Communion Message
(Pilate's court)
February 3, 2002
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 on 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.

Paul reminds the Corinthian church that each time the communion was celebrated it was a retelling, it was a proclamation, of the death of Jesus Christ. Let's let John tell us the story today.

So then Pilate took Jesus and scourged Him. And the soldiers twisted a crown of thorns and put it on His head, and they put on Him a purple robe. Then they said, "Hail, King of the Jews!" And they struck Him with their hands. Pilate then went out again, and said to them, "Behold, I am bringing Him out to you, that you may know that I find no fault in Him." Then Jesus came out, wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said to them, "Behold the Man!"

Therefore, when the chief priests and officers saw Him, they cried out, saying, "Crucify Him, crucify Him!" Pilate said to them, "You take Him and crucify Him, for I find no fault in Him." The Jews answered him, "We have a law, and according to our law He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God." Therefore, when Pilate heard that saying, he was the more afraid, and went again into the Praetorium, and said to Jesus, "Where are You from?" But Jesus gave him no answer. Then Pilate said to Him, "Are You not speaking to me? Do You not know that I have power to crucify You, and power to release You?" Jesus answered, "You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above. Therefore the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin."

From then on Pilate sought to release Him, but the Jews cried out, saying, "If you let this Man go, you are not Caesar's friend. Whoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar." When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus out and sat down in the judgment seat in the place that is called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha.

Now it was the Preparation Day of the Passover, and about the sixth power. And he said to the Jews, "Behold your King!" But they cried out, "Away with Him, away with Him! Crucify Him!" Pilate said to them, "Shall I crucify your King?" The chief priests answered, "We have no king but Caesar!" Then he delivered Him to them to be crucify. So they took Jesus and lead Him away. And He, bearing His cross, went out to a place called the Place of a Skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha, where they crucify Him, and two others with Him, one on either side, and Jesus in the center. Now Pilate wrote a title and put it on the cross. And the writing was: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS.

Each Lord's Day here at our church we come back to the cross, and we do it with purpose. For if Jesus had not gone to that cross and paid the penalty for our sins, there would be no salvation. We know that. So when we come to the communion service we come right to the heart of our Christian faith. It was there on that cross 2000 years ago Jesus became our substitute.

You see, God originally said Him that sineth shall die. So death has always been the consequences of sin. Jesus came and became our substitute. He took death for us, for all mankind, and He died on the cross. And because He died, we're going to live forever. This is what we believe as Christians. Jesus is the Savior and He's our personal Savior. And we come to this moment and we honor Him, and we worship Him. Would you kneel with me please?

Lord Jesus, we're 2000 years removed from that scene of Calvary, but we come back to it each Sunday trying to grasp the eternal dimensions of love demonstrated there for time and eternity when You, dear Jesus, died in our stead. You died so we could live. That's why we bow before You today dear Jesus and we worship You.

We kneel here today realizing we're not perfect individuals. There's not a one of us that would claim that. We're sinners. We've missed perfection by a million miles. And we come to this morning service with the need to be forgiven. We ask You to be that source, Lord Jesus, wherein all of our sins are washed away, our wonderful Savior. Cleanse us. Do something deep within us today that will count for eternity.

Some of us who kneel here desperately need Your grace and Your forgiveness because we live in our sin and we are ashamed of it. We come to You and commit our lives to You today dear Jesus. Thank you for these emblems that remind us in such a beautiful form that it's in the bread which You said was Your body You took our sin. You became sin for us, You who knew no sin. You became our substitute. You died for us.

The cup bespeaks of Your precious blood that cleanses from all sin. And even though we don't understand that, throughout Your scriptures You tell us that it's the blood that washes away our sin, and we believe that with all of our heart, so we take the emblems today. Let's take the bread together. Wonderful Savior, Blessed Redeemer, matchless Lord, Savior. Let's take the cup together, shall we? And everybody said, amen. Let's stand and greet one another, shall we?