I invite you, if you have closed the Word of God, back to John chapter 19. Again, it is an honor to join with you this Lord's Day and to share in the supper Our minds have already been drawn to the cross through the pieces that we have sung, and so we'll try to at least give some further reflection and meditation as you prepare your heart. The privilege that is ours as the people of God to sit and remember, to know that we have been bidden by none other than the Son of God, to think upon who He is and what He has done should never be lightly esteemed by the people of God. So I trust, beloved, that you've come prepared, that your soul is ready to feast on Christ, to remember Him, and to value, appreciate, adore the One without whom you would perish everlastingly. So John 19 is where we are. We'll be looking at the last half of what was read to us in our hearing, but with the Word of God open, let's stand for prayer. Lord, we now ask that the means that thou hast given might aid us in our consideration of thy Son. Oh, may our hearts be made more thirsty for Him. May we consider Him. May we gaze upon Him. May our hearts be drawn out after Him. And I pray for that stillness upon our souls, where we sense that God is dealing with us of a truth, that sin is being suppressed, unbelief is being eradicated. and our whole being is being taken up with the Lamb. Give help to the preacher, grant the promised Holy Spirit now for preacher and for hearer, and extend thy kingdom in our midst, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. It is obvious to every child of God that the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ is the climax of His life and ministry upon the earth. When we come to these latter portions, all of the Gospels are the same. really taking a significant bulk of their writings to detail the final few days and hours of our Savior's experience. Everything has been leading up to this point. Our Lord Jesus Christ came to be a sacrifice for sin. He came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many. He came to die the just for the unjust to bring us to God. This event of the cross is both the greatest manifestation of the love of God as well as revealing to us perhaps the greatest manifestation of the depravity of man. The scenes that we have before us are, we can't look at them all, But I was just meditating upon, again, the mockery of the religious leaders, the hypocrisy, their desire to have his body taken down, the contamination of which might be a breach of Sabbath law, even though in all of their lies and deceit they saw him condemned. By the stage of the cross, the intensity of our Savior's agony is beyond what we can fathom. Physically, Gethsemane has exhausted Him. The religious leaders in their mock trial have punched Him and beat Him. Pilate has scourged Him. The soldiers have crowned Him and again beaten Him. Once the declaration is made that He should be crucified, four soldiers are assigned to that job. They lead him out of the city, they take him to Mount Calvary, to the place where he will die. On the way there are some that were introduced to Simon, who is encouraged to come and help him bear his cross. A great company are there, among which are women that the Lord Jesus gives word to, don't weep for me, weep for yourselves. And various gospel accounts are given, of course, to us, and the details are all interwoven in the whole and in the bulk. But what I want us to think about is what is given to us by John. John was there, you see. John was there, an eyewitness of the sufferings. Peter may have been there. There's argument of that from 1 Peter 5.1. Because he declares that he was a witness of the sufferings of Christ. That may be more than Gethsemane and more than what he saw before he fled. He may have been there also at the cross. We don't know for sure. But sticking here with John 19 and looking at the verses, really from verse 16, 17 through 30 is where we're considering the Word of God. And I want us to remember the cross. That's the activity we're giving ourselves to this morning, isn't it? Remember. Let's do in remembrance of me. God has given us the faculty to remember, to recall, to bring to our minds things that are vital and important. We remember many things we should not remember, but he bids us to use this faculty in a way that is edifying and glorifying to him. So beloved, remember. Remember the things that you ought to remember. Let this passage be a means, a gift of God to us to remember the things that help us in this season. Encourage our faith that we might not only solemnize our hearts in repentance, but rejoice in the work that has been done. So, as we consider these verses and remember the cross, first note with me, remember the Word fulfilled at the cross. Remember the Word fulfilled at the cross. The Gospels don't give us all the details, of course, they couldn't. And when it comes to the matter of crucifixion, really, in the first century, this is not an unusual sight. Thousands were crucified. They had witnessed this all of the time. Our Lord Jesus is crucified between two malefactors. He's not even alone for the condemnation of his death. And so the mode of death itself was not unique, but what is unique is what's happening. Because here for the first time and for the only time is one who is sinless. It is a study for you to make yourself to account the testimonies of the sinlessness of the Lord Jesus Christ and note how Scripture actually uses the mouth of those who have no real claim to Christ to bolster and to advocate for the sinlessness of the Lord Jesus. You think of Judas, for example, I betrayed the innocent blood. Or Pilate, I find no fault in him. These men had no reason to argue this case, and yet their mouths are used to witness and bear testimony to the precious truth of even that which we considered last evening, that there was no sin in Him. Oh, if we were gathering here to remember one just like ourselves who failed and faltered and sinned and was guilty, and we look then at Him upon the cross and we don't see one innocent. We see one, though he may not, for some of those who were crucified, they may be wrongly put to death, but they're not innocent in terms of the whole gamut of their being. But with Christ, this is what we're dealing with. And John focuses his account on the fact that the Lord Jesus is fulfilling the Old Testament prophecies. He's presenting evidence of Christ, the Son of God. You think, first of all, of the language of Isaiah 53 verse 7, where he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter. Look at verse 16, where we read in John 19, Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified, and they took Jesus and led him away. Or you can see there that the hymn is not in the translation itself, so it's, and led away. He is led away. As was prophesied. He is not being driven. He is not being carried. I imagine that would have had to happen sometimes. When a man would hear the pronouncement of crucifixion upon him, his knees would buckle. His whole life would be taken out of him. He would be unable to bring himself to move in the direction of the place of his death. The thought of what he was about to endure would have exhausted all of his energy, removed all of his will. He would have to be carried, or in some way driven there. But not with Christ. He is led. It's a little window into the voluntary willingness of the Lord Jesus to go to the cross. as was prophesied. Almost like a lamb that has no idea where it's going. You look at the lamb being led to the slaughter, it maybe senses something out of the routine. Something's different, but it doesn't really know what's about to occur. So it innocently makes its way there, unaware. That's kind of the depiction, of course, with the knowledge our Lord Jesus had of what's happening, but it is that scene, almost this pitiful scene of one going almost, does he really know where he's headed? Oh yes, he knows. He's also bearing his cross, verse 17, and he bearing his cross, bearing his cross, Many times Joseph would have asked him to, son, go and get that wood. Carry it over here. Go and bring it over there. And he would have borne wood of various descriptions for the purpose of furniture or other things of use that could be sold. But never did he bear wood like this. In a sense it is depicting for us what we see in Genesis 22. Little Isaac is being taken, not that little really, being taken with Abraham, going there and all of his life he has known what it is to sacrifice and he's carrying the wood and he's burying it there. Another little window for us to see what our Lord Jesus would finally do. special only son Isaac, our Lord Jesus, the perfect, unique Son of God, bearing the wood, bearing His cross. Verse 17 also says that He went forth. He went forth. The idea is He went forth from where He was, out of the city. This also is indicating what was prophesied, what was indicated or depicted, especially in the Old Testament sacrifices. We see this brought out by the writer to the Hebrews, Paul, in Hebrews 13 verse 11. For the bodies of those beasts whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin are burned without the camp. Wherefore Jesus also that he might sanctify the people with his own blood suffered without the gate. He went forth. The fourth fulfillment you see in verse 18, where they crucified Him. How few are the words given to this central event of human experience, of all the history of mankind, where they crucified Him. That's it. Stated so matter-of-factly. And again, like we've said, so common was this type of execution, no one in the ancient world was really batting an eyelid. There's nothing unusual about this. Crucifixion was that tailor-made form of death, a marriage of the worst of human experiences, excruciating pain. thirst, deprivation of sleep, restricted breathing, public shame, humiliation, and more continuing for hours and sometimes days. No relief. Not even the alleviation of unconsciousness. so tailored that they would remain conscious the entire time of their agony. So we have it in the psalm we sang as well, don't we? Depicted for us in Psalm 22. Consider some of the language of that psalm, the awfulness of what our Lord Jesus is enduring. If you think of Psalm 22 verse 14, I am poured out like water. All my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax. It is melted in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws, although it has brought me into the dust of death. Dogs have compassed me. The assembly of the wicked have enclosed me. They pierced my hands. and my feet." This was what was prophesied. And our Lord Jesus knew it. Oh, they were, the Jewish religious leaders had their argument that He blasphemes. And if they had retained their authority governmentally and they thought that he blasphemed and they could prove it, then the manner of death would have been stoning. So even to look down the annals of history and to consider that the Jewish Messiah will die even if that is comprehended. And he dies at the hands of his own people. Would it not be thought to be by stoning? But no. No, no. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, John 13, 14, John 3, 14, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. He says again, John 12, you may flip back there just to recall again John 12, He indicates his knowledge of the way he is going to die. John 12 Verse 31, Now is the judgment of this world, now shall the prince of this world be cast out, and I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. This he said, signifying what death he should die. All prophesied. You move on, again, still John 19 verse 18, where they crucified him and two others with him. Again, this is Isaiah 53, 12, isn't it? Numbered with the transgressors. You come to verse 23 of John 19, and you have this matter of the soldiers when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, Made four parts to every soldier a part, and also his coat. Now the coat was without seam, woven from top through out. 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." Fulfilling prophecy. You have a seventh, verse 28. After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst. Again, Psalm 69. We sang of it. Verse 21. They gave me also gall for my meat. And in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. These are just seven prophecies. There are others that you can look at. You look at, we didn't read verse 33, but when they came to Jesus and saw that he was dead already, they break not his legs. Psalm 34. So John, John is, he is speaking to a people, they understand crucifixion. His readers would say, well, so what? He died by crucifixion. Thousands died by crucifixion. But there are details in the death of Jesus Christ, there are specific aspects of what happened, fulfilling Old Testament prophecy. So John is writing these things that you might believe! That you might believe! Not merely that Jesus of Nazareth died, but that He died for sinners! He is doing this according to the Scriptures. He says, you come and you remember, you remember how what he did was perfectly governed by a sovereign hand. That centuries prior was giving promise and hope to our fathers, to the patriarchs, to all of those who hoped in the same Christ. Now we live on the other side of the cross, we see it all come together and we fall down like Thomas and we say, my Lord and my God. Secondly, remember the writing fastened to the cross. Not just the word fulfilled, but the writing fastened to the cross. You come to, again, verse 19. where 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 King of the Jews. Pilate answered, what I have written, I have written. Oh, they would put these signs across the guilty, the condemned, and people would pass by and they would look and they would say, what is it that one has done to be worthy of such suffering? And so it would give an indication of what they were guilty of and be there publicly So they might know the awfulness of the things that they had done, but also as a warning, do not dare think to do this act, or you will receive the same treatment. Well, here we have something quite amazing, because for the Lord Jesus, Pilate couldn't, there was no crime to be stated. There was nothing that he could put on the sign that indicated his guilt, but he did know what he said about himself. He was aware. You go back to chapter 18, verse 37. Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth, every one that is of the truth heareth my voice. So Christ is affirming. You're saying it. He's not denying it. He's, in his own fashion, saying that what you say, he's in agreement with. So he knew this about him. As I've indicated already, he could find no fault, he could see no guilt. He's basically threatened into crucifying him. If you go to verse 12 of chapter 19, Pilate sought to release him. He's looking for a way to let him go. But the Jews cried out, saying, if thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend. Whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar. The idea is, Pilate, you've had trouble from us before. If you don't play ball here, word is going to get back to Caesar. And then the question will be, can you really govern over these Jews? And you may be replaced, and you may suffer as a result of your failure. He is being threatened. And so, the Jews who are rejecting Jesus as their Messiah, rejecting Jesus as their King, they go even so far, this is an amazing thing, verse 15, they cried out, away with him, away with him, crucify him, Pilate saith unto him, shall I crucify your King? The chief priests, look at this, the chief priests answered, we have no King but Caesar. Isn't it amazing? The religious leaders, we have no king but Caesar. Is this not by implication an indication of the very thing that had happened centuries prior when Samuel has to stand before the nation and they desire themselves a king? And Samuel is told, it's not you they reject Samuel, it is me. They reject God as their king. Now they're doing the same. And so Pilate writes on the sign, King of the Jews, Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews. Was he trying to get back at them? We don't know. We're not sure. And so, verse 20, it is written in three different languages, indicating Christ's kingship over the world. And I wonder how the Lord used it. Do you ever wonder how that sign may have been used by the hand of God? King of the Jews. I remember sometime thinking about that. How did the Lord use that? And then, you remember? You remember? What happened? One of the malefactors? One of those crucified? What was it when he came to his senses? What was it that he articulated toward the Lord Jesus Christ? as he was hanging there on his own cross. Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. There had been no mention of the kingdom. There had been no talk of his kingdom around that Mount Calvary. The only thing we know of that declared his kingship and his kingdom is that sign and perhaps as he's observing everything that's going on and of course he was part of the initial mocking and hurling the insults. But then he's reading the sign and he's observing the manner and the conduct of the Son of God and King of the Jews. And maybe his mind has taken back to memories of his childhood, in which maybe some relative, some caring, believing relative had taught him of the expectation of their Messiah. And like some within the visible body, they wander for a while, they go in paths of unbelief and rejection. But in this moment, it's all coming back. This is he. This is the one. This is our king. And then it became to him by an act of sovereign free grace. This is my king. And so the words are uttered. in belief and hope, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. Some of you, you walked that path of rejection, had the gospel put to you from your earliest years. You can't remember not knowing. You don't recall memories in which Christian witness and truth as part of all the memories of your childhood. Maybe you wondered, and yet you're here today, as you cried out, Lord, remember me. And he brought you in, didn't he? Today. You're welcome now. Come in, my child. So you remember that writing fastened to the cross, you who see Him as your King, see Him lay this table before you. Like David, bringing in the Mephibosheths, lay Him on both their feet. brought in to sit in the presence of your King and to dine with Him. Praise His name. Oh, it's great just to see such truth, isn't it? There's even just a sign one word can work effectually in our lives. King of the Jews. As I say, maybe the very thing that brought salvation to that malefactor. It doesn't take much, you know. It doesn't take much to open blinded eyes. Sometimes we look at our unbelieving loved ones and we ask, what on earth is it going to take? And we think it's going to take some earth-shattering experience. No, it takes the work of the Holy Spirit, even through the littlest of means. I was converted at 19 and we brought into a church in Ballymunny. This is North Antrim. As your minister indicated, we come from slightly different parts of Northern Ireland. And up there in North Antrim, the church where I was converted and brought into and became a member of, they went through a building programme. They pulled down their old building. They had to expand, make it larger. An amazing thing happened in the middle of that building project. They pulled down all the buildings. You can imagine this building, similar shape. And they had on the back, behind me, on their equivalent wall, Behold the Lamb of God, John 1 29. And in the pulling down of the building, the men who were assigned to do that job, They pulled down the front wall, the entrance of the church over there, and then they pulled down the side walls, and it must have been a Friday. And it was quitting time, and they left the back wall of the church standing over the weekend. And so sitting at that roadside where the building had been demolished, all of it demolished except for the rear wall, open to the world. Behold the Lamb of God. There was a man that had been attending the church, that same church for some time, had been praying very much for his wife who was an unbeliever. Didn't know Christ, didn't want to know Christ. She was walking her dog past the church, looked across to see the demolished building, and read the words, Behold the Lamb of God. and came under conviction and later sought Christ. And not a long time after that was diagnosed with cancer and passed into eternity. How merciful the Lord is. Take a sign and use it for the world. Or may He use even these symbols, these elements today of the bread and the wine. May He use them for those of you still standing outside. Read them for the significance that they communicate to us. And ask yourself, why am I not yet in? But also remember the witnesses found at the cross. The witnesses found at the cross, verse 25, Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, 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 unto his own home. So you have these women that are standing there. Sometimes the woman seemed to be overlooked in the church, maybe set aside in a way that is not according to Scripture. Obviously, there are rules. But let us never diminish their value because when many had fled, many were not to be found. There were women there observing the suffering of their Savior. And of course, our Lord Jesus, He would teach His people that it's not just Mary that is His mother or His near kin, but Mark 3, He would teach that, my family are all those that believe in me. These are my brothers and sisters. This is my family. And the same is true today. He says to you, dear child of God, He says to you, what makes you part of my family? What permits you to sit in my house at my table and dine with me? That by faith alone you have been brought in and you have a right as a member of the church of God. And you can describe yourself the same way John described himself in verse 26, the disciple whom he loved. The one whom he loved. Isn't that a wonderful thing that John constantly reflects on this? You see how the emphasis isn't about what John has accomplished and what John did and the difference was John's work and John's love and John's affection? No! John is a recipient! He is blessed because he is one who is loved. Oh, you go back a few pages to John 13, I love that little parenthetical statement. And we're told that the feast of the Passover has come and so on. And Jesus knowing that the hour has come that he should depart out of the world. It says, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. And then it proceeds to tell us about the failures of them all. He's washing their feet and so on, and then he gets near the end and Peter says, though all will forsake thee, I'll never do it. I'm on to die for you. And the disciples all come in and say, yes, we're the same. We'll not do it. It's almost like that verse one is put there so that you don't despair. When you're reading this, because almost as John is saying, well, if people are going to read what these disciples are about to do, they're going to think these are awful people that they must be condemned, they must all be lost. But he's saying, no, no, no, no, no, keep this in mind, because having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them on to the end. Constantly he was loving them. And so John there at the cross, knowing his failure, knowing his shortcomings, I am still the disciple whom he loved. And so are you, child of God. The merit that brings you to this table today, the foundation of it is not your love for Christ. It is Christ's love for you. You have not had to beg Him to be here. You have responded to an invitation to be here. He has opened up His arms and said, And all you have done is said, yes, I'll be there. Then notice finally, remember the work finished at the cross. Verse 28. 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 the 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. He bowed his head and gave up the ghost. It is finished. Your pastor and I were talking about the things that are not finished. He'll perhaps give some insight into that. So the question is, well, what was finished? We might put it this way. First, His work to break the power of our Adamic nature. His work to break the power of our Adamic nature. See, we're all the children of Adam. And we all, we cannot escape this, this nature that has fallen and it wills to rebel against God. What is Christ doing on the cross? In part, He is doing that work necessary to break the power that is in that very nature of His people. So it is the death of the old man. We are to understand what Paul writes in Romans 6, verse 6, knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth, here's the point, we should not serve sin. O child of God, you are to come and to feast, to be strengthened. in the inner man, to have your faith built up, nourished as you consider your Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, to be strengthened to what end and what purpose? To not serve sin, but to serve the Lord Christ. The power of that is not in your will simply to say, I'm going to turn over a new leaf, or I am resolved. It's not purely. The foundation of change is not in your resolutions. It's in the finished work. It's in the cross. You still struggle and you still have sin in your life and you're wondering, will I ever break it? Will I ever be overcome? This nature of mine, oh God, deliver me from the body of this death. Get your eyes on the cross. Remember the work here, this body that was broken for you, this blood that was shed for you to break the power of your nature. Also His work to remove the penalty of our actual sins, not only break the power of our Adamic nature, but to remove the penalty of our actual sins. You don't just need deliverance from the power that still exists in your nature, inherited from Adam, but all your sins. What? Even if I know a measure of deliverance and I advance in holiness, what about my history and what about my continued shortcomings that still exist? It is finished as a declaration that the penalty has been paid in full. 1 Peter 2.24, who his own self bear our sins in his own body on the tree. bear our sins, taking the penalty, bearing the judgment, putting his omnipotent arms around the whole of the sins of his elect, bearing them on that cross. So that Paul would write in Colossians 2.14, blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross. Yes. Oh, what love there is in this. To think that God made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. It was quoted in prayer, if I recall. Romans 4.25, delivered for our offenses. That's what's happening. Delivered for our offenses. It is finished. I am delivered for their offenses. And I am paying for it all. So you go free. Free. Not partly free. Completely free. You're not like someone let out of jail but on parole with an ankle monitor around you somewhere. You're free! Consider also his work to bring peace to our advancing death. Oh, we're all taking steps toward the grave, aren't we? But what did he finish? He finished a sense of its power over us. all our lifetime subject to bondage. He's given deliverance, even from that, so that we might stare at that last great enemy and say, it has no power. It has no sting. So our Lord has finished the work, hasn't he? It is finished. It is finished. And you see what he does then when it's done? He bowed his head and gave up the ghost. It's a marvelous thing, you know. Pilate was amazed that he died so quickly. Pilate was experienced at this. He saw the condition of Jesus when he came before him. He knew what affliction he had applied to him, the scourging and so on. He knows he's being crucified and yet such is his experience with crucifixion He's still amazed. Mark 15. Mark 15 verse 43. This is the occasion when Joseph of Arimathea comes out of the shadows for the body. Joseph of Arimathea, an honourable councilor, which also waited for the kingdom of God, came and went in boldly unto Pilate and craved the body of Jesus. And Pilate marvelled if he were already dead. And calling unto him the centurion, he asked him whether he had been any while dead. And when he knew it of the centurion, he gave the body to Joseph. Pilate said, is he dead already? How can he be dead already? Oh, beloved, see the beauty of this. See it. Pilate's marveling. But what Pilate cannot understand, what Pilate fails to recognize is the divine in all of this. He doesn't realize properly what's going on. This is not just a death like another man. This is the one who declared in John 10, I have power to lay down my life. And I have power to take it again. No man taketh it from me. I lay it down in myself. So what He's doing, He's bearing our sins. Our sins are being laid on Him. He is nailing them to the cross. He is bearing them in full, entirely, completely. And when the work is finished, when it is done, when He knows it's been satisfied and the Father is satisfied then, it's like He places His head upon a pillow and steps into death. Oh, His life doesn't just zap away from Him like others. He doesn't expire like others crucified, no longer able, bled out. When the work is done, then it's time. Step into death. Let's carry on with the redemptive work to be buried and rise again the third day according to the Scriptures. It's glorious. Oh, this is not some sad encounter. This is victory. This is the mission complete. This is your Redeemer, your Joshua, leading his people into battle, going and facing an impossible enemy and conquering, stepping into death. And he might walk out the other side in order that we might obtain life. Oh, what glorious truths these are. Oh, beloved, as you give contemplation then, as the bread is broken in your midst, see, see that broken body for you. It was for me. There he is, and there's an invisible act going on, something veiled from human vision. The imputation of our sin upon Him, bearing all my guilt and shame, all that that causes my heart to bang and lament at what I have done before the living God that is all being borne by Him. Blood being poured out for the remission of my sin. It is finished. It's finished. So because that body was broken, your body, your body has, is not going to be, it's not going to suffer like his. Oh, there's the external part of it, but the body, the body you see is redeemed. It belongs to him. So it will not endure all the agonies of hell forevermore. I'll be taken to be with the soul, united together eternally to be with the Lord. So, see it. See it this morning with the eye of faith. Behold the Lamb in the elements. Behold your God and feast on Him. With every chew upon the bread, with every sip of the wine, Consider, it is finished. That's a place of peace, isn't it? Praise his name. Let's stand for prayer. O God, please help us now. Leave us not to yourselves around this table. Let it not merely be a carnal participation today. May all of our being be engaged in the remembrance of thy Son. May the Spirit come, the paraclete of the people of God, comforting our souls with gospel truth, and remove remaining scales from our eyes that we might see in this bread and in this wine the person and the work of thy dear Son. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.