Communion Message
(The simplicity of the gospel)
April 3-4, 1999
Pastor Don Sheley

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; this do in remembrance of Me." In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes. Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

I'm delighted and pleased that you have joined with us for this beautiful Easter celebration. I'm fully aware that within the church there are those who may not understand with clarity the gospel message. Why did Jesus really come? Why is it so important that we celebrate His resurrection? Friday evening, as we were making one of our presentations for the Good Friday Service, I noticed, after one of the services, an elderly couple sat down here after the service talking. And I went to them and their conversation had to do with what they had visually seen in the service. They were deeply moved and they said something to me that was tremendously revealing. They said, you know Pastor, and I would estimate their age to be in the early 80's, they said Pastor, we have gone to church all of our lives and it wasn't until this evening that we understand why Jesus went to the cross. We understand that now. And I thought to myself surly that's true maybe of others. Somehow in words we miss the basic truth. And you're here today because you want to honor Christ and you want to lift His name up, but maybe, maybe you might still be pondering a clarity with regards to what the gospel is really all about. So what I'd like for you to do with me today; I have the gospel printed for you in this little brochure. Would you take it out and I'd like for all of us. You see, sometimes when we hear it and when we see it, it becomes easier to understand. There's the visual aspect of learning so we're going to do something very simple we're just going to follow this little booklet. And we're going to find out so that everyone who leaves this service today, you will never be able to question; you won't have a question as: 'What does it mean to be born again? What does it mean to be saved? What is the gospel?'

Do you know for sure that you're going to be with God in heaven? If God were to ask you, "Why should I let you into My heaven?" what would you say? You don't know? Then this booklet has the best news you could ever hear! The few minutes it will take us to read these pages may be the most important time you will ever spend! Did you know that the Bible tells how you can know for sure that you have eternal life and will go to be with God in heaven when you die? 1 John 5:13 says, "These things I have written unto you . . . that ye may know that ye have eternal life. . ." Well here's how: The Bible says there are 5 things you need to know about eternal life: Number one: Heaven, that is eternal life, is a free gift! The Bible says, ". . .the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Romans 6:23) And because heaven is a gift, like any other genuine gift, it is not earned nor is it deserved. No amount of personal effort, good works, or religious deeds can earn a place for you in heaven. "For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast." (Ephesians 2:8,9) Why is it that no one can earn his way to heaven? Because man is a sinner. "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23) What is sin? Sin is transgressing God's law and includes such things as lying, lust, cheating, deceit, anger, evil thoughts, immoral behavior, and more. Probably the greatest sin of all is just simply leaving God out of our lives. That is a tragic sin. Man cannot save himself. If you wanted to save yourself by good deeds, do you know how good you would have to be? Jesus said, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect." (Matthew 5:48) Now with such high standards, no one can save himself. However, in spite of our sin God is merciful and He doesn't want to punish us. This is because ". . .God is love." (1John 4:8) And He says, ". . .I have loved thee with an everlasting love. . ." (Jeremiah 31:3) But the same Bible which tells us that God loves us, also tells us that God is just and therefore must punish sin. He says, ". . .(I) will by no means clear the guilty. . ." (Exodus 34:7) ". . .the soul that sinneth, it shall die." (Ezekiel 18:4) Now we have a problem. God loves us and doesn't want to punish us, but He is just and must punish sin. God solved this problem for us in the Person of Jesus Christ. Who is Jesus? The Bible tells us clearly that He is the infinite God-Man. That is He's perfect God and perfect man. "In the beginning was the Word (that's another title for Christ). . .In the beginning was Jesus . . .and (Jesus) was God. And (Jesus) was made flesh, and dwelt among us. . ." (John 1:1,14) Jesus Christ came to earth and lived a sinless life, but while on earth what did He do? He died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins and He rose from the grave to purchase a place for us in heaven. The old prophet said, "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way. That's true of all of us. We've gone our own way. Lived our own lives, ignored God and we've sinned. But Jesus Christ bore our sin in His body on the cross and He now offers you eternal life (that is the gift of heaven) as a free gift. This gift is received by faith. Now Faith is the key that opens the door of heaven. Many people mistake two things for saving faith: First of all saving faith is not mere intellectual assent. That is like believing certain historical facts about the Bible or about Jesus. The Bible says that the devil believes that there is one God, so believing that there is one God is really not saving faith. That's not the kind of faith that will get us into heaven. Secondly, saving faith is not mere temporal faith, that is, trusting God for a temporary crisis such as financial and family or physical needs. All of us pray in times like that. That's good, but, and we should trust in Christ, but this will not save us. Here's the heart of it folks. Saving faith is trusting in Jesus Christ alone for eternal life. It simply means resting upon Christ alone and what He has done rather than in what you and I have done or will ever try to do to get into heaven. You see the gospel is very simple. ". . .Believe (trust) on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved. . ." (Acts 16:31) So you have just read the greatest story ever told about the greatest offer ever made by the greatest person who ever lived, Jesus Christ. The question that God is asking you now is, would you like to receive the gift of eternal life? You say, Pastor is the gospel that simple? Yes it is, but before we make the decision let's clarify just what is involved. It means that we must transfer our trust, that is in whatever we've hoped would get us to heaven, our good works, our membership in a church, whatever it is we think will get us to heaven. We've got to change all of that and simply put our trust in Jesus and what He did on the cross for us. We must accept Christ as our savior. And we must make the decision. We open the door of our heart and we invite Him in. The Bible says: "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: (and these were the words of Christ in the book of Revelation) if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him. . ." (Revelation 3:20) That's the moment folks of conversion. That's the moment when we're transformed and made a new creature in Christ Jesus. When we receive Christ as our Lord we give Him full control of our life. We give Him the driver's seat. We make it our decision to live our lives to please Christ. That's what it means to make Him our Lord. And then we must repent. That is we must be willing to turn from anything that is not pleasing to Him. Now what will happen as we begin to live our Christian life, He will reveal to us those areas of our life He wants us to change, but that comes as a process of spiritual growth. You don't have to be perfect to start on the Christian journey right now. Now, if this is what you really want, then we can go to God in prayer, and let's do that. Notice the prayer here. Lord Jesus, I know I am a sinner. I'd like for all of us to read it together and if you're here today and maybe this will be the first time you've ever read a sinner's prayer, but if you mean this from all of your heart, something wonderful will take place within you. Let's read it. Lord Jesus Christ, I know I am a sinner and do not deserve eternal life. But, I believe You died and rose from the grave to purchase a place in heaven for me. Lord Jesus, come into my life; take control of my life; forgive my sins and save me. I repent of my sins and now place my trust in You for my salvation. I accept the free gift of eternal life. Now if you meant that prayer, heaven listened. You know what takes place in heaven when we as a person come to Christ and put our trust in Him? The Bible says that our name is written in the Book of Life in heaven, and then He places His precious Holy Spirit within us to give us strength to live from this day forward as a follower of Christ. That's what's taking place in the hearts of many today. Amen.

Let's kneel together for our communion, shall we? Lord Jesus, we now understand the simplicity of the gospel. We're sinners. We couldn't save ourselves. You came to this world to die in our stead because the penalty of sin is death, so You paid for that penalty at the cross. You took all of our sins and You died there for us as our substitute. You said that the bread is Your body and we understand that it was in Your body that You became our sacrifice. And You said, dear Jesus, that the cup was Your precious blood and even though that's difficult for us to understand, yet, the scriptures tell us that there is no forgiveness, there's no cleansing, without the shedding of blood. And so today we hold these two very simple elements; the bread and the cup, and they tell us in a very visual way how much You really do love us dear Jesus. So much that You died so we could live forever. Thank you from the very depths of our hearts. Let's take the bread together, shall we? And then the cup. Lord Jesus, thank you for this beautiful day where we could kneel and acknowledge You as our Lord and our Savior. We love You today, and thank you for loving us. And everybody said, amen. Let's stand and greet the folks that have come to worship with us today.