The Community Church: Sermons and teaching

I'm surrounded. I'm surrounded by bread and wine, those amazing elements. This phenomenal sacrament that speaks about the death of Jesus. And I just like to turn our attention to that. The few moments, if I may, please. Oftentimes, when we look at this passage of scripture together, we turn to Paul's letter to the Corinthians, where he addresses a few misuses of this time together.

And in verse 16, this is one Corinthians chapter 1116. He begins by saying these words, The little Jesus on the night he was betrayed. I find that really interesting. Somebody was leading us in the breaking of bread a few weeks ago and read this passage. And that word betrayed is somehow resonated in me. I thought, Well, isn't it strange that Paul, in introducing this amazing evening that took place, this amazing night that took place, one of the most significant nights in all of the Earth history, when Jesus gathered together with his disciples, when the Paul should introduce it by saying it was on the night he was betrayed, not on the night that he knelt

down and watched the disciples feet, not on the night that he spoke to them about going to prepare a place where he was going. They would be also he didn't introduce it by saying the night that Jesus promised that he wouldn't leave them orphans, but he would send to them the Holy Spirit. He didn't introduce it by saying the night that Jesus inaugurated this phenomenal feast, but it seduces it by saying the night that Jesus was betrayed, betrayed the night he was betrayed.

Betrayed is a big word. Betrayed is a big word. It speaks about the breaking of friendship, the fracturing of loyalty and truth. It speaks of the suffering of friendship. It speaks about a violation of a covenant. The night he was betrayed, it was during this meal that Jesus says these words, One of you will betray me to his closest 12.

And he says, One of you will betray me. Leonardo da Vinci. When he paints us amazing fresco. The Lord's Supper. We've all seen it. That painting by Leonardo da Vinci shows the moment that Jesus has just said those words. That's what he depicts in the fresco and the shock and the horror this upon the faces of his disciples.

The festival shows him turning to one another, saying What Matthew's gospel says. One by one they begin saying, Surely not me, Lord, surely not me, Lord, surely not me, Lord. One by one. They say that until He comes to Judas and Judas, the one who betrayed him, said, Surely not me, Rabbi. He doesn't call him Lord, he just calls him teacher.

Many people think Jesus is a wonderful teacher, but the issue is not about him being a great teacher that he was, but it's about him being Lord. This meal, this covenant feast, is about him being Lord. And once he stops being Lord, there's no telling what you will get into. There's no telling what we will let ourselves get into, the things that we will allow into our lives.

When he ceases to be Lord. Because if he's not Lord of all, he's not Lord at all. When I became a Christian, it was not that I invited Jesus into my life. So often we talk about, Would you like to invite Jesus into your life? It's not that Jesus wants to get into my life. He wants me to get into his life.

Jesus is Lord. His invitation is deny yourself, take up your cloths, follow me. And he was going to the cross where he was going to die, because he is Lord. And we can't play fast and loose. I don't know if that translates into Portuguese. Well, we can't compromise on His Lordship. This is a covenant meal and we must be those who ensure that we walk out in covenant, faithfulness and loyalty.

Our commitment not only to God, but to all those we have joined ourselves to in this body of believers, welcome those who are becoming new members. Welcome those who are becoming new members of Please understand you come and in becoming a member of this family, you take upon yourself a covenant responsibility to the people within this family. Back to one Corinthians 1116, where we, the Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread.

When he had given thanks, He broke it and said, This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. And in the same way. After supper he took the cup saying, This cup is the New Covenant in my blood. Do this whenever you drink it in remembrance of me, for whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's Death until he comes.

It's interesting. It's not about the resurrection right now. It's just about what he paid, what he did upon the cross. You're proclaiming the Lord's Death, what he suffered, what he went through. His body broken, his blood shed. This meal is a remembering of recalling. It's a portrayal of the death of Jesus and the place he prayed for each one of us.

His body broken, his blood shed. That's what this means. He's wonderful. 600 years before Jesus, the prophet Isaiah, looking down the centuries ahead, prophesied of the Messiah, who would come 600 years before Jesus. And in Isaiah 53, he writes these words about Jesus. There was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract as to him, he was despised and rejected.

A man of sorrows acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised and we did not care. Yet it was our weaknesses he covered. It was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins. But he was pierced for our rebellion, for our sins.

He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so that we could be healed. All of us, like sheep of straight away. We have left God's path to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sin of us all. He was oppressed and treated harshly, yet he never said a word. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter.

That's exactly what he was, the lamb of God. The ultimate sacrifice of final sacrifice, taking away the sin of the world. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep is silent before the shivers, he did not open his mouth. Martin Luther said that we all carry the nails of Christ in our pockets because it was our said that took him to the cross.

It was. I always said that he paid a price for on the cross. It was not the nails that held him, but it was his love for you and for me. The LAMB of God pilot handed him over to the Romans who mocked him, who beat him, spat upon him, tore out his beard from the crown of thorns upon his head.

They scourged him without plague him catch of nine tails that whip with pieces of bone and lead stitched into it. So as the whip came upon his back, it was dragged across his back and opened up the flesh down to the bone upon his back. The psalmist says his back became like a plowed field, like a plowed field, and they drove nails, spikes to his hands and feet.

They crucified him, they crucified him. Here's a word. This lost his meanings over the years out of the football. Football must go, Oh, we crucified. No, no. They crucified him. They lifted him up to die. An agonizing death. Isaiah, 52, says his face was so disfigured, he seemed hardly human. And from his appearance, one would scarcely know that he was a man so badly beaten, so badly mutilated.

We see these pictures of Jesus on the cross, these lovely pictures and looking all serene and sweet and looking down lovingly. I want you to know he was a bloody mess. It was. It was horrific. It was horrific. 6 hours. The wrath of God was poured out upon him as he took upon himself. Sin of every person on earth for you and for me.

In the sixth hour, Jesus said, I'm thirsty. The joy of wine vinegar was so they spoke, soaked his sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of his salt plant and lifted it to Jesus lips. But when he had received the drink, Jesus said, It is finished. And with that he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

It is finished. It is finished. His final words. But this it is finished was not the despairing Clive, a helpless martyr. This is finished. Was not the expression of relief that his suffering was coming to an end. This was not the last gasp of a wall alive, but this was a declaration on behalf of the Divine Redeemer that everything he came from heaven to do was completed, that all that was required, that we could be reunited with God had been performed, that the full price of redemption had been paid on the cross by his suffering.

It is finished. It is finished. It is completed. Of course, Jesus did not speak English. Most of us in England think that everybody should speak English. I just want you to know that Portuguese people, we all believe that Jesus should speak English. Oh, well, Jesus did speak English. Of course. They translated it back into our make in Greek.

Well, I'm sure it should have been English. Maybe not. The actual word that Jesus spoke was not is finished. But in the Greek it is a word called Taylor Test. I Taylor test. Just one single word. That's all he said. One word. Taylor testified. It hangs on the walls. And his final word, Taylor testified. Taylor testified. It's an amazing word.

It's the only time that this word is used. Oh, spoken in the Bible. Never used anywhere else. Taylor testified. It is without doubt the greatest word spoken by the greatest man who ever lived. Taylor testified his finished word within common use at the time of Jesus. It was not an unusual word in that sense. It was in common use.

It was used in the business world. When you purchase something and you had to pay the price for it. The the bill was stamped. Taylor test meaning paid in full. The full payment has been made. There's nothing else to pay now. It's all been paid. Paid in full. Taylor testified in the due judicial system when a person had been imprisoned for some crime and they'd serve the sentence and they were released.

It was Taylor test. The sentence has been served. The punishment is over. That's what the word means. It is finished, Taylor testified, is finished. He's done it all. The army goes out to defeat another army, and that's a total victory over them. And the victory bond is raised. And it was, Taylor testified The battle has been won. That's what this means.

This is what this celebration is about. Jesus has accomplished it all. And now you and now Meek invest in the finished work of the cross because of all that he suffered on your behalf. The debt for all sin has been fully paid. No more to pay. You have to earn it. We have to work for it. Enough have to be good enough of it.

You're never going to be good enough for the goodness of God. When the Angel of Death was passing over the Egypt, the Israelites back in Egypt, he didn't go. He did the house in. Check out whether the people in the were worthy of being saved. He didn't check up on whether they'd been good enough, whether it whether by enough, whether given enough in church.

They didn't look at anything like that. All they did was they came in. Look was the blood on the door post. The place has been paid. There's no more for you to pay. There's no more for you to do. Except thank you, God. I acknowledge that by grace and grace alone, I'm here to enjoy this. The price had been paid to send to the punishment, and the judgment that we deserved has been served by him.

And the battle against a devil and sin and all the enemies of sickness and disease has been fully won. Why? Because he was wounded for our transgressions. All because of this broken body on the cross. It is finished. It is finished. It is finished. Price have been paid because Jesus bod body was broken. That's what we do when we break the bread.

We are remembering the broken, beaten body of the Lord. I don't want it to be gory. I don't want it to be like that. But I just want you to recognize as we do this, the place and Jesus truly paid that you could have forgiveness of sin, eternal life. The price has been paid, the sentence has been paid, and Jesus paid it all.

The victory is one. This is amazing. However, that meal Bible tells us that when we come and do this, we should do it in a thoughtful way. We shouldn't just take it lightly. Always speaking the best. I still get the bread and wine. Remember Jesus said, Remember his death and the price he paid for you to have the life you have?

Amen. Heavenly Father, we want to thank you this morning. Feel amazing grace towards us. Your goodness and your kindness is beyond words. Lot is beyond human understanding. But we remember what you did. Heavenly Father, we thank you for it. In Jesus name, we thank you, Lord God for Jesus who gave lives out. Life that we might have eternal life just by trusting in Him.

We declare as we take this, that Jesus is Lord a man.