Hebrews 4:11-13 | Belief in the Word of God | Part 1

It's good to see everybody again. If you have your Bibles, please turn with me to Hebrews chapter 4. We're going to be looking at verses 11 through 13 for the next couple of weeks. Hebrews chapter 4, 11 through 13.

Let's pray. Oh God, you who holds everything together, we come to you God and ask you to speak to us through your word. Lord, help us to feast that you will use this means of grace to grow faith in us, a deeper faith, a stronger faith, one that fully understands assurance and the pardon that we have been given in Christ.

Oh Lord, use me in this moment. I pray in Christ's holy name. Amen. So our theme for this week and the next week, and maybe the week after that, I'm not sure yet, is belief in the word of God. Belief in the word of God.

Our timeless truth is this, the word of God is as much alive today as it was then and as it ever has been. This is the living word of God. It is alive. And it is a gift given to the church so that we may hear the voice of our God, that we might understand his will.

My plan for this Lord's day is to explain to you our need for the word of God. And by giving me your attention today, I hope we can all leave here with a greater understanding of the means of grace. The primary means of grace, the word of God preached, baptism, the Lord's Supper, secondarily, prayer, fellowship, and our coming together to sing, to speak to one another in psalm, hymn, and spiritual song.

Look with me at our text, please. Hebrews chapter four, I will be reading verses 11 through 13. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joint and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of our hearts.

And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give an account. In our text today, the writer of Hebrews has outlined three ways that the word of God is used, that it is being used.

The first point is that the word of God points us to our Sabbath. Our second point, the word of God is skilled for judging. And our third point, and by the word of God, we will give an account. So we have the word of God points us to our Sabbath, the word of God is skilled for judging, and by the word of God, we will give an account.

So that's the picture of what we're going to go through. Today, we will only be looking at the first point. So as we transition, there has never been anything like the word of God. It was written and inspired by God, by over 40 something authors ranging from kings to peasants with one continuous story.

The story that we have broken God's law, but that God has paid our fine. That's the story of the Bible, it's the story of redemption. It's pointed out to us way back in Genesis when Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit, whatever that fruit was, when they were told not to eat of it, they broke God's law.

Because of they breaking God's law, God made a promise that from her offspring would come one. From her offspring would come one who would bruise the head of the serpent while only bruising his heel. The story of redemption, the one who is going to pay the fine for us.

So to our first point, the word of God points us to our Sabbath. Just look at verse 11, that's where we're going to spend our day. Verse 11, let us therefore strive to enter that rest. So that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.

Last week was a clear message on how Jesus is still, present tense, Jesus is the Christian rest. And we've also made the point of how Jesus has always been the true rest. In order for Abraham to be justified, to be counted as righteous, he had to believe God.

What did he believe God? That an offspring would come from him that would bless the nations. That's the same offspring that was to come from the woman that would crush the head of the serpent, bruise the head of the serpent.

Pointing to Jesus, that Jesus is and always has been and still today right now as we speak is the Christian rest. I know I've been hammering that, right? Y 'all have been a nail and I've been with this hammer beating that into you.

That Jesus is our rest. And he's always been. That the only way that what we believe for salvation can be true is if what we believe now has always been. We cannot come right now and say, oh, well, there's a new way for salvation.

It has nothing to do with Abraham. No, that's false. That's a false gospel. If your picture of salvation is not the same way Abraham was saved by believing God, then it's a false gospel. And so I've been hammering that.

And you know what? Deep down, I know that for the most part, most of y 'all know this. Most of y 'all know this. But it's a truth that we cannot let escape us. It's a truth that we cannot let escape us.

Listen, if I was to just stand in my bathroom looking at the mirror saying these words, it's a truth that I cannot let escape me. It's something that I need to be told daily that I know my faith is true because it's old, it's not new.

It's the same way Abraham was saved. He believed God and was counted, not made, counted as righteousness. And last week, we spoke about how our text had an immediate context and it had an eschological context.

The immediate context was them waiting for the soon return of their Messiah. Jesus had prophesied that he was going to return within that generation. The word genea, the near demonstrative. That he was going to return within that generation.

Jesus comes on the scene, he's baptized at AD 27. By AD 30, he is crucified. So a generation is 40 years. You want to test that, go back to the book of Matthew, read the genealogy. It tells you the generations, that so many generations into the period of Babylon, add that up and it comes out to each generation being 40 years.

From 30 AD to 70 AD is 40 years. And in this time period, it's 40 years. And in this time period, that if they, so we have the writer of the Hebrews, he's telling them if they truly believe that Jesus is their Messiah, then they, despite the persecution going on, them being persecuted by the religious Jews, by the emperor Nero, despite all that's going on, they need to rest, not return to the temple.

They need to rest in Jesus Christ. They don't need to go to the temple because Jerusalem is about to be destroyed. In our catechism, we read about the Sabbath day. It is as if this work that Jesus Christ did was that six-day work week.

He has worked his act of impassive obedience, that six-day work period. He has done that work. Now, as we're in him, we are to rest as his father, as the Godhead rested when they created the world in six days.

They were being, again, persecuted by the religious Jews. Come to temple, come to temple. We'll stop flogging you. We'll stop arresting you. Just come to temple. And you had the emperor setting them on fire, eating their private parts.

I mean, a lot of things going on in our text. And all they had to do was leave Christ. Forget about Christ. The writer's like, no, don't go to temple. Stay the course. It's 64, 66 AD. The generation's about to end.

Jesus is coming. We're moving into a new land. But the eschological context is that with them, you and I, look at me, you and I with them are to rest from the work of our eternal salvation. We are to rest.

If you're in Christ, you are to rest from the work of your eternal salvation because he has paid it all, all to him. Oh, death has made a crimson stain, but him being Christ has washed it white as snow.

That by faith in him and his finished work and in his active and passive obedience, he has accomplished our salvation. And I know I've been hammering this point as well, the gospel that we broke God's law and he has paid our fine.

You say, well, why do you always hammer this? Listen, I stand on that street corner right down there. Every other week I stand there and I preach the gospel and suppose Christians come to me and talk to me.

I was telling my brother Alex earlier today and very, it's hardly ever, hardly ever, people have been going to church for 20 years, hardly ever when I asked them what the gospel is, they don't know the gospel.

They don't know it. I'll say to them, look, if I have a knife in my back and I have three minutes to live, how do I get to God? And no one can tell me. And yet they've been churched most of their life.

I do not want that from you. I want you to know what the gospel is because it is the power of God for salvation. It's the power of God for salvation. That because of what Christ has done, Him living the life we could not live, Him dying the death that we should die, you and I can have rest because He has paid it all.

All to Him I owe. Death has made a crimson stain, but He, being Christ, has washed it white as snow. If anyone in here today is forgiven, you're not forgiven because of your perfect obedience because there's no such thing.

You're forgiven because of Christ's perfect obedience. And that's that eschatological context that we see here. You can rest in Christ, why? Because He has lived a life that you could not live. He has died the death that you should die.

Through what He has done, you can now rest. And in that rest, you're trusting in Him. Your gaze is on Him. Remember last week, you're driving the car and you're not staring out your back glass. I gave that illustration last week, which means you're not gonna crash the car.

You're gonna get to your destination. You're not focused on your own life. You're focused on what Christ has done for you. A lot of people will say, so you're saying that we can sin? Absolutely not. When did that ever come out of my mouth?

If your gaze, if your focus is on Christ, why would you want to? But yet you can fall into sin. Christians do horrible things, but normally it's whenever we take our eyes off of Christ and we look out our back glass.

We need to be pursuing Christ. We need to be focused on what He has done for us. You can never be too much focused on what Christ has done for you. Listen to me, gentlemen. Your wife cannot be an idol.

The Bible says to love your wife as Christ loved the church. How much should you love your wife? As much as Christ loved the church, that He gave Himself for her. So in that context, can you love your wife too much?

No, no, absolutely not. You cannot love her too much. You cannot hear, you cannot know the gospel too much. You need this gospel. You need to have it in your head at all times. It needs to be your driving force.

As a matter of fact, I don't think you as a man can love your wife purely without that gospel, without knowing what Christ has done for the church. So that's the eschological context. In both the immediate context and the eschological context, Christ has been given the kingdom.

He received the kingdom from His Father because of His act of impassive obedience. This, the purpose, the purpose that God's, so God sent His Son for a purpose. The purpose is all those who believe in Him will have eternal life.

Jesus comes into time and accomplishes the purpose by living the life we could not live, dying the death that we should die. So He accomplished the purpose and the Holy Spirit applies the purpose through the preaching of God's Word.

So a man like myself, maybe better looking, maybe more intellectual, better speaking, gets in up front of a pulpit or stands on the side of the road or a mother catechizing her children, shares with someone, their kid, a person they don't know what Christ has done for them and faith comes by hearing and hearing of the Word of God.

That through this Word, that in this Word that we have been given, the importance of this Word is that we have the Word of God. It speaks, it's alive, it's sharper than any two-edged sword and when we tell someone the gospel, we tell someone the Word of God, the message of Christ, God can give them faith.

They can be born again. That's the purpose. And we see in Daniel chapter seven that when Christ, a prophecy given in Daniel chapter seven, that when Christ was taken up in that cloud, God then handed to Him the kingdom and He has given us.

So Christ has the kingdom, it's given to Him and He has given to us the great commission. So the definition of commission is basically this, it's instruction, it's a command or duty given to a person or a people.

Again, all this will make sense as we get going in the weeks ahead of us, but let's look back at Matthew again, Matthew 28. 28, 18 through 20, this will be the third week that we've read this verse, these three verses, excuse me.

So just context, Christ has been crucified, He was buried, He rose from the grave, He's been seen for many days by His disciples and other people and He's about to be taken up into heaven to be with His Father, to receive this kingdom.

And He says, Jesus said, and Jesus came and said to them, speaking to His disciples, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you and behold, I am with you to the end of the age.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have been commissioned by God to spread the message of reconciliation. The message of reconciliation is the gospel, what Christ has done for us. You don't have to be a genius when it comes to the Bible, you don't have to know everything that the Bible has to say.

I mean, no one knows, right? There's so much to learn. I've almost, come September 11th, I would have the read-in for 20 years. I don't know everything, but I'm a student, right? I'm a student, I'm learning.

You don't have to know everything about science to defend your faith against an atheist. You need to know the gospel, because that's the power, not your apologetics when it comes to science or your apologetics when it comes to other religions.

You just need to know the gospel. What has Christ done for you? And what has he done for the world? One of the biggest blows in Christianity when it comes to church history is seeing salvation as salvation, sanctification as individual, as separate, meaning not corporately as the body of Christ.

So one of the biggest blows to Christianity throughout church history is whenever we see our salvation, our sanctification as individual, me and Jesus got our own thing going, me and Jesus got it all worked out, me and my Bible under a tree, that we separate ourselves from the body of Christ.

And we do not view our salvation and our sanctification as corporately with the body of Christ. Now by thinking of ourselves, this can come by thinking of ourselves as not needed, or thinking that we don't need one another.

You can either say, oh, you know what, I don't feel like I'm, I fit in. I don't feel like I fit in. Or I don't feel like that group of people fits in with me. I don't need them, they don't need me. And by doing so, we are causing harm to the body of Christ.

We are causing harm to the bride of Christ whom Christ has laid his life down for. And listen to me, if the body of Christ isn't well, then there's no need for evangelism. If the body of Christ is not well, then there's no need for evangelism and we forfeit the commission.

We forfeit the commission. This could be why the body of Christ isn't seen as being successful in evangelism. Because we're not looking at ourselves as the body of Christ. We're not seeing ourselves as a part of the body, as a member of a body that's attached to the body.

We see ourselves as separated, as a hand that's thrown out into the yard. If I cut my hand off and throw it outside, this part will live. Everything that's not a part of my hand can live, but the hand itself will die.

I was trying to explain something to my daughter recently. I heard her on the phone preaching, my daughter preaching, imagine that, to her cousin, telling her that she needs Christ. My daughter has not come out and professed faith in Christ, but I hear her telling her cousin that she needs to repent and that she needs to believe in Christ.

So I told her, which I know y 'all know, when you're in an airplane and those oxygen masks fall down. Well, it's said that if you have a small child, you are to put the oxygen mask on your face first before you attach it to your child's face.

Which, at first you're like, well, I wanna make sure my child is safe. I wanna make sure my child is safe. But the idea is, is as you're trying to put it on her face, and maybe you get it on her face, but then you pass out, is your child smart enough or intelligent to take that mask also and put it on you?

And so you, being the responsible one, need to put this mask on yourself and then you're able to put this mask on a child. So I was trying to tell her that before she goes telling people that they need to repent and put their faith in Christ.

She needs to make sure that she is resting alone in what Christ has done for her. And as the church, as the body of Christ, before we can go out there preaching the message of Christ, we need to make sure that we have Christ on us.

We need to make sure that we have put Christ on Romans 13, 14. It says to put on Christ and make no provisions to satisfy the flesh. We need to make sure that we have Christ. Look back again at verse 11, verse 11a.

Let us therefore strive to enter that rest. Notice what it says. It says, let us. Let us, this is my interpretation, as a church. Let us as a church. It doesn't say, let me. Let me strive to enter that rest.

It doesn't say, I'm good, but I'm worried about you. I'm there, but I'm worried about you. I'm resting, but I don't know about you. Like I have my doubts. I'm seriously wondering. It says, let us. This is corporately.

This is caring for one another. This is not leaving another behind. This is, if you go, I go. I'm taking you with me. That's why the writer of Hebrews, he's stressing this so much. I mean, like if you just, I was speaking with my brother Dawson yesterday.

This conversation came up. It's all throughout. It's all through here. Where is this? Therefore, speaking of the people, the Israelites who disobeyed, it says that they, they shall not enter my rest, since therefore it remains for some to enter it.

And those, like nowhere in here, as we've been preaching, nowhere in here has it been pointed to a individual you or me. It says, he is, it says, therefore brothers, not therefore brother, therefore brothers, you who have shared in the heavenly call and consider Jesus the apostle and high priest of our confession.

The book of Hebrews is speaking corporately. He's speaking to a group of believers. He's pleading with them to rest in what Christ has done. This is therefore, therefore, since Jesus is our Sabbath, since he has done the work, let us, the church, strive to enter that rest.

The rest being Jesus, what he has done for us. And so as I'm reading this, I ask myself a question. Now, does the word strive here? Is it speaking about works? Are we to do works to enter that rest? The answer is yes and no.

Follow me here. Don't, don't throw me out with a heretic yet. Follow me. It's yes and no. Look at verse 11 again, but we'll read it all this time. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.

The antecedent to disobedience is found in chapter three, verses seven through 19. Let's go back and read that real quick. And in this, in this passage, he quotes from Psalm 95. So chapter three, verses seven through 19.

So, so this is speaking about the church in the wilderness, Israelite in the wilderness. This is God speaking to them. Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion on the day of testing in the wilderness.

When your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for 40 years, therefore I was provoked with that generation. Notice the word that generation, not the near demonstrative. And said, they always go astray in their hearts and they have not listened.

I mean, they have not known my ways. As for my, as for my, as I swore my wrath, they shall not enter my rest. Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil and unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.

But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called today, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. And it's about to tell us what that sin is. If we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold to our original confidence to the end, as it is said today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.

For who are those who hardened their, who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not those who left Egypt by Moses, led by Moses? And with whom was he provoked for 40 years? Was it not those who sinned and whose bodies fell in the wilderness?

Verse 18, and to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief. And so in our text today, verse 11, where it says by the same sort of disobedience, it's speaking to verse 18, where it says who, to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient?

And here's the sin. So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief, the sin of unbelief. Their disobedience was unbelief. It wasn't lying, it wasn't stealing, it was unbelief. The work of God is believing in the son of God.

And we read this last week. I'll just go, I'll read it real quick again. John 6, 28, 29. Then Jesus said to him, I mean, then they said to him, this is the crowd that Jesus had fed with the fish and the bread.

They're following him. They're wanting to do the works of God. They said to him, what must we do to be doing the works of God? So they're curiously wanting to know what are they to do in order to do the works of God?

To them, the works of God was be able to take five loaves and one fish and feed 5 ,000 people. What can I do in order to do that? Like, that's a nifty trick. What can I do to do that? Jesus' reply is, Jesus answered him, this is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.

That you believe in him, speaking of himself, whom he, speaking of the father, has sent. Remember, for God so loved the world, speaking of the father that he sent his only son. So right here, it's let us, the body of Christ, strive to enter that rest.

How? By believing in the son of God. Let us not be disobedient by not looking to Christ. We need to fix our gaze on Christ. Believing in Christ, the work of God is the work of God. You hear it? Believing in Christ, the work of God, so this is where it says yes and no, is the work of God.

So is it a work? Yes. Are you actually performing the work? No. But you are to believe in God, but like Ephesians 2, eight says, eight and nine, you are saved by grace through faith, and this is not of yourself, the antecedent to this is not of yourself, it's faith.

You're saved by grace through faith, and this faith is not of yourself, it is the gift of God. So yes, you are to believe, but faith comes by hearing, and hearing of the word of God, that when you hear the word of God, that points us to our Sabbath, God grants to us faith and we believe.

I wrote in the margin here, I said if in Christ, we are to, I quoted this last week, I just keep writing it down, in Christ we are to rest from our salvation, but also in Christ we are to work for the salvation of others, for our neighbors.

That's why as a church, as a corporate body, it's important for those who are in Christ to rest, but that we work for the salvation of each other, that we strive as a body of Christ to enter that rest together.

Do you see the importance here? Is this crystal or is it clear as mud? It's important that we as a body strive to enter that rest together. And so again, as I'm going through, as I'm preparing, I'm asking myself what is, what is this, what is that?

And so I ask myself this, what is saving faith? And I believe that our confession gives us just a clear way of understanding. So in our confession of faith, the London Baptist Confession of Faith of 1689, chapter 14, it's the view of saving faith.

It says this, the grace of faith enables the elect to believe so that their souls are saved. It is the work of the, it is the work of the spirit of Christ in their hearts. Faith is ordinarily produced by the ministry of the word, by the same ministry and by the administrations of baptism and the Lord's Supper, prayer and other means appointed by God, faith is increased and strengthened.

By this faith, Christians believe to be true, everything revealed in the word, recognizing it is the authority of God himself. They also perceive that the word is more excellent than every other writing and everything else in the word, in the world, because it displays the glory of God in his attributes, the excellence of Christ in his nature and office, offices, and the power of the fullness of the Holy Spirit in his active, in his activities and operations.

So they are enabled to entrust their souls to the truth believed. They respond differently according to the context of each particular passage. They obey in the commands, trembling at its threatens and embracing the promises of God for this life and the one to come.

Listen to this, but the principle acts of saving faith focuses directly on Christ, accepting, receiving and resting upon him alone for justification, sanctification and eternal life by virtue of the covenant of grace.

This faith may exist in varying degrees or that it may be either weak or strong, yet even in its weakest form, it is different in kind or nature. Like all other saving graces, from the faith of common grace of temporary believers, therefore faith may often be attacked and weakened, but it gains the victory.

It matures and even in many to the point that they obtain full assurance through Christ who is both the founder and the perfecter of our, notice the corporate, our faith. Saving faith is focusing on Christ, it's accepting what he has done for us, it's resting in what he has done for us and our justification, our sanctification all the way to eternal life.

That's what saving faith is. And what we are trying to do, not only me as a preacher, but you as the congregate, we're trying to take those who are here with us, with us to rest in that moment. And ladies and gentlemen, unless we get this right, unless we have a correct understanding, there's no point of me going out there and witnessing.

There's no point in you going out there and witnessing because we're trying to put something on someone's face, an oxygen mask on our child's face when we don't have one on ourself. Truth matters, what you believe matters.

If you read the Bible, which I know we do, we walk through the scriptures, it doesn't leave us wondering. It's clear, the clarity when it comes to salvation. I just want to look at one passage and then we'll close with this passage.

And it's John 14, six. Jesus says to his disciples, he says that, he says, quote, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me, end quote. So we have Jesus speaking to his disciples.

He says that I am the way. He's speaking of his exclusivity. I am the way. Well, the way to what? To the Father. I am the way to the Father. His exclusivity, who is Christ? He is the second person of the Trinity, of the Godhead, who took on flesh, the Christ, the Son of the living God, who died for our sins according to the scriptures, who was buried and rose again according to the scriptures.

He says that he is the only way. So what this does is, is any belief that's outside of Christ that we can't find in scripture is not the way. So what the Muslims teach about Jesus, well, that's not found in scripture.

So Islam is a false religion. Mormonism is a false religion. Jehovah's Witnesses is a false religion. All these other cults, one is Pentecostalism, it's a false religion. They speak about a Jesus that we don't find in holy scripture.

He says that I am the only way to the Father. Yeah, all roads can lead to Rome, but only one road leads to the Father, and it's me. I am the exclusivity. There is no other way. So all these people who are out worshiping through Muhammad, Joseph Smith, Charles Taze Russell, Ellen J. White, they are false religions.

This Jesus that they speak of is not the biblical Jesus that we see in the Bible. What you believe about Jesus matters. He says that he is the truth, and we're living in a time where it's post-modernism, that it's relativism, that we all can have our own reality, that there's no such thing as one reality, that there's no such thing as a ultimate truth, and what we believe about Jesus matters.

How can both of those things be true? How can you have your own reality, and yet there actually is an ultimate reality where what Jesus says about himself matters? And you know what, it's in the church.

You ever been to a Bible study where they read a passage and they say, what does this mean to you? You got 12 people in a circle, and they all have a different interpretation. What does this mean to you?

That's relativism, it's post-modernism. It's not what it means to you, it's what it means. What does this mean? Have you wrestled with the text? We cannot leave ourself unexcluded. We need to include those who do this garbage, because if the body isn't well, there's no need for evangelism, and we forfeit the commission.

What does the text say? What does it mean? I want to say what the text says, but I also want to mean what the text means, because what we believe about Christ matters. He also says that he is the life, and when Lazarus died, Martha approaches him, said, oh, if you would have been here, if you would have been here, our brother would still be alive.

And Jesus said to her, quote, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?

End quote. That if you believe in Christ, you, even though you die, even though you leave this body, yet shall you live. Well, that doesn't work in postmodernism. Doesn't work in relativism. Is this true or not?

Has God spoken or not? Has he left us to our wayward ways? I'll close with this. Try to make this as simple as possible. Next week, we'll dive into it more. The word of God points us to our Sabbath, to our Messiah.

Now, do you believe it? Do you believe it? This is what God has given us. This is his special revelation. Jesus says, now this, John 17, three, is eternal life. So what he's about to say after this is eternal life.

That speaking to his father in his high priestly prayer that they may know you. Remember John one, I mean, Romans chapter one, 18. Everyone knows there's a God. Everybody knows there's a God. There's no excuse.

But there's a difference between knowing there's a God and knowing this God personally. Jesus says that knowing him personally is eternal life. He says that now this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God in whom you have sent, Jesus Christ.

The only way to know the Father is through the Son. Ladies and gentlemen, that is truth. That's the exclusivity of Jesus Christ. That's what we have to herald and proclaim, stand on, and even if it means our lives, we cannot back down.

God has given us his word. And the question is, is do you believe it? I'm available. If anyone wants to talk, please pray with me. Father, I thank you for your word. Lord, I'm excited just thinking about the time this week that I get to spend with it as I wrestle with verse 12.

I believe last night I dreamt about verse 12 most of the night. Lord, I'm so grateful for this congregation. I pray your blessings upon them. And Lord, right now I pray your blessings upon your supper.

Lord, that you bless this bread and this wine as we remember what Christ has done for us. It is a picture of the gospel, the body that was broken and the blood that was shed. It's a picture of his passive obedience.

He did not have to suffer because he lived the life we could not live. And yet for our sake, he died the death that we should die. So God, as we partake in this supper, we pray that you will use it to grow us in holiness.

In Christ's name, amen.