I'd like to thank you for joining with us tonight for our special communion at Christmas. And as we approach the Lord's table, we pause to recall the purpose for which the eternal Son became man. Paul explains that in 1 Timothy 1 and the verse 15 when he says, this is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. John the Baptist sent to prepare the way of the Lord, to acclaim the arrival of the light that would lighten man's darkness. He announced As we know in those familiar words in John 1 and in verse 29, the next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. And our Lord Himself, speaking to Nicodemus, emphasized the reason why He came by saying in John 3.16, For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." We'll bow together in prayer as we approach the Lord and come to His table tonight. Our heavenly Father, we thank Thee that Thou hast not left us guessing as to why the Savior came. It was said to Mary, It was said to Joseph, but it had been prophesied for hundreds of years before that. Even Daniel talked about Messiah when He came. He would be cut off, but not for Himself. We find, thee, that back in the Psalms, in that Psalm 22, the Psalm of the cross, it becomes very obvious why Messiah would come and what He would do when He would come. We thank Thee that Zechariah talked about in that day. There shall be a fountain opened for sin and for uncleanness. And right through all of the Old Testament prophets, we have them pointing, as one of our hymns says, those types, in fact, In terms of animal sacrifices, they were, too, only pointing to the paschal Lamb of God. And so, tonight, we can say, hallelujah, I'm depending on the blood. Father, we pray that that is all we will be depending upon, the perfect life and the vicarious sacrifice of the Lord our Savior, God's appointed way. and God's anointed Son. We thank Thee for the only begotten. We thank Thee for the only way. As we sing in Sunday School, One Way, God said to get to heaven, Jesus is the only way. And as we remember at this time of year, typically, the first coming of our Lord into our world, we recall that He came for that express purpose, that He would offer His life at ransom for sinners. He would open the life gate that we may go in. And Lord, we pray that many others beyond us, within our family circle, within our friends and connections and neighbors as well, will come to know the Lord. We think of those that have been tuned in to our meetings this week already. And we thank Thee for the incredibly good response. And Lord, we pray that Thou wilt cause many of those souls who were as yet unconverted, before the week is out, before this night is out, to come in repentance and faith to Jesus Christ, brought and led and activated by His Spirit. And may Thee find to all who have sought Me, Thou never saidst no, May they cry, wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Come and answer our prayer, meet with us as we meet around the table of the Lord here tonight. May thy presence be blessed, and may our fellowship with thee and communion with thee be sweet. We pray in Jesus' name and ask for God's eternal glory. Amen. Perhaps you could turn with me in the Word of God to the gospel of Luke and to the chapter 22. The gospel of Luke, the 22nd chapter, and we will read from verse 7. Luke chapter 22 and the verse 7. Then came the day of unleavened bread, when the Passover must be killed. And he sent Peter and John, saying, Go and prepare us the Passover that we may eat. And they said unto him, Where wilt thou that we prepare? And he said unto them, Behold, when ye are entered into the city, there shall a man meet you, bearing a pitcher of water. Follow him into the house where he entereth in. And ye shall say unto the good man of the house, The master saith unto thee, Where is the guest chamber? where I shall eat the Passover with my disciples, and he shall show you a large upper room furnished. There make ready.' And they went and found, as he had said unto them, and they made ready the Passover. And when the hour was come, he sat down and the twelve apostles with him, and he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you, before I suffer. For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God." And he took the cup and gave thanks and said, take this and divide it among yourselves. For I say unto you, I will not eat of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God shall come. And he took bread, and gave thanks, and break it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body, which is given for you, this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you. But behold, the hand of him that betrayeth me is with me at the table. And truly the Son of Man goeth as it was determined, but woe unto that man by whom he is betrayed." They began to inquire among themselves which of them it was that should do this thing. We know that God Himself will add His blessing onto the reading of His Word tonight. We could well have also turned over to the book of Hebrews. We'll let you do that at your own convenience later. Hebrews chapter 10, though we will refer to a verse out of that on the way through tonight that would have tallied in with what we have read in Luke 22, verse 7 through to 20, though we overshot some little bit on that. lying in that Bethlehem manger is the first and the fullest gift of Christmas. It's a gift that's wrapped, but not in garish glitter, but in unflattering, inexpensive swaddling clothes. From that stage on, over the course of the next thirty-plus years, many things will happen. And if the full account of our Lord's life and ministry here upon the earth should be recorded, then we know what John said about that. Towards the end of his book in John 21, the verse 25, he said, I suppose that the very world itself could not contain the books that would need to be written. One preacher has described the path that our Lord took from His birth through to His death as being from the stable to the table." And the table that he had in mind is that upon which this last supper was served. We are entitling it from the cradle to the table, or from the manger to the table tonight. On front of our communion table, we have the words that you would expect to see in just about any other communion table, this do in remembrance of me. And when we draw aside from everything else to observe this gospel ordinance, as our Lord mandated we should, it is always a time of remembrance. It's a recollection of the difference the Lord Jesus Christ makes in a human life, past, present, and future. Christmas, I'm sure you tuned in, if you had an opportunity tonight prior to coming here, to Reverend Ron Johnson, and he gave a line in the middle of his talk saying that Christmas literally means Christ sent forth. And on that basis tonight, we are considering Christmas past. Speaking of Christ being sent forth, in incarnation, in this virgin birth. Our Lord was born, and He was born in order to die. There was no glossing over the fact. This was exactly why He came. He came to offer Himself a sacrifice for sinners. And Paul explains to us the reason why our Lord was sent forth in Galatians 4, the verse 4 and 5, but when the fullness of the time was come, God sent sent forth," those are the words, sent forth His Son made of a woman, made under the law. Why did He do that? To redeem them that were under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons. The price for that redemption, the adoption of sons, that redemption of those who were under the law, the price of redemption was blood. It is always blood. In this case, the blood of God, Acts 20 and the verse 28. And so our Lord Jesus came to lay down His life as a ransom payment, a sacrifice for our sins. Then Paul further confirms that as being the reason behind that appearance at Bethlehem in Hebrews 10, the verse 5, wherefore? When he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a budding hast thou prepared me." And if you listened in last night, you would have heard Sally quote that very verse. The reason why the incarnation happened, this being made flesh so that there was a vacuum in which to suffer the death of the cross. And this death by sacrifice, it was only made possible by His birth. In other words, before there was going to be a cross, there had to be this cradle. I'm sure we'll all agree that there's something special about little babies. Precious and perfect, simple, sincere, many other words we could use to describe them. Maybe skin there, a paper-soft skin, and the smell of that little baby will be quite unique as well. And those newborn babes, as you look at them, there's something about that sight. It'll strengthen your soul and you'll almost think As you look in there that, oh, there's no way that this little child here could have possibly a sin nature about it, and you might conclude that, were it not from the fact that this book says otherwise, and experience has taught us, that's been gathered over many years, just how God's verdict is so true. The Old Testament It's centered on the sacrifice of unblemished animals. And Christ Jesus, replacing all of those animals, he was to be the once and for all sacrificial lamb. And so we read in Hebrews 10 and 10, by the witch will, we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. He's God's gift for our redemption. And again, I emphasize it, this was only made possible by His birth. That's how necessary the incarnation was. Then this death, not only made possible by His birth, it was made meaningful by His life. When, as a tiny gift, our Lord appeared in our world, this gift kept on giving, kept on growing, and He always kept from sinning. Theologians would call it, He was impeccable. And that's exactly what he was, not able to sin. Not just holding himself back from sin, but not able to sin. This lamb was perfect. living the life that sinful man could never live, and weaving a robe of righteousness for us to wear that we could never have produced ourselves. Spotless, Lamb of God was He. Full atonement can it be. Hallelujah. What a Savior, born to die, that we might live. And what a glorious salvation that is. made possible by his birth, made meaningful by his life, made monumental by his resurrection. Because there he showed that he had conquered death, conquered the grieve, conquered the devil, conquered hell, and that means his gift keeps giving eternally. So we've talked about Christmas past, our Lord Jesus Christ being sent forth in incarnation, but then Christmas present, our Lord Jesus Christ being sent forth in communion, in communion. That's the purpose of this wonderful gift of life eternal, so that you and I every day, having received with the empty hands of faith and through repentance the gift that God has given, so that day by day we will grow and develop and know Him better every day. You'll recall the record of that incident. We find it in Luke chapter 24. Just after He had risen from the dead, a road appeared to two that were on the road to Emmaus that day, and during that journey, as He attached Himself to them, He explained the cross, because their knowledge of that was pretty deficient, and He gave them also a thoroughgoing edu-was-ed, theological education on the significance of Jesus Christ right through the Old Testament Scriptures, and beginning at Moses, we're told, and all the prophets. That would have been a wonderful compendium of biblical knowledge about Christ that He revealed that day. What would you not have given to have been on that journey? But eventually, eventually, that evening, He was made known to them in the breaking of bread. And as we come to break bread in His name together tonight, we're reminding ourselves that the Lord's Supper is the sign of our Lord's presence among His people and of their unity in Him. Physically, our Lord Jesus Christ, right now, is located at the right hand of the Father in heaven. So there is no transformation of this physical bread and wine that we have here tonight. There is no transformation into his physical body on the basis of what the Bible said. The church determined at one of its major historical meetings, it was called the Council of Chalcedon back in 431 A.D., they determined at that council that Christ's humanity is not mingled with His deity. So that humanity, in other words, cannot be spread out over space. It is located in one place. Therefore, in the Lord's Supper, it's the Holy Spirit who communicates Jesus to us. And this table is a matter of coming down with Jesus Christ. But our Lord at no time is coming to hide in the mere elements of bread and wine, but He's with us. Horatius Bonner, the Scottish preacher, puts it brilliantly. It's in one of our hymns. Here, O my Lord, I see thee face to face. Here would I touch and handle things unseen. Here grasp with firmer hand the eternal grace and all my weariness upon thee lean. Here would I feed upon the bread of God. Here drink with thee the royal wine of heaven. Here would I lay aside each earthly load. Here taste afresh the calm of sin forgiven. This is the hour of banquet and of song. This is the heavenly table spread for me. Here let me feast. And feasting still prolong the brief, bright hour of fellowship with thee. That's the emphasis tonight, that we are communing with Him, having fellowship with Him at His table. And the Lord's Supper, as we observe it, will always act upon it. When we receive it in faith, we'll derive benefit. We'll get nourishment from spiritually feeding in Christ. But when we sin and when we harbor that iniquity that means we're abusing His supper. Then we receive the judgment from God as that Corinthian church did in 1 Corinthians 11, verse 27 to 34. But it's communion. And that communion is an action word. It means to have a fellowship with, to participate in, to share together, to have in common. We are not just keeping a dead memory alive here tonight at this table. We are entering into the presence of that One who lived, died, was raised again by the power of God, and is alive forevermore. Christmas should be much more about this table than it ever should be about the cradle. And as we leave this table, this communion that we enjoy must continue. Our Lord wants us to think often of Him. He wants us to walk as He walked, 1 Peter 2 and 21, for even here on to whom were ye called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that we should follow His steps. Christmas passed. Christ sent forth in incarnation. Christmas present, Christ sent forth in communion. Christmas future, as you have up on screen there, points to Christ being sent forth in revelation. Christmas future, Christ being sent forth in revelation. Coming to the table tonight, we're not just being reminded As 1 Corinthians 5 and 7 does, Christ, our Passover, is sacrifice for us. But this table jogs our memories to solemnly consider what the angel said to the disciples in Acts 1.11, this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. And is this not exactly what we are told in what we have in the Bible, the most detailed description of the communion feast in 1 Corinthians chapter 11 in verse 26? For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do shew forth the Lord's death till he come. And so there's an announcement in participating at the table tonight. We're making a proclamation. We are saying, Jesus is coming again. When we partake of our Lord's Supper, we remember the promise of His return. And really, when you think of it, what is often called, and I have just called, the Last Supper, was not really the last at all. For there's a supper coming, the married supper of the Lamb, the table is already being set. I read of it in Revelation 19. Let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife hath made herself ready, and to her was granted that she should be a red and fine linen, clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And he saith unto me, Right, blessed are they which are called unto the married supper of the Lamb, and what a blessing that is." And of course, we are delighted to have received our invitation. And may all who tune in tonight over the internet even, may they receive one too. What a revelation that will be then. Every eye shall see Him. I was thinking of that hymn that we would often think of and sing at communion seasons, Wounded for Me. But dropping down to the final verse of that hymn, Coming for Me. coming for me. One day to earth He is coming for me, then with what joy His dear face I shall see. Oh, how I praise Him! He's coming for me." And as we think tonight of what are really the three tenses of Christmas, past tense and present and future, let's remember that our past is forgiven and forgotten. Our present, we're enjoying the gift of a life that cannot be bought, but has been purchased, redeemed for us, a life that we ought to be spending in communion with Him. And our future, while it's unwritten and it's unknown, And we don't know what's around the next corner, unknown except for the end, unscripted apart from its conclusion, its final chapter, because we know what the back of the book says. We will reign in glory with Him. And let's give thanks tonight for the cradle, the manger, where it all started. in terms of in this life with the appearance of the incarnate Christ, for the sinless life, for the body, for the blood poured out sacrifice for us, for the one who was born to die so that we might live, who rose as a guarantee this work is done completely, to the one who will return so that we will dwell with Him forever. Let's briefly pray. Heavenly Father, take our thanks for the Lord Jesus tonight. Without Him, as the little chorus says, without Him we would be nothing. Without Him, we'd surely feel. Without Him, we'd be drifting like a ship without a seal. Lord, we thank Thee that He is everything. As Paul said, He is all in all. He covers all the bases. He's the Alpha right through to Omega. He is the One who has taken care of our past, is with us in our present, and will bring us gloriously to the full revelation of Himself in our future. Take our thanks as we meet around Thy table now. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.