1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:15,960 We acknowledge that apart from it we could not know you in a personal way, but because 2 00:00:15,960 --> 00:00:25,920 of this book and the person that it reveals, Jesus Christ, we may know you. 3 00:00:25,920 --> 00:00:29,440 To whom to know is life eternal. 4 00:00:29,440 --> 00:00:38,400 Forgive us though for not taking time to know you as we might. 5 00:00:38,400 --> 00:00:45,120 Forgive us of the busy lives and reorder us. 6 00:00:45,120 --> 00:00:53,880 Cause the priorities in our lives to be such that we might know you better, more deeply, 7 00:00:53,880 --> 00:01:00,520 and that through that knowledge of you we might be changed, transformed in the inner 8 00:01:00,520 --> 00:01:06,640 man by the work of the Holy Spirit from glory to glory, being changed in the image of the 9 00:01:06,640 --> 00:01:10,200 Savior. 10 00:01:10,200 --> 00:01:20,960 I pray that as we come around the communion table and focus upon your eternal plan, you 11 00:01:20,960 --> 00:01:30,000 will cause us to conduct our lives differently because of having been here. 12 00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:39,160 Give us repentant hearts where we stray and determined wills that we might obey. 13 00:01:39,160 --> 00:01:46,560 Open to us now the word as we prepare ourselves for this holy time of fellowship with you 14 00:01:46,560 --> 00:01:50,360 and with one another. 15 00:01:50,360 --> 00:01:56,840 In Jesus' name, amen. 16 00:01:56,840 --> 00:01:57,840 Good morning. 17 00:01:57,840 --> 00:02:02,560 We open our Bibles together to 1 Peter chapter 1 as we think about the Father's eternal 18 00:02:02,560 --> 00:02:05,020 plan. 19 00:02:05,020 --> 00:02:15,420 God is not a god of chance or coincidence, but he is a god of plan and purpose. 20 00:02:15,420 --> 00:02:26,680 Because ways are not haphazard, random, arbitrary, impulsive, or capricious. 21 00:02:26,680 --> 00:02:39,040 But rather the ways of God might be described as intentional, designed, purposeful, rational, 22 00:02:39,040 --> 00:02:44,160 conscious, deliberate. 23 00:02:44,160 --> 00:02:53,280 Whatever our feelings or experience may suggest otherwise is actually a lie. 24 00:02:53,280 --> 00:03:00,880 I suppose that many of you have been to Epcot Center in Florida, that part of Disney World 25 00:03:00,880 --> 00:03:07,000 that is for grown up adults, or grown up children I should say. 26 00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:12,800 In Epcot Center there are several exhibitions that involve films. 27 00:03:12,800 --> 00:03:19,320 Some of them 360 degrees around you. 28 00:03:19,320 --> 00:03:27,300 Widescreen film that causes you to be lost in the experience that you're in. 29 00:03:27,300 --> 00:03:33,640 It's fun to be there observing the film around you. 30 00:03:33,640 --> 00:03:38,480 I remember at least in one of the pavilions it was a scene of flying. 31 00:03:38,480 --> 00:03:43,800 And as we flew across the Canadian Rockies, the plane turned and everybody shifted with 32 00:03:43,800 --> 00:03:46,840 it because we felt that we were right there. 33 00:03:46,840 --> 00:03:48,080 That was our experience. 34 00:03:48,080 --> 00:03:50,200 But we really knew better. 35 00:03:50,200 --> 00:03:53,840 We just didn't keep it in mind as we ought to. 36 00:03:53,840 --> 00:03:59,280 There are times when in our lives we think that God has taken a turn on us, but we know 37 00:03:59,280 --> 00:04:01,520 better. 38 00:04:01,520 --> 00:04:10,560 Our theology, that is what we know about God, must regulate and master our feelings and 39 00:04:10,560 --> 00:04:14,320 our experiences. 40 00:04:14,320 --> 00:04:21,640 We must not allow our human intuitions or perceptions to pervert what we know to be 41 00:04:21,640 --> 00:04:25,060 true about God. 42 00:04:25,060 --> 00:04:31,560 In all God's sovereign plan, the matter of salvation is to us sinful creatures the most 43 00:04:31,560 --> 00:04:34,840 wondrous and glorious of all. 44 00:04:34,840 --> 00:04:44,320 He the Holy One, provided that we the unholy ones might call upon Him as Father. 45 00:04:44,320 --> 00:04:48,360 And that privilege brings sobering admonition to us in our text. 46 00:04:48,360 --> 00:04:52,720 We begin reading in 1 Peter 1 verse 17. 47 00:04:52,720 --> 00:05:00,400 And if you address as Father the one who impartially judges according to each man's work, conduct 48 00:05:00,400 --> 00:05:06,080 yourselves in fear during the time of your stay upon earth, knowing that you were not 49 00:05:06,080 --> 00:05:12,520 redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited 50 00:05:12,520 --> 00:05:20,880 from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb, unblemished and spotless, the 51 00:05:20,880 --> 00:05:23,440 blood of Christ. 52 00:05:23,440 --> 00:05:28,720 For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last 53 00:05:28,720 --> 00:05:35,400 times for the sake of you who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from 54 00:05:35,400 --> 00:05:43,880 the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God. 55 00:05:43,880 --> 00:05:47,840 We see something here about the eternal plan of the Father. 56 00:05:47,840 --> 00:05:55,720 The Father's plan is that by the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ, His Son, sinners might 57 00:05:55,720 --> 00:06:03,720 be cleansed from their sin and made right with Him, so that they might dwell with Him 58 00:06:03,720 --> 00:06:04,720 forever. 59 00:06:04,720 --> 00:06:09,840 There are several facets of the plan that seem to be uncovered in our text. 60 00:06:09,840 --> 00:06:16,480 The first is that this is a plan that is rooted in past eternity. 61 00:06:16,480 --> 00:06:23,000 Keep in mind that before God ever created the world or Adam and Eve, God knew what would 62 00:06:23,000 --> 00:06:25,820 happen. 63 00:06:25,820 --> 00:06:33,040 God knew what would happen when He created creatures with the freedom to choose to obey 64 00:06:33,040 --> 00:06:41,760 or to disobey, so that when Adam and Eve chose to disobey, God was not surprised. 65 00:06:41,760 --> 00:06:48,000 God did not scratch His head in amazement at what had taken place in His perfect creation, 66 00:06:48,000 --> 00:06:53,200 but God knew ahead of time what would happen. 67 00:06:53,200 --> 00:07:02,480 He gave the ability to obey or to disobey, but man's choice to disobey does not make 68 00:07:02,480 --> 00:07:06,480 God responsible for that decision. 69 00:07:06,480 --> 00:07:14,760 For God is not the author of sin, yet somehow in His absolute righteousness, He has made 70 00:07:14,760 --> 00:07:23,680 the existence of sin possible, even though that sin offends and blasphemes Him and all 71 00:07:23,680 --> 00:07:26,240 that He is. 72 00:07:26,240 --> 00:07:32,880 God knew what would happen, but God also knew from before He ever created what He would 73 00:07:32,880 --> 00:07:40,640 do in response to man's choice. 74 00:07:40,640 --> 00:07:47,920 He would take the opportunity to reveal the glories of His attributes by the way that 75 00:07:47,920 --> 00:07:50,680 He would respond. 76 00:07:50,680 --> 00:07:57,240 You see, the heart of everything that God does is to make Himself known. 77 00:07:57,240 --> 00:08:02,960 There is no greater action on His part for the benefit of His creatures than that we 78 00:08:02,960 --> 00:08:05,720 might know Him. 79 00:08:05,720 --> 00:08:13,000 And so in response to what He knew man would do, God provided that through something that 80 00:08:13,000 --> 00:08:19,840 He would do, He would make Himself known to us. 81 00:08:19,840 --> 00:08:30,160 So what He did even before He created was to appoint the Son, to come into the world 82 00:08:30,160 --> 00:08:36,560 to be the sin bearer for man who was yet to be created and who was yet to make his choice 83 00:08:36,560 --> 00:08:39,480 to sin. 84 00:08:39,480 --> 00:08:43,480 That brings us to the second facet of the plan that we see here. 85 00:08:43,480 --> 00:08:50,040 Not only is this a plan that is rooted in past eternity, but this is a plan that is 86 00:08:50,040 --> 00:08:54,000 revealed in the present age. 87 00:08:54,000 --> 00:08:59,760 For this plan was realized in the coming of Jesus Christ. 88 00:08:59,760 --> 00:09:08,680 His appearing through His incarnation, through His sinless life, culminated by His sacrificial 89 00:09:08,680 --> 00:09:16,040 death, His appearing, resulted in the shedding of what is termed here precious blood, as 90 00:09:16,040 --> 00:09:23,440 of a lamb that is perfect without blemish and without spot. 91 00:09:23,440 --> 00:09:31,540 And it was the shedding of that blood of Christ that provided redemption for us. 92 00:09:31,540 --> 00:09:35,560 That is the plan of God revealed. 93 00:09:35,560 --> 00:09:40,320 Now we might ask, what about those people who lived in previous ages? 94 00:09:40,320 --> 00:09:46,320 What about Moses or Abraham or Enoch or even Adam and Eve? 95 00:09:46,320 --> 00:09:51,800 What about them if God's plan wasn't revealed until the coming of Christ? 96 00:09:51,800 --> 00:09:58,360 Well the fact is that God revealed portions of His plan to them. 97 00:09:58,360 --> 00:10:03,560 He gave them certain promises and through their faith in the promise of God, they were 98 00:10:03,560 --> 00:10:14,360 saved, saved in anticipation of the plan's ultimate completion. 99 00:10:14,360 --> 00:10:20,280 Today we are saved because the plan has been fully revealed. 100 00:10:20,280 --> 00:10:23,680 Peter says we are not saved by earthly things. 101 00:10:23,680 --> 00:10:30,400 Silver and gold cannot purchase our redemption. 102 00:10:30,400 --> 00:10:37,760 Nor are we saved by traditions handed down to us from our forefathers. 103 00:10:37,760 --> 00:10:42,320 We are not redeemed by the rituals of religion. 104 00:10:42,320 --> 00:10:49,480 We are redeemed by one thing and that is the plan that God Himself put into motion, the 105 00:10:49,480 --> 00:10:52,760 sacrifice of His Son. 106 00:10:52,760 --> 00:11:00,460 He calls here the age in which we live these last times in verse 20. 107 00:11:00,460 --> 00:11:07,120 These last times, that's because everything else that came before was preparatory for 108 00:11:07,120 --> 00:11:10,260 the period in which you and I live. 109 00:11:10,260 --> 00:11:13,300 This is the culminating period of the plan. 110 00:11:13,300 --> 00:11:20,420 This is the time after the sacrifice has been made. 111 00:11:20,420 --> 00:11:27,800 This plan of God, this eternal plan that He might save sinners was rooted in eternity 112 00:11:27,800 --> 00:11:34,880 past but realized in our present age. 113 00:11:34,880 --> 00:11:40,320 The third facet of the plan is also revealed to us in our text and it's this, that this 114 00:11:40,320 --> 00:11:45,600 is a plan resulting in a promised future. 115 00:11:45,600 --> 00:11:52,280 He says that the plan was fulfilled for the sake of you and me who through Christ have 116 00:11:52,280 --> 00:11:57,160 come to believe in God. 117 00:11:57,160 --> 00:12:03,800 He says that your faith and hope are in God. 118 00:12:03,800 --> 00:12:07,680 That's the result of the plan. 119 00:12:07,680 --> 00:12:14,240 Our faith is in Him not in some general sense like those who say they believe in God as 120 00:12:14,240 --> 00:12:18,280 more than nine out of ten Americans confess. 121 00:12:18,280 --> 00:12:26,560 It is believing in the God of the Bible, the God who says He is a holy and righteous God 122 00:12:26,560 --> 00:12:28,920 who judges sin. 123 00:12:28,920 --> 00:12:34,800 The God who says He is gracious and merciful in providing for sinners a way of redemption. 124 00:12:34,800 --> 00:12:39,080 The God who has revealed His Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 125 00:12:39,080 --> 00:12:44,880 We have come to believe in a saving way in this God. 126 00:12:44,880 --> 00:12:54,420 Our trust and our dependence for our eternal well-being rests upon Him. 127 00:12:54,420 --> 00:13:06,320 Our faith has been placed in His plan, not in our own concoction, not in our own thinking, 128 00:13:06,320 --> 00:13:13,120 not in the way that we think will lead us to God, but in the plan of God rooted in past 129 00:13:13,120 --> 00:13:18,120 eternity and revealed in this present age. 130 00:13:18,120 --> 00:13:27,360 Our faith is in the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ which was given as a payment 131 00:13:27,360 --> 00:13:33,560 on our behalf to God to deal with our sin. 132 00:13:33,560 --> 00:13:40,680 But this faith brings us to a hope, for our faith is not only in God, but our hope as 133 00:13:40,680 --> 00:13:43,840 well is in God. 134 00:13:43,840 --> 00:13:51,100 If faith is our reliance upon God, our hope is our expectation that rests in Him. 135 00:13:51,100 --> 00:13:56,560 Our hope rests upon Christ's resurrection from the grave and His ascension to glory, 136 00:13:56,560 --> 00:14:03,880 for God raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory so that our hope might be in God. 137 00:14:03,880 --> 00:14:09,120 This hope is mentioned earlier in the chapter that we're looking at in verse 3 where Peter 138 00:14:09,120 --> 00:14:16,700 blesses God who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living 139 00:14:16,700 --> 00:14:23,380 hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to obtain an inheritance which 140 00:14:23,380 --> 00:14:29,500 is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away reserved in heaven for you who are 141 00:14:29,500 --> 00:14:36,120 protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the 142 00:14:36,120 --> 00:14:38,800 last time. 143 00:14:38,800 --> 00:14:42,260 There he explains what our hope is, it's a living hope. 144 00:14:42,260 --> 00:14:51,360 It's not a hope that is based upon some dead artifact of history, some meaningless writing 145 00:14:51,360 --> 00:14:58,080 of human creatures, but ours is a living hope that is based upon a living person, Jesus 146 00:14:58,080 --> 00:14:59,080 Christ. 147 00:14:59,080 --> 00:15:07,720 For though He is a person of history, He is a person of eternity and He lives now forever. 148 00:15:07,720 --> 00:15:15,920 By His resurrection we have a living hope and we as His people are being kept and preserved 149 00:15:15,920 --> 00:15:20,160 for that future hope that we will realize. 150 00:15:20,160 --> 00:15:24,400 He says in the last time when our salvation is revealed. 151 00:15:24,400 --> 00:15:29,200 There of course He's talking about the second coming of Christ. 152 00:15:29,200 --> 00:15:33,460 Again in verse 13 He points to this hope when He exhorts us and says, 153 00:15:33,460 --> 00:15:40,520 Gird your minds for action, keep sober in spirit, fix your hope completely on the grace 154 00:15:40,520 --> 00:15:45,320 to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 155 00:15:45,320 --> 00:15:52,040 Talking about the second coming of Christ, the fullness of His revelation when He comes 156 00:15:52,040 --> 00:15:54,320 again. 157 00:15:54,320 --> 00:16:04,280 And so this plan of God while rooted in past eternity and revealed in the present age is 158 00:16:04,280 --> 00:16:11,660 a plan that results in a promised future for us. 159 00:16:11,660 --> 00:16:20,320 This eternal plan He says is so wondrous that it should lead us to obedient living. 160 00:16:20,320 --> 00:16:27,600 He says if in fact you call upon this God as your Father and thereby by implication 161 00:16:27,600 --> 00:16:33,700 you claim to be His child, His son or His daughter. 162 00:16:33,700 --> 00:16:39,320 If you dare to address such a God as this calling Him Father, then you should conduct 163 00:16:39,320 --> 00:16:44,200 yourself with fear. 164 00:16:44,200 --> 00:16:49,680 He does not mean they're terror but He means with a certain reverence. 165 00:16:49,680 --> 00:16:56,080 We are to live our lives in this world with an awe of God. 166 00:16:56,080 --> 00:17:02,400 He says conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay upon the earth. 167 00:17:02,400 --> 00:17:04,200 An interesting phrase. 168 00:17:04,200 --> 00:17:14,840 It is a picture of a pilgrim, of one who resides in a land that is not his own. 169 00:17:14,840 --> 00:17:18,600 One who is an alien. 170 00:17:18,600 --> 00:17:22,200 Your stay upon the earth. 171 00:17:22,200 --> 00:17:26,240 You see the earth is not our home. 172 00:17:26,240 --> 00:17:31,880 As the old chorus used to say, this world is not my home, I'm just a passing through. 173 00:17:31,880 --> 00:17:36,920 My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue. 174 00:17:36,920 --> 00:17:40,040 We are an alien people in this world. 175 00:17:40,040 --> 00:17:49,120 Oh, in a certain sense, of course we have responsibilities here as human beings, as 176 00:17:49,120 --> 00:17:54,240 God's creatures and as citizens of an earthly nation. 177 00:17:54,240 --> 00:18:00,040 Yes, there are obligations but our primary residency is not in the United States or in 178 00:18:00,040 --> 00:18:02,720 some other country of this world. 179 00:18:02,720 --> 00:18:06,560 Our primary residency is home. 180 00:18:06,560 --> 00:18:10,320 Our homeland, heaven. 181 00:18:10,320 --> 00:18:15,720 We are a people who belong to the future. 182 00:18:15,720 --> 00:18:19,800 The time when heaven will be revealed. 183 00:18:19,800 --> 00:18:22,560 Life as it is now, Peter says, is a pilgrimage. 184 00:18:22,560 --> 00:18:27,200 It's not an arrival. 185 00:18:27,200 --> 00:18:33,800 Life now is a temporary situation that leads to our final destiny. 186 00:18:33,800 --> 00:18:37,560 Someone said to me this last week, we're not going to get out of this world alive. 187 00:18:37,560 --> 00:18:43,380 Well, there's a certain point to that, of course, but the fact is we don't expect to. 188 00:18:43,380 --> 00:18:51,240 Because the basis of our life, the essence of who we are is not found in this world. 189 00:18:51,240 --> 00:18:54,240 It's found in the next. 190 00:18:54,240 --> 00:18:58,000 We are a people of the future. 191 00:18:58,000 --> 00:19:01,480 Peter says we're to live like it. 192 00:19:01,480 --> 00:19:05,420 We're not to become accustomed to this world. 193 00:19:05,420 --> 00:19:08,480 We are to be different. 194 00:19:08,480 --> 00:19:16,560 Just as God is different than anything that exists apart from him, he is holy. 195 00:19:16,560 --> 00:19:17,680 So we are to be holy. 196 00:19:17,680 --> 00:19:22,800 We are to be different than those people that we live around. 197 00:19:22,800 --> 00:19:24,660 We belong to another race. 198 00:19:24,660 --> 00:19:30,200 We belong to a new humanity, if you please. 199 00:19:30,200 --> 00:19:37,240 We belong to a humanity that is being conformed to the image of the perfect man, the last 200 00:19:37,240 --> 00:19:41,600 Adam, the Jesus Christ. 201 00:19:41,600 --> 00:19:44,900 And our time is not yet in this world. 202 00:19:44,900 --> 00:19:50,360 Our time is in an age to come. 203 00:19:50,360 --> 00:19:57,120 Humans who live in their land live in a place that is designed to make them comfortable 204 00:19:57,120 --> 00:20:00,160 to feel at home. 205 00:20:00,160 --> 00:20:09,200 But for pilgrims, there is a strangeness about where they are. 206 00:20:09,200 --> 00:20:16,160 The customs about them are unfamiliar and somewhat uncomfortable. 207 00:20:16,160 --> 00:20:21,520 God does not intend for us to settle down and to be comfortable in this world. 208 00:20:21,520 --> 00:20:30,520 There is to be a certain unfamiliarity about it because we are pilgrims here. 209 00:20:30,520 --> 00:20:35,440 We are just staying here for a little while. 210 00:20:35,440 --> 00:20:40,680 One who is a citizen of a land recognizes that he's under the rule and the law of that 211 00:20:40,680 --> 00:20:41,680 land. 212 00:20:41,680 --> 00:20:49,480 But we are under the rule and the law of heaven, our homeland. 213 00:20:49,480 --> 00:20:53,840 And we don't really fit in this world. 214 00:20:53,840 --> 00:20:59,640 A citizen of a land lives for the possessions that are currently his and his grasp. 215 00:20:59,640 --> 00:21:04,320 What he owns, what is his, are there with him. 216 00:21:04,320 --> 00:21:07,840 But that is not true of us. 217 00:21:07,840 --> 00:21:08,840 We are aliens here. 218 00:21:08,840 --> 00:21:16,600 And what we really own, what our possessions really are, are somewhere else. 219 00:21:16,600 --> 00:21:20,480 They are being kept for us. 220 00:21:20,480 --> 00:21:21,920 Nothing can steal them. 221 00:21:21,920 --> 00:21:24,880 Nothing can cause them to be diminished or to fade in their glory. 222 00:21:24,880 --> 00:21:27,440 They are being kept there for us. 223 00:21:27,440 --> 00:21:32,880 But because we are not there and we are here, we are aliens without what really belongs 224 00:21:32,880 --> 00:21:33,880 to us. 225 00:21:33,880 --> 00:21:41,160 I'd like for us to keep all of this in mind as we come to this table today. 226 00:21:41,160 --> 00:21:48,200 Keep in mind first of all that it celebrates a plan that goes far beyond our own lifetime, 227 00:21:48,200 --> 00:21:50,240 brief as it is. 228 00:21:50,240 --> 00:21:58,120 Indeed, it goes far beyond Calvary, though it reflects the wondrous work of the Savior 229 00:21:58,120 --> 00:22:00,320 there. 230 00:22:00,320 --> 00:22:09,480 It stretches back before Adam and Eve into past eternity when the Father planned out 231 00:22:09,480 --> 00:22:16,680 how He would pay for the disobedience of the creatures that He was yet to bring into existence. 232 00:22:16,680 --> 00:22:23,280 Obviously, we remember that this plan was realized in this age as we come to the table 233 00:22:23,280 --> 00:22:28,720 which pictures the blood and body of Christ. 234 00:22:28,720 --> 00:22:36,560 And as we come to this table, we are reminded that we are pilgrims, that we belong to a 235 00:22:36,560 --> 00:22:43,520 promised future that is ours through the plan and purpose of God. 236 00:22:43,520 --> 00:22:49,980 We are celebrating an eternal plan that promises us a heavenly destiny. 237 00:22:49,980 --> 00:22:54,800 We will not always come to a table like this. 238 00:22:54,800 --> 00:23:01,680 Heaven is only for this life, for our stay upon the earth. 239 00:23:01,680 --> 00:23:07,160 Someday we're going to sit down to a banquet table and we're going to enjoy the supper 240 00:23:07,160 --> 00:23:14,280 with the Lamb, the great feast of our gathering together with Him. 241 00:23:14,280 --> 00:23:17,520 But all of that's to come yet. 242 00:23:17,520 --> 00:23:21,200 That's when we get home. 243 00:23:21,200 --> 00:23:25,040 That's part of our possessions. 244 00:23:25,040 --> 00:23:35,680 That's our hope, our living hope for which we have been born again as a new humanity. 245 00:23:35,680 --> 00:23:42,180 As we come to this table and partake of the elements, let's remember that we are to conduct 246 00:23:42,180 --> 00:23:49,840 our lives in this world in fear. 247 00:23:49,840 --> 00:23:55,520 That we are to feel a certain strangeness about life. 248 00:23:55,520 --> 00:23:59,240 That there is unfamiliarity about it. 249 00:23:59,240 --> 00:24:09,380 But here we come together to things we share in common as the family of God. 250 00:24:09,380 --> 00:24:14,000 Out there we don't belong, but here we belong. 251 00:24:14,000 --> 00:24:22,160 And we remember that we are His creatures, called holiness. 252 00:24:22,160 --> 00:24:31,100 And so if there is unholiness in our lives, it's time to confess that. 253 00:24:31,100 --> 00:24:37,360 If in our pilgrimage we have become accustomed to what's out there, it's time to acknowledge 254 00:24:37,360 --> 00:24:41,200 that in repentance. 255 00:24:41,200 --> 00:24:46,440 If we have become familiar to what is truly alien to us as the children of God, it's 256 00:24:46,440 --> 00:24:51,140 time to acknowledge that in confession of our sins. 257 00:24:51,140 --> 00:25:02,320 So that we might partake of these elements as a freshly cleansed and renewed generation. 258 00:25:02,320 --> 00:25:08,680 May I say to you, if you do not belong to our church, but if you know the Lord Jesus 259 00:25:08,680 --> 00:25:15,360 Christ as your Savior, and you are seeking to walk in obedience to Him under His Lordship, 260 00:25:15,360 --> 00:25:21,200 we invite you to partake with us of this table, for it's His table that He gives to us to 261 00:25:21,200 --> 00:25:25,280 share in common as the people of God. 262 00:25:25,280 --> 00:25:33,600 Let's bow in gratitude for this plan, this purpose of God that He might bring us to Himself. 263 00:25:33,600 --> 00:25:49,040 Oh Father in heaven, grant to us, I pray, that we may come to this table today in thoughtful 264 00:25:49,040 --> 00:25:56,600 humility, recognizing as much as we ever have or more so that we are the objects of grace 265 00:25:56,600 --> 00:26:00,840 and mercy. 266 00:26:00,840 --> 00:26:09,760 For upon us, your plan has been poured out so richly. 267 00:26:09,760 --> 00:26:17,280 What you purposed in eternity past and realized through the coming of your Son, you have done 268 00:26:17,280 --> 00:26:26,400 for us, for our sake, who have come to believe in you. 269 00:26:26,400 --> 00:26:34,400 Because we partake, may we partake with holy hands and holy hearts. 270 00:26:34,400 --> 00:26:43,980 And may our hearts anticipate that glorious future that is promised to us. 271 00:26:43,980 --> 00:26:50,560 May we anticipate what is to come. 272 00:26:50,560 --> 00:26:59,040 May our eyes be taken off of this passing world with what it offers. 273 00:26:59,040 --> 00:27:08,080 May we not be caught up in the passing fad of things. 274 00:27:08,080 --> 00:27:14,200 May we be a holy people. 275 00:27:14,200 --> 00:27:21,080 May we be your faithful pilgrims. 276 00:27:21,080 --> 00:27:48,720 In Jesus name, Amen.