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good evening everybody for our call to worship for this evening's worship you can turn with me to Isaiah 52 verse 13 Isaiah 52 verse 13 we're gonna read beginning at verse 13 and all the way through Isaiah 53 as we learn about our Lord this evening as we take and remember the Lord's Supper so notice Isaiah 52 begin reading at verse 13 behold my servant shall deal prudently he shall be exalted and extolled and be very high just as many were astonished at you so his visit was marred more than any man and his form more than the sons of men so shall he sprinkle many nations Kings shall shut their mouths at him for what had not been told them they shall see and what they had not heard they shall consider who has believed our report and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed for he shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of dry ground he has no form or comeliness and when we see him there is no beauty that we should desire him he is despised and rejected by men a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and we hid as it were our faces from him he was despised and we did not esteem him surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows yet we esteemed him stricken smitten by God and afflicted but he was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement for our peace was upon him and by His stripes we are healed and we like sheep have gone astray we have turned every one to his own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all he was oppressed and he was afflicted yet he opened not his mouth he was led as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before it's Shearer's is silent so he opened not his mouth so he's taken from prison and from judgment and who will declare his generation for he was cut off from the land of the living for the transgression of my people he was stricken and they made his grave with the wicked but with the rich at his death because he had no violence nor was any deceit in his mouth and it pleased the Lord to bruise him he was he has put him to grief when you make when you make his soul an offering for sin he shall see his seed he shall prolong his days and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand he shall see the labor of his soul and be satisfied by his knowledge my righteousness my righteous servant shall justify many for he shall bear their iniquities therefore I will divide him a portion with the Great and he shall divide the spoil with the strong because he poured out his soul unto death and he was numbered with the transgressors and he bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors Amen well for our first hymn this evening you can turn with me in your larger trendy hymnal to him number 193 that's him 193 if you are able we'll stand and sing together hymn 193 [Music] [Applause] [Music] the Lord God Almighty we thank you for this time that we can come into your house we thank you God that you're pleased to dwell with your people we thank you that you dwell with us through the Lord Jesus Christ by the Spirit we pray that your spirit would be at with us this evening as we look and think concerning the great wonder of the Lord Jesus Christ that great act of redemption how he lived died and rose again on behalf of his people Oh God we thank you for this gospel we thank you for the proclamation of free and sovereign grace and we thank you O God that you were pleased to save sinners in Christ we think that he came in the world to save sinners O God that his people might have everlasting life father god help us to ponder these things and think upon these things and meditate on the truth of the gospel for those that know the Lord we pray that we would marvel at these things and know that we are not our own we are purchased by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ that we are saved by him that we are righteous in your sight because of him and even now we are being sanctified by your spirit to be conformed to the image of Christ our Lord we thank you that you are pleased to do this through means O God through the preaching of your word and even through the sacraments we thank you for baptism o God for those who profess faith in Christ have an outward symbol of it an outward sign of an inward work O God that cleansing of sin being grafted into Christ our Lord and endeavoring to walk in newness of life we thank you for the Lord's Supper we thank you for the spiritual nourishment it has we thank you O God that we participate by faith that our Lord is at the right hand of God nothing changes nothing the elements remain elements but we partake by faith O God we thank you that you do we do this by your spirit as we have take this for spiritual nourishment we pray O God that this would accompany the word and we pray that the word would go forth this evening in a mighty way we pray that you be with our brother as he proclaims your word that your word would go forth that sinners might be saved O God that we might partake visibly of the word of God in the Lord's Supper we thank you that this preaches Christ until he comes o God may we participate with faith partake with faith O God may you nourish us and strengthen us by your word and by the supper this evening and father God we pray for those in our midst who struggle physically we pray that you be with again with our dear sister Bev help her and strengthen her O God comfort her during this time knowing that the outward man decays but the inner man is renewed day by day give her comfort to know the fact that because Christ has passed through death though she might and many of us will pass through death O God we thank you that we can pass through this knowing that death has been defeated through the work of the Lord Christ comforter this night O God we know that you are with your people who struggle in a mighty way we pray that you continue to be with her and many others by your spirit father God we prayed to be with mrs. favor this evening we thank you for the we pray that you be with her with respect to what's coming up on Tuesday with the cat-scan we pray that you would bless the doctors there and we pray that you'd be just blessed in this in this time o God be with them and be with the doctors as they discover certain things and we pray that you be with her this night and father God we pray that you would again be with us by your spirit helping us and strengthen us by your spirit help us to be awake and attentive for your word as it comes forth O God for we does not we we need to be awake for we are in your house o God for your the God of heaven and earth o God yet we come to hear your word preached we come to sing your praises for you are the true in the Living God you are the one from everlasting to everlasting you are the one who is infinite eternal and unchangeable help us to remember these things O God for we change we we we change we are finite oh god yea we can rest in you for you are a true God our Living God the one we can find hope the one who is our rock and our salvation who is our rock and our strength who is our refuge and Our Strength a mighty fortress is our God a bulwark never failing we confess these things to you we confess that we have sinned against you we confess that we have not trusted you as we are we confess so God that we've transgressed your law we have not loved you and loved others forgive us for these things o God we pray that you protect us now as we go out into the world pray that you'd help us to do that which is right in your sight for your the God who has saved us you're the God who has demonstrated your great mercy where you came sent the Lord Jesus in the world to save sinners and we you know that this is motivated by your great and eternal love a love that we do not know except that is only found in you and we see love in the work of the Lord Christ who came live died and rose again we pray that this would comfort us and strengthen us O God and we pray that you'd be glorified now in the name of Christ amen well for him before the preaching you can turn again in your larger Trinity hymnal to him 173 that's him 1 7 3 if you are able we'll stand and sing together hymn 173 [Music] they can turn in your Bibles to first Peter chapter one my first Peter chapter 1 we're gonna pick up reading in verse 10 and read to verse 21 so this is first Peter chapter 1 beginning in verse 10 the Word of God of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully who prophesied of the grace that would come to you searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when he testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow to them it was excuse me to them it was revealed that not to themselves but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven things which angels desire to look into therefore gird up the loins of your mind be sober and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ as obedient children not conforming yourselves to the former lusts as in your ignorance but as he who called you is holy you also be holy in all your conduct because it is written be holy for I am holy and if you call on the father who without partiality judges according to each one's work conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your father's but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot he indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world but was manifest in these last times for you who through him believe in God who raised him from the dead and gave him glory so that your faith and hope are in God amen will let us pray God we thank you for your time now in the preaching of the word we would pray that you would now be glorified in our midst we pray God that Christ would be Array hi we do pray Lord God that we would be nourished and fed and strengthened by your word and by your spirit and we do pray Lord God that Saints would be well instructed and well equipped that sinners would be saved and that once again God having gathered and Lord's Day Sabbath evening you would be honored that you would be glorified and that your people would be strengthened for a new week we do pray be with us now and might your name be hallowed in the name of Jesus Christ our Savior amen what Peter is doing in his first epistle is he's doing what Paul does in his epistles is he's setting forth the beautiful and the glorious doctrine of salvation by a triune God in order to exhort his audience obviously he wants his audience to rejoice in the salvation afforded perfectly by Father Son and spirit particularly through the perfect saving work of Jesus Christ the Lord but he's also using that blessed theology as the means to encourage them a in the midst of persecution and be unto good works in the midst of that persecution we see here many exhortations throughout the Epistle to be obedient to the civil magistrate to submit to one another and good works to gird up the loins of their minds being sober resting their hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to them in the revelation of Jesus Christ to be holy for God is holy and these things rest upon these glorious truths that he brings out in the Epistle and one of the truths that he brings out in verses 18 to 20 is the perfect sacrifice rendered by Christ upon Calvary's cross so we come tonight to observe the Lord's Supper what we want to do tonight is to examine the the breadth and the depth the the scope or the extent of that remembrance what are we remembering surely we are remembering the death of our Lord Jesus Christ but what does that mean and what does that contain in in a matter of forty one and a half minutes we probably won't be able to to do that to proper justification but nevertheless in our time to get let's have a look at what the passage sets before us that we might only mine some of the riches therein we want to notice three things as we work through these this text tonight and those three are simply these the value of the death remembered the divine purpose in the death remembered and then lastly the singular uniqueness and certain truth of the death remembered so first the value of the death remembered notice what we have beginning in verse 18 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your father's but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot hopefully you see here the value of the death remembered the value of in our salvation and the value that we are to attach our souls to does not rest upon physical and passing and corruptible things but it rests upon eternal and incorruptible things and so we see first under the death of or the value of the death remembered that it was not according to the perceived value of earthly things and that's what the text says here there's a there's a negative statement it's helpful when we have these in the Holy Scriptures where the authors say what something isn't and what we are not to rest our souls upon before giving us the truth and the clarity of what we are to rest our souls upon and so first it was not the death remembered according to the perceived value of earthly things notice here knowing verse 18 that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold just very briefly we are not redeemed by the perceived value of earthly things or the value in the death that is remembered at the Lord's Supper does not rest upon the perceived value of earthly things we are not redeemed Peter says with corruptible things like silver or gold you know we we can in our humanity we can with that remaining corruption inordinate ly attach ourselves and our hope and our joy and our happiness to earthly all the while setting aside if perhaps only for a moment or moments Christ and notice what we have in Jeremiah 9 at verse 23 and just to set a little bit of the stage here God through Jeremiah is announcing the destruction of Jerusalem God through Jeremiah is not saying judgment might come but he is rather saying judgment is coming because of your covenant Elan faithfulness because of your apostasy and your idolatry your judgment from God is coming upon you and so he wants to set or align their hearts to proper things and away from improper things and notice what he says here God through the prophet in jeremiah 9:23 thus says the lord let not the wise man glory in his wisdom let not the mighty man glory in his might nor let the rich man glory in his riches but let him who glories glory in this so you see just firstly he's calling upon these sorts in these classes of men any man to not set their eyes and to not set their confidence and to not set their joy and their happiness upon these things in the face of judgment because these things won't save them judgment is coming and so the wise men who think they might be able to wiggle out of politically the coming judgement from a foreign nation they might be able to speak wise words to those who are coming not fully grasping of course in their Unruh generous see that it is God Most High who is coming as an unstoppable train of judgment to render wholesome severity upon an apostate people let not the mighty man glory in his might perhaps the strongmen of the nation of Israel were saying by our might we will stop this coming judgment by our might by our strength we have many mighty men here in Jerusalem perhaps we will be able to stop the onslaught of this coming judgement nor let the rich man glory in his riches and perhaps they thought that if they paid tribute to the coming conquerors they might be able to set aside this coming judgement but you see God knowing of course because he has decreed it and he is bringing it providentially to pass brings to brings into view and presents before them the proper course of action and this is instructive for us verse 24 but let him who glories glory in this that he understands and knows me that I am the Lord exercising loving-kindness judgment and righteousness in the earth for in these I delight says the Lord so getting back then to first Peter 1 and verse 18 negatively we are not to see value in earthly things but we are to see value of course in eternal things but we're not there yet one more example this time from the New Testament now I know I'm preaching to the choir here because hopefully there is no Christian in the room that is resting upon earthly things for their salvation because no Christian does that that's that's madness it is not a Christian who is resting upon earthly things for his or her salvation but hopefully this helps us as Christians as we as we constantly inundate our selves with the repetition necessary to weaken to weary souls who are often carried off by a languor and a coldness in things God in Christ this helps us to remind ourselves that there is redemption only in the incorruptible things of God in his Christ in the redemption wrought by the Savior notice in Hebrews chapter 11 in Hebrews chapter 11 and many of you may know where I'm going with this but in Hebrews chapter 11 we have all of those i faith statements and one of them speaks to this matter quite well that is Hebrews 11 verse 24 through verse 26 notice on this idea that the value of the death remembered his first scene in that it was not according to the perceived value of earthly things Hebrews 11 24 by faith Moses when he became of age refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt for he looked to the reward you see here the posture of a Christian that is resting not upon the corruptible things of silver and gold these treasures in Egypt these passion passing and temporary things these earthly things but rather is resting upon and hitching his caboose to the reproach of Christ and what a contrast this is silver and gold these earthly treasures and the reproaches of Christ he'll take the reviling of his own countrymen the revealing of God's own chosen people in the Old Covenant they're revealing and their grumbling and their murmuring murmuring and their complaining with respect to the promises of Christ wrapped up in their wilderness wanderings rather than engage in the pleasures of passing earthly things and the temporary things of sin so second then because this is where we're going with this particular point if you can find your way back to two first Peter one it was then the value of the death remembered was according to the incomparable value of a perfect sacrifice the value of the death remembered is according to the incomparable value of a perfect sacrifice we have not been redeemed by those earthly corruptible things but verse 19 but with the precious blood of Christ as a lamb without blemish and without spot it's beautiful language a beautiful language the first thing we want to note here is the precious blood we're talking about the incorruptible or the incomparable value of a perfect sacrifice and the first thing that we are wholesomely confronted with here in the beauty of the text is that we have been redeemed with the precious blood of Christ you like that that qualifier there that adjective the precious blood of Christ you know Peter uses the word precious more than anyone in the New Testament I believe there are 15 instances where the Greek word in this variation and and close variations of the word are used 15 instances more than half of those are used by Peter and three-quarters of those are used in this particular epistle and they're used with respect primarily to Christ and his Redemption first but then also God's view of Christ's people seen through the lens of the perfection wrought by Christ in his redeeming activity but all that to come back to this Peter is the apostle of the precious Christ uses this language often and Peter would have a blessed view of Christ and His preciousness wouldn't he just think about this for it on a personal matter I think we've made this point before maybe not at this text but certainly other texts of of like flavor Peter would know the preciousness of Christ because of his personal dealings with the Savior specially connected to Christ's love Christ's grace and Christ's mercy if we remember the narrative prior to the crucifixion what is Peter doing on the night in which Christ was betrayed he is denying his Savior thrice before the interrogations of a servant girl and before the interrogations of others he's denying thrice this Savior prior to that Jesus had said to Peter Peter the devil has sought to sift you like wheat Satan has sought to sift you like wheat but I have prayed for you he said that your faith might not fail and when you have returned to me strengthen your brethren he he says that Christ does to Peter before he says that Peter will deny him three times you see what's going on here this Jesus intercessor alee no that's not the right word whatever the Prophet word is praying by intercession Jesus prayed by intercession for this Peter that after he had denied him his strength would be increased restored and strengthened and that he would speak well of his Christ speak well of the gospel and strengthen his brethren and that day of the resurrection Jesus speaks to Peter feed my sheep feed my lambs feed my sheep eats broiled fish and honeycomb with him sends in his spirit sends him on his way proclaiming the riches and excellencies of Christ and here Peter can use the word precious because he knows all too well of the preciousness of the Savior in fact look at first Peter 2 for a moment notice the language that we have in verse 6 and this is this is bringing to the fore language of the Old Testament from the book of Isaiah but notice in verse 6 the use of the word precious therefore it is also contained in the scripture behold I lay in Zion a chief Cornerstone elect precious and he who believes on him will by no means be put to shame notice the the purpose clause or the therefore clause here therefore to you who believe he is precious but to those who are disobedient the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief Cornerstone but Peter uses here in first Peter 1:19 the language of precious in speaking about the blood this blood is precious why is it precious well let's trace through some texts what do we mean when we say precious kids hopefully you know what precious means perhaps your parents have used it your grandparents sort of thing we we can use precious for some you know lawful things like a porcelain rooster collection these they say precious little porcelain rooster collection we can use you know my precious well we use precious more quite quite in a more elevated fashion for our children our precious children they are precious they're given to us from God we can use precious for for a whole host of things certainly we move from the preciousness of earthly things to the high-end lofty incomparable preciousness of eternal things when we speak of our God of his Christ and of his gospel tracing the preciousness of blood again and that that's where I was going what does precious means it means something of a high price doesn't it something of a great value something that is dearly beloved you know from for in the you know in the considerations of those who have the thing and so for Christians when we talk about the blood of Christ because we are washed in the blood of Christ because we have our sins forgiven in the blood of Christ because it is the blood of Christ and the blood of Christ alone that washes our iniquities away it is to be of a high and inestimable value to us it is to be dear to us in a way that nothing else is dear you can turn to Matthew with me for a moment Matthew 26 well I fixed the microphone thingy Matthew 26 just to trace some of these things related to the precious blood of Christ wherein does the preciousness of Christ's blood lie well first here in matthew 26:26 with regards to his own words we see the preciousness mounting verse 28 well let's back up to verse 27 then he took the cup and gave thanks and gave it to them saying drink from it all of you for this is my blood of the new covenant which is shed for many for the remission of sins you know I think hopefully this sort of language doesn't get lost on us because we repeat it often when we are partaking of the Lord's Supper hopefully this never becomes rote and it never becomes just liturgical as the pastor up here is speaking these words consider this and consider from your Christian hearts the fact of the preciousness of the blood of Christ this is my blood of the new covenant which is shed for many for the remission of sins you see that language would have been to the audience a prick upon their memories to reflect upon a particular passage in the Old Testament Jeremiah 31:31 234 there is a new covenant that the Lord God is making with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah not like not according not not like that Old Covenant that he made which he broke even though he was a husband to them but rather this covenant will be marked by the fact that he will write his law upon their hearts that all of them will know him that he will that all of those who are in the Covenant will know him that he will be their God and they will be his people and that they will have the remission the forgiveness of sins the the blood of Christ is precious because this new covenant reality is ratified is perfected by Jesus Christ in the shedding of blood how is it that we as Christians in God's appointed an accepted time were brought forth from the darkness and the deadness of sin to life and light in Christ Jesus it was because Jesus shed his precious blood upon Calvary's cross the value of the death remembered is seen in the Blessed reality that Christ has shed his blood according to new covenant ratification and for the remission of sins notice in Acts chapter 20 as we work through the precious blood with respect to Christ Jesus our Lord in Acts chapter 20 very mysterious and glorious and beautiful and high and lofty language used by the Apostle in preaching to the Ephesian elders a notice in Acts chapter 20 beginning in verse 28 in fact only verse 28 therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to Shepherd the Church of God which he purchased with his own blood hopefully you see the preciousness here of the blood of Jesus Christ why Peter can speak with regards to redemption setting it against the madness of resting our souls upon silver and gold in order to prop up and magnify and and lift up and elevate the fact that we rest our souls upon precious blood you see the language here that the Apostle is using the Church of God which he purchased with his own blood we ask the question does God have blood no with respects to the divine nature the perfection of the divine essence of course God doesn't have blood he's a spirit he is most pure spirit without body parts and passions invisible immutable but insofar as the son of God the brightness of the father's glory the Express image of the person of the father took to himself man's nature in the union of the divine and human natures and is one Christ the only mediator between God and man the Apostle can use with propriety the language that God purchased the church with his own blood but it highlights the magnitude and the glory in the preciousness of the blood of Jesus Christ that was shed for the remission of sins God purchased the church with his own blood that is Christ being God having assumed our nature for our Redemption and recovery shed his blood shed his precious blood that we might have the forgiveness of sins what we won't read more texts if we we wanted to moe to go on on this particular point we could read from Ephesians 1:7 Colossians 1:20 Hebrews 9:12 2:13 first John 1:7 in fact I do want to read one more and that is the Hebrews passage Hebrews 9 because there is another contrast brought out here if you turn with me to Hebrews 9 and then we're gonna move on to the faultless offering from first Peter 1:19 but notice in Hebrews 9 on this continuing on this particular point that the value of the death remembered is according to the incomparable value of a perfect sacrifice first reflecting upon the precious blood notice in Hebrews 9 at verse 12 well backing up to verse 11 but Christ came as high priest of the good things to come with the greater and more perfect Tabernacle not made with hands that is not of this creation not with the blood of goats and calves but with his own blood he entered the most holy place once for all having obtained eternal Redemption for if the blood of bulls and goats in the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh how much more shall the blood of Christ who through the Eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the Living God yeah that's a that's a passage where perhaps if you are at at at home reading your Bible you would you know fall on your face and the presence of God in your privacy of your own home and sing the praises of so great a sacrifice not that you can't do that in the church but sometimes unto good order it's good to continue with the preaching all of that to say this this is amazing this is this is absolutely amazing you see the the language of the Apostle in the book of Hebrews is so wonderful because he very often repeatedly does this if this then this if this lesser thing is true then this high and lofty thing is gloriously true and notice the language here that he uses for if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh you see if this temporary thing if this type if this shadow if this divinely if this thing marked by a divinely designed obsolescence that points forward to eternal and lasting things could do something then what then how much more verse 14 shall the blood of Christ who through the Eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the Living God you know this this is the sort of stuff this is why the Apostle Paul can in a sense owe you in verse 1 of Hebrews 8 and you can flip back there for a second this is why the Apostle Paul writes things like this and why this verse has something of apostolic marvelling in the background in other words Paul doesn't write here I marvel that you guys are you know even bothering to to entertain going back to temple religion and the washings and the ceremonies and the sacrifices when the Christ had come to whom all those things pointed what's wrong with you we can almost you know read that into this verse but notice what he says verse 1 of Hebrews 8 now this is the main point of the things we are saying you know that let's just let's just wrap this up into a a nice package you're just not you know you're just not getting it if we were to summarize if we were to contemplate this in the span of a couple hand handfuls of words now this is the main point of the things we are saying we have such a high priest who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens a minister of the sanctuary and of the true Tabernacle which the Lord erected and not man we see that that is brought about by the reality of his blood his precious blood well secondly then under that second point it was according to the incomparable value of a perfect sacrifice back in 1st Peter 1:19 notice that it is according to a faultless offering that this redemption this glorious incomparable perfect sacrifice of the highest value that this is brought about by a faultless sacrifice I apologize if you're looking at that wiping my nose verse 19 but with the precious blood of Christ notice as of a lamb without blemish and without spot see this just magnifies and it amplifies the precious blood if that's even possible just adds language upon language to magnify the salvation wrought by our Savior Jesus Christ the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot the Apostle Peter here is not just using language that sort of you know that's sort of helpful oh yeah you know in the Old Testament there was a sacrificial system that had lambs and stuff and there was a Passover ordinance for a perpetual remembrance inaugurated by God through Moses for the people of Israel and Exodus so maybe I can you know use some of that language to sort of talk about Jesus there is a deliberate connection of course to the Old Testament here why because Christ is our Passover sacrifice that Passover sacrifice and we're not going to read from it but make a note here Exodus 12 5 to 14 what's in the background here when the Apostle Peter is using the language that our redemption comes from the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot that last clause as of a lamb without blemish and without spot citiz 5 to 14 is in the background yes the levitical system the Book of Leviticus with the constant reiteration of a lamb without blemish a lamb without blemish a lamb without blemish is in view make no mistake but because he has already used the sprinkling of the blood of Christ in 1st Peter 1 1 & 2 and because this peculiar language harkens back to that giving of the Passover mandate for a perpetual remembrance of the exodus that was to occur we see here that the Apostle Peter rightly wholesomely with deliberation is connecting Jesus Christ to the Passover why because he is our Passover sacrifice the Passover the remembrance of the Passover was not an end unto itself it was a remembrance of the exodus wrought by God when he pulled Israel from out of Egyptian bondage but it pointed forward in its Ultima sea and unto the anti-type unto the substance and unto the true of that copy the Passover lamb Jesus Christ that's what was in view this lamb as of a blemish or Lamb as of a lamb excuse me without blemish and without spot this is a connection to the Passover and I want you to think about something for a second you know connecting this to our remembrance that we're about to engage in as we observe the Lord's Supper God's you think about a passage like Malachi 1 where God in Deitz the nation of Israel for their horrible and wicked obedience in air quotes to the sacrificial system in fact turn there for a moment does I want to bring about a particular point I don't want to I don't want to drag it out too long and hopefully this doesn't seem like it but I want you to see something from Malachi chapter 1 connecting it with the Lord Jesus Christ God's integrity his zeal his jealousy to use improper predication with respect to his sacrifice with respect to the sending of the Lord Jesus Christ to be a faultless offering notice the language of Malachi 1 first in 7 & 8 so Malachi 1 beginning in verse 7 you offered to filed food on my altar but say in what way have we defiled you by saying the table of the Lord is contemptible and when you offer the blind as a sacrifice is it not evil and when you offer the lame and sick is it not evil offer it then to your governor would he be pleased with you would he accept you favorably says the Lord of hosts now notice verse 13 as well you also say oh what a weariness and you sneer at it says the Lord of hosts and you bring the stole and the lame and the sick thus you bring an offering should I accept this from your hand says the Lord now I want you to understand that of course the Lord God Almighty here is angry with the wicked offering of the blind and the lame there is no heart religion going on here there is no obedience there is no religious joy and zeal these are not heartily going to the temple bringing the best of their flock to offer up sacrifices but I want you to see even beyond that that God is incensed because these sacrifices were instituted by the Lord God to point forward to the greater sacrifice so not only were these disobedient and not doing what they were called to do in service to Yahweh of Israel who pulled them from out of Egyptian bondage who esteemed them but they're destroying their wickedly engaging they're bringing their blind in their lame when they are to bring their best because the best of the flock pointed forward to the best of the flock Jesus Christ to the the lamb without blemish and without spot what wickedness what violence what madness done in the name of religion when these would bring their blind and their lame in a in a ceremony in a sacrifice that was to point forward to our Blessed land our Blessed Christ our precious Jesus so when it comes to our observer observing of the Lord's Supper or just very briefly an application at this particular particular point twofold first is Christ's precious to you we see that we're redeemed Christians are by his precious blood and by a faultless offering because make no mistake we read here a lamb without blemish and without spot we're talking about the fact that Christ is a sinless holy offering to the Father he's sinless Christ goes as a lamb without blemish and without spot wholly harmless and undefiled was Christ our Savior giving himself upon Calvary's cross is Christ's precious to you you know i i've exper j'en was right we will you know will give our attention to a poisoned weed while letting the the Rose of Sharon wither what he's what he's saying kids is that we'll give our attention to the earthly things we'll give our attention to the the corruptible things things that have no inherent value things that have no lasting value things that only have a passing and a temporary and an earthly value and all the while will suffer the Rose of Sharon that is Christ will suffer this gem this jewel this glorious one this treasure to wither we give our time and we give our energy to so many things and yet we forget our Christ we forget our Christ that you know God forbid that that any Christian should you know could articulate the thrust-to-weight ratio of an f-111 not know how to articulate substitutionary atonement you know far be it god forbid that any Christian could you know could list off the stats of their favorite basketball team or hockey team but not give one minute of attention to the precious blood of Jesus Christ how many mindless well how many lawful things do we engage in an unlawful pursuit of while neglecting and while passing off and while casting off the Precious Blood and the faultless offering our Blessed Christ its Christ's precious to you because Peter writes to those who believe he is precious and secondly when we observe the Lord's Supper you're all here tonight so that's good it is good that you are here you see it's a it's a grieving thing though and it's a troubling thing when the pews are empty of of Christians that should be here tonight observing the Lord's Supper you know we pastors cannot bind your consciences with a lot of thing but we can bind your conscience to the observation of the Lord's Supper because it's not me binding your conscience it's the Ascended Christ who spoke words from his lips while he was going about the earth doing good to his disciples saying do this in remembrance of me so it's a good thing that you're here tonight to observe the Lord's Supper but is it not a Malachi sort of thing though not coming from unregenerate hearts but hearts that should know better that reject and forsake the Lord's Supper when Christ gave himself his precious blood and a faultless offering that we might remember him well secondly the divine purpose in yeah that was only firstly I'm gonna move a little bit quicker so that we can get to the Lord's Supper here though but the divine purpose in the death remembered notice the language here and getting back to first Peter 1 first Peter chapter 1 as we continue with the language well verse 20 he indeed that is this one who had precious blood who has precious blood the precious blood of Christ a lamb without blemish without spot he indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world the divine purpose in the death remembered you see when we reflect upon when we remember tonight the death of the Lord Jesus Christ when we remember the death of our Savior we are not only remembering this historical intrusion upon our lower shame where the glorious one came to give himself we're reflecting upon that which is in the divine mind and purpose and plan from before the foundation of the world the divine purpose in the death remembered notice that first it is according to the determined plan of God the languages he indeed was foreordained he indeed was foreordained Henry writes this it implies more than bear prospect or speculation it imports an act of the will that the thing shall be in other words it's not just uh he's not just it this isn't just the language of foreknowledge because the same word or a similar form of the word is used in verse to elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father the idea is just this bear prescience or this bear knowledge of looking forward and seeing something and Henry rightly says because this is translated here for ordained eternally determined Henry rightly says it implies more than bear prospect or speculation it imports an act of the will that the thing shall be you know the language and the idea and the glorious theology of a sovereign and immutable and an eternally perfect Lord God Almighty from Acts chapter 2 in Acts chapter 4 just very briefly to rehearse as we move towards the death remembered in the ordinance given by our Christ acts 2 verse 22 men of Israel hear these ways is the same person speaking we're in first Peter looking at that blessed language acts 2:22 same man same apostle same Peter speaking men of Israel hear these words Jesus of Nazareth a man attested by God to you by miracles wonders and signs which God did through him in your midst as you yourselves also know him being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God we are to glory in the fact that we have a God of determined purpose we see we don't we don't worship a God who bumbles about and who moves from point in time to point in time just living the life of his creatures with us he's a a little bit more exalted than us he's a sort of a super angel you know kind of it fella cosmic agent in the sky but he's learning as he goes about you know sort of starting new plans and that sort of thing it's madness it's blasphemy that's pagan deity you know the aw pink rightly said and I'm paraphrasing here but the god of the god of the modern church and there's a lot of churches out there that preach the true God don't get me wrong here we're not shouldn't be old curmudgeons free grace Baptist Church is the only true there's a handful in a handful of a multitude there's a multitude there's a lot of churches out there Reformed Baptist Presbyterian this that and the other thing that preach God that preach Christ and that preach the gospel but hopefully but not me perhaps you've seen the state of many churches out there perhaps you've come from a church to this church where they are not preaching the true and living God but some new God they are not preaching the old and saving Christ but some new Christ they are not preaching the old and saving gospel but some new gospel aw pink rightly said is he you know cast his eyes out upon the modern church of his day and that's that's decades ago he said that the the god of the modern age that has proclaimed from pulpits that doesn't have a determined purpose and a plan and a sovereign working and providential mastery over his creation in all things that God compared to the biblical God of determined purpose is like a flickering candle compared to the glory of the noonday Sun we have a God of determined purpose we have a God who for ordained this Christ of precious blood and faultless offering it's according to the determined plan of God and note that it is not some mechanical predestination but it's marked by love you know this language of before the foundation of the world that comes here after this foreordained language notice a another place where that is used in john 17 when we talk when the reformed preach about predestination we're not preaching a mechanistic fatalistic deity that goes about the machination zuv for ordination as if he is some divine robot but we're talking about the infinite eternal and unchangeable god of immutable love who predestinate succour d'ang to the counsel of his own glorious will john seventeen notice the language that christ himself uses in the high priestly prayer notice john 17 24 father I desire that they also whom you gave me may be with me where I am that they may behold my glory which you have given me for you loved me before the foundation of the world now if you see the connection there the love of God the unchangeable love of God never diminishing never growing because perfection cannot be added to and perfection cannot be stolen away from but this god of immutable love loved the son before the foundation of the world and that is connected to intimately connected here to this reality that I desire father that they also whom you gave me may be with me where I am that they may behold my glory you see what's connected to foreordination is divine love and there is no higher love there is no love more glorious than a predestinate love in love Paul wrote in a doxology in love he predestinated us predestinated us unto adoption as son by Jesus Christ to himself according to the riches of His grace first it is according to the determined plan of God but I want to note secondly that it was from eternity very briefly we will close soon I say that to those who have seen me say that before and not do it but I intend to do it listen to Calvin here before we say before we talk about this divine purpose from eternity listen to this with respect to comfort because this is the takeaway this is the application from this section only briefly dealt with that we are to take great comfort from this language that Christ was foreordained before the foundation of the world what would be the stability of our faith if we believed that a remedy for mankind had suddenly occurred at length to God after some thousands of years in short we cannot confidently rest on Christ except we are convinced that eternal salvation is in him and always has been in him that's why secondly this is from eternity the language of the text in 1st Peter is clear that this Christ for ordained was from before the foundation of the world it is of the greatest comfort it is of the Most Blessed confidence and lastly in only a matter of minutes the singular uniqueness and certain truth of the death remembered noticed in notice in 1st Peter 1 verse 20 continuing he indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world but was manifest in these last times for you he was not manifest before but was in these last days manifested for you we want to know very briefly first that there is a point being made respecting the historical coming of the Son of God to die for his people he was manifest this eternal son with respect to the promise that he would take upon him man's nature for man's Redemption this son was manifest to us it was a promise it was a divine promise from before the foundation of the world and as all divine promises it was a divine promise that came to fruition he was manifested to us you know people make promises to us all the time you might make promises to me I make might make promises to you I don't know how many times I said yeah I'll email that quote to you and I never emailed it so please forgive me there's a quote that I was supposed to email you back in 2007 if you remember what it was I'll email it to you but we see we make promises huh we made promises all the time never fulfill them our God is not a God of broken promises our God is not a God of of solid plans and solid purpose our God is a God of fulfilled purpose plan and that perfectly he was manifested texts that could come to mind and what that what does that mean he was manifested well twofold before we move on and close it is pertaining to his incarnation first God was manifested in the flesh first Timothy 3:16 first John 1:2 and first John 3:8 as well and also Titus 1:3 that the Gospel according to God's eternal purpose was manifested to us this Christ comes he's manifested in the flesh he preaches the gospel and upon his ascension he gives his spirit empowering those messengers of his to proclaim that self same gospel the riches in the excellencies of saving and perfect redemption and second and lastly under the singular uniqueness and certain truth of the death remembered there is the accompanying fact that he really was manifest he really was manifested the second Peter 1:16 we do not follow we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ but were eyewitnesses of his majesty the disciples were eyewitnesses of his manifested majesty and Peter is writing this epistle he was an eyewitness of the manifested majesty of the Son of God come incarnate took to himself man's nature for the perfect redemption of his elect and he preaches these glorious things of precious blood and of a lamb without blemish and without spot he really was manifested and so what do we do then with this particular point well notice that it is for you he indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world but was manifest in these last times for you now I know Peter didn't originally write his epistle to the believers at free Grace Baptist Church in Chilliwack there was an original intended audience but by divine design and by a glorious and purposive providence we 2,000 years later are an intended audience because it is by the Word of God the word of truth that we are brought forth to rejoice in the precious blood and in the faultless offering of Jesus Christ but this Christ is for you so now as we observe the Lord's Supper we are to respond in a joyful obedience to the command do this in remembrance of me and we are to remember this precious one this faultless offering this glorious Christ if you're here tonight it's a good thing that you are here to observe for the better and not for the worse this ordinance given by Christ to remember his death until he comes again so always be here and unless you're you know your providentially hindered that doesn't mean a football game that means you've broken your leg and you're gonna become because you're in excruciating pain if you're somehow Hindu but be here for the Lord's Supper it's not a yeah whenever I can make you know whenever we aren't having tacos for dinner this is commanded by cry and what a remembrance this is a malachi one thing why would you bring your blind in your lame come remember this precious christ if you're here tonight and you don't believe in this christ the pastoral and the christian exhortation is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved you know the the doctrine of predestination and election does not rail against the proclamation of the Word of God the doctrine of predestination and the doctrine of election undergird and serve as the foundation for the confident preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ there is a God who draws all that will come to Christ and all of those who are drawn will be raised on that final day the means that God has ordained for the drawing of his people it's the proclamation of the gospel in contests like this the command is believed the command has come the glorious bidding is come to the savior of precious blood and faultless offering and you will find peace and everlasting life in him let us pray God we thank you for your word we rejoice in the gospel of Jesus Christ we thank you for our Savior of precious blood of faultless offering this perfect sacrifice rendered substitution airily in the stead of all who believe in his most precious name we do pray that you'd help us to rejoice in this truth that you would save sinners that you would strengthen Saints tonight that you would help us now as we remember the Lord's Supper help us as we remember in the Lord's Supper the Lord's death might you strengthen us might you nourish us in our faith and might we leave this place equipped well to conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ reflecting on the fact that we've been saved by amazing grace through the perfection of so great a savior and so great a saving sacrifice and we pray in his precious name Amen well you can turn with me in your Bibles to Matthew 26 and I guess back to Matthew 26 we were there about 29 minutes ago Matthew 26 so we observe the Lord's Supper now this is a passage in Holy Scripture that speaks well of course to the remembrance that we're engaging in in the Lord's Supper because it is the institution given by Christ in the context of the Passover meal and I'll just very briefly read that context that's Matthew 26 beginning in verse 17 then we'll make some comments on what we're doing why we're doing it and we'll have the brothers pass out the bread than the wine Matthew 26 beginning in verse 17 now on the first day of the Feast of the unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus saying to him where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the Passover and he said go into the city to a certain man and say to him the teacher says my time is at hand I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples so the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and they prepared the Passover when evening had come he sat down with the twelve now as they were eating he said assuredly I say to you one of you will betray me and they were exceedingly sorrowful and each of them began to say to him Lord is it I he answered and said he who dipped his hand with me in the dish will betray me the son of man indeed goes just as it is written of him but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed it would have been good for that man if he had not been born then Judas who was betraying him answered and said rabbi is it I he said to him you have said it amen remember we see here Christ observing the Passover with his disciples we've just noted the truth that Christ is the Passover sacrifice this isn't haphazard this isn't you know luck but this is by divine design and providentially structured such that the true Passover lamb would be celebrating the meal that pointed forward to him with his disciples when he is about to inaugurate a remembrance meal that will replace that one and remember his his Exodus his sacrifice and his precious blood and so Christ is in the midst of observing that with his disciples and he is about to institute the Lord's Supper now remember what we're doing when we're observing the Lord's Supper we are not engaging in a sacrifice for the sins of the quick and the dead but we are engaging in a remembrance of that once for all sacrifice which was given upon Calvary's cross and we are rendering a spiritual oblation or sacrifice of praise to God the Father for that self-same once for all sacrifice so we are engaging in a remembrance we are also engaging in an ordinance by which Christ attends unto us and by His Spirit in his ascended bori strengthens us in harf in our faith just as he does with the preaching of the word with prayer and with baptism now this is an ordinance for believers only so if you're here tonight and you're not a believer you are not to take that's not to come to your ears as insulting that's not to hurt your feelings if you would like to partake of the Lord's Supper you can talk to me afterwards you can talk to pastor Kirkpatrick afterwards and we can talk to you about the gospel of the saving glory of Christ and if you believe and if you are baptized then you may take of the Lord's Supper but but seriously do ask if you've ever wonder you're a Christian here tonight and you're thinking to yourself but you never approached anyone can I take the Lord's Supper I'm talk to one of us afterwards and we'll we will talk to you but this is tonight for believers only as well remember that what's going on is the bread remains bread the wine remains wine we do not subscribe to the blasphemy and the abomination of the Roman Catholic Church which says these things change in to transform into while remaining to the outward census bread and wine and they somehow magically change into the body and blood soul and divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ these things are repugnant not only to common sense but to the clear declaration of God in the scriptures in our abomination before his sight they remain bread they remain wine these are outward elements and symbols of Christ's breaking of his body for us and the shedding of his blood for us upon Calvary's cross when they the bread and the wine are actually only when the wine comes around the juices in the outer ring so when when that comes around if you would like to take juice the juices in the outer ring well one final warning or one final admonition if you are a Christian and you are living in unrepentant sin you are not to take if you're hiding sin not repenting of it but latching on to it in unrepentant and in in penitence you are not to take but the the summons of the scripture the commands of the scripture are repent and flee immediately to the mercy of Christ and the Precious Blood and the faultless offering of Jesus Christ the Savior well if I could have the brothers come up and pass out the bread you can remain seated and we are going to sing the first hymn which is one ninety two to a familiar tune him one ninety two [Music] [Music] Matthew 26 at verse 26 we read and as they were eating Jesus took bread blessed and broke it and gave it to the disciples and said take eat this is my body amen let us pray Heavenly Father we thank you that we can now take of this bread we rejoice in what it is an emblem of the signal of we thank you that it symbolizes the Lord's the breaking of the body of our Lord upon Calvary's cross we know that no bone and his body was broken but we do know that his body was breached that his body was pierced and this was in the course of our Savior taking upon himself your wrath in the stead of all who believe and so we reflect with great joy and with great solemnity upon this truth we thank you Lord God that our Christ before his people bore in his own body our sins upon that tree that we having died to sin might live for righteousness by His stripes we are healed we do pray that you'd bless us strengthen us and nourish us as we do remember when we pray in the name of our Savior the Lord Jesus Christ amen let's take together if I could have the brothers come and pass out the wine a reminder that the juice is in the outer ring you can stay seated this time we're going to sing hymn 186 so let's remain seated and sing 186 together [Music] Matthew continues to narrate including the words of our Savior Jesus Christ and verse 27 then he took the cup and gave thanks and gave it to them saying drink from it all of you for this is my blood of the new covenant which is shed for many for the remission of sins but I say to you I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my father's Kingdom and when they had sung a hymn they went out to the Mount of Olives amen let us pray Heavenly Father we thank you for this wine we're about to drink we rejoice and what it is an emblem a symbol of the shedding of the blood of our Savior the Lord Jesus Christ truly that precious blood of our Savior Jesus Christ the Lord and we thank you knowing that without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin and knowing that by the shedding of the blood of the Savior the Lord Jesus Christ we do have the forgiveness of sins and might be rejoice in that may we sing the praise that praises of so great a God who sent so great a Christ to shed precious blood and we do pray that we would reflect still as we engage in this remembrance that we would reflect with joy and solemnity upon the shedding of the blood the Savior the king of kings and Lord of lords knowing that we have that blessed New Covenant reality and the forgiveness of sins in that precious blood and we pray in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ the Lord amen let's take together well let's stand together as a church as we sing to one another and to God hymn number 175 hymn number 175 [Music] now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead that great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant make you complete in every good work to do his will working in you what is well pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be glory forever and ever amen Heavenly Father we do pray that you would go with us now having gathered for worship having been nourished and strengthened by Father Son and Holy Spirit we would pray God that you help us to go into this upcoming week reflecting with joy upon the blood of our Savior the Lord Jesus Christ reflecting with joy upon so great a gospel we do pray that you would equip us by your spirit and for your glory to conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of your glorious gospel do go with us and Lord we would pray as well that you be with the Surrey church plant we thank you for this work we do pray that you'd continue to foster it to grow it we do pray Lord God with a great anticipation looking forward to the planting of a church but we do pray that you'd go with the both of us that you'd go with all of us that we would live for your glory sake and that we would reflect with great joy upon Amazing Grace we pray in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ the Lord amen well the brief time of prayer and then you're dismissed you