FBCWest 453 | Declaring His Death Until He Comes
Recorded On: 05/30/2021
Bulletin
“God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and truth.”
Praise and Worship
SCRIPTURE READING –
“This is What We Live For”
“I Am Who You Say I Am”
Proclamation of the Word
Message by Pastor Joe
“Declaring His Death Until He Comes”
PRAYER TIME / Time of Reflection
“At the Cross (Love Ran Red)”
Lord Super/Communion
“Think about His Love”
Giving of Selves and Our Offerings
“Blessed Assurance”
OFFERTORY PRAYER
SPECIAL MUSIC – By Pru Hungate
Continued Worship
“All Because of Jesus”
“Come to the Table”
Acknowledgements and Announcements
Benediction “Egypt”
Sermon Notes
1 Corinthians 11:23 - 26 Declare His death until He comes
Romans 5:6 – 8 He died for the ungodly, us
Romans 6:23 Free gift is eternal life
Romans 8:1 No condemnation
Romans 10:8 – 12 Salvation by belief and confession
1 Thessalonians 4:14 Believe Jesus died and rose again – Jesus will bring them with Him
Galatians 2:20 & 21 Christ died so I might be righteous. If I could do it, Christ died needlessly
1 Corinthians 11:23 - 32
Scritpures
Transcript of Service
On this Memorial Day weekend.
I think it's appropriate.
That we consider and celebrate.
Now the those who have sacrificed their lives to give us.
Freedom in our country.
But to consider the freedom that Jesus has given us because of his death.
A freedom that cannot be taken away by government.
Or strong.
But one that we are in fact free indeed.
So I want us to consider that as we look at this passage and a number of others. So if you have your Bibles of your turn to First Corinthians chapter.
11 starting with verse 23.
This is Paul writing for I received from the Lord, which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus and the night in 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 took the cup also after supper, saying this 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 the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death.
Until he comes.
Now when we read that we could think.
Well, our job is just to remember that he died.
I'm going to be a little crass here.
Everyone dies.
In Genesis we see how various men lived to 800 plus years, but then it says, and he had sons and daughters and he died and he would live 500 plus years and he had sons and daughters and he died.
Going right on through to today's world, we're going to be celebrating those who gave their lives. And often many of those men and women were between 18 and 21.
And they died.
We have all had friends and family members.
Who died?
There's even those who are unborn.
Killed by the people that would.
Be the one who would most protect them.
They've died.
It's a matter of fact.
As I counsel some people because they're they feel very uncomfortable about doing a state planning because.
It could cause their death an I will state in all of recorded biblical history. There's only two people who never died.
Enoch and Elijah.
Enoch walked with God and was no more and Elijah because.
Jezebel threatened his life and said if he wasn't dead by this time, may something terrible happened to her. God took him up in a chariot of fire.
And then saw to it that her prophecy was fulfilled.
And as I tell them, there's only two people who never died. They're not with us.
The point of remembering Jesus's death is not that he died.
But why he died?
And the reasons that it gives us in that death.
So if you'll again we're going to look at Romans and several passes is enrolments, and a couple of others right off the bat in Romans Chapter 5, verse 6 through 8. This is this. For a while we were still helpless at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly.
So right off about we are told that Christ died not for the good, not for the godly, not for the righteous but for the ungodly. And in case you haven't figured it out yet, that's you, and that's me, where the ungodly an it says we were helpless, we could not become godly by our own. As for that reason Christ died for us, for the one will hardly die for a righteous man, though perhaps for the good men someone might.
Would even dare to die. But God demonstrated his own love towards us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, so we remember his death because we were the ungodly an we were sinners. But at the right time he died for us. So when we take the bread and the cup, we remember his death because it caused us to be now godly and righteous. It is what his death.
Represent it, and then we're going to jump over to Romans chapter 6, verse 23.
And it says this.
For the wages of sin.
Is death.
But the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
So we earn wages in sin and that wages that we earn as death.
But he said because of the death of Christ, we now have eternal life. So when we remember his death and we declaim an proclaim, his death is because we state that we now have eternal life.
He gave his life that we might have life.
And so, as I keep saying, we do not live, die and live again. We have eternal life.
To be absent from the body simply means that to be present with the Lord. There is no soul sleeping. There is no pause. There is always life, and so we should remember that life. Because as we come to the table, we remember his death because of that.
And then in Romans chapter 8.
First one if.
You can only remember 1.
Section of the Bible.
I commend to you, Romans, chapter 8.
Romans Chapter 8 is kind of like the cliffnotes of the Bible.
If you study it, you'll kind of get the whole context of the scriptures. But the first verse starts off by saying, therefore, because of Christ death, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
We come in to celebrate not because we are sinless, but because there is now no condemnation. We are not condemned by our sin because of the death of Jesus.
So all too often we come to the table.
With great sadness and and rightfully so, in a sense.
That is because of our sin and ungodliness, he was required to die.
But because of his death.
We're no longer condemned.
So when someone says you're not worthy, Jesus says shut up. And because I made you worthy.
Jump over to Romans chapter 10.
Starting with verse 8.
And these passages are my wife's favorite verses.
All I gotta do is get there.
Alright.
Verse 8, But what does it say? The word is near you in your mouth and in your heart? That is the Word of Faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth now again I want you to notice it's confess.
If you were arrested.
Or something?
And you didn't do it, you don't confess.
'cause you're not guilty.
If you are guilty of something.
Police officer going to pick something like policing. You're kind of inattentive, and you run a red light and it gives you a ticket.
And you show up in court hoping that the cop won't be there and he shows up.
So you go well, I'm stuck till you go. I'm guilty. I confess I ran the red light.
That's confession.
So if you confess this means it is already taken place, so if.
That is the Word of Faith, which is we are preaching that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord.
He's my boss.
He's my instructor, he's my rabbi. He's my Lords. If you confess, that means that he is that.
Otherwise, it's not a confession.
So if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
So we declare his death not because he died. We declare his death because he rose again an in that belief we are saved.
Thanks be to God, that's the case.
For with the heart, a person believes, resulting in righteousness and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. For the scripture says, whoever believes in him will not be disappointed.
I want you to notice something.
The world has a real hard time with this.
I mean, all you gotta do is believe in Jesus and all I gotta do is confess. And then you're going to be safe. The answer is yes. It's that simple.
And it's also that hard.
Because we, no matter how many songs we hear about Jesus, take the wheel, we don't want him to. We want to control our own lives. We want to. And it's only when we're about to hit a wall in our lives that we say Jesus take the wheel.
But the scripture says, if you confess Jesus as Lord, which means he's the boss.
Always.
And if you believe that God raised him from the dead, were saved.
So it is this simple as.
Anne coming to the table to declare his death.
Causes us to declare.
I'm saying.
Because I believe.
And I confess.
Now we're going to jump over to 1st selonians.
Chapter.
4.
Versa 14.
Easy for you to say, not so much for me.
For we believe that Jesus died and rose again. Even so, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.
We believe this, but also those who have passed away who have fallen asleep before us. Those who have believed Jesus is bringing back with him.
So when we declare his death, we are not only declaring that he saved us, that he also saved those who have passed away before us. And not only did he save them, he's bringing them back. And that's the second part of when we take the table in the elements, it says that we declare his death until he comes.
And so declaration of his death.
Means the declaration.
Of those who believe, and the declaration that they are coming with him.
And finally, the last verse we're going to take a look at briefly is Galatians Chapter 2, verse 20.
And it says this.
I've been crucified with Christ.
And it is no longer I who live.
But Christ lives in me.
And the life which I now live in, the flesh I live by faith in the son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me. So again, we acknowledge that this life is not ours, that we have been crucified, just as Christ has been crucified, and that he is alive, because he's alive in me.
And that I lived this life, not for myself but for him, because he gave himself for me.
So yes, when you come, we declare his death, but it's not. He died, it's the.
Implications of his death is the doctrines that are taught that are all of those things, so that when we come, there is a sense of sadness because of the necessity. But there's a sense of statement of faith that it's because we believe that we have this no condemnation that we have this eternal life, that we have this forgiveness that we are now no longer ungodly or unworthy, that we are righteous because he died.
And God rose him from the dead.
So I want us to take one more look at the scriptures.
Back
at First Corinthians again.
In assess.
For receiving the Lord, which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which he was betrayed took bread. Now again, I want you to notice.
Did Paul here saying I didn't get this from Peter or the other guys who are at the Lord Supper? Jesus himself taught me this.
In the night in which he 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 when we take these elements is not. Oh, it's about the time of the day, or it's the first Sunday of the month or whatever. But we are to acknowledge that when we do so, that we are consuming the body of Christ. Now there are a number of different doctrines and philosophies about what the elements mean.
Our Catholic brothers and sisters believe that these transubstantiate and they become literally the body and blood.
Don't believe that if I did believe it, I would do what they do and make sure not to drop with spills and every single.
Peace was on, but that's not others say as we believe that it's.
Becomes symbolic that the bread becomes a symbol of his body and the juice becomes the symbol of his blood.
And in case you think, well, that's kind of taking a step down. God treats his symbols seriously.
If you don't think so, ask Moses when you get to heaven.
Moses for 40 years was stuck with a bunch of sheep in the wilderness.
And then for 40 more years he was stuck in with a bunch of people who were worse than sheep in the wilderness. And he got so frustrated that God once told him to strike a rock because they were complaining about water and water came from the rock. And then God said a second time speak to the rock and because he was so irritated by the people he struck the rock a second time, and God forbid him to go into the promised land.
We were later told that that rock represented Jesus.
You take God symbols seriously, so even though we don't believe that this actually becomes his body in his blood, it is same in the significance as if it had.
And so, as the scripture says, in the same way he took the cup, and after the supper, saying, this is.
The cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often you drink it in remembrance of me for itself, and as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. You proclaim not just he died, but that I'm free that I'm no longer a Sinner that I am given eternal life. That others who have believed in him are coming back and that I will one day see him because he's coming again.
Then it warns us, therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner.
Shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. This scares a lot of people, and rightfully so. But it's a misreading win that scares him, because when people see this, they go. Oh, then I'm not worthy, and your answers most definitely or not.
I have never met a worthy center.
I've never met a person who is worthy to be granted.
Entrance into the Kingdom of God.
Because we're all saved by grace.
We're all sinners, ungodly.
We are not worthy, but he didn't think those who come who are unworthy, he said. Those who take it in an unworthy manner in the unworthy manner is that you don't consider.
The body and blood of Christ, and what this symbol means and what it declares.
That we are worthy because of him, and so we take it meaningfully. We take it understanding the symbol, and we take it declaring our faith.
In his death and resurrection that he is our Lord.
And we believe that he did, in fact, was raised from the dead, and then we take this an acknowledgment of that, and take this in declaration that he's coming again.
And so we do that with those concepts in mind.
'cause if you take it in on whether money you should be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But a man must examine himself and in doing in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. So when we come to do this, this is a time for self examination.
This is not a time for me to say. I remember all the things you did and remember all the things you did and boy, you didn't confess that and you should be lucky. Lord hasn't come. Yes it doesn't say that I'm supposed to examine everybody else.
I'm supposed to examine my life.
I'm supposed to examine.
My fruit.
Or lack thereof.
And I am to look at my life and examine that in fact, yes, Lord, I am unworthy.
But thanks be to God because Jesus gave me victory.
Because of his death, burial, and resurrection. Because Jesus died according to the Scriptures, and we declared that in this.
Event.
Or he who eats and drinks eats and drinks judgment to himself. If he does not judge the body rightly.
If you don't Judge Gore body and you don't judge this body, there comes condemnation.
Enforces for this reason many among you are weak and sick.
And a number sleep means they died.
I didn't say they lost their salvation. He said they died 'cause again God takes his symbol seriously. And if you don't consider the blood and the body then God will judge.
Now on.
I guess due to the fact that we've learned our history lessons, even though many of you probably didn't learn the history lessons, we separate the Lord Supper from other things.
And so if you notice, we didn't have.
A.
Bunch of Donuts. They are or potluck because in the early church they would have what they would call agape feast.
And instead of it being a potluck, it was kind of a.
Bring your own so some people would bring some really neat stuff and other people would bring the best they could and some would be hungry.
And they would have this agape feast, this love feast. And in the midst of this love feast they would participate in the Lord Supper and the problem of some people were hungry and others.
Reading more than they ought to.
So we've eliminated that possibility by just having it within the church service.
We just take this little cracker matzo and this juice, and we do it.
In close contacts.
So that we don't violate it.
But if we judge ourselves rightly.
We will not be judged.
When you come to the realization who you are.
Can you acknowledge that before God?
There's no condemnation.
But if in our self examination we think that we are greater than we.
R.
Notice it says in 32 and I know I'm going beyond.
But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord, so that we will not be condemned along with the world.
God says if you don't.
Thank you are who you really are.
And you don't judge yourself.
Then he'll judge you.
He will discipline you.
Which again, is a thing that I would tell people, especially people who are going through.
Marital problems and and they'll come and they'll say, well, my my husband is this and that whatever.
And I'll ask.
About his
faith in either is or isn't Archie not sure, but he's not sure in my statement to them is.
If he's a believer.
He's in trouble.
'cause he's not following the Lord.
If he's not a believer, he's in bigger trouble.
When we.
Consider who we are in this setting.
And we come to the table, understanding that it is Jesus's blood. That is Jesus is sacrificed, that it is his body broken for us that it is he who by his stripes and by his scourging we were made whole and healed by his death. We were born again by understanding this and declaring this.
We celebrate.
The freedom that he is given us.
At the cross.
His blood flowed.
Then we might be made free.
He gave his life.
For our freedom.
Not for a moment.
Not for a decade.
Not even for 100 years.
But for eternity.
That's the meaning.
That's the declaration.
So we're going to have the band come and sing after the prayer.
As we consider what he has done.
We consider what the meaning of his death is.
And the meaning of his resurrection and how that.
Applies to you and me.
Stand with me as we pray.