Our scripture reading this morning is 1 Peter 1. Here's 1 Peter 1. The theme of 1 Peter very much involves the concept of hope, and you find that referred to repeatedly in this chapter as well. First Peter chapter one. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ to the strangers scattered through Alpontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification of the spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. grace unto you and peace be multiplied. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you. who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time, wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations. And that temptations, of course, is trials. That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen ye love, in whom though now in ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls. of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you, searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow. Unto whom it was revealed that not unto themselves but unto us they did minister the things which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven. Which things the angels desire to look into? Wherefore, gird up the loins of your mind and be sober and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance, but as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation, because it is written, be ye holy, for I am holy. And if you call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear. For as much 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 of a lamb without blemish and without spot, who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you. who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead and gave him glory, that your faith and hope might be in God. Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently. Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away. But the word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you." So far we read God's holy word. The text for the sermon, verses 18 and 19, 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 of a lamb without spot, without blemish, and without spot. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, last week the scriptures exhorted us, commanded us to live a holy life. And that command was based, you recall, squarely on the fact that God is holy. As He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation. Our lives must be patterned after God, the Holy One. He has powerfully called us out of that vain conversation. The former lusts of the flesh called us out of that, and now we must follow the pattern of God's own holiness. Verse 17 draws out more practical admonitions from the holiness of God. If you call on the Father, and we do, of course, as obedient children, if you call on the Father, remember that He is the Holy One. Remember that He beholds all of your life, your mind, your thoughts, your activities, your speech, and He judges without respect to persons. He does not judge differently if you're rich than if you're poor. He doesn't judge differently if you're Protestant or Reformed as opposed to an unbeliever. He judges without respect of persons. Since you know that, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear. And then he adds the text. as ye know that ye have been redeemed. These are realities, all of these are realities that believers must keep in their minds as they go through life day by day. That God is holy. that He is righteous, that He demands perfect obedience from us, that He is a righteous judge who does not judge with respect to persons, but also that we have been redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. That too, without that consciousness, If we only know about the holy and righteous God who judges without respect to persons, and we do not know that we have been redeemed in the blood of Jesus Christ, our life would be one of fear. We would be constantly in terror of the judgment that we deserve. The same thing is true for us this morning. We have examined ourselves, and when you examined yourself, what did you see? What did you see? If you did it honestly in the light of God's holy word, and you compared yourself to that holy God, then the only conclusion is, I am a vile sinner. If you did not all week long ever have the thought, I do not deserve to come to the table. If you never had that thought, then I fear you didn't examine yourself. That's what the sinner thinks. How can I come there? How can I come there and not eat and drink judgment to myself? That's what an examination, serious self-examination, will show us. But we come. We come because we know that we've been redeemed by precious blood. And that's why we come to the table of the Lord with assurance. And here at the table of the Lord we will even see a visible, symbolic showing of the death of Jesus Christ, His atoning death in the broken bread and the poured out wine. And we know that in Jesus Christ we have a rightful place here. God will receive us in mercy and even strengthen our faith. all that because we've been redeemed with precious blood. And that's the theme for the sermon this morning, redeemed by precious blood. In the first place, redeemed from what? Secondly, redeemed by what? And thirdly, redeemed unto what? We've been redeemed, says the text, from our vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers. Conversation, of course, is the whole of our life. The whole of our life. Our work, our play, our habits, where we go is part of our life. with whom we carry out the activities, the circles in which we live. It includes the path of life because path has a certain direction. It has a certain purpose. All of that is included in the word conversation. The text speaks of the conversation that is received by tradition from your fathers. Now, of course, the question is, well, who are the fathers and therefore what is the tradition? And there's a couple of possibilities. Essentially, it's Jews or Gentiles. If the fathers are the Jewish fathers, then it's the whole Old Testament, the whole system of laws, of sacraments and ceremonies. If it's Gentiles, then it refers to their pagan idolatry and the immorality that was part of living in that life. Peter writes to saints scattered throughout, and then he gives the regions, scattered saints. And therefore, it could refer to either. to Jews or to Gentiles. The emphasis of the book, which is a little surprising because Peter was more often the apostle to the Gentiles, but the emphasis of the book seems to be on, I'm sorry, he's the apostle to the Jews, whereas Paul was to the Gentiles, but the emphasis seems to be Gentiles. In verse 14, he speaks of According to the former lusts in your ignorance, it doesn't sound like Jews, and then in chapter four, verse three, it talks about the time past of your life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles when we walked in lasciviousness, lust, excess of wine, and so on. Wherein, he says, they think it strange that ye run not with them to the same excessive riot. So it does seem like it's Gentiles, but again it can be either the vain tradition of your fathers. If it's the Jews, then it would be their whole system whereby they thought they could earn their own righteousness. But either way, he calls it a vain conversation. Now all human activity apart from God is vain. is empty. And here the emphasis would be simply that it's pointless. It's pointless. The whole walk of these people was without good purpose. It was a pointless, empty walk that they learned from their fathers. Again, at first this might not seem to be true. The ungodly seem to have purpose. Some can be totally devoted to a cause. They have an extremely heavy urgency in their life. They want to accomplish this, whether it's politics or in business or in some field of life. They serve the gods of their imaginations. They want to better themselves. They want to get ahead. They want to have a pile of money. They want to enjoy life. They seem to have purpose. They seem to have goal. But according to scripture, all of that is vain. It is pointless. It is as foolish as someone getting out a shovel and digging down as far as he could, making a big hole during the day and then at night filling it all up, filling it all up, and then the next day starting all over again. Dig the hole, fill it all up. It's pointless. It's vain. It's empty. Their walk never accomplishes any meaningful goals. Whatever they do in life is cast away when they die. Time erases all traces of their life. And it's vain because it is not directed toward God and His glory. That's the main message of Ecclesiastes. All is vanity. Anything that is not directed toward God, it's vanity. It's pointless. But then, it is not silly vanity, it is sinful vanity. Because man's life must be directed toward God, love God with all your being, with your heart, mind, soul, and strength. Love Him. That's the command. And whatever is, therefore, vain, not directed toward God, is sin. Sin is not merely something contrary, clearly contrary to the written commandments, but there is no activity in this life that is neutral. If it's not specifically for God and His glory, it is sin. It is that simple. This was the way of these people, now believers, to whom Peter writes. Formerly, their vain conversation received from their fathers led to death. Whether it's the Jews seeking to establish their own righteousness and thinking that's the way to heaven, or whether it's Gentiles giving themselves up to worship of idols and complete immorality, either one would lead to death. From that they needed to be redeemed. The idea of redeem is to give a ransom, a ransom. A ransom is a payment to free captives. Throughout the history of the world, in Paul's day and even into the Middle Ages, this was a very common thing, that in a war they would capture certain individuals and they would hold some of them for ransom because they wanted to be paid. So they would capture them, put them in a dungeon and leave them there and send out a ransom note and say, we need to be paid. If you pay us, we will release this man, whether it was a knight or a noble, sometimes even a king. They wanted money, usually gold or silver. So says the apostle, a payment had to be made for you. to ransom you from their vain conversation. They were enslaved to that vain conversation. Without a ransom, they would perish in that vain conversation. That's the whole idea of ransom. The fact that they needed a ransom indicated they were in a slavery. Again, this is something the world denies and our own flesh denies. And the world says, we can do what we want. We're not in slavery. We are free. We can go where we want. We can live as we please. We can do it with whomever we desire. They might laugh at a Christian and say, your life is so restricted. You can't do anything. You're the ones that are in slavery. We are free. But the fact is they're slaves to their vain conversation. Sin is a deadly power. Sin is a power that actively seeks to control every last aspect of one's life, one's thinking, motivations, activities, and speech. It seeks to control all of that and it does in an unregenerated man. It is total control, a slavery, It is, as a man who is addicted to heroin, he cannot live without it. He needs more and more and more. Though the heroin is killing him, that's sin's power. That's sin's power. It will kill them. They need to be redeemed from their vain conversation. By what? By what are they redeemed? The text says by something precious, not by corruptible things. The word corruptible we might normally associate with wickedness, vile corruption. But here the word is not emphasizing wickedness, like a wicked man, but corruptible in the sense that it perishes. As Jesus used it when he said, where moth and rust doth corrupt things that cannot abide, they're corruptible things. You have not been purchased, redeemed with corruptible things. He gives a couple of examples of that, silver and gold. Now for man, silver and gold are the best things that this world has to offer. Precious metals that do not rust. What is universally seen by man to be something of great value. People fight over this. People steal gold and silver. And yet, says Peter, you've not been redeemed with corruptible things like gold and silver. They are the treasures that belong to this life. They have a very limited life because when this earth is destroyed, so will be all the gold and the silver. For the individual, they are only valuable as long as he has health and strength. When a man is dying, it doesn't matter a bit that he has a pile of gold there that is of no use to him. You have been redeemed, says Peter, not with those, not with silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ. The precious blood of Christ. Now, blood is precious. We all recognize that. If we are cut in a serious place on an artery and bleed out, we die. Blood is precious. Giving one's blood as a ransom points merely not to giving a pint of blood to someone, but it points to dying for someone else. That's the idea. All that man has he will give for his life. Who here this morning would say, oh I will give my life. for someone else. We might do a lot of things for people. We might do anything possible to help them and keep them alive, but to give our life for someone else. That's a rare thing, indeed, to lay down one's life for someone else. This is what Jesus did. And the blood that he gave is more precious than anything you can imagine. It's the blood of the Son of God. God who came into the flesh, very God who dwelt among men. Jesus gave his life's blood In the book of Acts, chapter 20, it speaks of the fact that we are redeemed by the blood of God, God's own blood, as it were, which, of course, cannot mean that God as a God in His essence has blood, but that Jesus is very God and gave His blood. He gave His life a ransom. He gave His life a payment of a ransom to take people out of their slavery. How did he do this? Obviously it is through the cross that Jesus did that. Because his death was a sacrifice. And you get that immediately when it speaks of Christ the lamb, and immediately all the things that have to do with the Old Testament sacrifices come up. And you think of the Passover and how important that lamb was, that lamb that had to be so precise, the best male lamb that you had in your flock, no blemishes, no imperfections, no diseases, no broken bones. Take that lamb and shed the blood of that lamb as a sacrifice. for sin. Jesus is the Lamb without blemish and without spot. He's the fulfillment of that Old Testament picture. God in the flesh, but a very real man. Perfectly righteous. No iniquity, no guilt was His personally. He was spotless. And He offered Himself as a sacrifice. Yes, indeed, wicked men took Him and crucified Him, nailed to the cross. But He said long before that, no man takes My life from Me. I lay down My life. I lay it down for others. He offered Himself in our place as a ransom, a payment for our sins. And so the payment was made to God to fulfill His justice. Jesus took the guilt of our sins. Jesus took the curse that was due to us, and He took the wrath that all our sins deserved, and He bore that wrath on the cross. He paid for them. He bore them away. And when that payment is made, at that point we are legally freed, freed from the condemnation of the law, freed from the oppression of Satan. He no longer is our rightful master. The judgment of God was that He gave man over into the control of Satan. We became the slaves of Satan. No longer do we belong to Him. redeemed us. And Jesus being a complete Savior does not merely redeem us from the guilt of our sins and the curse, but He delivers us by His Spirit and His grace from the vain conversation, from the power of sin, from the corruption of sin. Redemption here covers all of that. The payment, first of all, but then the continuing work of Jesus, delivering His people from their vain conversation. We've been redeemed from a vain conversation by the blood of Jesus Christ. And thirdly, we've been redeemed, but unto what? There are two things especially that we can point out here. We redeem first of all to a life of thankful obedience. This naturally follows from the great price that was paid for us. If in this life there were slaves who were in horrible misery, in a dreadful bondage and someone came along and paid a ransom and delivered them from their bondage, and the price for delivering each one of them was $10 per slave. Well, those slaves who are freed would certainly be thankful that they were delivered from their terrible bondage, but they wouldn't have that tremendous amount of gratitude to the person who paid but $10 to free them. If, on the other hand, a man came and said, I will deliver you, and it will cost $1 million for every slave that I redeem, those slaves would be grateful for deliverance from their bondage, but their hearts would be absolutely full of gratitude to the one who purchased them. You've been purchased, not with a million dollars. That's nothing. You've been purchased with the blood of Jesus Christ. God's justice required a life Christ's life for our life. Jesus made the payment, the infinite wrath of God against our sins. Giving Himself over to physical death, not only, and the grave, which for us even is so difficult. but far beyond that, to plunge himself into eternal death, into the wrath of God so terrible that he sweat blood as it began to press upon him, that he cried out, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me, the terrible wrath, if it be possible, who cried out in the absolute agony, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me in the depths of hell? That's the price of your ransom, not a million dollars. There are many people in this world that could give a million dollars and they wouldn't even feel it. gave His life. Again, what does that mean? The heart of one who's been redeemed by that is simply overflowing with thankfulness. Unto thankfulness we have been redeemed. We've been freed from sin and death, from the condemnation that our sins deserve, and from the slavery of sin's control. We are able to serve God now. We're able to love Him and to live unto Him. So that, first of all, redeemed unto thankful obedience. Secondly, we are redeemed unto eternal life with God. Eternal life with God. Covenant fellowship with God through Jesus Christ. Knowing God. as now only we are known. Having an eternity before us of living with God, the highest good, the highest good whom to know is life and joy and glory, being able to live with God forever and ever and experiencing His blessings, which only get better and better. We have such a little idea of what that is like to be able to live in glory without sin and suffering and to live with God. If we were more mindful of that, We would certainly be saying, that's where our treasure should be, not here. That's where our focus should be, not here. We have been redeemed unto everlasting life. And the Lord's Supper is a picture of that. And the Lord's Supper gives us a little foretaste. It's a picture of the gracious redemption that Jesus gave, the broken bread, the poured out wine pointing to his terrible suffering, his redemption. Partaking at the Lord's table is a picture of covenant fellowship. That's what families do. They gather around a table, they eat, they fellowship. That's what we're doing this morning. Please keep that in mind. Everyone sits in their own seat. It would be a lot nicer if we could come up here and gather around tables to remind us that's what we're doing here. We're coming to a table. We're coming to fellowship with God Himself. And the wine, remember, is part of that. The wine has a double significance. On the one hand, it points to the blood of Jesus Christ poured, but on the other hand, the cup of blessing which we bless and remember that's that's not blessing in the sense that we're bestowing something good upon that blessing it but it's the blessing of a couple weeks ago in the text i will bless the lord i will praise him that's the that's the cup it's pointing to the joys of heaven and therefore it's a it's a foretaste it assures us We've been redeemed. We have been. And it assures us of the covenant fellowship that truly are ours and we'll have it forever. Live out of this by the grace of God unto Him. Thankful obedience, longing for, enjoying covenant fellowship with God. We turn now to the form for the administration of the Lord's Supper, found on page 91. We'll read the institution on page 91. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, attend to the words of the institution of the Holy Supper of our Lord Jesus Christ, as they are delivered by the Holy Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 11, 23 through 29. For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread. And when he had given thanks, he break it and said, take, eat. This is my body, which is broken for you. This do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had stopped saying, this cup is the New Testament in my blood. This do ye as oft as ye drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, "'Ye do show the Lord's death till he come. "'Wherefore, whosoever shall eat this bread "'and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily, "'shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. "'But let a man examine himself, "'and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. "'For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, "'eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, "'not discerning the Lord's body.'" that we may now celebrate the supper of the Lord to our comfort. It is above all things, first, rightly to examine ourselves, secondly, to direct it to that end for which Christ hath ordained and instituted the same, namely, to his remembrance. Now, having read the true examination of ourselves last week, we turn, on page 92, to the second part. Let us now also consider to what end the Lord hath instituted His supper, namely, that we do it in remembrance of Him. Now after this manner are we to remember Him by it first, that we are confidently persuaded in our hearts that our Lord Jesus Christ, according to the promises made to our forefathers in the Old Testament, was sent of the Father into the world that He assumed our flesh and blood, that He bore for us the wrath of God, under which we should have perished everlastingly, from the beginning of His incarnation to the end of His life upon earth, that He hath fulfilled for us all obedience to the divine law and righteousness, especially when the weight of our sins and the wrath of God pressed out of Him the bloody sweat in the garden, where he was bound that we might be freed from our sins, that he afterwards suffered innumerable reproaches, that we might never be confounded, that he was innocently condemned to death, that we might be acquitted at the judgment seat of God. Yea, that he had suffered his blessed body to be nailed on the cross, that he might fix thereon the handwriting of our sins, And hath also taken upon himself the curse due to us, that he might fill us with his blessings. And hath humbled himself unto the deepest reproach and pains of hell, both in body and soul, on the tree of the cross, when he cried out with a loud voice, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? That we might be accepted of God, and never be forsaken of him. And finally, confirmed with his death and shedding of his blood, the new and eternal testament, that covenant of grace and reconciliation, when he said, it is finished. Secondly, that we might firmly believe that we belong to this covenant of grace, the Lord Jesus Christ in his last supper took bread. And when he had given thanks, he break it and gave it to his disciples and said, take, eat. This is my body, which is broken for you. This do in remembrance of me. In like manner also after supper, he took the cup, gave thanks and said, drink ye all of it. This cup is the New Testament in my blood, which is shed for you and for many for the remission of sins. this do ye, as often as ye eat of it in remembrance of me. That is, as often as ye eat of this bread and drink of this cup, ye shall thereby, as by a sure remembrance and pledge, be admonished and assured of this my hearty love and faithfulness towards you. That whereas you should otherwise have suffered eternal death I have given my body to the death of the cross and shed my blood for you. And as certainly feed and nourish your hungry and thirsty souls with my crucified body and shed blood to everlasting life, as this bread is broken before your eyes and this cup is given to you. and you eat and drink the same with your mouth in remembrance of me." From this institution of the Holy Supper of our Lord Jesus Christ, we see that he directs our faith and trust to his perfect sacrifice once offered on the cross. as to the only ground and foundation of our salvation, wherein he is become to our hungry and thirsty souls the true meat and drink of life eternal. For by his death he hath taken away the cause of our eternal death and misery, namely sin, and obtained for us the quickening spirit. that we by the same who dwelleth in Christ as in the head and in us as his members might have true communion with him and be made partakers of all his blessings of life eternal righteousness and glory besides that we by the same spirit may also be united as members of one body in true brotherly love as the Holy Apostle saith, for we, being many, are one bread and one body, for we are all partakers of that one bread. For as out of many grains one meal is ground and one bread baked, and out of many berries being pressed together, one wine floweth and mixeth itself together, so shall we all. who by a true faith are engrafted into Christ the altogether one body through brotherly love for Christ's sake our beloved Savior who has so exceedingly loved us and not only show this in word but also in very deed towards one another. Here to assist us the Almighty God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ through His Holy Spirit, amen. That we may obtain all this, let us humble ourselves before God and with true faith implore His grace. Let us pray. O most merciful God and Father, we beseech Thee that Thou wilt be pleased in this supper in which we celebrate the glorious remembrance of the bitter death of Thy beloved Son, Jesus Christ, to work in our hearts through the Holy Spirit, that we may daily more and more with true confidence give ourselves up unto Thy Son, Jesus Christ. that our afflicted and contrite hearts, through the power of the Holy Ghost, may be fed and comforted with his true body and blood. Yea, with him, true God and man, that only heavenly bread. That we may no longer live in our sins, but he in us and we in him. and thus truly be made partakers of the new and everlasting covenant of grace. That we may not doubt, but thou wilt forever be our gracious Father, never more imputing our sins unto us, and providing us with all things necessary as well for the body as the soul, as thy beloved children and heirs. Grant us also thy grace, that we may take up our cross cheerfully, deny ourselves, confess our Savior, and in all tribulations with uplifted heads, expect our Lord Jesus Christ from heaven, where He will make our mortal bodies like unto His most glorious body, and take us unto Him in eternity. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Strengthen us also by this Holy Supper in the Catholic, undoubted Christian faith, whereof we make confession with our mouths and hearts, saying, I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried, he descended into hell. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence he shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit. I believe in holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen. While the table is being prepared, we will sing 311. In stanza three, his saints, the Lord delights to save. Their death is precious in his sight. He has redeemed me from the grave. And in his service, I delight. Stanzas one and three. One and three of 311. ♪ What shall I render to the Lord ♪ ♪ All of His benefits to me ♪ ♪ How shall I swallow my grace restored ♪ to Thee. His face the Lord devised to save, He has redeemed me from the grave, and in His service my dear. That we may now be fed with the true heavenly bread, Jesus Christ, let us not cleave with our hearts unto the external bread and wine, but lift them up on high in heaven, where Christ Jesus is our advocate, at the right hand of his heavenly Father, where all the articles of our faith lead us. Not doubting, but we shall as certainly be fed and refreshed in our souls through the working of the Holy Ghost, with His body and blood, as we receive the holy bread and wine in remembrance of Him. Reading in John chapter 19 of the account of Jesus, we begin at verse 19, John 19, verse 19, and Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross, and the writing was, Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. This title then read many of the Jews for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city, and it was written in Hebrew and Greek and Latin. Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, write not the king of the Jews, but that he said, I am the king of the Jews. Pilate answered, what I have written, I have written. Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments and made four parts to each soldier a part, and also his coat. Now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout. And they said, therefore, among themselves, let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be, that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, they parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things, therefore, the soldiers did. Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister Mary, the wife of Cleopas and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus therefore saw his mother and the disciples standing by whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, woman behold thy son. Then saith he to the disciple, behold thy mother. And from that hour, that disciple took her into his own home. After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. Now there was set a vessel full of vinegar, and they filled a sponge with vinegar and put it upon Hyssop and put it to his mouth. When Jesus, therefore, had received the vinegar, he said, it is finished. And he bowed his head and gave up the ghost. The bread which we break is the communion of the body of Christ. Take, eat, and do so in remembrance of Him. ♪ ♪ you The cup of blessing which we bless is the communion of the blood of Christ. Drink ye all of it and do so in remembrance of him. Beloved in the Lord, since the Lord has now fed our souls at this table, let us therefore jointly praise his holy name with thanksgiving, and everyone say in his heart thus, bless the Lord, oh my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and forget not all his benefits. who forgiveth all thine iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases, who redeemeth thy life from destruction, who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and plenteous in mercy. He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, "'so great is his mercy towards them that fear him. "'As far as the east is from the west, "'so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. "'Like as a father pitieth his children, "'so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. "'Who hath not spared his own son, "'but delivered him up for us all, "'and given us all things with him, Therefore, God commendeth therewith his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more than being now justified in 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. Therefore shall my mouth and heart show forth the praise of the Lord from this time forth forevermore. Amen. Let us bow before our God in a prayer of thanksgiving. Almighty, merciful God and Father, we render thee most humble and hearty thanks that thou hast of thine infinite mercy given us thine only begotten Son, for a mediator and a sacrifice for our sins, and to be our meat and drink unto life eternal. That thou givest us lively faith, whereby we are made partakers of such great benefits Thou hast also been pleased that Thy beloved Son Jesus Christ should institute and ordain His Holy Supper for the confirmation of the same. Grant, we beseech Thee, O faithful God and Father, that through the operation of Thy Holy Spirit, The commemoration of the death of our Lord Jesus Christ may tend to the daily increase of our faith and saving fellowship with Him through Jesus Christ, thy Son. In whose name we conclude our prayer, saying, our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. While the thank offering for benevolence is being received, we will sing Psalter number 192. 192. Notice the last stanza, rather the fifth stanza, stanza five. Thou holy one of Israel, to thee sweet songs I raise. The soul thou hast redeemed from death shall give thee joyful praise. Stanzas one through three and five. The first three and five, 192. Jesus, Lord, forsake me not, for I am old and grey. ways. The world, in righteousness so high, the pride of heaven it sees, the world is Where fortune's mighty gleams. The Lord has sent thee, many priests, To thee, sweet songs I raise. Thus all the world's redeemed from death shall hear. The blessed be the mighty one. Jehovah, God of Israel. Then blest may be his glorious name, Long as the ages shall endure, For all the earth The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.