Communion Message
Reading From Hebrews
August 14, 2005
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 oft 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.

This moment in our worship we come to the cross, which is the very central focus of our Christian faith. It was there at the cross that Christ paid that ultimate penalty, which was death, because God had laid down the law that sin would always bring death, and thus, Christ took our death on the cross. He died for us.

In the Old Testament there were a lot of sacrifices and in the Book of Hebrews we have the comparison drawn between Old Testament worship and our New Testament faith.

The writer says, "For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.

Therefore, when He (speaking of Christ) came into the world, He said:
"Sacrifice and offering You did not desire,
But a body You have prepared for Me.
In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin
You had no pleasure.
Then I said, 'Behold, I have come-
In the volume of the book it is written of Me-
To do Your will, O God.'"

Previously saying, "Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure in them " (which are offered according to the law), then He said, "Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God." He takes away the first that He may establish the second. By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this Man (speaking of Christ), after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God."

"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 thus the writer to the Hebrews draws the contrast; in the ancient past it was sacrifice after sacrifice, but the sad conclusion was it could never take away sin. In the fullness of time God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, and Christ went to that cross and became the ultimate sacrifice for all of us. That ended all the sacrifices of the Old Testament.

And we come to this moment...and when Jesus was preparing to go to the cross, at suppertime, He took the bread and the cup and He gave them very specific and very profound meaning. He said that the bread bespeaks of My body, His body, which was broken for us. We understand that in the body of Christ He became our substitute. It was there that He died in our stead, and thus, this morsel of bread speaks of wonders, God's eternal love for us in sending His Son who took upon Himself human form.

Here's the profound mystery of our faith. In ancient past God said without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins, and when Jesus shed His precious blood that ended the sacrifices, but it's this precious blood of Christ that cleanses us from all of our sins.

Simple, the emblems, but profound with eternal significance. When we take of the bread and the cup today, they remind us not only that we are sinners and we need God's grace and His forgiveness, but the wonderful thing about it is that when we pray for His forgiveness, we hold in our hands the promise that He has already answered our prayer. Because the Bible says if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Amen?

Let's bow our heads together. Lord Jesus, in this very sacred moment we stand in Your presence. We hold in our hands these emblems, and wonder of wonders they bespeak to us the glorious message of Your love and the wonder of our salvation, and the promise that one day we will eat with You in heaven at the great marriage supper of the Lamb.

Lord Jesus there's not a one of us who stand here today who would claim any degree of perfection. We've sinned. We've thought things we should have not thought; we've said words that were not Christ-like; we did things that were not godly. We've sinned. I've sinned; all of us have. All of us need Your grace and Your mercy and Your forgiveness, and we ask believing Your promise that if we will confess our sins, You are going to be faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Thank you, thank you blessed Christ. Let's partake of the bread...and then of the cup.

Jesus, maybe we've let this entire week go by and we didn't pause long enough to tell You that we love You - we do that now and thank you for loving us, in Jesus' name, amen.