English Communion Service

Do please take your Bibles in hand once again and turn back to Leviticus 16.! If you ever read through the book of Leviticus, you'll know Leviticus 16 is right at the very! The first half of the book, chapters 1 through 15, deal with sacrifices and priesthood and ritual purity in Old Testament Israel. They're all about how God's people then were to draw near to God. Then the second half of the book, chapters 17 through 26, focus mostly on how God's people were to live in light of having come near to him in holiness and obedience to him. They're about being devoted to God. So the first half is about drawing near to God. The second half of the book is about being devoted to God. And right at the very center, the hinge of the whole book is Leviticus chapter 16, the day of atonement, the holiest day in the Hebrew calendar, Yom Kippur, the day of atonement.

It is the supreme example of atoning sacrifice, how sin was dealt with for God's people. So if you want to understand the Christian gospel, if you want to understand the meaning of the cross of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, you actually need to understand the day of atonement. This is in the background.

This gives us, if you like, something of a key to unlock the significance of what was happening that day at Calvary. Leviticus 16 is the climax of the book of Leviticus. It is actually the literary heart of the whole of the Mosaic law. And it's not just about drawing near to God, but really about how God draws near to us. How God reconciles sinners to himself by means of the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. As we look at it together, we're going to consider four things.

First, I want us to think about the peril we must face, the danger, the peril we must face. We can't deal with everything, all the details in this chapter, but to try and see the big picture, first, the peril we must face. That's in verses 1 and 2, and again in verses 12 and 13. The presence of the holy God is a fearful reality, the peril we must face, the danger we're in. And then secondly, I want us to think about the priest that we really need. The peril we must face, and then the priest that we need in verses 3 through 5, and especially in 11 through 14. The high priest, we read, is alone permitted to perform this holy ceremony in the holy place. And yet, the details of the ceremony all underscore and highlight the inadequacy of this man, the high priest, to really secure atonement for anyone, not for himself, not for Israel. We need a better high priest, one who has no sin of his own, the Lord Jesus Christ, the peril we must face, the priest that we so badly need. Thirdly,

I want us to think about the provision that we are given. We'll look at the sacrifices themselves. These two goats, one that is slaughtered and the other that's sent out into the wilderness, together comprising a single sacrifice. And we'll think about their significance, how in the symbolism of these two goats, full, complete, perfect atonement for our sin is provided in the one to whom they point us, the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. And then finally, the penitence we must embrace in verses 29 and 31. We have to repent and believe the gospel in order to receive the atoning blessing that Christ has secured for us by his offering of himself at the cross.

So those are the four things I want us to think about as we approach this chapter together. The peril we must face, the priest that we need, the provision that we are given, and the penitence we must embrace.

Before we look at the chapter together and think about those four themes, let's bow our heads and ask for the Lord's help and blessing. Let us all pray.

Lord our God, we are like those Greeks who came to the disciples saying, Sir, we would see Jesus. He is the one that we so badly need today.

And so as we hear your word expounded, we ask that you would give us eyes to see him, ears to hear him, hearts receptive to his voice. Speak, O Lord, for your servants are listening.

For we ask it in Jesus' matchless name. Amen. We won't read the whole chapter together, but do keep Leviticus 16 open before you and think with me, first of all, about the peril we must face. Verses 1 and 2, you'll notice, connect the Day of Atonement back to an earlier chapter, back to chapter 10.

And it reminds us, these instructions were given on the same day that Aaron, the high priest's two older sons, Nadab and Abihu, died. You might remember what happened to them.

Back in chapter 10, they were consumed by fire from the presence of the Lord. Because they sauntered carelessly into the holy place with their newfangled fire, confident that God was really going to be impressed by their latest improvements on his sacrificial system.

They thought they could come up with something better than what had been given to them. And so they entered the holy place with their own agenda, their own plan, their own approach to the worship of God.

It did not go well. And God struck them down in a moment of terrible, solemn judgment. And so now, God tells Aaron, through Moses, that he is, look at the text, he is not to come at any time into the holy place inside the veil before the mercy seat that is on the ark, so that he may not die.

For I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat. And later, if you look at verse 12, God gives instructions on how Aaron may come into the holy place when he does come, on this one day every year, the Day of Atonement.

And he says that Aaron must take a censer full of coals of fire from the altar before the Lord, two handfuls of sweet incense beaten small. He shall bring it inside the veil and put the incense on the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of incense may cover the mercy seat that is over the testimony, listen, so that he does not die.

There is a very real threat of death hanging over this whole scenario, this whole ritual that Aaron was to perform.

His two sons have been struck down already, and now he himself is to go in to this incredibly dangerous venue where the presence of the fire of the glory of God blazes.

Did you know that before the war in Ukraine, you could actually take tourist trips into the radioactive exclusion zone around the city of Chernobyl?

I don't know if that sounds like an exciting vacation to you. It doesn't entirely appeal to me. The nuclear power plant in Ukraine, remember, that melted down 1986?

It's not exactly my ideal day trip, but there's no accounting for some people's taste, I suppose. And if you take the tour, the tourist trip to Chernobyl, as you might expect, there's a long list of rules telling tourists about safety protocols for their visit.

They're forbidden to eat anything while they're in the zone. They may not set any personal items on the ground while they're in the zone. Nothing can be taken away with them from the zone.

And particularly important, visitors may not stray from the safe paths that have been laid out for them while they're in the nuclear exclusion zone, the radioactive exclusion zone.

Leviticus 16, 1 and 2 reminds us that Nadab and Abihu, they strayed from the safe paths as they walked carelessly into the white-hot presence of divine holiness.

And it destroyed them. Sin, you see, excludes people, excludes all people from the presence of God, excludes me, excludes you from the presence of God.

He is holy and we are not. That's our fundamental problem, isn't it? We are shut out of the presence of God, liable to divine judgment.

So even this amazing chapter where God is making provision for his people's sin, there's this refrain, that you may not die. The wages of sin is what?

The wages of sin is death. God is holy. Our God is a consuming fire. Hebrews 10, 26 and following warns us, if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.

Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse judgment do you think will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified and has outraged the Spirit of grace?

The same threat continues to obtain in the New Testament age and the days in which we live. The threat of the judgment of God, his perfect holiness, is burning against our sin.

God is not safe for us in ourselves by our own nature. Perhaps you've heard the gospel countless times in your years and you know there is a safe path, a safe way into the presence of God.

Only by the sacrificial blood of the covenant that is by the blood of Jesus Christ can you come into the presence of God.

But if you refuse him, resist him, reject him in favor of your own better ideas like Nadab and Abihu did, if you take your own path.

Hebrews says, all that remains is a fearful expectation of judgment and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Nadab and Abihu are case studies in divine judgment showing us the urgency of our situation.

your sin, my sin will kill us in the end. Forever. Destroy us in the end.

We must draw near to God. We must be reconciled to God and yet we cannot do so safely by any means we can contrive or invent for ourselves.

There's only one safe path into the holy place. Only one way to deal with our sin and guilt in the sight of God.

And showing us the safe path, opening the safe path for you and me into the presence of God is the purpose of Leviticus 16.

So what is the safe path? How can you and I, how can we draw near to God with full assurance of faith? Confident that he will welcome us, not destroy us or condemn us.

Well, think with me now in the second place about the priest that we need. The peril we must face, our sin exposes us to danger, to the judgment of God.

Your sin exposes you to the judgment of God. It is an emergency. How will you deal with it? Is there a safe way to stand before him? We need a perfect high priest who can deal with our sin.

Look at verses three through five with me please. God describes how Aaron should approach him. Look at the procedure, verses three through five. He is to gather a bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering for himself and his family.

In verse five, he is also to bring two goats and a ram. The goats are for a sin offering. The ram is for a burnt offering to be made on behalf of the congregation of Israel.

But before he can offer these sacrifices, you will notice in verse four, he is not allowed to wear the usual vestments of the high priest. There is an ephod, this sort of breastplate that he wears and a golden sash.

And all the finery of this high priestly uniform. He would have been an imposing, striking figure decked out in this glorious regalia and yet at this moment they are all forbidden to him.

On this day instead, you will notice in verse four, he is to wear plain, unadorned linen. He must bathe and dress in this simple costume.

There is no display of personal glory as he goes into the holy place. No pomp, no show, none of the insignia and prestige or privilege of the high priest as he steps behind the veil into the presence of the glory of God.

Verse 17 tells us, all the other priests and the Levites that would ordinarily have made the tabernacle a busy place, they were all absent on this day.

On every other day, the high priest would have gone all over the tabernacle, although behind this one great curtain, he never ever dared to venture. But now, on this day, the day of atonement, all alone, this one man, stripped of all his finery, approaches the veil.

On it, there are embroidered images of cherubim, these angelic guardians. We meet them first at the entrance to the Garden of Eden.

You remember when Adam and Eve were expelled because of sin, they were placed there to guard the way back and to bar the gates of paradise to our first fathers.

Behind this veil, the Shekinah glory shines. The majesty of God blazes in holy splendor above the mercy seat, this golden platform placed on top of the Ark of the Covenant.

No other human being is ever authorized to venture into this room, into the most holy place. But on this day, the high priest can draw back the curtain and step inside.

And as he does, he is a symbolic second Adam. Here are the cherubim blocking the way into the presence of God.

Adam the first was prohibited from going back there. But here is a picture of Adam the second entering anew into the presence of God, passing the cherubim into the place where God dwells.

And he's dressed not as a lofty dignitary to impress, to impress, but as a simple supplicant in plain linen, a mere man, one of us.

And he's not to go empty-handed. Notice in verse 11, he is to kill the bull as a sin offering. This is important now, to make atonement for himself and his house.

And then in verse 14, along with the incense that he is to burn, he is to take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it on the front of the mercy seat on the east side seven times.

The east side of the mercy seat is the direction of the altar and the entrance to the tabernacle. The east, remember, was the direction toward which Adam was banished when he was excluded from the garden and fell into sin.

He was sent east of Eden. And so that is the direction that atonement is made for this symbolic second Adam. Seven times he is to do it.

Seven is a number of completeness in the Bible. So the picture is of a complete, perfect, full atonement with no lack. Full pardon that God has provided for him.

But there's one more vital point to understand about this extraordinary moment. Aaron and every high priest that would follow him could never secure forgiveness for his people because the simple reason is they were sinners themselves.

It's like they're trying to pay off a debt all the time, accumulating interest on that debt themselves. Never able to pay off the penalty.

Hebrews chapter 9 actually offers the best commentary on this whole scene. In Hebrews 9 verse 9 we're told the high priest's work quote, cannot perfect the conscience of the worshiper.

But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater more perfect tent not made with hands, that is not of this creation he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves, but by means of his own blood thus securing an eternal redemption.

For if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ through the eternal spirit, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God purify our consciences from dead works to serve the living God.

Here's the point. The high priest is only a picture and an incomplete picture because he's a sinner of another Adam to come who would go and reconcile sinners to God, who would go into the holy place without fear and tear the curtain from top to bottom opening the way for everyone who trusts in him to enter with confidence into the most holy place to obtain mercy and find grace to help in our time of need.

But this high priest, this high priest, was flawed. He was a sinner just like us. You might know the Snoopy cartoons, Charles Schultz, Peanuts cartoons.

Snoopy, it turns out that the dog Snoopy is a writer. He's an author. And in one of the panels, Snoopy's sitting on top of his kennel with a typewriter writing his latest novel.

And he's thinking about his lead character. And he begins, All his life, he tried to be a good person. And then he's pounding furiously on his typewriter.

And the second panel says, Many times, however, he failed. For after all, he was only human. And then the final panel, in a flash of inspiration, Snoopy explains his character's persistent failures.

Here's why his every effort fell short. He wasn't a dog. All his life, he tried to be a good person. Many times, however, he failed.

After all, he was only human. He wasn't a dog, like Snoopy. If he'd read Leviticus 16, in light of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, Snoopy might have said, of the high priest, he played the part of the second Adam many times.

But every time he failed. For after all, he was only a sinner. He wasn't Jesus. This whole drama, this little, this little enacted parable, is a picture to us of a better high priest that we so badly need, who opens the way, who had no sin of his own, who was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners, who with his own blood can make full perfect atonement for sinners, so that you and I can go on safe paths into the presence of the blazing glory of God, and hear him call us his dear children, and speak to him as Abba Father.

Israel needed, we need, you and me right now today, we need a high priest, doesn't deal in the blood of bulls and goats in an earthly tabernacle made with human hands.

We need the real thing, don't we? Not the picture, not the shadow, not the play. We need the reality, we need the Lord Jesus Christ, our great high priest over the house of God, who with his own blood has made satisfaction once and for all.

He humbled himself, do you remember, like the high priest here, stripped himself of all his finery, not in his priestly robes with the ephod and the gold, but in simple, plain linen, the Lord Jesus.

Philippians 2.6 reminds us, though he was in the form, God did not count equality with God, a thing to be grasped, but he emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, a doulos, a slave, being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form, he humbled himself, by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Here's the high priest that we need, that you need, available to you today. One who opens the way, who reconciles you to God once and for all, who makes a safe path for you into his holy presence.

There is no other way that is safe. Your sin exposes you to a terrible liability of judgment. But Jesus is the safe path.

Jesus opens the way. The peril we face, the priest we need. Thirdly, the provision that we are given. In verses 5-10, Aaron is to take the two male goats for a sin offering and one ram for a burnt offering for the sake of the people.

Notice the two goats together are constituted a single sacrifice, a special kind of sin offering. And look at what Aaron has to do with them. They're presented before the Lord and lots are cast.

Chosen in this way, one of the goats was to be killed and its blood sprinkled on the mercy seat to atone for sin. And the other goat, notice in verse 8 and in verse 10, is for Azazel.

Now, there's a lot of debate over what this word Azazel might mean. Is it, as some suggest, a proper noun, a name set in parallel to the Lord?

So you have one goat for the Lord and one goat for Azazel, perhaps. Some suggest this is a reference to the devil. I don't think that's right. Other scholars suggest Azazel as a place somewhere out in the wilderness to which this goat was dispatched.

But in my judgment, the best interpretation is still the historic interpretation. It uses an expression, if you've got an old King James Bible, I think you'll find it there.

It was first coined by William Tyndale in his English Bible in 1535 when he translated Leviticus 16. The word Azazel is interpreted not as a name for a demonic being or even a place, but it's a compound word meaning a goat for sending away.

Literally, as Tyndale put it famously, a scapegoat. That's what this goat is. Literally, isn't it? It's a scapegoat. All the sins of the people were confessed and as the priest laid his hands on its head, symbolically, those sins were transferred, imputed, to the goat and the goat was sent out into the wilderness to carry them away forever.

A scapegoat, a goat for sending away. Now look at verses 20 through 22. Aaron is to lay his hands on the head of both goats and in verse 21.

He is to confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, all their transgressions and all their sins. He shall put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness.

The goat shall bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area and he shall let the goat go free in the wilderness. Do you get the symbolism of that now? It's really simple and crystal clear.

What a great vivid picture it is of what God does through Jesus when he deals with our sin. The goat doesn't really deal with our sin but the one to whom it points, the Lord Jesus, really does what this symbol teaches us.

He carries our sins away. He carries them away. These two goats actually together provide a complete picture of what happens at the cross.

The first goat is slaughtered and its blood is sprinkled. This is a picture of what the New Testament calls propitiation.

1 John 2.22 He himself is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but for the whole world. Propitiation means a sacrifice that satisfies the white hot fury of the judgment of God that burns against our sin.

This sacrifice satisfies it completely and forever. Propitiation, the blood of Jesus propitiates the wrath of God so that if you are a Christian today trusting in Christ God's wrath never again will burn against you.

He is always a father. you may displease him, he may discipline you but he is never anything other than Abba father toward you because of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Wrath has been satisfied, paid in full. It is finished once and forever.

In my place bearing shame and scoffing rude in my place condemned he stood sealed my pardon with his blood. Hallelujah what a savior that's propitiation that's the first goat.

The second goat the goat that's sent away is expiation carrying sin and guilt away so that if you are a Christian today trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ God the Father looks upon you and sees you robed in the righteousness of his son.

Your sins have been carried away by him forever out of sight. He shall throw our iniquities into the depths of the sea and he shall remember them no more.

Expiation and together they describe all that Jesus accomplished for us at the cross. Isn't it wonderful? You may know your sin so very intimately and profoundly and feel the dreadful weight of them.

The shame and sting of them in your conscience. Some of you have such a vivid appreciation for your remaining guilt that it leads you regularly as you look at your own heart to wonder if you're really converted.

How can I still live like this, speak like this, think like this? Look at me. How can I possibly be a Christian? What's the remedy? McShane told us the remedy.

Do you remember what he said? For every one look at self, take ten looks at Christ. Full, full atonement.

Full pardon. Your sin carried away out of sight. Forgiven and forgotten before the bar of heaven's justice. Wrath satisfied so that there is no longer any fury of judgment waiting for you.

Look to Christ, not at yourself. Look at your Savior. Lift your head from your own wicked heart to your perfect sinless Redeemer. Hide in him.

He is the remedy for all your fears. Again, 1 John. If anyone says he has no sin, he lies and the truth is not in him.

But if we confess our sin, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Clean, clean by the blood of the Lamb. Clean forever. Clean conscience, clean hands, clean hearts, a clean life because of the work of Jesus Christ.

Well, how do you get a hold of this for yourself? How do you make it yours if it's not yours already? How can this cleansing work of the true perfect high priest, the great second Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ, be yours?

Look at verses 29 through 34. We learn there about the date on which the Day of Atonement was to be commemorated, the tenth day of the seventh month.

we learn that it was to be celebrated by every successive high priest in Aaron's line. We learn that the day was to be observed by Israel as a special Sabbath day, a day of rest.

And in verse 29 and again in verse 31, Israel is told on this day when it rolls around every year they are noticed to afflict themselves.

that is to say not that they are literally to beat themselves but they are to mourn over their sin.

This was never to be a cold perfunctory external ritual. It was to point them to one who was to come.

Who by his blood and righteousness would do forever what the high priest and the blood of goats and bulls never could. The Lord Jesus Christ. And they were to receive the benefit of his atoning work in the same way we still receive that benefit.

They looking forward, we now looking back. How do you get a hold of the forgiveness of your sin? You repent and believe the gospel.

You afflict yourself. You stop your self confidence, your self reliance. you stop your avoidance and your blame shifting. You stop passing the buck.

You stop accusing others. You stop excusing yourself. You own your sin. And before God you cry out like the leper at the side of the road when Jesus was passing by, Son of David, have mercy on me.

everyone who ever cried to him like that received the mercy they need. Afflict your hearts, rend your hearts and not your garments.

Turn back to the Lord. Turn back, turn back. Why will you die, O house of Israel? Full atonement has been made. Jesus has died and risen and reigns a perfect high priest for you, opening a safe way into the presence of God.

Come and rest on him. He has done all things needful. He is all your heart could ever need. Trust in him.

Turn from your sin and yourself to your savior and he will give you entrance into the holy of holies. That you may come all the way in to the throne room itself and speak to the one who reigns there and call him father.

You will have his heart, you will have his ear, you may call on him and he will shower upon you his mercy and his grace.

Not the fire of divine fury, but the bright sunshine shine of the smile of God's forgiveness for everyone who trusts in Jesus Christ.

May the Lord give us all grace as we turn our attention now to his table where the great emblems of his self-giving love are provided for us. May the Lord give us grace to look to him and rest upon him.

Let us pray. Amen. Lord Jesus, our great and perfect high priest, we bow before you and we pour out our wonder and awe that we are reconciled to God not as a formal transaction, not as a form of words, it's not a sort of spiritual bookkeeping measure transferring from one column to the other.

It came instead at your great cost. You entered the heavenly holy place not with the blood of bulls and goats but with your own blood there to make atonement perfect satisfaction for sin for all time.

it came at your death that we might live and so as we bow before you preparing our hearts to commune with you at your table we cry out together now like the beggar at the side of the road when you passed by so long ago son of David have mercy on us for we ask this in your matchless name amen the lord's table is a simple meal instituted by the lord jesus christ king and head of the church and perfect savior of sinners it is the family meal for those who have been forgiven and adopted who call god their father and christ their elder brother it is not the table of the free church of scotland but the table of jesus christ a table to which he invites and commands every one of his people to draw near and attend if you are a believer in the lord jesus christ having repented your sin and trusted in him alone to save you and you're a member in good standing of a christian church where the gospel is preached the lord jesus christ invites you to come with bread and wine if you are not a christian you don't know what you believe it's not bread and wine that you need and so as the elements are distributed please do not partake it is jesus christ that you need do not let him pass you by as the elements pass you by do not let him pass you by it's not bread and wine!

they can't help you it's jesus that you need and so in the quietness of these next moments let me urge you if you have not yet come to the lord's table profess your faith in the savior to do earnest business with him to repent of your sin and cry to him for mercy he is here for you today opening a safe path into the presence of god do not do not miss his invitation but receive it with a glad heart repent and believe the gospel well now as we prepare to enjoy this meal together we are going to sing to god's praise and glory psalm 118 in the scottish psalter on page 398 we're singing stanzas 15 through 23 in dwellings of the righteous is heard the melody of joy and health the lord's right hand doth ever valiantly the right hand of the mighty lord exalted is on high the right hand of the mighty lord doth ever valiantly i shall not die but live and shall the works of god discover the lord hath me chastised sore but not to death given over psalm 118 15 to 23 we stand to sing to god's praise in dwellings of the righteous is heard the melody of joy and health the lord's right hand doth ever valiantly the right hand of the mighty lord exalted is on high the right hand of the mighty lord doth ever valiantly i shall not die but live and shall!

the works of god discover the lord hath me chastised eyes soar but not to death give no eil o set ye open unto me the gifts of righteousness then will i enter into them and i the lord will bless this is the heat of god fire the josh enter!

the will praise for the queen earth and past my safety be that stone is made a corner stone which builders take his eyes this is the doing of the lord and wondrous in our eyes we read to you the words of our warrant for this simple meal come to us from first corinthians chapter 11 at the 23rd verse for i received from the lord what i also delivered to you that the lord jesus on the night on which 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 he also took the cup after supper saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me but as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup you and as we come to the

Lord's table we come to the great embellion in the bread and in the cup of the finished atonement the full provision for the forgiveness and satisfaction of our sin that Jesus the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world has secured for his people this is not an altar the bread and the wine are not sacrifices we don't offer Jesus here we have no need now of an altar no need of any more sacrifices other than the sacrifice of praise Jesus the Lamb of God has brought all of that to an end now and forever with his final cry from the cross he shouted victory to the heavens it is finished he said finished the years of blood sacrifice finished the need for earthly priests and temples and altars finished the bondage of sin and guilt that the offering of goats and bulls could never remove finished the wrath of

God that burns in perfect justice against our sin finished forever because of Jesus Christ Jesus has finished his work and there is no work now left for him to do for us to do you don't come to this table because you're qualified by your own efforts to be here you don't come to this table because you have somehow satisfied divine requirements atoned for your own sin no you come to this table destitute of any righteousness of your own hopeless and helpless in yourself but trusting in the work of our perfect high priest the Lord Jesus Christ whose blood has paid your debt in full forever whose sacrifice has satisfied the demands of the broken law of

God whose self giving love has reconciled you to God taken away the hostility and made peace we come to this table saying to Jesus nothing in my hands I bring simply to thy cross I cling naked come to thee for dress helpless come to thee for grace foul eye to the fountain fly wash me savior or I die he is our warrant he himself his righteousness his obedience and blood he is our warrant come and approach this table his perfect satisfaction for us not our work for him come believing sinner to the table of the Lord eat and drink Jesus to the nourishment of your soul as you eat and drink the bread he comes to you by the power of the

Holy Spirit and gives himself to you to strengthen and nourish and sustain you he comes as it were carrying today in his arms all the blessings!

that his cross has secured! your sorrow he comes with assurance for your fears he comes with courage for your trials he comes with persevering grace for your temptations he comes with wisdom and direction for your journey along the way you come to the table brothers and sisters to meet the risen Christ himself who presides at its head he is here to lavish his blood bought cross won grace mercy and peace on you would you come looking to him as you eat and drink and receive his abundant grace now let us pray together almighty god our father we bow before you and we make no boast in our own righteousness but with the apostle paul we say in me that is in my flesh dwells no good thing we acknowledge that we are sinners in thought and word and deed by nature children of wrath all of us having sinned and fallen short of the glory of

God yet as we bow now before you confessing our sin and need our hunger and thirst after righteousness we plead the promise of our savior blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled we plead the promise of your word if we confess our sin you are faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness we have an advocate with the father Jesus Christ the righteous who is himself the propitiation the sacrifice that satisfies your wrath do our sin forever and so we rest now oh God on him he is all our boast he is all our argument to come before you to come to this table not that we are good not that we are right not that we are better than others but bankrupt and broken we come robed in the righteousness of another hidden beneath the blood and obedience of

Jesus and so we ask you as we take the bread and drink the cup that we may feast by faith on him our risen saviour who said my flesh is true food my blood true drink help us to drink him in sustain us by him and then send us out to live for his honour and glory and we pray for all those in this room who are not at this table oh lord have mercy upon them awaken in them a longing not for bread and wine but for the one to whom they point us awaken in them a longing for the saviour enable them to trust him repent and believe in him and so when next this fellowship gathers at the family dinner table here at the table of the Lord Jesus they might join us as brothers and sisters reconciled to God and reconciled to us so hear our cries we pray oh God for the honour and glory of your great name for we ask it in

Jesus holy name amen on the night in which he was betrayed the Lord Jesus took bread and when he had broken it he said this is my body which is for you do this in remembrance of me and in the same manner after supper he also took!

saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood do this 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 until the come now take your psalters in hands and turn to Psalm 72 in the Scottish Psalter page 314 Psalm 72 singing verses 17 through 19 and we stand to sing to God's praise and glory His name forever shall endure last like the sun it shall!

men shall be blessed in heaven blessed all nations shall call call now blessed be the Lord our God the Lord of Israel for he!

! may may The whole earth let His glory fill Amen, so let it be And now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God our Father and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all now and forevermore.

Amen. Amen.