I still find myself wondering how it is that we collectively lost our minds during COVID. We invested a dangerous amount of power in our politicians, and they exercised that power in ways that were arbitrary, mind-bogglingly inconsistent, and downright foolish. An example of this would be sending COVID patients into nursing homes, which not only brought the sickness to one of the most vulnerable groups, the elderly, it also resulted in the elderly being locked in these facilities and in many instances dying alone because of their strict no visitation policies. It was wicked. And then there was a determination as to what was an essential service and what was deemed non-essential. And talk about arbitrary. In Lansing, barber shops were closed, but chiropractors remained open. Bowling alleys were closed, but strip clubs were open. Gyms were closed, but marijuana dispensaries were open. You could go out on a boat, but you couldn't use the motor. BLM riots were essential and encouraged, but churches, they were deemed non-essential. And that was one of the great disappointments during COVID. The number of churches that stayed closed for month after month after month to in-person worship. Our political leaders said the church and, by extension, corporate worship, they weren't essential. And the general response of the church in America was, well, you're right, it's not essential. And you see, truth be told, many, if not most, American Christians don't see the church and corporate worship as essential. Some see it as optional. Some see the church as important, or that it may be a helpful spiritual tool, but essential? I think not. And that in no small part is because the American church and American Christianity is, by and large, individualistic. What it isn't is biblical. Because God's word makes it clear that the church, and especially corporate worship, is at the very heart of an authentic life of godliness. This morning as we return to our study in Hebrews, we're gonna move into the section of this letter that's oriented toward application. had a lot of doctrine. And we're gonna learn that all the things we've studied about Christ being this better priest brings us to an initial and primary application that his better priesthood has opened the way to better worship for those of us in the New Covenant. And because of that, we have to understand worship is essential. Well, let's seek the Lord and we'll get to work. Pray with me once more. Father in heaven, your word is sweet to us. And we pray that as it's read this morning, as it's heard, that we'll long for that sweetness. That we will long to have it in us, in power, transforming us. So we ask you, O God, to do the very thing you promise. That is, have your way with us through the preaching of your word. We don't want your word to return void. We want it to accomplish your purposes in our lives. We ask for that, O God. Bless our study. Bless our time around your word. We ask this in Jesus' name. Well, let me ask you to open up your copy of scripture to Hebrews 10. Hebrews 10. We're gonna read verses 19 through 26. This is the infallible word of our God. Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he consecrated for us through the veil, that is his flesh, and having a high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembly of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more, as you see the day approaching. The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the word of our God endures forever. May he bless it to our hearts this morning. Well, there's congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ. I doubt that it's escaped your notice that in our study of Hebrew, we have encountered some thick and heavy doctrine. From chapter 4 and verse 14 all the way up to chapter 10 and verse 18, the writer of Hebrews has been teaching us about the high priestly ministry of the Lord Jesus. And when we remember the context of this letter, we understand why so much time was put into this. This book was written to a group of Jewish-born Christians, probably around Rome, who were being tempted to return to their Jewish roots. And the most important person in Old Testament worship, and therefore one of the most important persons to a Jew, was in fact their high priest. He held a position of great honor and esteem and prominence in Israel. So the writer of this letter, inspired by the Holy Spirit, has hammered home the point that Jesus is an incomparably better high priest. He's better than Aaron. In fact, he's better than the whole lot of priests that have served throughout Israel's history. And the point was, you can't go back to Judaism, you can't go back to that priesthood, you can't go back to it because it was inferior. And most importantly, you can't go back to it because it's obsolete. It's accomplished its purpose, and therefore that priesthood has passed away. And in making this case, it's obvious he didn't want to leave any potential question unanswered by his readers, so I think it's fair to say that he dotted every doctrinal I and crossed every doctrinal T concerning the Lord's high priestly ministry. And what that might mean for some of us is that we've come to a place where we're on theological overload mode. Please, no more. Well, the good news is this morning we come to a major transition in the book of Hebrews. The author shifts focus. So far, he's been giving us the theology of Christ's priesthood, the foundation, the nuts, the bolts. He's lifted up the hood, said take a good look at how everything works. And now he's gonna begin showing us how that knowledge impacts us. He wants us to know how to apply this good theology that he's taught us. Kent Hughes spoke of this transition in Hebrews in this way. The shift can be stated in various ways, from doctrine to duty, from creed to conduct, from precept to practice, from instruction to exhortation, all of which mean one thing. the writer becomes very explicit regarding how a Christian ought to live. So in other words, the sound doctrine that Hebrews has filled our heads with must now fill our hearts and work itself out into our day-to-day living. And much of the rest of Hebrews is to explain to us how we're to live as those who know that Jesus Christ is supreme. The transition, of course, is captured there in the first couple words of verse 19, therefore, brothers. Something you've likely heard many times in church is that whenever you come to the word therefore in the Bible, you need to ask the question, what is it therefore? And it's inevitably there to bridge and connect what the biblical author has said with what he's about to say. And so here he's saying, I've taught you these things, and this is what these truths will look like when you put them in practice. Now, I want you to notice that what the author does there in verses 19 through 21 is basically give a summary of what he taught in chapters 4 through 10. If I can say it this way, in three verses he's provided us the Reader's Digest version of all that teaching. And then in verses 22 through 25, we're given three exhortations, something of salad exhortations, if you will. I say that because it centers around three heads of let us. If your Bibles are open, you'll see at the beginning of verse 22, 23, and 24, they're the same two words, let us. And we're going to zero in on these exhortations under three headings. The church is made up of people who love worship. Second, the church is made up of people who love truth. And then third, the church is made up of people who love one another. Now time's only gonna permit us to look at that first point this morning. God willing, we'll return to those other two next Lord's Day. But one of the things we need to get fixed in our mind is that all three of these exhortations is given within the context of a local church, and they're to apply these principles corporately. In other words, these are applications that unfold in the life of a church. And this is inviting us to think a little differently than we do in American Christianity. We are, as I said during the introduction, very individualistic. But the Bible is more covenantal and corporate. And we see that unfolding in our text. That point is driven home in verse 25 when it tells us don't forsake the assembling of ourselves together. And you see, that's the focus here. The writer of Hebrews is urging God's people to work these things out in their congregational setting. Let us. So first up, the church is made up of people who love worship. Listen once more to verse 22. Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. What an amazing exhortation. Let us draw near to God. Come close, dear saints. Worship him with a confident intimacy. That's what's behind this. Now, we have to realize that this would have sounded foreign to a person who had lived during Old Testament times. Something we've learned over and over in our study is that their worship was not characterized by closeness to God or getting near to God. You'll recall the whole system of Old Covenant worship, it sent a completely different message than this one. The message was, don't you get too close. Several weeks back, you may recall, we looked at Exodus 24, when Israel was gathered there at Mount Sinai. The glory of the Lord descended and rested upon the top of the mountain. And God's people were gathered at the foot of the mountain, but that was as close as they were allowed to get, for fear of death. Aaron, his two sons, 70 elders, they could go a little bit further up the mountain, but only Moses could go to the top. You see, when they gathered there at Mount Sinai, that was sending a stark message, restricted access to you, don't get too close. And you could see the same thing with even more clarity when Israel built the tabernacle, and they were told by God to add to their worship calendar the day of atonement. Again, we studied this in some detail. It was just like Mount Sinai. The regular people were the furthest away. They could only be in the outside court, and then there were priests who could get a little bit closer in one of the inner courts, but the only one who could get into God's presence and move into that most holy of holies was the high priest, and he could only do it once a year. And every time that high priest went behind the veil into the holy of holies, it was as if there was a huge sign directed at the rest of Israel that said, Don't get too close. And you see, with that background, we begin to understand just how radical the gospel is and what it's accomplished for us and what a powerful and beautiful exhortation that's given to New Testament saints. Let us, not a special class of people within the church, let us draw near to God. And this helps us understand why this teaching would have been difficult for Jews. This is a major shift. Through the gospel of grace, the message was no longer, keep your distance, keep out, don't get too close. The message is, let us draw near to God. That's the message for us. Now, beloved, that was the purpose. all that doctrine that was taught from chapter 4 till right here, it was to make it perfectly clear on what basis we can get close to God, on what basis we can worship him with genuine intimacy. The writer wanted to make sure that that these Hebrew Christians understood in the New Covenant we have a profoundly privileged position. that rich and deep theology of Christ's high priesthood, it was to help God's people understand this new level of access we have. As I said, we have a Reader's Digest version of all those things in verses 19 through 21, and the point of those verses is clear. Those who trust in the Lord Jesus, those who look to him as their high priest, they stand before an open door with free and open access to God. And we don't have to wonder if God will accept us when we come to Him in worship. If we come to Him through Christ, we can come with confidence. Verse 19 says, with boldness. There's no longer a veil like they had in the tabernacle or temple that barred God's people from approaching Him. The way to God has been torn open. Right on the cross when Jesus gave his body for our sins, the temple veil was torn from top to bottom as a dramatic symbol that you and I have genuine access, not to that tabernacle holy place, but to our Father in heaven. Now when we speak of this intimate access, that enables us to come into God's presence, to worship Him. Certainly, there's a sense in which this applies to our individual worship and particularly to our prayer life. When we're alone in our prayer closets, whether we're praying that the Lord meets the needs some family members may have, or asking Him to bless one of our brothers and sisters in the Lord who needs His care in a special way, or if we're pleading with Him to help us overcome some besetting sin, we can draw near with boldness because Jesus is our priest who's opened that way. Remember, we got that promise way back in chapter 4 in verse 16, therefore let us come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find help in our time of need. So there is an aspect of this that applies to personal worship, but clearly the focus of this passage is corporate worship, what God's people do when they gather on the Sabbath. Verse 21 tells us Jesus is the high priest over the house of God. That's us, corporately. And of course, verse 25, that we know well, says that God's people are not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together. And this really ought to make sense to us. If we think about it for a moment, we were created to worship. It's the very thing we were made for. And it's certainly the thing we were redeemed for. Think of it this way. If you're a competitive runner, you love the competition. You live for the race. It's who you are. If you're a natural born musician, then playing music is what life is all about. But you see, dear friends, for those who have been redeemed from their sins by the precious blood of Jesus, our lives are about worship. It's simply programmed into our spiritual DNA. It's our highest privilege and our most solemn duty. And beloved, the gathering together of God's people for corporate worship is the fullest, clearest, most profound expression of worship that we can have on this side of glory. Again, I don't want to minimize this. To be sure, there's a sense in which all of life is worship. Now that's why Paul wrote these words in Romans 12.1, therefore I urge you brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy, pleasing to God. That's your spiritual act of worship. So we definitely wanna say that every part of our life ought to be lived in devotion to God as an act of worship. But the church, uniting on the Lord's day, It's something amazing, something special, something different from any other kind of activity we participate in or gathering we might have. When we read the fourth commandment a few moments ago, did you hear the incredible promise? It is the day the Lord has blessed and hallowed. There are special blessings on the Lord's day when we gather to worship God. Later in Hebrews, The writer is going to contrast the worship experience that God's people had when they gathered at Mount Sinai with the worship experience that the church has in the New Covenant. It's over in chapter 12, verses 22 through 24. There the author writes, You've come to Mount Zion. He's speaking to the church. You've come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant. This is something that's truly remarkable, and in many ways it's hard to take in because it's so glorious. I've preached on this passage several times over the years because I love it. And so we're gonna save the details to when we get to it, but the gist of it is right on the surface. When we meet for corporate worship, there's a very real sense, a very real spiritual reality in which we're worshiping on Mount Zion, which is the heavenly Jerusalem. Do you understand that right now? Right now, we're joining with thousands upon thousands of holy angels in the joyful assembly. We're worshiping together with all the saints who no longer live on earth, but are in heaven. I always wonder, do those saints who have gone on before us, do they hear our worship and recognize us? I don't know that the Bible tells us, The point is when we gather on the Lord's day, we are worshiping where God is. We're worshiping where Jesus dwells. And there's some mystery here to be sure, and when we get to this passage, we're gonna find out that there are some aspects of this glorious truth where we simply have to say, I can't quite wrap my mind around that, but by faith we still have to believe these things because the word is so clear. And God's Word tells us that there's a real dimension of our corporate worship right now that's heavenly. That's why the church's worship services are so different than any other kind of meeting we have in our lives. That's why the church's worship is not supposed to look like what goes on in the world. It is by definition a heavenly activity. You see, public worship is first and foremost the spiritual meeting between the triune God of heaven and his covenant people. And if I can say this a bit tongue-in-cheek, that's not a bad way to spend a Sunday morning and a Sunday afternoon. And incidentally, that's why worship is essential. God made a way. through His only begotten Son to have access because He desires our worship. He seeks our worship and He desires to commune with His people. To say that worship isn't essential is to say God doesn't have the right to call His people corporately into His presence. May the church never fall for that nonsense again. This is a helpful passage. Every so often, I'll have someone ask me, why is it important to come to church? There are about 100 ways to answer that question, but the very question indicates that they don't really understand what's going on when we gather on the Lord's Day. I mean, if what I just said is true, and it is because it's the Bible, where else would we want to be? other than with God's people in worship? What else can truly benefit our souls or our family's spiritual health more than meeting with God on Mount Zion? What else can we do where we'll get such a wonderful foretaste of heaven and sense of belonging to the community of brothers and sisters? When someone asks me the reason they ought to be diligent to attend church, I always want to ask, if you're a true believer, why would you not want to? See, my friends, if by the grace of God we can increasingly understand what worship is, we'll become a transformed people. You become like that thing that you worship. And if you truly worship God, it has the power and ability to transform us in radical ways. When we grasp the heavenly dimension of worship, It really puts our priorities in focus, don't you think? Now, you may be wondering, well, what should this kind of worship look like? What kind of characteristics ought to be present in this kind of worship? Well, verse 22 really lays out what we might call as four guidelines, four guidelines that are almost like a mini primer on worship. First the author tells us, let us draw near with a true heart. The idea here is a heart that's true or sincere in God's sight. A true heart relates to God adoringly. It's the heart that will have right affections and right priorities. And what that means is that when you come near to God for worship, there are no mixed motives or divided loyalties. We're all together focused on Him. And listen, this is something God's people need to hear. When we gather to worship, we're to be focused on Him. How many times have you heard someone say, or maybe you've said it yourself, I didn't really get much out of worship this morning. Now to be sure, our edification is an important byproduct of worship, but it is not the purpose of worship. I know I've shared this before, but a dear old brother, Reverend Eric Alexander, who's a fantastic Scottish minister, he died a few years ago, served over 60 years as a faithful pastor. The older I get, the more impressed I am by men who finish the course well, and he did finish the course well. Well, he was preaching at a conference I attended, and he told a story about a man in his congregation who came up to him and said, Reverend Alexander, moving on." And using his Scottish charm, he asked the man, sir, do you have a deadly disease or something? The man said, no, no, nothing like that, I'm going to find another church. And so dear Reverend Alexander questioned him, he said, well what's the problem? And the fellow said, well, it's the worship. I'm simply not getting much out of it. And Pastor Alexander said, well, I'm so sorry. I didn't even realize it was for you. What this precious man of God was trying to communicate gets right to the heart of what the writer of Hebrews is conveying to us. Worship's not about us. It's not about us getting what we want. It's not about making us feel good in the moment. Drawing near to God with a true heart and sincerity means coming to God to give Him what He deserves, what we owe Him, and that is an undivided heart focused on His glory, His majesty, His splendor, the fact that He's given us access through the soul-cleansing blood of His Son. Well, the second guideline for worship that we find there in verse 22 is this, we're to draw near in the full assurance of faith. So when our heart is sincere toward God, we approach Him with assurance. Again, not a cockiness that says I'm worthy, but an assurance of faith that the promises of God are true. That's what biblical saving faith is, it's believing, trusting, and resting in the promises of God. It's saying what God has promised me in the Gospel, that is Jesus Christ dying for my sins, raised to life for my justification, that's my hope and I believe it. That's the assurance of faith we have. That's why we can draw near. And then there's a third guideline for worship there in verse 22. We're to draw near to God, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience. Now you'll certainly remember that the whole matter of conscience is really important to the writer of Hebrews. And the reason he's made much of this is because the Old Testament sacrifices that the priests made were ineffective at this very point. They could cleanse the body to make a person ceremonially clean, so that the outward man was cleansed, but those sacrifices could not cleanse the inner man. They couldn't make the conscience right with God. But you see, that's not our situation. We come close to God in worship with the confidence that our hearts have been sprinkled clean with the blood of Christ. So our conscience is clean. I do sometimes wonder if one of the things that makes people tentative about corporate worship is because they're unsure about their guilt and their sin. And if those things plague their conscience. But to help you understand how our worship is structured, that's one of the reasons we hear God's law every week and then hear an assurance of pardon. It helps prevent us from falling in one of two ditches. We hear the law and that reminds us that we're sinners. It keeps us from thinking that in and of ourselves we have the right to be in God's presence, that we're just doing Him a favor by showing up and He ought to just be delighted that we're here. No, the law puts us in our place and it reminds us what we deserve outside of Christ, and that's condemnation. But then we hear the word of assurance and our hearts and our consciences are comforted. because we're reminded that the blood of Christ has cleansed us completely. We stand forgiven and accepted before the throne of grace. Our conscience no longer accuses us anymore. It's been purified by the blood of Jesus. And that enables us to worship freely without the burden of guilt weighing us down. Well then fourth, we're told we must draw near to God having our bodies washed with pure water. Now as you might imagine, a lot of commentators see this as a reference to baptism, and it's certainly there, but it seems that the writer of Hebrews is drawing our attention to what baptism signifies. In other words, he's talking about what our baptism is so that he can bring our minds to what baptism signifies for us. You see, what the author of Hebrews seems to be doing here is borrowing from Ezekiel 36, verses 25 and 26. There the prophet writes, I will sprinkle clean water on you. and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness and from all your idols, I will cleanse you and I will give you a new heart and a new spirit. I'll put that within you and I'll remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. You see? That's what it means for us brothers and sisters. When we come to worship, we are to rely on the Holy Spirit. Our baptism pointed to what the Spirit has done. As the water washes away the filth, the Holy Spirit has applied Christ and washed away our sin. And this reminds us that apart from the Spirit's work in our hearts, our worship would inevitably be nothing more than ritual, lifeless rites. We could sing songs, we could say words, we could go through the motions, but we need the Spirit. If it's not at work in us, if it's not the worship of regenerated men and women, it's just noise and activity. But when the spirit enables us, when he renews our minds and inflames our affections for Christ, then our worship becomes what God intended it to be. Spiritual worship offered in spirit and in truth. Jesus told the woman at the well in John 4, 24, God is spirit and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. That's what this fourth guideline is pointing us to. We have to have the Spirit's enabling power if we're to truly worship God. Isn't this a wonderful reminder? We don't worship in our own strength. We don't have to manufacture emotions or work ourselves up into some kind of religious fervor. Because we have the Spirit, we're dependent upon the Spirit. And we simply come and ask him to work in our hearts to open up our minds to offer the worship that's well-pleasing to God. And he'll do it, because that's what the Spirit delights to do, glorify Christ and enabling his people to worship. So here's where we are this morning, beloved. We've been given this glorious exhortation, let us draw near. And we've seen this worship is characterized by four things. We come with a true heart that is sincere and undivided devotion. We come in the full assurance of faith, confidence that God accepts us because of Christ. We come with a heart sprinkled clean and consciences purified by the blood of Jesus. And we come washed with pure water, relying on the Holy Spirit to enable our worship. My friends, this is what it means to be the church that God's called us to be. A people who love worship. Not a people who see worship as an obligation or burden. Not a people who are asking the question, do I really need to go? But a people who understand the privileges we've been given. A people who grasp what an amazing thing it is that we can draw near to the holy God of the universe. the better worship enabled for us by the work of our better priest. And dear ones, for us, that is essential worship. Amen. Let's pray. Father, we thank you that you have redeemed us to be a worshiping people. We're thankful that you draw us near to you to get glimpses and experiences of your power and majesty. We're thankful that you've equipped us with all we need to be worshipers. And just pray that our lives will be marked out as those who love to worship you, who know that what we get a foretaste of on the Lord's Day will be part of our experience throughout all eternity. So make us to be a worshipful people. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, brothers and sisters, as we prepare to come to the Lord's Supper, as you know, we invite to the table all those who are trusting in Jesus Christ alone for their salvation. What we mean by that, remember, this is a table of grace. It's a means of grace. So we're not saying only come to this table if you've done well. I can help you out with that, you haven't done well. This is a table for people who say, I know my only hope is the finished work of Jesus Christ. Not my works, not my efforts, not my abilities, not my accomplishments, Christ's accomplishments. That's what you're trusting in. And you're a member in good standing of a Bible-believing or evangelical church, a baptized commuting member. Please do come and feast with and upon the Lord. That doesn't describe you. or you're living in unrepentant sin, please let the elements just pass by you. Go home, repent, come back next time, and celebrate with us. Well, as we come to the Lord's table, as you know, we confess with the historic church what we believe using the Apostles' Creed, and you can find that in the back of your hymnal on page 851, 851. So Christian, what do you believe? I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. I believe 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 sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, and there he shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen. Then give your attention to the reading of God's word from 1 Corinthians 11, Verses 23 through 26, and then I have a meditation down here, it's actually from the old Psalter formulary, it's from the old CRC hymn book. Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 11, beginning in verse 23, for I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which he was betrayed took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, take, eat. This is my body, which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same manner, he also took the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood. This do as often as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till he comes. Then you can either listen or follow along, but the meditation is printed there in your bulletin. As we now draw near, let us acknowledge that the Lord has instituted his supper so that by it we may remember him and he may nourish and refresh us for eternal life. To observe this holy supper in remembrance of him is to proclaim our Lord's death until he comes again. In partaking of this supper, therefore, we remember that our Lord Jesus Christ is the Savior promised to the fathers in the Old Testament, that he's the eternal and only begotten Son of God, that he assumed our human nature in which he fulfilled for us all obedience and righteousness of God's law, and that he bore for us the wrath of God under which we should have perished forever. We remember that he was bound that we might be loosed from our sins, that he was innocently condemned to death, that we might be acquitted at the judgment seat of God, that he became a curse for us to fill us with his blessing, and that he humbled himself on the cross to hell's deep agony, which wrung from him the cry, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me, that God might never forsake us. We remember also that he was buried to sanctify the grave for us, that he was raised for our justification, that he's exalted at God's right hand, and that he will come again to judge the living and the dead. And we remember that the shedding of his blood has confirmed for us the new and eternal testament, the covenant of grace. Through this supper, Jesus Christ assures us that he will truly nourish and refresh us with his crucified body and shed blood to everlasting life. He promises this in the institution to this supper, saying, of the bread, this is my body, and of the wine, this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. With these words, our Lord directs our faith to his perfect sacrifice, once offered on the cross, as the only ground of our salvation. He also assures us that by his death, he has taken away our sin, the cause of our eternal death, and has obtained for us the life-giving spirit. By this spirit, who dwells in Christ as the head, and in us as his members, he brings us into true communion with himself, and makes us partakers of all his riches of eternal life, righteousness, and glory. By the same Spirit, he causes us together with all true believers to be united as members of one body. As the Holy Apostle says, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf. And as it's said to us, for whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes, we are assured by this holy supper that our Lord Jesus will come again to receive us to himself and that we shall sit down with him and drink with him the fruit of the vine in the newness of our Father's kingdom. Father, we thank you for this covenant meal. We're thankful that you've given it to men and women who need tangible reminders of your great promises, something that we can take in our hands and smell with our nose and taste with our mouths. We pray, oh God, even as the bread remains bread and the cup remains wine, we will have true fellowship and communion with the Lord Jesus Christ, and that our souls will be nourished unto everlasting life. We ask this in Jesus' name, amen. Well, receive the Lord's benediction. Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do his will, working in you what is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. And all of God's people said, amen.