Communion Service - [Romans 8:1ff]

At Dawn We Slept is a book written by Gordon Prang, written on September 6th, 1941.

He said, a Japanese attack on Hawaii is regarded as the most unlikely thing in the world, with one chance in a million of being successful.

Besides shaving more powerful defenses than any other post under the American flag, it is protected, that is

Pearl Harbor, by distance. It's guaranteed, full assurance it won't happen.

Never fails, yet we know what happened. There's a funny story of a manager and a sales rep, they looked at a map, and sometimes if you're a sales rep there's a map with your area or your sales district there, and you're notified yourself by a pin.

You are the pin in that area. And the sales manager said to the sales rep, I'm not going to fire you

Wilson, but I'm loosening your pin a bit, just to emphasize the insecurity of your situation.

Only the sales reps are smiling, they know. So I thought what we'd do tonight is, because of what

Christ has done, we have security, assurance, knowing that there's no condemnation in Christ.

So let's turn our Bibles to Romans chapter 8, and I want to make sure we have a good dose of security. Jesus did not die to make our salvation possible.

He did not die to make our salvation potential. It's not some kind of kinetic energy at the cross.

He died in our place, and it is once and for all, and it will be a good backdrop for us tonight, to look at the assurance we have in Christ as we approach the communion table.

When you say Romans 8, you should respond with, this is the security of the believer chapter.

This is the chapter that talks about assurance of salvation. This is the chapter that should highlight the

Holy Spirit's work in our life. And this is just such a great book, Romans, that talks about righteousness, first of all, that we don't have, second of all, supplied by Christ.

And here in Romans 8, a righteousness supplied by Christ that is secure.

I love preaching from Romans. I said to one of the churches in Germany, that when your Bible opens up, as I've taught you many times, it should open to Romans.

I usually tell you Romans 5, but if you preach in Romans 8, you say it should fall open to Romans chapter 8.

Any of those chapters, we just come back to again, to say to ourselves, we know this truth, but we need to be reminded and be refreshed again by these great truths that we have.

We all have sins in our lives, don't we? We all have skeletons in our closets. We all have things that we know

God knows. And does He still love us? Does He love us less because we've sinned in the past?

Does He love us less because we've sinned even now? And Romans chapter 8 is just one of those Everest passages where you think,

I will go back to this chapter over and over and over again. And if one man,

Clark, said that the most profound book in all the Bible is Romans, then maybe the most profound chapter in all of Romans is in fact

Romans chapter 8. Hamilton said the greatest book in the Bible is Romans, then could it be that Romans chapter 8 is the greatest chapter in Romans?

And this is a good, very practical passage. Doctrinal, yes, but very practical. I could ask you this question.

Would you like to obey more and sin less? Romans 8 will help you. Do you ever find yourself slipping into Christian holiness by trying harder?

The college try, working harder. The answer is yes,

Romans 8 is the cure. I'm the kind of guy who tries to muscle it and finesse it, and by my own strength.

Romans 8 helps us think properly, and it's not by our own strength. Well, we can't get into Romans chapter 8 without looking at 7 because there's something before 8, and that is 7.

And basically we go from agony of chapter 7 to ecstasy of chapter 8. The agony to the ecstasy, and I can easily identify with Romans chapter 7 when

Paul says in verse 15, For that which I am doing

I do not understand, for I am practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing

I hate. All present tenses, Paul is doing this often and he doesn't want to.

He wants to obey God. We want to honor God with our lives as well. Yet we sin. Verse 18,

For I know that nothing good dwells in me that is in my flesh, for the wishing is present in me, but the doing of good is not.

For the good that I wish to do, verse 19, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not wish.

Doesn't that sound familiar? The Christian desperately desiring to do the right thing and not doing it, and then hating what we do.

So Paul responds in verse 24, you know the verse. Wretched man that I am. And then he asks the most profound question that is answered in Romans 8.

Who will set me free from the body of this death? Some people say, you know, in the old days if you wanted to torture someone, you take a murderer and you say, you know, you murdered somebody in cold blood so here's what we'll do to you.

We'll go take the body of the person you've murdered and we will affix it to your body. We won't affix it, we will fix it to your body.

We will adhere it to your body. It's like somebody taking a big thing of masking tape and taping the body around you so much so that you can't get rid of it, and within several days the bacteria that's in the dead corpse that's rotting and going through rigor mortis and everything else would infect you and then you would die.

And it's like Paul saying, I've got this dead body strapped to me, myself. How can

I get rid of myself? I don't want to sin. I've been saved by the grace of God.

It's haunting. It's unrelenting. And when you study chapter 7, this is a good question for the congregation, how often is the

Holy Spirit referred to in chapter 7? Can you see the Holy Spirit anywhere involved in chapter 7? Here's this desperate cry for Paul's relief.

What's the wide world of sports motto? The thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.

Except here it's reversed. Chapter 7 is the agony of defeat, but we've got chapter 8.

Never read chapter 7 without reading chapter 8. What does verse 25 say in chapter 7?

Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord. That's the answer for the who question in verse 24.

And so in the time we have tonight, I'm going to give you three promises that will help you when it comes to dealing with your own sin and remembering who will help you overcome those sins.

And give you assurance that when you sin you're not all of a sudden kicked out of the kingdom. We're going to focus on the person of the

Holy Spirit. Let me give you these three, I can call them kryptonite -like assurances.

I mean you can't undo these.

No satanic dynamite could blow them up. No guerrilla warfare of the world could penetrate these.

No espionage of unbelievers can hack into these. Three fortress -like promises we'll look at.

We could go through all of chapter 8, we don't have time tonight, so let me just give you three this evening. Promises that will guide you in your walk of faith as you struggle with sin but realize that you are a child of God.

The first promise is there is no condemnation for Christians. There is absolutely no condemnation for Christians.

After all, Christ died for us. And let's look at verses 1, 2, 3, and 4 of Romans 8. Did you know the penalty of your sin has been taken care of?

Verse 1, there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Could there be greater assurance than that very promise right there? And I like the way the Greek is constructed.

It makes it just emphasized. It makes it absolute. It makes it in such a way where you say, it is no, nine, yet, nada, there's no possible way you could have condemnation.

Not in a million billion eternities. Not an ounce, not a smidgen, not a little bit. There is no condemnation.

Three times in the New Testament the word condemnation is used, always in Romans, and it is a word of contrast.

Condemnation is a negative word, and what would the positive word be? If condemnation is the negative side of this, what would be the positive side?

And the answer is? Have you been teaching them anything while I've been gone?

What did you say? You guys forget what I taught you? If you have a coin, the tails is condemnation.

The heads is what? Justification. We have been justified by Christ and His perfect work.

Therefore, there is no condemnation. What's so funny back there? Well, condemnation, no condemnation.

But no condemnation in the Bible talks about justification. Since there has been justification, there's no condemnation.

You know, the German congregations never did this to me. Czech congregations, they did not do that.

I was in Bavaria, they did not do that. And you, you just have liberty to just laugh and squawk and talk.

This is a holy place, y 'all. The opposite of justification is condemnation.

And in chapter 3, 4, and 5, we see this great justification we have based on Christ's perfect work.

Not our work, but Christ's perfect work. That is exchanged for our sin, as it were.

This is verdict language. Murder trial language, except it was the murder of Christ.

Jury foreman, do you have a verdict? Yes, Your Honor. Not guilty.

Now, you have to remember, this is against the backdrop of Romans 7, when Paul realized, as a maturing Christian, he's sinful.

He's a sinner, even though he's been saved by grace. Yet the answer is still, because Christ took care of sins, not just present, not just future, but also past.

All sins. This is not a quick one that you get by God. You know, you think, well, the judge doesn't really know much, and I can kind of sneak in past the inept judge, or maybe the jury's somehow tilted or stilted.

A smooth -talking defense lawyer that rhymes his phrases. No, none of that. It is before the thrice -holy

God we just sang about. Past sins, paid, no condemnation. Present sins, paid, no condemnation.

Future sins, paid, no condemnation. Justified by faith alone.

And I like this because we are now freed from the Damocles sword threat.

You ever seen a dog that's kicked too much? What does a dog do that's kicked too much? You put your hand out to pet the dog, or you walk by, the thing just cringes.

And can you imagine, we say, well, God, we are your children now, but we've just sinned, and we kind of want to hide our faces.

There is no condemnation. We don't have to be overcome by guilt because of our sins.

We should be guilty of our sins, confess them, and then we realize they're paid. All my guilty stains are gone in the

Bible. And I like that because I would imagine you, along with me, have haunting sins in your background.

Maybe in your current background. Focusing on these,

I'm sure that's a satanic deception and sinful deception. Well, we're just going to focus on these sins and how bad they were.

Old hidden sins. We have an advocate, though. We have assurance. There is no condemnation, no matter what sin we've committed, because Christ has paid for them.

Which frees us up to serve, doesn't it? Show me someone that has been freed from condemnation. They will serve.

I use the illustration many times. You go to the Golden Gate Bridge. There are no safety nets underneath.

And according to what I read, 23 people fall to their deaths. You put the safety nets underneath there, nobody dies, and what would you think about the production of the building of the

Golden Gate Bridge? Would it go up or down? Knowing if you slip, you're not going to die. It's going to go up 25 % more work accomplished after the net was installed.

We step out of our comfort zones for Christ, and we know we have confidence in the sovereignty of God and salvation and sanctification.

And you say, well, that's good for eternity, but I need help now dealing with my sins. Well, not only is the penalty of sin taken care of, but also the power.

Look at verses 2, 3, and 4. We are liberated from the law's bondage.

Look at the power of sin broken, verse 2. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has what?

Set you free from the law of sin and of death. What is the practical application to no condemnation, verse 1?

Verse 2 is the answer. Rising above the sin principle. Not just delivered from condemnation, but also delivered from the bondage and enslaving power of sin.

Once for all freedom. How? Verse 3. This is the divine method. For what the law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh,

God did. What did He do? Sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh.

And as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh.

He sent His very own Son as a substitute, our representative. Not only did

Jesus' death blot out our sins in the record of God and His omniscience, but it also vanquished the power of sin in our lives.

True or false? Unbelievers have to sin. They have to sin.

Everything they do sin. Even good things they do are sin. True or false? Christians have to sin. We now have a choice.

We now, through God's Spirit working in us, can say no to sin. Actually, God enables us to fulfill the law.

Look at verse 4. You say, you know, God's got a big law and it's high and He knows my intentions too.

How can I do it? Verse 4. What a wonderful God. It's not just justification that He does.

He sanctifies as well. In order that the requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us.

That sounds like someone else is fulfilling it, not us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the

Spirit. The Spirit of God working through us to obey the law. Fully a work of God.

That's why when Charles Finney says, it is self -evident that the entire obedience to God's law is possible on the ground of natural ability.

To deny this is to deny that man is able to do as well as he can. It is, of course, forever settled that a certain state of sanctification is attainable in this life on the ground of natural ability.

Is that good news or bad news? We're all sinful and we struggle with sin even though God doesn't hold it against us.

The good news is not, well, be good, try harder, work more than the next guy.

But God enables us to obey the law. Not just the penalty has been taken care of, but the power.

You can live a holy life. First indestructible promise, there's no condemnation for those in Christ, for you.

Number two, because of Calvary again. The second promise that we'll look at tonight is that, well, we'll use it this way.

There's no condemnation, number one, no vacancy, number two. God has not left you by yourself in the work of sanctification.

The Holy Spirit indwells us, verses 5 through 13. By the way, I thought about preaching tonight 26 and following, or 31 and following, or 37 and following, but I don't hear enough preaching about chapter 8, verses 1 to 13 or 14, so I thought that's what we should preach.

There's no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, and he's given us the Spirit. What's the secret of Christian living?

I think it's right here. I think it is right here. Do you get bogged down with the stress and struggle of the

Christian daily grind? Do you say, I can't measure up to my friends? I'm down for the spiritual 10 count or 8 count.

I struggle with my sanctification. I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired. Here is

God's remedy. It is liberating. God never intended you to live the

Christian life on your own. He never intended for you to live your

Christian life by your own strength. In chapter 7, 30 times

Paul says, I. In chapter 8, 20 times Paul talks about the

Holy Spirit. Very, very fascinating. Would you like to have your mind set more on God's desires than your own desires?

Would you like that? I would, and that's what the Holy Spirit helps us do. Look at verse 5. For those who according to the flesh set their minds on a thing on the flesh, but those who are according to the spirit, the things of the spirit.

The presence of the spirit of God helps our minds focus on God and his work and his will.

Our orientation of our mind, MacArthur says, is set that way by the spirit.

What are the results? Well, they're right there in the text. For the mind, verse 6, set on the flesh is death, but the mindset on spirit is life and peace.

That's so different than chapter 7. The futility of the flesh in chapter 7, and now the tranquility, the contentment, the security found in chapter 8 because of the spirit.

The Holy Spirit lives in us. Verse 9 and 10, however, you are not in the flesh but in the spirit. If indeed the spirit of God dwells in you, he's not far off.

He's not on some other planet. Maybe he will help you once in a while. But if anyone does not have the spirit of Christ, he does not belong to him.

And if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.

Basically, Paul says this. It's like he grabs you by the collar and says, but in you the spirit dwells.

You're not left alone. It's not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, says the

Lord. If you've got struggles in your life with sin as a

Christian, might it be a good idea to not just try real hard and come up with some resolutions on January 1st and abstain from things of the flesh, do's and don'ts?

How about saying, God, I can't do this on my own. I've tried over and over and over again. I've realized that I'm a walking illustration of how you shouldn't live the life by your own bootstraps.

And Lord, will you help me by your spirit who dwells in me? God says,

I'll help you. Verse 13, if you're living according to the flesh, you must die. But if by the spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

Of course, your will is involved. Of course, sanctification is God working through your work. It's the

Holy Spirit who's doing the sanctifying. Promise number one, you're not condemned. Promise number two, you're not left alone.

And now finally, promise number three, no condemnation, no vacancy, no orphans.

You are a child of God. God is your Father. You want to deal with sin? Do you think your Father will help you?

Can you imagine having children who have a struggle and a difficulty, and the Father just goes, you know what?

You learn the hard way, son. Or do you imagine that Father would want to try to help? Look at these four little reminders that you have a

Father. I think if I went around the room, we could pick those who have no father, who never met their father, who've been abandoned by their father, who've had drunken fathers.

But this Father here in the Bible, you take a look at this Father. And everything that Paul writes about this

Father is to give you assurance that He's a good Father and He will help you in saying no to sin and yes to righteousness.

This is not the kind of father or a mother for that regard, like in Logan Airport years ago where the 20 -year -olds would have babies in the bathroom and just leave them in the toilet.

And God's not going to leave us, if I may be so bold to say, in the toilet of our own sin.

He's a Father. He's good. There's no neglect.

There's no abuse. There's no abandonment. There's no latchkey kids. He's a good Father. You say,

I struggle with sin. Well, number one, there's no condemnation. Number two, He's given you the Spirit. And number three,

He is a good Father. I've met many people who say, I can't believe in God because if God is anywhere close to my

Father, I don't want to have anything to do with that. Well, shame on those bad fathers. But we have to take

God as a word, and this is what kind of Father He is. Look at what this

Father does. Look at how the Holy Spirit is involved in teaching us about the

Father. Did you know the Holy Spirit leads you into holiness as a child of God with God as your

Father? Verse 14, For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.

Furthermore, look at what the Spirit of God does in regards to our Father in verse 15.

Instead of fear in Romans 7, there's freedom in relationship to God our Father.

Verse 15, look at how the Spirit does this with Father. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out,

Yes, sir! My father was a military guy, and he made me do many things that I regretted, but one of the things he always said to me is he said,

You know, if other dads make their kids call them sir, he said, that's fine by them.

But in our family, you may never call me sir. Out of all the dumb things my dad did, maybe that was a good thing.

But here, look at how the Spirit of God helps us understand, and we cry out as adopted children,

Abba, Father. We serve our

Father as the Spirit of God leads us out of obligation, our fear. No, because He is our

Father. We're no longer a child of the devil, a child of disobedient. The Spirit of God helps us with our minds so we think as a son, not as a slave.

I mean, it's one thing if you stand before a judge and the judge says, Hey, by the way, not guilty, you can go.

Isn't it quite another thing if that judge says, A, not guilty, you can go, and B, by the way,

I'd like to write you into the will of my family, and you can be my son. It's way different, and that's exactly what's happening here.

How we cry out to God is this informal, Daddy, Papa, intimate word.

There's nothing there of Sir or formality. It is, He's my Daddy. I mean,

I love it when my kids come running over to me and, you know, Daddy's fine, Dad, Pops, I'm not really thrilled about, but I love

Papa. It just is very familiar and very, you know, in, Papa, that's my

Papa. That's exactly the kind of language here. For those of you that want to know the

Greek word for Abba, it's Abba, and so it's very simple. And it's

Aramaic, it's Greek. We are His children, His born ones, born into privilege, born into position, born by grace.

Luther said, Although I be oppressed with anguish and terror on every side and seem to be forsaken and utterly cast away from your presence, yet I am your child and you are my

Father. I am beloved because of a beloved Christ. Wherefore, this little word,

Father, conceived affectionately in the heart, passes all the eloquence of Cicero and the most eloquent rhetoricians that ever were in the world, that we are able by the

Spirit's work in us to call out, even though we're sinful, Father. He's there when we need

Him. It's like when Jesus said in Mark 14, Abba, Father.

Does it give you assurance that you can call the creator of the universe Papa? Does it give you assurance that you can cry out to Him in times of need?

Does it give you assurance to know that God doesn't want you to sin either and He will help you by the

Spirit's empowerment? Sometimes I don't feel like a child of God.

Look at verse 16, number 3. The Holy Spirit assures us that we are, in fact, children of the living

God. The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.

Did you know this? Did you know that God could have saved you but never given you assurance that you were saved? You would have been going to heaven, sealed, secure.

Everything would have been all systems go for heaven, but you wouldn't have known it.

That's not what God did. The Spirit bears witness to our spirit that, in fact, yes, there's a legally binding promise that God will fulfill.

I thought this was kind of interesting. One man said, He continually assures us and reminds us of this relationship.

The Holy Spirit brings to our attention our spiritual roots. For who we are has a great deal of bearing upon what we do.

You ever say to your kids, Well, you wouldn't say you're an ebendroth. But we say to our kids, You're an ebendroth and we expect you to act like an abendroth.

We're children of God. He's going to produce fruit in us.

We don't have to do it on our own. He will empower us. See how great a love the

Father has bestowed on us that we should be called children of God. And there's an inheritance for children.

If you've got a father and he's a good father and you see the inheritance, verse 17, and if children heirs also, heirs of God.

And this isn't an inheritance of things. It's an inheritance of a person. Fellow heirs with Christ, if we indeed suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

The whole context here is especially with suffering. He'll bear witness and give us a hope of that inheritance.

Tonight we celebrate the Lord's table. And we celebrate the Lord's table as our pinnacle of worship.

That what Jesus did on the cross for us deserves praise, deserves honor.

It deserves us to talk about it and say, Can you believe this great King who would do that for us? And because of this great death, we have assurance.

And so that's what I really want to focus on tonight. I could say, Well, we know Jesus is coming back and he said, Do these things as often as you drink.

And you remember that I'm going to come back one day. We could talk about that. But the passage in Romans 8 is,

When you're a child of God, you will always be a child of God. If Jesus died for you, he will always be your

Lord and Master and Savior. And for me, that is very good because I feel insecure many times about many things.

We can have insecure marriages, insecure work, insecure relationships. The church can be insecure.

All can be insecure. But here, because of Christ's death, there's assurance supplied by the Spirit of God, safe and secure from all alarm.

I never will forget the times when I would hold the children really tightly. They're too little to understand, you know,

Daddy loves you. Daddy's going to protect you. Everything will be okay. They're too little. They're just, you know, kids.

What do you say to kids? It's kind of like the first time you ever have to pull a thorn or a sliver out of a kid's hand, but they're not old enough to understand you're hurting them to help them.

You ever do that, Dads and Moms? You just think, I love you, and the kids are looking at you. You're like,

I love you. Hold still. So what do you do?

How do you communicate that you love your kids when they're hurting and they don't understand the realities of the world?

Well, I would just take the kids and I would hold them extra tightly.

I'd hold them really firm. And if it was warm out and warm in,

I'd want to take my shirt off. I don't want you to picture these things in your mind.

I want you to grasp the idea. And I would want them to feel the skin on my chest and that big bare rug that the kids talk about, all the hair on my chest.

I'd want them to feel that, and I would want them to feel... Let's close in prayer.

You know something's wrong when you've got more hair on your back and chest than you do on your head. That's trouble.

I would just grab them and hold them really tightly, and I'd want them to feel my warm skin, and I would just sing to them.

It didn't matter that I was singing, but I wanted to hold them so tightly that they would realize I feel secure because I've got these arms wrapped around me.

Up against this chest and just snug in there, and I feel safe. Have you ever been held and you just feel safe?

And if a sinful father like me would love his children who are, in one sense, innocent.

I know they have the sin nature, but they haven't acted externally on those things yet. Certainly these children haven't sinned against me.

I'm the sinful father. The children have not sinned against me, yet I will still love them.

How much more is the love of God for him being holy, taking the sinful children, us, and holding us to his bosom and say, everything's fine because everything that you've deserved

I've done to my own son, and now I've adopted you as my son or daughter.

That's what Paul's trying to say here in Romans 8. And so what I'm trying to say tonight with communion, we come before this holy

God. Who could stand? Who could come before this God and say, by the way, I can just march right in because you're my daddy and you're my father.

But we come to God because we have assurance. We know what he's done. We are not second class.

No matter what sins you've ever committed, yesterday, a year ago, ten minutes ago, we come to God based on the work of another,

Christ Jesus. That's why we have communion because it gets the focus off of us. How can

I please God? How can I honor God? How can I be right with God? And then it gets turned to how did

Jesus honor God perfectly? How did Jesus bless God with great praises?

How did Jesus obey God perfectly? And it gets switched off of us onto Christ, and we come and we say, hallelujah, what a savior.

That's why we have communion. So, if the men could come, we will get ready to, who do we have?

Is that enough? Oh, Pradeep, you're coming too. Charlie? Okay, as you know, we have bread and we have a cup here.

We don't use wine, but there's juice. And these are just symbols. And so, tonight, the symbol is going to be, remember, this is what

Jesus did for us so we can become sons and daughters of God. Taking communion doesn't save us, but since we've been saved, we take communion to remember.

There's different ways to remember. I mean, Jesus healed people, sometimes using props, if you will, props of saliva.

He didn't have to use his own saliva, but he just used that as a good teaching tool. And God knows we're visual learners as well, and so he's supplemented our faith by giving us communion, and we remember, this is what

Jesus did. It's not about our sin. It's about what Jesus did. This is what the cross means. It's not about how well

I live the Christian faith, but how well Jesus lived the Christian faith. And we don't want to just rush in and say, you know,

I'm good to go because I can do no wrong. We want to confess our sins, and we want to acknowledge that we fall short.

But the focus, I think, too often on communion is, I've got to examine myself, and I've got to take care of myself, and then it becomes just internally driven, and we say, it's all about me.

But tonight, I want it to be all about what God did. We are passive in salvation, so tonight we focus on Jesus.

Not are we worthy because we are unworthy to partake, but we've been made worthy because of Christ.

If you're a Christian, you can take communion tonight. If you're a child and your parents need to make those decisions for you, if you're a

Christian or not, I think that parents need to, you know, at least with our kids, many times the plates go by, and they want to be involved.

But the parents need to help and look over some of those things so the ushers don't have to do it.

It's good to hear a little talking in the background, isn't it? Is that Laurita? You know what?

Who else? I love for the family to be together, and Laurita, are you going to be a good singer?

I figure if I just talk to her, she'll probably stop talking, see? Oh, she said don't sing?

Oh, she said you'll sing. Okay. I love having kids in the service.

Sunday morning, once in a while, you know, if they're talking too loud, then we'll have to, you know, escort them out. On a

Sunday night, do you mind kids talking in the service? Now what we'll do to make it symbolic is hold the bread, and we'll all take together because we're all equal in Christ.

And we'll do the same with the cup. And as you hold onto that cup and that bread, you can just remember,

I am a Christian not because of anything but God and what He has done. And there's nothing

I can do to sin myself out of this relationship. Of course, we don't want to sin, but there is nothing we can do to jump out of God's hand.

And that's refreshing, and that gives us assurance like Romans chapter 8. So let's pray, and then

I'll ask the men to distribute the bread. Father, we thank you tonight for these great promises in Romans 8, majestic promises.

Lord, to have you pronounce us not guilty, yet we're guilty, the just dying for the unjust.

Thank you for that. Father, to think that you've given us a spirit who dwells in us to help us obey, to help us to live the life, to rely on you.

Lord, help us to pray and help us to acknowledge the spirit's role in our life. And Lord, to think that we're your children now.

Think about Nehemiah born this week and how the

Reddys love him, certainly with an everlasting love. And if they love him that way, how much more do you love us?

We're your children. We want to honor you with excellent, majestic thoughts about your son, the son that wasn't adopted into your family but who was, by essence, your son.

So Lord, we acknowledge that we're sinful and we fall short, and none of us deserves to even be called these things, yet you have done it.

And what you have done, we declare as good and holy and upright. So Lord, as we celebrate communion tonight, help us to drink in a way that's worthy of your son's body and blood.

Help us to examine ourselves so we can then eat in a way that says, Christ Jesus is king, he's great, and he's coming again.