As is our custom, today we will observe the Lord's Table or Eucharist where we recall and commemorate our Lord Jesus Christ who is the greatest winner of all time and eternity in the only remaining ritual for the Church.
We remember the Lord Jesus Christ, the bright morning star Rev 22:16; who defeated Helel ben-shakar aka the star of the dawn Isa 14:12; on the cross in the angelic conflict that is a war between the Stars.
The Eternal Word who was God entered the human race in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, aka the Bright Morning Star so that He could fulfill the Father's plan as savior of the world through His substitutionary spiritual death and spiritual victory on the cross.
Our celebration of the Lord's Table recalls our Lord's judgment and His spiritual victory that was God's strategic victory over satan that was achieved while He was on the earth in His unglorified humanity.
Jesus Christ, the pattern for humility and obedience became the channel for the fulfillment of God the Father's plan by complying with the grace principle of pivot power where positive volition deploys the power of God's Word of truth is deployed under the mentorship of God the Holy Spirit to God's glory Luke 22:42;
In sending Jesus Christ to receive the imputation and judgment for all personal sins and die as our substitute, God demonstrated His integrity love for us Rom 5:8; 1John 4:19; we reciprocate or respond to His integrity love by complying with His mandates that are disclosed in His Word of truth. 1John 5:2-3;
Our celebration of the Lord's Table is therefore an expression of our reciprocal love for our Lord Jesus Christ who is the strategic winner of time and eternity.
We concentrate on him through the elements of the Lord's Table. Luke 22:19-20;
He came to do God the Father's will Heb 10:5-7; He demonstrated that obedience to the Father's unique plan for His life by enduring the suffering and death on the cross Phil 2:8;
He now sits at the right hand of the Father because the Father has exalted Him above every created being and will require that every created being to bow down to him and acknowledge Him as Lord. Phil 2:9-10;
He completely and perfectly fulfilled the directive will of the Father by unilaterally providing a way of salvation for everyone. Rom 5:8; as the "lamb slain from the foundation of the world" Rev 13:8; KJV John 1:29;
While we were at war with God and His enemies, God demonstrated his love for us by giving his uniquely born Son "monogenes" who entered the world through the virgin birth. John 3:16;
While we were his enemies He took our sins upon Himself and became sin in our place and God the Father forsook Him so that once we have believed in Him God would never forsake us. Mark 15:34; 2Cor 5:21; Rom 8:1;
God is propitiated by Jesus' substitutionary spiritual death on the cross God with the result that He is free to reconcile the entire human race from their fallen state of depravity without compromising his perfect righteousness and justice because Jesus willingly laid down his life for us as our substitute. John 15:13 ; 1John 3:16;
Those who accept God's love by believing in Jesus are protected by God's power, those who reject God's love and remain in unbelief are condemned by God's power. John 3:18, 36; 1Pet 1:3-5;
God's Word of truth describes those who reject Him as fools who have no capacity to do anything good. Psa 14:1-3;
This is why believing in Jesus Christ is the only way to a relationship with God John 14:6 , salvation Acts 4:12 and eternal life John 3:16; It is also why the believer's salvation and eternal life are irrevocable. Rom 11:29;
Anyone can appropriate God's Grace gift of salvation that is maintained and irrevocably secured by God's power John 10:26-29; simply by believing that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who died for our sins, was buried and resurrected on the third day 1Cor 15:3-4;n
This is what Paul and Silas instructed the Philippian Jailer to do when he asked "what Must I do to be saved?" Acts 16:31; Anyone, anytime, anywhere can be saved in a moment in time in the same way simply by believing in Jesus Christ privately in their thoughts only.
Jesus left his friends, the members of The Royal Family of God, this one and only ritual in the church age The Lord's table that we are mandated to observe in remembrance of Him.
The mandate is found in 1Cor 11:24; in the second person plural present active imperative of the Greek word " poieo" that where Paul references Jesus' own instruction found in Luke 22:19-20;
An expanded translation of 1Cor 11:24 taking into consideration the tense mood and voice of "poieo" would be " Keep on doing this in remembrance of me"
Because these verbs are only imperatives regarding ritual in the New Testament the Lord's Table is one and only ritual of the Church Age.
It is a test of our capacity to concentrate on our Lord Jesus Christ through the Bible Doctrine that we can recall from memory as we partake of the elements that represent what He did for us.
We have these instructions for partaking of the Lord's table from the Apostle Paul starting in verse 26 of 1Cor 11.
1Cor 11:26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes.
27 Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord.
28 But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup.
29 For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly.
30 For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep.
31 But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged.
We understand from this that we are to examine ourselves (imperative mood is a mandate to start doing something and stop doing another privately in our thinking.
In the privacy of our priesthood, and when we find we are outside of the word, we apply the first problem solving device, and simply acknowledge the sin as described in 1 John 1:9;
If/when (third class condition) we acknowledge any known sin he is faithful and righteous to forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. This is the believer's experiential forgiveness during their post salvation life in time.
Having examined ourselves, and acknowledging any known sin we may have discovered, we are then instructed to partake of the elements, the bread and the cup.
The bread that represents his body in which he bore the sins and the judgment for our sins and the sins of the whole world, past present and future.
1Cor 11:23 For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread;
1Cor 11:24 and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.
eat the bread
The cup that represents his substitutionary spiritual death on the cross that purchased the freedom from spiritual death and eternal condemnation of everyone who believes in him.
1Cor 11:25 In the same way He took the cup also after supper saying This cup is the new covenant in my Blood do this as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.
drink cup
Lam 3:21-23; I recall this to my mind, and it gives me confidence. Because The Lord's mercy never fails; His grace provisions never cease, they are renewed every morning; Great is Your faithfulness... Therefore I have hope in Him. The Lord is good to those who wait silently on Him.
In our study of the doctrine of the winner believer. Heb 12:2; Rev 2:7; We have noted that winner believers are the unknown, unsung heroes of history. 2Cor 6:9; who are the targets of God's grace imputations that support all of mankind.
We are presently noting the supergrace blessings that God imputes to winner believers who have advanced to spiritual maturity. We noted that the Biblical nomenclature for "supergrace" comes from the phrase "megas charis" that is translated "greater grace" in James 4:6;
Last time we noted that God's integrity love is expressed differently depending on the believer's attitude toward God's Word of truth during their life in the devil's world in unglorified bodies.
God's love is expressed to the believer who is positive to His Word of truth by blessing, suffering for blessing and reward.
God's love is expressed to the believer who is negative to His Word of truth as divine discipline that left unchecked by rebound adjustment to God's holiness terminates in the sin unto death.
When any believer, positive or negative, dies physically they are transferred into heaven where there is no more sorrow, no more tears and no more pain and no more death. 1Cor 11:30-31; Rev 21:4;
A major characteristic that is exhibited by the supergrace believer is happiness that is rooted in contentment and expressed in thanksgiving to God for His grace provision.
This happiness is not based on pleasant circumstances or stimulation it is based on the believer's cognizance of God's integrity love that results in reciprocal love for God. 1John 4:19;
This means that the supergrace believer's happiness is exclusively related to the essence of God not to the details of life in the devil's world. Col 3:2-5;