Our scripture reading this morning is Lamentations chapter 3. Lamentations chapter 3. We read the first 20 verses and then go to verse 37 and read through verse 41 the text where the sermon is, verse 41. Lamentations chapter three, beginning at verse one. I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. He hath led me and brought me into darkness, but not into light. Surely against me is he turned. He turneth his hand against me all the day. My flesh and my skin hath he made old. He hath broken my bones. He hath builded against me and compassed me with gall and travail. He hath set me in dark places as they that be dead of old. He hath hedged me about that I cannot get out. He hath made my chain heavy. Also, when I cry and shout, He shutteth out my prayer. He hath enclosed my ways with hewn stone. He hath made my paths crooked. He was unto me as a bear lying in wait, and as a lion in secret places. He hath turned aside my ways and pulled me in pieces. He hath made me desolate. He hath bent his bow and set me as a mark for the arrow. He hath caused the arrows of his quiver to enter into my reins. I was a derision to all my people and their song all the day. He hath filled me with bitterness. He hath made me drunken with wormwood. He hath also broken my teeth with gravel stones. He hath covered me with ashes. And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace. I forget prosperity. And I said, my strength and my hope is perished from the Lord, remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gull. My soul hath them still in remembrance and is humbled in me. This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning, great is thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, saith my soul, therefore will I hope in him. The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. Pause there. Verse five is the text for the sermon. Verse 25 is the text for the sermon this evening. Now we turn to verse 37. Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not, out of the mouth of the Most High, proceedeth not evil and good, Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins? Let us search and try our ways and turn again to the Lord. Let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens. So far we read God's holy word. The text then, verse 41, let us lift up our heart with our hands unto God in the heavens. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, you recall the historical circumstance for the church in the Old Testament at this time when these words were spoken by Jeremiah was very bad indeed. Because the people of God had forsaken Jehovah, and sought after other gods and had transgressed all the commandments of God, living in iniquity, God had given his people into the hands of the heathen Babylon. Thousands had been killed, young and old. The rest had been carried away into captivity. God had allowed his city, Jerusalem, of which the psalmist sings over and over of the beauty of the city of God, God had allowed this city to be trampled underfoot, to be laid waste. The throne of David was dismantled. The temple of God taken apart and destroyed. It was no more. Jeremiah was left He was allowed to remain behind with some of the poorest of the people of Judah and he wrote these lamentations expressing his grief, his deep, deep grief at what had happened to the church of God. Worst of all for Jeremiah is he knew that this was a judgment from God. He speaks of that in the context Verse 39, wherefore doth the living man complain a man for the punishment of his sins. God determined the destruction of Jerusalem. What must the remnant do? Those who had been carried away and those who remained in the land. Verse 40, let us search and try our ways and turn again unto the Lord. So were we called in this past week to search and try our ways. All the various aspects of our life, whether it was our life in the family, life in the church, life at work, life in our recreation, life with, as we think back to being students and how we conducted ourselves in school, whatever our life involved, that we would be looking at them, examining them, and trying them in the light of God's Word. And then turn unto the Lord, turn completely unto Jehovah. This kind of examination and turning is a daily requirement for us. It isn't merely for this time, but we were called especially to do that in this week. And if we did so, we saw that some of our ways were evil. There were things that we were doing that were simply wrong. They must be stopped. They must be taken out of our lives. Some things were not evil in themselves, But they clearly were not done for the glory of God. They were done because we enjoyed them and simply it was for our own flesh. Some things were perfectly right and yet there wasn't anything that wasn't polluted by sin. Not even Bible devotions at home. Everything is polluted. Certainly we saw the need to turn turn unto Jehovah. Did you see that? People of God. Then what? After we have seen our sins, after we have turned to the Lord, then what? The text tells us, then lift up our hearts with our hands unto the God in heaven. The text we consider is really a prayer. It's a prayer, how the believer turns to God. When he turns to him, he lifts up his hands and his heart, his heart to pray to God. This is a humbling of ourselves. This is asking for forgiveness, as Jeremiah does in the very next verse. We have transgressed and have rebelled. That's the first thing that he says when he lifts up his hands and prays to God. This is turning to God, not merely with the idea that we face him, but we turn to him because we love him and we want to have fellowship with him. That's our prayer. Much of that is applicable to the Lord's Supper as well. Both prayer and coming to the Lord's Supper are acts of worship. Coming to God. And you do not come to God as an equal. You come to worship Him. no matter when you come to Him. Both of them require, therefore, the same attitude, humility, and yet a certain confidence that all arises out of faith. That's the only way we can approach, by faith. Even there is similar language if you think of the form for the Lord's Supper. It says, now that we may obtain all these things, let us humble ourselves and implore, with true faith, implore His grace. So with the Lord's Supper in view, we have searched, we have tried, We have seen our sins, we have turned to the Lord. Now, let us lift up our hearts unto the God in heavens. That's the theme for the sermon, lifting our hearts unto God. We'll notice in the first place, the spiritual worship. Secondly, the heartfelt confession. And third, the desired blessing. We are to worship God, and we are to do so spiritually. The text describes the desire to pray to God spiritually. That's right worship. Prayer is worship. Lifting up our hands in prayer was the way that the Israelites would pray in the Old Testament. Lifting up their hands with their palms out and up to God and then praying to Him. That's evident from the way the scriptures speak of it. When Solomon dedicated the temple in 1 Kings 8, 22, we read Solomon stretched forth his hands toward heaven. And again, Psalm 141 verse two, let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice. You see how those things are all closely related, prayer and sacrifice, lifting up the hands is a part of their prayer. Likewise, 1 Timothy chapter two, Paul writes, I will therefore that men pray everywhere lifting up The Bible does not require that form of prayer that you and I must pray always with our hands lifted up and looking up to God. It doesn't require necessarily that form, but it does instruct us about the nature of prayer. the nature of prayer, that when a person comes before God to pray, he recognizes God is above me. God is not my equal. God is not a servant that I can look down upon and say, do this and do that. I look up because God is higher than I. God is in fact exalted above us in his glory. In his glory, Isaiah 6, 1, Isaiah says, I saw the Lord high, lifted up. Glorious was the vision he saw of God. Or God himself describing himself as the only God in Isaiah 40, 25. To whom then will ye liken me? Or shall I be equal, saith the Holy One? Lift up your eyes on high. And behold, who hath created these things, what that bringeth out their host by number. So the Israelites, by lifting up their hands to God, were saying, God is above me, God is glorious, far greater than anything of this earth. But there's something else there. Because it was a lifting up of the hands with the palms stretched out, it was saying to God, I have nothing. I have nothing. I can bring nothing. I am absolutely poor and wretched. Everything that I need, I must receive from God. That's what this form is saying. But it is of utmost importance that it be not merely a form that is adopted, that appears to worship, that appears humble, that appears to adore God in heaven. And then, speaking pious words, we must lift up our hearts, says the text. Lift up our hearts in this activity. If it is only an external form, then God abhors it. He said to Isaiah, this people honoreth me with their lips, but their heart, their heart is far from me. Jesus taught the Samaritan woman, God is spirit. They that worship him must worship him in spirit, and in truth. Spiritual worship. An external form is fine as long as it really is reflecting what is within. But if it's only an external form, it is abominable. The heart. The spirit. That's the point of the text. The heart is that spiritual side of us and it's the inward part as exposed, as opposed rather to our external body. The heart is the place where faith lives. The heart includes our thoughts and our will and our emotions and our intents. We must lift up our hearts to God in prayer. So it includes the body so that the body and the soul together are worshiping God. It isn't merely that the heart is and the body is unengaged. It is body and soul worshiping God. This is what prayer must be because prayer is spiritual. The position of the body, again, is part of that as it reflects what's inside us, body and soul, but prayer must not be only, merely outward. must be sincere, coming out of a heart that means it. We know and must know that God searches the heart. He knows every thought. He knows if we are bowed in worship before God, and yet our hearts are far from Him. Our resolve, therefore, we will lift up not only our hands, But our hearts, we will lift up our hearts unto God. This is something that applies to prayer, but it is absolutely the same for partaking of the Lord's Supper. This is to be a spiritual activity. We all pretty much know what is the form, the external form of the Lord's Supper. After a while, I will read part of the form that has been adopted and used in the Reformed churches for years. And then the bread is handed out by the elders to confessing members and the minister gives the bread to the elders. And the minister will say, the bread which we break, and so on, and all the confessing members will put the bread in their mouth, symbolizing the partaking of Christ's crucified body and shed blood. And then the wine will be distributed, and confessing members again will be commanded to drink of it. a symbol of the body of Jesus Christ, of the blood, rather, of Jesus Christ, which was shed for us. And all believers must partake, all confessing members, just as all of us must pray daily, so also believing, confessing members partake of the Lord's Supper. Unless there is some sin that has ensnared a person so that he cannot break away from it, refuses to give it up, then He must not partake. But partaking of the Lord's Supper, though it has all those recognized, common elements that we're accustomed to, must be a spiritual activity. We are coming to God. We are coming to His table. There's something very deficient about us handing it out to everyone and partaking. But if we had a table here and everyone would come up to the table, we would think about the fact I am coming to the Lord's table. Christ is here. I am coming to fellowship with my savior. That's what must be in our mind, even if we are sitting in the pew, partaking of the elements there. creatures, sinful creatures that we are, we come to God empty. We have nothing that we're bringing. We are only here to receive from God the things that our soul needs. Therefore this morning it must not be merely an external form. We must approach the table of the Lord with a buried with a profoundly spiritual attitude. The bread and the wine, though they are physically no different from what you might have at home or what you can purchase in the store, yet they are signs, pictures of the broken body of Jesus Christ, of the blood that he shed on Calvary. And not only that, but there is a sacramental union between the piece of bread that we put in our mouth and the very body of Jesus Christ crucified. There is a sacramental union between the wine that we drink and the blood of Jesus Christ. The Spirit is feeding our souls through the mouth of faith. This is a mystery, but this is what's happening this morning. As we eat the bread, the spirit is feeding our souls. Again, as we're looking at the bread and saying, that is a symbol of what Christ's body is, broken for me, for me. And so we worship. Besides that, there are the words that i will speak and yet we must not hear a man we must recognize these are the words of jesus christ addressing us and so we worship and that means we must lift up our hearts not as rome that lifts up the elements and says worship worship the elements but rather as the form says, lift up your hearts on high where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God. That's where he will be worshiped. That's where our hearts must be this morning as we partake a spiritual worship. Prayer must be that lifting up of our hands and our hearts. And so with the Lord's Supper. A spiritual worship, but at the same time there is an implied confession being made. The word confession in the Bible is used in two very different ways. It's really a double confession that is made in prayer and in the Lord's Supper. And the first is a confession of sin. Prayer almost always includes a confession of sin. Jeremiah does it in this prayer that he is speaking. Confesses the sins, his and the people. We have transgressed. We have rebelled. That's what a believer does. He does not try to cover up his sins. He does not make light of his sins. He confesses them openly before God. When we are in a spiritual frame of mind, we will do that because we know that we sin continually. And that sin is not a small matter. Sin is always an offense against God. And therefore, it must be confessed. Not once. or twice, or occasionally, but anyone who stands consciously before that holy God is immediately smitten by his own guilt, his own sin. He cannot confess his sins quickly enough. So it is with us as we approach the Lord's Supper. We are not coming to the Lord's Supper to claim that we are worthy, that we have a holy life. We've examined ourselves and our life is holy, that we are in fact quite a bit holier than most other people. We are not in any way claiming that or setting ourselves up above others. Nor are we saying we are worthy. that we are worthy, because we commit fewer sins than other people. Or because though we sin, yet we have these other good works that make it so that we are worthy to approach to the table of the Lord. Quite the opposite. By coming to the table of the Lord, every one of us is confessing, I am a sinner. If you were not a sinner, you would not need this. By coming, you are confessing, I am a sinner. I am guilty. I have broken God's law. I deserve only death. We confess I am horribly corrupt. I need the Lord's Supper exactly because the atoning blood of Jesus Christ is my only hope. I need reassurance. that Jesus Christ has died for me. We have taken special notice of our lives, we have examined our ways, and we know that we are polluted. We confess our sins. But there's something else that's part of prayer, and that is a confession of faith In prayer and in the Lord's Supper we confess our faith, faith in God. We know that we cannot approach God without that. Hebrews 11 says, but without faith it is impossible to please him, for he that cometh unto God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him, must believe. The sacrifices and the prayers of the ungodly are an abomination to God. The unbeliever is barred from making even a single request to God. God abhors his prayer. A prayer from the heart is a prayer of faith. They are synonymous. We pray confessing, I believe in this God. The Lord's Supper form even recognizes the importance of that as it puts the Apostles' Creed right into the form itself. And as we are approaching, getting ready to approach the table of the Lord, we are confessing, I believe. I believe in God. I believe in Jesus Christ. I believe in the Holy Spirit. I believe in God, I believe in His Son, Christ, and the blood of the cross. Who would dare to come to God not with some assurance that his sins are forgiven? Who would dare to come in his own right without the blood of Jesus Christ? covering Him, knowing the dreadful punishment, eternal wrath, eternal hell that awaits those who reject God, that even one sin makes me worthy of eternal death, who would dare to come to God unless he had faith in Jesus Christ. And the same thing is true of the Lord's Supper. By coming to the Supper, we are confessing our faith. I believe in Jesus. I believe in His atoning death. And I believe that His death covered my sins. That's our confession. The full salvation is in Jesus. Nothing can be added to it. My sins are completely paid for. completely righteous, justified by faith in Jesus Christ. When we lift up our hearts and hands to God in prayer, or when we come to the table of the Lord, we are confessing our sins. We are confessing our faith in God and in Jesus Christ. And we come, therefore, desiring a blessing. We desire that our faith be strengthened. And that particular part of faith, that is assurance, confidence, confidence that our sins are forgiven indeed. How Jeremiah needed that as he stood among the ruins of Jerusalem probably dead bodies scattered all over the city. God's wrath so heavy upon them. He needed the assurance that their sins were forgiven. And so do we. And we know that if we do not pray for it, For the forgiveness of our sins, God does not give it. And we know that sin begins to push us away from God. Instead of seeking him, we're going in the wrong direction and they become a cloud that separates us from God. No believer can live that way. Remove the sins. I need to know that they are taken away. And so it is with the Lord's Supper. It's a sign and seal. that the blood of Jesus Christ has indeed forgiven all our sins. We see it with our eyes, the bread broken. We taste it with our mouth. We hear the words of Jesus Christ that this is indeed his body broken for us. This is indeed his blood shed for us. We need to be assured of that. in our daily life. And so, as really as you partake of it, so really did Jesus die for your sins. That strengthens our weak faith. That's what we're seeking. A stronger faith. We may pray for this as the Lord's Supper does as well praise for a stronger faith. This is good and right, but this is one of the means of the Lord's Supper. One of the purposes is exactly to strengthen our faith. And God, who knows how much we rely on our eyes and our senses, will give us this added confirmation of the promises of the gospel. and strengthen our faith in Jesus Christ. Not to use it, of course, is to despise the means that God has given us for the strengthening of our faith. So that, first of all, we are seeking the strengthening, the assurance of our faith. but we seek also the grace, the transforming grace, the power of God. The Lord's Supper is a means of grace that God has given to us, the grace that we need to fight sin, the evils that we saw in our lives, the wrong attitudes, the wrong direction that we may have been walking. We need strength to fight sin. But we also need grace for the trials of life, for the trials of life. Jeremiah had griefs and trials that we cannot even imagine. And so it happens that we also have trials in life that make life very difficult. We need grace to hold us up. Every one of us needs it. Sometimes the burden is heavier than other times. We need it. We need it not only to fight sin and to bear up under adversity, but to walk in a positive way, a new and godly life that's not going to come out of us naturally. It is the power of God's grace that gives us the desire and the ability to begin to serve Him faithfully in whatever calling and station God has given us in this life. That's our desire. May God grant that desire to us this morning as we lift up our hearts with our hands to God and as we partake of the Lord's Supper. spiritually. Amen. Let us pray. Father in heaven, we bow before Thee with thankful hearts for the wonder of salvation that we have in Jesus Christ. Now we pray, apply Thy Word to our souls, and may it direct us properly to partake of this blessing of the Lord's Supper. This we pray in Jesus' name, amen. We turn now to the form for the administration of the Lord's Supper, found on page 91 in the back of the Psalter. Again, to read actually on page 92. Oh, no, I'm sorry. Page 91, the first part, the first column of the Supper, Lord's Supper. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, attend to the words of the institution of the Holy Supper of our Lord Jesus Christ as they are delivered by the Holy Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 11, 23 through 29. For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread. And when he had given thanks, he break it and said, take, eat. This is my body, which is broken for you. This do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup when he had supped, saying, this cup is the New Testament in my blood. This do ye, as often as ye drink it in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come. Wherefore, whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup, For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body. That we now celebrate the supper of the Lord to our comfort is above all things necessary, first rightly to examine ourselves, secondly, to direct it to that end for which Christ hath ordained and instituted the same, namely, to his remembrance. Now we read the section on self-examination, so we turn to page 92, the second column. Let us now also consider to what end the Lord hath instituted His supper, namely, that we do it in remembrance of Him. Now after this manner are we to remember Him by it first. that we are confidently persuaded in our hearts that our Lord Jesus Christ, according to the promises made to our forefathers in the Old Testament, was sent of the Father into the world, that he assumed our flesh and blood, that he bore for us the wrath of God under which we should have perished everlastingly. from the beginning of his incarnation to the end of his life upon earth. And that he hath fulfilled for us all obedience to the divine law and righteousness, especially when the weight of our sins and the wrath of God pressed out of him the bloody sweat in the garden, where he was bound that we might be freed from our sins that he afterwards suffered innumerable reproaches, that we might never be confounded, that he was innocently condemned to death, that we might be acquitted at the judgment seat of God. Yea, that he suffered his blessed body to be nailed on the cross, that he might fix thereon the handwriting of our sins. and hath also taken upon himself the curse due to us, that he might fill us with his blessings, and hath humbled himself unto the deepest reproach and pains of hell, both in body and soul, on the tree of the cross, when he cried out with a loud voice, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? That we might be accepted of God. and never be forsaken of him. And finally, confirmed with his death and the shedding of his blood, the new and eternal testament, that covenant of grace and reconciliation, when he said, it is finished. Secondly, that we might firmly believe that we belong to this covenant of grace The Lord Jesus Christ in his last supper took bread. And when he had given thanks, he break it and gave to his disciples and said, take, eat. This is my body, which is broken for you. This do in remembrance of me. In like manner also after supper, he took the cup, gave thanks and said, drink ye all of it. This cup is the New Testament in my blood, which is shed for you and for many for the remission of sins. This do ye as often as ye drink it in remembrance of me. That is, as often as ye eat of this bread and drink of this cup, ye shall thereby, as by a sure remembrance and pledge, Be admonished and assured of this my hearty love and faithfulness towards you, that whereas you should otherwise have suffered eternal death, I have given my body to the death of the cross and shed my blood for you. And as certainly feed and nourish your hungry and thirsty souls with my crucified body and shed blood to everlasting life, as this bread is broken before your eyes and this cup is given to you and you eat and drink the same with your mouth in remembrance of me. From this institution of the Holy Supper of our Lord Jesus Christ, we see that our Lord Jesus Christ, we see that he directs our faith and trust to his perfect sacrifice once offered on the cross as to the only ground and foundation of our salvation, wherein He has become to our hungry and thirsty souls the true meat and drink of life eternal. For by His death He hath taken away the cause of our eternal death and misery, namely sin, and obtained for us the quickening spirit, that we by the same who dwelleth in Christ as in the head, and in us as his members, might have true communion with him, and be made partakers of all his blessings, of life eternal, righteousness and glory. Besides, that we by this same spirit may also be united as members of one body and true brotherly love, as the holy apostles saith, For we being many are one bread and one body, for we are all partakers of that one bread. Whereas out of many grains one meal is ground and one bread baked, and out of many berries being pressed together one wine floweth and mixeth itself together, so shall we all, who by a true faith are engrafted into Christ, be altogether one body. through brotherly love, for Christ's sake, our beloved Savior, who has so exceedingly loved us. And not only show this in word, but also in very deed towards one another. Here to assist us, the almighty God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, through his Holy Spirit, amen. That we may obtain all this, let us humble ourselves before God, and with true faith implore His grace. Let us pray. O most merciful God and Father, we beseech Thee that Thou wilt be pleased in this supper, in which we commemorate the glorious remembrance of the bitter death of Thy beloved Son, Jesus Christ, to work in our hearts, through the Holy Spirit, that we may be daily more and more with true confidence, give ourselves up unto thy Son, Jesus Christ. That our afflicted and contrite hearts, through the power of the Holy Ghost, may be fed and comforted with his true body and blood. Yea, with him, true God and man, that only heavenly bread. that we may no longer live in our sins, but he in us and we in him and thus truly be made partakers of the new and everlasting covenant of grace. That we may not doubt, but thou wilt forever be our gracious father, never more imputing our sins unto us and providing us with all things necessary as well for the body as the soul. as thy beloved children and heirs. Grant us also thy grace that we may take up our cross cheerfully, deny ourselves, confess our Savior, and in all tribulations with uplifted heads, expect our Lord Jesus Christ from heaven. For he will make our mortal bodies like unto his most glorious body, and take us unto him in eternity. our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Strengthen us also by this Holy Supper in the Catholic, undoubted Christian faith, whereof we make confession with our mouths and hearts, saying, I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, his only begotten Son, our Lord. who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried, he descended into hell. The third day he rose again from the dead, He ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From thence he shall come to judge the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit. I believe in Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen. While the table is being prepared, we will sing 233, stanzas two and three. 233, the second and the third stanzas. ♪ For all the victory I've won ♪ ♪ Rejoice, my servant, for to thee ♪ ♪ I lift my soul for most high ♪ sky. Lord, Thou, O Lord, art good and kind, and ready to forgive the mind. Love, love, and mercy, we shall find, that we may now be fed with the true heavenly bread, Christ Jesus, let us not cleave with our hearts unto the external bread and wine, but lift them up on high in heaven, where Christ Jesus is our advocate at the right hand of his heavenly Father, where all the articles of our faith lead us, not doubting, but we shall as certainly be fed and refreshed in our souls, through the working of the Holy Ghost, with his body and blood, as we receive the holy bread and wine in remembrance of him. John chapter 19. Then Pilate therefore took Jesus and scourged him, and the soldiers plaited a crown of thorns and put it on his head. And they put on him a purple robe and said, Hail, King of the Jews. And they smote him with their hands. Pilate therefore went forth again and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you that ye may know that I find no fault in him. Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe, and Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man. And the chief priests, therefore, and officers saw him. They cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Take ye him and crucify him, for I find no fault in him. The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God. When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid, and went again into the judgment hall, and saith unto Jesus, Whence art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer. Then said Pilate unto him, Speakest thou not unto me? knowest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee? Jesus answered, Thou couldst have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above. Therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin. And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him. But the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend. Whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar. When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the pavement, but in the Hebrew Gabbatha. And it was the preparation of the Passover about the sixth hour. And he saith unto the Jews, behold your king. But they cried out, away with him, away with him, crucified him. And Pilate saith unto them, shall I crucify your king? And the chief priests answered, we have no king. but Caesar. Then delivered he them, therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus and led him away. The bread which we break is the communion of the body of Christ. Take, eat, and do so in remembrance of him. you The cup of blessing which we bless is the communion of the blood of Christ. Drink ye all of it and do so in remembrance of him. We love it in the Lord. Since the Lord hath now fed our souls at this table, let us therefore jointly praise his holy name with thanksgiving, and everyone say in his heart thus. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. who forgiveth all thine iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases, who redeemeth thy life from destruction, who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities, For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy towards them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. Who hath not spared his own son, but delivered him up for us all, and given us all things with him, And God therefore commendeth therewith his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more than being now justified in his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. Therefore, shall my mouth and heart show forth the praise of the Lord from this time forth forevermore. Amen. Let us bow before our God in a prayer of thanksgiving. O Almighty, Merciful God and Father, we render Thee most humble and hearty thanks that Thou hast of Thine infinite mercy given us Thine only begotten Son for a mediator and a sacrifice for our sins, and to be our meat and drink unto life eternal, and that Thou givest us lively faith whereby we are made partakers of such great benefits. Thou hast been pleased that thy beloved Son, Jesus Christ, should institute and ordain His Holy Supper for the confirmation of the same. Grant, we beseech thee, O faithful God and Father, that through the operation of thy Holy Spirit, the commemoration of the death of our Lord Jesus Christ may tend to the daily increase of our faith and saving fellowship with him. Through Jesus Christ, thy Son, in whose name we conclude our prayer saying, Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on 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. While the thank offering for benevolence is being received, we turn back to Psalter number 233. We will sing stanzas one and four through six. Stanzas one and four through six of 233. Glory in the highest. Lord, if thy might is to be, Thy voice of supplication be, In trouble I will rise to Thee, For Thou wilt answer when I plea. For Thou wilt There is no God but Thee, O Lord, Lord who is like Thine, O Lord, most High. All creatures shall serve Thou, Thine Lord, heaven-created, glorified, heaven-created, In all thy deeds, how great thou art, Thou art to run thy way with clear. Teach me, O Lord, in thine impart, To trust thy truth, thy name to hear. ♪ Do just as you have been to me ♪ ♪ Oh, passerby of my life ♪ The same be his glorious name Long as the ages shall pass. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.