Loretta's sick, so remember her,
she got COVID, bless her heart. Also, we have some other folks
added to the prayer list. John Bull died, and it's standing
in your family, remember them in your prayers. Nancy Rice,
Matthew Massengello, who's Tina's boyfriend, is gonna have to have
a leg removed, so remember him. And a good friend of ours up
in 13th Street in Ashland, Teresa Payne Pennington, who has been
diagnosed with stomach cancer that's somehow involved with
the pancreas also. So remember her in your prayers. Yes, Stan? Remember Teresa. You know it's
tough when you become a caretaker for one of the relatives and
generally it falls on one person. So remember them in your prayers
also. Seek the Lord's help. We'll have
to serve the Lord's table after the morning service. and uh...
there'd be no afternoon bible study at the lord's table we'll
have dinner okay let's get our bible hymn books and turn to
hymn number seventy holy holy holy hymn seventy Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. Early in the morning our song
shall rise to Thee. Holy, holy, merciful and mighty,
God in three Persons, blessed Trinity. Holy, holy, all the saints adore
thee. Casting down their golden crowns
around the glassy sea. and seraphim falling down before
thee, which were, and are, and evermore shall be. Though the darkness hide thee,
Though the eye of sinful man Thy glory may not see, Only Thou
art holy, merciful, and mighty. Perfect in power, in love and
purity. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. All thy works shall praise thy
name. ? Holy, holy, merciful and mighty
? ? God in three Persons, blessed Trinity ? After you hear scripture,
reading a prayer, we'll sing hymn number 125. Jesus paid it
all, all the debt out. If you have your Bibles, tell
me, Epistle to the Colossian Church, chapter 2. Colossians
chapter 2. We begin reading with verse 11,
read through verse 15. In whom, that is the Lord Jesus
Christ, in whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without
hands, and putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the
circumcision of Christ, buried with him in baptism, wherein
you were also risen with him through the faith of the operation
of God, who has raised him from the dead. And you, being dead
in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened
together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses? blotting
out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was
contrary to us, took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross. And having spoiled principalities
and powers, he made sure of them openly, triumphing over them
in it, that is, in his cross. Let us pray. Our Father in heaven,
merciful and gracious, kindhearted and tenderhearted,
piteous toward your children, We are thankful for what you
have done for us. We are thankful for the shed
blood of Jesus Christ, that perfect sacrifice offered to you, that
put away our sins by the sacrifice of himself, that purged our sins
and made it so that he, as the God-man, as the man who died
in the room instead of sinners, had the right to occupy the throne
because he was obedient even to the death of the cross. Thou
hast exalted him and given him a name. In the name of Jesus,
every knee shall bow and every tongue confess he is Lord to
the glory of the Father. Father, we thank you for salvation,
free and full. We thank you that you didn't
look to us for anything, that Jesus Christ on the cross finished
the work of salvation, redeemed his people by his precious blood,
and bought them, and paid for them, and purchased them, and
possessed them. Father, we thank you. We pray
for those who are sick. We pray for our sister Loretta.
She's got this cold. We ask you to bring her back
to a good measure of health. We pray for the others who requested
prayer. Mr. Massengale is going to have
to have the operation on his leg. The Standing Deer family
at the loss of John Gould. The others who requested prayer,
Teresa Payne Pennington. Lord, we ask your help for her
and her family. They struggle with this diagnosis.
For Randy Perriman, for the others. We ask, Lord, you'd be with them.
Be merciful to them. Pray that you'd turn your eyes
to Jesus Christ and all things. For when it all is said and done,
when all the dust settles in this world, all we have is what
is eternal and spiritual. All this that surrounds us and
our flesh will soon fade away, turn into nothing but dust, or
either belted with a fervent heat from the fires of heaven. For if we have Christ, we have
all things. The world, the universe, all
things are ours. We thank you, Father, that we
are heirs of God and joint heirs of Jesus Christ. help us today
to worship you bow us down in the dust where we belong let
us take our headquarters up there and then if you'd be pleased
to lift our eyes to see our savior high and lifted up and lofty
ruling and reigning for he has taken power to himself and it
has reigned as lord over all king of kings father help us now we pray in
christ's name Him number 125, Jesus paid it
all. ? I hear the Savior say ? Why strength
indeed is small ? Child of weakness, watch and pray Jesus paid it all, all the debt
I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. Lord, now indeed I find Thy power
and Thine alone Can change the leper's thoughts And melt the
heart of stone Jesus paid it all, all the debt I owe It had
left a crimson stain He washed it white as snow For nothing
good have I Whereby thy grace to claim I'll wash my darkest
wine ? In the blood of Calvary's Lamb ? Jesus paid it all ? All
the debt I owed ? Sin had left a crimson stain ? He washed it
white as snow ? And went before the throne I stand in him complete. Jesus died my soul to save. My lips shall still repeat. Jesus paid it all, all the debt
I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow. I'm going to have Stan and Sam
to receive the officer this morning, please. Let us pray. Father, again, we
come in the name of Jesus Christ, our great King, our sovereign
Savior. We come in that name because
it is the only name under heaven given among men whereby we must
be saved. We come because you've given
him to your people as the perfect and unspeakable gift, and with
him you've freely given them all things. As we return unto thee, what
is yours? and on loan to us for a while.
Enable us to do it with freely, with joy, with thanksgiving in
our hearts. And we, according to your divine
principle and ordination, are granted the privilege to have
a part in the preaching of the gospel here and in other places.
We are thankful that our giving reflect that. We pray in Christ's
name, amen. Yeah. I invite your attention back
to Colossians chapter 2. The epistle to the Colossians
as well as the epistle to the Galatians is an exacting treatment
of the believer's relationship with the law. It is a Mosaic
law and the world. According to the Word of God,
because of the perfect sacrifice of Christ, the believer is by
the law, dead to the law, and to the world. That's what Paul
says in Galatians 2.19, you are by the law, dead to the law. What does that mean? That means
that the law has no longer anything to do with you because it's been
satisfied on your behalf by the propitiatory substitutionary
death of the Lord Jesus Christ. The law is satisfied. If the
law can find a fault in you, as you stand before a righteous
and holy God, you're going to have to perish. The law has to
be satisfied. Satisfied. And that's what the
word propitiation or mercy seat means. Then he says in Galatians
6, 14 concerning the world, God forbid, that's one of the strongest
Greek languages you'll find, no never, no never, no never
let it be. God forbid that I should glory
save in the cross or the crucifixion or the one crucified of Jesus
Christ by whom the world is crucified unto me and I am crucified unto
the world. There are no mitigating circumstances
that enter the picture. There is no way that the believer
is ever under the law of God. We're under the grace of God.
And some people will say, if you ain't got rules, how can
you learn to obey? Let me ask you this. If you think
that the law is a greater incentive to serve God than love, then
go for the law. But you'll perish under it for
defending one point of the law is to be guilty of all. No, thank
you. People have said to me, you hate
the law. I do not hate the law. I love the law. It's holy, just,
and good. And every time I preach the good
news of the gospel, of the successful and accomplishing work of Jesus
Christ, I go to the graveyard and put flowers on the grave
of the law. For my first husband, the law,
is dead, and I'm married to another, the Lord Jesus Christ, according
to Romans chapter seven. The believer in this passage
of scripture in chapter 2 of Colossians is said to be complete
in Christ and neither the law or the world or anything else
for that matter can add to or take away from that which is
complete. There is no degree to completeness. The believer is not a chunk of
coal that will be a diamond someday. The believer is not that he is
a diamond complete and perfect before God by the perfect sacrifice
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ has been made to be unto
him wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. So as it is written,
he that gloryeth, let him glory in the Lord and not in his own
flesh. This is his estate and it will
never change. He is righteous before God or
righteousness before God, but being a creature whose nature
by birth is against all things spiritual. These epistles that
Paul writes are replete with warnings about listening to or
partaking in the elements of the world. The reason for these
warnings is because the believer still retains a carnal nature,
and that nature, especially with its natural religious bent, is
always seeking to recommend itself to God by any and all means without
Jesus Christ. And let me say this, your only
recommendation to God is Jesus Christ. You don't recommend yourself.
If you think you do, you're in trouble. If you think you have
personal merit, what you actually have is self-righteousness. Self-righteousness. We are all more ready and inclined
to believe in ourselves and to justify ourselves based on any
new wind of doctrine that comes down the pike. All true, eternal,
and valuable wisdom and knowledge is found in only one place. according
to verse 3 of chapter 2. It says, In whom that is in Christ
are hid all the treasures. How many? All the treasures of
wisdom and knowledge. If you know Him, by God's grace,
if you know Him, you know everything. You know everything worthwhile
to be known in this universe. you know everything that will
last forever if you know Him. Move outside this exclusive arena
of knowledge and wisdom and you will suffer the consequences.
What is right in the beginning is right now, is right today
and what was wrong in the beginning is wrong today What was evil
in the beginning is evil today, and what is good in the beginning
is good today. Let him that is righteous be
righteous still, and let him that is filthy be filthy still,
it says in the Revelation. The world and its religion, that
which is natural to the flesh, survives and flourishes by changing
and adapting to the moral trend du jour. The world has a way,
tried and true, to take the believer's mind and eyes away from Jesus
Christ. It operates by guilt and by bombardment
of his so-called ideals. designed to make the believer
feel isolated and out of touch while at the same time holding
out the hand of acceptance and promise to absolve error as soon
as the believer is willing to capitulate and join the throng
that calls the old paths outdated and makes good evil and evil
good. And if you don't like where you live in that day, you're
wrong. The world and the law major on self-justification. So the Lord warns the believer
not to listen to the world partake of the elements of the world.
Verse 4 of chapter 2 says, And this I say, lest any man should
beguile you with enticing words. And then verse 8, Beware lest
any man spoil you through philosophy. Interesting little Greek word
combination, philosophy. Love the truth. No. Philosophy. vain deceit. You would think you wouldn't
need to make deceit vain, but here it is. It's vain deceit.
What does that mean? It's deceit that makes you feel
good about yourself. Makes you look to yourself and
not to Christ. And the tradition of men. We
got a lot of that. Give me that old time religion.
It's good enough for Grandma. Well, if Grandma believed that,
it ain't good enough for me. Is it for you? Tradition. and the rudiments, or the elements
of the world, and he's not talking about necessarily worldliness.
He's talking about that which opposes Jesus Christ. For Christ
said of His people, you're in the world, but you're not of
it. This world is not our home. We're passing through. We're passing through. These
things are not after Christ, it says. Not after Christ at
all. So the Lord warns the believer,
don't listen to them. Don't listen to them. Paul gives
a two-fold reason as to why the elements of the world are to
be disallowed. They're to be disallowed. The
first is a triune Godhead that manifests singularly in one person.
Who is God? God is Jesus Christ. He is the
fullness of the Godhead. he is the triune God he is father
son and Holy Spirit for in him dwells the fullness of the Godhead
in a body God unified with man who could ever
think of such a thing save God himself God becoming a man the
word being made flesh my my the first thing is this in verse
9, for in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. This simply means as to context
that nothing outside of Christ and His work has anything to
do with God save that He ordained it and caused it to happen. He's
the first cause of all things. call it what you will, give it
a Christian name, mark it as righteousness and holiness, label
it as a sacrament, record it as sacred evidence, but it has
nothing to do with God because it has something to do with someone
other than Jesus Christ. If you would know God, if you would please God, if you
would honor God, move not one centimeter from Jesus Christ. Our Lord said in John 5, He that
honoreth the Son honoreth the Father. You don't honor the Son,
I won't honor you. There are no degrees of completeness.
You are complete in Him. In Christ you lack nothing and
have need of nothing that relates to your acceptance with God.
Nothing. He is our righteousness, wisdom,
holiness, sanctification, and our redemption. is all things
to the believer. All spiritual blessings are in
Him according to Ephesians chapter 1. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in Jesus Christ according as He has chosen us in Him before
the foundation of the world. and we should be holy without
blame before him, in love having predestinated us to the adoption
of children by Jesus Christ unto himself, to the praise of the
glory of his grace, wherein he has made us accepted in the beloved. Paul in the following verses
goes on to illuminate further the glory of the truth that the
believers complete in Christ. There is nothing to be added
or taken away. I believe it will never be more or less than he
is right now in Christ. If you have eternal life, that's
the same one you'll have when you get there. It ain't gonna
get better. It ain't gonna get stronger.
It ain't gonna get holier. It is life and not only this, you don't
know what it is. You don't know where it's at.
You can't see it. Stop trying to figure out whether what you're
doing is spiritual or not because you don't know. Our life is hid
with Christ in God. People talk about let Jesus in
your life. You don't have a life. You're walking dead men, dead
in trespasses and sin. Life is Jesus Christ. When Christ, who is our life,
shall appear, we shall appear with Him also in glory, saith
the Scripture. I believe we'll never be more
or less than he is right now in Jesus Christ. What he's going
to do when he finally sheds this mortal coal is leave this flesh
behind. Finally. We can't even imagine
what that would be like. Too glorious for these old sinful
minds to grasp hold of. To be without sin. To worship
God without sin. him without sin. I don't have
any idea what that would be like because what I'm doing right
now as a minister of the Gospel of God has enough sin in it to
send 10,000 worlds to hell. What a thing! Now a believer does grow in grace
and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ but he does not
grow in righteousness or holiness nor does he become spiritually
improved grow in grace that's what we
uh... english language you'd call an
oxymoron because we think growing is going
this way but grace is unmerited favor so growth in grace is going
this way down like old donnie bell said like a cow's tail gets
longer but it gets lower to the ground that's what growing in
grace is that's what growing in grace is and through a steady diet of
the gospel, the believer gains a greater understanding of the
fact that his estate, the knowledge of his lack of merit is part
and parcel with his completeness in Christ. The more you realize
your completeness in Christ, the more you realize that you
can never and would never and will never merit your standing
before God. We are utterly complete in Him.
Then in verses 11 through 13, Paul uses two more biblical principles
to teach symbolically the reason why we are complete in Christ.
He says, In whom we are circumcised with the circumcision made without
hands, in putting off the body of sins, the flesh, by the circumcision
of Christ. buried with him in baptism, wherein
also you are risen with him through the faith of the operation of
God, who hath raised him from the dead. And you being dead
in your sins, and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, hast he quickened
together with him, having forgiven you all your trespasses." Symbolism is what? symbolism shedding blood today
we'll take the Lord's table talk about Christ's blood being shared
body people when he talks about his blood being shared it's talking
about his day you read the shedding of blood in Jesus Christ don't
think it's a little drop of blood is going to do everything it
means Jesus Christ body to be a sacrifice It was an offering
to God, and it was death. That's the only way sins are
remitted. We are complete in Christ because of what He accomplished
in His death without any assistance from us. The first thing He uses
to state the case is the token of a covenant that God made with
a man named Abraham. That token was circumcision,
which is separating the foreskin. Paul, however, diverates from
the physical and the spiritual. He says this circumcision is
not made with hands. He's talking about something else other than
physical circumcision. This circumcision is a sovereign
act of God upon the heart of his people. Signified separation
to God as a token of an already existing relationship. Abraham
did not become a child of God because he circumcised his children. he circumcised his children because
they were the family of God. That's a whole different thing.
It's a whole different ball game. That physical act is representative
of the spiritual act as revealed in the Old Testament. Deuteronomy
10, verse 16, our Lord said, circumcise therefore the foreskin
of your heart. What? Foreskin of your heart,
not your flesh. And be you not stiff-necked.
says the same thing in Jeremiah 4.4, circumcise your heart, the
foreskin of your heart. The physical act was not an accomplishment
of anything, but was rather a reminder because God had already accomplished
something. What did He accomplish? He called Abraham out of the
earth to Galilee, promised him to be a great nation, a great
people, and all who believe in Christ are Abraham's children
according to Galatians chapter 3. The recipient belonged to God
and all things that attended that relationship was by blood
being shed, the eternal blood of the slain lamb. Shedding of
blood, of course, is symbolic of the suffering and the death
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The liquid properties of blood
are symbolically described as that which washes away sin or
covers it, if the Old Testament principle of atonement But blood
is generally represented to do death, and Christ's death in
particular. Circumcision is the shedding of blood, and Paul relates
that to the accomplishment of the death of Christ, referring
to it as a circumcision. Paul refers to the death of Christ
here, in this passage, as his circumcision. This is a substitution
by which the blood of Christ put off the body of sins of the
flesh. And in a continual reminder, We are complete because what
he did for us. He is not a Jew which is one
outwardly. He is a Jew which is one inwardly,
whose circumcision is of the heart and not of the flesh, whose
praise is of God and not of men. Romans 2, 28 and 29. We are the
circumcision, Paul said. We ain't flesh cutters. That's
what he used the word there, concision. We're not flesh cutters. We are the circumcision who worship
God in the spirit, who rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no
confidence in the flesh, Philippians 3. The second biblical principle
is baptism. Baptism refers not to the believer's
physical submission to baptism, but rather his vital connection
to Christ and the Savior's burial, death, burial, and consequent
resurrection. That's the language of scripture.
He says in verse 12, Buried with him in baptism, wherein ye also
are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God,
who has raised him from the dead. That's what happens when we are
baptized. It's the first public confession of faith. I know religion
has made it somewhere up here in front of the pulpit. The first
public confession of faith is baptism. A good example is that
of the Ethiopian eunuch. when he heard what Isaiah 53
really meant and understood it because he was reading it, but
he didn't get it. He said, not unless some man teach me. So
Philip of Zimp set up and jumped in the chariot with him and taught
him what it meant. And he saw that Jesus Christ was the Son
of God, the Son of God, the one who bore the sins of his people,
the one who was saw the travail of his soul, saw the travail
of his soul and was satisfied and justified many by his righteous
work. That's what he saw and understood. He says, what does
prevent me from being baptized? He said, well, we can find some
water, we'll do it. Baptism is a picture of the death, burial,
and resurrection of Christ. How so? When you're baptized,
you put your hands, you put your life in the hands of someone
else. and that someone puts you into
an element that is your death. If you're not taken out of that
element, you're going to die. Water. Burial. Bob Deed's old burial. Then he
takes you out of the water. What you've done is confess that
when Jesus Christ died, you were in him and you died. And when
Jesus Christ was buried, you went to the grave with him and
when he rose from the dead, you rose with him and when he ascended
on high, you even now sit in heavenly places in Jesus Christ
according to Ephesians 2. That's what happened. That's
what baptism is. He takes baptism also as a picture
of your completeness. How complete? Well, you was there
when he died on the cross. You was there when he suffered
his death. How complete? You've always been
complete in Him, I reckon. Because you was in Him on Calvary.
Again, the significance of the act is that it is spiritual and
accomplished by Christ on behalf of the believer. The phrase here,
through the faith of the operation of God, is another way of declaring
the finished work of Jesus Christ. And that by faith, the believer
reckons that when this took place, he was in Christ. Is it any wonder
that the world looks at those who are believers as fools? 2,000 years ago Jesus Christ
died in the room instead of his people. When he died, I died
before God. What? You weren't around. I know. I know. The believer's physical
baptism is a confession of an already existing relationship,
a relationship was established before the foundation of the
world and ratified by the blood of Jesus Christ. We died in Him
and were raised with Him. Peter says it this way, speaking
of that in 1 Peter chapter 3 and verse 21, he says, The like figure
wherein to baptism doth also now save us. Now he's not talking
about salvation, because he says, Not the putting away of the filth
of the flesh, which is salvation. but the answer of a good conscience
toward God by the resurrection of Jesus Christ. What's a good
conscience toward God? The only one thing that makes
a good conscience, that's a conscience that cannot accuse you. The conscience that accuses you
is not a good conscience. It's a bad conscience. How is
it that a conscience can accuse you? It can only not accuse you
if there is no grounds for it to accuse you. And the only way
there's no grounds for confusion is if somebody by his great and
marvelous work has put away your sins and made you righteous before
God so the conscience can't accuse you. When it accuses you, rest
assured of this, you're trying to do something. Keep a law,
follow a rule to get you on the right side of God. What you need
to do when that happens is not try to fix your situation. You
need to fly to the cross of Christ. Fly to the feet of the Savior.
Because He is the answer to a screaming banshee in our bosom called our
conscience. As a final capstone of the fact
to show that our salvation is of the Lord and we did not take
part in it. Paul asserts that our participation was an utter
impossibility. Verse 13, he says, and you who
being dead, necros, dead, twice dead and plucked up by the roots,
as Donny Bell said, graveyard dead in your sins and the uncircumcision
of your flesh, hath quickened us together with him, having
forgiven you all trespasses. All of them, thank God. past,
present, and future. I know this about me. According
to Romans chapter 7, I can't do anything without sin. I can't
do anything. You were dead in sin. Dead men
can do nothing. If you don't believe me, go to
the graveyard and talk to them. Also referred to as uncircumcision
of the flesh, that means that we were Gentiles by nature according
to the flesh and thus without any hope in ourselves, which
it says in Ephesians 2, without hope and without help in this
world. Our flesh could never have a
relationship with God. It can't have one now. Our forgiveness
was in no way due to anything we did or could do in the flesh. We are in Christ. and that alone
is our salvation. That alone is our salvation. In verse 14, Paul declares what
the death of Christ accomplished for us. He said blotting out
the transgression or the handwriting of ordinances, that's the law,
that was against us. The law was against us. Well,
are you a sinner? Then the law is against you.
It's that plain. It ain't for you. It does not
offer you a way to be good. It's there to say, past this
point, I'm gonna punish you. I'm gonna punish you against
us, contrary to us, which was contrary to us, and took it out
of the way, nailing it to his cross. We are dead in our sins. also
referred to as uncircumcision of the flesh. And God has blotted out the handwriting
of ordinances, blotted them out. It simply means that His death
answered the law's demands against us. The Jew referred to the ordinance
against us as the book of dead. That's what the Jews called it,
the book of dead. We just sang a song, Jesus paid it all. And
we changed the words a little bit here. We don't sing all to
Him. Oh, which we do, we all owe to Him. but the original
way it was written was all the debt I owe. Jesus paid it all,
all the debt I owe. This speaks of any condition
relied on in our personal obedience for its accomplishment is disallowed. Christ blotted it out. He says
in Isaiah, like a dark cloud, I blotted out thy transgression.
Like a dark cloud. Notice how Paul refers to the
law. It was not for us, it was against us. It was never for
us in the sense that it could ever do us good or save us. We are sinners and the law is
against sin. The law says that the sinner
must die. The soul that sins shall die.
The law defines our sin and reveals its corruption and offers no
remedy for it, but rather condemns it. It assigns guilt and pronounces
sentence, neither of which gives us any hope whatsoever. Imagine
you strapped to the table about to receive the final injection
that's gonna put your life away because you are guilty and you've
done all the things that you've been accused of. You're on death
row. You're in the chamber. What can
the law do for you? The law's put you there. what could the law do? Well,
here's what the law can do. It can walk up to you as they're
sticking in the last needle of that sodium pentothal or whatever
they put in your vein and say, this is why you're being killed. That's all it can do. It can't save you. It can't help you. It can't make
you better. It can just tell you. while you're
being killed, what the law said, it said to them that are under
the law that every mouth might be stopped and the whole world
become guilty before God. It's contrary to us. This means
it's our adversary, our enemy and our accuser. He was out to
get us. Here's the wolf at the door.
Our Lord took it out of the way. When Messiah comes, He shall
put an end to transgression, an end to sins, bring in everlasting
righteousness. That's what it says in Daniel
chapter 9. He has accomplished this by His
death. He nailed our enemy to His cross,
settled the issue forever. In that gracious, glorious act
2,000 years ago, He completed His people. verse 15 Paul proclaims the absolute
victory of Christ over all his enemies described as principalities
and powers and having spoiled what does that mean that means
he's won and he took what they had he spoiled principalities
and powers he made a show of them openly triumphing over them
in his cross he won openly overtly for all to see. He was manifested,
apocalypto, revealed to take away our sins. And in Him is
no sin. Where are our sins? He took them
upon Himself and they are not in Him. Where are they? the bottom
of the sea as far as the east is from the west, behind God's
back. Gone. Clean gone. Because He nailed it to the cross. That's the title of my message
this morning. Nailed it. He nailed it. This table is for believers,
for a believer who trusts the Holy and the grace of Jesus Christ.
This table is for you. If you're not a believer, don't
take the table. No shame in that. Don't take
it if you're not a believer. Because this table says that
you understand and discern the body and blood of Jesus Christ.
You understand that when Jesus Christ died, And he died, and he actually
put away our sins by the sacrifice of his head. And we'll never
be charged for those sins. We discern that the body and
blood of Christ is not some martyr dying on a tree, not some example
of God's love. It was a payment, a sin. We rejoice to take this payment
because it shows something in this world that's crazy about
living. A little group of people here
in the middle of nowhere in Cherokee, North Carolina sitting together.
We're going to show something right now. We're going to show
forth his death. That's what this table is about. Sinners are welcome to this table.
Sinners saved by grace. When it says for you to examine
yourself, What Jesus Christ did 2000 years
ago was an absolute unqualified success. Absolute. He died and saved and
redeemed his people. Because that's the Lord's blessings
upon the table. Father, you'd be pleased to allow
us this short and wondrous time of worship that you've ordained
for the church, for your beloved for your sheep, for your brine,
to take and be reminded and rehearse and remember and commemorate
that day that your body was broken and your blood was shed for us.
For in doing so, we shall show forth your death until you come
again. We thank you for such a simple and wondrous opportunity. Help us, Lord, now. in Christ. The night I was betrayed, he
took the bread of the Passover feast, broke it, and gave it
to his disciples. And said, take, eat. They said,
my body will come to you, as often as you do it, whoever remembers
me. On the same night, he took the
wine, the cup. He said, this cup is the new covenant in my
blood. not the old covered in the log. You come, grace, and
I'll blow. And, Zorban, as you eat this
bread and drink this wine, you do show forth my debt until I
come again. Do this and know it's right. Then they stood, they sang a
hymn, and our Lord went out to be betrayed. Let's stand together. Hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock
I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. We have visitors today. Our custom here, when we finish
the Lord's Table, is to let each other know that we love each
other. We usually do that by hugging each other. If you don't
feel comfortable with that, you can do a fist bump or an elbow
rub. If you don't like it, don't say anything.