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beginning in verse one a psalm of David to you O Lord I lift up my soul oh my god i trust in you let me not be ashamed let not my enemies triumph over me indeed let no one who waits on you be ashamed let those be ashamed to deal treacherously without cause show me your ways o Lord teach me your paths lead me in your truth and teach me for you are the God of my salvation on you I wait all the day remember o Lord your tender mercies in your loving kindness is for they are from of old do not remember the sins of my youth nor my transgressions according to your mercy remember me for your goodness sake o Lord good and upright is the Lord therefore he teaches sinners in the way the humble he guides injustice and the huh the humbly guides and justice in the humble he teaches his way all the paths of the lord are mercy and truth to such as keep his covenant and his testimonies for your name's sake o Lord pardon my iniquity for it is great who is the man that fears the Lord him shall he teach in the way he chooses he himself shall dwell in prosperity and his descendants shall inherit the earth the secret of the Lord is with those who fear him and he will show them his covenant my eyes are ever toward the Lord for he shall pluck my feet out of the net turn yourself to me and have mercy on me for I am desolate and afflicted the troubles of my heart have enlarged bring me out of my de-stresses look on my affliction in my pain and forgive all my sins consider my enemies for they are many and they hate me with cruel hatred keep my soul and deliver me let me not be ashamed for I put my trust in you let integrity and uprightness preserve me for I wait for you redeem Israel o God out of all their troubles amen well please turn in your tree he hymnal to him number 89 him number 89 will stand as we sing together you 25th Psalm verse 11 he says for your name's sake o Lord pardon my iniquity for it is great the reason we ask God to pardon our sin is because it is great sin it's not something we can deal with it's not something we can cover it's not something we can put away we need sovereign grace and the mercy of our good and glorious father pardon my iniquity for it is great will let us pray our Father as we come here tonight we are mindful of the greatness of our own iniquity and we are mindful of the fact that you are a gracious and a merciful God we come to praise Father Son and Holy Spirit for your great works of creation and Providence and redemption we thank you that you've given us the Sabbath day when we can come in out of the world we can gather together with the people of God and we can sing and pray and hear from Holy Scripture and even tonight we can take the Lord's Supper certainly our God you have provided all good things for the growth of your children and we certainly praise and glorify and honor you we ask that our worship would be acceptable tonight that as we come to the Father it would be through the mediation of the sun by the power of the Holy Spirit for certainly the God of the Bible the God revealed to us in Holy Scripture is triune he is the blessed one in three and we want to praise each and every person of that blessed Godhead we ask our father that you would be pleased to rend the heavens tonight and to come down and to be found among your people here it certainly encourages us and cheers us and we look the book of Revelation we see Jesus Christ standing in the midst of the lampstands we know father that this is not an empty exercise gathering together to praise you is the most blessed exercise any creature can ever participate in we praise you for redeeming us we praise you for forgiving us we praise you for bringing us together so that we may indeed worship you in spirit and in truth we asked our God that you would forgive us a fresh in the blood of the Lord Jesus that you would part in our iniquity we know God that this comes on the basis of the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ as we eat this bread tonight as we drink this cup as we proclaim the Lord's death may we ponder anew how glorious this was a glorious this is currently for us we know that this is a past completed action with abiding results for your children and may these thoughts encourage our hearts tonight and may we indeed leave from this place having met with you and may we enter into this week with the desire to bring glory and honor and praise to you we ask that you would look with favor upon all the brethren in this local church we commit to you those who are physically ill those who are struggling we just ask God that they would know your nearness and your kindness and your goodness to them we trust that while the outer man decays day by day the inner man is being renewed and in this we greatly rejoice we ask our father that you would look with favor upon all those in our church with spiritual struggles and trials certainly that includes each and everyone of us give us freely of your spirit give us that power from on high so that we may resist temptation that we may indeed pursue those things that are pleasing in your sight that we may put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts grant us help in these things we pray Lord God we ask that you would bless other churches in chilliwack we pray that as the gospel goes forth you would be well pleased to save sinners and to continually sanctify your people we pray the gospel would go forth throughout Canada to the uttermost parts of the earth we know that the Lord Christ has been given universal incomprehensive dominion all authority in heaven and on earth is his he has bid his church to go therefore and to make disciples so we pray that in that Lord God you would be pleased to bless the of your truth to the salvation of sinners we know there are a multitude in this world that are idolaters those who blaspheme the name of the High King of heaven those who reject your holy law so we pray that by the power of your spirit and the word of truth you would take those persons and turn them from their useless idols to the true and the Living God we ask that you would look with favor upon the governing authorities we know this is a difficult job certainly more difficult when you're a wicked man and we see the effects of wicked men in high places throughout this land throughout the earth we see the exaltation of godlessness and and unrighteousness and we pray to you Most High that you would remove from office those who call good evil and evil good and put in their stead men that would rule according to righteousness and and justice and equity as we have been reminded over this past a little while with abortion and the news this is a sin and a crime that cries out to high heaven and our Father we pray that one day this would not be subsidized but it would be criminalized and that persons would see the horror involved in the murder of image bearers we ask our Father in heaven that you and your grace and mercy would would thwart this wickedness but certainly if we put our trust in politicians or in any other means we will come up short we trust in the name of the God of heaven and earth and we pray that you would do this for your glory continue with us now we pray help us as we as we worship to do so with our heart our soul our mind and our strength and we pray these things through Jesus Christ our Lord amen well please turn with me in your Trinity hymnal to 535 535 will stand as we sing together please be seated you may turn in your Bibles to Colossians chapter 14 hour meditation this evening for the Lord's Supper Colossians chapter 1 i'll begin reading in verse 1 paul an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God and Timothy our brother to the Saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are in Colossae grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ we give thanks to the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ praying always for you since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of your love for all the saints because of the hope which is laid up for you in heaven of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel which has come to you as it has also in all the world and is bringing forth fruit as it is also among you since the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth as you also learn from Apophis our dear fellow servant who is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf who also declared to us your love in the spirit for this reason we also since the day we heard it do not cease to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding that you may walk worthy of the Lord fully pleasing him being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God strengthened with all might according to his glorious power for all patience and long-suffering with joy giving thanks to the father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in the light he has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the son of his love in whom we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins he is the image of the invisible God the firstborn over all creation for by him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth visible and invisible whether Thrones or dominions or principalities or powers all things were created through him and for him and he is before all things and in him all things consist and he is the head of the body the church who is the beginning the firstborn from the dead that in all things he may have the preeminence for it pleased the father that in him all the fullness should dwell and by him to reconcile all things to himself by him whether things on earth or things in heaven having made peace through the blood of his cross and you who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works yet now has yet now he has reconciled in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and blameless and above reproach in his sight if indeed you continue in the faith grounded and steadfast and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard which was preached to every creature under heaven of which I Paul became a minister I now rejoice in my sufferings for you and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ for the sake of his body which is the church of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you to fulfill the word of God the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations but now has been revealed to his Saints to them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles which is Christ in you the hope of glory him we preach warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus to this end I also labour striving according to his working which works in me mightily amen let us pray Lord God most high we pray for the spirit now to guide us to direct us and to help us to receive with thankful hearts the word of truth cause us to respond properly to the gospel blessings that we have received cause us father to walk in a manner that is pleasing to the Lord we ask that you would just bless and strengthen us cause us Lord God to to love you to grow in our desire to to pursue those things which are pleasing in your sight give us a genuine hunger and thirst after righteousness and we pray these things through Jesus Christ our Lord amen well we all know that it is commanded in the Bible that we are to be thankful and probably at least to some degree or other we struggle with that reality perhaps you are as thankful as you ought to be if so you can tune out for the next 30 or 40 minutes but for the rest of us it's a slog it's difficult we need reminders David himself in the psalm said bless the Lord O my soul and all that is within me bless His Holy Name he then repeats it just in case he didn't hear himself he says bless the Lord O my soul and all that is within me and then he says forget not all of his benefits there is a tendency within the heart to forget the God of heaven and earth to not acknowledge him and to not thank him and do not praise Him in Paul's prayer in Colossians 1 12 to 14 he highlights that thankfulness is an identifying mark of Christians I thought this would be a fitting meditation this evening because as we come to the supper as we eat the bread as we drink the wine this is the highest point or the most important thing that we as God's children have to be thankful for we ought to be appraising people the celebrating people a delighting people the people that indeed take seriously what God has done respond to him in a genuine heartfelt thankfulness our focus this evening as I said will be verses 12 to 14 but I want to do two things tonight in the first place I want to look at the structure of Paul's prayer which begins at verse 9 and then secondly I want to look at the believers gratitude toward God which comes in verses 12 to 14 now I don't know that Paul when he pro prayed or Paul when he wrote thought that we would look at the structure but certainly it does help us to see I think the prayers of Paul serve as good models for the prayers of us we ought to see what it is that Paul praised for him being a godly man it would be wise and good for us to follow suit and to take seriously how he approaches the throne of grace but as I said the prayer begins in verse 9 and ends at verse 14 the structure want us to see first of all the occasion of his prayer in 9a for this reason we also since the day we heard it do not cease to pray for you I think what's in view here is what Apophis had told Paul concerning the Colossians in verse 7 as you also learn from Apophis our dear fellow servant who is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf who also declared to us your love in the spirit so a pathless tells Paul that the Colossians love him in the spirit and so Paul then returns in kind and says for this reason also since the day we heard it since we were conscious of the fact that you had been become believers since we knew that you entered into the state of grace we do not cease to pray for you so the occasion is a reflection upon the fact that the church in Colossae was indeed the real deal but notice the constancy involved in Paul's prayer life we do not cease to pray for you that doesn't mean that Paul never talks to the butcher Paul doesn't talk to the merchant selling fruit Paul doesn't talk two brothers and sisters about the weather uncertain fall did all those particular things but this constancy in prayer means that we are praying always we're always in that disposition we don't necessarily have to go find a closet and get on our knees and engage in formal prayer there is a sense where the saint of God is praying all throughout the day i love that illustration in the book of nehemiah when art exert sees ask nehemiah why he was downcast of course nehemiah had heard about jerusalem he had heard about the situation facing his fellow countrymen art exerts he sees that Nehemiah is downcast and he asks Nehemiah essentially what is your problem and Nehemiah says so I prayed to the Lord and then he answered him now that wasn't a 20-minute prayer that probably wasn't a ten-second prayer it was probably long enough to say god help me so that I can enter our answer art exerts ease so the particular occasion and the constancy of his prayer is stressed in verse 9 now notice the content of his prayer in verses 9 b 2 14 in 9 b he says do not cease to pray for you and to ask here's what Paul prays for and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding that you may walk worthy of the Lord fully pleasing him it's not beautiful isn't that a good way to pray for your fellow Christian isn't that a good way to pray for your spouse to pray for your children children to pray for their parents what is the highest goal for the saint of Christ in this lower world that God would indeed fill us with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding that we may walk worthy of the Lord fully pleasing him now if we ask the question what does it mean to walk worthy of the war what does it mean to walk in a manner that is fully pleasing to the Lord well the next section fleshes that out for us in using for participles for those who are out of school now a participle is a verbal noun and Paul uses four of them in the next few verses to tease out or to flesh out what a pleasing walk looks like before God in the first place a pleasing walk that they would be fruitful in every good work notice in verse 10 be being fruitful in every good work that's a good thing that's a worthy walk that is to please God in the second place that they would increase in the knowledge of God that next statement they're increasing in the knowledge of God this how you pray for brethren is this how you pray for the church is this how you pray for spouses and children I'm not saying take this as a form and just recite it over over and over to God but this is the stuff that ought to make it into our prayer closets this is the stuff that we ought to be bringing before the Lord at the family altar it is the spiritual things it is that growth in grace it is that conforming to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ in the third place that they would be strengthened with all might according to his glorious power you see this is fully pleasing to the Lord and then the fourth participle is found in verse 12 giving thanks to the Father this is an identifying mark of the believer this is a characteristic of one who by God's grace has been conquered one who has been forgiven one who participates in the Lord's Supper one who by God's grace is redeemed thankfulness this ought to mark us this ought to characterize us this ought to be a badge that we wear with reference to the Christian faith we are a thankful people so those are the four participles now let's look at the believers gratitude toward God focusing on verses 12 to 14 the first place we ought to understand the importance of it already mentioned it's an identifying mark isn't it that ought to be important enough if I am supposed to be one who is thankful if aunt says that that is important if God says that fleshes out what it means to engage in a worthy wat well then I need to quit being a thankless wretch and stir up my soul to be a thankful person notice how many times in this short book of Colossians Paul mentions Thanksgiving notice in verse 3 we give thanks to the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ here in verse 12 obviously notice in chapter 2 at verse 7 rooted and built up in him and established in the faith as you have been taught abounding in it with thanks giving notice in chapter 3 at verse 15 and let the peace of god rule in your hearts to which also you were called in one body and be a miserable wretch walk around like there's a perpetual dark cloud over you walk around like you're a or from the winnie the pooh series walk around with nothing but hum and ramen and and trial and difficulty no abounded it with thanksgiving you can tell a thankful person because they look differently than he or now notice in chapter 3 at verse 17 and whatever you do in word or deed do all in the name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks to God the Father through him and then in four to continue earnestly in prayer being vigilant in it with Thanksgiving when you come into the presence of God is it first and foremost to lay down your petitions is it first and foremost to demand what you want is it first and foremost to say give me give me give me give me I remember when our children were little when they would come to see me after their day at school or whatever it was that they did they'd run in and say dad can we have or can we do or can we go and I would say hello it's good to see you isn't that typical of the child of God we run into the presence of God and we say give me give me give me the leech does have two daughters give and give oftentimes we function that way at the throne of grace now if you fall down a well shaft you can pray to God immediately for deliverance I'm not suggesting that you spend ten minutes thanking God for every particular Arctic's Nehemiah probably didn't say thank you Lord for making me thank you Lord for saving me there are instances and occasions to be sure what the Puritans called ejaculatory prayer you can just call out to God for deliverance but as a common occurrence in your prayer life is it marked by Thanksgiving notice then what we see here in Colossians 1 12 giving thanks to the father one of the other reasons why I think thankfulness is absolutely crucial in the Christian life is simply this when we are thanking God we are expressing gratitude to him for what he has done when we utter thanksgiving to god we are acknowledging by that utterance the grace character of our salvation there's no place for congratulations of ourselves in the christian life there's no place to pat ourselves on the back there's no place to stand with that Pharisee and say I thank you Lord that I'm not like other men know when we thank God we are affirming we are confirming we are acknowledging and we are recognizing that salvation is by grace through faith there's no place for personal applause there's no place for personal congratulations when we are thanking God we are not congratulating ourselves so the importance of gratitude is seen in verse 12 but now notice specifically the reasons for gratitude it's a beautiful structure that Paul now employs he kind of transitions from the prayer closet to theological discourse the next section 12 to 14 certainly is still Paul's prayer but it's starting to take on the flavor of theological discourse about what God has done and then he moves on vs. 15 to 20 to tell us how God has done it it's through Christ the Creator Christ the provider and Christ the Redeemer but notice specifically there are two major categories that Paul says we are to be thankful for a thankful to God for verse 12 giving thanks to the Father in the first place who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in the light in other words thank God because you're going to heaven thank God because this train is bound for glory thank God because of the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ you have an inheritance laid up for you I think it was last week when Mike preached from Ephesians chapter 1 specifically in verses 11 and 12 it says in him also we have obtained an inheritance being predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of his glory we have an inheritance laid up does that provoke from us a thankfulness we have an inheritance in heaven laid up does that provoke from us gratitude we have bread and wine which represent the wounded crushed dying body and the blood or the shed blood of our Lord Jesus does that he licit from us thanksgiving do we realize that we are heaven bound yesterday we had the grandkids over at our house for breakfast Rebecca made french toast for that and miles had his two pieces of french toast and of course miles wanted a third it was good french toast and something that my wife said was true on this side of glory she said to young models all good things come to an end you've all heard that haven't you you're eating good french toast or a bowl of strawberries or raining and it's cool all good things come to an end except heaven except glory except the inheritance that is laid up for us except that place when we with these eyes will gaze upon the King of glory not at the crown he gifted but on his Pierce a tent the lamb is all the glory of Emanuel's land doesn't this serve to provoke from us gratitude thankfulness joy delight do we ever read chapters 21 and 22 of the book of Revelation some people are afraid of the book of Revelation that's unfortunate the book of Revelation is all about the glory of the land sitting upon the throne judging his enemies and blessing his people why would that be a book that would produce fear in the hearts of God's people do you know what is emphasized over and over and over again in the book of Revelation it isn't the doom and gloom that you're going to go through it isn't the you know the political machinations of our particular day it is the crown of our Lord Jesus Christ when you get to 21 and 22 and that that that that city that New Jerusalem comes down out of heaven you may not understand all the particular details but this much you must know that the Covenant blessings of God come to fruition in that inheritance there will be no more sorrow there will be no more hunger there will be no more pain there will be no more death it's the last enemy judged by Jesus Christ and we shall see him as he is we know this from what the scripture testifies if we are not a thankful lot concerning the fact that we are heaven bound then we ought to ask God to forgive us and to help us and to inculcate in us this longing and desire so the first thing the inheritance of the Saints and in the second place the deliverance from the power of darkness and he teases this out in a little bit more detail it's interesting at the end of verse 12 the Saints in the light leads naturally to how we got into the light verse 13 he has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the son of his love in whom we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins there are three things we ought to observe here the first place we are delivered from spiritual darkness it's not beautiful how will we stand in this inheritance with the Saints in the light because God has delivered us God has rescued us God has brought us out of darkness Peter puts it this way that we are to proclaim the excellencies or the praises of him who called you out of darkness into marvelous light it's one of the purposes for which the church exists that is in a corporate context there we are a chosen people we are a redeemed body so that we may proclaim his Excellency's probably behind the scenes is a reference to exodus chapter 6 exodus 66 therefore say to the children of Israel I am Yahweh I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians I will rescue you from their bondage and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments I will take you as my people and I will be your God then you will know or then you shall know that I am the Lord your God who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians and I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham Isaac and Jacob and I will give it to you as a heritage as a heritage i am the lord the great power of God demonstrated in the accidents in the exodus in the rescue of Egypt from that bondage is typological or paradigmatic of what God does in delivering us from the power of darkness the Lord Jesus puts it this way in Luke's Gospel chapter 22 Luke chapter 22 at verse 53 he says when I was with daily in the temple you did not try to seize me but this is your hour and the power of Darkness the enemies of Christ are under the power of darkness we were the enemies of Christ he has broken the back of the power of darkness on our behalf he has brought us into light he has called us to himself he has given us every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus in the book of Acts in Acts chapter 26 acts 26 when the Apostle Paul recounts a rehearses his conversion before Agrippa in acts 26 at verse 12 while beginning in verse 15 so I said who are you lord and he said I am Jesus whom you are persecuting but rise and stand on your feet for I have appeared to you for this purpose to make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you I will deliver you from the Jewish people as well as from the Gentiles to whom I now send you notice to open their eyes in order to turn them from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in me now let this provoked thankfulness we have seen the power of Darkness aven't way we live in the midst of the workers of the power of darkness you've probably heard me refer to those Planned Parenthood videos a couple of times over the last few weeks if you have not seen them you ought to be aware that they're out there the sorts of things that is going on under the power of darkness some prior to their conversion were under the power of darkness with reference to drugs with reference to alcohol some under the power of darkness were were slaves to their money or slaves to their their lusts are slaves to whatever carnal pursuits they had we've been freed from that we've been called out of darkness into marvelous light doesn't it necessarily follow that we thank God that we express gratitude to God that in this worthy wat that is fully pleasing to him thankfulness would be part and parcel of our daily exercises he has delivered us from spiritual darkness notice as he teases this out again I think this is under the deliverance from the power of darkness there are three thoughts the deliverance from spiritual darkness noticed secondly the transfer of kingdoms I mentioned this morning the skull-crushing seed of the woman breaks the devil breaks his head crushes it shatters it smashes it and as a result of that there is this transfer we were in the kingdom of darkness we have been conveyed or transferred or translated into the kingdom of the son of his love I like the word translated I remember a beloved brother in the church in palmdale he was an older man he has gone to be with the Lord I remember singing hymns with him one day at that church and it was in a little living room and it was glorious I mean heaven came down and glory filled our souls was a beautiful time I remember talking to him after the fact that he said you know if I could be translated in any way I chose it would be when we were singing hymns like that would be great singing hymns with the Brethren and then drop dead and end up in the presence of the Lord might be glorious what a transition what a translation what a conveyance we have been conveyed from the power of darkness into the kingdom of the son of his love I love what John ed says with reference to this kingdom he says plainly that Kingdom which has Christ for its had and founder which is partially developed on earth and shall be finally perfected in heaven he goes on to explain the word used here by Paul was often used to signify deportation of a body of men or the removal of them to form a colony isn't that what's happened we have formed the colony our citizenship is in heaven we are those who dwell among another we are under God under Christ and we have that solidarity and this is a reason to praise Marie Harris says the imagery of verses 12 to 13 suggests that believers have been rescued from the gloomy domain in tyrannical rule of Satan by being transplanted as free colonists into the kingdom and peaceable sovereignty of Christ to become citizens in the realm of light we have been freed from darkness now notice in the third place again under the head deliverance from the power of darkness we have Redemption from bondage he has delivered us from the power of darkness conveyed us into the kingdom of the son of his love and now he's going to amplify or flesh out how God does this the end of verse 14 that answer leads to his Christology in verses 15 to 20 he moves from prayer to theology but notice what he says in verse 14 in oh the son of his love we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins the way that God rescued the way that God delivered the way that God transferred us was through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ it was through that death it was through the sacrifice it was through the atonement it was through that curse bearing it was through him being made sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God in him in whom we have redemption of course the presupposition there is sin human said our said in Exodus 6 6 to 8 the presupposition is bondage in Egypt our bondage is in sin the redemption that is in view here is something again we ought to celebrate before God Most High you know when we consider this theological stuff that Paul sets forth before us and we really ponder the implications of it and we really suck the sweetness out of this gospel flower I don't know how we contain ourselves I don't know how we're not doing holy Jay I'm not suggesting you get up and do a holy jig right now but brethren we autopia thankful people you ever noticed that if you get a pebble in your shoe let's say in your right shoe you typically don't think about how good your left foot feels do you maybe you do because you're awesome but if i get a pebble in my right shoe all I'm thinking about is my right foot I don't think well at least my left foots good at least it's healthy happy and Weiss at least it's unmolested in its shoe I think that's sort of how we are at times we have so many blessings and so many good things and so many pebble asst shoes in our lives that when a pebble does get introduced into our shoe it becomes all-consuming it becomes mesmerizing it becomes captivating and intoxicating brethren never forget that we have an inheritance laid up for us in heaven never forget that we have been delivered from the power of darkness we have been transferred into the kingdom of the son of his love and the way that the father accomplished that he was pleased to bruise his son at Calvary we have Redemption the means by which this comes in or through his blood it's a textual variant there it's in Ephesians 17 and what we have here is a reference to the blood atonement of our Lord Jesus Christ and the particular status look what it yields the forgiveness of sins pardon my iniquity for it is great you've probably heard me say this before but it bears saying again of all of the gospel blessings that you and I enjoy is it forgiveness a chart-topper isn't it in the top one we have been forgiven the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin God is holy holy holy God is of two pure and I upon any evil we are nothing but evil to do iniquity is like sport to a fool we eats in like it's our daily bread the wicked plots evil on his bed everything about us is wretched it is dark it is unholy it is ungodly and yet by the grace of God when we believe the gospel what happens he cleanses us he purges us he blots out our transgressions he removes our iniquities and in the language of the prophet Micah he cast them into the depths of the sea this is what provokes Micah to ask the question who is it God like you pardoning iniquity I think if we were to get Micah in a room and say does it surprise you that God judges the wicked well certainly not does it surprise you that God overthrew a pharaoh and his armies at the exodus will certainly not does it surprise you that the wages of sin is death well certainly not well what surprises you Micah what surprises Micah and what ought to surprise us is that God pardons iniquity justice righteousness equity demands the punishment of sin since why we ought to be very careful when we impugn God with not being fair it has been in vogue at least in some parts of the church that it's okay to complain against God he has caused some severe distress in your life or some Providence it's okay to get really upset and get really mad at him the humanists used to do this they go into rooms and they take pillows and they punch the pillows Christians coop the thought the thought say well you punch a pillow because God has inflicted this upon you brethren be very very very very resistant of such a thought be very very resistant against saying to God well that's not fair do you know what fair is fair is everlasting fire and punishment for every sin fair is God cutting off all the sons of Adam and casting them into the lake of fire fair is Justice meted out grace that taught our hearts to fear it's grace that God has poured out upon us it's grace that has called us to the Lord it is grace that orchestrates this great redemptive act by or through the blood of the Lord Jesus the forgiveness of sins and as we eat this bread and drink this cup these are all concepts brothers and sisters that I think that I hope are going through your minds hope it's not the case well this is a religious lot right and we do this every month because that's what Christian Church is new now on one hand that's a good thing we are commanded by God by the Lord Christ of do this but as we eat this bread and drink this cup it's a time of remembrance pastor kim reminded us last month who are we remember eight we're remembering christ's we're remembering the fact that through his blood we have redemption through his blood we have the forgiveness of sins that through his blood we have been delivered from our bondage or from the power of darkness that through his blood we have an inheritance with the saints and the light these are all reasons why we ought to praise why we ought to worship why we ought to be a thankful people as I said prayer gives way to theology rheumatica Lee these verses are still connected to Paul's prayer but there is a transition here from three of God's redemptive acts to the celebration of Christ person and work it's like for Paul when he says Christ he can't stop let me tell you about Christ let me tell you about Jesus look at the progression he has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the son of his law son of his love this is Paul's cue in whom that son of love or the son of his love we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins now Paul in verses 15 to 20 keeps on amplifying who the son of his love is Christ created this world Christ upholds this world Christ redeems his elect out of the world this is what I call spiritual CPR you all know what CPR is cardio pulmonary resuscitation that is good to remember if you're ever out and about somebody keels over use CPR but you know what's good to keep in your mind as a christological CPR he made this world and everything in it by him all things consist verse 17 and by him we have redemption creation Providence and redemption the great christological works upon which these blessings come to the people of God wherein we have an inheritance where and we have deliverance wherein we will ultimately enter in to be with God the Father God the Son God the Holy Spirit just want to focus to thoughts and then we close notice in verse 19 in for these two thoughts I'm going to lean on two men for it please the father that in him all the fullness should dwell interpreters or commentators are are divided on what does Paul mean here does this mean all the fullness of the deity dwells in Jesus what Paul says that in Colossians 29 it is a reality all the fullness of deity dwells in Christ bodily Christ is God Christ is God that is a reality that the Bible everywhere presents to us but most likely verse 19 is not about the fullness of deity dwelling in I believe that ed is on the right track when he says all fullness of grace or saving blessings dwells in Christ whatever is needed to save a fallen world and restore harmony to the universe is treasured up in him is in him that's the point in verse 19 for it please the father that in him all the fullness should well we need an inheritance the fullness is in Christ we need a deliverance the fullness is in Christ we needed a rescue from bondage the fullness is in Christ we needed ah the forgiveness of sins the fullness is in Christ and then notice secondly by way of a concluding thought verse 20 which by the way does not teach universal ISM and by him to reconcile all things to himself by him whether things on earth or things in heaven having made peace through the blood of his cross the idea being that it's a fallen world it is by the grace of God a redeemed world not every man without exception but every man without distinction from every tribe tongue people and nation always try and get this quote in because I think it's so beautiful consider verses 15 to 20 again this is the foundation for the blessings that we have received for which we give thanks to the father because he's qualified us to share or participate in this inheritance and because he's delivered us from darkness and verse 20 comes on the heels of Paul having said that Christ created and that Christ is sovereign and Providence in him all things consist that's an amazing statement Gordon Clark says now when we pause to consider this is staggering the preceding verses have described Christ in transcendent terms he was the creator and all the fullness dwells the air of the universe for whom it was created now when the creator of heaven and earth the creator himself voluntarily suffered on the cross for our sins we can only stand in awe and worship amen amen amen let us pray our Father we thank you for these blessings detailed by the Apostle in this section of Scripture grant us grace to be a thankful people certainly God as we thank you we are not congratulating ourselves we are not putting forth our own good works we are acknowledging the work of the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit help us to be those who take these things to heart help us to be those who are marked by this identifying characteristic of a worthy walk before our God and as Paul has flushed these things out for us certainly we have so much to be thankful for thank you that we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins thank you that you have taken those sins and cast them into the depths of the sea and we do say with the prophet who is a god like you pardoning our iniquity we thank you for your graciousness and for your mercy and our desire is is that other sinners would hear of the Lord Jesus Christ that others would believe the gospel that they would turn from their sins that they would know the joy of being found in him not having their own righteousness which is from the law but having that righteousness which is through faith in Jesus Christ we praise You God in Jesus name Amen well you can turn with me in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 26 as we read the section dealing with the institution of the Lord's Supper Matthew chapter 26 essentially what we have in the supper is the second of the sacraments or ordinances the Roman Catholic Church teaches that there are seven sacraments the Protestant said no there are two baptism and the lord's supper baptism of course is our initiation rite it is that that that which we undergo when we first believed the gospel we are balita we believe and are baptized we enter into the life of the church and then the Lord's Supper is a recurring ordinance as I've mentioned before who owns this house it is God God is the householder God provides for us this meal God provides for his weary pilgrims refreshment on the way this is a means of grace is to indeed increase our faith to sustain us and as well it is to call us to remember that blessed Lord who gave himself for us who gave himself for the sins of all his people this is an ordinance for Christians you must be a believer it is for believers alone it is not for the unconverted some in the history of the church have thought that it was a converting ordinance in other words we let unbelievers come and take the bread and wine with the hope that they will indeed be converted that is not our position I do not believe that's the Bible's position the Bible teaches that believers participate in the supper certainly believers have remaining sin if you have remaining sin that you're not dealing with you're unwilling to deal with it you're you're allowing things to go uncontested the Apostle deals with that first Corinthians 11 let a man examine himself when a man examining examines himself on this side of the New Jerusalem he's never going to see perfection he is never going to see spotless nests or holiness or the beauty of the the glory that will in the age to come but he ought to see a willingness and a consistency in dealing with sin what does the Bible say when sinners or when Christian sent they confess it to God they forsake it and they find mercy so if you by God's grace or living a christian life where you're maintaining short accounts with God and with men then by all means take it reminded of the story I think it was a Scottish Presbyterian gathering where there was a lord supper service going and when the minister was presiding on that and he saw that as the cup got closer to this one particular woman as it got closer and closer she sobbed more and more she was just broken by her own sin she was broken by her own unworthiness and when the cup comes to her the minister takes and he says it is for sinners we need to remember that it's a means to aid and a means to assist in a means of grace disperse along the way and to refresh our weary hearts but if we are not dealing with sin there is a reluctance in our hearts then it's best not to take well those things having been stated the juice is in the outer ring when that particular plate goes around I'll ask the actually we will ask the brothers to to pass out the bread and while they do that we will sing number 183 so the shorter section will read the first section after they pass out the bread so number 183 and your Trinity hymnal please remain seated while those men pass out the bread 183 thrown up on the Eiffel tree yes does it in more detail in first Corinthians chapter 11 but I'll just read verse 26 will pray and then we'll take the bread together 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 will let us pray I blessed God and Father as we consider these redemptive benefits we have in Christ truly we are a thankful people we give you praise and glory and honor and worship we thank you for this ordinance that you've given we thank you for what it represents the lord christ in his broken body saving his people from their sins we ask that you would encourage our hearts and strengthen us with might and the inner man and cause us to worship and adore that one who is altogether lovely in chief among ten thousand and we pray these things in Jesus name Amen we'll take together you may turn over to 193 in your Trinity hymnal again please remain seated the juice you in verse 27 Matthew writes 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 let us pray bless it God we thank you for the blood of the new covenant we know the old covenant was ratified in blood but the blood of bulls and goats can never take away sin we thank you for the atoning work of our Lord Jesus Christ we thank you for the fact that he is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world we thank you that you've made us partakers of this by your grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone and may we indeed proclaim his death now as we participate in this as a local church and may we indeed proclaim that death when given opportunities to sinners with whom we come into contact we ask that we would honor and glorify you we ask that we would indeed be a thankful people in this lower world when we pray through Christ Jesus our Lord amen we'll take together for our final hem will stand in sing number 175 now cause your face to shine upon us may we know your peace and may you keep us each and every day we thank you for this day in the courts of our God we thank you for the house of our God we thank you for the freshman of the refreshment that you afford to your weary pilgrims send us back into this world so that we may indeed engage in those things which are pleasing in your sight help us our Father to glorify your most holy name and thank you for your so many benefits given to us through our Lord Jesus Christ and it's in his name that we pray amen we'll close with a brief time of meditation