for them. Luke 22, we're going to read together, well, we'll maybe back up to verse 7 just for the context. Our focus of attention this evening will be verses 14 through 20 with the Lord's help, but we will read from verse 7 just to help you see what's going on here. Luke 22 verse 7. Then came the day of unleavened bread, when the Passover must be killed. And he sent Peter and John, saying, Go and prepare us the Passover that we may eat. And they said unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare? And he said unto them, Behold, when ye are entered into the city, there shall a man meet you bearing a pitcher of water. Follow him into the house where he entereth in, And ye shall say unto the good man of the house, The master saith unto thee, Where is the guest chamber, where I shall eat the Passover with my disciples? And he shall show you a large upper room furnished, there make ready. And they went and found as he had said unto them, and they made ready the Passover. And when the hour was come, he sat down, and the twelve apostles with him, And he said unto them, with desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. And he took the cup and gave thanks and said, take this and divide it among yourselves. For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God shall come. And he took bread, and gave thanks, and break it, and gave on to them, saying, This is my body, which is given for you. This do in remembrance of me. Likewise, also the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the New Testament in my blood, which is shed for you." This is the living Word of God. I trust everyone here understands that to be so and receives it as the very Word of God to your souls. May the people of God say, Amen. Let's pray. Lord, help us to believe Thy Word and help us to receive the instruction of Thy Word. word. We come to it, and we are now treading into areas of great depth, great tragedy, and great instruction. We ask that what we need to learn tonight would be made very plain, and that we might be instructed not merely by the tongue of the preacher, but by the ministry of the Holy Spirit. So we pray, and I trust every child of God here with me desires the ministry of the Holy Ghost. Come, shut us in, help us to sense and desire the sensing of Thy presence. Feed Thy sheep and Thy lambs, and call those, constrain those who are yet to come. We pray in Jesus' name, amen. As we learned from last time, Peter and John have been sent by the Lord Jesus Christ to make preparation for the Passover. There, as we have read, and I'll not go into the details of the verses we have already considered together, in that upper room appointed for them and for the purpose of the Passover is a roasted lamb. unleavened bread, and all the additional parts that make up the observation of the Passover. I was thinking that if it was in the south, you would talk about the roasted lamb, the unleavened bread, and the fixings. That was probably how you'd refer to it down here. Well, there's other aspects to it as well, and this is all now set up Probably candles and lamps light up the room, and at the heart of the room is a triclinium. It's a low, three low couches set around a low table where the Lord Jesus Christ and the disciples will stretch themselves out and participate in this Passover meal. Early in the week, as I was pondering over these verses, and I began to think to myself how precious this moment would have been, and in the memory of the Apostles as they look back to the occasion and think upon this experience where they sat together with the Lord. As I was thinking about the significance of it, not just the instruction, the things that were said and happened, but the congenial atmosphere that must have been felt by them sitting there with the Lord after the busy day that they had. And thinking upon that, the other day I was visiting our brother Norm, and he gave me an old book of a title I don't recall ever seeing, Watchwords for the Warfare of Life. It's a compilation of quotes from the German reformer Martin Luther, and just bringing together various ideas, and they're sort of put together thematically in various topics. And as I opened it up and moved through the early pages, There's an observation there from Luther with regard to the Last Supper that fed into my own feelings about kind of the atmosphere of what was going on there on that occasion. I'll quote it for your profit. He said, the supper which Christ held with His disciples when He gave them His farewell must have been full of friendly heart intercourse. For Christ spoke just as tenderly and cordially to them as a father to his dear little children when he is obliged to part from them. He made the best of their infirmities and had patience with them, although all the while they were so slow to understand and still lisped like babes. Goes on to say, it was simple, quiet table talk. Everyone opening his heart and showing his thoughts freely and fearlessly and without restraint. Never since the world began was there a more delightful meal than that. And I think he's right. You may have had your own occasions where you can think back to a very special meal. special because of the occasion, special because of the presence of certain individuals, maybe precious because it was the last meal you had with them. Mephibosheth sat at the table of the king, but these disciples dined with the king of kings for his last earthly meal. As I read again over what Mark Luther said, I was struck by the spirit that he reflects in the language that the Lord had toward His disciples. They have come through now several years of training, and still, as he notes here, they are filled with infirmity. He made the best of their infirmities and had patience with them, although all the while they were so slow to understand and still lisped like babes. These disciples had their shortcomings, and they were yet to be on display even after this occasion. We'll see that in due course. But our Lord, who is more righteous than us, is more valiant for truth than us, and more driven by the glory of God than us, is nothing but gentle. I think we need to bear that in mind. when there is a temptation to begin to argue or fight about particular aspects of things, whatever it might be with regard to doctrine or duty. Now, I know there are lines that can be crossed, and there are things that are done or said that cannot be condoned. But our Lord saw error in a way none of us are able to see error. He saw shortcomings to a degree you can't begin to fathom, and he did not waste all his time pointing out those shortcomings and constantly berating and criticizing. Instead, there's this gentleness. that dominates the air. Now there are things that need to be said, rebukes that need to be made. But as Solomon warns, be not righteous over much, neither make thyself over wise. Why shouldst thou destroy thyself? Criticism is a canker that eats away everything you're doing that's otherwise good. It's like you're trying to live for God, But in doing so with a critical spirit, it's like earning wages and putting it into a bag with holes. You don't enjoy even the fruit or benefit of your own labor. The Lord forbids it. And you're laboring, seeking to be faithful for God, and then criticizing everyone who you believe is getting it wrong. It's like all that you're doing just seems to sift through your fingers. This critical attitude even comes up when we come to this passage. We have the Passover and the institution of the Lord's Table. My mind running through all of this, I couldn't help but think of my own experience with some dear brothers who love to begin to show some of their criticism toward some of the rest of us who don't see things exactly the way they do. They demand that at the Lord's table there must be fermented wine. And they will say that you cannot rightly observe the Lord's table unless there is fermented wine. And I just shake my head. You're missing the point. If you ever experienced that, just for your benefit, first know this. Wine was not divinely instituted at the Passover. It was not divinely instituted at the Passover. Now, there's a necessary aspect. They're having a meal. They need to drink something. But it was not divinely instituted. There's no divine institution of fermented beverage at the Passover. Second, Christ requires, in every record that we're given of the Lord's table, requires the fruit of the vine, not fermented wine. The fruit of the vine is a broader. Under that, you would have fermented wine. Under that, you would have raisin wine. Under that, you would have grape juice or whatever other forms of grape-based beverage. It doesn't have to be fermented. Third, at various times, Jews have used raisin wine in their observation of the Passover, long before the temperance movement, by the way. Then, of course, they'll say, but look at Corinth, they got drunk. But Corinth is descriptive, it's not prescriptive. The fact that they use raisin wine in their observation of the Passover, fermented wine there. It doesn't say it has to be that. That's what they used, okay? But it's not prescribing it just because that's what's described there. So this is one of the areas, this is one area, and I say it to you, it's not the heart of the message tonight, but I say it to you, this is one of these areas where you see the church fighting. And you say, what are you doing? I don't criticize my brothers who use fermented wine in the observation of the Lord's table. If that's their choice and their conviction and the practice of their church and their elders believe that that's best there, that's up to them. Why then come with this critical spirit that I say, when you have that attitude, it's been my observation over my years as a believer, is when you have that attitude, all you're laboring to do for Christ on the one hand, seems to just slip through your fingers, because God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. So, as we look at these verses tonight, I've titled it simply, The Last Supper. And I will try to look at these verses with you. There's so much here, and you could break it into a whole series in and of itself, but I trust that we'll have some encouragement as we look at verses 14 through 20 this evening. First of all, we see a Jewish occasion. There's a Jewish occasion that comes to the fore in verse 14, and we're expecting this. This is what it's all been leading up to. Now again, I can't take time to go into the historic context of the Passover. I'm going to assume most of you have a grasp on that. If you haven't, go and read Exodus 12. But the gist is this. The Israelites have been in bondage and slavery in Egypt for years. God hears their cry. He remembers the covenant that was made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He comes to deliver. In that deliverance, he sends plagues to crush the Egyptians. And Pharaoh proceeds to rebel over and over and over again. The final plague is designed to so rupture the life of that nation. that it would take them generations to recover. That final plague was the threat of the death of the firstborn son. And the children of Israel living in the context in that area, of course, are instructed that when this occasion comes, here's how you avoid the judgment of God, by observing the Passover. They were to take a lamb or a goat, bring it into their home, I'll not go through the details, but they'll kill that lamb or that goat eventually, take its blood, sprinkle it upon the door of their home, roast and eat the lamb, and be ready to go when the time comes to flee from Egypt at God's command. And following that then, there was for years the observation, and still to this day the observation in Jewish communities of Passover, where they remember God's deliverance God's stepping into their circumstances and removing them from that context of slavery in His mercy. Now, what's strange to me is to hear Jews in our modern day speak of, really, if I can put it this way, they deny the need for a personal substitute for reconciliation or friendship or fellowship with God. They don't believe there's a need for a substitute. When I hear them say that, I ask myself, do you not see what it is that you observe? Now, many of the sacrifices are not performed because there's no temple, but the Passover is still observed by Jews. And the whole thing is putting before them that through the death of another, by the death of this creature, there is judgment laid on them, and you then are removed from that judgment. There's signified in there the idea of substitution, that in order to avoid the judgment of God, there must be someone who suffers in my place. As I say, most that I have heard of modern Jews will deny this. They will save themselves. This Passover meal was to be the last. And what follows is, of course, the Lord's Table, which we'll get to in just a moment. Lord is privately spending this time with His disciples. I said to you last time that the way in which He explains where it's going to be observed is hiding details from Judas Iscariot, who's looking for an opportunity to betray the Lord and give to His enemies an opportunity to arrest Him. The Passover would be the perfect opportunity. And so the Lord, instead of revealing the exact place of it, Judas hearing that would then run off with that information to tell them, you can come at this time, this place, and arrest him to make sure that it will not be invaded by his enemies. He's very particular in the way he explains what's going on, so that he can have this time, these hours, with his disciples. So he says, with desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. The Lord Jesus knows he's going to suffer. Over and over again in this gospel we've been seeing this, that he is going to Jerusalem, he is setting his face as a flint to go there, the purpose of which is to suffer. And he speaks frequently, long time before you get to this point, that this is the reason I'm going to suffer, and it comes forth here as well. Before I suffer, I've had this longing with desire I have desired. It's a Hebraism, basically like the way God says to Abraham, a blessing I will bless thee. It's a doubling up. It's an intensification. The language is meant to show to you that this isn't just some vague desire, this is intensely felt longing that Jesus has had, looking forward, recognizing that He is going to suffer, but longing for these moments where He's going to spend time with His disciples. And He longs for it. He longs for it. And there's much involved, much ceremony. I'm not going to get into all the details. If you were to read what a modern Passover cedar would look like, it might have 15 various steps involved, but I don't know if all of that was exactly the way it was 2,000 years ago, but certainly some things correlate. But you have Peter and John going there, preparing the animal. I would imagine a small lamb. Again, it was meant to be no more than a year old. I imagine it would be on the smaller side of that, given the number of men. They have to consume the entire lamb, so I imagine they were eating a lot more lamb than the USDA would probably recommend in order to get through it all. They have the wine as well. I said to you last time that four cups, and those four cups are believed to be, we don't know this from Scripture directly, but believed to signify the four promises that you find in Exodus 6 verses 6 and 7. In addition to those cups and the lamb, you have the caroset, which is like a paste of fruit and nuts, sometimes different, but this kind of paste and the bitter herbs are dipped into it and eaten. Over the course of the meal, they're going to break at various junctures and they're going to sing the halal. Halal is a section of the Psalms, Psalms 113 to 118. So this goes over a long period of time. It takes some hours to go through it. Of course, one of the questions you might have in your mind is, well, should we do that today? Maybe we should continue with the Passover. I think not. And let me give you a reason. Now some of you may conclude that based on the fact that you know Christ fulfilled everything typified in the Passover. And you know from Corinthians that Paul explicitly says that Christ is our Passover, so why would you go back to the ceremony itself? But there's something else that, at least in my mind, many years ago when I saw it for the first time, convinced me that the Passover is not something we should enter into or practice as Christians, is language that John uses. If you read Exodus 12 and Leviticus 23, where it refers to the Passover, it says there explicitly, the Lord's Passover. The Lord's Passover. It is the Lord's Passover. And John, in his gospel, I think it's chapter 2 and chapter 11, He says explicitly, it was the Jews' Passover. The Jews' Passover. John is not ignorant of how Exodus 12 and Leviticus 23 describes the Passover. Now he could have said it was the Passover that was nigh at hand, but he doesn't. He says the Jews' Passover. And I have to believe he is deliberately describing it in that way in light of how it is described in Exodus 12 and Leviticus 23 as the Lord's Passover. He is now saying it's no longer the Lord's Passover. It's the Jew's Passover. The Lord's Passover is His Son, Jesus Christ. And that's why I believe that it's not to be practiced, that it's not to be something that we enter into, that we do for whatever may be our motivation. It's not something that we likely engage in because the Lord Jesus Himself is our Passover. That work has been accomplished. The shadow was given as a gift from God as graciously to help instruct the hearts of His people. But the shadow is now gone, the substance is in our hands, and by faith we rest in Christ, who is the true essence of our salvation, the hope of eternal life. So why is Christ so desires to eat this Passover then? Well, I think that's why. I think that's why. I was pondering over this and I thought of why is there this intense desire, verse 15, with desire I have desire to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. I thought of the natural side of it, the natural preciousness of prize moments before death. Again, you might look back and remember friends and family and you say that was our last Thanksgiving meal. At the same time, you might think of it just because of who's there. There's a special love that exists between Christ and his disciples, isn't there? And so you think about it in terms of who he's spending time with, and you think, I have desired this because of who I'm spending the time with. And so he's looking at it in that way. I just long for it because of who is there. As I say, I think what's undergirding this is a sense of the finality. that this is the last Passover. This is the occasion when the shadow's gone, replaced with the substance. All that has been promised in the past, all that is in the Old Testament is now culminating here and now in Christ, going to the cross, suffering there, shedding His blood, rising from the dead. This is it. and the shadows graciously given to instruct the hearts of the people of God now go away, and the people of God now have in the hand of faith, as it were, all that it pointed to. And so you see in Christ then, with desire, I have desire to eat this Passover because it's the last ever Lord's Passover. And it is going to give way to the Lord's supper. Lord Jesus knew, again, it's in light of his suffering, with desire, I have desire to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. Everything changes then, doesn't it? When finally he will suffer and be that lamb that was slain, that Paschal lamb of the people of God. So this is what you have in these verses 15 and 16. You have this Jewish ceremony. We have then also a future expectation, verses 16 through 18. A future expectation. Now this is still Passover. We haven't moved into the Lord's supper, that will come. So he's still observing the Passover, but in doing so, he speaks here of something that's coming in the future, an expectation. Look again at verse 16. Verse 18. There's something coming. Something is coming. There's an expectation. Now, some, when they read this language, they read it in the sense that, well, There's not going to be the observance of the Passover by the Lord Jesus, but he will then in the future. And I don't think that's what's meant. I think Gil is right when he says, quote, not that he should eat of it in the kingdom of God, where it would be fulfilled, seeing the Passover was never more to take place, neither in the gospel dispensation nor in the heavenly glory, both which may be meant by the kingdom of God, but that he should never eat more of it in this ceremonial way. He's not going to have a meal in the context of this ceremony. The until, therefore, functions as a word of transition, a change of the order. So there's going to be, and this is what's wonderful, this is what's wonderful, there will always be fellowship meals with the Lord, always. That's what they had. A meal with the Lord. That's what God blessed His people with, meals, fellowship meals, in some of the ceremonies as well as in the Passover. And right now, what are they doing? They're having a meal together, and fellowship is the heart of it. And there's going to come another time where there's a transition, and there too will be a fellowship meal. The same word, until, is used when we remember the Lord's table. that we are to do this until He come. There is a sitting down and fellowshipping around a table until He comes. At which point will it look exactly as we practice next Lord's day morning? No, it's not gonna look exactly like that. The until then signifies a change in the order. And the Lord Jesus looks forward, anticipates a time where we will sit like this. My people will be around me, and we will enjoy a meal together. But it won't be exactly like this. It won't be a Passover. It'll be a meal of fellowship. He's spoken about this. He anticipates this. Revelation 19 says, That's what we're looking towards. A future meal, a supper, a time together, the marriage supper of the Lamb. And in Luke 13, if you go back there, you'll see in verse 29, in the context of eschatological context, he speaks there of those who will sit down in the kingdom of God. I think that's pointing to the same idea. Sitting down in the kingdom of God. Sitting down to do what? To do nothing? No, sit, sit down to, enjoy a meal to fellowship, to be with the people of God together, sitting down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and so on and so forth. Those called in, I think it's in chapter 14, I think. I'm trying to remember, that's chapter 13, I think. Chapter 14, where he speaks of calling those from the east and the west and north and the south and gathering them together. There's this whole innumerable multitude that will gather together and will dine with Christ. So the Lord Jesus looks to this future and he is not going to participate in the ways participating now. He's not going to drink of the fruit of the vine until he is waiting a day when all of those for whom he shed his blood will gather with them and we will continue together to enjoy fellowship meals together. Now, I don't know entirely what that's going to look like, but I will say this, beloved. There is something precious about God's people sitting around a table, enjoying time and conversation and fellowship together. It should not be undermined. It should be something cultivated in every congregation, cultivated in every single home. Your table, if God has gifted you with a place to live that has a dining table, it is a place of fellowship. Make it such. There's something sweet about it, something tremendous, as it indicates every time you sit together. There are things in eternity that will not be the same as they are now. Our relationship with our spouse is dissolved by death. There's no marry, but there's a table. There's fellowship, there's communion, and there's going to be a height of enjoyment to it in the future that far exceeds anything that we have enjoyed here, but we are too. We're gonna put it into practice. Oh, beloved, look at your table. Walk into your home tonight. Look at your dining table. It might have places for four, or it might have places for 40. I don't know. But look at it and see there is a place of fellowship. It can be coffee. It can be whatever it is. but you sit there and you enjoy time with other believers. The Lord Jesus longed for this and enjoyed being with his disciples in this way. And he says, I'm not going to participate as I am here and now until that day. And again, there's many things involved here that I don't fully understand. But there is this participation in this Passover that looks forward to something to come for those who are members of His body. This brings us then finally to a new institution. A new institution. Verse 19. And He took bread, and gave thanks, and break it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you, this do in remembrance of me, Likewise, also the cup after supper saying, this cup is the New Testament in my blood, which is shed for you. Krumacher makes an observation here. It's a publication by the Banner of Truth. But he makes an observation. He kind of walks you through the last days and the suffering of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he makes a rebuking observation as he comes to address the Passover. He says this, we have now arrived at the moment in which Christ connected the institution of a sacred supper with the Passover. The word connected, however, does not sufficiently convey our meaning. We designate the matter more correctly when we say that Christ has exalted the Mosaic festival of the Passover by changing it into his ordinance. It is erroneous to suppose that the Old Testament is abrogated or put aside by the New. For in reality, not the minutest part of the Mosaic rites and ceremonies is abrogated. On the contrary, the whole is exalted from the state of type and shadow to that which is real and substantial. He goes on to say, all the types and shadows of the Old Testament were divinely ordained to be realized in the New. Now, I could argue over language there, but I get his point. His point is, don't just see. that something's dissolving and a new thing's coming, it is seizing upon, it's recognizing that the truth was there, and now it's being exalted, it's being lifted up. You have this Passover meal, which signified so much, jammed full of theological significance and gospel meaning, but now Christ is taking it, and He has the authority, as the Son of God, to change it. and ordain this ordinance of the Lord's Supper. In instituting the Lord's Supper, he changes what happens. It goes from a bloody meal to an unbloody meal. That's one of the main things you have to see. He takes out the blood. He doesn't point to that roasted lamb and all that was involved there. He takes the bread and he takes the cup. And by that, he signifies all that's necessary for the people of God to preach the gospel in the observation of the Lord's table. The reason why he might take out the blood, the bloodiness of the meal, because the blood that matters is shed on Calvary. We are not to look at an animal and pity the animal and think about, I'm so thankful for the animal that gave its life and feels some kind of sentimental attachment to a creature of God's creation. No, our eye is to look to Calvary. It is to see the son of God taking on flesh, suffering and dying, bleeding and offering himself without spot onto God. So that when we take that bread and take that cup, we are preaching, you do proclaim the Lord's death. You publish, you declare, you herald the Lord's death till he comes. What the Lord does here is give the people of God the motivation to keep gathering and assembling. And in their assemblies, But gathering around a table, there to remember the most significant meal of all, where he instituted that which pointed to his person and his work. It's glorious. And there's so much that could be said, so many things that could be pondered. The bread, the cup, bread signifying his body, the cup his blood, One points to the necessity and miracle of His humanity. The other points to the necessity and majesty of His sacrifice. Without the body, the Son of God cannot die. Without the shedding of blood, there's no remission of sin. And you take it, you should make a study of it. In your heart, what am I doing? He said, this do in remembrance of me. In remembrance of me. Now, is it right for us to come and remember our sins? Yes. But it would be a miserable meal if that's all we remember. This doing remembrance of me. Beloved, when we gather next Lord's day in this place and observe the Lord's table, there has to be a conscious, deliberate remembrance of Christ. And again, it's not wrong for you, feeling the weight of your sin, recognizing your shortcomings, being aware of that which required the Son of God to die. But if that's where you get to, the meal is a meal of misery. That's what the Jews referred to. That's how they referred to the unleavened bread, the bread of affliction. And so that bread you take in your hands to eat becomes merely a bread of affliction, but it's not. You have the certainty of your redemption. You have the answer for your sin. While we come, rightly considering, in sorrow, the sinfulness that still dwells in our hearts, yet there is victory, there is joy. We sit at that table. Some believers come to this point where they think, I am not worthy to be there. I'm a sinner. I shouldn't be at the table. And I'm thinking, look around you and point out the people who are not sinners. Look at your pastor. He's a sinner, but he sits at that table because that's the answer for a sin. That's the hope for his heart, weighed down by his own sin. It's the only thing he has. That meal is pointing him to the Savior he proclaims to others. We need Christ, all of us. Yes, if you come and you have sin in your heart that you're not willing to deal with, and you have bitterness that you're not willing to deal with, and angry at God and holding that and harboring that in your heart, or angry at another brother or sister, then rightly so, do not step forward. Do not participate, holding on to sin in your heart. But if you can see all that sin in your life, recognize it, acknowledge it, and put it where it belongs, by faith on Jesus. And having given him all your sin, he gives you all his grace. And he says, come. We have such blessings. This cup is the New Testament in my blood. He's saying this cup is the New Testament. He's not saying that it's, he's not pointing to it and saying this is the covenant, but he is saying it signifies it, the new covenant, God promised to his people. Language that we looked at recently, actually, in Hebrews 8, where we have a deepening and a furthering of that which Old Testament saints enjoy. It comes by the power and ministry of the Spirit of God. It comes to us by our ability to no longer look at the shadows, but to seize by faith upon the substance in Christ. We, in a more deep way, can enjoy obedience to God, sense of his presence, and all the other aspects of new covenant favor. When you take that cup, you're seeing what a signified, this is what it took to ratify it. In order to give you that new heart of obedience, in order to change your life, in order to put you in a position where you are truly belonging to the Lord, it took the shedding of Christ's blood. That ratifies the covenant, that gives grounds for forgiveness. You take that cup and you say, there's the answer for me. It's there. You're to drink it. And by faith enjoy all the ramifications, all the blessings that flow out of Christ's finished work. So I trust when we sit next Lord's Day and every time we do so, sit at the Lord's table, We are helped to look back. There are little details that are there that actually encourage us to think of the historic context. The night he was betrayed, took bread. To think of that occasion. Realize that Christ sat with his people. As he sat with them, there's a sense by his spirit he sits with you. He reaches out the bread, reaches out the cup. It says this too, in remembrance. Not just of your sin, but in remembrance of me. Some of you are weighed down by your sin, tormented, constantly laden with guilt, to the point that you doubt your salvation, riddled with unbelief, You don't have any feeling or awareness of what we term assurance. Say to run to Christ, keep running to Christ, keep meditating on his promises to sinners. When we come to the table, see that he offers it to you. Do you believe? Do you trust? And don't look at the mountain of your sin and say, I can't come. Look at the power of the cross. Look at the value of the one who's there and ask yourself, is your sin greater than the one who died? Are you able to out-sin the grace that comes from the finished work of Christ? Are you? Millions before you have come and proved that the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin. It will cleanse you too. If you're here tonight without Christ, if you don't know the Lord, If you're sitting here and if we were to have the Lord's table right now, you could not sit. And the reason you couldn't sit is because you're not the Lord's. You're not saved. It'd be a wonderful thing if even this night, certainly before next Lord's Day, you got your heart right with God, turned your eyes onto Christ so that For those of you who understand and comprehend, next Lord's Day will be your first Lord's Supper. May the Lord draw you. Let's bow together in prayer. In just a moment, you'll be distracted by the movement of people and other responsibilities. So these closing moments are vital. To the backslider, I say, here's a time to get right with the Lord. Here's a time to confess sin. and turn your eyes with fresh gratitude to the Lord Jesus and what he has done for you. And to you who may not be saved, this is a moment that could change your life forever. Here and now, calling upon Christ, asking him to save you. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. If you need my help, come and let me know. Lord, we're thankful for thy word, for thy grace and thy mercy. We thank thee for what we have in our Lord Jesus Christ. We bless thee for our salvation, for the grounds of our hope, that not being in ourselves, but in him, Thankful we can be that no matter how far we may fall, thy grace is greater than all our sin. Bless this people with assurance. And for those who are still hiding under a refuge of lies, and bring them out and bring them in to the one who is the true rock of ages. Hear and answer prayer, bless our time of fellowship. Fill thy people with the Holy Spirit to labor for thee this week. And may it please thee to give us more of thyself By the grace of the Lord Jesus, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Spirit, may the abiding portion and experience of all the people of God now and evermore. Amen.