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Not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable.

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For this finds favor if for the sake of conscience toward God a man bears up under sorrows when

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suffering unjustly.

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For what credit is there if when you sin and are harshly treated you endure it with patience?

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But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds

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favor with God.

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For you have been called for this purpose since Christ also suffered for you, leaving

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you an example for you to follow in His steps, who committed no sin nor was any deceit found

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in His mouth.

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And while being reviled He did not revile in return, while suffering He uttered no threats,

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but kept entrusting Himself to him who judges righteously.

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And He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, that we might die to sin and live

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to righteousness, for by His wounds you were healed.

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For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd

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and guardian of your souls.

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What the Holy Spirit writes through the Apostle Peter in this passage is certainly a movement

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against the current of our day, a current which is perhaps seen in the television show

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that is aired locally, at least on Saturday nights, called Fight Back, where it says you

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don't have to be shafted, you can fight back.

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Or perhaps in the show called The People's Court, in which we are encouraged that if

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we are wronged and cannot settle it out of court, take them to court.

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We live in that kind of an age when we are told that it is our right that we should have

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fairness.

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The Apostle Peter writes especially to servants in this text.

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The early church was made up largely of those who were slaves.

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They had so very little in this life.

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And for them the gospel offered hope, not only for this life, but especially for that

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which is to come.

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To those who are slaves, or by application to us today, to those who are employed and

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therefore under authority, Peter writes to us and says that we are to follow our Lord's

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example.

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He draws upon a passage of scripture from Isaiah 53 in which we are reminded that Jesus

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was called the servant, the slave of Jehovah.

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And he says, as those who are also servants, we are to follow the example of Jehovah's

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servant, the Lord Jesus Christ.

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For he suffered, but he did not strike back.

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He endured and kept entrusting himself to his Father.

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Suffering is something that is a part of the Christian life.

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When we experience no suffering, we are experiencing the exception.

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Suffering is the norm for the Christian, whether it be overt and outward or subtle and hidden.

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But suffering is the calling of God's people, as is clear from what Peter says here, that

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we were called for this purpose.

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A couple of interesting verses back in Philippians, chapter 1, you may want to look at briefly,

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which say essentially the same thing.

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In verse 27, only conduct yourselves, he says, in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ,

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so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I may hear of you that you are standing

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firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel, in no

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way alarmed by your opponents, which is a sign of destruction for them, but of salvation

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for you.

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In other words, the spirit of peace in the midst of suffering, of endurance in persecution,

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that is a sign of destruction to those who oppose us, but of our own salvation.

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And he says in verse 29, for to you it has been granted for Christ's sake not only to

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believe in him, but also to suffer for his sake.

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In other words, God has graciously granted to us not only that we may believe on the

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Lord Jesus Christ for the saving of our souls, but that we might also suffer for his sake.

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Dear people, there was a day 2,000 years ago when the Lord Jesus Christ suffered in our

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place, and today God has graciously granted you and me the privilege to suffer in his

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place.

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Now, our sufferings in their effect are, of course, different, but suffering nonetheless.

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Now let's go back to 1 Peter chapter 2.

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There are those today who try to tell us that Christians should not be suffering, that if

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in fact we are experiencing a lack of prosperity or ill health or suffering, that somewhere

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we have missed the will of God.

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That is a popular kind of theology.

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Warren Wiersbe wrote, There is a shallow brand of popular theology today that claims that

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Christians will not suffer if they are in the will of God.

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Those who promote such ideas have not meditated much on the cross.

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What he says, he says accurately, Humility and quiet submission are not evidence of weakness,

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but rather of power.

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In this text he tells us that we should follow the example of the Lord Jesus, but let us

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remember that as sinners we not only need an example, but first and foremost we need

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a Savior.

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And in verse 24 that's what he focuses on.

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He says, He himself, that is the Lord Jesus, the one who is an example, but more than that,

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He Himself bore our sins.

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This one who was without sin, verse 22, this one who was fully man bore our sins.

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It was His deity that gave His sacrifice on the cross its ultimate, infinite worth.

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But it was also as sinless man that He was qualified to die in your place and in mine.

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It says He Himself bore our sins.

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That verb means to bear as a sacrifice our sins.

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Where did He do it?

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Well, it was on the cross or on the tree, that piece of wood, that stake to which He

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was nailed that He bore our sins.

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In Galatians chapter 3 we are reminded that whoever is hanged on a tree is cursed of God,

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and that was Jesus' condition for our sake.

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You may remember that the Jews did not crucify.

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When there was a criminal worthy of death they did what?

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They stoned him.

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But in cases where the crime was exceedingly heinous and wicked, it was permissible for

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them to hang the executed person's body on a tree or a stake for the rest of that day,

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there to show the shame of what that person had done by his corpse hanging there.

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The Lord Jesus Christ bore our sins in His own body on the tree.

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Dear people, let us never forget the price that was exacted by a holy God that we might

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be gathered here tonight as God's children.

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Let us never forget that it was the Lord Jesus, God's beloved Son, who in His own body bore

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your sin in mine.

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Not His, He was without sin.

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But He absorbed your sin in mine and its penalty and paid the price.

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Now, why did He do that?

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Well, you say He died there that He might die for our sins.

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And, of course, that is true, but Peter's point is just a little different.

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He says that we might die to sin and live under righteousness.

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In other words, the Lord Jesus Christ died not only that we might be forgiven of our

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sin, but that we might experience victory over our sin.

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What Peter says here goes back to Romans chapter 6, where the Apostle Paul reminds us that

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in the Lord Jesus Christ we died to sin and were raised to walk in newness of life.

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Whereas before our salvation we were slaves of sin, having now believed from the heart

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that word of the gospel delivered to us, we have been freed from the tyranny of sin indwelling

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us so that we are no longer its slaves.

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As we come to the Lord's table tonight to observe these ordinances, let us remind ourselves

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that Jesus not only died that we might be cleansed from sin's guilt, but also saved

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from sin's power.

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We dare not observe this ordinance and proclaim the gospel if our lives are not proclaiming

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the power of that gospel.

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If we as God's people are living in sin, then we are a contradiction.

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And when we do sin, and we do, we are to immediately confess that we might be restored to fellowship.

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We are to yield ourselves afresh and anew to the Lordship of Jesus Christ that we might

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live unto righteousness.

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It would be good for us to bow together in prayer at this point, just to once again examine

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our hearts as we are commanded in 1 Corinthians 11.

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To examine our hearts to see if there be some sin that we have failed to confess.

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If there be some sin that we are harboring there, protecting there, rather than dealing

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with, would you in the quietness of just a few seconds search your heart and if need

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be make proper confession and repentance before the Lord.

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Father, we would be properly introspective and examine our hearts.

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We would not come to this table unprepared.

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We would not partake of these elements in an unworthy manner, our lives being infected

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by sin.

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But rather as much as we know, we have confessed our sins to you.

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We thank you that you are faithful and just in forgiving us of our sins and cleansing

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us from all of our unrighteousness.

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We thank you for our advocate and our propitiation to the Lord Jesus Christ.

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We thank you that he fully dealt with our sins when he died on the tree.

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I pray that as we remember that price and observing this ordinance, our hearts may be

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stirred afresh with love for Jesus Christ.

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We pray this in Jesus' name.

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The Apostle Paul says that on the night Jesus was betrayed, he took bread.

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He broke it and gave thanks for it and then distributed it to his disciples as a memorial

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from then on of his body, which was about to be broken for their sin.

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Would you bow together with me as we thank God for the body of the Lord Jesus Christ?

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And just where you are seated right there, would you express thanks to God yourself for

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the broken body, the sacrificed body of the Lord Jesus?

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Father, we thank you that the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us.

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We thank you that he partook of flesh and blood, that he might go to the cross and there

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as the God man, without sin, yet take our sin upon himself and bear it as a sacrifice.

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Our God, we thank you for the body of the Lord Jesus symbolized in this element which

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we are about to partake of.

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Amen.

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Amen.

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Amen.

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Amen.

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Amen.

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Amen.

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Amen.

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Amen.

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Amen.

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Amen.

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Amen.

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After Jesus had given thanks, he broke the bread and said to his disciples, take and

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eat.

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This is my body which is for you, this due remembrance of me.

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Let's share it together.

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Likewise, he shared with them a cup that evening symbolizing his blood which was to be poured

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out on the cross for our redemption.

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Let us bow together and thank you for the blood of the Lord Jesus.

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Just where you are seated there, will you give thanks to the Father for the blood of

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Christ as the Lamb without blemish and without spot.

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Father, we thank you for that precious flow that makes us as white as snow.

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For that precious blood of Christ, we offer unto you our eternal gratitude.

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Amen.

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Amen.

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Amen.

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Amen.

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Amen.

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Amen.

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Amen.

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Amen.

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Amen.

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Amen.

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Amen.

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Amen.

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As the organ plays, let me read scripture for you for your meditation.

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For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but

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into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.

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Nor was it that he should offer himself often as the high priest enters the holy place year

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by year with blood not his own.

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Otherwise he would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world.

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But now once, at the consummation of the ages, he has been manifested to put away sin by

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the sacrifice of himself.

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And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once, and after this comes judgment, so

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Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, shall appear a second time

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for salvation without reference to sin to those who eagerly wait for him.

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It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

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Therefore, when he comes into the world, he says, Sacrifice and offering thou hast not

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desired, but a body hast thou prepared for me.

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In whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast taken no pleasure.

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Then I said, Behold I come to do thy will, O God.

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By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once

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for all.

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He having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, set down at the right hand of God.

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Jesus said, This cup is the new covenant in my blood.

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Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.

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Let us share it together.

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Without accompaniment, let us sing together, My Jesus, I love thee.

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I know thou art mine.

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For thee all the pleasures of sin I resign.

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Would you stand with me and let's sing that.

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My Jesus, I love thee.

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I know thou art mine.

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For thee all the pleasures of sin I resign.

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My gracious Redeemer, my Savior art thou.

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If ever I love thee, my Jesus, tis now.

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O how I love Jesus, O how I love Jesus, O how I love Jesus, because he first loved me.

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As we go out this evening, as our custom to receive an Evelyn offering, we use it for

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those who have particular needs in their homes and their situations.

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If you would like to participate in that, you are invited to do so.

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One of the ushers will be stationed at the door with a plate to receive it.

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Now let's bow together in closing prayer.

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Now Father, having remembered the death of the Son of God, we depart in the joy and in

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the power of his resurrection.

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We praise you.

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We thank you for the Lord Jesus and the completeness of his saving work for all time.

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And that now he stands at the right hand of God interceding on our behalf.

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It is in that confidence that is in him and in the hope of his second appearing that we

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dismiss ourselves unto your blessing tonight.

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Amen.

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Good night.