family away from the gospel, takes himself,
his wife, and his children, and willingly moves away so we can have more stuff. What a sad example. What a sad
example. You and I simply can't exist
without the ministry of the Word of God and the fellowship of
God's saints in worship. Basically, membership in a local
church involves these things. It, like baptism, is an openly
avowed commitment to the body of Christ. If we're committed to the family
believers to which we belong, we enjoy their company, pray
for their spiritual well-being, give to meet the needs of the
family, serve the family's interest, speak well of the family members,
and promote the family's interest. Turn to Philippians chapter 2.
Philippians chapter 2. God, help me to live up to my
professed commitment to your family. If there be, therefore,
any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship
of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies fulfill you, my joy,
that you be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord
and of one mind. How can that be? How on this
earth can Two people, let alone 30 or 40 or 300 or 3,000, live
together like that. How on earth is that possible? Let nothing be done through strife
or vainglory. Let nothing be done so Don can
have his way. That's what it's saying, Frank.
Don't insist on having your way about anything, about anything.
Give way to others. Don't insist on your personal
desires being satisfied. Nothing to do with strife or
vainglory. Well, somebody ought to pay attention
to me. No. Why should anybody pay attention
to you? Why should anybody pay attention to you? You ought to
pay attention to everybody else. You take care of others, others
take care of you. Read on. But in lowliness of
mind, let each esteem other better than themselves. Well, how did
you get this? I'm not supposed to look out
for myself and everybody else. I'm supposed to look out for
everybody else. Verse 4, this is what that means. Look not
every man on his own things, but every man also on the things
of others. Bear ye one another's burdens,
and so fulfill the law of Christ. Church membership gives us the
privilege of communion and fellowship with the body of Christ. Behold,
the psalmist said how good it is for brethren to dwell together
in unity. What a blessed, delightful thing
it is to meet with God's saints in his house. For in meeting
with God's saints in his house, the Lord Jesus still walks in
the midst of the golden candlesticks. He still walks in the midst of
the myrtle trees. He still meets with two or three
gathered together in his name. Church membership is more than
having your name on a church roll. It's commitment to the
body of Christ. Communion with Christ in his
body, caring for his body. Number three, the Lord's Supper.
In just a few minutes, we're going to observe the Lord's Table
again as we do every Sunday night. Now, I often refer to the fact
that in this place we observe the Lord's Supper every Sunday
night, and we've done so all the time we've been together
as a congregation. And sometimes people presume
everybody ought to do that. The Scriptures do not command
it. It's just simply that that's the way it was done in the New
Testament. They observed the Lord's Table every Lord's Day.
And there's no reason that I can find to change that. But the
scriptures do say as oft as you eat this bread and drink this
wine. So we don't lay any laws down saying this way you got
to be done. This is what's best for us. And this is what we do
every Sunday evening. We come together to observe the
Lord's Supper. Why? The Lord's Supper, eating
the bread and drinking the wine. is a blessed remembrance of our
Lord Jesus Christ. There's no pageantry involved
in it, no pomp, no ceremony. You have observed, I'm sure,
I seldom say anything. I just sit right here and the
men pass out the bread and wine. And I do that on purpose because
I don't want it to appear that there's any kind of priestcraft
going on here that somehow observing the Lord's table depends on me
being here and me doing something. Not at all. Not at all. The Lord's
Supper is the most simple thing. Most simple. It's very simple,
but very precious as a picture of redemption by Christ. Look
at 1 Corinthians chapter 11. 1 Corinthians 11 verse 23. 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 had given
thanks, and if you read the gospel narratives, it says he blessed
him. And some folks have the idea that that's talking about
some kind of special blessing on the bread and wine. And some
years ago, a friend, a freewill denomination, asked Brother Mahan,
said, what do y'all do with the wine that you have at the Lord's
Supper? And he said, what do you mean? He said, the wine that
you have left over after the Lord's Supper. And he said, well,
we drink it or keep it until next time. It doesn't matter,
just wine. Why do you ask? And Sammy said to him, he said,
well, we were always taught that once it was consecrated, if you
didn't use it, you had to bury it. You couldn't touch it anymore
because it had been blessed. When our Lord blessed the bread
and blessed the cup, he simply gave thanks. And that same night,
he gave thanks and said, Take, eat. This is my body. Symbolically, it represents my
body, which is broken for you. This do in remembrance of me. At 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. For as often as you eat this
bread and drink this cup, You do show the Lord's death till
he come. Wherefore, whosoever shall eat
this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily shall
be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine
himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that
cup. The Lord's Supper, like baptism
and church membership, is for believers only. We don't fence
the table here. We don't set a guard around and
ask folks whether you're worthy to eat the Lord's Supper or not.
That's not my business. But I am here to tell you, if
you're not a believer, if God has not given you faith in Christ,
don't confess Christ in baptism. Don't seek to join the church.
And don't eat the bread. Don't drink the wine. It's not
for you. In doing those things, Acting like a believer when you're
not a believer, you only bring condemnation to yourself. You
eat and drink damnation to your own soul. So you were not believers. Don't take the bread and don't
take the wine, but for you who are believers. If God's given
you faith in Jesus Christ, He commands you to be baptized and
He commands you to eat the bread and drink the wine in remembrance
of Him. And by this, you show the Lord's
death till He comes. You do this in remembrance of
Him. Well, how does this show the
Lord's death? The bread is unleavened bread. It's not soda crackers. It's not light bread. It's unleavened
bread. Because it represents the body of our Lord, His holy
humanity. The wine is not grape juice or
Kool-Aid. It's wine. And we're not going
to use grape juice or Kool-Aid. And we're not going to use soda
crackers or light bread for the bed. It's wine. But why insist
on that? Because that's the way it was
done in the New Testament. Because that's what represents
the Lord's blood of the New Covenant. Wine. wine squeezed from the
grape under the furious wrath of God. Wine separated from the
body, as blood separated from the body, a sure picture of death. The wine of the Lord's supper
is representative of the new covenant, all the blessings of
grace obtained for us by the precious blood of Jesus Christ
our Lord flowing to us through his sin atoning sacrifice. And
we take the bread and we take the wine and we receive the bread and receive the wine. So it is that men and women receive
Christ Jesus. Faith is the hand of the soul
by which we receive Jesus Christ the Lord. What must I do to be saved? Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. I believe
I've drank some of that water. I've received him. I've received,
but I think I ought to feel something. I think I ought to experience
something. I think I ought to repent more. I think I ought
to have greater sorrow. I think I ought to have some
kind of vision. I think, I think, I think. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be... Would you like
a drink? Drink the water of life freely
and live forever. By receiving the bread and wine,
we symbolically show how God saves sinners through Jesus Christ
the Lord by faith in him, without works of any kind. Now, once
more, as we keep this blessed ordinance of the Lord's Supper,
as you take the bread and wine, see the wondrous love of God. He has ransomed us with blood.
Christ our great exalted head, God's own son died in our stead. Eat the bread and drink the wine,
symbols of this work divine. Now remember ransomed souls,
Christ who makes your spirits whole. Hear him speak, your savior
view, and remember him as you do. You're the objects of his
choice. Loved of God, rejoice, rejoice. Off this ordinance we keep, and
we find his purpose sweet. Ever keeping as we do, Christ
our slaughtered Lord in view. See him dying in our place, overwhelmed
with deep disgrace. Bearing all our sin and blame,
Christ our substitute was slain. See him, and with wonder tell
how he vanquished death and hell. And with joy remember this, soon
his glory will possess. Amen.