The following message was given at Emanuel Baptist Church, Coconut Creek, Florida. If you'd like to turn to your Bibles, you may. Turn to the book of 1 Thessalonians chapter 11, a familiar passage to us, but nevertheless, it is God's word to us, especially concerning the remembrance of Christ. In 1 Corinthians chapter 11, we have the instruction given to the church at Corinth, which they were Failing to do and the Apostle under inspiration gives them and us the direction and how we are to observe the Lord's Supper 1st Corinthians chapter 11 and beginning with verse 23 Where the Apostle writes for I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you that the Lord Jesus, on the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, Take, eat, this is my body which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me. In the same manner also he took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me. The subject that I want to focus our minds upon in preparation for the supper is that phrase which has been repeated here in this text twice when he says, this do in remembrance of me. I want to focus not only upon that sentence, but upon the very singular word, me. Jesus said, this do in remembrance of me. My purpose this afternoon in this brief meditation before we partake of the supper is to remind us of the particular work, the basis of our salvation accomplished for us by our great Savior and Lord Jesus. Recently I was reminded of a story that was told many years ago of a preacher who was driving home from a speaking engagement. It was a very dark and rainy night and foggy and he came to a bridge that he had to cross over and as he came to the bridge there was a man standing, a pedestrian who was standing in his way and waving everything, doing everything he can and shouting to stop, stop. And so the preacher stopped, not knowing exactly why. The man said, you need to stop because the bridge has collapsed. He looked over the edge of the bridge and saw the danger of the catastrophe for anybody to drive over that bridge and fall into it. And then they looked back on the road, there was another car coming with the headlights come on, and the two of them were yelling and screaming and waving and saying, stop, you must stop. They stopped, of course. And they did that to a number of cars until finally the authorities came and closed off the bridge. But they were seeking to save those cars from driving over to a total destruction when they drove off the bridge. Now that warning was needed. The Apostle Paul in writing to the churches at Galatia concerning a warning that was needed to them because they were turning to a different gospel, which is not another, he said. The Apostle in writing to the church of Galatia concerning the troubling of some of those within the church who were perverting the gospel of Christ said this to them very clearly, very strongly. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed." That word accursed is anathema. It is an assignment to damnation. That's how serious the warning was the apostle Paul had to the churches of Galatia. At the very next verse, the apostle writes again, as we have said before, so now I say it again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. Galatians 1, 7 through 9. Now those are very strong statements of warning. The reason, of course, is they were looking to the works of the flesh in addition to, instead of, by Christ alone for their salvation. The act of circumcision was one of the areas, and there were certain Old Testament rituals that they were looking to as part of their salvation, redemption. They were looking to, they were trusting and resting on the works of the flesh. They were looking to religious activities. in addition to, instead of Christ alone. Our text says, the Lord Jesus said, do this in remembrance of me, not anything else. When the Holy Spirit awakens a man or a woman with a true apprehension, understanding something of the danger of his own sin in his heart, and he has a concern for his natural inclinations and rebellion against God's authority, when he or she is beginning to realize the guilt of his own or her sin, when he realizes the corruption that is within his own heart, which the Bible says is deserving of hell, This conviction of sin, coming in various degrees, but in true conviction, affects his life. All this is because he's convinced that he or she is a sinner. He will be truly anxious to some extent, but it will not leave him because it's a real thing. Some as a serious matter of conviction, but some of us don't feel quite that until later on we learn more about the seriousness of our sin. But there is a fearful state that is in mind and questions will arise in the heart of anyone who is under conviction. like the Philippian jail, what must I do to be saved? Or what is the true basis of a sinner's peace with God? Or what am I to believe, or what am I to do, or what am I to know in order to be saved from my sins? Now the fact of this having a basis or a foundation for his reconciliation with God is of great concern to him. It's not just a minor thing, it's real. And the answer, of course, is important to know. And I say again, it's important to know that He has nothing to do. Because the one who has all the power to save said on the cross, it is finished. It's accomplished. It's done. Jesus has done all that a holy God has determined necessary to be done to ensure a complete pardon for sin and to make one acceptable before God. Jesus has done all that a holy God has determined necessary to be done to give salvation to all who believe on his name. If one would trust in the Lord Jesus as his Savior, he will build his salvation for eternity. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 3.11. Jesus is the foundation stone. Jesus is the cornerstone of salvation, which was laid by God himself, and it is done in his finished work alone on the cross. And we are instructed to rest in Him, to trust in Him for the salvation of our souls, and not on anything accomplished by us, not on works worked out in us, not anything that is felt by us, not anything which proceeds or comes from us. not even on anything that we've experienced in our own lives. It is of the utmost importance to be clear as to this fact. It is the utmost importance to be clear as to this fact that it is the work of Christ without us, not even the work of the Spirit within us. It is of the utmost importance to be clear in this fact that Jesus Christ must be the sole, the only ground for our deliverance from our guilt of sin and from the wrath that our sins deserve and our having peace with God. We must be aware of resting our peace on our feelings, I feel like I'm saved, on our convictions of sin, I know I have sinned against God, on our tears, our regret for sins, or even our repentance, which you are commanded to do, our prayers, which we've offered, or our duties, which we've done, or even our experiences that we have had, or our resolutions that we have a purpose to do in the future. We must begin by looking to and receiving and trusting Christ and not make any determination in the course of some personal fancy preparation or ideas that we have on our part. Christ must be the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. He must be everything in our salvation or he will be nothing. We must be aware, lest we fall into the common mistakes of supposing that we will be more welcomed before God, more accepted by Christ, if we are brought into salvation by some obedience to some law work or some process that we have to go through in order to be accepted by God. Let me give you an example. We are as welcome to Christ now in the conviction of sins that we have, that we need salvation. that we will ever be. To wait for a deeper conviction of sin is wrong. Why would we prefer a conviction of sin to Christ? You would not have one iota more acceptance though you had deeper convictions of sin than any sinner ever had. That's not the way of salvation. That's not where we find forgiveness of sins. Convictions of sins are precious. They're valuable. God uses them. But they do not bring salvation. They do not bring assurance. They do not bring peace. They do not bring security. Conviction of sin only brings trouble. You see, it's good for us to be awakened from sleep when the house is on fire. But to be awakened from sleep is not the escape from the danger. It is only to be sensible of the danger and nothing more. And that's the same with conviction of sin. It's not the answer. In the same manner, to be convinced of our sins is merely to be made sensible to our soul's need, the danger that is there, and nothing more. It is not salvation. It is not deliverance. It doesn't bring deliverance. It only gives us to know that we need a Savior. It merely tells us that we need a Savior, not that we have a Savior, that we have at salvation. And yet there are some people who, when they have a deep conviction of sin, strong fears of disobedience to the law, congratulate themselves and think that that's all well, that's all that's needed. They say, I have been convinced of sin. I have been under the knowledge of my failure to obey God's commands, and therefore it is well with me. I am safe. Well, you're not any more safe than when you have been awakened because your house is on fire. In the same way, a sinner can frequently be led to content with some resting place that comes short of the appointed resting place. The desire to have deep convictions and contentment with them after they have been experienced are too often used by Satan to turn us away from the sinner's real heart, and that is trusting in the perfect work of Christ. We can be deceived. It is He, the Lord Jesus Himself, who bore our sins and his own body on the tree. 1 Peter 2.24, our peace with God, our forgiveness of sins, our reconciliation comes only from the sin atoning sacrifice of Jesus. For a sinner who has been convicted of his soul, who knows that he needs salvation, he is to look to the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. John 1.29. He is to look at the death of Christ on the cross and to behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He must see the mighty sacrifice, the ransom for the sins of many. We must see there our salvation, which is the result of all his obedience and sufferings. Again, we must behold the finished work, the work that someone has said, the stupendous magnitude, which he alone could have undertaken and accomplished. We must look to and see his sacrifice, his finished sacrifice, his perfect redemption, the only foundation for our peace, for our hope, for our joy. He himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree. It does not say our duties which we have fulfilled or are seeking to do, that reading the Bibles, we pray in church every Sunday, our prayers that we have offered and asking for our forgiveness, our fasting and denying ourselves. It does not say that. It does not say our convictions of sin. It does not say our repentance, which we are commanded to do. It does not say an honest life or our giving or our faith or our grace. It does not say any of that atoned for our sins. It was Jesus. Jesus himself, Jesus alone, Jesus and none but Jesus. It was Jesus who bore our sins in his own body on the tree. There's where the atonement was made. There's where the hope of our salvation. That's the basis of it. And to add anything to it, or look to anything to it, or depend upon something we've accomplished and done or experienced is wrong. We must trust Him wholly. We must trust Him only. We must trust Him simply. We must trust Him now. And we must trust Him forever. Then we will have the redemption provided for us as sinners, and only then. Jesus, in speaking to the Jews, made reference to the fact that they were seeking and looking to the Scriptures for their eternal life. And Jesus said, these are they which speak of me. Jesus said, we are to do this ordinance before us today and participate in remembrance of me. Not what I did, not what I've accomplished, not what I could purpose to do, but Christ is to be everything. This do in remembrance of me. I came across this poem, which I thought very neatly says it in clear words. Christ has done the mighty work. Nothing is left for us to do, but to enter his toil, enter on his triumph too. His the labor, ours the rest. His the death, ours the life. Ours the fruit of victory, his the agony and strife. When we look for that redemption that is needed, when we are under conviction of sin, we must look to Christ alone. I say this, the tendency that we have is always to look to something that we've done. Somehow we've accomplished this, we've done through this pattern, we've done this completely right. But it's the answer is Christ alone. He is the one who bore our sins on that cross. We hope you were edified by this message. For additional sermons, as well as information on giving to the ministry of Emmanuel Baptist Church and on our current building project, you can visit us online at ebcfl.org. That's ebcfl.org.