[0:00] Psalm 130. So if you have a Bible there, please do turn to it, or a device, or whatever it is that you do. Psalm 130, and we will read this psalm, remembering that this is the word of the Lord.
[0:19] So Psalm 130, from verse 1. Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord. O Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy.
[0:34] If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.
[0:45] I wait for the Lord. My soul waits, and in his word I hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning.
[0:58] More than watchmen for the morning. O Israel, hope in the Lord. For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption.
[1:11] And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities. The hope is redemption, and the essence of redemption is the substitutionary sacrifice of Christ.
[1:31] The substitutionary sacrifice of Christ. That's the essence of redemption. So when we acknowledge Jesus as our Savior, then we are recognizing that salvation, our salvation, comes from him.
[1:44] And when we acknowledge him as our Redeemer, then we're getting a little bit more specific about how that salvation comes about.
[1:55] It comes about through the payment of a ransom. We are reminded, therefore, of the cost of our salvation. One of the great things that we can say concerning salvation is that it is free.
[2:08] It is available freely. But like everything else, somebody has to pay for it. You know, you go into the shop and they say, oh, you can get something for free. Well, it might be free to you, but somebody must have paid for it.
[2:20] And it's true in salvation here as well. Somebody has paid for it. It's free to us. But there was a cost, an awful cost, for our God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
[2:32] But our Redeemer has paid our debt. He has atoned for our sins through his death on the cross. He has offered himself as the atoning sacrifice for sin.
[2:44] He has paid sin's debt. He has satisfied in full God's wrath against sin. And so, therefore, we are free. And as the Bible says, we are not our own.
[2:56] We were bought at a price. It's not, of course, by the way, that there was some sense of a ransom. When I say a ransom being paid, it's not that there was a ransom being paid to Satan.
[3:08] That would be overpressing the idea. But in Christ, our Redeemer, our debt has been paid. And so, we are redeemed.
[3:18] We are set free from our sins. And set free to live with joy, to live joyfully for our Redeemer. Because the truth is, there's nobody in the face of the earth has more reason to be joyful than every believer who knows that our sins are dealt with by Christ.
[3:36] Psalm 130. One of the penitential psalms, as we sometimes refer to them. Those which cry out to God and express our dependence upon God.
[3:50] Recognizing our own personal inadequacy and fallenness and sin. Crying out to God from that helpless position for his mercy.
[4:01] And finding in God so full a redemption and so wonderful a Redeemer. And so, Psalm 130, it's an apt passage to turn to on this Communion Sunday, as I was saying.
[4:16] Plenteous redemption. That's my title today. That's in verse 7 in the King James Version. It's actually Miles Coverdiel's expression from his earlier translation of the Scriptures.
[4:29] And there's a certain beauty about the expression, isn't there? A plenteous redemption. Plenteous means that redemption is sufficient for all who will believe.
[4:42] And it means that however deep you may have fallen into sin and into the depths, this redemption goes deeper and comes there and meets you and lifts you up out of that pit that you had got yourself into.
[5:00] So, Psalm 130 longs for and then rejoices in God's redemption. And in this way, it acknowledges God's history of redeeming his people.
[5:14] There's the exodus and then the return from exile in the old covenant days of the Old Testament. And then that, of course, anticipates the coming redemption, which would be secured by no less than the cross of Christ itself and himself.
[5:30] So, we find the psalmist at the beginning in verses 1 and 2 crying desperately to God. Crying desperately to God. Out of the depths I cry to you.
[5:41] There really is a desperation about that, isn't there? A recognition that there is nowhere else that the psalmist can turn to in this situation that he is facing.
[5:52] And that's because this cry from the depths is a cry from the depths of sin. There are a great many cries in the psalms, as you know.
[6:02] Different kinds of cries that come out of the psalms. Cries concerning threats from enemies or concerning ill health or any number of things.
[6:14] Betrayal by friends. But this one comes simply because of the psalmist's awareness of his own fallen condition before God. In that connection, you might...
[6:25] Do you remember those of you who are not just young? Do you remember Jonathan Aitken? Remember the conservative politician who perjured himself and went to prison?
[6:36] And as he was waiting to go to prison, was converted? And he has some books he's written. One of them is called Porridge and Passion. His first volume of his autobiography was Pride and Perjury.
[6:49] Which I always thought was quite a good title. So he followed that on with a book called Porridge and Passion. And he describes in that book, sitting in his cell in Her Majesty's prison, Belmarsh, listening that night, his first night there, to his fellow prisoners high on drugs.
[7:05] He said, singing unprintable songs about all the things they were going to do to him. Imagine that. And he says, I do not think I have ever felt more lonely, more frightened, or more vulnerable.
[7:21] But then he opened his Bible, which had come to mean something to him, as I said, when he was awaiting trial. And he found that the set reading for that day, the 8th of June, 1999, was Psalm 130.
[7:34] And here's what Aitken said. As I studied its eight short verses, a warm wave of reassurance flooded over me. Suddenly I realized that I was not as lonely, scared, helpless, or vulnerable as I had thought.
[7:50] The author of the psalm had been there before me. Some 3,000 years earlier, he had experienced emotions of despair similar to mine.
[8:02] He had found a route to climb out of his depths with God's help. And he had described that route in beautiful but realistic poetry. And then Aitken described how on that same night he fell into a deep and peaceful sleep, slept for seven hours that night, slept well.
[8:20] That was his situation of desperation. There are any number of situations we could describe as being the depths. I've had mine. I'm sure you've had some of these kind of experiences as well.
[8:35] But we are assured here that we may always cry out to God. We may always cry out to God. We can never be so deep down in the depths that our cries will not reach him.
[8:51] And conversely, he is never so high or so distant as to be beyond the reach of the cries of his struggling, suffering, mournful people.
[9:02] And so the cry there in verse 2, it's a cry for mercy. It's a cry for mercy. Lord, hear my voice. Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy.
[9:16] Well, it can be no other way, can it? It can be no other way. It becomes clear in verse 3 that the problem is sin. That is the depths that the psalmist is crying from here.
[9:30] And when it comes to that, we can only ever appeal to God on the basis of his mercy. Isn't that right? All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. The Bible says there is no one righteous, not even one.
[9:45] The natural man or woman has no standing before God, no name to plead, no track record on which to stand. To fall from the standard of God's law, as we all have done, is to fall under the curse of that same law.
[10:04] And the curse is death and damnation. To die in sin and be judged and found guilty. And so to face an eternity of torment.
[10:15] Worse than the crying of verse 1. To face an eternity of torment in hell. Nevertheless, the psalmist appeals to God on the basis of God's mercy, and he begins to find hope as he waits upon the Lord.
[10:32] So in verses 3 to 5 now, we see the psalmist from crying desperately. Now he is waiting, hopefully. He is waiting, hopefully. We said already that the problem that has driven the psalmist down into the depths is this spiritual problem, this condition of sin that he is in.
[10:51] And we should all be able to identify with that, because we're all in the same boat, aren't we? We're all in that condition of being sinners, helpless before God, and with nothing else to do other than to cry out to Almighty God for his mercy.
[11:07] And the reality of that is acknowledged in verse 3. If you, O Lord, should mark our iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?
[11:20] Who could stand? A record of your sins being displayed.
[11:30] It's just about the most hideous thing imaginable, isn't it? In the Christianity Explored course, participants are asked to imagine for a moment all of their thoughts and deeds and actions being displayed publicly on a massive jumbotron screen, the likes of which you see in Times Square in New York City.
[11:52] Can you imagine anything more appalling than that? It's said that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the creator of Sherlock Holmes, once sent a telegram, just as a joke, sent a telegram one night to the twelve of the most respected people that he knew.
[12:13] And you know how telegrams always have to be brief. The telegram simply read, Flee! All is revealed! And he says within 24 hours, six of the twelve had left the country. That's amazing!
[12:24] And I think if we're honest, we all have secrets that we would hate to be exposed. Would you ever go out your house again? If such a jumbotron experience was yours, I don't think I would.
[12:39] We all have things we'd rather never be exposed for everyone else to see. The psalmist says, O Lord, who could stand? In verse 3. It's a rhetorical question, really, but the answer in these things is often worth spelling out.
[12:54] And the answer is nobody. Nobody could stand, because we all have sinned. We all have sinned. None of us are righteous. And so we thank God that Psalm 130 does not end there.
[13:05] It does not end there. God was only just at might. But God is not only just. He is merciful and gracious and loving and kind as well. And hope is found.
[13:17] Hope is found here in this psalm. You know, maybe you've heard of Augustine. He was one of the most significant characters in the relatively early church. And on his deathbed in 430 A.D., he asked for the penitential psalms, of which Psalm 130 is one, asked for them to be written out and hanged on the wall of his room so that he could see them as he lay there dying and as one who had very much regretted the sins of his youth.
[13:47] What comfort and hope he would have found there. Words such as mercy in verse 2, forgiveness in verse 4, hope and full redemption. Verse 7.
[14:00] There is hope. There is hope because of the promise of forgiveness. It's there in verse 4. But with you there is forgiveness that you may be feared. There is forgiveness that God may be feared.
[14:15] How? Because God is merciful. Because God finds a way to not keep a record of our sins. And because God comes and deals himself with the sins that are overwhelming for us and lifts us up out of that problem.
[14:31] Exactly how God does that, we'll get to. For now, we just see this promise of forgiveness. Albeit that it's couched in Old Covenant terms here.
[14:41] The promise of forgiveness was understood by Old Covenant people, including the psalmists. Though without the latter clarity that we are given through the New Testament teaching that centers on Christ.
[14:53] And it's not specifically mentioned here, but there was the sacrificial system by which sinners could offer a sacrifice and the relationship with God be maintained.
[15:04] It was well understood that without the shedding of blood, there could be no remission of sins. So the Old Covenant conception of forgiveness is certainly here in this psalm.
[15:16] And we should also observe what this promise of forgiveness does in our relationship with God. This is important. What does this promise of forgiveness do in our relationship with God?
[15:28] With you there is forgiveness that you may be feared. With you there is forgiveness in order that God may be feared by his people.
[15:41] The 19th century German poet and journalist Heinrich Heine supposedly gave this answer when a priest asked him on his deathbed if he thought that God would forgive him for his sins.
[15:59] Heine is reported to have answered, Of course God will forgive me. That's his job. I wonder what you think about that.
[16:12] I think verse 4 teaches it's not God's job. It's not God's job to forgive us. It's in his nature to forgive us. Yes, it is. And he makes provision so that he can forgive us.
[16:26] Yes, that's right, he does. But it's no mere cold, impersonal transaction. God's forgiveness is offered in the context of a relationship with God.
[16:44] And in this matter, as the later New Testament writers would say, we do not sin all the more in order that grace may abound. So it's not with you there is forgiveness.
[16:57] And so therefore we can just sin till our heart's content and keep on being forgiven. That's hardly the message of Psalm 130. It is rather, with you there is forgiveness.
[17:07] Therefore, you are feared. There is forgiveness. Therefore, I will fear the living God. And to the person who has truly understood forgiveness, who has truly been forgiven, then this, what we sometimes call the antinomian question, does not arise.
[17:28] We do not abuse God's grace to continue to sin to our hearts content. Indeed, this is the whole thing. Once we are forgiven, our hearts are not content in sin.
[17:40] There's no question of that. No, we are forgiven. Therefore, we fear God. We fear God with that loving, awe-inspired, reverential, obedient, worshipful fear.
[17:57] Fear that draws us to God and does not repel us from Him. That's the thing about the fear of the Lord, isn't it? That's unique. Most things, if you fear most things, like most obviously, I think, a snake, if you fear a snake, it repels you from it.
[18:13] It drives you away from the thing in fear. Whereas a right fear of the living God draws us to God, draws us in close to Him, because it is marked by love and by reverence and by awe and by wonder and by response to the forgiveness that by the grace of God we have received.
[18:33] So we are forgiven. Therefore, we fear God. We've seen, therefore, the desperate cry of somebody who acknowledges his spiritual need. We've seen the beginnings of hope as we've continued on now.
[18:47] The third thing is the waiting eagerly that we find in verse 6. The psalmist is waiting eagerly for the Lord. In verse 5, he waits for the Lord, puts his hope in His Word, believes the promise of forgiveness.
[19:01] And now in verse 6, there's a note of eagerness introduced to this. My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning.
[19:11] And the repetition emphasizes the eagerness. And the picture of the night watchman waiting is a vivid one. There he is, watching through the seemingly interminable, lengthy watches of the night.
[19:26] You know what it's like if you wake up in the middle of the night and you think, is this night ever going to end? You're looking for the sunrise. Come on, sunrise. Dispel the darkness.
[19:38] And for the night watchman, he's thinking, I want to get home. I want to get to my bed. And so there's an eagerness there. And this waiting upon God is, it's again revealing to us that forgiveness and redemption are offered to us in the context of a relationship with God.
[19:58] God. The psalmist is not awaiting redemption as an abstract concept, a mere transaction, just an act of liberation, like you might redeem a voucher or your loyalty points when you go to the supermarket or the restaurant or whatever.
[20:15] No, the psalmist is, this is the thing, the psalmist is actually thinking more about the Redeemer than about the redemption. And that's very instructive for us. He's thinking more about Redeemer than redemption.
[20:27] It's personal. It's personal. The two things are inseparable. The Redeemer who redeems us and the redemption that he redeems us with. You cannot conceive of far less have redemption without also the Redeemer.
[20:43] the psalmist is longing for God. He's not just longing for what God provides. He's longing for God himself.
[20:57] I wonder, how is that with you this morning? How is that with you? You're longing for God. Your eagerness, not just to be in a relationship with God, but to be growing in that relationship, to be maturing in faith, to be becoming day by day more like the Lord Jesus in your life.
[21:21] Are you eager to be closer to God? Eager to be pleasing to God? Eager that your life brings glory to God? Because everything else is just passing away, slipping through our fingers.
[21:39] That eagerness for God at the end, I guess some of you at least will have read the Narnia Chronicles and at the end of The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, one of the books, the brave and gallant mouse Reepicheep.
[21:54] He's one of the finest named characters in all literature, don't you think? Reepicheep. He reaches the shores of Aslan country, which is representing heaven in the story. And this is what he has been waiting for, for his whole life.
[22:09] And as the boat runs aground on the shore, Reepicheep vows to be alone. And it's narrated here, they did not even try to stop him, for everything now felt as if it had been fated or had happened before.
[22:22] They helped him lower his little coracle. Then he took off his sword. I shall need it no more, he said, and flung it far away across the lilyed sea.
[22:33] Then he bade them goodbye, trying to be sad for their sakes, but he was quivering with happiness. And so the gallant character had entered Aslan's country and his reward.
[22:50] Well, that's the end. That was the culmination of Reepicheep's eagerness for God. How is that with you today?
[23:01] Is there an eagerness there? Is there an eagerness there to know God, to grow more and more in devotion to God? Well, there's a challenge for you to take away from today.
[23:15] It is challenging. And as we are challenged by that, we come finally to see in verses 7 and 8 how the psalmist is able to hope confidently. Psalm 130, just a short psalm, and it travels a big distance from the desperate cry of verses 1 and 2 to the confident hope of verses 7 to 8.
[23:35] That's a long journey and a short time, really, from this psalm. And there are two blessings, I think, really, of a relationship with God that are dominating the psalmist's mind at the end here.
[23:48] There is God's unfailing love, and there is the full redemption that is found in him. And these two great blessings of the gospel, of course, are interlinked.
[23:59] God's unfailing love, seen in so many ways in all of his dealings with his people. For the psalmist, he would look back and see how God had called the people as his covenant people.
[24:12] He would look back and see how God had redeemed them from slavery in Egypt. He would look and see God's provision for them, provision on the journey with the manna and quail, and then provision of the land flowing with milk and honey when they arrived at the destination.
[24:27] He would look and give thanks for God's presence amongst his people, the tabernacle, the temple, the ark of the covenant, God's presence there. He would look and see how God had prospered his people in so many ways once they came into their own nation that had been promised to Abraham.
[24:46] Unfailing love. God's love never failed. When God's people failed, God's love did not fail. And that's just from the psalmist's perspective.
[24:57] We can look at this table and see much more of the Lord's unfailing love, that all that was foretold, the Lord himself took all the way, all the way to the cross, and his love did not fail there at the sacrifice of his own son for so great a redemption as we are proclaiming today.
[25:20] And that's, well, a full redemption. That's what's mentioned here. And with this, we come to the climax, really, of the psalm. It's in verse 8. He will redeem Israel from all his iniquities.
[25:33] He will redeem from all iniquities. So it's future. In the psalmist's day, it's future, and it's comprehensive. God had redeemed Israel from Egypt, as I said a minute ago, but that was past, and that was particular.
[25:52] What's envisaged here from David is future and is comprehensive. And it's certainly an anticipation of the coming Messiah, great David's greater son, who would redeem not just Israel, but all of God's people from all of their sins.
[26:12] It would indeed be a full and a plenteous redemption. We've seen already how there was an old covenant, hope of forgiveness, which centered on the Old Testament sacrificial system.
[26:25] But the confidence that is expressed there at the end far exceeds the temporary provision of these old covenant sacrifices.
[26:36] The thing about the Old Testament sacrifices was that they were never ending. As long as sin continued, the sacrifices had to continue along with them.
[26:47] Furthermore, the Old Testament sacrificial system was only ever symbolic. The blood of bulls and goats could never actually take a while.
[26:58] It was going to take something better. It was going to take something greater for that to happen. Something that wouldn't just be a symbolic atonement.
[27:08] Something that would actually do the job and get the fullness of God's redemption accomplished. Something that would not be a continual and ongoing symbol of God's redemption, but something that would be a once-for-all settling of the whole thing.
[27:29] That is what is being anticipated here. It could not be accomplished by man. No man could do it. Psalm 49, verse 7. No man can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for him.
[27:45] The ransom for a life is costly. No payment is ever enough, the psalmist says, that he should live on forever and not see decay. It could only be accomplished by God himself, with whom is unfailing love and full redemption.
[28:06] And so Jesus Christ came and was made a curse for us. He paid a debt that he did not owe because of sins that he had not committed and so died a death that he did not deserve.
[28:26] He is a substitute. He is the atoning sacrifice sent to redeem us from our sins. John Owen summed up this situation succinctly and well when he says, the purpose of our holy and righteous God was to save his church.
[28:50] But their sin could not go unpunished. It was therefore necessary that the punishment for that sin be transferred from those who deserved it but could not bear it to one who did not deserve it but was able to bear it.
[29:18] Or the same thing but even more succinctly from the apostle Paul. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
[29:39] Jesus himself when he came stated his mission in redemptive terms. Mark 10 45 The Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.
[29:58] And that's exactly what he did isn't it? To redeem us he gave his life as a ransom. The ransom was the debt that was owing on account of our sin mine and yours.
[30:14] The debt was death and Jesus has accomplished through the cross all that God was ever doing.
[30:26] The cross of Christ it's incredible purpose that he was made a curse for us and it's incomparable accomplishment that by his sacrificial substitutionary death he has redeemed.
[30:47] us and all all who will simply reach out through faith and receive it as God's free gift of grace.
[31:00] This this is the plenteous redemption that the psalmist anticipates and longs for. Theologically speaking it is deeply profound and while at the same time it is as simple as simple could be.
[31:20] That simplicity couched in Jesus' own words this is my body which is for you this is my blood shed for you.
[31:34] so as we prepare ourselves to come to the table with all due reverence and love for the Redeemer may we come with deep thankfulness and joy may we come with the fear of the Lord a great deep reality within us but may we may we come with joy for Jesus Christ has redeemed us from all of our sin and with him is unfailing love and with him is a full redemption so therefore we put our hope in him so therefore we come with confidence and we come to him we come thankful for our redemption and we come with love towards our great Redeemer amen let us let us pray and then we're going to sing blessed God we do rejoice in the in the in the in the glory of the gospel and the great good news that we've been able to share there from your word that Sam that that so wondrously anticipates the cross where the prince of glory died bless you for the gospel that that can make the foulest clean we bless you for the the transforming power that we find there in the gospel and so oh lord we ask teach us what it means to be redeemed teach us what it cost for us to be redeemed teach us lord what it means to fear the lord our god and teach us oh lord to grow in grace and in christ likeness so that that relationship that you offer through which your redemption comes to us that relationship might be everything to us lord we we see how the the psalmist goes from desperate cry to confident hope and we bless you because we were lord before the grace of the gospel laid hold of us we were in a desperate situation but thank you that we may nevertheless have confident hope because of the grace of the gospel and because of the plenteous redemption that has been achieved by so great and glorious a redeemer hear us then we bring our thanks in his name the name of jesus amen amen so we're going to turn on the lord himself the command is from him likewise the invitation comes from the lord jesus christ himself to all who do have that relationship that we've been thinking of through the course of the service to all who love the lord jesus christ sincerity of heart to all who seek to walk daily with him and not just in faith but in obedience to him because the two belong together and cannot be separated cannot be divorced from each other the invitation himself that we will hear of jesus do invite all who love the lord in such a way and who walk with him day by day to come to be fed to be encouraged to be built up to be strengthened in these most important of spiritual blessings that the lord has provided for us until he come as we prepare ourselves then and we've been thinking already in the course of the service about table
[35:35] manners as i was calling it earlier in the service thinking already about what it means to prepare ourselves to come to the lord and the ideal time for that is before now of course to have been giving thought to the fact that the table is before us today but to prepare ourselves by emptying ourselves of all bitterness of all enmity of all of all sin to be confessing to be much open to the lord so that our hearts are indeed open well they are open to him always but particularly mindful of coming to the table we open ourselves up to the gaze of the lord and we seek to be faithful and we seek to be fed let me read from the words of the institution of the lord's supper as paul has written in first corinthians 11 i received from the lord what i also passed on to you the lord jesus on the night he was betrayed took bread and when he had given thanks he broke it and said this is my body which is for you do this in remembrance of me in the same way after supper jesus took the cup saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood this do whenever you drink it in remembrance of me for whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup you proclaim the lord's death until he comes therefore paul continues whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the lord a man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup for anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the lord eats and drinks judgment on himself in light of all of that let us then pray almighty god as we bow before you in these moments of quietness of of reflection these moments of seeking you oh lord and being mindful of the the plenteous redemption that is streaming from the cross of christ even today lord we we come to this this table laid before us with these profound signs directing us to the cross directing us to the sacrifice that was made there to reconcile sinners like us to you the holy and pure god and we come lord mindful mindful of these things that we have read in in first corinthians there mindful first of the invitation that's also a command to the lord's people to come and it's a command that came from the lord jesus and so therefore lord jesus we acknowledge that that is a command that you have laid upon us to do this in remembrance of you so we come seeking to be your obedient people in that way to accept the gracious invitation that there is to this table and also to take seriously the reality of redemption that we've been thinking of today but become mindful also of this that there is a warning there a warning that we ought to examine ourselves carefully before we come lest we be found to eat and drink judgment upon ourselves so lord may none of us come to this table today lightly or flippantly
[39:36] or just merely out of habit because it's communion sunday but lord may christ be real in us may that be the reason to come may christ be real in us and lord as we do examine ourselves as we've been thinking already then we do want to lay ourselves open before you as our hearts and minds are open before you and we want to turn from all known sin and maybe that means setting down laying down turning decisively away from some secret cherished sin if that be so lord give us conviction about it that it is right and it is necessary to turn away from that certainly lord we would empty ourselves of all and any sense of self-worth or self-righteousness for we have nothing no name no record no nothing to plead simply your name lord jesus so empty as of any self-righteousness empty as lord of any bitterness in our hearts of any reluctance of our faith of any grudges we may have been bearing against others and lord in that way may we come rightly accepting the invitation obeying the command coming because jesus says come and that is a good enough reason for us oh lord to come before you to this table today so therefore we do come oh lord we come with faith faith in christ we come with confidence confidence in christ we come with joy joy in that plenteous redemption and we come with great reverence mindful as we come of the cost to our redeemer of that redemption so lord move among us quicken our hearts give to us spiritual perception of these great gospel realities that have been put before us through your word and that are now before us on this table move among us oh lord we pray in the strong and mighty name of jesus we ask it amen it is according therefore to the holy institution example and command of our lord jesus christ and for a memorial of him that we now do this the lord jesus in the night when he was betrayed when he had blessed the bread and given thanks he broke it and said take eat this is my body which is for you moments and these that precious time lord that precious time of gazing upon our redeemer that precious time oh lord of understanding the realities of calvary where the sinless one died unjustly and yet in such a way as satisfies the perfect and infinite justice of almighty god the one who dies
[43:36] seemingly helpless and yet as he does fulfills all of redemption's great plans all the types and shadows that had been seen through history until that point fulfills all the longings all of the cries from the depths of your people of all the ages oh lord fulfilled as christ dies seemingly helpless and yet overcoming and the one who dies oh lord seemingly defeated and yet supremely victorious as you the living god raise your son from the dead defeating all of your enemies fulfilling all of your plans offering a hope and a future to all of your people for all of eternity and then lord not just raising him but giving to your son the lord jesus that place of honor that exalted place exalting the lord jesus to the highest place where he has the name above every name and where every knee is ultimately going to bow and every tongue confess that jesus christ is lord to the glory of almighty god we we bless you and we praise you oh lord for the profundity of these great things the the depths of calvary and the heights of heaven all all together in our in our sight of these things there oh lord so we bless you what a what a mighty redeemer we have what a plenteous redemption it is and may indeed our lives oh lord from this moment forward be marked by such a right fear of the lord by such a right longing for god by such a right commitment to christ likeness by such a right dedication to obedience to all of your command lord may it be that we do we do come from this place not just refreshed and encouraged but even rejuvenated in our in our lives of love and devotion to christ lord the one who gave it all for us how will we not give all for him and so grant that it may be so for your glory's sake the blessing surely will be ours but the glory always yours oh lord as we seek to be your people thank you lord thank you for what you've given us in your word today thank you for what you've given us off this table today thank you lord all praise to you not to us not to us oh lord but to your name be the praise be the glory now and forevermore amen