The Church at Antioch was a committed church, born out of persecution, demonstrating theological and ecclesiastical commitment. The sermon explores the nature of corporate worship, particularly the Lord's Supper, emphasizing the importance of active participation and focused remembrance of Christ's sacrifice. It highlights the symbolism of the bread and wine, representing Christ's body and blood, and calls believers to reflect on their spiritual birthdays and the ongoing sustenance found in their union with Christ. The message concludes by looking forward to the ultimate remembrance of Christ in the millennial kingdom, underscoring the significance of the Lord's Supper as a practice of faith, fellowship, and anticipation of Christ's return.
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It was a similar case when a wife of a famous preacher was going to give an address at a women's conference that the beautiful husband dropped her off, rather amused at the thought of such a thing. And then when he picked her up after the conference, said, And which of my sermons did you deliver? And the wife said, Neither. so I suggest you not ask that question of your wife's sermonizing on the coming day the Apostle Paul would have used one of these if he could get substantial electricity supply I'm certain and when I saw this evil monster here I thought let's take advantage of it I've been talking about the Church at Antioch, really haven't gotten very far into that church.
I'm stuck on point one. We'll be stuck there a little longer today, but have faith. We'll get through this section. Just to keep the church before us, let's look at Acts chapter eleven, verse nineteen, and we'll read to the end of the chapter again. Now those who were scattered after the persecution that arose over Stephen, traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word to no one but the Jews only. But some of them were men from Cyprus and Cyrene who, when they had come to Antioch, spoke to the Hellenists, preaching the Lord Jesus. And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believed, and turned to the Lord.
Then those of these things came to the years of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent out Barnabas to go as far as Antioch. When he came and he had seen the grace of God, he was glad and encouraged them all that with purpose of heart they should continue with the Lord. For he was a good man full of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people were added to the Lord. Then Barnabas departed for Tarsus to seek Saul. And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for a whole year they assembled with the church and taught a great many people. And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch. And in these days prophets came from Jerusalem to Antioch, and one of them named Agabus stood up and showed by the Spirit that there was going to be a great famine throughout all the world, which also happened in the days of Claudius Caesar.
Then the disciples, each according to his ability, determined to send relief to the brethren dwelling in Jerusalem. This they also did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of Barnabas and Saul. The church in Antioch was a committed church, committed because it was born out of persecution. Now the hook in that is not that we need persecution. Commitment is a byproduct, may be a byproduct of persecution. It isn't always. Some people give up in time of persecution. But commitment can be a byproduct. It is the important thing that we're looking for. Don't advertise, don't pray for persecution. If it comes, survive but don't advertise enough comes unadvertised you've recognized that already but in time of persecution a byproduct that was the foundation building block of the church in Antioch was this committed Christians we're talking about three kinds of commitment theological commitment that body of truth that binds Christianity together five fundamental seven points of Ephesians four whatever those basics are that are common to Christianity, those things for which we will die.
We were talking a bit more about ecclesiastical commitment, those things that are distinctive, that are worth maintaining, that are, in fact, by conviction taught in the Word of God. We were particularly talking about the Christocentric nature of our movement, the worship of the Lord in remembrance, in a regular, open format, which we would call breaking of bread, the Lord's Supper, a number of different things. The thing that makes most of the assembly churches from which we come distinctive from the rest of the evangelical world. So one of the things I'd like to do, stuck on this point of commitment to ecclesiastical stances, including this particular, and one of the things I'd like to talk a little bit about this different meeting of the Lord's Supper.
First Corinthians twelve through fourteen describes the meeting of the church for a number of reasons. The early church met together and had a mix of purposes, all of them fulfilled at one meeting. We have chosen to separate that schedule somewhat and to concentrate on prayer at one time, on teaching in another. on remembrance on another. And I think that's legitimate to do, though there are certain drawbacks to spontaneity and relationships between the two when we do divide them up. In this open type format, we read in First Corinthians Fourteen that every person comes with a hymn, with a psalm, with a praise, with a teaching.
There is an open time. Now the question comes, and it's a very practical question, How are we going to respond to that open time? How is it going to work? What do you do? What do you think about for that hour? Here is an hour of open time. And we gather together, and there is some structure, though little. I say some structure, because certain things will happen. A hymn will be called out. Someone will read a portion of Scripture.
Someone will praise. And we usually call it prayer, but if prayer is asking, when we come together for worship, we're not asking. We're rather raising our voice to God and praise, exaltation, on occasion thanksgiving. in the process of doing that. But we verbalize them and we'll verbalize the God in what we call and form a prayer. And we will have the amen to that prayer. Now the brother will read a portion of Scripture with or without comment. Now the brother may list our thoughts Godward with comments.
And then there will be a passing of the elements themselves. Now does that form sound familiar to most of us? It's basically a broad structure that we do understand that these things are going to happen, but who and how and in what order is rather unpredictable. Or at least I think it should be. Now I do notice some young people who play Bible baseball and they see where people will sit and choose sides. And if a person calls out a hymn, it's a single.
And if he opens in prayer, if he prays, it's a double. And so on. And the sad thing is that you can choose the winning side in many assemblies because it is predictable. Not to guess it shouldn't be. Not to guess it's probably a game you shouldn't play. But how's it all going to work? How do you know when to participate? Now ladies, don't go to sleep on me at that point. We understand that we are all worshiping. The incremental differences between my vocal participation and the ladies' vocal participation is very small. In the course of a month of meeting, worship services, breaking of breads, I'll probably have about two or three minutes of something to say.
My wife will not have those two or three minutes. But there's not a whole lot different. I sit in silence most of the time, just like you ladies do. And most men will. It's totality of time. You understand? And that doesn't mean I'm not worshiping in those times. We are all worshiping. It is corporate worship. And we are all adding the amen. So I'm not really talking about the differences in role tonight. But I am... encouraging us to try to be involved in that meaning because I know there are certain pitfalls. How many of you, I want some public testimony here by the showing of a hand, how many of you normally in that hour meeting have your mind on the service of that meaning for the totality of that hour?
Let's see your hand. There's one hand, two hand. I think it's possible. Two hands. Okay. Three hands. Some that won't put them up. A good friend of mine told me that if you think anybody will listen over a half an hour to you preaching without wandering off, you're mistaken. Some of you have wandered already, I'm sure. Our time attention is not that long. Now, I think these few that put their hands up may well have come to the point of discipline in their life where they can do that. And I think a lot of us come pretty close to that. On occasion, I'm wrapped up in some wonderful, glorious thought of the nature of God.
And my wife will tap me on the shoulder. And I think she is entering into this glorious concept along with me. And she will say something that for the time referred to already. Did we turn the oven on? How many of you have ever had that kind of a thought in a breaking of prayer? So let's see your hands on that one. Uh-huh. All right. You see, there's open time. There are lots of times when there is silence. And some of the young people will be going over for the fortieth time that wonderful play they made in center field at the conference. So we have that lock and steel. We never forget it.
Old men do the same thing. My son and I were in a camper's game, a camper counselor game up at Twin Lakes in Iowa just last week. And, you know, the counselors and the old guys really live for that game. It's the last guess. You know, you just got to show these young whippersnappers we can really play, even if it kills us. I almost did that one time in a game. I couldn't walk for six months after a game. Not worth it. But here I am playing ball again. And we had a great time. The campers were ahead of us. Oh, we were really serious on the sidelines.
You know, they're ahead of us. But I want to tell you, I made a play. I sparked them. Okay. I was up at bat, and I was stretching a triple into a double. And I rounded first base, and there was a guy on third, and he rounded third. Now, what are they going to do? You know, here's this shortstop who really hadn't been in the game very long, and he didn't know what to do with that ball. He didn't know whether to run at me or run the guy at third. And I kept tempting, and finally I ran the second. Look, I died. Me. Can you imagine that? Stupid. And I remember that. I'll remember the rest of my life. Pity of it is. I remember that the breaking of bread the next one. You know?
Isn't that strange the way those thoughts come and tell them, that's totally unimportant. I was safe at saying, no, I was safe, but he called me out. Oh, of all the things. The church staff knew I was safe. Hey, he said, hey, he called you out, huh? In Christian kindness, I walked off the field. I went three for four. My son only went two for four, so I did better than he did. And I rubbed that in, I'll have you know. Big athletes. Why do we remember those things at the strangest moment? Well, we're supposed to be thinking about the death of Christ. Strange thing like that. We have a roast in the oven.
I was safe at second. I can't wait to get home to watch the bears lose on a Sunday, you know, or something like that. The young people look across the room and a romance will flourish. Oh, sir. And now we'll see a blush, folks. That's all happened. What do you think about? That's what I want to talk about a little bit tonight. What do we think about? What do we think about for the Lord's Supper? I'm saying this a lot for the kids on the first row, okay?
We think by osmosis, they're going to learn what worship is. Now, you can learn some of that. But I want to tell you, there are a lot of things osmosing out there that aren't worship anymore. Well, I had a flat tire in the way of the Lord's Supper, and I just praised the Lord the way he helped me fix a flat tire. One assembly where the ladies are now participating. Morning sickness hasn't been as bad as it used to be in the last prayer. Praise Jesus. Well, then you have other things, you know. I don't get much out of that meeting.
You ever hear that? That's not what it's for. We're not really supposed to get anything out of that meeting. Now we do. We'll get plenty. But that's not what it's for. It's forgiving. We're bringing something to God. We are coming as priests of God. And we are coming to offer up sacrifices. It costs us something. It costs us time and energy. Intellectual, mental discipline to be able to come Sunday after Sunday with something to give to God is worship. I don't come to that service to get anything to feel good. I come to give.
To give to God the fruit of our lips. The praise. That is to his name. To give to God those things that he has entrusted to us and the giving of financial means that God has entrusted to us. I come to give it to him. It's not just a sharing of testimony. It's not a sharing of good feelings. It's not for me. This is for God. This is for the Lord. We've come to remember Him. We sing a hymn in a little chorus in our assembly.
I love you, Lord. And I lift my voice to worship you. Oh, my soul rejoins. And the little chorus closes. May you be clean. with what we have brought to you. That's why we gather. Remember. Now, in the symbolism in the Lord's Supper itself, there are... That's why Paul didn't use it. I'll have to focus here. Can the back row read that?
Close? How far back can we get on it? Okay. In the symbolism of the Lord's Supper, there are at least five levels of symbolism. Scriptural levels of symbolism. Now, we all like symbols. Unlike motion courses, symbolism is biblical. Okay. And there are certain symbols even in New Testament practice. One of them is baptism. The other symbol that we have, this one repeated over and over again, is the Lord's Supper. And there are at least these five things spoken of in the New Testament that are the kinds of things we can be thinking of because they are the very symbols involved.
The first one is the clearest and the obvious. As we come together and there is bread and wine, and I'm not going to get into debate of what kind of bread or what kind of wine, there are these two things. And it is clear what they stand for. Lord Jesus in instituting the Lord's Supper takes the bread and he says, this is my body given for you. He takes the cup and he says, this is the blood of the new covenant shed for you. body and blood of Jesus Christ represented. Those things separated tell us something very simple, that we are remembering the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.
First Corinthians eleven identifies that. You know the verse? Can somebody quote it to me? Somebody quote it, whereas often? What do you show? You show for the Lord's death. Now, some people complain. Some people complain. We'll put that back, don't worry. Some people complain. I don't want you to get to point five yet. Some people complain. This seems like a funeral. The hymns are so slow and somber. Well, guess what? It is a funeral.
We have come to remember the Lord's death. That is hunger. That is fear. It is sorrowful. It should touch our hearts. It should touch our emotions. We have come to remember the God-man going through human suffering that none of us has ever experienced and suffering for our sins that, praise God, will never experience. Now we enter into the physical because we know the dimension of pain somewhat. But to enter into those second three hours, when he was made sin for us, when he cried out, God, why have you forsaken me?
To enter into the pain and suffering of those hours is beyond our comprehension. And we just probe into that a bit. But we have come to remember the Lord's death. That is serious. The God-man dying, bearing the penalty of sin in his body on the tree. The Lord Jesus says to us, I want you to remember my death. And the symbolism demonstrates that to us, that Jesus Christ bore my sins in his body on the tree.
And we come back to that Sunday after Sunday. One of the things I'm to think of is his death. The hope of my future rests on the death of Jesus Christ. Anything good that we have, the fellowship that we enjoy this week, the wonder of Christian homes, That extra dimension of family life that unites us together, not just as physical mothers and dads and brothers and sisters, but spiritual relations as well. We owe that to the death of Jesus Christ.
that I can appreciate all the fringe benefits of Christianity, comes back to the death of Jesus Christ, that I have any good thing at all as a human being comes back to the death of Jesus Christ. When angels sinned, God didn't do anything for them. When human beings sinned, God took hold to help us. And if there is any good thing in this world, It is because there is a plan of salvation. Any good thing. Goes back to the grace of God that He took hold to help human beings. We wouldn't have taken hold to help.
Just think how terrible. We'd have been as consistently evil as the demons and Satan. But He took hold to help us. In taking hold to help us, He's helped all mankind. There are some people unsaved all around us who are kind. Because God's taken hold to help with us. He didn't take hold to help with sinning angels. Anything that's good that any human being has ultimately goes back to the cross. Because God took hold to help us. And for the Christian that is full of me. That I can sit there with all my family.
All believers, all secure, all on their way to heaven. Thrills my soul. But it's because of that one moment in time when Jesus Christ died. Who wants us to remember that? To come back to that. To remember his death. But there's another level of symbolism. I don't do that at home. Sometimes I think it would have been in need if God just saved us as individuals or worked in families and we didn't have these busy church schedules to keep all the time. But he didn't do it that way. He has set up an authority structure under elders.
And he has that church now doing certain things together. One of the things we do together is remember the Lord. In First Corinthians ten it tells us There is one loaf because there is one body. There's one body. When you take that loaf of bread and you take a little piece from it and you pass it to somebody sitting next to you, you know, generally that's family. A lot of time it's not. You pass it to the person next to you. They take a piece. What do we say? One of the things we're to think about as we remember the Lord is that the Lord has brought us together into one body.
We do this together. Isn't that exciting? I like to think of that every Sunday. As the sun rises, people come to remember the Lord. Time zone X, time zone, people gather together and they take bread. and take the wine. There is one body. Some of them do it differently than we do. Some of them, unfortunately, only do it a month of time. Every three months. Sometimes just a tax on program at the end. But the Lord Jesus is being remembered around the world. Sunday after Sunday after Sunday.
There is one body. And we belong to a local manifestation of that one body. We do it together. We do it in harmony one with another. We are agreeing all together that the most important thing in our life is the fact that Jesus Christ died for my sins and paid the penalty. We're excited about that. And we love to come together and think about it together. I love to do it with you. You love to do it with us. And we remember and we listen to this person and another person and a third and a fourth. And we all sing together. And we're all trying to concentrate on the same basic thought that Jesus paid it all.
We do it together. Listen, if we don't do it together, we're missing something. We're missing the common fellowship of the saints in worshiping Jesus Christ and worshiping our Father Sunday. answer that. We can't have too much of that, can we? Can't have too much of that. We do it together. In John six, the Lord Jesus uses some words that are used long before he instituted the Lord's Supper. He said, unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, You have no part with me.
And then he says, He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood, what? Can you finish it? He has eternal life. Now what's that mean? It means this, that there was a time in our lives when we accepted Jesus, when we believed that Christ died for my sins. I believe it. And one of the things we think of week by week, because we reflect on the words of the Lord Jesus that say, eat my flesh and drink my blood, one of the things that naturally comes to my mind over and over again was a day when I was just twelve years old.
I went off to camp and there I was at Greenwood Hill. Well, they had great giants of the faith. Isn't that true? Welcome. Giants of the faith at Greenwood Hills. Welcome, Detweiler. George Landis. Alfred Gibbs. That sort of people, you know. George Landis was speaking at Boy Scams that year on the power of the gospel. And I heard the gospel all my life. But the Holy Spirit was pursuing that night. We'll talk about the work of the Holy Spirit with the unsaved tomorrow at our discussion time. He was pursuing that night. And what I knew factually, what I had responded to even emotionally, I received personally that Jesus bore my sin in his body.
I took his flesh. I drank His blood. I received Him. I was saved. I wrote a little postcard. Dear mom and dad, I was saved today. Love days. Put it in the mail. Sent it home. My folks still have a postcard. Whip it out periodically. Sunday morning, when I take bread and remember Jesus, it's impossible for me to think of His death. without thinking that he died for me. And there was a time when I believed that, that first day. I remember my spiritual birthday, don't you?
Go back to that time. I'm going to take a minute or two. Somebody tell me about your spiritual birthday. Dick, tell us about your spiritual birthday. So ask you when that was Greenwood Hill too. And I was up there at camp. And it was Jordan Land at sea. And I was hoping maybe it was about that same time. I was twelve. I'm twenty-nine now. Even I thought he didn't do it. I was in a family of ten. My mom and dad were saved. We had family devotion, which I recommend to everybody. Sometimes they're required to switch down off of a mantle to keep us all together in the circle very long. But I learned to know God then.
I didn't know Christ in my personal favor until a man of the name of Lester Wilson came to North Carolina and started preaching the temple gospel with power. And I went and was saying, I was convicted of my sins. Ephesians through age nine came. That's all I heard the preacher say. Oh, by grace are you saved through faith? And that's how it was said. And I've been trying to do it myself. This is a young man's seven years. that I yielded to Christ that night. So I'm going to cross for the first time, and I said to him that night as my Savior. That would be fifty years ago, this December. How about that? And he's now our thing over here. Okay. Crazy. The man who mentioned the Lord Jesus Christ was here tonight. Well, I'm deadlocked.
My bedroom, my wife, she's going to church in his name. You know, we talked to some one time, I thought, well, this is going to be a family show for a time. I didn't believe this about it yet, but I've been in church all my life. I knew all about it. Here was my wife in heaven's church, and she said, I believe the Lord will do the job, and she must save it. I said, how do you save it? I went to bed while I sat down, and he said, let me hand you some. And I went back and forth, and hurried and hurried, and he said, here's my word, He was on him that sent me as though as much. He said, you mentioned it off a couple of times that time. I said, yes. He said, you heard the word. I said, yes. He said, you believe Christ's out?
I said, yes. He said, you believe you're safe? I said, no. I have trouble for you to yell. I said, I do too, but I'm not safe. I don't feel any distance. I hear what it's for me. He said, look, he said, here is my word, and believe it on him that sent me. Do you think God did Christ to you? I said, I sure do this through God with my heart. He said, God did it to you? I said, have it in front of life. Do you have it in front of life? I said, I sure have it. That's a bad thing. I have the Lord Jesus. Well, I'm going to go back to the Lord back to the Lord back to the Lord. Back to the Lord. A couple more. All right. This is planned. I have it here, son.
A couple more. I'll call him if you don't volunteer. I'm not a bachelor. I have a private school teacher at eight. You know, last year as I was, I had a friend from New York City who learned his voice. It was called St. Louis. I had a habit of asking one to stay back each Sunday, and he talked to us on a Monday one basis. I remember being on my knees about through a little black chair that folded up in the Bible open to John first time I read my name John three six came and received Christ as my Savior I didn't understand it but I knew that I was a new Savior of the Lord praise Lord one more he's better than preaching I'm trying to hear one more Some people say, cool kind of work, it'll take a minute, and I'll say just many words.
That's why I've known you for many years. That's what made it. It's just foreign people in New York City. I mean, I think there was a war, actually. There was a war, actually. Forty-eight years ago. As a young fellow, I had three sisters, one of those married, and a young. I realized that I needed to pay for the first part of my Christian family. One would assume that you have a kind of life. Well, one may assume that. But I, too, was lost in this state. It was very difficult. I don't remember too much from the state of the eighth state. But I was very close to my mom when they added to them.
I was very fearful about being separated from them. I didn't have my mind very clearly. What I can remember is getting down on my knees. I said, well, who is my mom? She said, that means the Lord. I was afraid of going to hell. And I just would say this, that I don't come because of the love of Christ. I would come because they're afraid of going to hell. But the main thing is that she comes. That's what I... But we come back to this. There's a first star. You know, for all of us. when we took his flesh, drank his flesh, said, I believe, I got it now, I believe, and Christ died for my sins.
Look, it shouldn't bore us to go back to that point in time. That's the most important thing. After the first birth, that's the most important thing ever happened. That was saved. And we reflect on that. Every Sunday morning, we're reminded that I was a terrible sinner. I did personal acts of sin. All of us. I had inherited a sin nature from Christian parents. Imagine that. Even the Glocks were sinners. Sin nature. And above and beyond, both of those two, there's this strange kind of sin that I understand now from studying Scripture.
that because I'm in a race that Adam headed up, I'm counted as guilty before God. There was a time when that sinner trusted Jesus Christ, because Jesus took care of all that in the finished work of Christ on Calvary. He satisfied God. He made propitiation to God. And he changed me. He made reconciliation for man. And he redeemed us from the slave market of sin. And having done that, he said, it's finished. And at a point in time, that historical fact became real in my life.
When I believe, when you believe on your spiritual birthday and experience the saving work of God, the Holy Spirit regenerated you. And Jesus said, way back then in John six, if you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have eternal life. One of the things you're supposed to think about, the language is exactly the same as the Lord's Supper language, is your spiritual birthday. And each Sunday is sort of a rededication. Lord, you died for me. You paid it all. I want to live my whole life for you. We're coming back to ground zero, Sunday after Sunday. Fourth level, we do it week after week.
Unlike baptism. Boy, I'm glad I don't get baptized every week. That was a strange experience, wasn't it? Baptism. The girls go down with their beautiful hair and they come up a different creature. You know, and the robes, they don't do a thing for me. They look okay, but boy, when they're sticking to this body, ah, it's an embarrassment. I'm glad we don't do that every week. And the water's colder than it's ever going to be anyhow. You know, strange custom when you really think of it. We're not talking about that, but it's the only really fitting thing that shows death. Do you know how fish would be baptized? Can anybody figure that one out? You take them out of the water. That's right, because they'd know they'd die.
This is the only symbol that everybody understands. My dog understands baptism. This is an aside. He's our very smart dog, Caesar. But he understands baptism. If I take him down to the lake and hold him under, he knows what baptism is all about. It signifies what? Death. Real simple illustration. It's the only thing that works. That's why immersion is right. Death. Little as a child can understand that. You hold him underwater. If they have any debate understanding what baptism is about, take him up to the bathtub and say, look, I'm going to give you a little demonstration. And they'll understand. You know, it's not hard to teach anybody what baptism means. It means death. That's only one. The Lord's Supper is repeated. Week after week after week.
And do you know what? In the early church, it did it more often than that. Let me throw something in that's free. They broke bread daily from house to house. I think when Christians met, the head of the home would say, you know, just the social gathering. Look, we have bread here, we have iced tea. That's what we would have. And I'd say something like this. As we have this fellowship together, let's remember. the body of Jesus given and his blood shed and these common elements. Wouldn't that help our conversation at the dinner table? Really would. They did it daily from half to half. Individual groups, wasn't the whole church. But once a week, the whole church. And they repeated and repeated and repeated. You know, we don't eat only once in our life, right Tom?
No, not just once. No. All the time. Continuously. It shows that we have sustenance from Christ. We come back to him. Too soon the elements pass away. We sing this. Too soon the service is over. And we'll come back the next week and be fed again because we feed and grow by being united to Jesus Christ. And it's a reminder to us that I need daily sustenance. regular returning to Jesus Christ to live as a Christian.
The last one's most complicated of all. The blood of the new covenant. What in the wide world is the new covenant? The new covenant is the covenant made with Israel that goes into effect when the millennial kingdom is established. We share some of the blessings of the new covenant. The thing that makes the new covenant possible is what makes our salvation possible. But one of the great glories that we should remember, along with the fact that we do this until the Lord comes, is that we will be doing this with him on this good earth come millennial time.
Does that excite you? We get so, can I say this, we get so caught up with the rapture. that we frequently overlook the millennium. Jesus is going to reign on this earth, and those who suffer with him will reign with him. In Psalm twenty-two, Jesus makes a promise, that messianic song. Then on the other side of Psalm twenty-two, he's going to be a great song leader in the midst of the congregation. And all God's people, great picture in the closing portion of Hebrews, all God's people will be together here on this earth. Angels and festival array. All Testament saints now resurrected to be with Jesus Christ and His glorious rule the millennium.
They without us are imperfect and we will be there. The Holy Spirit will be there. Christ will be there. God, the judge of all, will be there. And there we all are for the first time, right here, on this good earth. And Jesus is going to sing, lead us in singing the doxology. Praise God, from whom all blessings flow. And in the midst of all this, there's one more thing from Hebrews I haven't mentioned. Do you know what it is? The blood of strength.
There's the remembrance of the death of Jesus Christ. There's a new covenant time coming when all of God's people one day will have a remembrance, sir. Can I say this without being frowned? We've been practicing for that. We've been practicing for now. That's going to be the best breaking of bread ever. Remember the Lord says this. I will not eat this with you again until I eat it afresh in the table. Do you look forward to that day?
That's going to be wonderful. And we'll be able to think with the few people who are able to do that the whole time about Jesus Christ and his death. His death. that we do it together because we'll all be there, all God's people, all of us. And that, this all goes back to a time when I first received Jesus and believed that he bore my sins in his body on the tree. And I have grown and grown and grown by coming back to Jesus and finding spiritual sustenance.
And finally I'm with him. And instead of taking that loaf of bread and that cup from an unseen hand, I'll take it from a seen hand. I'll see Jesus Christ in the midst of his congregation. That's a lot to think about in an hour. And there's a lot more. I just touch very briefly on the finished work of Christ. Great words there, propitiation, redemption, reconciliation. Saving work of God. Great words there. Forgiveness, justification, adoption, sealing, all the things that the Holy Spirit becomes to us at that moment in time.
And we are to remember that all of that goes to that moment in time. when Jesus bore our sin. And he makes a simple request. Remember me. Look, I am committed to that meeting. It's something worth being committed to. We have a privilege that few Christians and all God's family have. We dare not play with a thing that is the distinctive that has brought us to the point that we are, the very basis and foundation of the movement of which most of us are part, worth being committed to.