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14:25Howdy. Welcome to our Good Friday service. If you don't know the history of these, actually, I don't know the whole history of these, but these three churches, Emmanuel Baptist Church and what was Southern Oaks Baptist Church, is now Redeemer Baptist Church and West Oaks Baptist Church, have gotten together for several of these. Does anybody know how many? Maybe five. Yeah. So for years we've done these together. We stopped. There wasn't one for the past couple years. So, we're excited to be able to do it all together again. These are three churches that love each other a lot, that have a strong friendship, that share so much of the same theology and just love to associate together. So, we're going to start by reading part of the crucifixion account. So, stand with me and turn in your Bible to Matthew 27:27.

15:26Matthew 27:27. And we'll read through verse 44. This is a night that we can gather together to remember the crucifixion of our Lord with sobriety, remembering the sinful men that did this, remembering the darkness of that moment, but also with celebration, remembering the joy that comes from our salvation that was paid for on this cross. So, follow along as I read Matthew 27:27 through 44. Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the governor's headquarters, and they gathered the whole battalion before him.

16:17And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him. And twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head, and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews. And they spit on him, and they took the reed and struck him on the head. And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes on him and led him away to crucify him.

16:52As they went out, they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. They compelled this man to carry his cross. And when they came to a place called Golgotha, which means place of a skull, they offered him wine to drink, mixed with gall. But when he tasted it, he would not drink it. And when they had crucified him, they divided his garments among them by casting lots. Then they sat down and kept watch over him there. And over his head, they put the charge against him, which read, This is Jesus, the king of the Jews. Then two robbers were crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left. And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself. If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross. So also the chief priests with the scribes and the elders mocked him, saying, He saved others, he cannot save himself. He is the king of Israel. Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He tried. In God, let God deliver him now if he desires him. For he said, I am the Son of God. And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way.

18:18What is it singing when I survey the wondrous cross? When I survey the wondrous cross, on which the prince of glory God, my riches gain high thou lost, and for contempt of my God, it warned that I should boast save in the death of. Of Christ, my God, all the vain things that are held by sacrifice then to his blood. Sweet on his hand, his land is beat sorrow and love for wear such love as sorrow meets for this compound.

21:01That were a present part who stops on praise all day high, deep as my soul, my life by all the people. Oh, to see the dawn of the darkest day, Christ on the road to Calvary, tried by sinful men, sworn and beaten then, healed to the cross of the Lord His bark God the cross. Christ became sinful took the blame for the wrath we stand, forgiven at the cross Oh to see the pain written on your face Bearing the author weight of sin every bitter thought every evil deed crowning your blood stained bright of the cross Christ became sin for us took the blame born the wrath we stand forgiven at the cross Though the daylight peace, now the ground beneath quakes as its maker bows his head, curtain torn into dead are raised through life, finish the rights of heart of the cross.

24:43Christ became sin for us, so the blame for the round rest and forgiven the cross to see my name, waiting in the wound. For through your suffering, I am free. Death is crushed to death, life is mine. To live one to yourself this life is the power of the cross Son of God slain for us what a love what a cause we stand forgive the cross is the power of the cross Son of God slain for us What a love what a cause we stand forgiven As we continue our meditation on the death of Christ on the cross for us, so wonderfully expounded in that song, let's look again to the scriptures. We're going to be reading now from Matthew 27, verses 45 through 54. Matthew 27, 45 to 54. Look there with me now.

27:30Listen to the word of God. Now, from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lemma sabachthani. That is, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And some of the bystanders, hearing it, said, This man is calling Elijah. And one of them at once ran and took a sponge and filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink.

28:13But the others said, Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him. And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit. And behold, the curtain. Of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, and the earth shook, and the rocks were split. The tombs also were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised. And coming out of the tombs after his resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.

28:53When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, Truly, this was the Son of God. Why don't you stand as we sing our next song beneath the cross? Beneath the cross of Jesus, I find a place to stand and wonder at such mercy that cause me as I am. For hands that should discard me, old ones which tell me come be near the cross of Jesus, my unworthy soul is one.

30:34Be near the cross of Jesus, this family is my own. What strange chasing selfish dreams thou won through grace alone how could I now disconnect the ones that you have loved beneath the cross of Jesus see the children called by God We need the cross of Jesus, the path before the crown. We follow in his footsteps where promised hope is bound. How great the joy before us to be his perfect bride. Believe the cross of Jesus, we will gladly live our lives.

32:32How great the joy before us to be his perfect bride. We meet the cross of Jesus, we will gladly live our lives. Our next song is a really old song, so hopefully I think it's really cool that we can still sing songs that people were singing hundreds of years ago, praising the same Lord, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever. O sacred head, now wounded. Now, so fully survived, with voice I know we crown. How pale thou art with anguish, with sword abuse that scorn.

34:13How does that visit, which was pride last for? But how my Lord has suffered was all for since he was the transgression, but thy might for my savior, tis I deserve thy place Lord me with thy favour bless me with thy grace Thy might and in thy passion Lord thou hast born for me for it was my transgression which brought this lony I cast me down before thee, breath where I joy I am worthy, be first worthy of God, what mingled shall thy borrow to them. Make it dear as rest for this thy time thy discipline. Oh, make me thy voice as shine thy faith, Lord, that melted out live my life to thee.

38:18You may be seated. Would you join me in prayer? Our gracious Father, thank you for this time that we can gather here tonight. To reflect on this Good Friday, to reflect on Scripture, the things that your Son has done for us as his children. Father, give us your insight and your understanding into your word. Teach us even tonight. It's in the name of Jesus I pray. Amen. Well, I was tasked with bringing you a 20-minute sermon this morning. I keep thinking inflation is going up, sermon time is going down, but I think we're going to do okay. So I began looking at passages, and I kind of just opened up Google and I said, All right, show me all Good Friday passages.

39:47And I began to read them. I said, Yes, yes, yes. Even some of those we read tonight, I'm like, Yes, yes, yes. I've heard that, I've heard that. These are all great passages. But one caught my eye, and that was from the book of Luke, chapter 23. And if you want to go ahead and turn to the book of Luke, chapter 23, and just hold your place there for just a moment. We will read from there momentarily. I got to thinking about Good Friday service, you know, and it's not mandated that we have to come together and we have to celebrate Good Friday, not like the worship day or on the Lord's Day. But the church, ever since at least first recorded that we. Can know of in history, they were celebrating Good Friday service all the way back to the 300s, as far as we know, probably the whole time.

40:40And so it's good, as we think about coming together to not necessarily celebrate, but maybe commemorate Good Friday. It's a good time to reflect on what has happened on this Easter weekend. Amen. It's a good time to anticipate the celebration that we're going to have here in a few days on Sunday. That is the resurrection of our risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. But today, we look at Good Friday. What does that mean? You go through Scripture, and even before the world was created, salvation plan came together from the Trinity and works its way all the way through our history, all the way through the Old Testament, all the way to the point of the New Testament that we're looking at today, where Jesus is going to die on the cross. It's all leading up to this moment. It's all leading up to this Good Friday, if you will.

41:46So, how do you tend to think about the crucifixion? How do you tend to think about Good Friday? I'm going to ask you an odd question. Does it make you weep? And if it does, why? So, if you'll turn in your Bibles to Luke 23 and pick up in verse 26, we're going to enter into this Easter story. We're going to find ourselves with Jesus on the way to be crucified on Skull Hill, as it was called, on Golgotha. This is the point right after Simon of Cyrene is conscripted and taken and says, Hey, carry the cross of Jesus, carry this beam for Jesus. He didn't want to, he was a long way from home. He was from modern-day Libya, if you will.

42:36But that's right after this story. This is where we're jumping in. So, pick up in Luke 23, beginning of verse 26. It says, As they led him away, they seized one Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country and laid on him the cross to carry it behind Jesus. And there followed him a great multitude of the people and of women who were mourning and lamenting for him. But turning them to Jesus, said, Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming when they will say, Blessed are the barren in the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed. Then they will begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us, and to the hills, cover us. For if they do these things, When the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?

43:37I was reading that, and I said, What an odd thing to say. There's more in this short passage here that we're going to be able to unpack tonight. But I do want to focus on a few things, and one of those is about the women that are weeping here. There's a multitude, it says right here in the passage, a multitude that's following along. They're kind of keeping up with what's going on. And among those multitudes, there's a group of women who are weeping and lamenting and crying for Jesus. We don't know exactly who they were. There were a lot of women who followed in the ministry of Jesus, as Luke records in the other Gospels, that followed and ministered to Jesus as they were going along. But Luke never says this is particularly them. There's another group of women, it could be, and there were professional mourners, people who were hired to cry at certain events. But we're not told necessarily that this is who this group of women are either. And so, since we're not indicated that it's either group, I tend to look at this and I think it was just a group of women who were wailing and crying. Maybe they'd heard of Jesus. Maybe they didn't think this was right. We don't know why. But what happens in this passage is called. My eye, Jesus stops.

45:03Jesus is on the way to be killed. He's on the death march, and he stops to turn to these women who are weeping and to talk to them. He's got a lot on his mind. But instinctively, I think people looking at what's happening to Jesus on the way to the cross would have thought, this is wrong. Even these women that were weeping might have stopped to say, this is wrong. This man's not done anything wrong if they knew anything of Jesus. They might have said, hey, this is a great guy. I don't know why the government's putting him to death. It's a shame.

45:47Now, I don't purport to know what was in the minds of anybody that was there, but certainly these thoughts had to come up. Simply put, I think many people saw and understood that this was an injustice, at the very least. And so I think a lot of people would have expected and even understood just a simple nod from Jesus as he looked at them as they were weeping, acknowledging maybe their sympathy for him. Let that sink in for a sec.

46:26None of us probably would have thought anything. Jesus had just kind of nodded at them, right? And understood that why they were crying. But he does more than that. He not only stops and looks at them, but he speaks. And he turns to them and says, Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me. Do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and your children. If I were in that crowd, I would have been, wait, what?

47:03That doesn't make sense right now. I think what Jesus said shocked them. Weep for yourselves. You've got to remember that when Jesus had first entered Jerusalem, he stopped and he's thinking about Jerusalem. Let me read you what he says when he stops on the outskirts in Matthew 23. He says, Oh, Jerusalem, the Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it. How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings? And you were not willing.

47:40They wouldn't recognize Jesus. They would not come to Jesus. And he's telling these same inhabitants, these women, if you will, of Jerusalem, you're weeping for the wrong reason. Do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves. So, at the same time, Jesus was saying this as he stopped in the outskirts of town, he also said, when he drew near the city, he wept over it and he said, Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace? But now they are hidden from your eyes, for the days will come upon you when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.

48:43Jesus was saying, if you persist in your unbelief, you're not going to know the time of your visitation. You're not going to know when I have come or the reason. A visitation by the Son of God to save their very souls. And yet they're not going to understand. They're not going to care in their unbelief. And so I think these women they recognize what's happening is wrong. It's a shame. It's a travesty of justice, if you will. And as a result, their emotions are stirred up.

49:21They feel bad for them. They cry. They weep. And I think genuinely. They wept. I don't really think these were hired mourners. But whether they were or were not, Jesus says, Don't weep for me, but weep for yourselves and your children. Because he's saying, What is about to happen to you, Jerusalem, is going to be so horrible. You're going to wish you did not have children to worry about. You're going to wish you could escape what's going to happen to Jerusalem. And indeed, in just a short time, Jerusalem is going to be destroyed. They're going to be taken over. It's going to be bad times for anybody in Jerusalem.

50:11Let me skip ahead to the end of the passage because I can't explain every bit of it here tonight. But he talks about greenwood and drywood. You know what greenwood is, right? You ever try to burn it? You cut a fresh tree limb off or a big log and you go and try to burn it, and it doesn't seem like it doesn't matter how much fire you put to it, the thing does not want to burn, right? It's green. It's fresh. It's got a lot of moisture in it. It still has life in it, if you will.

50:48It's not normal to burn a green log. Amen? You can say amen to that. It's not normal to burn a green log. Amen? Jesus is saying, in kind of a roundabout way, if you will, it's not normal that innocent men like Jesus should face death and suffering. That's not normal. That's like burning a green log. He's saying, if this is how you treat a guiltless man like Jesus, facing death is like the green log being unnaturally burned. It's not a normal thing. Then what's it going to be like for a guilty nation and a guilty people when the judgment comes? And he's saying, that's going to be like the dry wood. You burn seasoned dry wood, what happens?

51:49It's gone. It burns up in a flash, doesn't it? And so, this is a warning to all who are in unbelief. He says, Don't weep for me, but weep for yourselves. How many people have you maybe talked to, or you've been in their homes, and they seem religious? They've got Bibles and they've got artwork and they got scriptures on the wall. They look religious. They sound religious. But for all their stuff and for all their talk and for all their acting, if you will, it's Pretty evident to believers that they're lost.

52:34They don't know Christ. They're in their unbelief. And they even get stirred up by their own emotions talking about some of these things. Even though they're lost, they're weeping. So they show sympathy and compassion. Maybe even they have an interest in godly things, but they don't believe in the Lord Jesus as their Savior and Christ. You know, some people would be offended for suggesting such a thing. Hey, you don't know Christ. What do you mean? I have Bibles. I have art. I do this. I go to church. No, you don't know Christ. Many would get offended. Many would get upset. But let me tell you the point of the sermon so far. Jesus does not need our sympathy.

53:38That's what he's saying here. He's doing exactly what was according to the plan of salvation set out before the foundation of the world. Five times in John alone, he says he's laying down his own life. Philippians 2:8, and being found in human. Formed, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Jesus was willing to die. Jesus was going to lay down his life of his own accord. Jesus was being obedient to his father, even to the point of death on the cross.

54:27Jesus doesn't need our sympathy, he was doing his job, he was being obedient, he knew the good news of what was happening. And so the Bible does say in Romans 3:10, as it is written, none is righteous, no, not even one. No one understands, no one seeks for God. All have turned aside together, they have become worthless, and no one does good, not even one. If we continue on the same chapter in Romans 3:23, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We are all sinners. Every person in the history of human life is a sinner outside of Jesus Christ.

55:20And it goes on in Romans and says, For the wages of sin is death. You and I deserve death. The judgment. Of God. And that's the state we find these women in. Don't weep for me. You need to weep for yourself. They don't even understand or care about the trouble they're in. But there is a good news that comes from this statement that he's made to them. Romans 5:8, but God shows his love for us, and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

56:02And 1 John 1:9 and 10. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. Again, Jesus does not need our sympathy. He's sitting at the right hand of God. He's ready to come in power and great glory to receive those who are his and to banish those who do not belong to him for eternity in hell.

56:41Jesus is where he should be. Jesus has done what he should have done. Our perfect, risen Savior and Lord Jesus Christ. But if I go to the end times when judgment is going to come upon all mankind and I read Revelation. 6 verse 15. It says, Then the kings of the earth, and the great ones, and the generals, and the rich, and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and rocks, fall on us, hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great day of their wrath has come. And who can stand? This is judgment day. This is the end times. People are wanting to still hide from God.

57:41And those unbelievers are faced with judgment and wrath from God. And they want to hide, but they cannot. They can't hide in the deepest reaches of space. They can't hide in the deepest spots in the ocean. There's nowhere they can go. And they're even calling for the mountains to fall on them and to cover them up. But that's not going to work either. They're going to face judgment. And so, only those who have wept for their own sin and have come to repentance and faith in Christ, they're the ones that truly understand what Good Friday is.

58:26I've seen many conversations and I've heard many. Conversations. What is Good Friday about? Why do we call it good? It's because you and I, as professing believers, as Christians, as children of God, we reap the good rewards and the benefits of the work of Christ, both in our daily life and what's going to be eventually our everlasting life. You and I, we get to reap the good reward and benefits. That's why it's Good Friday. But then there are those here and elsewhere in the world tonight that come bringing sympathy for Jesus, who weep for Jesus, who intellectually want to maybe understand and be on that level. They want to seem like they're Christian, but they don't understand either why this Friday is called Good Friday.

59:34Why do we commemorate such a somber occasion when they killed Christ on a cross? Why would you gather for that? Because they're simply weeping for the wrong reason. You truly do not know Christ. And so what's happening is much like these women. Unbelievers are keeping Jesus at arm's length. And they do not come in repentance and faith. They don't want to get that close. There's an interest. There's a sympathy. Oh, this is bad. I feel sorry for the guy.

1:00:26If that's the way you feel tonight, I'll tell you plain and simple, you're probably not saved. That's not what it's about. Today, the Bible says, is the day of salvation. Will you hear the good news of Jesus Christ even on Good Friday? Would you repent of your sins and would you come to Christ who calls his children and come to him like the mother hen that he talked about with Jerusalem? Or are you going to be the one that will not come and keep him at arm's length?

1:01:11Would you weep for Jesus in sympathy tonight as we reflect on Good Friday? Or would you weep for yourself in repentance and faith? Now, I don't want you to misunderstand me. This is not about you, and it's not about me in any way. This is all about Christ. But as you reflect on Good Friday about Christ, don't weep in pity for him. Weep in gratitude for what God has done for you on this Good Friday. Amen.

1:02:10Thank you, Sean. Thank you, music team and worship team. Thank you for preparing our hearts to receive the Lord's table. And I want to spend a few more moments just thinking and preparing our hearts to celebrate the Lord's table. Last Lord's Day evening, we celebrated the Lord's table here, and so it hasn't been very long. In fact, I've been thinking about it all week. Appreciate Daniel Kookin and his preparing our hearts for receiving the Lord's table last Lord's Day evening. And one of the things he talked about was the nature of the new covenant, and pretty much. In general, what a covenant is.

1:03:03A covenant involves a commitment on two parties. You enter into a covenant, and there are commitments on both sides. And certainly, we see that in the new covenant. There is a commitment on God's side, and there is a commitment on our side to make the covenant, to join the covenant for it to be effective in our lives. And a lot of times, as we come and celebrate the Lord's table, we spend our time thinking about the benefits, very good: atonement, the justification, what God has done through Christ, and what He's accomplished, and how that plays out in our lives: forgiven, and being forgiven, and being a forgiver, and all the benefits, and all the blessings that come with the new covenant. And that's why you have to celebrate the Lord's table often, because you never exhaust its supply.

1:04:13It is a constant reminder. It is something we are to do often, it is something we are to do, and do it routinely, and do it with lots of time so that we do not rush through and trivialize it. Well, what I want to do in a few minutes is just think about the commitment on God's side of the fence. We see these show up in the elements themselves, in the bread and in the cup, and they speak about a commitment, God's commitment, God's commitment in the new covenant, God's commitment to us, his people. And so, I want you tonight, I want you to see the devotion that your heavenly Father has for you, his child.

1:05:16And so, I want to begin this first by looking at some familiar passages. Just walk through this in Genesis chapter 1. Genesis chapter 1 and verse 26. Then God said, Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the sky, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. God created man in his own image. In the image of God, he created him, male and female, he created. Created them.

1:06:02God's commitment. See, God's commitment stated right there at the very beginning: we are going to make man in our image. Man will bear the image of his Creator. That's God's commitment. You know what happens in Genesis chapter 3? Man falls. Man chooses to go the way of God's adversary. Adam was lacking something. He did not have a heart that loved the Lord his God in its totality. He was innocent, yes. Sinless, yes. But there was something lacking.

1:06:58He did not have a heart to love God totally. And so, you know, the account falls into sin. Chapter 4 of Genesis. Life outside the garden. Life in a world where everyone lives according to the dictates of his own thoughts and as his own authority. And this takes mankind, but what does God do? He done? Did he say, well, that didn't work? No, he still has a commitment to make man in his image. It's still happening.

1:07:39So then you get to Genesis chapter 6 and verse 5. Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and he was grieved in his heart. And the Lord said, I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals, to creeping things, and to the birds of the sky, for I am sorry that I have made them.

1:08:12But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord. So you come to chapter 6, and here's a situation. Is God really going to go through with this plan? Now everyone's thought is only evil continually. Surely this is going to put an end to God's commitment. No. Noah finds favor. You know, the account. God is still committed to his purpose. Get to Deuteronomy chapter 30. This is just right after Israel, or just on the verge when Israel is about to go into the land. And Moses has told them and just shouted out the blessings and the curses. And what's going to happen is Israel is going to experience the curses.

1:09:12They're going to be scattered. So shall it be, verse 1 of chapter 30, when all of these things have come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you call them to mind in all the nations where the Lord your God has banished you, and you return to the Lord your God and obey him with all your heart and soul according to all that I command you to today. Then the Lord your God will restore you from captivity and have compassion on you and will gather you from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you. He promises, he says to Israel, everything's going to come upon you. Even Israel, even after the calf, even all that they've done, God's commitment is still at work. He's still going to create man in his image. It's going to happen. He's going to complete the task.

1:10:15What's interesting is then you get to Deuteronomy 30, verse 6, and he says, This, Moreover, the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants to love the Lord your God. With all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live. He's already stated what he's going to do. He's going to have to change the heart, not only of Israel, which he will, I believe, do. He will do. Listen, if his promise isn't good to Israel, it's not good to anyone.

1:10:55But the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants to love the Lord your God with all your heart. That's what was missing with Adam. That is what's going to happen in the new covenant. God is going to change the heart of humanity. That's his commitment. And it makes sense, right? Something was missing in Adam. Something is missing in fallen humanity. Something was missing in Israel. Something is needed, a new heart. And he has committed to bringing that about.

1:11:47So in time, Christ comes. John chapter 6. They're getting ready to celebrate the Passover. Everyone's getting ready to go up. And Jesus says this. Jesus answered, they came and they found Jesus and they're saying, we're excited. The food's great. We love this. We love what we just saw. And then Jesus said to them, or they come up to Jesus and say, what shall we do so that we may work the works of God? And Jesus said to them, This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent. Saying, what shall we do? He's saying, let me tell you what God's going to do. This is the work of God. So they said to him, What then do you do for a sign that we may see and believe? What work do you perform? Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, as it is written. He gave them bread out of heaven to eat.

1:12:55Jesus said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world. And they said to him, Lord, always give us this bread. Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will not hunger, and he who believes in me will never thirst. What is this bread out of heaven? He's just fed. The 5,000. He refers to Moses and the feeding, the manna. They're ready to make him Messiah. And he says, Let me tell you something. I am the bread. I am the incarnation of God. I am God pursuing you.

1:13:50I have come. And if you take in who I am and what I am doing, it will give life to you. The incarnation, the bread. What we celebrate in the bread is that advance of God toward His people. God is a reconciling God, and from the very beginning, He has been committed to His people to bring about Christ's light, to bring about His image in them. So when you see this bread, this is the incarnation of God. He is a living incarnation. He is living bread. You take in, you take in all that He has said, all that He has promised. You take in His life, who He is. You take in what He has done. You take in then the cup, the sacrifice. Look at the commitment of your Creator. Look at what He has done through Jesus. Time and space. This is what God committed Himself to do to take us on.

1:15:11That bread is coming down from heaven, searching, seeking. Of course, that bread, that body was taken up so that it could be put down. God had to take up human flesh because he couldn't die for us unless he took up human flesh. And so the cup represents the sacrifice. That's why Jesus is saying, if you don't eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life in yourself. And so what we celebrate in the elements, what we remember is we remember the commitment of our heavenly Father who sent his only Son on a mission to find us, to draw us to him, to lay down his life to pay that penalty so that we could be justified, cleansed.

1:16:30But also, so that we could be infused with his life. We need to be justified and we need new life. For just justified will mess up another paradise. We need to be justified and we need to be completely renewed with his life. And so we see both of that in the elements. So, with the men, ushers come forward who are going to distribute the elements. So, as they come, as they come up, I just want to let you know, please, we obviously practice open communion. Several churches gathered here. If you are a believer, if you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, then please take. If you do not know Jesus Christ, let them pass. I said early there's two commitments in the new covenant. The first commitment is God's commitment, and we've just talked about that through the ages. What is our commitment? To believe. To believe. And the kind of belief we're talking about is not just that assensus that, okay, I take this in intellectually agreement, but that fiducia.

1:18:01Trusting. Trust. I put my faith and trust in who the bread represents and what the cup represents that he did. I put my faith and trust in all this solely in what Christ has done. And so we would that's what you're to do. That's what you're to take. And so please participate. What a joy it is to be able to remember this tonight. And so let me go ahead and pray. We'll distribute the elements and then hold them, and then we'll take them all together in just a moment. Heavenly Father, again, we come before you with just gratitude in our hearts and even an inability, a confession of an inability to take it all in. We are but babes trying to get our minds around these truths that are so profound and yet so understandable. We see in the bread, we see that advance. We see that advance from our heavenly Father to us in the incarnation of his son.

1:19:27We see the sacrifice. We see the highest in heaven. Coming, we see the ultimate sacrifice, and Father, we recognize in a real spiritual way, His cross is also our cross, His death is also our death, His burial is also carrying our sins away, His resurrection is also our resurrection, and so, Father, we are identifying here tonight with your Son in remembrance and in gratitude. So, thank you in Christ's name. Amen. Go ahead and distribute and then hold them, and we will. I'll be back here in just a second.

1:27:00See the elements. I don't know if you could see these from where you are. But I see in the elements committed favor. Committed favor. This is what covenant loyalty is about. I see a divine source, the sinless, spotless Christ. I see his sacrifice for our well-being. What God has started, he is committed to complete. His people will bear his image, and that includes us who are in him. He has overcome so much. And we see in the elements sacrificial, committed favor. And that's what we remember tonight: his committed favor. For I received from the Lord, I'll be reading from 1 Corinthians 11, beginning in 23. For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, in the night in which he was betrayed, took the bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.

1:28:35In the same way, he took the cup also after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. Let's take it. For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. Friends, there is a committed favor, a sacrificial devotion, a covenant loyalty that is reflected in these elements that guarantees that God is going to complete what he has started. You can almost even say creation isn't finished yet. Man needs a heart that loves him totally.

1:29:40And then he's going to need a new heavens and a new earth that goes with it. And that's what's coming. Again, Heavenly Father, we thank you for all this. We thank you for the devoted favor, the committed loyalty, the sacrifice. Kindness. I can't even put it all in words, Father, what these elements say about you and your commitment to the new covenant. And, Father, what a privilege it is for our side to just watch and see what you have done and to put our faith and trust in who you are and what you have done. Father, you don't require us to earn. We never could.

1:30:33And so we can truly celebrate. And what a privilege it is just to put our total trust in you and you alone for the well-being of our soul. You have taken up this commitment to see us through to eternity and throughout eternity. This is the commitment, your devoted commitment to us. And we thank you and praise you as we reflect upon the cross once again tonight as it says it all. Thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.

1:31:12You know, as Christians, the Bible speaks of us and says that we're a peculiar people. And I think one of the things that's kind of peculiar is that we're so happy about somebody dying. And this last song in particular, I think, speaks to that. Let's stand together and sing hallelujah for the cross. Up to the hill of Calvary, my Savior went courageously, and there he bled and died for me. Hallelujah for the cross. And on that day, the world was changed. A final, perfect Lamb was slain. Let earth and heaven now proclaim, Hallelujah for the cross. Hallelujah. For the war he fought, love is won, death has lost. Hallelujah for the souls he bought.

1:32:25Hallelujah for the cross. What good I've done could never save my debt too great for deeds to pay. But God, my Savior, made away. Hallelujah for the cross. A slave to sin my life was bound, but all my chains fell to the ground when Jesus. Blood came flowing down. Hallelujah for the cross. Hallelujah. For the war he fought, love has won, death has lost. Hallelujah for the souls he bought. Hallelujah for the cross. And when I breathe my final breath, I'll have no need to fear that rest. This one will guide me into death. Hallelujah for the cross.

1:33:46Hallelujah. For the war he fought, love as one, death has lost. Hallelujah. For the souls he bought, hallelujah for the cross. Hallelujah. For the war he fought, love as one, death has lost. Hallelujah for the souls he bought. Hallelujah for the cross. Hallelujah for the cross. And Father, we thank you for sending your Son and making that committed, kind intention toward us. We praise your name. In Jesus' name, amen. You're invited to stick around for a dessert fellowship in the fellowship hall.