Communion Message
(The day of the cross)
November 11-12, 2000
Pastor Donald Sheley

For I have received from the Lord that which I also delivered unto 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 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 the blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

There's a large portion of the Psalms which are known as the great hallel, Psalm 113 through Psalm 118. And during the Passover, even unto this day, portions of this great Psalm become a part of the celebration of the Passover. And so these would be the words that Jesus would have joined His voice in as they came to the conclusion of the Passover supper, it's Psalm 118. Words that are quite familiar to us, and yet, to know that they were part of the closing hymn just before He went to the cross. This stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This was the Lord's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! We have blessed you from the house of the Lord. God is the Lord, and He has given us light; bind the sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar. You are my God, and I will praise You.

He was that sacrifice to be bound to the cross, and He says this is the day the Lord has made so let's rejoice. One scarcely enters the portholes of Holy Scripture until one is deeply conscious of the accuracy and the exactatude of divine statements. Authority issues in specific utterances and here is a divine demonstrative. It marks out a day in God's wise and wonderful economy, and observe that it is a singular. That is, only one such day of its kind. It is all well and good for men to say when the sky is blue and the sun is shining 'This is the day the Lord has made, let's be glad'. This, however, is not the basic meaning of the text the setting is different. For the day herein referred to is a specific, special, significant day the equal of which was never before, has not been since, nor indeed will ever be. It was not the day of creation. It was not the day when Moses marched across that dry sea with his Israelites. It was not the day when Solomon finished the structure of his great temple. In fact, it was not the day when Christ came out of tomb. The reference is specifically to the day of the cross. This is the day that the Lord has made, so we're going to rejoice and be glad in it.

I have tried with my imagination to place myself there beside the table as the Christ joined His voice with the disciples knowing that soon He was going to be that sacrifice bound with cords to the altar, and yet with solemnity and courage He could look His disciples in the face and say, this is the day, this is the day, this is the day, the day of the cross. I think we can relate that glorious truth to something very personal because there was a day in each of our lives where the meaning of the cross and the blessedness of His salvation became so very personal and so very real, and we understood that it was there that He died for us. It was there He paid the penalty for my transgression, and there came that day when this is the day on God's calendar where He touched us with His grace. Some of you can look back and remember that day so to specifically, so clearly.

Fifty-two years ago it was, as a little boy, 17 years of age, raised in a church, I had heard the message over and over again, but the reality of the cross I didn't quite grasp because it wasn't personal yet. I still remember, from Canada came a preacher. His name was Dr. Willard Candelin, red-haired, fiery, but marvelously gifted. He was gifted with the ability to paint pictures, beautiful scenes, and so during the service he had his canvas and all of his paints and in 12 to 15 minutes he had painted the most gorgeous sceneries I've ever seen - marvelously gifted. And the one who brought the most to the service that night got the painting as a gift, and then after he finished his painting he preached as ever a man did preach. That experience with him being present in our church, that was the day when the cross became very real and I became a follower of the Christ of the cross. Your day is different. Your pathway is different than mine. Surely you remember that day when Calvary covered it all. Your past with its sins and its stains, your guilt and your shame, He took care of because the penalty was paid on that day. And this is the day we celebrate. Amen?

Let's kneel together, shall we? Lord Jesus, on this beautiful day we think back of that moment when, by Your grace and Your love, You led us out of our lives of sin to the cross. And here we are today again kneeling, trying to understand and comprehend the depth and the meaning of that day. We do know that it included us because You paid the price for our sin's penalty. You bore the guilt and the shame. You became sin for us who knew no sin. You died for me on that day and I thank you for it. Let's take the bread together, shall we? And then the cup. Thank you very much dear Jesus, thank you very much. And everybody said, amen. Let's stand and greet one another, shall we?