Communion Message
Our Savior
July 11, 2004
Pastor Donald Sheley

For I have 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 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.

Jesus talks about the covenant. He says this cup is the new covenant in My blood. Thus He draws the distinction between Old Testament worship, the old covenant, and New Testament worship through Jesus Christ our Savior. And the writer to the Hebrews best explains the comparison, he says: Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man.

For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Therefore it is necessary that this One also have something to offer. For if He were on earth, He would not be a priest, since there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law; who serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For He said, "See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain." But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises.

But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, to cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of eternal inheritance.

And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us; for after He had said before, "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them," then He adds, "Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more." Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer an offering for sin.

Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.

The old covenant, sacrifices, ceremonies, over and over and over again a million times, but the Bible is very clear all of those sacrifices could never, could never take away sins. In the new covenant Christ comes, in the fullness of time God sent His Son, His only begotten Son; Jesus became the ultimate eternal sacrifice for all of us. He took our place in death because you see the wages of sin is death and God had laid down an ancient decree that the man who sins will die. And when Christ came and took our death penalty for our sins on that cross He died for us as our substitute. So that's the reason why we put our trust in Him as our Savior.

And the Bible says that when we do, He forgives us, and His forgiveness is forever and ever. The Bible tells us that as far as the East is from the West, so far hath He removed our transgressions from us never to be remembered against us again. I want you today to bow with me as we take our communion service and express gratitude to our wonderful God for sending His Son Jesus to be our Savior and our Lord. Let's kneel together, shall we?

Father in heaven, we kneel together and we are so far removed from those ancient forms of worship. All the ceremonies, all the sacrifices, all the offerings, all the paraphernalia of worship, but that was Your plan for without the shedding of blood there was to be no remission and thus the need for the constant sacrifices to be made, over and over and over again down through time.

But God, in Your grace and in Your mercy You brought a conclusion to that form, that old covenant way of worship and You brought in the new covenant in Jesus Christ. For You, Lord Jesus, became our Savior. You became our substitute. You went to that cross, You took the sins of all of us, the sins of all the world. You who knew no sin You became sin for us so that we might be made the righteousness of God.

You require of us to put our trust in You dear Jesus and to seek You as our Savior and as our God, to repent of our sins, and to commit our lives to be lived in accordance with Your plan. And Lord Jesus we kneel here today as Your disciples, followers of You. We're not perfect, in fact there's not a one of us kneeling here this morning who would claim any degree of perfection. We've all sinned this week, and we all need Your forgiveness, and we need Your cleansing.

And these elements that we hold in our hands remind us that that's exactly what You want to do for us. For Your word tells us that if we confess our sins You're going to be faithful and just and forgive us of our sins. We confess we're sinners. We confess we've failed You dear God. We confess we've missed the mark of righteousness, and we repent and we seek Your forgiveness, and because we hold in our hands the promise to the answer of that prayer we participate in joy. Let's take the bread together, and then the cup.

And let's say it together...Jesus we love You...Jesus I love You, and I'm glad You love me. Amen.