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Again, our gathering music from the Trinity Hymnal is number one hundred and sixty.
160 and the Trinity Hymnal. Well greetings to you all. Welcome.
To our worship service. We have a special Part in our worship service today with a baptism. Chloe Barnes is scheduled to be baptized this morning, so I'm going to be preaching on that subject. A Couple of other announcements for you the ladies fellowship at the cubics this week at 10 a .m.
And the youth night this Friday ages 9 49 to 14 is also at the cubics. That's at 715. So I think that's all that I need to announce this morning. Please stand and let's prepare to worship our God by a time of prayer and in preparation our own hearts.
And then I'll issue the call to worship. People of God hear now the call to worship our God. Praise the Lord. Oh Jerusalem praise your God. Oh Zion for he has strengthened the bars of your gates. He has blessed your children within you.
He makes peace in your borders and fills you with the finest wheat. Let's look to our gracious God as we come before him. Well Lord our God. We praise you and thank you indeed for you are a God who has called us to praise you we who were cut off from You by our sin, and who could not even come into your presence without Knowing the condemnation that was upon us.
We praise you O Lord that in your great mercy that you have made it possible for us who are Otherwise completely unfit sinners to come before you and worship your great name. That you make yourself known to us O Lord that you have redeemed your whole church that Jesus Christ came into the world in the fullness of time and that he offered that sacrifice to take away our sin.
He Is the Lamb of God and we praise you for the work that he accomplished and completed. He also fulfilled all the righteous requirements of your law. We praise you for there's no one like him. He is the king of kings and the Lord of Lords and he is reigning over all things until all of his enemies are Made his footstool.
Oh Lord, we pray that you would give us grace that we may come before him to worship to worship you today. Oh Lord come before you to worship you today in the name of Christ. We do ask that you would forgive our sins.
Father we know that even though we have been redeemed and are part of that redeemed people of God. That we have a sin in our lives. Oh Lord and we ask you that you would cleanse us from all of those sins that we may be able to come before you O Lord and That we may turn from those sins that we know about and that you would show us those that we don't know about.
Well, Lord, thank you for your gracious work in us. We pray that you would bless us in this worship service. We pray that you would hear your word. We pray that we would see more of your beauty and glory.
That we would see more of your grace and we have yet understood or seen Lord enrich us with the Holy Spirit that we may be able to Understand the fullness of the blessing that we have in Christ. We pray that we would be able to encourage one another as we sing psalms to one another and Before your throne.
We thank you that Jesus in the midst is in our midst and that he is the one who leads us and that we come Before you in his name. He is our priest and he is the one who is our worship leader. We pray O Lord then that because you receive him that you would welcome You're all of us with him as we join our voices to his.
Trusting in him as our Savior. Lord, we pray that you would be with those who are suffering various trials. We pray that you would bring relief to them father in one way or the other. Either that you would bring relief by removing those trials and burdens from them.
Or if that is not possible that you would give them grace to bear those burdens. For Lord, we know that you are a God of grace and that you give us grace. That is even better than the deliverance of the trial from the trial and We praise you Lord for how you're able to do great things through such circumstances.
We pray that we might be able to support our brothers and sisters who are suffering. Lord, we pray for those over the world all over the world that are suffering persecution and various trials and afflictions Catastrophes that have befallen them.
We pray that you would be with all of them and help them to trust you and honor you Wherever they are whatever they're going through. We pray Lord that you would also cause the gospel to go forth with power today.
That those missionaries that have gone out would make your name known. That every church would preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. That they would preach it as it ought to be preached and that there would be many conversions of souls even this very day.
Lord for you're constantly adding to your church every day and you will continue to do so. Until that day when Jesus returns in glory. How we praise you Lord for the hope that we have and we look for the gospel to expand into the world with great power.
We wait upon you Oh Lord for you have appointed the times and seasons and it is not in our knowing. But we trust you Oh Lord to do all that you have promised. That Jesus will reign till all of his enemies are made his footstool.
How we praise you for the glorious. Hope that we have Oh Lord as we come and We we have both sacraments today. We pray Oh Lord that you would bless them both baptism as well as the Lord's Supper. We thank you that these are the sacraments that you have appointed for your church and we pray Lord that we would be encouraged by these visible signs of your grace and that we would be Recipients of that grace.
Oh Lord that we were you partakers of the grace that you bring to your people. We ask this in Jesus name. Amen. Let's confess our faith as we gather as God's people from the Trinity hymnal page 845 will confess the Apostles Creed page 845 people of God.
What do you believe? I? Believe in God the Father Almighty maker of heaven and earth. I Believe in Jesus Christ his only son our Lord who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate was crucified died and was buried.
He descended into hell the third day. He rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty. From there, he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit. The Holy Catholic Church the communion of saints the forgiveness of sins the Resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. Amen. Glorious truths of our God his mercies are great toward us.
Let's sing of them now Psalm 103 a and the book of Psalms for singing.
103 a please be seated. God's grace is rich toward us and it is exhibited in his.
Promises to wash away our sins and his actually doing so. So we're gonna have some Old Testament scripture readings that speak of that. The first one is Genesis 17 and we'll read the first 14 verses of that chapter.
When Abram was 99 years old the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him I am Almighty God walk before me and be blameless and I will make my covenant between me and you and will multiply you exceedingly.
And Abram fell on his face and taught and God taught with him saying as For me behold, my covenant is with you and you shall be a father of many nations. No longer show your name be called Abram, but your name shall be called Abraham.
For I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful and I will make nations of you and kings shall come from you and I will establish my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you in their generations for an everlasting covenant to be God to you and to your descendants after you.
And I will give to you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger all the land of Canaan as an everlasting possession and I will be their God. And God said to Abraham as for you you shall keep my covenant you and your descendants after you throughout their generations.
This is my covenant which you shall keep between me and you and your descendants after you. Every male child among you shall be circumcised and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your four skins.
And it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised every male child in your generations. He who is born in your house or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not your descendant.
He who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money must be circumcised and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. And the Uncircumcised male child who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
That person shall be cut off from his people. He has broken my covenant and there will end a reading of Genesis 17 in Genesis 17 will move on now to Isaiah 59 20 through 21 just two verses here. Isaiah 59 20 through 21 the Redeemer will come to Zion and to those who turn from transgression and Jacob says the Lord as For me says the Lord.
This is my covenant with them. My spirit who is upon you and my words which I have put in your mouth Shall not depart from your mouth nor from the mouth of your descendants nor from the mouth of your descendants.
Descendants says the Lord from this time and forevermore. And then we'll move to Ezekiel 36. Read from verse 22 to verse 32 here again is God's holy and infallible word. Therefore Say to the house of Israel.
Thus says the Lord God I do not do this for your sake O house of Israel. But for my holy name's sake which you have profaned among the nations wherever you went I will sanctify my great name which has been profaned among the nations.
Which you have profaned in their midst and the nation shall know that I am the Lord says the Lord God. When I am hallowed in you before their eyes. For I'll take you from among the nations gather you out of all countries and bring you into your own land.
Then I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and you will keep my judgments and do them. Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers. You shall be my people and I will be your God.
I will deliver you from all your uncleanness. I will call for the grain and multiply it and bring no famine upon you. And I will multiply the fruit of your trees and The increase of your fields so that you need never again bear the reproach of famine among the nations.
Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good and you will loathe Yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and your abominations. Not for your sake do I do this says the Lord God let it be known to you be ashamed and be confounded for your own ways.
Oh house of Israel and there we in the reading of the Scriptures from the Old Testament that we were set to read today. You see that God had a very Difficult time in terms of Bringing forth people to serve him because of their sin and their rebellion.
Of course God can do anything but in his dealings with them. They would often go astray and harden their heart and you see that he had to keep on Doing things to restore them again and again Coming to them and with prophets in various ways Chastening them sending them into exile all kinds of things in order to keep them in his way over the generations as he had Promised to do but he did it.
He did it by his mighty hand and his gracious working in their lives. So let's sing next a song of association with God's people Being numbered with his people as we are if we are our Christians who are were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and who who look to him for our salvation.
We are God's people and we have many blessings as a city of God. So let's sing together Psalm 87.
Psalm. But as you already know, we're we have the joy of.
Baptizing Chloe Barnes today and She is the infant daughter of Jeremy and Ashley Barnes who was born a couple of months ago August early August 2026 August 5th. We live in a time and place where the family as it was instituted by God is relentlessly attacked so that the idea of Parents presenting their babies to the church for baptism Deciding their religion as it were as he would say seems strange and inappropriate.
It is thought to be unjust even for parents to affirm The religion of their children and to set them in that way. It is the assumption that children need to be free To decide for themselves that prevails in our society today.
Things have gotten so ridiculous that people say that they should even be able to decide What gender they are and that that should not be imposed upon them either. Even though it is clearly something that the Creator has done.
Long before things got to this extreme though There was already a problem with the idea of family and what that means there has been an increasing inclination to reject the solidarity of the family and a child's identity with their family and Also with Jesus Christ in his church in the Christian home.
The notion that we're all fully independent from others has been gaining more and more influence so that a wife's tie to her husband's authority in the home and a Child's tie to his parents Authority is dissolved.
The idea of national identity and identification with a church or a community is being lost and destroyed. People don't think of themselves as part of a group that they need to Identify with that they need to conform to.
They don't look at themselves as part of a Entities that they need to conform to like the family or or their church. They look at themselves always as Independent and going to establish their own way and and go in their own course.
And so we're very isolated from each other increasingly and more and more lonely. You'd think that everyone would have their own idea about God their own religion their own everything. This is increasingly what we see.
But what is the most most in the crosshairs of Satan and the world is the idea that we belong to God and That we have an inheritance in his kingdom that there are those who have that He Satan and the world with him want to appeal to our sinful hearts that already Would incline us away from God.
We all have to wrestle with the sin that is in us and tell us that an inheritance with God is actually a destructive and an undesirable thing that it is even a Fiction that has been Presented to us it present you have people increasingly shaping their own world entirely around themselves with Relationships to others becoming more and more unimportant the whole idea with with AI and all of the things people's Identity more and more they can shape who their friends are and what their friends do by having artificial friends.
That aren't even real people. They never have to learn to work with another human being. They can design custom design whatever they want and go and do whatever they want whenever they want and Eventually, they can just sit in their room and just in their brain can have all of these associations and connections that they want with such thinking the idea of parents presenting their children to be baptized into the name of the Father the Son and of the Holy Spirit and Making them members of the church.
Seems like something that ought not to be. Let those children decide for themselves. Let them figure out their own way. So, why are we baptizing a baby girl today? This is what I want to answer today in the sermon.
The short answer is that we do this because God our maker tells us to do it. That's the short answer. We're going to look at this under three headings. First God gave us baptism to represent his cleansing of us from sin that we might be his.
Second He has graciously included our children with us as his washed people. Third we will look at what a blessing and help it is for our children to be given this sign of baptism. So let's proceed with our New Testament scripture reading which is from Acts 2 and I'm going to start in verse 22 and read to verse 42.
Here is the Word of God. Peter is preaching after the Holy Spirit has been poured out. Maybe you maybe I should let some of you know what the setting is in case you don't know that in Acts 2 Jesus has just ascended up into heaven and It's been a little bit of time since he did it's on the day of Pentecost so there is a big feast at Jerusalem and everyone is gathered at the temple and In the temple there were different courts where people would gather with their you know people that they identified with is like the disciples of of Jesus would have had a place where they gathered and In this case they were gathered in one of those One of those places in the temple and there are lots of other groups who are gathered at the same time.
But all of a sudden as everyone was there and the courtyard was filled with people that had come from all over the world to worship then there was this sound of a mighty rushing wind and Then everyone got everyone's attention and then they saw fire tongues of fire that came down from heaven and they went to this this one group and they the fire the tongues of fire descended upon them and then those people began to to preach and to speak and praise God and the Languages that were distinctive from the people coming from different nations not their common language.
But other languages that these people did not know and they all came together and wanted to know. What is this about? It says they all rushed together. They were all gathered around what is this thing that is going on and here Peter then is addressing them and Telling them what this is about as an apostle of the Lord.
Speaking under the inspiration of God's Spirit the Spirit who has just been manifested in this way Falling upon his church to bless him. He says men of Israel hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth a man attested by God to you by miracles wonders and signs.
Which God did through him in your midst as you yourselves also know Him being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God. You have taken by lawless deeds have crucified and put to death.
Whom God raised up having loosed the pains of death because it was not possible that he should be held by it for David says concerning him I foresaw the Lord always before my face for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken.
Therefore my heart rejoiced and my tongue was glad. Moreover, my flesh also will rest in hope for you will not leave my soul in Hades. Nor will you allow your Holy One to see corruption? You have made known to me the ways of life.
You will make me full of joy in your presence. Men and brethren Let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David that he is both dead and buried and his tomb is with us to this day therefore being a prophet and knowing Knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body according to the flesh He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne.
He foreseeing this spoke concerning the resurrection of Christ that his soul was not left in Hades. Nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God has raised up of which we are all witnesses therefore being Exalted to the right hand of God and having received from the father the promise of the Holy Spirit He poured out this.
Which you now see and hear that whole Manifestation of the Spirit. He was the one who poured out the Spirit on his church. Verse 34. For David did not ascend into the heavens. But he says himself the Lord said to my Lord sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool.
Therefore let all the house of Israel know Assuredly that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ. Now when they heard this They were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the Apostles Men and brethren, what shall we do?
Then Peter said to them repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and You shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit for the promise is to you and to your children and to all who are far off as Many as the Lord our God will call and with many other words.
He testified and exhorted them saying Be saved from this perverse generation. Then they who gladly received his word were baptized and that day 3 ,000 souls were added to them and they continued steadfastly in the Apostles doctrine and fellowship and the breaking of bread and In prayers and we'll end at that point the reading of God's holy and infallible word.
Thanks be to God for his precious word. God gave us Baptism to represent his cleansing of us from sin. That we might be his. That we might belong to him. These people had an identity with God who were baptized as those who are baptized in the name of the Father Son and Holy Spirit.
They were associated now with the saving work that God had accomplished and with God through that Which is the only way to be associated with him. God instituted baptism for his church his people when Jesus came because That was when the whole church was cleansed from sin.
God promised Baptism to the whole church when the church was in exile as We read in the earlier some of the earlier readings to correct them for having turned to idols. As if they did not belong to God they lost connection with their identity as God's people who were to follow him and to keep his way and to look to him for the promises that he had made and to wait for him to send this great salvation that he had promised in Ezekiel 36 24 to 26.
He said I will take you from among the nations where they had been scattered. You see they've been exiled because of their disobedience. Gather you out of all the countries and bring you into your own land.
Then okay. So after that happens after he's gathered them in. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean. I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you.
I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. What an encouraging promise this was to those who feared God in that time not all the people had gone astray from him as as the majority had.
And God is saying that he is going to wash away their guilt and he is going to wash away the sin and corruption in their hearts. Those who love idols and who love perversion? This is the promise that God makes to his people that a day is coming when that is going to happen and when the day of this great washing comes a Washing of the whole church that God had promised all along from the very beginning as we're going to see in a few minutes He will wash them with clean water.
He says This is a symbol of that cleansing. This is baptism. He is announcing here when Israel was at their lowest point. That he has set a day in which his promises will be fulfilled. What he promised to them long before that he would provide to them a son and a sacrifice to take away their sins.
This would be the time when the church's sins were atoned for. The one time in history when that is done now We as individuals come to God at different times and points in history but the salvation of the church in that respect of the atonement was made and complete and the whole church was Justified and declared righteous when Jesus Christ came and fulfilled this work.
Jesus was to do that cleansing of the whole church and make her as a righteous kingdom by his saving work on the cross and It was then that God would visibly Pour out his spirit who had already been working in those before that he had chosen for salvation.
We see the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament working in the people and he's the one that gathered them and Renewed their hearts but then that they would be given the spirit would be given to them in a fuller way to bless them and To bless the nations that were represented by those Pilgrim Jews had come to to worship at Jerusalem.
God waited until Jesus came to give us baptism. Because Jesus was the one at that time when he came that what who washed away the sin of the whole church By the righteousness that he obtained for us by his obedience and his sacrifice on the cross.
Mark opens his gospel account with the announcement that that day has come and therefore John is baptizing people. Because the kingdom of God the promises of that kingdom of that God had made are There present.
He calls it the beginning of the gospel in other words this age. This time of the blessing that God promised you by a son is Beginning right now. It's it is at hand. John is saying look at Mark 1 1 through 5.
The big now this is the very opening of that gospel from from Mark the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ the Son of God the beginning of the good news as It is written in the prophets behold I send my messenger before your face who will prepare your way before you so a herald to come to announce that The Messiah is at hand.
Verse 3 the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Prepare the way of the Lord make his paths straight. John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.
Then all the land of Judea and those from Jerusalem went out to him and were all baptized by him in the Jordan River confessing their sins. The day of promised cleansing from guilt and corruption had come because the Messiah Had come and so the sign of baptism of washing with clean water Was brought to the people at that time.
When Jesus began his public ministry, he continued to baptize. He declared that indeed he was the author of life who gave the spirit to turn sinners back to God and Who is the shepherd who would give his life for the sheep?
Who came to redeem his people and give his life as a ransom for many. The day of salvation? Had come so that they might not perish but that they might have everlasting life at the end of his ministry.
Jesus commanded that baptism should be continued into the future until his return. He told his disciples to mark out those from all nations That came to be his disciples. He actually told them to make disciples of all nations to preach the good news to them of this salvation that had been brought that would cleanse people from their sins and Also that brought forgiveness to the people of God so that those who repented and believed could obtain that forgiveness from Jesus Christ the full pardon of their sins and full justification by his righteousness.
In Matthew 28 18 we're told that Jesus came and spoke to them saying all Authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations. Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son of the Holy Spirit.
Teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you and lo I am with you always even to the end of the age. Amen. The triune name and baptism reminds us that all three persons are involved in this great Cleansing.
The father is the one who sent the son to do the cleansing and also the father and the son sin. The spirit to do the cleansing of the father is the one that receives the sacrifice and that receives and that sends forth the declaration of acceptance and all of these things.
Jesus Christ is the Son of God who is sent and came in the flesh to fulfill that Sacrifice and that righteousness in our behalf and behalf of the whole church and the Holy Spirit. Of course is the one who was poured out to work in our hearts and to transform us if we are not cleansed.
By all three persons and the work that they do then we're not cleansed at all. This also shows us that Jesus the Son of God who came in the world is fully equal to the father. We're baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Baptism represents the two ways that the triune God cleanses us. I've referred to them already in a certain way, but one is an Individual as an individual we're cleansed as an individual and the other is a corporate cleansing.
So the corporate way of cleansing when baptism was first instituted. Occurred for the whole church when Jesus the Son of God came into the world 2 ,000 years ago and did the work of giving his life a ransom.
Dying on the cross being accepted. It's righteous and being raised again for the sake of the church. It involved him living the righteous life that God calls for that. No one had ever lived before in order to establish a kingdom that was founded upon righteous.
Righteous life a human life one that lived the way that God intended for humans to live. And that we can be associated with him you see in that and it involved him. Giving his life to make atonement for our sins that one who is the perfect sacrifice.
This is the promise of forgiveness and it is for the whole church in all ages. It was the thing that would redeem the people. That they could come trusting in God for what he was going to do in the Old Testament.
They came looking at Christ's promise through all the ceremonies that they were given. We come looking at Christ as given as he says to us at the table. My my body given for you my blood shed for you for the remission of your sins.
God waited to institute baptism until that point in history when the Messiah came. Now, what about the other way the individual way of cleansing? Associated with baptism is God's renewing of our hearts.
Individually and personally by the Holy Spirit. Now, of course He renews the church corporately by pouring out his spirit upon them and more more powerful and potent ways. But each individual must have the new birth.
He cleanses our hearts so that we turn to God for salvation from our sin. It's called the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit. It's called being born of the Spirit or being born again from above being made alive from death.
Being raised to life with Jesus Christ in union with him. Spiritual death in trespasses and sins is what we are delivered from with new life. When the Lord promised baptism in Ezekiel 36 by the sprinkling of clean water.
He not only promised forgiveness of all the people but he also in verse 26 and 27. They read verse 26 already. He said I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh a heart that rebels against God and Give you a heart of flesh a heart that responds to God.
Verse 27. I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and you will keep my judgments and do them a Transformation of heart and life is what is promised how by the Spirit of God?
God cleanses us personally and individually with a new heart. God has promised this individual and corporate cleansing to his church since the fall. Going all the way back to Genesis 3 when he spoke to the serpent who had led Adam and of course Eve with him into rebellion against God.
He spoke of this cleansing by a son that would come in Genesis 3 15 he says to the serpent I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed in. Other words, there's going to be a people that she and a people that come from her.
Who are going to not go along with Satan? They're gonna turn against Satan, they'll be he'll. God will put that enmity. That's the change of heart. That's the individual change of people's hearts so that they are against Satan and the rebellion that he established in the world that we're all part of God will bring repentance in other words to people so that they will turn back to God.
I'll put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed and then he adds He okay now he's talking about an individual seed of the woman an individual son he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel and that refers to the crushing and the overthrow the entire overthrow of Satan's kingdom by the establishment of the kingdom of righteousness by Jesus Christ.
Which we have talked about and there will be suffering in that the crushing of his heel that is spoken of here. So do you see the promise here then of a new heart by? Transformation of the heart and of the spirit the work of the Spirit and do you see also the corporate part of What God is going to do here through his son to establish a righteous kingdom now I grant that it is a bit cryptic here.
But as the scripture unfolds we see this twofold promise. Developed and I would love to go through all the details with you, but we would be here for far too long. So let's jump to the time again that we looked at before of the at the exile.
Okay where where the people that God had gathered and they named his name and to whom he gave his Spirit as individual way that we talked about and who are looking for the salvation that was to come. Many of them as I say what they harden their hearts and they turned away.
They did not receive the cleansing that God promised. They did not look to God in faith for that cleansing. Abel was one of the first ones that didn't do that, right? I mean not Abel Cain was one of the first ones that did not do that that rebelled.
Whereas Abel did he didn't look for the cleansing that came from God. He did not have faith in that. So we jump ahead then to this time as people came along that it was promised to Abraham and everything and they that God kept dealing with them in different ways and at last when their corruption was so widespread that God actually brought destruction to the temple and He also brought them into exile in Babylon for 70 years.
And it was then that Ezekiel made the promise that we looked at before and it was also then that Jeremiah brought to crystal clarity the promise of this twofold cleansing that we're talking about. You can find it all the way through the scriptures as I say, it'd be a delight to go through that with you.
But let's just look at where it's brought to its clear Expression here at this time when the people of God were saying what is going to become with us. We've been cast out of the of God's city. We we're in exile in these other nations.
The people are far away from God. There's idolatry. There's sin. There's so much corruption. How are we going to ever receive the salvation that God has. And in Jeremiah 31? Verse 33. Before that in 31, he says he's gonna make a new covenant with them and then here in 31 33 God spoke of the individual cleansing he said I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts and I will be their God and They shall be my people.
I'm gonna change people's hearts. So they're gonna give them this new birth so that they will come to me. Now it's someone but or experience that. And in Jeremiah 31 34, he spoke of the corporate forgiveness that they had not yet experienced.
I will forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more now when I say that they had not experienced I don't mean that they had not been forgiven by God but the the way of the Restoration through the Messiah had not yet been revealed and accomplished and so they were waiting for God to do this.
They were waiting for the salvation that was promised to be sent to them. So we've seen then how baptism began when Jesus came and how the prophet John the Baptist was sent to declare That Jesus had come to establish God's righteous kingdom.
John baptized all of those who wanted to be cleansed by the promised Messiah and John declared baptism as a sign of the twofold cleansing. So we see it with John as well. He said I baptize you with water, but this one who's coming he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.
That refers to the Individual cleansing that had been going on already and would continue on in an even more manifest way after Christ finished his work. John also said that the church would be established by the promised Son as a kingdom of righteousness.
Jesus would fulfill all that God required for forgiveness and acceptance as a righteous kingdom. He presented Jesus as the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world? In other words all that the sacrifices had shown of atonement and also of a righteous sacrifice a sacrifice without blemish that was offered to God as an offering because the people were not without blemish that There would be this one that would come and would fulfill that righteous they were waiting for that the animals didn't do it and they knew that or they should have known that and Also, the atonement the shedding of blood for the remission of sins it all through the Old Testament.
Again, it would been a delightful to develop all that but you know many much of that already so Baptism is given to signify the twofold promise of new birth and forgiveness through faith in Jesus. But what does this have to do with infants?
Okay, that's our second thing that we want to look at. God has graciously included our children with us as his washed people. From the beginning God always promised to cleanse both believers and their children.
Did you notice that even in some of the passages that we read if we look back at Adam? We see the promise of cleansing was made to Adam in his household which at that time was literally the whole world because we're all his offspring if They had all continued to if Adams descendants had all continued to look to God in faith for this cleansing that was promised here.
Then they would all be saved. But of course they did not in Recognition to this Adam name in recognition of this Adam named Eve. Because Eve means the mother of all living. So he named her that because he recognized that they were no longer dead in their trespasses and sins but they had been made alive by the grace of God and Eve was the mother of all living.
The promise was that God would put enmity right in her heart and in the heart of her seed and That is a promise that Adam lays hold of here. She is the mother of the whole church and that all who reject Satan and turn to Christ and and Turn to his kingdom are her offspring.
They are the seed of the woman that God promised. God is the one who put enmity in their hearts and who revealed Christ and baptized their hearts to love him and to trust him. That is God's doing. We see Adam's son Cain Refusing to continue in the faith and before long the whole world is filled with idolatry and violence and unbelief because the people Rejected the promise and their inheritance that was given to them by God.
They hardened their hearts and they did not receive the blessing. They did not look to God for the blessing and salvation that that he had promised to them. And so then only Noah and his household remained.
What do we see again? Noah and his sons and their wives. Noah and his household. So that's where we see God dealing again. Who does he deal with not? Different random people but with a family with a household that he comes to to bring his blessing.
Likewise God promised this to Abraham in Genesis 17 7 where he said and I will establish My covenant between me and you and your descendants after you and their generations for an everlasting Covenant to be God to you and your descendants after you.
He made it clear that even infant children were included in the covenant while still in their infancy. For he commanded that all the males would be baptized on the a I mean not baptized circumcised When they were eight days old.
This was the covenant in which the blessing of righteousness was given to Abraham. How? By faith. When he was yet uncircumcised we're told that in Romans He received righteousness by faith even before circumcision was given as a sign and seal of that and so now that sign and seal of righteousness by faith is Given to his infant sons in all the future years is to be done.
Genesis 17 14 God said that the uncircumcised male child who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. That person shall be cut off from his people. He has broken my covenant. So God commanded that they be given the sign.
Later the Lord came against Moses to kill him because he did not give his the sign to his son. He had broken the covenant. The son had broken the covenant in that way. So we're infants also so we see the infants were included with their parents by God.
Not by man by God. God is the one that said the blessing is to you and your descendants and God preserved The seed of Abraham. Many of them rebelled as we saw and they went astray. They did not receive the promise.
But God always kept a remnant. By who to whom he poured out his spirit upon them in order that they might continue in the promises that he had given them. Looking for the salvation that he had promised.
But now we're infants included with their parents under the terms of the new covenant when Jesus came. Were they to be given the new covenant sign of cleansing that God brought in at that time the sign of baptism they were.
First of all There is no reason to think that they wouldn't be. Because this is how God had always dealt with his people and it would be very strange if he suddenly stopped Including the children and who were clearly given the promises in of old.
Second when the Holy Spirit was poured out at Pentecost after Peter ascended into heaven what we read about earlier Peter calls those who saw it and realized that Jesus was the Messiah who had died to save them and Even though they had rejected him.
He called those people he they cried out saying, you know What can we do when they realize that they had crucified the Messiah and Peter answered them in Acts 2 38. Repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins.
And you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. But what about their children was the promise of forgiveness to them and Their children or was it only to those who are old enough to understand the gospel repent and be baptized declaring by that that They were looking to Christ for the cleansing that he had accomplished on the cross and promised to those who believed.
Peter tells us in the next verse who is included among the people of God. He uses language like God used with Abraham. Language with which all who are gathered were very familiar because they were all of Israel.
Acts 2 39 He says for the promise the promise of the Spirit given. The promise is to you and to your children and to all who are far off as many as the Lord our God will call. Peter is talking about their young children and infants who are there with them.
The promise was to them right there and then. They were to be baptized because of God's promise that they too Would receive the Holy Spirit right then and there to work in their hearts and lives. You see when people are brought into the church They receive God's Spirit.
The Spirit is given to everyone and it baptism in one way or the other. To varying degrees the Spirit enables us to see and understand the truth. To varying degrees he inclines our wills so that we would repent and rest upon Christ.
However, those who are not elect he does not bring to full repentance. He shows them many things. But he also does not continue to work in them by his Spirit such that they come all the way to conversion and so they have the blessing of Enlightenment by God's Spirit of partaking in God's Spirit in a certain way, but they do not have the blessing of Conversion their hearts harden and they rebel against the light that is given them.
They are highly culpable for resisting the Holy Spirit and it is a wicked thing to do. Stephen spoke to the people who would not receive Messiah Christ. They had the promises they had the Spirit. God's Word was in their heart and in their in their mouth and yet they Rejected the gospel and he said you stiff-necked you always resist the Holy Spirit and he condemned them because they had not come they had not responded to the salvation that they themselves had seen and In the in in certain levels and degrees.
So this was a this was a very wicked thing. But those that did receive it. That you cannot boast if you were among those who received it because you would have rejected it the same as others Rejected if God did not do an extra work in you to bring you all the way to new life.
A new birth. He is the author of regeneration. He is the author of that new life. He is the one that enables us to receive and rest upon Christ alone for our salvation. So the infants are included is Further shown in the New Testament by the fact that all the baptisms in the New Testament Work where there was a household as far as we're we know our baptisms of the household.
We see many household baptisms. And the promises are given to you and your household the promise of the Spirit is to you and your house. We're told of Cornelius Stephanus the Philippian jailer Lydia and Others that were given household baptism.
Besides all of this Jesus made it clear that even infant children belong to the kingdom of righteousness that he came to establish. Because that they partake of the blessing which is what is it the blessing of cleansing cleansing by the Spirit cleansing by Christ.
Remember the blessings twofold new life by the Holy Spirit. And then there is this salvation that was procured for all the people of God who trust in it. You can be in the church and not have that blessing because you're only in it in a formal way.
You've not actually Trusted in Christ, but This is this is the great blessing in Luke and Jesus. Jesus tells us that children have that he made it very clear in Luke 1815 through 17. He says then they also brought infants to him.
The word infant is used there by Luke specifically to him and that he might touch them and when the disciples saw it They rebuked them. So don't bring those children to Jesus, but Jesus called them to him and said Let the little children come to me and do not forbid them for of such is the kingdom of God.
Assuredly, I say to you whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter it so he's showing you see that these children are partakers of the of the Covenant blessing even in an exemplary way.
Because many covenant children are converted in very early childhood. They respond to God they have tender hearts and they don't put up the fight and Resistance that people do when they get older and they get bitter and hardened and it's a real blessing.
Some of you have children that trusted in the Lord some of you are children who trusted in the Lord from the your youngest days and you don't even know any other other way because God blessed you with a responsive new heart from the very beginning.
And what a blessing that is to to have that from the Lord God. That is what we look for for for our children. So you can see how gracious our God is. When a sinner is converted and enters the kingdom by profession of faith so that he repents and professes his faith.
The Lord welcomes not only that individual but also his household. We're told that even if there is an unbelieving spouse involved that that spouse is sanctified. They have the spirit working in them.
Even though they resist that and they refuse and harden their heart. There is a blessing and there can be prayers for them in a special way that they will come to know the Lord in a Saving way too. And if they're older children that say I don't want any part of this God will still Work in them as well.
The whole house is set apart to God as Marked out as a house that belongs to him if you were an unbeliever. The Passover and the house was marked you went out with the others. Your your hard heart would show up later and you'd be judged.
But this is this is the way God works. The Lord welcomes not only the individual but also the household. Now let's look at what a blessing and help it is for parents. To have this sign for us to have this sign for our children by God's receiving our children and giving them this sign He declares that he is their God and that they are his people Along with us.
They're with us in the kingdom. We teach them that they are part of a family that God has reconciled to himself. They belong to our family and our family belongs to God's Church. We belong to God. We've we've been set apart by him and marked out as his people.
They're a part of the the they're not part of the world that is lost and alienated from God. But among those who have been reconciled to God they were privileged to be born in such a family. We're a family that has been washed by the Spirit of God and by the blood of Jesus.
So that we are forgiven and restored to God. We have the grace of the Holy Spirit to work in us so that we can live for God. Though we sin we have forgiveness by the sacrifice of Jesus. We can grow to become more and more like Jesus.
We have an eternal Inheritance reserved for us in heaven when we die we die in the hope of eternal life. Through faith in Jesus Christ if our children die even in infancy. We take comfort that God has marked them out as those who are washed by him.
Now, of course, we don't know if anyone has a true profession and it has a true. Whether they do or not we can see when someone rebels and then they should be removed from the church and Very sadly and we pray for them that they might be restored again.
We the other blessing that we have another blessing we have from this is that we teach our children To live in the power of the cleansing that God promises to us in baptism to our family. We lead them to confess their sins and to repent of them believing that the Holy Spirit Will convict them and that when they confess their sins, they will be forgiven.
We show them how to rely on the grace of God when they sin. That we are those who go to God for forgiveness and for strength to obey. We teach them to worship God. Believing that the Spirit will help them to see the glory of God the beauty of God the goodness of God.
The wisdom of God that they will see all that God is a spirit will make that known to them and we come Asking God to do that. We teach and show them how to trust God in affliction and sorrow even to rejoice in persecution and Affliction and as much it helps us to grow and to know him better.
We set an example before them and we encourage them in that way and we come to them and talk to them. When they are wronged we can teach them to forgive and not harbor resentment and bitterness toward others.
To recognize how much they have been forgiven. We show them how to turn to the Lord when we are tempted. So that we may not sin and we may be delivered. We can even talk to them of our own temptations.
In Short we can teach them to look to him to do the saving. We don't save ourselves. We have a Savior that is our identity. We have the one who came and gave us his spirit to wash us and who washed us by the shedding of his blood and cleansed us from our guilt and established us in righteousness and.
Then a third thing because God has told us that they are his. It helps us to treat them in the way that God wants us to treat them. Since they belong to God, we know that he wants us to lead them. And so we take on that.
Responsibility it is a God-given responsibility and because God loves them and he loves us. We know that he will help us to fulfill that responsibility. We don't need to be Intimidated by that and say we can't do that.
We can say we can't do it, but we can say we can do it by his grace. We know that he wants us to love them and have a real connection with them in their trials and struggles. Instead of avoiding that and staying distant to them because we don't want to get involved and pretending like we don't see that they're struggling.
We need to go to them. We need to open their heart and up and and engage them so that we can talk to them and help them. We need to step into it. Since they belong to Christ. We know that we're privileged to show our love to to Christ by the way that we treat them.
You know Jesus says that what we do to his brethren and to his little ones is how we treat him. If you want to know how you treat Jesus look at how you treat your children. Look at how you treat other believers.
We know that he wants to hold them to live as his people. We may not. We may not slack off on that. What a wonderful thing it is to hold them to live as his people. It's a good thing to live as his people and and so we don't just slough that off and say well.
They're gonna do whatever they're gonna do. We go and we we work with them because God has obliged us to do so and he's with us. We know that our example is very important. We show them what it is that we lean on that we lean on his grace that we lean on the cleansing that he gives us to renew our hearts for the pardon of our sins and.
Since they belong to him. We can also do as Jesus said and look to little children as an example. When we see their tender hearts it can rebuke us and show us how hard we are. It can show us many we can learn many things from children some of the things that they say.
Expressions of their faith and their confidence in God. It's a great blessing to God's people and we need to humble ourselves and give thanks for that. We're told many things here. Let us thank our gracious God for giving baptism to us and our children and let us embrace its blessing with joy Thanksgiving and hope.
But first let me say a word to you. Who may be here and may not have this inheritance at all. Perhaps you were not born into a family that knows God. I Have some very good news for you. Jesus Christ calls you to come to him that you might be brought into his household anyone anywhere anytime no matter what they have done can repent and Turn to Jesus for this cleansing of their own lives and their own heart changing of the renewing of their own heart to walk with God and Also for the complete forgiveness of their sins as they are established in the forgiveness that Jesus Christ has accomplished.
The good news is that he came to cleanse sinners with this twofold blessing that is represented in baptism. That is why Peter said repent and be baptized by being baptized. You show that you're looking to the Lord for that twofold Cleansing that you're trusting in him for the pardon of your sin for righteousness from Jesus work.
And also that you're looking to him to renew your life. You will instantly be made an heir of his house. Just like that You will be an heir of God's kingdom. And if you have a spouse if you have children by coming to him.
You will bring all of them into connection with his kingdom, too. You can then ask him to work in them by his spirit who will be in you. So that you will believe you can ask God to help them to come to believe also.
And if they want to be in his kingdom too, they can come to him, too they can like a spouse and I'm leaving spouse can come and be baptized and they can Show that they also have come to trust him if they're little children and little infants.
God calls you to go ahead and baptize them in their infancy. You are not only given then a place of identity in this kingdom so that you can say well now I have a place that I belong. It's nice to have a place to belong.
But the place that you belong is the thing that is the most wonderful thing. It's not just a place everybody wants a place to belong. But this is the place where we are heirs of the kingdom of God. Where we belong to the God the Father God the Son and Holy God the Holy Spirit and where he works in us forever and is Committed to us forever and where we have brothers and sisters that are committed to him forever and ever.
It's part of the family of God. It is the most glorious house. It is the most perfect house. It is the house that has a future and a hope of glory in God's kingdom forever and ever you are restored to God from whom you were estranged and Now you're able to serve him by his grace by his cleansing forever and ever and ever.
That's what we set forth with the sign of baptism. That there is a God who cleanses that our God the true God Cleanses from sin and that we belong to him as we look to him for our cleansing of our self our own heart and also for the forgiveness of all of all of Us who trust in him through the work he did on the cross.
Please stand and let some. Let's pray. Oh Lord our God how we thank you for your grace to us for we in the very beginning has a human race. We came from your hand. You created us. You were so kind to us and We rebelled against you so easily so quickly so wretchedly so wickedly.
Lord, we pray that we praise you that you came to us immediately and you promised really to the whole world and in Adam that you would that the Sons that were born to Eve his wife that you would put enmity in their heart against Satan who led in the sin the rebellion.
And we know that that wasn't a promise to every single son that would come every every child that was born. It was not that for many hardened their hearts and rebelled but the promise was given and Anyone who trusts in that promise would be saved.
We praise you that we see Cain and Abel and that Cain did that Cain rejected you but Abel Continued in the grace. He continued in that promise even though his life was cut short on this earth he went to be with you forever and ever and then you raised up Seth and you brought forth people in the ancient world and preserved them in a time when you left the world largely to go their own way and We see how wickedly they went until you sent a kind of a baptism to wash the whole world.
Sparing only one family Noah in his household and then it all started over again. He turned to idols again. Then Abraham came along you brought forth Abraham. You called Abraham. You came to him and you promised that you would preserve his family.
The ones that would come from him that Messiah would come that son that was promised would come through him. That you would keep them and you did you kept them they kept on wanting to go away and the idolatry of the nations.
They kept drifting in that way and by your spirit and by your prophets. You continued to call them back by your discipline. You continued to correct them so that through the ages there are always a people that were trusting in your promises and looking to you and We praise you that in the fullness of time you sent forth your son Jesus Christ and that the day of baptism came the day of cleansing the day of washing the day of the accomplishment of Full righteousness for your your people forever and ever.
We thank you and praise you that Jesus fulfilled that righteousness. He went about doing good. He served you as no man ever had. We praise you that he being the Son of God Fulfilled all righteousness and then that he also went to the cross in order that he might pay the penalty of the sin of the whole kingdom of all of your people and We praise you that he did that that he is a propitiation for our sins and not only for the sins of your people that were Israel but also for the sins of the whole world.
That we who are from other nations are called to come and that this blessing is for us to that this cleansing is for the whole world and we pray O Lord then that we would come and that we would receive that that blessing and the Saving power that that comes with it this salvation that comes with it that we would be reconciled to you.
How we thank you Lord for what you have done and as we Rejoice in baptism today We pray Lord that you might give us great encouragement Lord as we see the sign of your renewing of your Washing that we might rejoice in what you have done for your people.
We ask this in the name of our risen Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Please be seated. I actually put the order wrong in your bulletin. So we're gonna have our song first and Then we'll have the baptism. So I apologize for that mistake, but the song of blessing to us and our children.
I actually I shouldn't have told you to sit. Should I please please stand again and let's sing Psalm 103 C. Please be seated and let's prepare now for the baptism. I'll ask the Barnes family to come forward with little Chloe and also our elders to come up here to assist but as we saw today in the sermon God has ordained that his church baptize the children of All who profess his name?
By this sign God shows us that we need to be cleansed by Christ and By his spirit and that our children need to be cleansed. They need his forgiveness and they need a new life just like we do because they're born in sin.
Just as we were born in sin by this sign God shows that he receives our children into his church and Makes them members of his church. We are to receive them in his name. His reception of them surely fills us with joy and thanksgiving.
It gives us hope to bring them up in his grace. Knowing that his spirit is given to work in them as he works in us. And Jeremy and Ashley you have Responsibilities before God to bring your children up in the discipline and training of the Lord.
The Lord will help you to do this. Because he loves you and because he loves your children both Chloe and Ethan. This day in presenting Chloe for baptism. We ask you to affirm the following vows regarding Chloe before God.
Looking to our God to help you. Let's um, what's that? Let's pray before. Before you take those vows. Um, Dave, can I ask you to pray for Jeremy and Ashley as I take their vows? Well, thank you for this.
So So Jeremy and Ashley. Do you renew the vows which you made when you confessed? The Lord Jesus Christ is your personal Savior and entered into the full communion of this church. Do you acknowledge that your daughter is a sinner in need of the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ and of his Holy Spirit?
Do you claim God's covenant promises in her behalf and do you look in faith to the Lord Jesus for her? Salvation as you do for your own. Do you now come in and promise in humble reliance on the grace of God?
To bring Chloe up to love God and to serve him to the end. That she may come to commit her life to Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior. And then. And now to the congregation I have a vow. I mean, I there there is a vow for you to take as members of the congregation.
This is for the members of covenant reformed because of your obligations to her in membership. Do you the members of this congregation in the name of the Church of Christ undertake with these parents the covenant?
Responsibility for the Christian nurture of this child if you do say I do. Now as we Baptize Chloe it is for us to look and hope that God will give her that twofold cleansing that we talked about that is Represented by the washing of water.
So we're going to pray both before and after her baptism. I will lead us in prayer before and I'll ask Andy to lead after Our gracious Heavenly Father as we come before you to to baptize this child. How we pray O Lord that you would be pleased to give to her the washing that is represented by this sign the washing of regeneration and renewal of your Holy Spirit and the cleansing that came by Christ when he shed his blood to atone for our sins and Fulfilled all righteousness for us that we might be acceptable in your sight.
Oh God I pray that you would grant to her faith and trust in those promises that you would bring this blessing To her that is signified by this water of cleansing. It is a sign of what you are pleased to do in Those who are your chosen people our eyes are upon you Oh Lord, and we ask you to do what only you can do by your grace and power.
Chloe Marianne Barnes I Baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Andy we also pray and give thanks.
Rejoice Lord that's been partaking of this today. We pray your blessing upon the Burns family as they seek to raise these children up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Pray that they will be strengthened to do so.
Help us to support them in that task. Lord We thank you for them and ask your blessing upon them. We ask this in your son's name.
Amen. Chloe is a child of the Covenant. May the Lord bless you and keep you as you serve him as a family together. Praise be to God now. Let's all prepare for the Lord's Supper. What a joy it is to come to the Lord's Supper after considering God's great mercy to us and to our children from our earliest days in Baptism our Lord solemnly testifies to us and shows us by this sign that he washes away our sin.
By his righteous life and sacrifice on the cross. We have full justification Including forgiveness and acceptance and by his spirit He renews our hearts to love him and to trust him for his saving grace at the Lord's table.
He points us to the same Sacrifice that he made when when that Jesus made when he came here. And he calls us to look to him as the one who was sacrificed and who now lives to intercede for us. To look to him for ongoing grace to grow in our love and obedience.
For ongoing forgiveness that he ever gives to those who have trusted in him. It is only by feeding upon him that we can bear fruit for him. How glad we are to have this opportunity to do so by means of a sacrament to a sacrament that represents our feeding upon Christ for the blessing of.
More and more life more and more love to God more and more growth in his grace his grace. Keeps coming to us. We're going to look at that this afternoon and the sermon this afternoon. First Corinthians here here are the words of institution for the Lord's Supper.
First Corinthians 11 23. For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you. That the Lord Jesus on the same night in which he was betrayed took bread and when he had given thanks He broke it and said take eat.
This is my body, which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me in the same manner? He also took the cup after supper saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood. This do 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 till he comes. Therefore whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner Will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
But let a man examine himself and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself. Not discerning the Lord's body for this reason many are weak and sick among you and many sleep.
What a joyful privilege it is to come looking to Christ for his ongoing work in us and in our household. Take heed to the warnings here. Do not come to this table in an unworthy manner without examining yourself.
See that you are indeed coming with a desire to feed on Christ crucified that you might live for God. It's a pity that many times these warnings are not given at all in churches. About coming in an unworthy manner yet everywhere where we have the Lord's Supper mentioned in the New Testament.
These warnings are always a part of it. People don't like to hear the warnings. But it is so important because you see what happened to the church as we saw through the ages that they would go even when God had to bring them into exile because the whole church was filled with unbelief and this is why the Reformers taught that one of the marks of the church is church discipline and It's it's a sad thing.
We We've been. We've been reaching out to to our brother Sanji and he has not joined another church and he continues to resist many things that God has called him to and We had to remove him. Because you know, he does not want to be of course as he said a part of the church here.
Nor does he ever want to join another church. He wants to just be outside of the church, so Therefore he is now and Just mention that to you as we come to the Lord's table. You need to be a person who?
Believes in your heart and has professed in your faith professed your faith with your mouth and Is a member of a faithful local church somewhere for God has appointed this ordinance. Only for those who are members of his church in good standing.
So if it's not true of you then talk to us and we'll be glad to help you with that. But for the majority of you who are members come and feed upon your Savior. The bread and the wine are not his physical body for his physical body is resurrected and is in heaven right now.
And he would not have us to be cannibals. No, like the water of baptism the bread and wine are signs that represent feeding upon his body His body and blood and encourage us to look for the spiritual nourishment.
That comes through the sacrifice that was offered just as the people in the Old Testament would feast upon the animals that were sacrificed. So that showing that they had a share in the fellowship and the blessing of the salvation that God had given to his people.
So as we come to the table, then let's come with Rejoicing and what God has promised to us and look to him to help us to to Feed upon him and to receive the blessing that he offers to us as as his people.
Oh Lord our God we come to you with thanksgiving. For you have blessed your people and you have given us great and wonderful promises. And we thank you that these promises are rich and full and we pray that we would rejoice in them.
Father we pray that we would that we would see your gracious hand O Lord and promising such things to us that you delight to give us these blessings and Lord we pray then that we would receive them with equal delight that we would have a joy in Having those blessings in our lives.
Lord we desire to have the twofold cleansing that you promise in your covenant. The one cleansing of our heart and the other the cleansing of our guilt and our our sin for forgiveness. And acceptance by you we thank you Lord that these have been fully given by Christ and that already we have the Forgiveness and the acceptance of Christ right as righteous in our behalf.
But Lord, we desire that you would continue to work in us by your spirit to give us more and more grace that we may live for you. We also pray for For Sinji that who he had to remove. We pray Lord that you would work in his life and that he would realize that he needs to be Accountable that he needs to be part of a church that it is your church.
It's not it's not. It's not something else. It's it's yours and we pray Lord that he would not continue to to wander about in that way. And we pray Lord that you would help him to deal with things that he needs to deal with that that he is not.
Well, Lord, we asked this Lord for all of us for Lord. We know that we all have things that we need to deal with and we pray that you'd give us grace to do that that Our eyes would be toward you that we might be able to continue in the fellowship of you and your people.
We pray this for our children. Even some of our children that have gone astray Lord. We pray for those children that you would be pleased Lord to call them back into your fellowship. Oh Lord. Please work in them convict them of their sin and help them to see the inheritance that they have rejected.
It's the greatest inheritance in all the world. It is the only true and lasting eternal inheritance. All the things of this world will pass away as we sang. That we're like a flower the field that that flourishes and then it's gone.
But in your kingdom, oh Lord, we have righteousness and life forever and ever in your house, and we enjoy the blessings of your house. Thank you that we have baptized this young child Chloe into this great household of faith and That she is marked as one of your people.
Oh Lord for she is one of your people. She already was one of your people and now she has been given this sign and marked out and we pray Oh Lord that she Would indeed trust in you Oh Lord and that she would look to you for the cleansing.
That is a sign now upon her. We pray for many other people in all the world Lord that have been baptized in the name of the Father Son and Holy Spirit. Who are not trusting in you to cleanse them? It was just an empty ritual for them and they have no faith and we pray Oh Lord that you would open their hearts that You would convict them and that you would bring them to salvation.
Help us to be bold and testifying to all those around us. Oh Lord do work that only you can do. Call us to yourself. Oh Lord and work in us. We pray these things in Jesus name. Amen. You may eat and drink as soon as the tray is passed to you and then we'll give thanks for what we have received.
So according to the Holy Institution Command an example of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I take this bread and having blessed it break it and give it to you. Take eat. This is the body of Christ which is given for you do this in remembrance of him.
Jesus said Most assuredly I say to you he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by some other way. The same is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep to him.
The doorkeeper opens and the sheep hear his voice and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out and When he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them and the sheep follow him for they know his voice.
Yet they will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him for they do not know the voice of strangers. According to the institution command an example of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I take this up and give it to you.
This cup is the new covenant in the blood of Jesus Christ, which was shed for the remission of the sins of many. Drink from it all of you who are trusting in him then Jesus said to them again. Most assuredly I say to you I am the door of the sheep.
All whoever came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door if anyone enters by me He will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy.
I Have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly. I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd gives his life for the sheep.
Let's sing Psalm 128 be people of God receive the blessing of the Lord our God.
May the Lord give you increase more and more. You and your children may you be blessed of the Lord who made heaven and earth Amen.