Let's turn to the Psalter section. It is the Psalm 130. Lord, from the depths to thee I cry, my voice, Lord, do thou hear. We'll stand and sing the Psalm on the page 123, the Psalm 130, and then we'll remain those who can do so for the communion service. Let's stand and worship God. Lord, do I hear? O do I sound with patient voice, in power and in faith? O Christian child, Forgiveness is the fear the pain. ♪ My hope is in His Word ♪ ♪ More than they have ♪ ♪ Or more He wants ♪ ♪ My soul is for the Lord ♪ ♪ Even though ♪ Rejoice! Rejoice! Rejoice! Rejoice! Rejoice! So plenteous his ever-fond renaissance, And from all his iniquities May he in strength shine, I think we maybe missed a few verses, didn't we? There are a few words, maybe not, in the singing of that psalm, maybe not. Well, let's seek the Lord together in prayer before we open the scriptures together. Let's pray. Our Father, we meet around the table, the table of remembrance. We thank Thee for our Redeemer, We thank thee for redemption. We've been singing about it, plenteous, plenteous redemption with our God. And if thou shouldest mark iniquities, who should stand? But there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared. O God, may we fear thee, may we fear thee. May, O God, when we partake of these emblems, may we fear God. May we fear, lest we eat unworthily, lest we eat and partake of the emblems with a casual appreciation or a casual manner. We pray that thou will remove that from us. May we remember our Savior and all that he did on our behalf. Help us around the word as it's preached. And bless these our waiting souls and make this a means of grace to us. We pray this in our Savior's name. Amen. Let's turn please to Hebrews chapter number nine. Hebrews nine. Number of verses from the verse 11. Hebrews nine, verse 11. But Christ being come and high priest of good things to come, by greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is to say, not off this building, neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of goats The ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh. How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offer himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Amen. Deficient sacrifices replaced by Christ's all-sufficient sacrifice. That's what I want to speak about as we gather around the table of remembrance today. You see, the sacrifices connected with the Levitical priesthood were deficient in taking away sin. Hebrews 10 and the verse 11 makes that very clear. For there we read, Hebrews 10 verse 11, and every priest standeth daily ministering, and offering of times the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. There may have been a ceremonial cleansing, but there was no inner cleansing. There was no making the man, the woman right with God through the mere blood of bulls and of goats. We read that already. We read about the blood of the bulls and goats, what it did. it sanctifies to the purifying of the flesh. But that is not sufficient. There needs to be the sanctifying, the cleansing of the soul. And that only comes about through the work of Jesus Christ. Inward cleansing was not accomplished by the offering of bulls and goats on the temple's altar. As Isaac Watts put it, not all the blood of beasts on Jewish altar slain could give the guilty conscience peace nor wash away the stain. However, the deficient sacrifices connected with the Levitical priesthood were replaced by the sufficient sacrifice of Jesus Christ when he died for sin upon the cross. Contrasting the former deficient sacrifices with Christ's sufficient sacrifice, the inspired pain man, he writes, I want you to notice that redemption is a triune work of the triune Godhead. It's a work of the triune God. We have it here This particular verse, did you see all three persons of the triune Godhead? Did you see them there? We see verse 14, the blood of Christ, there's God the Son. We see the eternal spirit, there is God the Holy Spirit. And we see that it was offered to God, God the Father. Father, Son, Holy Spirit, all engaged in the great work of redemption, a threefold core. here presented in this particular verse. But there are three noteworthy truths that I want you to notice about the sacrifice of Christ here in the verse 14. I want you to notice that Christ's sacrifice was a personal sacrifice. We're told that by the eternal spirit Christ offered himself to God. The Son of God did not offer a bullock or a goat God as a sacrifice for sin. Rather, he offered himself to God. Such a sacrifice was the greatest sacrifice that he could ever make. The Son of God willingly offered himself to God in order to put away our sin. At highest cost to himself, Jesus Christ became the sacrifice for sin. He offered himself to God. Not only was it a personal sacrifice, it was a perfect sacrifice. The writer is careful with the language within the verse, guarding the impeccability, the sinlessness of Christ. He uses the words without spot. He offers himself by the eternal spot, with eternal spirit, he offers himself without spot to God. He is unblemished. He is the pure, the holy Son of God, the animal that was offered. in the Levitical priesthood was an unblemished animal. It was to be without blemish. We read of that in the book of Exodus and in the book of Leviticus. Jesus Christ came to become the fulfillment of all of the types and shadows and all of the sacrifices. He himself is the perfect Lamb of God. He himself offers himself without spot to God. He is the one without blemish. and he is the one without spot. Thirdly, it was a purposeful sacrifice. There was a purpose for which Christ died. Note the closing words of the verse 14, to purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God. Christ died to purge our consciences from dead works. The dead works here mentioned is just another way that speaks of our sins. our sins, dead works, works that we tried to bring to God to reconcile us to God. Sin in and of itself, dead works. And here Christ, He purges away our sins, our dead works by His sacrifice. Christ's sacrifice cleanses our consciences so deep. So deep is the cleansing that it goes beyond the outer cleansing. It goes right into the conscience. The hidden conscience of man is cleansed by Jesus' blood. So deep is its effect that where no human can reach, Jesus' blood reaches. resulting in our conscience no longer condemning us because Christ's blood has cleansed us from our sins. And in light of what he did for us, we come to serve the living God. He purges us that we might then serve him, to serve him. We no longer serve ourselves. We no longer serve the flesh. We no longer serve Satan, but we serve the Lord Jesus Christ, delivered from the bondage of our sins. All of our powers are now consecrated to serve the living God. Christ died. Christ made you his own. and in light of what he has done for you, you and I are to serve the living God. Are we doing that? Are we serving him in some way? Are we serving him in light of what he has done for us? Well, may God help us to do that. Thank God no longer do we need to find some unblemished animal. to bring to church on a Sunday, to have it sacrificed in the car park or here in the building. Christ's sacrifice has put an end to all sacrifices. He has entered into heaven once. We're told in those verses, he's entered into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. Hallelujah, what a Savior. We'll read the words of institution as we find them in 1 Corinthians, in the chapter 11. Before we partake of the bread and of the wine, First Corinthians 11 23 for I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered on to you that the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread and when he had given thanks he break it and said take it this is my body which is broken for you this do in remembrance of me some brother lead us in prayer thanking God for the bread that is before us please. Lord, we just do thank you that we have a sufficient sacrifice in Christ. Lord, our sufficiency does not depend upon our works or our ideas or our theories on how things should be conducted. but it is the Christ the son of the living God who purges us from dead works to serve him and we pray Lord that each and every one of us would know that inward cleansing Lord even today and would know Lord that strengthening of our hand in God and that thou would encourage us as we seek to walk in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost. Lord we need to do these things, we need to stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free. We see in our land, Lord, liberties being curtailed and yet we thank you that the liberty in Christ cannot be curtailed for it is a liberty not given by civil authority but by divine authority. and we pray lord that that power to live for christ would be given to each and every one of us that they would be as it were set for the defense of the gospel and lord set in our hearts to walk in the ways of truth and the ways of thy word and the ways of righteousness lord and not in the ways and the councils of man lord and which There is no fear of God, Lord. We see it in the laws that are pressed upon us in our land, Lord. We see those laws, Lord, evidencing the lack of the fear of God. We praise Thee and thank You, Lord, that Thou art well able to reverse these laws, to deliver our land, Lord, from such such enemies as Lord we would see at high places Lord. Our enemies are wicked, our enemies are vile, our enemies are against God and yet Lord thou is power Lord. Lord thou laugheth at thine enemies Lord. For Lord how powerful they are in their own eyes but how powerless they are in the hand of the living God. Lord, come and bless us, abide with us, Lord, and may we know, Lord, the continuance of thy presence and of thy help for the remains of this day and for the preaching of the gospel that souls will be mightily and wondrously saved, for Christ's sake. Amen. As we continue to dwell upon our Saviour's dying love, some brother, lead us please to the throne of grace again, giving thanks for the cup that we will receive, filled with the wine, but an emblem, a symbol of the precious blood of our Redeemer, without shedding of blood, no remission. Thank God for the bloody sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Some brother, lead us now in prayer, please. Heavenly Father, as we wait on in thy holy presence, We do thank Thee again, Lord, for Thy people, Lord, gathered in this fashion. Thank Thee again for the redeemed of the Lord here today. Again, we thank Thee, Lord, as we have heard from Thy word today about fearing the Lord. We pray, Lord, You will give us all a proper understanding of what is involved here and what our brother has explained to us this morning. Pray that every child of God today will know that that judgmental fear that was once upon us is gone. We thank you that because of these emblems here and what they represent, Lord, we thank you again that the fear of judgment upon our sin has been removed. And truly, Lord, we should praise the Lord today for this great fact. And Lord, as we look upon these emblems They represent to us again the humanity of Christ. The fact that our Savior was prepared to come from the realms of glory and come down to this earth, Lord, and take upon himself the form of a man. As the scriptures say, a body that has prepared for me. Lord, that our Lord and Savior was prepared to live within the constraints even of a body. Lord, we want to acknowledge Lord, even today, as we sit around the communion table of what the Lord has done for us, Lord, we realize the importance that you did become man. Lord, you had to become one of us. We read in the word there again that by one man, by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners, but by the obedience of one, shall many be made righteous. So Lord, we thank you that you became identified with us, became identified with our sin. Lord, bore away our sin and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. So Lord, we just acknowledge again your great love for us. Lord, we thank thee again that you were prepared again to allow thy precious blood to be shed. Lord, what a cleansing agent it was, the precious blood of Christ. Lord, as we have heard, we're not redeemed with corruptible things such as silver and gold, but by that precious, that incorruptible, that indestructible blood of our Savior. So, Lord, today, we thank Thee again. Thank Thee again for opening our hearts, Lord, to see these great truths. Lord, there are many, even some gathered amongst us today, and Lord, they cannot see these great truths. Lord, we pray for them again today. Pray, Lord, that the Word, the Word by the Spirit, Lord, will gain an entrance into their hearts. And Lord, again, they too will come to rejoice with us. And we're here to rejoice today because we know, Lord, that the great benefits that we have derived from the cross. Lord, we read there in Samuel, Lord, King David, he said, is there no one remaining of the house of Saul that I could show kindness to? Lord, we are of the house of Saul, we are of the flesh, we are of mankind, but we thank you that one of us through the God man, one of us, Lord, was prepared to be identified with us. and pay that great price of our redemption. So Lord, we can only again just come with hearts of praise, hearts of thankfulness. And even as we partake of this wine, Lord, help us to think on these great issues of what the Lord has done for us. We do ask these things in and through our Savior's name. Amen. After the same manner also he took the cup when he had supped, saying, This cup is a new testament, a new covenant in my blood. This do ye as oft as ye drink it in remembrance of me. For as oft as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come. Amen. Just before we close in prayer, we have a new member to welcome into the church fellowship. We're glad that Brother Roderick has come to join with us here. So I'm gonna invite our brother Roderick to come to the front. Terribly nervous, so he is. Afraid that I'll ask him to do something. Our brother Roderick was interviewed last week and he's been made aware of our distinctives within the free church and also of his responsibilities as a church member. We all have responsibilities as members of Christ's church. We have responsibilities to be here, to be present. We have responsibilities to be praying, praying for the work of God. But we have responsibilities to our members as the spiritual oversight. We often expect our members to fulfill their responsibilities, but as the pastors, the minister, and as elders, we have responsibilities to pray for God's people, to be there to support them, to help them, at times to reprove them, to discipline, but we have responsibilities and we trust that we'll fulfill our responsibilities as much to you as you will towards the work of God. Roderick was saved at 16 years of age and since then has walked with the Lord. We're glad of his desire to join with us as a member within the congregation. And so, as is in the New Testament, we simply want to extend to you, Roderick, the right hand of fellowship and welcome you into the work of God here. Trust the Lord will bless you, Roderick, in the days ahead. Fellow elders will also welcome you. We'll stand for prayer. Let's stand all together. Our heavenly Father, we come into thy presence, ever thankful for redemption ground. We stand here. and level ground physically, and certainly that is the case spiritually. We all find ourselves standing at the cross, ever looking to the Redeemer, who bled and suffered and died for our sins upon Calvary's tree. We pray, Lord, that thou will bless the work of God in this place, that we may walk in thy fear and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost. Lord, that there will not only be additions, but there'll be multiplication, Lord, within the work of God. Lord, grant, dear God, in these days the breaking out of Thee on the right hand and on the left. We rejoice in salvation. We praise Thee for the Redeemer, the Christ of God. And Lord, as we labor for Thee and as we work for Thee and as we fellowship together, may we be as iron sharpeneth iron. May, O God, our countenance and our conversation Be that which will encourage us and help us all on to God. Bless, Lord, we pray. Let us pray one for another and let us go forward even in these days. Continue to deal with others, Lord, who find themselves not in membership. Lord, we pray you'll speak and deal with hearts. And Lord, we pray that you'll bring them into the fellowship of the saints here in this local congregation. So answer prayer, part us with thy blessing, help the open air, and Lord, the evening service tonight. Save the lost, and Lord, restore the fallen, and speak to the hearts of thy people, and revive us again. We pray this in our Savior's precious name. Amen and amen. You may be seated.