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 Good evening, everyone. You can turn in your Bibles with me to the Gospel of Luke, Luke 22. Luke chapter 22. This morning was about baptism. This evening will be about the Lord's Supper. We're not observing it. We will be doing that soon, in the next couple of weeks. But with regards to our Savior's words of institution, his instituting of the Lord's Supper on the night in which he was betrayed, you can turn to Luke 22. We're going to begin reading at verse 14, and we will read to verse 23. Luke 22, beginning at verse 14, the Word of God. When the hour had come, he sat down and the twelve apostles with him. Then he said to them, you, do this in remembrance of me. Likewise, he also took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is shed for you. But behold, the hand of my betrayer is with me on the table. And truly the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed. Then they began to question among themselves which of them it was who would do this thing. Amen. Let's go to God in prayer. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we rejoice in your goodness to us that we can gather now in the context of worship to bring our praises and to bring our honorings and thanksgivings to you. We thank you for this freedom and opportunity to gather as the saints of Christ in the house of God for the worship of the living and true God, Father, Son, and Spirit. and do just help us now in this time of preaching. We pray that you would be with us, that you would be honored, that you would be glorified, that Christ would be exalted upon this congregation, our praises, and we do just pray, God, that you would strengthen us through the word preached, that you would edify your saints, that you would save sinners, and that the exercise, the whole exercise of worship would be unto the praise of your most high name. And it's in Christ's name that we pray. Amen. Well, the Lord's Supper, like all of God's good things, is a variegated gem, and we cannot look at the entirety of the Lord's Supper, all of the import, all of the export, all of the blessedness that is that sacrament. We're just going to look at a number of things that come to us from the passage, and simply we're going to look at verses 19 and 20 under two heads that may sound complicated. the bread and the wine. Two simple heads, but two blessed heads, the bread and the wine. And so the words that we have here, just to bring it into a measure of context very briefly, there's something of some very glorious words that we find here in verse 15 with regards to our Lord Jesus Christ and his observing of this first Lord's Supper in the context of the Passover. What wonderful words from the lips of Christ. With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer. These words of earnest longing, these words of profound and deliberate love and longing exercised towards the disciples by the Savior on the night in which he was betrayed. And the significance of the institution of the Lord's Supper on the night in which Christ was betrayed, it should not be lost on us with regards to the import it brought to the disciples at this particular time and at this particular hour. Remember the language in verse 14 is when the hour had come. That is, of course, the hour of crucifixion, the hour of Christ's oblation, his sacrifice that he rendered on behalf of a multitude of sinners. Calvin wrote with regards to the significance of Christ's institution of the Lord's Supper on the night in which he was betrayed. This circumstance as to time instructs us as to the design of the sacrament, that the benefit of Christ's death may be ratified in us. For the Lord might have some time previously committed to the apostles this covenant seal, But he waited until the time of his oblation, his sacrifice, that the apostles might see soon after accomplished in reality in his body what he had presented to them in the bread and the wine, represented to them in the bread and in the wine. He could have instituted this months prior, weeks prior, but because Christ always does those things that are fitting for truth and for his glory and the glory of his Father, he institutes this supper on the night in which he was betrayed in order to invigorate his disciples for the baptism by fire that they were about to go into. And so that immediately upon the heels of the giving of this meal, which is a remembrance of Christ, they would see upon the very day afterwards the very thing in reality in his body that was represented to them in the bread and in the wine. And as we go about this, we are to see in our Christ the bread of life and in our Christ the wine of vivification and life. We want to see first then the bread. If we engage in a rehearsal of the Bible's emphasis upon food, one of the common themes that we come across is the recurrence of bread. In fact, from the time of the curse pronounced upon the serpent all the way through to the end of the book of Revelation, there is time and again this emphasis upon bread. And so it's fitting that, for a number of reasons as we'll see, but for that reason alone, it's fitting that Christ, in verse 19, we read of him, and he took bread and gave thanks and broke it and gave it to them, saying. We want to notice first here with regards to the bread broken. Now, what is bread in the Bible, but both physically and as it points to spiritual realities, it speaks to nourishment. It speaks to substantial divine provision. It speaks to strength given from on high for the body as it pertains to the physical reality of bread, but also for the soul as it pertains to that higher meaning with regards to the bread of life. And we see here in the bread broken first a giving of thanks that we ought not to brush past. Notice again the language, and he took bread, gave thanks, and broke it. This isn't just a species of gratefulness that is given by Christ, though Christ is of course grateful. The giving of thanks isn't simply the same sort of giving of thanks that we would give to our God upon the eating of a meal, though Christ's words contain that giving of thanks for the meal that's provided. I think what we're to see here, because this is the most significant instance of the giving of thanks that ever there was given, we're to see here that the Son of God incarnated for the salvation of sinners is giving thanks to the Father for the redemptive act that he's about to take place, that he's about to perfect and to exercise. Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame. He is thankful to the Father, though he will give those tears in the garden of Gethsemane shortly with regards to the cry out to his Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, his resolution, his resolute determination is to give thanks to his Father for the redemption of his elect, for all of these whom the Father had given to him. And these immediately before him, the eleven that he is eating with. Of course, the twelfth is that betrayer of the Son of Man and Son of God. And so he gives thanks, not a generic species of gratefulness that is given, but thanks for the sacrifice that he's about to render because of what it will accomplish. And we see here the giving of bread. This ought to be, we'll spend a little bit of time on this, but we ought to appreciate not all of the biblical imports that we can possibly trace out. We would be here for a while, but some significant ones. Notice again, and he took bread, gave thanks, and broke it, broke that bread and gave it to them, saying, I want you to turn with me to the book of Genesis for a moment. in Genesis chapter 3. One of these imports that we have with respect to the giving of Christ, the giving of bread by Christ, which is, as we'll notice, the giving of Christ himself. But notice in Genesis 3, and this is in the context of Adam and Eve having already fallen, having already taken of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And in the context of the curse, notice beginning at verse 18 of Genesis 3, Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground. For out of it you were taken, for dust you are, and to dust you shall return. And notice this is a given in the context of labor. Cursed is the ground for your sake, the end of verse 17. In toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. So let just grasp onto this for a moment Bread in the context of the curse And toil and labor being spent by man by virtue of his fall into sin And then turning now to some famous words in Isaiah 55 which speak to the reality of bread and the overturning of the curse. Bread is eaten in toil and in labor, and yet it is freely given in the overturn of the curse. Notice, of course, familiar words in Isaiah 55. Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters, and you who have no money, come, buy, and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Notice there, wine. Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me and eat what is good and let your soul delight itself in abundance. And then notice the end of the chapter as it speaks to the overturn of the curse. Truly all the language is alluding to that. But notice verse 13. Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress tree and instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle tree and it shall be to the Lord for a name for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off. And so Christ, in inaugurating the Lord's Supper, as we find our way back to Luke 22, He is essentially saying that the promised one has come. The hero born of woman, who would crush the serpent with his heel, who would overturn the curse, is now bringing you from a position where no longer will you toil for your bread in this spiritual sense and reality, but you will eat of the bread that I give to you freely. You will be the blessed yet undeserved recipients of the bread that I give you. And Christ, as the bread of life, here on the night in which He gives His body for the redemption of sinners, He takes this bread, He gives thanks, and He breaks it, and He gives it to them. The curse is overturned. He is dealing with these according to their soulish need, bringing divine provision in the context of covenantal faithfulness, bringing them the hope that is Christ himself. The wonderful language here, whenever we come to our Bibles, and hopefully when you come to your Bibles, you don't come to it so that you can skip past certain parts, even the chronologies, there's blessed divine revelation given to us in the chronologies and the genealogies. But when we come to something as simple as he took bread, let's bring our Christian minds with the whole weight of the theology and the biblical revelation of bread, if only that one morsel that we just touched on now, and let's bring it to the text and see the glory of nourishment that Christ brings to weary pilgrims along the way. Christ broke this bread, He gave thanks and He gives it to His disciples. John Gill writes here, Christ broke the bread as the symbol, and this is what we're getting to with regards to this next point, as the symbol of His body, which was to be broken by blows and scourges, thorns, nails, and spear, and to be separated from His soul and die as a sacrifice for the sins of his people. When we gather together for the Lord's Supper and we take the bread that comes along to us and we hold it in our hands, the thanksgiving is given, the blessing is pronounced over it, and we take of that bread following the prayer. What we are to reflect on is not upon some sort of notion of the roteness or the repetition of this as some sort of simple religious right. But we're to reflect with Christian minds upon the fact that the bread that is offered is the very body of the Lord Jesus Christ, our spiritual nourishment. This is my body, or this represents, as it were, my body, which is given for you. When that bread comes around, it is an element. It is bread, and it remains bread. Yet it points to the high and blessed reality of a Savior broken for us, Not a bone in his body was broken, but he received blows, and he received scourges, and he received thorns, nails, and spear, and he was to have that body separated from the soul and to die as a sacrifice for the sins of the people. Far from being a rote rehearsal of an ancient Christian rite, it is a blessed life-giving reality where the ascended Christ impresses upon us the reality that he once for all had his body broken for us, that we might receive everlasting life. We, breach upon breach, broke his law, every jot and every tittle, yet he, that Christ, was broken in body, was the recipient of blows, was the recipient of scourges, was the recipient of all of those things that we might receive the blessed gift of everlasting life. The bread carries much weight, much more weight than we only just briefly rehearsed. It carries with it the reality of divine sustentation, divine sustaining, divine nourishment, the substance that comes from on high to give us that soulish need. And notice this language that we already touched upon a little bit, but that comes now in the remainder of verse 19 with regards to what the significance of the breaking of the bread and the giving of the bread bears. This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. We ought to remind ourselves or to consider that this is given within the context of the Passover meal. And it's not just a coincidence. As you've heard before, and so now you'll hear again, the deliberate nature of the Lord Jesus Christ instituting this within the context of the Passover meal. Christ is observing with his disciples at this time, no doubt the bread, as we'll see in a moment, that was eaten along with the lamb of the Passover celebration of the Passover meal. This is my body which was given for you. The language of the Jewish celebration of the Passover that Christ is picking up on here was, this is the bread of affliction that our fathers ate as they were slaves in bondage in Egypt, and that they subsequently ate afterwards in reflection upon that bondage, and in reflection upon the redemption that God wrought, bringing them from out of that bondage. And so Christ is picking up this language. No longer is it the bread of affliction, but it is Christ's body. The one who was stricken, smitten, and himself afflicted is the one who, or who would be, is the one who now institutes this as this is my body, which is given for you. With regards to the question that perhaps you might ask, or maybe you don't, but I'll ask it for you. Why do we in the Lord's Supper no longer eat? Why do we not eat lamb? In remembrance of not the Passover, but the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, why do we only now partake of that bread element which was used by our Lord within the context of the Passover meal? Berkhoff makes a note here with regards to typology and the retention of bread in the Lord's Supper. It was but natural that when the real Lamb of God made His appearance and was on the point of being slain, the symbol and type should disappear. The all-sufficient sacrifice of Jesus Christ rendered all further shedding of blood unnecessary. And therefore it was entirely fitting that the bloody element should make way for an unbloody one which, like it, had nourishing properties. Moreover, through the death of Christ, the middle wall of partition was broken down, and the blessings of salvation were extended to all the world. And in view of this, it was quite natural that the Passover, a symbol with a national flavor, should be replaced by one that carried with it no implications of nationalism. The Lamb of God, our Passover Lamb, is about to be sacrificed for us, bringing an end to types and bringing to blessed reality the giving of the antitype for the sins of the world. And so Christ eats this bread, breaks this bread, gives this bread to his disciples, and he says, this is my body, which is, note, given for you. the wonderful reality of Christianity is not that it's about ethereal ambiguities but that it has a particular specificity to people who are blessed by something and someone who is given we don't navigate in weird or mysterious spiritual vagaries we navigate in the God revealed particularities of a Christ, the Son of God, who came in the fullness of the times to take on our humanity and redeem us. What a blessed thing we have in this language which is given for you. This is my body which is given for you. Not literally my body, but representatively my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. And we have this call that the living Christ here gives to his disciples and to us by virtue of the apostolic repetition of the institution of the Lord's Supper, this language of remembrance. This is the heartbeat of redemptive religion, is remembrance If we look at the Old Testament and we read it in its entirety or we focus even just on the Psalms as Pastor Butler has been working through them and as he will be working through them as the prayers of Christ the one who is the subject and the object and the prayer of them we see that Christ in them very often calls upon national Israel to reflect upon the blessings that were in their history. That historical retrospect, that looking back upon divine deliverance and divine provision and divine sustentation when body and soul needed to be fed. And here Christ is doing nothing different. He says, he commands, do this in remembrance of me. What a blessed command. You know, in this lower world, we can be, as the citizens of a body politic, the recipients of terrible commands and ungodly commands and unlawful commands. But what blessed commands, perfect in their substance and perfect in their end and design, that we have coming from our God and coming from our Christ. Do this in remembrance of me. Partake of the sustenance of physical bread and of the vivifying, reviving nature and exhilarating reality of physical wine. And these things point to my body broken for you and my blood shed for you. What a glorious command we have in our Christ. This command to remember. this is reflective of the reality of the giving of the Passover in Exodus. And you can turn there with me to see the connection. We've already noted there is a connection, obviously, because Christ is instituting the Lord's Supper within the context of the Passover meal. The bread that they are partaking of would be the bread, that bread of affliction that was eaten along with the meal of the lamb. And notice in Exodus 12, with regards to the language of remembrance, in Exodus 12, first, at verse 14, notice the language we read here. So this day shall be to you a memorial, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations, you shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance. And then verse 24, and you shall observe this thing as an ordinance for you and your sons forever. It will come to pass when you come to the land which the Lord will give you, just as He promised, that you shall keep this service. And it shall be when your children say to you, what do you mean by this service? That you shall say, it is the Passover sacrifice of the Lord who passed over the houses of the children of Israel and Egypt when he struck the Egyptians and delivered our households. So the people bowed their heads and worshipped. You see the connection here with regards to Christ's words, do this in remembrance of me. It's not a happy accident that he says, do this in remembrance of me. No longer is there a remembrance of that typical celebration, that typical liturgy, that typical meal. But now, for a much greater remembrance, the people of God are called upon to remember the true meaning of that Passover meal. The Lamb of God who came into this world, sinners to save. The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. The remembrance nature of divine religion is brought again to the fore. And we have this connection to a greater redemption. And so, a much greater remembrance. It's a much greater remembrance to remember not a physical redemption, but a spiritual redemption from out of bondage to Satan, death, and sin. Spurgeon says, with regards to this nature of remembrance, in remembering the Lord Jesus Christ, Oh, had I eloquence, I love these words, I would bestow a tongue on every drop of blood that is there, that your hearts might rise in mutiny against your languor and coldness and speak out with earnest, burning remembrance of Jesus. If you're sitting here right now, hopefully that resonates with you because we all can be marked by a coldness and a languor when it comes to our redemptive religion. We're imprisoned in this mortal coil. We're prisoners to our humanity, to our lowliness. We're prisoners to not reigning sin, but we are in a measure dealing with the weariness of this veil of tears within the context of the fact that we all have remaining corruption. We all have a corruption that remains, though redeemed by this great one who calls us to a remembrance of him. And this makes sense to us, that our hearts can be marked by a languor and a coldness. We can get up on the Lord's Day, and sometimes it's not always the case that we zip out of our beds, we're singing and we're skipping to the bathroom, brushing our teeth, and then just floating on butterflies to the minivan where we're singing with the kids, and the kids are all happy, and they're obedient, and we're having a wonderful drive to church and just everything is going swimmingly. It's very often that in our lowliness and in these shells of our present mortality, we're bogged down by coldness and we're bogged down by languor. We have those moments God-aided where the light does shine through and we do skip and we do smile and we can sing. But very often our hearts can be cold and they can be marked by a languorousness. I'm not sure if that's a word. I'll look it up later. But we can be marked by this. We ought to say to our own tongues and say to our own hearts and say with Spurgeon that if we had eloquence, we would bestow a tongue on every drop of blood that is there at the cross that our hearts might rise in mutiny against that languor and against that coldness and speak out in earnest, burning remembrance of Jesus. There are so many glorious things to remember about our Savior. When Christ says, do this in remembrance of me, we might immediately fly to the crucifixion and write well we should, because that's the context, that's the hour that had come. Our minds going immediately to the death upon Calvary's cross, There's no error there. There's no sin there. Do this in remembrance of me. We remember, the apostle said, his death until he comes again. But our minds ought to stretch back to the creation. We weren't there, but if our minds could stretch back to Genesis, the Father who spoke by the word of his mouth, the Spirit hovering over the waters, the Son of God created all things and he upholds all things. The thoughts of our remembrances can stretch back into the Old Covenant, because remember, just as surely as we ascribe things to the Father in bringing Israel through turmoil and affliction, and those cycles of sin and justice and judgment and restoration and all of those things, just as surely that was the Son of God as it was the Spirit. So our mind reflects then upon the assumption of our humanity. simply the incarnation, the taking to Himself of our nature, we think about that babe in a manger. We think about that one who was opposed by friends even, of course, enemies. That one who went into the waters of baptism, not because of his sins, but to fulfill all righteousness. That one who went toe-to-toe with the lion from the pit in the desert. That one who endured beatings, spittings, thorns. that one who endured scourgings, all of those things, the life, the incarnate life of our blessed Christ, do this in remembrance of me. We, with Christian minds, burning through the languor and coldness with a life that seeks to celebrate our precious Christ, we break through all of that. And we, with our Christian minds, reflect upon so glorious a Savior, so glorious a One who gave Himself for guilty sinners. who gave Himself for us. That's the language. Do this in remembrance of Me. This is My body which is given for you. And as we see here in the language with respect to the cup of the new covenant in My blood, it is shed for you. As Christians, that means that you can say His body was broken for Me and His blood was shed for Me. It's a blessed thing for a moment. If we could only wrap our minds fully around that high and holy truth. Well, if we could wrap our minds around it, as that old preacher who has gone to be with the Lord said, we would congratulate ourselves for our cleverness, but we would never worship if we could wrap our minds fully around the incarnation and the truth of a triune God, the truth of a Christ who assumes our humanity for our redemption and recovery. we can't wrap our minds around that because it is so lofty and because it is so glorious. But having come to know these things as Christians, what a blessing it is to lay our minds, to lay our eyes, to have our ears fixed upon the truth of Christ who gave his body for us and who gave his blood for us. And that's the language of the wine. The wine tells the story. If the bread tells the story of divine nourishment and substance, wine tells the story of joy and celebration. The goodness of life lived in covenant fellowship with God. And it's a very interesting juxtaposition, just like it is with bread. A body broken, but life given with wine. Sorrow, the cup of divine wrath, drank by Christ to the last drop. But joy above joy Sorrow turning to joy and wrath turning into blessing The delight of divine communion by virtue of blood shed As we can't spend as much time on the bread as we can on the wine, just turn with me for a moment to Exodus 6. As we look to close with only a brief consideration of wine, but I want us to remember that this is given, as we've already noted, in context to the Passover meal. And this cup of the new covenant that Christ speaks of here is most likely the third cup called the cup of blessing. That's the language that the Apostle Paul uses. There were four cups observed in the observance of the Passover meal. In Exodus 6, we have the backdrop for what those specific cups represented. And notice in Exodus 6, in Exodus 6, we'll pick up reading at verse 1. Now notice these four I will statements that follow. The third of these I will statements is connected to the cup that Christ is enjoying with his disciples on the night in which he was betrayed. Verse 6, Therefore say to the children of Israel, I am the Lord. I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will rescue you from their bondage. And here it is. And I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. You see, this is the cup during the liturgical procession, if you will, of the events of betrayal night that Christ is enjoying with His disciples. And instead of using this specific language that pertained to a physical covenant and a physical redemption, the Lord Jesus Christ uses language pertaining to a physical, a spiritual rather, covenant and a spiritual redemption. This is the cup of the new covenant in my blood which is shed for you. You see the significance here. No longer is it an old covenant observance for a physical deliverance, but it is rather now a spiritual covenant, the new covenant in Christ's blood that is shed for them. What wonderful language. Likewise, he also took the cup after supper saying, this cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is shed for you. This same language of giving, this same language, body broken or body given and blood shed, not just that with a period after it, but the for you that follows. The blood is shed for you. My body is broken or given for you and my blood is shed for you. This is that cup of redemption. This is that third cup of blessing that we enjoy as Christians, this side of the crucifixion, because Christ has gone to the cross for us. He has performed that glorious work of redemption for us. And the particularity that is repeated, again, it is blessed. It is shed for you. If you're here this evening and you are in Christ Jesus, the religion of Christianity, the only true and saving religion, the only true religion is a religion of particularity, of specificity, of glorious Christ speaking to you that His body was given for you and that His blood was shed for you. Remember who this is, the creator of all things. Remember who this is, this is the upholder of all things. Remember who this is. This is the one who calms the storms, who walks on water, who heals miracles. Yet the one who, having assumed our humanity, thirsts and hungers and is weary and is tired and who bleeds and who is beaten and who is crucified and who dies. This precious one, this same Christ, very God and very man, gave himself, broke his body for us, shed his blood for us, that we might have everlasting life. And in the Lord's Supper, this one who is the Lord and giver of life feeds us spiritually just as surely as that bread and that wine, it's not there right now. If anyone can't see it, it's not there right now. But just as surely as we take the Lord's Supper, the bread, just as surely as it is present to our senses, just as surely as the wine is to our bodies, so just as surely, and even more certainly is, the body and the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, present to us, we partake of Him spiritually, not carnally and physically, but spiritually feed on Christ crucified and all the benefits of His death. Hercules Collins writes, My soul is no less assuredly fed to everlasting life with His body, which was crucified for us, and His blood, which was shed for us, than I receive and taste by the mouth of my body the bread and the wine. the signs of the body and blood of our Lord received at the hand of the minister. I don't think we often, I don't think we think that way. Just as often as we should at the Lord's Supper. I think we can sometimes be carried away a little bit too much by maybe it's repetition. Maybe, you know, maybe by that languor and that coldness. Where we don't really dwell upon the fact that just as surely as the bread and the wine, the signs of His body and blood, I taste those by my mouth, the mouth of my body, that just as surely His body and blood is present to me, my soul, my soulish enjoyment of the Lord, the giver of life. We ought to think that way. We ought to be students not just of the Lord of the Supper, but also of the Supper of the Lord. This is an earnest calling for anyone who perhaps would slight the observance of the Lord's Supper as a Christian. Hansard Nullus, and we'll close with this, followed by a word of encouragement, because this is a little bit of a rebuke, but a healthy one. The saints, when they sup with Christ, have meat and drink which others know not of. Those believers, who slight or neglect any of the holy administrations and ordinances of God, do want, that is, they do stand in lack of, do want that fellowship with the Father and that communion with Jesus Christ in the Spirit, which other believers do enjoy. O dear friends, be not wanting to your precious souls, either in slighting or neglecting the ordinances of God. Why should you cry, O my leanness, my barrenness? How unkindly do you deal with Christ to slight and neglect or refuse His gracious invitations to heavenly banquets at His table? That's what they are, heavenly banquets at the table. We ought not to slight and to ignore and to be marked by a languor and a coldness, but pray to God that He would give us that vivified celebratory spirit, that with the lives and the hearts of true Christians, we would not stand in want and in lack because of our negligence of that supper, but that we would joyfully come to the house of the Lord to enjoy the table of the Lord, where the exalted Christ, in His exalted splendor, feeds us. We avail of His body broken for us and His blood shed for us. We spiritually feed upon Christ crucified and all the benefits of His death. And what a glorious Lord we have in that. Who by physical elements that speak to nourishment and sustenance and to vivification and exhilaration really does spiritually and soulishly vivify us and give us the substance which is His own blessedness, His own life, His own glory. As we come, as we anticipate in a couple of weeks, to partake of the Lord's Supper, let's not come with roteness, with repetition, with anything other than with warm Christian hearts that glory in the Lord and seek to partake of a heavenly banquet at His table, singing the praises of that Christ. And if you're here tonight and if you don't know that Christ, the blessed things that we heard of this morning connected to the baptism sermon. Believe on Him and you will have everlasting life. Look and live. And that Christ, that risen and exalted One who gave His body and soul for guilty sinners will feed you from on high by virtue of your faith and by virtue of such means of grace as the Lord's Supper. Well, let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your truth. We rejoice in Your goodness to us. Do go with us into this week. Strengthen us. Lord of life, we pray that you would encourage us in our lower sojourn and that you would strengthen us and feed us in our faith. We thank you that by so many blessed means of grace, in the context of this church and in private families daily, the reading of the Word, the reading of your Holy Scriptures, prayer, the context of the Lord's Supper, preaching, baptism in the Lord's Supper, we thank you that we can unveil of a life-giving God who feeds His people by faith, that faith given to them freely. We do pray that you'd go with us. Help us to honor you in this upcoming week. Help us to rejoice in you, our God, the goodness that you provide and the salvation that you have perfectly given by virtue of the perfection of the work of our precious Savior, Jesus Christ. We pray that you'd go with us now, that we would even leave this place singing the praises of your most high name. And we pray in the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior. Amen.