Over the past four months or so, we've been studying Revelation 12 through 14. And the first character we learned in that study was the fiery red dragon. And we learned that in Revelation 12, that fiery red dragon is none other than the serpent of old called the devil and Satan. We learned that he has two accomplices, two beasts to do his bidding. And the two beasts are essentially the Antichrist and the false prophet. And together, the dragon, the Antichrist, and the false prophet, they end up constituting a kind of unholy trinity. And this unholy trinity has a single goal, to create worshipers. That's what the devil has always wanted. In fact, that was the occasion of his fall, wasn't it? He wanted to exalt himself on a throne above God to receive the high praise and worship that belongs exclusively to God. And the two beasts, the Antichrist and the false prophet also long for worship for themselves and of course for the dragon. Now that unholy trinity knows the only way that can happen, the only way they can be fully worshipped in the way they wish to be worshipped is to eliminate those who worship the true God. So they wage war against Christ's church, laboring with all their malevolent energies to marginalize or even destroy Christ's faithful bride. The primary method of operation in this task to destroy true worshipers and and elicit their worshipers is counterfeiting the things of God. We saw that over and over and over in this study that they're always counterfeiting the works of God. And often they'll perform great works and mighty signs. And they even pull off a kind of counterfeit resurrection, as Antichrist will receive a deadly wound and then subsequently be healed. And of course, what undergirds all that counterfeiting are lies and deceptions. And those who buy the lies And the devil's delusions are the ones who will ultimately take the mark of the beast. In many ways, chapters 12 and 13 of Revelation are somewhat dreadful until you get to chapter 14 and you're reminded of the great truth that's all over the book of Revelation. And that is Christ wins. That's the takeaway. On the day of the Lord, it will be manifestly clear that his sovereign word triumphs and not a single one of his worshipers will be lost. Every single person that the Father has set his love on from before the foundation of the world will be present in worship in the new heaven and the new earth. On the other hand, those who take the mark of the beast will join the unholy trinity in hell where we were taught the smoke of their torments ascend forever and for them there'll be no rest. Now you'll want to remember that this study in Revelation was something of a diversion from our study of 2 Thessalonians. In 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, the Apostle Paul introduced us to the man of lawlessness or the man of sin, and that is the Antichrist. And so I thought our time in Revelation would be helpful to acquaint ourselves with Satan's tactics, his purposes, his goals, so that we might be able to more clearly identify them because I think things in the spiritual realm are going to be manifest in the physical realm in ways we haven't seen in the past. That is, we're going to see more clear demonstrations of satanic power in us and around us than we ever have in this nation, and we need to be prepared and know how to identify it. So this morning, as we return to 2 Thessalonians, we're going to read our text, which is verses 1 through 12, And I just want you to pay attention because you'll certainly hear echoes of a devil and his antichrist who are crafty in their lies and their deceits and their counterfeits, who want nothing other than to be worshipped, but in the end, they're going to be destroyed by the breath of Christ. So let's pray together and then we'll get to work. Our great God, we thank you that you have preserved your word, that it's a true word that's eternally settled in the heavens, that it's an inviolable word, and we pray, oh God, that this morning that word might be written on our very hearts. Grant us these sayings. Make us attentive listeners. for the glory of Jesus, amen. I will tell you this morning, we're gonna do quite a bit of review. As I said, we're gonna read verses one through 12, but what I wanna do is essentially use verses one through three to review where we've been in our study of Thessalonians and particularly in this first couple of verses. Then when we come back next week, we'll be able to start back with basic exposition the text. So that's what we're doing this morning, a lot of review. I hope it's helpful, Lord willing. Let me ask you to give your attention now to the reading of God's Word, 2 Thessalonians 2 beginning in verse 1. Now brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to him, We ask you not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled either by spirit or by word or by letter as if from us as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means for that day will not come unless the falling away comes first And the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that's called God, or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you, I told you these things? And now you know what is restraining. that he may be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains will do so until he's taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of his mouth and destroy with the brightness of his coming. The story with the brightness of His coming. The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan with all power signs and lying wonders and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish because they did not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them a strong delusion that they should believe the lie that they may all be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. The grass withers, the flowers fade, but the word of our God endures forever. May he bless it to our hearts this morning. Dearest congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, it has been a while since we were in Second Thessalonians. So as I said in the introduction, I want to take some extra time and do some review. So first things first, the church in Thessalonica was planted on the Apostle Paul's second missionary journey. It was around 51, 52 AD, which incidentally, think about this, that was only about 20 years after our Lord's earthly ministry. And Paul, along with Silas and Timothy, spent several weeks preaching Christ crucified in Thessalonica. By and large, the majority of the Jews who heard Paul preach wanted nothing to do with the gospel. but a great many Greeks to include some very prominent Greek women did believe. Sadly, on account of those unbelieving Jews, Paul and his band of evangelists were only able to spend a few short weeks in Thessalonica, right? Because the Jews put together a mob to persecute the preachers and they had to flee. And so they left Thessalonica and they traveled to Corinth. where Paul stayed for 18 months. And it was while he was there in Corinth that he wrote 1 Thessalonians. Now in the first epistle, it becomes clear that Paul and the other missionaries had the deepest affection for this church. Despite being new converts and facing intensifying persecution, the Thessalonians, they grew and they matured in the faith remarkably quickly. and they became so very precious to the Apostle Paul. Well, a few months passed after Paul sent that first epistle, and he received the report that the church was facing some new challenges, and he addressed those in 2 Thessalonians. Now, in the first chapter of this second letter to the church in Thessalonica, the apostle led with some very tender encouragements Let me mention three of them. First, Paul tells the church, he's bragging on them a bit. He's telling other churches in the region of Macedonia that their faith is growing and their love is excelling. So he's saying, you guys are actually a godly example of what it looks like to bear up under persecution and bring honor and glory to God. A second encouragement. was making sure that Thessalonians understand that on the day of the Lord, when Christ is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, the church will be vindicated and the enemies of Christ will fall under the terrifying and fierce judgment of Christ. Because when Christ returns, he won't come as meek and mild. He'll come as a divine warrior. Another encouragement that Paul gave to the Thessalonians was assuring them that he and his missionary team were bathing their church in prayer. They're crying out to God to continue persevering them and to bring glory to Jesus' name. Again, very encouraging, that opening chapter, even though they were facing difficult situations and circumstances in Thessalonica. Now, when we transition From chapter one to chapter two, the apostle continues giving encouragements, but now he's dealing with a different issue. In chapter one, the church was dealing with the persecuting pressures put upon them by the outside world. When we move into chapter two, the problem's coming from within, that this young church is being attacked by false teachers. And verse one tells us what these false teachers were lying about. It was concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him. And according to verse two, what these false teachers were actually saying is that the day of the Lord had already come. So the Thessalonians were beside themselves because they thought they missed the glory of Christ coming. To use the fanciful language of our dispensationalist friends, the Thessalonians thought they'd been left behind. And Paul is saying, you haven't missed anything. And here's how you can know you haven't missed anything. There will be two great signs, two unmistakable events that will take place prior to Christ's return. First, there's gonna be a great falling away or apostasy. And then second, the man of sin will be revealed. And again, the man of sin is the Antichrist. And then Paul again gives him an affectionate exhortation. Don't let anyone deceive you in any way. If I stopped right now and you could leave here with that single sentence guiding your week, your month, every day the Lord gives you on this side of glory, It would be extraordinarily helpful. Don't let anyone deceive you in any way. As we'll see, deception is ultimately the work of that unholy trinity. And Paul's saying, don't let false teachers get into your head. Don't let them cause you to feel all shaken up like you're in an earthquake. Don't let them unsettle your faith. And the apostle lets them know that he's fully aware of just how deceptive they can be and the kind of tactics they can use. Apparently these false teachers, you see, they were telling the Thessalonians that they had received additional teaching. Maybe they were saying they received a letter from Paul or one of the other evangelists, or maybe they were saying Paul actually spoke directly to us, or maybe they're saying Paul sent us a letter. And so when we say the day of the Lord has already come, Paul's signing off on this. You see how deceptive that is? This is what you'd call a deep fake. And Paul says, none of this nonsense comes from me. So don't let it make you fearful and anxious. Because you see, dear ones, that's what false teachers do. they rattle the body of Christ, they cause confusion, they wreak havoc among the saints, and they end up causing division in the church, and Paul's nipping that in the bud. And let me insert something that's important to keep in mind when we think about false teachers. It's false teachers and false doctrine that inevitably causes divisions in the church, not those who hold firmly to truth. And so many people in the church get this wrong, they get it backwards. We're told doctrine divides. But what does that mean? A lack of doctrine brings us together? That's not the biblical perspective at all. The biblical perspective is true doctrine will most unite the people of God. It's actually error that creates schism. Listen to what Paul writes in Romans 16, 17. Now I urge you, brethren, Note those who cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you learned and avoid them. You can hear how emphatic Paul is in this. I urge you brethren. And he's urging them to look out for false teachers because they're the ones who will cause division and offenses in the body of Christ. Let me repeat myself because this is such an important point. The people who cause division in the church are not the ones who say, I won't compromise sound doctrine. The people who cause division are those who insist upon compromise, who say you must bend your doctrinal and moral standards grounded in scripture for whatever reason. They're the ones, they're the ones that cause division. And the moment you say to someone, put on the brakes. We're not gonna compromise. We're not gonna deviate on the doctrine of the Trinity. We're not gonna twist the biblical standards for sexual morality. We intend to stand firm. Once you say that, you'll be called narrow-minded, rigid, unloving. And we need to recognize this is one of the ways that Satan and his false teachers gaslight the church. They'll say that the problem is doctrinal purity. It's that steadfastness, that rigidity you have in your beliefs. It's those things that keep the church from uniting and reaching her full potential. If you would just give in on a few issues, the church could do wondrous things. That is never, ever the biblical perspective. And those who make that kind of argument couldn't be more wrong. Faithfulness is what keeps the church from apostasy, and apostasy is the goal of Satan and the man of lawlessness. So who's behind those desires to tell us to compromise? Satan. And the error that the church in Thessalonica was facing, that the day of the Lord had already That's actually a heresy. Turn in your Bibles to 2 Timothy 2. 2 Timothy 2, we'll begin reading in verse 15. 2 Timothy 2, Paul's giving Pastor Timothy here some instruction. 2 Timothy 2, beginning in verse 15. Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness, and their message will spread like cancer. Hymenaeus and Philetus are of this sort, who have strayed concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection is already past, And they overthrow the faith of some. Interestingly enough, this was written about 15, 16 years after Thessalonians and the problem still existed. There were still false teachers saying the day of the Lord, the day of resurrection, it's already passed. And incidentally, Paul had already excommunicated Hymenaeus at this point. And now Hymenaeus is back spewing the same garbage with a cohort named Philetus and Paul calls this a cancer. Interestingly enough, the actual word there is gangrenous, it's the word we would get gangrene from. The point is it is a deadly condition and Paul says it can overthrow the faith of some. And it was not only a position that existed 15 years after Paul wrote this letter to Thessalonica, it's an error that still exists today under the rubric of hyper-preterism. If you've never heard of hyperpreterists, and if you've been here you probably have, but hyperpreterists essentially believe that all the prophecies about Jesus have been fulfilled. The coming of Christ in judgment was fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD in total. Satan and the Antichrist, they've been thrown into the lake of fire. All the stuff about final judgment, it's all taken place. The Great Commission's been fulfilled and all things have been made new. The world is simply continuing on and it will continue on forever and ever, gradually getting better and better and better and better. And so essentially, all these kind of things that you read in the Bible about judgment and the second coming, they completely spiritualize those things. But here's the thing, that's still a heresy. It's still a cancer, and it still has the potential to overthrow the faith of some. And I will tell you the reason I'm kind of hammering this, because this is a view that's being promoted extensively on social media right now, and it's a heresy. It's not a slight deviation from the truth. It is a soul damning heresy to deny the bodily return of Jesus Christ. Paul tells the Thessalonians, don't, excuse me, let no one deceive you by any means. Don't let these false teachers overthrow your precious faith. The day of resurrection hasn't happened and it won't happen until there's the great falling away and the man of sin is revealed. Now, I wanna briefly shift gears. I wanna take a couple minutes and challenge the way our premillennial dispensational friends interpret our passage. It just occurred to me, I sound like I'm preaching against a lot of things this morning, but I don't apologize. It's what I wrote. But I do wanna address that. I've shared this in the past, but here's pre-millennial dispensationalism in a nutshell. They believe next time Christ returns, there'll be a secret rapture where God takes all true believers in the church to heaven. There'll be seven years of intense tribulation, and at the end of those seven years, Jesus will return again, and that's the day of the Lord. And on that day, there'll be a great battle followed by the Lord setting up and reigning over a literal thousand-year kingdom where Christ will rule on earth from Jerusalem. And close to the end of the thousand years, there'll be another great battle, and after that, there'll be the coming of the new heavens and the new earth. By the way, I think a lot of engineers must have gravitated toward dispensationalism, because you've got to have charts and graphs to understand this sort of thing. But this is the most prominent view in the American evangelical church. It's been the most prominent view in America for probably 75 years. And the reason I mention them is that they see Paul's warning there in verse one as having to do with that secret rapture. John MacArthur, for example, whom I love, wrote in his commentary on these verses, that the people were shaken and disturbed because they thought they missed the rapture, and that they'd have to endure the great tribulation, the great apostasy, the Antichrist, and the like. You see, in short, our dispensational brothers and sisters see the Thessalonian anxiety in these opening verses as a fear they were left behind. And there are a host of problems with this view. First, if the Thessalonians were desperate because they thought they'd missed the rapture, Wouldn't Paul have said something like, don't you remember what I said to you, that you're gonna be raptured before the day of the Lord? Wouldn't he have said something like that? Instead, Paul gives them two signs that precede the day of the Lord. And here's where there's a massive contradiction. If the great falling away and the revelation of the man of sin are after the rapture, then why does Paul even have to describe these things in detail? They're not going to be there. If the rapture doctrine is true and believers won't be there for this end time apostasy and the appearance of the Antichrist, why tell the Thessalonians to look for those signs? That doesn't make sense, does it? A second problem with the premillennial dispensational view is that they say the coming of the Lord in verse 1 is describing a secret rapture, and then the coming of the Lord down in verse 8, that's his final coming. Here's the problem. The Apostle Paul uses the same word in both of those verses. The word for coming, it's parousia. Again, the Apostle would have made a distinction for us if verses one and verse eight were talking about different events, two different comings. There are several other problems with their view, but here's the final one I want to leave you with. If the Thessalonians thought they missed the rapture, did they think Paul and Silas and Timothy missed it too? Because that would be bad news bears, wouldn't it? If that were the case, and even Paul got left behind, what hope would there be for the Thessalonians? I'm not going to belabor this, except to say premillennial dispensationalism is a system of interpretation where you end up forcing things into the text that really aren't there. I mean, I would invite anyone, if it's possible to do this, and we're all creatures of our background, our history, but I would really invite anyone to read 2 Thessalonians 2 and say, had you never heard of a secret rapture, could you really get that out of a text? don't think so. Well, I want to take a few moments and consider the language that Paul uses there in verse 3, the falling away, and again remember this has to do with the time before Christ returned. Now the phrase falling away in verse 3 is a single Greek word, it's the word apostasia, and I'm sure you likely hear this is where we get our English word apostasy and it means abandonment, it means defiance of authority, rebellion, breach of faith. In classical Greek And when you encounter the word apostasia, it was often found in relationship to military descriptions, to speak of someone who abandoned their post. And even in that instance, it wasn't general abandonment. It was leaving your post because you're a traitor. In other words, it wasn't just saying, I don't want to be in this army anymore. It's saying, I want to fight on the other army side. That's the idea of this. And in the biblical use of apostasia, it's almost exclusively used to speak of someone who's abandoned the faith, and they don't just walk away from it. They abandon the faith, then they want to repudiate it and oppose it. That's why some of your translations might call this the rebellion, because it's not just falling away in a simple matter. It's falling away so you can rebel against the one you once professed to adore. And this is why people who actually apostatize and walk away from the faith, this is why they're almost always vigorously against the church and speak vile things against Christ's bride because they were never really on his team as it were. If you glance at your Bibles, you'll see Paul writes in verse 3, the falling away or the apostasy. And this certainly points to the final apostasy at the consummation of the ages. But there's something I've been highlighting over the last few months. When we think of this great apostasy that's going to happen, a great falling away of the church, where unprecedented numbers are running away from Christ's Lordship. We can't simply think about this as something that's gonna happen one time in redemptive history. It's actually something we're gonna see span all of redemptive history. Paul gives us a hint of this in our passage, right? He's gonna, next week, we'll be introduced to the man of lawlessness, but he tells us that spirit of lawlessness is at work right now. So past, present, and future. expressions of apostasy is what we would expect to see. Here's what I mean. God's people in the past have had to deal with apostasy and Antichrist. In the present, God's people have to deal with apostasy and Antichrist. In the future, as long as the Lord tarries, God's people will have to deal with apostasy and Antichrist. And then at the consummation of the age, just prior to Christ's return, as the Apostle Paul teaches us, God's people will be witnesses of the apostasy and the Antichrist. And I want this principle in our mind as we move forward so that we don't just see apostasy and Antichrist as something that affects just the future. And I say that because a great many people get so dialed in in trying to figure out exactly who this future person will be, the Antichrist, the man of lawlessness, or exactly when this apostasy is going to take place that they miss the fact that apostasy and Antichrist are present dangers in the here and now. And that's a perilous error. You see, there's never a time on this side of glory when God's people or not to be on guard against the influences that would lead us to apostasy. Again, this harkens back to Paul's powerful warning in verse 3, let no one deceive you by any means. You know why Paul says that? Because we're easily deceived. Then down to verse 9, he tells us that the power behind both the apostasy and the Antichrist is the working of Satan with all power, signs, and lying wonders. And look what that'll accomplish, verse 10. All unrighteous deception among those who perish because they did not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved. So here's one of the things we need to know about apostasy. It relies on deception. That's going to be the tool that the man of sin uses to establish apostasy, the tool of deception. It's the idea that the Antichrist promotes deceptive, soul-damning, chaos-producing apostasy, and believers have to have their eyes open and be aware of that. And that deception that Paul's describing here, it finds a home wherever God's people play fast and loose with God's truth, who don't guard it like their lives depend upon it. I want to look at another passage, it has to do with apostasy. Turn in your Bibles to 1 Timothy 4. 1 Timothy 4, we'll just read the first two verses. 1 Timothy 4 beginning in verse 1, now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies and hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron. Now by latter times Paul means period between Christ's first advent and his final advent. And the apostles received direct revelation from the Holy Spirit that the entirety of the period will be marked by those who are departing from the faith. That's a picture of apostatizing. And look again at what we see behind this falling away. Deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons. In this instance, it has to do with a kind of forced asceticism, telling God's people, don't marry, stay single, don't eat certain foods, that kind of thing. But it's all grounded in deception and it's promoted by the same cast of characters that Paul and Jesus warned against. Those who are comfortable promoting lies and do so pathologically, ultimately sear their own consciences and they walk away from the faith. I want to encourage you that every time you hear false teaching and godless ideas spouted off in the church, recognize what it is. It's the doctrine of demons. Well, I was going to look at some other examples of apostasy, but I'll just say the book of Hebrews is instructive here. There are constant warnings in Hebrews about not turning away from the faith. And interestingly enough, in the book of Hebrews, the apostle tells us that that turning away, that apostasy that they're warning so much about in those six major warning passages, is a turning away that comes from drifting, drifting. drifting from true salvation, drifting from the truth of God's word, drifting from embracing the gospel of grace, drifting from all the doctrines that are apostolic and biblical. It doesn't happen all of a sudden, right? It's drip, drip, drip, drip, drip, till you drown. It's a gruesome picture. Paul's warning the church that certainly a day will come when that characterizes the religious community in the whole world. Until that time, it's presented to us in such a way that it ought to be a great warning to always make our calling and election sure. Whenever I talk about the importance of making our calling and election sure, I know, just intuitively, because I know my own heart, that what you probably hear Pastor Bird saying is, I need to buck up. I need to do a little more. I gotta try a little harder. No, that is not the solution. The solution is looking to Jesus Christ, receiving the free gift of salvation. embracing Him, resting in Him with the empty hand of faith. And you see, if you do that, you know what you'll do? You'll try harder. But not to get something. You'll try harder because you have all things in Him. One's legalism and sends you to hell. The other's salvation and leads to joy and everlasting life. Look to Christ. Amen. Well, brothers and sisters, as we prepare to come to the Lord's table, the invitation to celebrate the communion meal with the Church of Jesus Christ is offered to all those who are trusting in Jesus Christ alone for their salvation, are members in good standing of a Bible-believing church. If that's you, please do come and feast upon the Lord. If that doesn't describe you, or if you're a person living in unrepentant sin, when the elements are distributed, simply let them pass by, go home, repent, believe, talk to me or one of the elders after the church, repent, believe, come back next time and celebrate with us. Now, as we come to the Lord's table this morning, we're gonna use the Nicene Creed. And again, we use these creeds before celebration of the Lord's Supper as kind of, fencing documents. When you recite the Nicene Creed, what you're saying is, I believe these core historic Christian doctrines, right? So that's what we're doing. You can find the Nicene Creed on page 852 in the back of your hymnal. Hopefully you can find it. I can't. 852. So Christian, what do you believe? I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible. and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made. who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary and was made man and was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried the third day he rose again according to the scriptures, and ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father. And he shall come again with glory to judge the living and the dead, whose kingdom shall have no end. And I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified, who spoke by the prophets, and I believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church, I acknowledge one baptism for the remission of sins, and I look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen. Then I'm going to read A selection of verses from John and 1 John, John 13, 1, 15, 9, and a couple of texts from 1 John. Then I have a meditation here printed from Thomas Hawaiss. Give your attention to the reading of God's law, John 13, 1. Now, before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come, that he should depart from this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. John 15, 9. As the Father loved me, I also have loved you. Abide in my love. 1 John 3, 16. By this we know love, because he laid down his life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. 1 John 4, 10. And this, the love of God, was manifested toward us, that God has sent his only begotten son into the world, that we might live through him. And this is love, not that we love God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins. Again, there's a meditation. It's printed in your bulletin, or you can simply Follow along, whichever is better for you. Was there ever a love like his? Well, may it be called love which passes knowledge. Angels are lost in wonder while they look into the mystery of redeeming love. How then should we, to whom this love is shown, be astonished or recalled to partake of it? He died not for angels, but for men. And when? Was it when we were faithful, affectionate, and obedient that we gained His heart to such an expensive manifestation of His love? No, when we were enemies by wicked works, when we were without strength or power to love or obey Him. Even then, in due time, Did Christ die for the ungodly? In us, there was nothing but misery. We were lost in sin, willfully lost by our disobedience, without power or inclination to seek for any favor at God's hands. And he wanted not our services. His glory would have been unsullied if he had given us up to the fruit of our folly and left us to our deserved ruin. but freely moved by the mere goodness of his heart, and out of pure compassion to us, Jesus offered to stand in our stead. And since to save us he must be made man, his love stooped to the lowliness of our condition, to the form of a servant, to the death of a slave. Love brought him down from the throne of glory. Love clothed him with a body like our own. Love urged him on through all the painful steps of his afflicted life. The waters of trouble were never able to quench it, nor the floods of persecution drown it. Love put the cup of trembling into his hand. Love bid him drink the last drop of all its dregs. For having loved his own, he loved them unto the end. His love abode till he cried, it is finished. When having sealed with blood the sure and well-ordered covenant, his soul was dismissed, and he went to begin his triumphs over death, hell, and the grave. And when he arose again, love carried him to the right hand of God. And there he is this moment. showing forth the unchangeableness of his affection by ever living to make intercession for us and pleading before the throne the marks of love so deeply engraven in his hands and in his side. And then let us freely and fully come to this table and remember this love as at an ordinance where the glory of his love is set before us. Let's pray. Our great God, indeed, as we come to this wonderful covenant meal, help us to know that the banner of your love for us flies over this table. And we pray as we take these elements, the bread and the cup, which do not change substance, we pray as we take them that spiritually our innermost man will be nourished and that is the men and women of God will be able to taste and see that the Lord is good and indeed have a fresh expression of your love for us. Grant us these things, we pray in the mighty name of Jesus, amen. We'll receive the Lord's benedictions. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all now and forever and all of God's people said, Amen.