to prepare. And he said to them, Behold, when you have entered the city, a man will meet you carrying a pitcher of water. Follow him into the house which he enters. Then you shall say to the master of the house, The teacher says to you, Where is the guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples? Then he will show you a large furnished upper room. There make ready. So they went and found it just as he had said to them, and they prepared the Passover. Thus far, the reading of God's word. Praise be to God. Now, children, when King David sinned against the Lord by committing adultery with Bathsheba, did he deserve to die? Of course he did, right? Because the wages of sin is what? Death. The soul that sins, it shall die. David deserved to die. He deserved to perish in hell forever. And like David, all of us also deserve to die because we have sinned against the Lord. Romans 3.23 says, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Now, in 2 Samuel 12, maybe later today you can ask your parents to read that chapter to you. In 2 Samuel 12, the Lord sent the prophet Nathan to David. Now, Nathan brought the word of the Lord to David, confronted him, called him to repent. The prophet Nathan says to David, you are the man. Why have you despised the commandment of the Lord to do evil in his sight? You have killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and you have taken his wife to be your wife, and you have killed him with the sword of the people of Ammon. As the word of God was faithfully proclaimed to David, the spirit of God worked in David's heart and brought conviction of sin, right? David responded with humility, with repentance, with sorrow over his sins. David confessed his sins before the Lord. And then listen to verse 13 of 2 Samuel 12. And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said unto David, the Lord has also put away your sin. You shall not die. Now, this is shocking. This is shocking, what Nathan says to David here. Imagine if Bathsheba's parents were there. What do you mean he's not going to die? He has sinned. How could David be spared? How could the Lord just forgive David and not let him die? How can that be? How can God do that without compromising his justice? How can God show mercy to a sinner without compromising the demands of his law? You see the tension? But here's the answer to that question. God could forgive David and not let him die because of the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, God didn't compromise his justice when he forgave David, and God doesn't compromise his justice when he forgives you. God didn't turn a blind eye to David's sins. He didn't pretend like David's sins didn't exist. God put the sins of David upon the cross and crushed his son in the place of David. And God put our sins upon the cross. and the Son of God, the innocent Lamb of God without spot or wrinkles suffered in our place and took our curse and our condemnation and our punishment and died for our sins and satisfied divine justice so that, so that God can be just and at the same time justify ungodly sinners who trust in Jesus. You see, on the cross, the justice and mercy of God met. This is the good news of the gospel. This is the only hope of all believers of all ages. This was the hope of David, and this is our hope and comfort as well, that Jesus died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that on the third day, he was raised in accordance with the scriptures. Yes, the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. 2 Corinthians 5.21 says, For He, God the Father, made Him, Jesus. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. That's the answer. That's why God could forgive David. And that's why Nathan could say to him, you will not die. The Lord has taken away your sins. And that's what God says to you who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. As we begin this new chapter in Luke chapter 22, we now come to the last days of Christ's earthly ministry. And these last days will soon culminate where? In the cross. This is where we're headed. And as we enter this section, which is called The passion narrative, meaning this section focuses on the passion or the suffering of our Lord Jesus Christ. His death on the cross, His burial, and His glorious resurrection. This is the heart of the gospel. Everything looks to this. Everything that came before looks to the cross and everything that comes after looks back to the cross. The cross of Jesus Christ is the high point of redemptive history. It's at the cross that we find hope and mercy and salvation. The Old Testament saints were saved by grace through faith in Christ alone. They looked forward to the cross by faith. And we, under the new covenant, are saved exactly the same way. By grace through faith in Christ alone. The Old Testament saints look forward to the cross and we look back at the cross. But our hope, our comfort, is in the Lord Jesus Christ alone. That's the only way of salvation. Sinners in any age are saved the exact same way. By grace through faith in Christ alone. Ephesians 2, for it is by grace that we have been saved through faith. This is not our doing. It is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Oh, the glory of the cross, where the justice and the mercy of God met. It's everything, right? The cross of Jesus Christ is everything. No other hope. That's why the Apostle Paul declares in 1 Corinthians 1.23, we preach Christ crucified. That's what we preach. We preach Christ crucified to me and I to the world. Children, adults, boast in the work of Jesus Christ. Don't boast in yourselves. Don't boast in your own accomplishments, your own merits. boasts in the cross where Jesus paid the penalty for our sins and satisfied divine justice and declared it is finished. The work of redemption is complete. Nothing else is to be added to it. Jesus paid it all. Jesus Christ, through his active and passive obedience, in his perfect life of obedience to the law of God in our behalf, and his atoning death on the cross as our substitute, Jesus died for us. He accomplished our redemption. It's only the blood of Jesus that washes away our sins. There is no other Savior. There is no other salvation. Christ alone. Boast in Him. Christians, the cross of Jesus Christ has set you free from your bondage to sin, Satan, and death. Rejoice! Rejoice in Christ and boast in the cross by which you have been crucified to the world. And you live by virtue of your union with Christ. So the theme of our sermon this morning as we focus on verses one and seven is this theme of Passover that we find here in these first 13 verses. The theme of our sermon this morning is this. God calls you through his word this morning. He calls you to embrace his son by faith and live for his glory because he alone is the lamb of God. who saves us from our sins. God calls you to embrace His Son by faith and live for His glory because Jesus alone is the Lamb of God and He saves us from our sins. As we consider that main idea, We'll study this passage under three headings this morning. The sufficiency of the cross, the necessity of the cross, and the power of the cross. So firstly, the sufficiency of the cross. For us to consider how the cross is sufficient and there's nothing else that's needed. We can't add anything to it. We must consider the context of verse one. There is a rich Old Testament background behind verse 1 that we have to consider to appreciate and glory in Christ and His cross. Look at verse 1. Now the feast of unleavened bread drew near, which is called Passover. What's going on here, children? Well, the Feast of Unleavened Bread was one of the three major feasts in Israel, along with Pentecost and the Feast of the Tabernacles. Pentecost was also called the Feast of the Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles was also called the Feast of the Booths. And the Feast of Unleavened Bread is also called the Feast of Passover. Those were the three annual feasts in the life of Israel in the Old Testament. Listen to Deuteronomy 16, verses 16 and 17. Three times a year all your males shall appear before the Lord your God in the place which He chooses, at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Tabernacles. And they shall not appear before the Lord empty-handed. Every man shall give as he is able according to the blessing of the Lord your God which He has given you. So the Lord commanded the men of Israel to gather, to assemble three times annually to celebrate these feasts. The Feast of Unleavened Bread, also called Passover, the Feast of the Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles. What are these feasts about? Well, the Feast of the Weeks was celebrated 50 days after Passover. That's why it's also called Pentecost. The word Pentecost means 50th. After 50 days, Pentecost was celebrated, also called the Feast of the Weeks. And the Feast of the Weeks celebrated the harvest that the Lord provided for his people. It was a feast of harvest. Secondly, the feast of tabernacles or booths marked the end of harvest. During this feast, the Israelites celebrated the Lord's provision for them during their homeless days in the wilderness. Listen to Leviticus 23 verses 41 through 43. You shall keep it as a feast to the Lord for seven days in the year. It shall be a statute forever in your generations. You shall celebrate it in the seventh month. You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All who are native Israelites shall dwell in booths. that your generations may know that I made the children of Israel dwell in boots when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God." So this is how the people of Israel celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles. Children, for seven days, they lived in temporary housing, in huts, in tents, commemorating the days when The children of Israel were wandering in the wilderness. They didn't have houses. They didn't have land or property. They were pilgrims, right? And God graciously provided for them during their time in the wilderness. And so the Feast of the Tabernacle celebrates the Lord's provision for his people. And it points us to our ultimate home, which is not America, is it? It's the new Jerusalem, which will soon come down as a bride, adorned for her husband. That's where we will dwell forever. We are pilgrims in this world. We're aliens, we're immigrants, longing for the city whose builder is God. And God provides for us richly every day, grace upon grace in Christ Jesus. And then we come to the Feast of Passover. That's what our sermon text is talking about. What is that all about, congregation? Children, what about the Feast of Passover, also called the Feast of Unleavened Bread in verse one? What is that about? Well, the Passover commemorated the deliverance of the people of Israel from their slavery in Egypt and their exodus. And so let's do a brief survey of Exodus to consider the significance of Passover. That's the background of our sermon text. And that would help us appreciate our Lord Jesus Christ and how everything in the Old Testament points to Him. He is the substance. You remember God's people were slaves in Egypt and they were oppressed under the cruel Pharaoh? And the Lord in his mercy raised his servant Moses and strengthened him to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt to the promised land? And you remember how God sent Moses to Pharaoh, and Moses and Aaron confronted Pharaoh with the Lord's command. Thus saith Jehovah, the Lord God of Israel, let my people go. But Pharaoh refused to listen to the word of the Lord. He increased the oppression of Israel. He responded with hardness of heart. Instead of humbling himself and trusting in the one true God, Pharaoh set himself against the Lord and against his church. And so the Lord showed his power and glory in Egypt by sending 10 plagues. 10 plagues upon the people of Egypt, upon their land, upon their livestock. And through those plagues, the Lord showed forth His glory, and He protected His people, the people of Israel. The first plague was the turning of the river into blood, Exodus 7. And Moses and Aaron did so just as the Lord commanded. So he lifted up the rod and struck the waters that were in the river in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants. And all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood. And the fish that were in the river died, and the river stank. And the Egyptians could not drink the water of the river, So there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt. The second plague was frogs. The third plague was lice, biting insects. All the dust of the land became lice throughout all the land of Egypt. The fourth plague was the swarm of flies. The fifth plague was upon the livestock. The livestock died in Egypt. The sixth plague was boils breaking on the skin of men and women and all the people in the land. The seventh plague was hail falling from the skies. Listen to Exodus 9. So there was hail and fire mingled with the hail. Hail and fire fell upon the land of Egypt. so very heavy that there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. And the hail struck throughout the whole land of Egypt so that all that was in the field, both man and beast, the hail struck every herb of the field and broke every tree of the field. Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, there was no hail. The eighth plague was locusts covering the land. And the ninth plague was darkness, pitched black darkness with zero visibility throughout the land of Egypt. Exodus 10, then the Lord said to Moses, stretch out your hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, darkness which may even be felt. You hear that? It was so thick dark that you could feel it. So Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven, and there was thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days. People did not see one another, nor did anyone rise from his place for three days. But all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings. Now, what was the purpose of all these signs and wonders that the Lord performed in Egypt? Here's the purpose. The Lord showed forth His majesty, His supremacy over all the gods, the false gods, right? Through the signs and the wonders that He performed with His mighty arm. The purpose of those plagues was to show forth that the Lord alone is God and there is none other. God alone, the God of Israel, is the eternal, self-existent, almighty, all-sufficient, transcendent, holy God, who eternally exists in three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. He's the only God, and there's none other. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And God was proclaiming that message even through the plagues. Hear, O Egypt, there's only one God, That's the God of Israel. All your gods, the God of the River Nile, the God of fertility, all those gods are worthless idols. They cannot save, they cannot deliver, they cannot bring any comfort. Hope in the Lord and trust in Him. The triune Jehovah alone is worthy of worship, and He will not share His glory with dumb and dead idols. Let every knee bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord. That was the purpose of the place. God put on display His power, His glory, His supremacy, so that people would abandon their false gods and take refuge in the God of Israel. the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and be saved by faith in Him. See, our God is a missionary God, right? He declares His glory to the nations in the Old Testament as well. We sing Psalm 117 every Lord's Day, don't we? Praise Jehovah all you nations, you peoples, praise His name because He's the only God. There is none other. So whether you are Jewish or Gentile, white or black, whether you're from India or live in Africa or anywhere else in the world, the only way we are saved is by looking to the one true God, the maker of heaven and earth, who has given his son Jesus to redeem us from our slavery to sin and to bring us to God. All the gods of Egypt are dead gods. They cannot deliver or save. But the God of Israel, the Lord, He is the true God and salvation belongs to Him alone. Now children, you would think after all those nine plagues, Pharaoh should have given up. But tragically, sadly, he continued hardening his own heart. He continued responding with hostility and pride instead of repentance. And so he kept fighting, and he kept resisting the word of the Lord. Finally, the Lord declares that he would bring one more plague, the final plague upon the land of Egypt. And that plague would be devastating. That would be the death of the firstborn. Listen to Exodus 11. Then Moses said, Thus says the Lord about midnight, I will go out into the midst of Egypt, and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the female servant who is behind the hand mill. and all the firstborn of the animals, then there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as was not like it before, nor shall be like it again." But against none of the children of Israel shall a dog move its tongue, against man or beast, so that you may know that the Lord does make a difference between the Egyptians and Israel. This was the 10th plague, the death of the firstborn. And God in his mercy gave instructions to his people, the people of Israel, how they might be protected from this plague which was coming upon the land, right? Here was the instruction from Exodus 12, where we find the institution of the Passover. Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and Moses said to them, pick out and take lambs for yourselves according to your families and kill the Passover lamb. And you shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin and strike the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning, for the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians. And when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you. This is so filled with the gospel, isn't it? When the Lord passes by with judgment and anger upon the ungodly nation, He will spare all the houses that are covered with the blood of the Passover lamb. And He will pass over them and not judge them with the ungodly. Now that's the context, the Old Testament context of verse 1. Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread drew near which is called Passover. And this speaks to us about the sufficiency of the cross of Jesus Christ because the Passover in Exodus 12 looked forward to the true Passover, the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. The blood of bulls and goats was never meant to atone for sins, but they were types and shadows looking forward to prefiguring Christ to come. Just as the children of Israel were spared the wrath and judgment of God that came upon the ungodly by trusting in the Lord's provision of a lamb and putting the blood of the lamb on the doorposts of their houses, so are we saved from the wrath and judgment of God through faith in Jesus Christ, who offered Himself as the true sacrifice and died for our sins on the cross That's the point of the Passover. It looked forward to Jesus to come. And in the old covenant sacrificial system, they had to sacrifice those animals again and again and again, right? Because each time they brought animals for sacrifice, it was a reminder, that animal is not my savior. That's a picture, but it's not sufficient to take away my sins, because I've got to do it again and again. Even that high priest is not my Savior, because he has to sacrifice for his own sins. He himself is a sinner. We need a better sacrifice. We need a better priest. We need a better Savior. And there was this longing and expectation for that one true, perfect sacrifice to show up. That would bring us to God. And so we come to John 1, 29. Jesus walks by. John the Baptist was with his disciples. And he says, John 1, 29, behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Jesus is the Lamb of God. He is the fulfillment of the Passover. He's the hope of Moses and the saints of the Old Testament, and all sinners of all ages. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 5, 7, For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us. He's the true Passover Lamb. And in this passage, he's getting the Passover meal ready to be with his disciples one last time. The true Passover lamb was in the midst of the disciples, getting ready for the cross, where he would give his life for the sins of the elect and where he would die as the perfect, innocent, spotless lamb of God. taking away the sin not only of Jewish sinners, but also of Gentile sinners, like you and I this morning. Behold the Lamb of God. The blood of bulls and goats could never atone for sins. They were types and shadows. Listen to Hebrews 10.4. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins. The cross is sufficient. Nothing is to be added to it and nothing could be removed from it. Jesus paid it all and He is mighty to save. And He's able to save us to the uttermost. Praise be to God. And not only is the blood of Jesus sufficient to wash away our sins, it is necessary, it is necessary for Jesus to die for us, or we would perish. And that brings us to our brief second point, the necessity of the cross. Look at verse seven. Then came the day of unleavened bread, keep looking, verse seven, when the Passover, what? must be killed. Must be killed. There was no other way. The lamb had to be slaughtered. The Passover lamb must be killed. That word must suggests divine necessity. It was necessary for Jesus to die. That's the only hope for humanity. For guilty sinners like us to be reconciled to a holy God, Jesus had to suffer. He had to die. This is the only way to salvation. The only way for us to be in a state of friendship and reconciliation with God. Nothing else would do. He had to die for our sins on the cross. And no one twisted his arm to do that. He did it willingly, out of love for us. You didn't have to convince Jesus, would you please die for my sins? He did it for us. We were his enemies when he died for us. Listen to John 10. Therefore my father loves me, says Jesus, because I lay down my life that I might take it again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again. This command I've received from my father. Jesus loves you so much that he died for you. and rose again on the third day. You see, verse 7 is so glorious. That must is such a glorious must. I'm so glad Jesus obeyed to the end the demands of the law. I'm so glad Jesus remained faithful to the end. He steadfastly looked to Jerusalem and that's where He was headed. And He did it for us, not because we are worthy, not because we are meritorious, not because there's anything good in us, but out of His sheer mercy and grace, Christ died for the ungodly. That's the gospel, the only gospel that saves. We cannot help ourselves, we cannot save ourselves, but Jesus died for the ungodly. How Merciful our Savior is. Jesus had to die. Let's think very briefly about that, the implication of that word must. The Passover lamb must be killed. Why? Because we have broken the law of God. We are under the curse of law, of the law. God's justice demands that we receive the eternal punishment of body and soul in hell. God is holy, we are not. That's our problem. We have broken the law of God and we could never satisfy the justice of God, right? No other creature would either. No angel can help us. No animal can help us. We need a savior. who is a perfect and righteous man, but he has to be more than a mere man, because no mere man, even a perfectly righteous man, can withstand the infinite wrath of God. So we need someone who is a perfect and righteous man, but who is more than a man, also true God. We need the God-man to be our lamb. We need the God-man to bring us to God, to be our substitute, to take our condemnation and to set us free from the curse of the law. We need the Redeemer who is truly God and truly man. And the only one who qualifies is Jesus, the God-man. who's satisfied for our sins with his precious blood. Listen to 1 Peter 1 verses 18 and 19. Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like dollars, silver, gold. from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers. Peter says, you were redeemed with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. Praise be to God. This is why the Christian gospel is the only hope and comfort for the sinners, for the world. There's any unbelievers, there are any unbelievers in our midst, I plead with you, repent and trust in Jesus. It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God, but He is merciful. He's provided a way for us to be forgiven in the fullness of the time God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem us from the curse of the law. Trust in Jesus, and Christians, congregation, boast in the cross and rest in Christ alone for your salvation. Jesus paid it all. And let me conclude with a very brief consideration of the power of the cross. You see, Christian life is not a life of our merits. We begin by faith and we continue to live by faith all the way to the end, right? Not only did Jesus save us by grace in the past, He continues to keep us by grace today and tomorrow, all the way to glory. The cross of Jesus Christ is not only powerful to save us, but to keep us. We don't live our Christian life, our life of sanctification by our own efforts or our own accomplishments, but we continue to live by virtue of our union with Christ. To be a Christian means to no longer be a slave of sin, but to be slave of righteousness. those who belong in body and soul to the Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, Romans 6, Paul says, consider yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey in its lusts. Do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin. but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. Jesus is not only our hope of justification, He's also our hope and strength for sanctification. Jesus is our sanctification. We continue to live by faith in Jesus Christ the way we were saved, right? I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life that I now live in the flesh, how do I live it? I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself up for me. Live by virtue of your union with Christ. Christ is our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. So how do we keep the Passover today under the new covenant? Listen to 1 Corinthians 5, Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us, therefore let us keep the feast. Let us keep Passover. How? not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice or wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. We keep the Passover by pursuing holiness, by faith in Jesus Christ, by living unto him for his glory, by dying more and more to sin and living more and more to righteousness, by the grace of God who not only justified us, but continues to sanctify us. And also the Passover is fulfilled where? In the Lord's table. Every time we come to the Lord's table, we declare that Jesus is our Passover lamb, right? Every time we come to the Lord's table, we declare the blood of bulls and goats could never atone for my sins. My own righteousness, Dirty, stinky, filthy rags. I need the righteousness of another. I need an alien righteousness. The righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so let us come to the Lord's table with humility and by faith in Jesus Christ. And let us even join our voices with the saints in heaven. What are they singing? Revelation tells us. Worthy is who? The Lamb. who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. This will be the theme of our singing for all eternity. Blessed be the lamb. He is worthy. Look to him and trust in him alone for your salvation, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Let's pray. Father, as we come now to your table, This table that you have furnished before us, help us to come in a worthy manner by faith in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, who is our Passover lamb, who died for us and was raised on the third day, and who is soon coming back to perfect our redemption. Help us, for we look to Christ. Feed us, we pray, in Jesus' name, amen. We invite the church officers to come in the front as we prepare for the administration of the Lord's Supper. Dear congregation, hear the words of institution. I ordinarily read from 1 Corinthians 11, but why don't we read the words of institution from Luke 22? This will be our next passage after we work our way through the first 13 verses, beginning at verse Beginning at verse 19 of Luke 22, hear now the words of institution. And Jesus took bread, gave thanks, and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, this is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. Likewise, he also took the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is shed for you. But behold, the hand of my betrayer is with me on the table. And truly the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed." People of God, Jesus calls us to observe the Lord's Supper in remembrance of His person and work, what He has done for us. In these elements of bread and wine, we celebrate the body and the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ that he gave for us. The bread represents his body, which was broken. The wine represents the blood that was shed for us on the cross. The bread and wine do not change their substance. This is not a re-sacrificing of Christ, but it is a memorial, a remembrance of His once-for-all sacrifice in our place on the cross. This is why we celebrate the Lord's Supper. It is a visible picture of the gospel for us that we can taste and touch and hold and partake in. But this is more than a mere memorial. It's also a means of grace. The Lord's Supper is a means of grace. And here's what it means. In the Lord's Supper, Jesus gives himself to us in a special way. So that when we partake of the bread and wine, we are partaking. We're feeding spiritually on the risen Christ. We're receiving Christ. We are being strengthened by Christ through the Holy Spirit. in our pilgrimage. And the only way we receive those benefits of Christ through the Lord's Supper is by faith and faith alone. Remember what I just said a few moments ago? We are saved by faith and we continue to live how? By faith. It's never faith plus our accomplishments. It's never faith plus our merits. It's faith alone by which we continue to live as pilgrims and strangers in this world. And to make sure, as we're driving down the highway in our pilgrimage, to make sure that we don't run out of gas, the Lord has given us the Lord's Supper as one of the means of grace. The other means of grace is the preaching of the Word, prayer. Christian fellowship through these ordinary means. God does extraordinary things. He preserves us. He causes us to persevere in the one true faith to the end. This is a banquet that the Lord has given us. And so I call you, those of you who trust in Jesus Christ, to eat of the bread and to drink of the cup. At the same time, there is a warning in scripture, right? There was a Judas among the 12 who partook of the Lord's Supper, who was taking the Lord's Supper in an unworthy manner. Make sure that if you are not a Christian, do not approach this holy table of the Lord. This is only for those who are united to Christ by faith, whether you're members of this church or some other Bible-believing congregation. This table belongs to believers. who are the bride of Christ, who meet with their Savior in a special, unique, covenantal manner through the table of the Lord. If you are a baptized Communican member in good standing of this or any other Bible-believing church, And if you're living by faith in Christ alone for your salvation, then I call you to come and partake of the Lord's Supper and be refreshed and strengthened in your pilgrimage and be comforted by the risen Savior who gives Himself to us for our nourishment and our growth in grace. I can't get over the fact that Jesus is present here. He is present here to meet with us. We are so blessed. He has not left us starving, but He gives Himself, the bread of life, to us. Let us partake of it by faith, and let us lift our eyes from these elements to heaven itself, where Jesus Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father, and from where He will come back. Your husband, your Master, will return to take His bride. Rejoice in that. Let us pray. Our Father and our God, help us now to humble ourselves, to confess our sins, to repent, and to take refuge in Jesus, and to partake of the elements of bread and wine by faith in Him who loved us and gave Himself up for us. We are beggars. But you have given us the pearl of great price. We are hungry, but you have given us the bread of life. We are thirsty, but you have given us the living water. Help us. to receive the Lord's Supper by faith and strengthen us in our pilgrimage that we might continue to honor and glorify you. Thank you for the death of Christ on the cross and his resurrection from the dead on the third day. Help us for we ask in Jesus name. Amen. People of God, in the night in which our Lord was betrayed, He took bread, He blessed it, He broke it, and He gave it to His disciples, as I, ministering in His name, give this bread to you. Our Lord Jesus said, this is my body which is given for you. Let us partake of it together. In the same manner, also our Savior, after having given thanks as has been done in his name, he gave this cup to his disciples as I am ministering in his name. Give the cup, the cup of the new covenant to you. The outer ring contains wine, I trust. I believe I didn't get it wrong. And then the inner ring contains the grape juice. so so Our Lord Jesus said, this is my blood which is shed for you for the remission of sins. Let's drink of it, all of us. Let's pray. Father and our God, we're so thankful for our Passover lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ, who died for our sins, the righteous for the ungodly, With his stripes, we are healed. He was bruised for our iniquities. He was chastised for our sins. The chastisement that brought us shalom was upon him. Oh, we are so thankful for Christ, our Lord, for his faithfulness, for his love and compassion for his people. We're so thankful that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. As we have been nourished and fed by your word and by the Lord's table, we pray that we would go out into the world with faith in Jesus. That we would be nourished and strengthened to live holy lives. That we would treat our bodies and our thoughts and our mouths as instruments of righteousness. that we would glorify you for we are the people of the Holy Spirit. We have been bought with a price. Oh, help us to glorify our Lord Jesus Christ and enjoy you, the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Thank you for feeding us. for giving us the bread of life. We rejoice in that. We pray this in Jesus' name, who taught us to pray, saying, Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Thank you, brothers. Let's turn to the Nicene Creed, people of God, found on page 852. As we come to the article where we confess that we believe in one holy catholic and apostolic church, let us remember the word catholic there refers to the universal church, the church of the Lord Jesus Christ across all times, places and peoples. The church, which was also the church of Moses and David and all the saints of the Old Testament and were united to them by our common faith in one Lord, our Lord Jesus Christ. So let us confess the gospel by reciting the Nicene Creed. Christian, in whom 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, and 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 worshiped 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. Let's turn to hymn 278, Nothing But the Blood, number 278. Let us stand if you're able and let us sing unto the Lord with cheerful voices, 278. What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know, nothing but the blood of Jesus. For my cleansing, this I see, nothing but the blood of Jesus. nothing but Jesus nothing but Nothing can force and atone Nothing but the blood of Jesus Not of good that I have done Nothing but the blood of Jesus The precious is the full That makes me whole Nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my hope and peace. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is all my righteousness, nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know, nothing but the blood of Jesus. Now by this I'll overcome. Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know, nothing but the blood of Jesus.