(#059) - THE LORD'S SUPPER CELEBRATION - At the Cross, the Lord Jesus Christ Gave Us a Threefold Redemption
TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES - Sound works but video starts live about half way.
Welcome To
BARAH MINISTRIES
a Christian Church
Rory Clark
Pastor-Teacher
Good Morning!
Welcome to Barah Ministries…an intimate, local Christian Church with worldwide impact. My name is Pastor Rory Clark. Welcome to this Bible lesson!
Happy Hanukkah to our Jewish friends around the world. Hanukkah is an eight-day and eight-night Jewish festival, this year celebrated from December 10 to December 18. It commemorates the rededication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire. It is known as the Festival of Lights. During the festival, our Jewish friends light a menorah each night. Here's what it looks like…
At the center of the menorah is an attendant light candle that is used to light the other candles. Our God is full of promises…and many of them are directed toward the Jewish people…in Jeremiah, Chapter 31, Verses 31 to 34 the Lord makes this promise to the Jewish race…
JEREMIAH 31:31
"Behold, days are coming," declares the Lord, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel (the Northern Kingdom) and with the house of Judah (the Southern Kingdom)…"
JEREMIAH 31:32
"…not like the covenant which I made with their forefathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt (the Mosaic Law Covenant)…that covenant of Mine they broke…even though I was husbanding them," declares the Lord.
JEREMIAH 31:33
"But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days," declares the Lord, "I will put My law within them…on their hearts I will write the law (not on tablets of stone this time)…and I will be their God, and they shall be My people."
The Lord Jesus Christ is the Jewish Messiah. What will change for the Jewish race in the New Covenant is the indwelling of God the Holy Spirit who influences the heart. Ezekiel, Chapter 36, Verses 26 and 27…
EZEKIEL 36:26
Moreover, I (the Lord) will give you (the Jewish race) a new heart and I will put a new spirit within you…and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
EZEKIEL 36:27
I (the Lord) will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to obey My ordinances.
God will give the Jewish race the same new creation that He has given to us…the Gentiles.
At Barah Ministries we know this truth…that Jesus Christ is God. As the Lord He is 100% Deity…He is God the Son, a member of the Triune Godhead. He is also 100% human just like you and me, and His name is Jesus Christ. The Lord…God the Son…became flesh…Jesus Christ...and lived among us. He is the uniquely born One…100% God and 100% man in one Person forever. He is the Sovereign God of the Universe. He is the Jewish Messiah.
At Barah Ministries, we make a difference by teaching the Word of God
from God's perspective and not from man's perspective. As those who make Barah Ministries our spiritual home, we are Christians. Being a Christian means we believe in the DEITY of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we have a deep, intimate, and personal relationship with Him.
God has an enemy, Satan, whom God made 'the ruler of this world.' He is a
liar who deceives the whole world, including you and me. He doesn't want us to get to know God, and he interferes with our chance to know God. In John, Chapter 16, Verse 11, the Lord says…
JOHN 16:11
"…the ruler of this world (Satan) has been judged."
Satan's strategy against the human race is religion, which is designed to make us either indifferent or antagonistic to God. Matthew, Chapter 23, Verse 15 says…
MATTHEW 23:15
"Woe to you scribes and Pharisees…you hypocrites! You travel around on sea and land to make one convert to your religion and when he becomes converted, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are!"
Religion deceives many into thinking they are saved when they might not be…and it works really well! Billions of people are deceived.
The Word of God is the truth…and it informs us about Satan's insidious
deceptions. As believers in Christ, we are in union with Christ, and we have
the victory over Satan through our Lord, who has overcome the world. The Lord's work at the Cross defeated Satan.
THE LORD'S SUPPER CELEBRATION
At the Cross, the Lord Jesus Christ Gave Us a Threefold Redemption
LESSON INTRODUCTION
There's nothing worse than breaking the law. It's an especially sick feeling when we break the law and we know we are guilty and we get caught. It's especially horrible when we break God's law…a thing called sin. When we break the law there are consequences.
At physical birth, we were placed in union with Adam. We received His sin.
Romans, Chapter 5, Verse 12 says…
ROMANS 5:12
… just as through one man, Adam, sin entered into the world…and spiritual death entered the world through sin…and so spiritual death spread to all men…because all men were considered by God to have sinned when Adam sinned…
We're guilty. And there are consequences for sin. Yet Ephesians, Chapter 1, Verse 3 is one of the many verses in the Bible that gives us hope…
EPHESIANS 1:3
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places through Christ…
In today's lesson, as we do every month, we'll celebrate The Lord's Supper. God the Holy Spirit take us back to a subject we opened the year with during the Lord's Supper…REDEMPTION. At the Cross, the Lord Jesus Christ took care of our sin problem by giving us a redemption that covers our past, our present, and our future.
SONG INTRODUCTION
Psalm 66, Verse 3 describes God's character…
PSALM 66:3
Say to God, “How awesome are Your works! Because of the greatness of Your power Your enemies will come cringing before You.”
…or as Rich Mullens puts it in song…our God is an AWESOME GOD.
MUSIC AND REFLECTION
Be Occupied with the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ
Enjoy the Singing of His Praises
AWESOME GOD
Rich Mullins
OPENING PRAYER
Let us pray...
We're grateful, Heavenly Father, for the privilege of studying Your absolute truth...the Word of God…
We praise You today, God the Father, for Your amazing will and for Your glorious grace which You lavished on us through the Person and Work of Your Beloved One, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He went to a Cross to demonstrate His unconditional love for us, as a reflection of Your unconditional love for us. To prove the Lord's passion for us…to show the Lord's amazing grace when we were sinners…as unrighteous, ungodly unbelievers…while we were His enemies…Christ was willing to die in our place voluntarily so that we could live the resurrection life…
…show us how to receive Your gifts…show us how to take advantage of Your grace…show us how to be reflections of Your light in this lost and dying world…show us, through the Word of God, the significance of Your gifts to us and how to awaken inside of us a knowledge of the depths of Your unconditional love for us…
…we ask this through the power of God the Holy Spirit…in Christ's
name...Amen.
THE LORD'S SUPPER CELEBRATION
At the Cross, the Lord Jesus Christ Gave Us a Threefold Redemption
Welcome to The Lord's Supper Celebration, the most intimate expression of our deep, intimate, and loving personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. In this celebration, the Lord reminds us of the unity all believers in Christ possess by sharing His body and His blood with us. In First Corinthians, Chapter 11, Verse 26, the apostle Paul says, on behalf of the Lord…
FIRST CORINTHIANS 11:26
…as often as you eat this bread (representing His body)…and as often as
you drink this cup (representing His blood)…as part of the Lord's Supper Celebration…you proclaim as a reality and you announce the significance of the Lord Jesus Christ's death on the Cross…and His resurrection from the dead…until He comes again at the second coming.
Every month, we celebrate The Lord's Supper to REMEMBER. We
REMEMBER that we are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, dependent on Him for our so great salvation; we REMEMBER that we believers in Christ are in union with Christ and we can't get out of our union with Him; we REMEMBER that the Lord loves us unconditionally; we REMEMBER that we are forgiven for every sin we commit…past, present, and future; and we REMEMBER that we have the Lord's grace to help in times of need, especially when we make mistakes.
The Lord's Supper Celebration is often called communion. It's our chance to commune with the Lord. It's a sacred celebration, so it's not something we take for granted. It's not something we do "on the fly." It's a time to have bread and wine in front of us, and as we enjoy the elements, we remember our dependence on the Lord Jesus Christ, both for our physical sustenance and for our spiritual sustenance.
During the Lord's Supper Celebration, Jesus wants His believers to look
back for a few moments. We look back to the Cross to REMEMBER how He rescued us from the kingdom of darkness…we look back to the Cross to REMEMBER the sacrifice of His shedding blood to cover our sins…we look back to REMEMBER the deliverance to the resurrection life He orchestrated, bringing us into His kingdom of light. During the Lord's Supper Celebration, Jesus wants His believers to look forward as well, in ANTICIPATION that He IS coming again.
As we celebrate The Lord's Supper, we ask ourselves in reflection, "What did the Lord Jesus Christ do for us at the Cross?" This month we acknowledge that at the Cross, the Lord Jesus Christ gave us a threefold redemption.
Zachary Ian Clark was born just after midnight on September 15, 1988. I remember the day like it was yesterday. I decided early in my life that I wanted children. I began preparing for them at age nineteen by working at a Jewish Day Camp in Chicago, IL…the Bernard Horwich Jewish Community Center. For two summers I tested my parenting theories on real children. So I was ready for the day when my firstborn son would enter the world.
It had been a long and trying day, so shortly after he was born, I headed home alone, making the one hour drive from Evanston, IL to Westmont, IL I needed to sleep. When I woke up, I remember thanking God for the gracious gift of a son. I assured Him that I would be the perfect parent. I promised to care for the gift He had given me, and to put all of myself… heart, mind, soul, and spirit…into raising little Zack.
Thoughts of the magnitude of this responsibility began to flood my soul. How would I pay for college? How would I feed him? How would I educate him? How would I diaper him? How would I teach him about the world? What would I warn him about? All these thoughts began to overwhelm my senses. I needed the Word of God to calm my soul.
God the Holy Spirit led me to a passage in Ephesians, Chapter 2, Verse 1…
EPHESIANS 2:1
And you were spiritually dead in your trespasses and sins…
This verse sent me into a panic. Zachary was the most beautiful baby I had ever laid eyes on. He was gorgeous. He had the most precious, kissable lips…he had a calm about him that was adorable to watch…he was warm and cuddly to hold…yet he was spiritually dead. Panic is not descriptive enough. A terror gripped my soul. How would I ensure that he becomes a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ at the soonest possible moment so that his fate would not be an eternity in the Lake of Fire? The thought that he would reject a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ made me so sick at my stomach, I threw up. How could I protect Him from God's wrath?
I wondered why God the Holy Spirit had me start at Ephesians, Chapter 2. So I went back to read Chapter 1. A relief enveloped my soul as I read Ephesians, Chapter 1, Verses 7 to 10…
EPHESIANS 1:7
…in Christ we believers in Christ have redemption through His blood…the forgiveness of our sin…according to the riches of His grace…
EPHESIANS 1:8
…which God the Father lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight…
EPHESIANS 1:9
… God the Father made known to us the mystery of His will…according to His good pleasure which the Father set forth in Christ…
EPHESIANS 1:10
…regarding God the Father's plan for the fullness of the times…to bring all things together in Christ (under His leadership) … things in the heavens and things on the earth.
I breathed a sigh of relief. Spiritual life was as close as believing in Christ, and Zachary would be inundated with information that made his acceptance of a relationship with Christ as natural as breathing. God had a plan for my spiritually dead son, and I was going to make sure Zack knew how special the plan is…he would be REDEEMED!
Like Zachary, you believers in Christ are so special to God that in eternity past He provided you with a series of gifts you hardly think about and you may not know about. Romans, Chapter 8, Verses 29 and 30…
ROMANS 8:29
For those whom God the Father foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son (the Lord Jesus Christ), so that the Lord would be the firstborn among many brethren...
ROMANS 8:30
...and these whom God the Father predestined, He also called…and these whom God the Father called, He also justified…and these whom God the Father justified, He also glorified.
One of the many gifts is REDEMPTION. Redemption is such a life-giving word…such a life-giving idea. Biblical study taught me that God the Father is kind. It was perfect, just-in-time knowledge for a first-time father. God the Father's unconditional love motivated Him to have mercy on us, so He sent His Son to redeem us.
When you think God's plan for your life is morality…the moral high ground…the right and wrong life…the "I agree-I disagree" life…that's legalism. When you think God's plan for your life is, "Celebrate good times…come on!" … I paid for your sins so live it up…that's lasciviousness.
Neither of these lifestyles is the Christian Way of Living. It’s a lifestyle of unconditional love and forgiveness and grace. Because of God's grace, we are REDEEMED. What is redemption?
REDEMPTION
To be released by payment…to be freed by ransom…freedom from whatever is holding us captive…and it takes a payment to do it.
What did we need REDEMPTION from? Redemption is a release from what? Redemption is a release from our past…from trespasses…the things for which we absolutely are guilty. Redemption is a release from our present…from a futile and sinful lifestyle. Redemption is a release for our future…the removal of everything defective in us.
When we return from our five-minute break, we'll take the offering, and then we'll see what this threefold redemption means to us.
FIVE MINUTE BREAK
NOBODY
Casting Crowns
THE LORD'S SUPPER CELEBRATION
At the Cross, the Lord Jesus Christ Gave Us a Threefold Redemption
Our God is always encouraging generosity. Proverbs, Chapter 11, Verse 25 says…
PROVERBS 11:25
The generous person will be prosperous…and he who waters will himself be watered.
Be generous so that during this season of receiving, those you help with your contributions may receive the gospel message implanted and the Word of God inspired to give them the strength to put one foot in front of the other during these times of spiritual turmoil. Let's welcome up Deacon Denny Goodall with the offering message.
THE OFFERING
Deacon Denny Goodall
OFFERING VERSE
FIRST TIMOTHY 6:1
All who are under the yoke as slaves are to regard their own masters as worthy of all honor so that the name of God and our doctrine will not be spoken against…
OFFERING SONG
THERE IS NONE LIKE YOU
David Bauer, Instrumental
THE LORD'S SUPPER CELEBRATION
At the Cross, the Lord Jesus Christ Gave Us a Threefold Redemption
What is redemption? To be redeemed means…
REDEMPTION
To be released by payment…to be freed by ransom…freedom from whatever is holding us captive…and it takes a payment to do it.
At the Cross, the Lord freed us by paying a ransom with His blood for our past…the trespasses. What is trespass?
TRESPASS
An unlawful act that causes injury…sometimes injury to a relationship…a wrongful entry into the property of another
God the Father would be unrighteous if he let us break the law without a just handling of the consequences of our crime…Colossians, Chapter 2, Verses 13 and 14…
COLOSSIANS 2:13
When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God the Father made you alive together with Christ, having forgiven us all our transgressions…
COLOSSIANS 2:14
…(through Christ's work at the Cross) having canceled out the record of debt consisting of legal demands against us…which was hostile to us (because it made us as a target of God the Father's wrath)…and Christ has set it aside, having nailed it to the Cross.
At the Cross, the Lord freed us by paying a ransom with His blood for our present…our futile, sinful lifestyle. Romans, Chapter 3, Verses 23 to 26…
ROMANS 3:23
…for all have sinned in the past when Adam sinned and all keep on sinning…and keep on falling short of the glory of God…
ROMANS 3:24
…yet all (who believe in Christ) keep on being justified by God the Father as a gift (free of charge) from His grace through the redemption which is a result of being in union with Christ Jesus…
ROMANS 3:25
…(Jesus)…whom God the Father displayed publicly as a propitiation, through a sacrifice of His blood, for the benefit of all who have faith. This was to demonstrate God the Father's righteousness, because in the forbearance of God the Father, He passed over the sins previously committed…
ROMANS 3:26
…for the demonstration, I say, of God the Father's righteousness at the present time, so that God the Father would be seen as just and as the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus Christ.
What is propitiation?
PROPITIATION
A payment to God the Father to satisfy His need for the just handling of the sin problem and to remove those who sin from being targets of the Father's wrath, through the only perfectly satisfactory payment acceptable to God the Father…Christ's work at the Cross, shedding His blood as the payment for sin.
God the Father loved us so much that He sent Jesus Christ as a payment for sin that would satisfy Himself. What an incredible gift! Romans, Chapter 8, Verse 3…
ROMANS 8:3
For what the mosaic law could not do, as weak and as powerless as it was
through the flesh, GOD THE FATHER DID: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh...and as an offering for sin…and God the Father condemned sin in Christ's flesh...
At the Cross, the Lord freed us by paying a ransom with His blood for our future…the removal of all of our defects. First Corinthians, Chapter 15, Verse 53…
FIRST CORINTHIANS 15:53
For this perishable must put on the imperishable…and this mortal must put on immortality….
Ephesians, Chapter 2, Verse 13…
EPHESIANS 2:13
But now in union with Christ Jesus, you believers in Christ, who formerly were far off, have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
Ephesians, Chapter 2, Verse 10…
EPHESIANS 2:10
For we believers in Christ are God the Father's workmanship, created to be in union with Christ Jesus for good works…which God the Father prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
Ephesians, Chapter 1, Verses 13 and 14…
EPHESIANS 1:13
In Christ, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in union with Him by the agency of the Holy Spirit of promise…
EPHESIANS 1:14
…who is given to us by God the Father as a pledge of our inheritance…with a view to the redemption of God the Father's own possession, to the praise of His glory.
What is redemption?
REDEMPTION
To be released by payment…to be freed by ransom…freedom from whatever is holding us captive…and it takes a payment to do it.
Thanks be to our amazing Lord for facilitating the release of us captives through His Person and His Work on the Cross. We are REDEEMED! Thanks be to God for redeeming Zack…from a grateful father.
THE LORD'S SUPPER CELEBRATION
Enjoying the Lord's Supper Elements
Obeying our Lord's command, we keep on celebrating Christ regularly…we eat bread to remember who He is as a PERSON... the One and ONLY Sovereign God of the Universe…we drink wine to remember His WORK on the Cross…the voluntary sacrifice He made to deliver us from sovereignty to sin. We remember with gratitude what God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ have done to save us. Luke, Chapter 22, Verses 14 to 16…
LUKE 22:14
When the hour came (His crucifixion way set for the next day)…Jesus reclined at the table…and the apostles reclined with Him.
LUKE 22:15-16
And Jesus said to them, "I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer…for I say to you, I shall not eat it again until all that it means is fulfilled in the kingdom of God."
Luke, Chapter 22, Verses 19 to 23…
LUKE 22:19
And when Jesus had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, "This is My body, which is being broken for you…keep on doing this in remembrance of Me."
LUKE 22:20
And in the same way, Jesus took the cup after they had eaten, saying, "This cup, which is poured out for you, is the new covenant in My blood."
Jesus continued the celebration, pointing out that He has an enemy…
LUKE 22:21
"But behold, the hand of the one betraying Me is with Mine on the table."
LUKE 22:22
"For indeed, the Son of Man is going (back to the Father) as it has been
determined…but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed!"
LUKE 22:23
And the apostles began to debate among themselves which one of them it was who was going to do this.
As believers in Christ, we have chosen not to betray our Lord. Instead, we choose to obey our Lord with this celebration. Let's keep on eating this bread…let's keep on drinking this cup…and let's do both to REMEMBER the Lord. Let this celebration encourage our hearts and our minds with awe and reverence and gratitude. Let's keep on being transformed by the Lord's life…His death…His burial…His resurrection from the dead…His ascension to God the Father…His seating at the Majesty's right hand…and by the nourishment we get from His Word, which feeds our souls.
SONG INTRODUCTION
When you purchase something, you own it. The Lord Jesus Christ purchased us with His blood. First Corinthians, Chapter 6, Verse 20 says…
FIRST CORINTHIANS 6:20
For you believers in Christ have been bought with a price!
Here's June Murphy to sing a song for reflection…YOU OWN ME.
LORD'S SUPPER SONG
YOU OWN ME
June Murphy
SONG INTRODUCTION
Let's close with music! The Bible records the man's and the woman's
reaction to their first sin in Genesis, Chapter 3, Verses 6 to 8…
GENESIS 3:6
When the woman saw that the tree was good for food (after being tempted by Satan)…and that it was a delight to the eyes…and that the tree was desirable to make one wise…she took from its fruit and ate…and she gave also to her husband with her…and he ate.
GENESIS 3:7
Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked…and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.
In other words, they came up with their own solution to cover the sin.
GENESIS 3:8
When they heard the sound of the Lord God (the Son…Jehovah Elohim) walking in the garden in the cool of the day, the man and his wife hid from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
What was the human response to their own sin? They hid. What was God's response to their sin? Genesis, Chapter 3, Verse 9…
GENESIS 3:9
Then the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, "Where are you?"
Here's how June Murphy puts what the Lord did in song…Lord…YOU RAN AFTER ME!
CLOSING SONG
YOU RAN AFTER ME
June Murphy
CLOSING VERSES
A Doxology of Praise to Our God
ROMANS 8:37
…in every situation imaginable, believers in Christ keep on overwhelmingly conquering through the Lord who loves us unconditionally.
ROMANS 8:38
For I (Paul) am convinced that neither death nor life...nor (elect) angels nor principalities (demons...fallen angels), nor things present nor things to come...nor powers...
ROMANS 8:39
...nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to sever us from the unconditional love of God the Father, who is for us through our union with Christ Jesus our Lord.
CLOSING PRAYER
Let us pray...
Thanks for coming!
Thanks for watching!
Thanks for listening!
www.barahministries.com