REFORMED CHURCH, BELLVILLE: SUNDAY 17 NOVEMBER 2002: MORNING SERVICE: CELEBRATION OF THE LAST SUPPER

REFORMED CHURCH, BELLVILLE: SUNDAY 17 NOVEMBER 2002: MORNING SERVICE: CELEBRATION OF THE LAST SUPPER

Our help is in the Name of the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.
Beloved, grace and peace be to you from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, through the mighty working of God the Holy Spirit.
AMEN.
Psalm of praise: Psalm 89:3.

The Apostolic Creed

1.        I believe in God the Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.
2.        And in Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, our Lord;
3.        Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary;
4.        Suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, dead, and buried; He descended into hell;
5.        The third day He rose again from the dead;
6.        He ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;
7.        From thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.
8.        I believe in the Holy Spirit.
9.        I believe a holy catholic Church, the communion of saints;
10.    The forgiveness of sins;
11. The resurrection of the body;
12.    And the life everlasting. AMEN

The Law : Ex. 20:1-17.
Psalm 40:4.
Prayer.
Hymn 33:2.

Scripture Reading: Hosea 6
Scripture text: Hosea 6:2

He will revive us after two days;
He will raise us up on the third day,
That we may live before Him.

We all know that these words of Hosea's refer to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Yet there is something strange and even striking in Hosea's words:

He does not prophesy that it is the Messiah who will rise from the dead and enjoy a new life before God.
He says that the Lord will let us die and then raise us up to a new life before the Lord.

The Lord leads His prophet to prophesy here what the result of the Messiah's atonement will be for us.

We will be raised to a new life.
That is precisely the message given us by the Lord in the New Testament.
The Lord let it be written to the church at Colossae (3:3) that they have died, and that their lives are hidden with Christ in God:

For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. (Epistle to the Colossians 3:3).

In the Old Testament there were many who believed that one would remain dead for ever when one died.

Job also thought so. He stated that, long after the sea has dried up, and the heavens have passed away, man will still lie there without anyone awakening him.

...But man dies and lies prostrate.
Man expires, and where is he?
As water evaporates from the sea,
And a river becomes parched and dried up,
So man lies down and does not rise.
Until the heavens are no longer,
He will not awake nor be aroused out of his sleep.
(Job 14:10-12)

But immediately after he had said so, the Holy Spirit awakened the question in him:

If a man dies, will he live again? (Job 14:14)

He then realizes that there is assuredly new life awaiting beyond the grave, because he gains new courage and says that he would be able to wait throughout all the days of his hardship until new life dawns for him:

All the days of my struggle I will wait
Until my change comes...
For now You number my steps,
You do not observe my sin.
My transgression is sealed up in a bag,
And You wrap up my iniquity. (Job 14:14,16,17).

We find much the same thoughts in Psalm 119:25, where the writer sings of his being in mortal danger.

What is of importance, is that he then prays that the Lord give him new life ("revive" him), as the Lord promises in His Word.
The new life is one in which there is no more danger, and in which he can experience the everlasting peace of God. This is clearly a reference to the hereafter.

All these prophecies in the Old Testament looked forward to the atonement of the Lord Jesus on the cross.

When the Lord Jesus died on the cross, His death accomplished atonement for everyone who would believe in Him as the Redeemer.
When He rose from the dead, all the redeemed rose with Him from the dead and entered upon life eternal.

This message formed part of the nucleus of all preaching in the first congregations. The Lord had the very same message sent to the congregation at Rome:

Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, ... (Romans 6:8)

The Bible teaches us pertinently and directly that our baptism also instructs us in respect of this matter:

Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:4)

This death which we have died together with Jesus Christ, is much more than just physical death. It is also our sinful nature which was crucified with Christ. The actual words used in the Bible signify that we surely know that the sinful persons we used to be have been crucified with Christ, so that our sinful existence could be terminated. We are therefore no longer slaves to sin. (Romans 6:6).
The Lord Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection changed utterly our position before the Lord.

Hosea prophesied that it would grant us admittance to a new life in the presence of God.
This new life is explained in greater detail in the New Testament. In the New Testament the Lord explains that we have become children of God through the death of Jesus Christ.

Because we are children, we are also heirs.
We are heirs of God, fellow heirs with Christ. (Romans 8:17).

Since we have suffered with Him, we may also be glorified with Him. (ibid.)
Because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, He made us alive together with Christ (by grace we have been saved!). (Ephesians 2:4,5).

That is why the Prophet Hosea said that it is we who die and it is we who are raised from the dead in a new life before God.

Come, sit at the Table of the Lord, because that is precisely the message which He conveys to you through this sacrament.

He was in the grave for two days when He bore God's judgement on our behalf.
But on the third day He arose, and let us rise with Him, so that we may live anew for ever before God.

When we sit at the Table, let us give to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, all praise and thanksgiving.

According to His great mercy He caused us to be born again to a living hope of a new life through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
Now we have the living hope that we will live eternally in His presence. (1 Peter 1:3,4).

Come to the Table in all sincerity with an honest heart.

We confess our sins, that which we do and those which we have done.
But we also acknowledge that our sins have been atoned before God through Jesus Christ, because we have been crucified with Christ, so that we may live for God. (Galatians 2:19).

Let us afterwards rise from the Table with the firm intention to keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God, for we have been raised up with Christ (Colossians 3:1).

He redeemed us, not because of anything we may have done to merit our acquittal, but of His great mercy alone.
This He did by the rebirth, or regeneration, which washes away sin, and by the Holy Spirit which gives new life. (Titus 3:5).
For that reason we must live every day a life of redemption, and remain in an acutely aware and living relationship with the Holy Spirit.

We are aware of the significance of our having died with Christ.

We are therefore dead to the legalistic religious decrees of this world.
Therefore we no longer live as if we belong to this world. (Colossians 2:20).
For that reason we must strive against all the sins which we commit in our lives, such as overweening pride, and tardiness to do what is right, and against everything wrongful, and banish these from our lives.

When we leave here, let us remember that we were dead because we sinned and because our sinful nature had not yet been taken away.
When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him (Christ), having forgiven all our transgressions.(Colossians 2:13).

AMEN.

Psalm 33:2,11.

FORM FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE LORD'S SUPPER

Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, attend to the words of the institution of the Holy Supper of our Lord Jesus Christ, as they are delivered by the holy apostle Paul in 1 Cor. 11:23-29:

"For I have received from the Lord that which also I delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in 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 for you: do this in remembrance of Me." After the same manner also He took the cup, when He had supped, saying, "This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of Me." For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink the cup, ye do show the Lord's death until He come. Therefore whoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's body."

That we may now celebrate the Supper of the Lord to our comfort, it is above all things necessary,
    First. Rightly to examine ourselves.
    Secondly. To direct it to that end for which Christ hath ordained and instituted the same, namely, to His remembrance.

The true examination of ourselves consists of these three parts:

    First. That every one consider by himself his sins and the curse due to him for them, to the end that he may abhor and humble himself before God, considering that the wrath of God against sin is so great, that (rather than it should go unpunished) He hath punished the same in His beloved Son Jesus Christ with the bitter and shameful death of the cross.

    Second. That every one examine his own heart, whether he doth believe this faithful promise of God that all his sins have been forgiven him only for the sake of the passion and death of Jesus Christ, and that the perfect righteousness of Christ is imputed and freely given him as his own, yea, so perfectly as if he had satisfied in his own person for all his sins and fulfilled all righteousness.

    Thirdly. That every one examine his own conscience, whether he purposeth henceforth to show true thankfulness to God in his entire life, to walk uprightly before Him; as also whether he hath laid aside unfeignedly all enmity, hatred, and envy, and doth firmly resolve henceforth to walk in true love and peace with his neighbour.

All those, then, who are thus disposed, God will certainly receive in mercy and count them worthy partakers of the table of His Son Jesus Christ. On the contrary, those who do not feel this testimony in their hearts, eat and drink judgement to themselves.

Therefore, we also, according to the command of Christ and the apostle Paul, admonish all those who are defiled with the following sins to keep themselves from the table of the Lord, and declare to them that they have no part in the kingdom of Christ; such as all idolaters, all those who invoke deceased saints, angels or other creatures; all those who worship images; all enchanters, diviners, charmers and those who confide in such enchantments; all despisers of God, and of His Word, and of the holy sacraments; all blasphemers; all those who are given to raise discord, sects, and mutiny in church or state; all perjured persons; all those who are disobedient to their parents and superiors; all murderers, contentious persons, and those who live in hatred and envy against their neighbours; all adulterers, whoremongers, drunkards, thieves, usurers, robbers, gamesters, covetous, and all who lead offensive lives.

All these, while they continue in such sins, shall abstain from this meat (which Christ hath ordained only for the faithful), lest their judgement and condemnation be made the heavier.

Because those who lead loveless and offensive lives have no share in the Kingdom of Christ.

Yet we do not come to this supper to testify thereby that we are without sin and perfect in ourselves; on the contrary, we come precisely because we seek our life apart from ourselves in Christ. Thereby we confess that we are in our own nature dead through sin. We have indeed, still many shortcomings: lack of true faith, lack of zeal in the service of God, lack of love towards God and our neighbour. Nevertheless, by the grace of the Holy Spirit, we repent heartily of our sins and desire sincerely to live according to all the commandments of God. Therefore we rest assured that God receives us through His grace and makes us worthy partakers of this heavenly food and drink.
(1 Cor. 5:11; Eph. 5:5; Ex. 20:12-17;; Lev. 19:12; Zech. 8:17; Gal. 5:19,21; Eph. 2:1)

The Lord teaches us to what end He instituted the Supper when He says: Do this in remembrance of Me. To do this we must sincerely believe that He was sent by the Father to this world, that He became true man and as sinless Lamb bore throughout His earthly life the wrath of God for our sins. He fulfilled with perfect obedience God's Law for us. He bore the reproaches due to us so that we should never again become an object of divine reproach. Although innocent, He was sentenced to death so that we might be acquitted before the judgement seat of God. He was nailed to the cross so that the certificate of our debt, consisting of decrees against us, could be so nailed to the cross as well. In this way He took from us the curse and assumed it upon Himself that He might fill us with His blessing. He suffered the pains of hell and anguish and the terrible desolation of separation from God when He cried out with a loud voice: My God, My God, why have You forsaken me? that we might be accepted of God, and nevermore be forsaken of Him. He has finally confirmed with His death and the shedding of His blood the eternal covenant of grace with the words: It is finished.
(1 Cor. 11:26; Heb. 4:15; Matt. 27:46; John 19:30; Col. 2:14)

Whenever we so think of Him, the signs of bread and wine gives the assurance that He delivered Himself in our stead and that He as certainly nourishes us with His body and blood as we eat and drink of the bread and wine. So the living Christ wishes to assure us through His Spirit of His love and bring about in us the firm knowledge that we also belong to this covenant of grace. And every time we partake of communion, we proclaim His death until He comes. Therefore the celebration of communion lets us look forward with great yearning to the bridal feast of the Lamb.
(Matt.26:29; Rev. 19:9)

Communion so teaches us to embrace in faith the unique sacrifice on the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ as the only foundation and ground of our salvation. There His body was broken and His blood was shed to the perfect remission of all our sins, and so He became for us the true food and drink of life eternal. Through His death He also won for us the lifegiving Spirit, which binds us to Christ in true communion with Him and lets us partake of all His riches and benefits. The same Spirit binds us also together in sincere love as members of one body. Because we have all partaken of the same bread, we are all one body. Therefore all of us who have been incorporated in Christ through faith, we must manifest this unity in love by word and deed towards one another. May God through His Spirit help us to do so.
(1 Cor. 10:17)
AMEN.

Let us now humble ourselves before God and pray to Him in sincere faith for the blessing of His grace.

Merciful God and Father,
We thank You that we may celebrate the comforting occasion of the bitter death of Your Son, Jesus Christ. We pray You, grant us a sincere confidence in our hearts to surrender ourselves ever more completely to Your Son, so that we may be refreshed by Him, the heavenly Bread, so as not to live any longer in our sins but in Him. Grant us the assurance that You are our merciful Father, and we Your children and heirs. Help us to deny ourselves, to confess our Saviour, and with longing to await His return, when He will take us to be with Him eternally.

Psalm 71:1,2 (The congregation go to the Table)

Lift up your hearts to Jesus Christ, our Advocate at the right hand of the heavenly Father, and be assured that the Holy Spirit will strengthen you just as certainly with the body and blood of Jesus as you receive the signs of the bread and wine in remembrance of Him.

The bread we break is our communion with the body of Christ. Receive it, eat, remember and believe that the body of our Lord Jesus Christ was broken to the complete remission of all our sins.

The cup of thanksgiving which we bless in gratitude, is our communion with the blood of Christ. Receive it, drink everyone of the cup; remember and believe that the precious blood of our Lord Jesus Christ was shed to the complete remission of all our sins.

During the celebration of the Last Supper, the congregation will join in singing from Psalm 116 (after the elements have been taken) and Psalm 118 (as each group return to their seats).

Beloved, because the Lord has refreshed us with the heavenly bread, let us now together with one accord praise His Name with the words:

(Psalm 103:1-4; 8-13; Rom.8:32)

Merciful God and Father,
We thank You and praise You that You by this communion confirm to us the glorious promises of the gospel. We thank You that You gave Your only-begotten Son as Mediator and sacrificial offering for our sins. We thank You for the true faith, whereby we are enabled to partake of the sacrifice of Your Son. We pray You, let the proclamation of the death of our Lord by the working of the Holy Spirit daily strengthen and enable us to grow in the faith and in glorious communion with Christ, for His Name's sake. AMEN.

Closing Psalm: 103:3.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.

Rev. Dr. M.J. du Plessis
Reformed Church, Bellville.
17 November 2002.
Scripture quoted from NASB.