How sweet the name of Jesus sounds
in a believer's ear. I trust that we will have the
opportunity this morning of reflecting upon the loveliness of our Saviour,
Jesus Christ, and the blessedness of the work which has been accomplished
for the salvation and deliverance of his people. It is a lovely
hymn that, and it tells us of the way in which the work of
our Saviour has blessed us as his people, and that the devil
has no grounds to accuse us We in our consciences are free because
of the work of Christ. This morning I want, as the Lord
will enable, for us to reflect upon the way in which that great
work has both been accomplished and applied to his people. We're going to read together
in Romans chapter 5. Romans chapter 5 and verse 1. It's been a busy few days. It's
been a busy morning. I know that if you're preparing
to have lunch at church, that the ladies have probably been
at that preparation last night and this morning. Lots to be
thought about, lots to be organised, getting everyone out to church
in the morning, getting here on time, having our service. Sometimes we sit down at the
beginning of our service and we feel as if we've already put
in half a day's work in just getting here. And there's a sigh. We've made it. It's all come
together. It's good. Well then let's just
take that for a moment. Let's just enjoy the quietness
of the stillness of this moment. We've worked hard to get here. But let's remember that it's
this time that we've been working towards. That's not the end of
all that we've been doing. We're here to hear what the Lord
would have us hear. Thank you for all the effort
that's been put into these past few days. Thank you for the effort
that's been put into this morning. But let us remember that now
we're coming to worship the Lord. Now, more particularly, we're
entering into his presence. Now, more than any time, we have
to be attentive and we have to be alert to hear what the Lord
would say to us. That's not to hear what Peter
Many is going to say to us. It's to hear what the Lord is
going to say to us in our entirety here, and we will all be listening,
I trust, for the Word of the Lord. That still small voice
that will speak comfort to our souls, encouragement to our hearts,
peace to our minds, and show us once again the loveliness
of the Saviour who has accomplished all things for the good of His
people. Romans 5, verse 1. Therefore, being justified by
faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein
we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not
only so, but we glory in tribulations also, knowing that tribulation
worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope. And hope maketh not ashamed,
because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy
Ghost which is given unto us. For when we were yet without
strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely
for a righteous man will one die, yet peradventure for a good
man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward
us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified
by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if
when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death
of his son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only so, but we also
joy in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom now we
have received the atonement. Amen. May God bless to us this
reading from his word. It's lovely the way in which
the opening verses of this chapter just draw us immediately to concentrate
and place our view, our sight upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Being
justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus
Christ, by whom also we have access Peace with God and access
by faith into this grace wherein we stand and rejoice in hope
of the glory of God. If this morning you are one of
His people, if you are one of the Lord's people, we have peace
with God. What an amazing concept. What an amazing thought. Peace
with God. God the Holy. Holy, Holy, Holy
Lord God Almighty. You know who said that? the angels
that fly before his faith and do his bidding, the holy God,
and we have peace with him. We who were afar off, we who
were rebels against him, we who engaged and indulged ourself
in every form of wickedness that we could, that tried our best
to satisfy our own wicked desires, that engaged in this world's
pleasures. We, who demonstrated by our lives
that we were sinners by nature and sinners by practice, have
peace with the holy God upon His terms. We have access into
His presence that we might stand where those angels stand, those
pure angels, those glorious angels, those angels of fire and power
who stand before Him ready to do His will. We stand in His
presence at peace with Him. and we rejoice in the hope. That is, we rejoice in the work
of salvation. We rejoice in the promises of
God. We rejoice in the fact that soon
what we do by faith this morning in coming into his presence will
be our actual experience and the reality of our eternal state
and position before him. Soon, soon, Isabel will see wonderful
things and hear glorious things and we, by hope, we will see
them too. As the Lord Jesus Christ, that
one who came into this world to redeem his people, to save
his people, applies that great work to our hearts. We have peace with God. We have access into his presence. We have the hope that soon we
all Sooner or later we all who trust in him and his blood will
stand in his presence. The verse I want to concentrate
upon this morning as the Lord will enable is the ninth verse
of chapter five. In verse 8 we read, God commendeth
his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. Much more then, being now justified
by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. This verse 9 speaks to us of
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And by the blood of Christ, we
understand the death of Christ. Now I mention that simply because
sometimes when talking about the blood of Christ, We must
remember that we're talking not simply about the blood of the
man Christ Jesus, the blood of the human body of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the blood as it were that could have been extracted
with a needle and held up to view. There is the precious blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ which is a regular theme of our thought
and our worship, but it's the blood of Christ that speaks of
the death of Christ. The blood of Christ is not a
charm. The blood of Christ is not something
that can be held up as being of such power as to bless us
and help us in some superstitious way in this world to accomplish
and achieve things that we could not otherwise do. We're speaking,
when we speak of the blood of Christ, about the death of Christ. We're speaking about the violence
of that death. We're speaking about the accomplishments
of that death. We're speaking, as it were, using
the phrase, the blood of Christ, to say that within that term,
the blood of Christ is encompassed the accomplishment and completion
of the work of the violent death and suffering of the Saviour
for the sins of His people. And Christ's blood is the blood
of which we speak. This is the blood by which we
are justified. God commendeth His love towards
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. and we are justified by the blood
of Christ. We are justified by the blood
of the Son of God, the eternal Son of God who came, the eternal
Son of God who took upon Himself our humanity, our nature, who
came into the world as a brother with us and who represented us
and stood for us and substituted Himself in our place. and stood
before God as our mediator. He is the one that we speak of
when we talk about this sacrifice. It is Christ's blood. It is Christ's
death. It identifies Christ, the Son
of God, and His blood, not the blood of the bulls and the goats
and the sacrifices or some mere innocent creature, but the blood
of the Son of God. And we are reminded that there
is the powerful accomplishment of the purposes of God in the
shedding of that blood. In the death of the Saviour Jesus
Christ there was a purpose in view, there was in the great
plan of redemption and the great purposes of salvation to be the
accomplishment of an objective, an end in view, that by the death,
by the shedding of the blood violently of Jesus Christ, there
upon the cross, his people would be saved. And there is that justification
which is spoken of in this verse. Justified by the blood of Christ. Justified, saved by the death
of Jesus Christ. And this little phrase of justification,
I suggest to you in the context of the passage in the verse,
stands for the whole of salvation which we have obtained. This is the work of God. This
is the service of the Lord Jesus Christ, to come and to lay down
His life, to redeem His people, to save His people, and to bring
them to God. The Lord Jesus is the saviour
of his people. The Lord in shedding his blood
is here said to actually justify them. This is the finishing part
of justification. This is the end of that great
work which finds its origin in the eternal purposes of God to
save a people for himself out of humanity. And a sinner's justification,
a sinner's salvation before God proceeds upon the ground of the
satisfaction that the Lord Jesus Christ made for the sins of his
people. That God himself was propitiated. God himself was satisfied with
the sacrifice that was made. And the law of God was satisfied. The justice of God was satisfied. The holiness of God was satisfied. That in the death of Jesus Christ,
everything that was required was put in place. and the people
for whom the Lord shed his blood went free, justified before God,
at peace with him, given access to him, and possessed of the
hope of all the promises that God gave to his people. Our personal experience of justification,
of forgiveness, and of salvation is obtained as the Lord is pleased
to give the gift of faith by the Holy Spirit to one and another
in this world. We preach the gospel. We preach
the Word of God, the message of the death of the Lord Jesus
Christ and of his resurrection, that men and women might hear
and by the application or by the gift of faith might come
knowing that there is something in this death for them, that
they might be given some glimpse, some grasp of what Jesus Christ
has accomplished, that they, personally as sinners, might
find this peace and access and hope. There is to be an experience
of the blessedness of justification which comes to the lives of those
for whom Christ died. We obtain it by the gift of faith
as we see, as we hear, and as we understand, as the work of
the Holy Spirit reaches out and lays hold upon the elect of God,
and as their faith once bestowed, itself reaches out and lays hold
upon the blessings and the benefits of Christ's finished work. All
this, we remind ourselves frequently and appropriately, is the free
gift of God. We cannot earn our justification. We cannot work for peace with
God. We cannot try our best or our
hardest. We cannot fulfil a pattern of
life. We cannot hold a moral structure
or framework and expect in any way by our own efforts to achieve
and accomplish those things which are needful. It must be from
God that this gift comes, and it must be received with quietness,
with stillness, and with the recognition that it is of His
goodness and grace alone, and nothing of our efforts or our
works. We all have to come by the free
gift of God's grace as he is pleased to bestow upon chosen
sinners the goodness of his love. We are saved by God's grace and
the blessings of his work are received by faith. Romans chapter
3, the couple of chapters before says, being justified freely,
verse 24, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation
through faith in his blood. So our thoughts this morning
are to be upon the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation
by the blood of Jesus Christ. And I want to take three points. I want to think about three things
that we have by the death of Jesus Christ. They're the three
R's, if you like, of the gospel. There used to be three R's that
were spoken of as far as education was concerned. Reading, writing,
and arithmetic. How does that work? Three R's of our salvation. And the first one I want to think
about is redemption. That the Lord Jesus Christ, by
the shedding of his blood, has brought and bought redemption. Redemption is something to do
with payment. It is something to do with money
and purchasing. We might redeem something that
we have already sold or given away. But in Scripture, the word
redemption has to do with captivity, and it has to do with being in
bondage. It has to do with release and
freedom. and the purchase of that release. It has to do with freedom being
secured by the payment of a price. That's redemption. The picture
might be of someone who is taken and held for ransom. And the
price is told that if you want this person to be free, you have
to pay this amount of money. And the ransom is set up as the
payment that must be made. And if the person is to go free,
then the payment has to be handed over. That person, having had
the ransom price paid, would then be regarded as having been
redeemed. We know about that as far as
kidnapping is concerned in this world and the crime of kidnapping. But when it comes to Scripture,
we see that there is a parallel here, that there is a price to
be paid for the liberty of a captive. and that the Lord Jesus Christ
is, in His death and in the shedding of His blood, the ransom paid,
and He is the Redeemer of His people. So, redemption presupposes
captivity and the state of sinners who are bound in captivity by
their condition of sin. We are bound by Adam's fall,
we are bound under the guilt of the law, for we are transgressors
of the law, and we are bound under the dominion of Satan. Satan is our overlord in our
natural state. Satan has the sinner captive,
bound. There is a deadness of our abilities
to do anything about our state. There is a deafness and a blindness
about our perception of things that are holy and good and perfect
and spiritual and divine. We cannot understand these things. We are, as it were, dead in our
trespasses and sin, and we are controlled in that bondage and
that captivity by Satan. And in that state, we find ourselves
incapable of doing anything to deliver ourself. But there is
One who is able to accomplish a great work of redemption. And the Lord Jesus Christ was
sent into this world in order to deliver those, God's chosen
people, those whom He loved, who were in that dead, bound,
captive state. God commended His love towards
us. This is how He showed His love
towards us. This is how He revealed the fact
that he had a desire after our good and well-being, that he
had made a choice in eternal purposes to redeem a people to
himself and call them out that we might be to his praise and
glory, a trophy to his mercy, grace and magnanimity. He loved
that people, He desired that people, He longed for that people
and He secured the accomplishment of their deliverance. He commended
His love towards us in that while we were in that state as sinners,
Christ died for us. This he did by representing us.
This he did by substituting himself for us. We have redemption, says
Paul in Ephesians chapter 1 verse 7, through his blood. We have
the forgiveness of our sins through his blood, according to the riches
of God's grace. The death of the Lord Jesus Christ
accomplished the ransom for the release of the captive sinner. He, by his death, redeemed us
from our captivity. In 1 Peter 1, verse 18, we are
told, Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible
things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received
by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of
Christ, as a lamb without blemish and without spot. Whatever way
we might, by the vain traditions of our fathers, imagine that
we might obtain peace with God, it cannot be accomplished except
by the blood of Jesus Christ. neither by the blood of goats
or calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy
place, having obtained eternal redemption for us." So here we
see that this first hour Our redemption is by the blood of
Jesus Christ. And this redemptive work is limited
to those for whom Christ died. That work of redemption is not
a universal work. For if we perceive it to be a
universal work, we find that the whole work of redemption
has the guts pulled from it. It has the power extracted from
it. If there is in the blood of Jesus
Christ the redemptive work of God accomplished, then there
would, if it be universal, have to be the justification of every
single individual if it was designed to be universal in his extent. If the Lord Jesus Christ, by
the payment of his blood, obtained and secured redemption from captivity,
and he died for everyone, then everyone must needs be liberated. Everyone must needs be redeemed. And yet the evidence of life
and the evidence of Scripture and the evidence of the testimony
of the Lord himself is that this salvation comes only to those
to whom it is sent. The Lord Jesus Christ's work
of redemption was particular and distinctive in its extent. John 10, 15, the Savior said, for the sheep. There is a particularity
about this redemptive work. In Acts chapter 20 verse 28,
take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock over the
which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers to feed the church
of God which he hath purchased with his own blood. He gave his
life for the sheep, that flock is to be preserved and protected. God has established the means
and the ways of gathering his church, of placing over them
pastors and teachers, of bringing them to a knowledge of the truth
and entering them into his presence, giving them peace and access
and hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. These are the people of God,
the people of His choice, the people whom He loved in Romans
5 verse 8. These are the new creation. These
are the people who are liberated and freed, those possessing new
life, those who in their hearts sing a new song. And in Revelation
chapter 5 verse 9, we hear these words spoken, And they sung a
new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open
the seals thereof, for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to
God by thy blood, out of every kindred, tongue, and people,
and nation. Isn't it lovely this morning
that we can join together here in fellowship upon the foundation
of the blood of Jesus Christ and we are literally out of the
different nations. Here we are, a mix of individuals
and we have come from many miles apart and yet the same God and
the same Saviour And the same blood and the same death and
the same sacrifice has brought together a people. By the grace
of God, a people gathered under the sound of his word with faith
in the redemptive work of Jesus and worshipping together the
great God whom we adore. In heaven it will be better. In heaven we will sing that new
song, that song to the lamb that was slain. We will sing to him,
thou art worthy to take the book to open the seals thereof, for
thou was slain and has redeemed us to God by thy blood. Redemption is the first R that
we understand in this great work of salvation. The second one
I want to draw your attention to is remission. The remission
of sin. By remission of sin, we understand
the cleansing of sin. and the purging of our conscience,
the cleansing of our conscience, that there is in the death of
the Lord Jesus Christ not only the redemption which frees us,
As far as this world is concerned, as far as our nature is concerned,
as far as the domination of Satan is concerned, there isn't simply
the payment of the ransom which secures the deliverance, but
here also there is an application of that work to our own experience,
to our own souls, in the cleansing of our conscience, in the remission
of that sin. In Matthew chapter 26 and 28,
the Lord says, this is my blood of the New Testament, which is
shed for many for the remission, that is the forgiveness of their
sins. And there is a sense of need,
I suggest to you, in every sinner who approaches God for forgiveness. There has to be. We have to have
an awareness of our own sin. We have to have an understanding
that we are unworthy before Him. And I don't want to hear about
your sins. And I'm not going to tell you
about mine, but I know for a fact that they both exist. And I know
that we can look back in our lives with a degree of sorrow
and regret. I know that there are things
which we have done that we long regret that we ever participated
in them. You know, sometimes we can even
see the ramifications of those sins running with us every day
of our lives. It's as if we cannot be rid of
them. We cannot be rid of the memory
of them. We cannot be rid of the consequences
of them. And you know what's even worse?
We find ourselves repeating the selfsame thing time after time
after time. We feel as if we cannot be free
from the body of this sin. We feel as if every time we get
to that place where we think we're getting some light, we
think we're getting some ease, we think we're getting some access,
suddenly it's as if this old man grabs us by the heels and
drags us down once again. And we wonder, is there any peace
in this life for us, for our sins? Well, this remission, this
forgiveness, is what we have as God's gracious gift to us. We look to the blood of Jesus
Christ every time it seems as if the waters come up above our
mouth and our nose and we start to cough and splutter and feel
as if we're going to drown under the wickedness of this world.
Every time our own sin rises up against us, every time Satan
comes and accuses us again, where are we going to go for help to
the blood of Jesus Christ? That must be the place where
we look. That's what we've been encouraged
to do. That's what the Lord is telling
us we have here, that this blood of the New Testament is shed
for the forgiveness of sins. And we are to hear that. And
as His people, we believe that to be true. And so we look to
the blood of Christ. Zechariah 9, 11, there's a lovely
little verse and it says this, For thee also, by the blood of
thy covenant, I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit
wherein is no water. that seems ready to consume us. That depression, that depth of
unworthiness that we so readily feel because of our sensitivity
to sin, because of our awareness of the wickedness of sin, because
of what the Lord has taught us concerning sin. It seems to rise
up against us like a raging beast. It seems to overwhelm us like
a torrent. It seems to crash us into the
depths so often. But out of the pet, the prisoners
are sent forth. We are free, we are liberated
by the ransom that is paid, by the redemption that has been
accomplished. And we, by the application of the blood of Christ,
have remission, have forgiveness of that sin. Friends, look to
the Lord when Satan accuses you. Look to the Lord when you find
yourself again tempted and troubled. Look to his death, look to his
blood when you find yourself succumbing to the weakness of
the flesh and being brought once again into those paths and into
those ways of walking which grieve your soul and which seem to contain
the pleasure of life but soon come with the bitterness. of
a waywardness even in our own walk as his people. We will never
be free from sin or its consequences until we enter into the fullness
of that hope which he has promised for us. But in this walk we have
the promise of forgiveness of our sins and that is to be found
in the blood of Jesus Christ. Without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission of sins. But justification comes to the
people of God. Forgiveness is to be found by
the people of God as we understand that cleansing. of our sin, which
he by his blood has accomplished. In 1 John chapter 1 verse 7 we
read, if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have
fellowship with one another. and the blood of Jesus Christ,
his Son, cleanseth us from all sin. The blood of Jesus Christ,
his Son, cleanseth us from all sin. If we have faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ this morning, our sin, past, present, and the
sins of tomorrow are cleansed already in the precious blood
of Jesus Christ. That cleansing comes by the washing
away of our sin. That cleansing comes by God declaring
that as Christ is our substitute and the carrier and the bearer
of our sin before Him in justice, He sees no sin in His people. Psalm 51 verse 7 says, Purge
me with hyssop. And I shall be clean, wash me,
and I shall be whiter than snow. And again the psalmist in the
65th Psalm, verse 3. Iniquities prevail against me. As for our transgressions, thou
shalt purge them away. This is the experience of the
Lord's people. that though we are sinners by
nature, we have peace with God because that sin is dealt with. Help us, O Lord of our salvation,
for the glory of thy name, and deliver us and purge away our
sins for thy name's sake. We sin constantly. We see our
own sin and we see its consequences. The old man rises against the
new man. The old nature rises up against
us and it seeks to bring shame upon us. But we, by the blood
of Christ, are promised that He takes away the sins of believers
as fast as the corruption of our nature rises up against us,
as fast as sin appears. He takes it away. He removes
it out of His sight and He removes it out of our sight. And Christ's purging blood speaks
peace to the souls and to the conscience of His people. Wherefore
Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood,
suffered without the gate. That continual intercession,
that advocacy, that mediation which the Lord Jesus Christ has
on our behalf with his Father in heaven, always as it were
pointing to the nail prints in his hand, always, as it were,
pointing to the blood that was shed, always showing that the
sacrifice of his life, paid the price, is the source of our comfort
and peace in this world. He is our mediator and that mediation
reaches all our sin, our original sin, our actual sin, and the
open sin of our lives and the secret sins of our hearts. He is pleased in thought, in
lip, and in deed to give us peace from our sins. In Revelation
chapter 1 verse 5 we read, from Jesus Christ who is the faithful
witness and the first begotten of the dead and the prince of
the kings of the earth unto him that loved us and washed us from
our sins in his own blood. Believing in the blood and the
power of the blood of Jesus Christ gives us peace with God, gives
us comfort from our sin, and gives us confidence to come into
his presence with our worship and with our praise. Having therefore,
brethren, says the writer to the Hebrews, chapter 10, verse
19. Having therefore, brethren, boldness
to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. Boldness
to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. We have redemption,
we have ransom, and finally, the third of our three hours
this morning, we have reconciliation. Redemption from under the curse
of the law and from sin brings an awareness of forgiveness and
that new, pure, justified state brings us peace with God. In 2 Corinthians 5, verse 18,
the apostle writes, Here we see the ground of our peace with
God. that in the death of the Lord
Jesus Christ, in the payment made for the ransom, for the
liberty secured, for the purging and cleansing of the sins which
he has accomplished, we have peace with God. We are reconciled
to him. God no longer sees sin in his
people, for he has placed it upon his Son and he has dealt
with it there. in all things that behove him,
the Lord Jesus Christ, to be made like unto his brethren,
that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things
pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of his people. What
a privilege we have as the Lord's people to be bound together to
him. This old world fell under Adam's
disobedience. That people of his lineage were
brought under a state of condemnation. They were brought to that place
where they could only ever hope for judgment. They only could
ever expect the wrath of God upon them. And this old world
will be judged and the men and women of this world will feel
the wrath of God against their sins. And there will be an eternity
of judgment imposed upon men and women. It is a fearful thing
to fall into the hands of the living God, but we have been
reconciled to him by the blood of Jesus Christ. That's the message
of hope. That's the message of peace.
That's the good news of the gospel. That's what is incumbent upon
us to take to this world and to preach from the rafters to
everyone who will hear. It is a promiscuous gospel. It is a message that is to go
out and is to be declared as much as we possibly can, for
it is the way of salvation to those who see in the sacrifice
of Jesus Christ and in his shed blood the way of escape. How
shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation? And it is
to be the word which comforts us, the Lord's people, if indeed
we are of the faith, when we come together. And it is to be
that word which quietens our heart in the knowledge of our
own sin and unworthiness, as the Lord is pleased to purge
our conscience by his blood. Ephesians 2.13 says, But now
in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by
the blood of Christ, brought to him to share that experience
of glory with him, to be promoted from that place of judgment into
that place of wonder and majesty and peace. To be given all the
benefits and all the blessings that Jesus Christ has earned
and won for himself as our free gift from God. To be adorned
by the very righteousness of God and to be bestowed with every
blessing in heavenly places as we are seated together with him. What a privilege to be reconciled
to God. having made peace through the
blood of His cross by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself. And we are reconciled to God
by the sacrifice of the Saviour. You that were once alienated
and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled. In a few moments, we're going
to share in communion together. We are going to remind ourselves
of the blood of Jesus Christ. We are going to participate in
an activity that speaks to us of the sacrifice that he made. And we, in participating, in
taking the simple action of taking, That bread which speaks of his
body, that cup which speaks of his blood, just a memorial, nothing
mystical, nothing magical, nothing changes, just a memorial. And yet a memorial that speaks
volumes in the eternal purposes and court of God. A memorial
to the great work which Jesus, our Savior, has accomplished. Paul writes to the Corinthians,
the cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion
of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is
it not the communion of the body of Christ? Here we are communing
together. Here we are reconciled one to
another. Here we are reconciled to God
as we stand together under the blood of Jesus Christ. Here we
are brought to union in these great spiritual truths and we
share in the blessings of that union in picture form and in
memory as we unite to share this cup and to eat of this same bread. The Lord Jesus Christ gave his
life, shed his blood, endured the cross, took upon himself
the sins of his people, suffered under the wrath of God for those
sins. and has brought us to him, the
great God, holy and just, as a redeemed, as a ransomed, and
as a reconciled people. Faith in his blood is the means
by which persons like you and me, individuals, become partakers
of the benefits of his sacrifice and death. And such peace pardon,
atonement, justification, adoption into the family of God becomes
the actual state of our being and we have union with Him in
Christ. Let us enjoy that communion. Let us rejoice in that communion. Let us see even in the participation
of this, in the service this morning, something of the loveliness
of our Savior Jesus Christ and all He has done. and let it speak
peace to our hearts and to our conscience that we have peace
with God, that we have access into his presence by the blood
of Christ and we have the great hope of entering into the fullness
of that experience in a day to come as he is pleased to take
us to himself. May the Lord bless these thoughts
to us and encourage our hearts as we commune together around
the Lord's table.