Six Hours That Changed History | Mark 15:33-39 | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Gospel of Mark Bible Study Series)

Mark 15 beginning in verse 33. And when the 6th hour had come,

there was darkness over the whole land until the 9th hour.

And at the 9th hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, Elohi Elohi,

Lama Sabakhtani, which means my God, my God, why have you

forsaken me? And some of the bystanders

hearing it, said, Behold, he is calling Elijah.

Someone ran and filled the sponge with sour wine, put it on

a Reed, and gave it to him to drink, saying, wait, let us see

whether Elijah will come to take him down.

And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathe his last.

And the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to

bottom. And when the centurion who stood

facing him saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said

truly, this man was the Son of God.

The more I read and study the New Testament, the more I

realize how much I need to read and study the Old Testament.

And that includes a familiarity with the sacrifices that the

Lord God instituted for His people, Israel under the Old

Covenant. I understand that these ancient

practices were elaborate protocols and fulfilled purposes

for that time. But you have to understand that

those particular rituals foreshadowed elements of the

death of Jesus Christ. And I think it's important for

us to see it that way, that those specific sacrifices were

not just practical, they were prophetic, that they all pointed

to this one sacrifice to come. And the more that we believe

that and engage with our Bibles and its totality and make these

connections between the left side of your Bible and the right

side of your Bible, the more I assure you this, that your heart

will erupt in praise and adoration as you see the

masterpiece of God's ways. And in this short time, I want

to give you a glimpse of that. I want to show you in your

Bibles how there's a particular sacrifice that's not often

considered with what Jesus does here that was fulfilled, and it

will grant a greater significance to what Jesus did

on our behalf. And so we read these verses, but

now I'm going to ask you to turn with me to the Book of Numbers

and let's look at chapter 28 together, beginning in verse 1.

Numbers 28, beginning in verse one.

It says here the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Command the

people of Israel and say to them, My offering, my food for

my food offerings, my pleasing aroma, you shall be careful to

offer to me at its appointed time, and you shall say to them,

this is the food offering that you shall offer to the Lord. 2

male lambs a year old, without blemish, day by day as a regular

offering. Again, there's a large catalogue

of different sacrifices that Israel were to honor in their

worship to God. And what you and I just read

here is a unique one. It's called the regular burnt

offering. It says regular offering here in

verse 3, but when you go to verse 6, it elaborates and says

this is the regular burnt offering.

And here's what this regular burnt offering comprised of.

It was a daily act of worship and it was something that the

priest had to honor by taking two lambs in the prime of their

lives, one designated to be placed on the altar, completely

consumed by the flames, and then for that lamp to be replaced by

another year old lamb at the evening time for the same

purpose. Now what this sacrifice implies

is this, that the altar at the entrance of this worship center,

called the Tabernacle and later the temple, would never be

extinguished. That altar, that place of

sacrifice, would never become cold.

It would never lose its fire. It was to be a continual cycle

of sacrifices uninterrupted. And the purpose of this visual

and even the aroma is to cause the people of Israel to remember

that God is worthy of continual sacrifice, that God demands of

us and he deserves not sacrifice based on convenience, not

sporadic worship, but constant, constant.

And this is what they would see and this is what they would

smell. And as Christians, it symbolizes

our call to surrender to the will of God, a heart posture

that is to be maintained every day, every morning, every night,

every week, every month, all the years of your life.

And Paul alludes to this in Romans 12/1.

You know this very well when he says, I appeal to you therefore,

brothers, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies as

a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to Him, which is your

spiritual worship. Again, let me remind you that

what was unique about the regular burnt offering is that

it was continuous and it was complete.

All of the animal, nothing was held back, nothing was reserved.

The entire beast was made into a fragrant offering.

What Paul's saying here with using this familiar languages,

your bodies, your lives have that same purpose in the new

covenant. Here's the key difference.

You're not giving a debt offering, you're giving a living

1A living sacrifice. So we're not talking about

martyrdom necessarily. We're not talking about one

event. We're talking about a lifestyle.

And the same way that land would be placed on that altar and

would burn and burn until it was replaced, your one life is meant

to be set apart on the basis of His grace to be granted to Him

continually, without reservation, without hindrance.

Now here's the beautiful thing. This does point to a practical

truth of our sanctification. But as I said earlier, it points

to the truth about the Lord Jesus Christ.

And you'll find that in a parallel passage of what we just

read in Numbers 28. So look at Exodus.

Now look at Exodus 29 and notice how this provides a distinct

instruction with the same sacrifice, the regular burnt

offering, It says in Exodus 2942 and 43 HLB a regular burnt

offering throughout your generations at the entrance of

the tent of meeting before the Lord, where I will meet with you

to speak to you there. There I will meet with the

people of Israel, and it shall be sanctified by my glory.

Do you see it? This daily offering of a new

lamb in the morning, a new lamb in the evening, was essential

for God to engage with His people favorably and intimately.

That constant sacrifice created and provided a consecrated

platform for God to meet with His people.

That's why he was saying this is important.

And God's heart is that He would commune with His people all the

day, all the time. And they had to show it on their

part that they wanted that kind of intimate relationship with

God by providing the sacrifice all the day, all the time.

But here's where the Lord Jesus Christ is the greater regular

burnt offering. Because when we come to him, we

realize that as a true Lamb of God, who is the Son of God, all

he had to do was make a single sacrifice.

A single sacrifice that was sufficient for God to sanctify.

Not a place you not so that He can dwell in, a location so He

can dwell in your heart. Our relationship with the Lord

is no longer depended upon. A daily effort to bring new

lambs being slaughtered, fresh blood being poured out every

morning and every night. What you have with the Son of

Man and what He did 2000 years ago on that particular day was

enough. And it will always be enough.

And if you doubt that Christ fulfills the regular burnt

offering, go back to what we read in the beginning of the

service in Mark 15 and look at the times when Jesus was on the

cross. Go to Mark 15.

We didn't read this, we read it last week.

But look at verse 25 of Mark 15. This was the hour when Jesus was

nailed on the cross in Mark 1525.

We read and it was the third hour when they crucified him.

Now Mark is using the Jewish method of calculating the hours

of the day. So the third hour here equates

to our time as nine AM, 9:00 AM. Is that morning or evening good?

This is when Jesus was crucified.

He was nailed on the cross in the morning.

When did he die? Go to verse 33 of Mark 15.

And when the 6th hour had come, there was darkness over the

whole land until the 9th hour. Now the 9th hour when he died

would mean that he died at 3:00 PM.

Now that's the afternoon. And so let's pause here and

think back to the regular burnt offering, a lamb in the morning,

a lamb in the evening. Now I come and I read my Old

Testament faithfully and I read the Gospels, and I realize that

Jesus Christ, whom John the Baptist said he is the Lamb of

God who takes away the sins of the world, was crucified in the

morning. And I'm expecting it for it to

say. And then he died in the evening,

but it says he died at 3:00 PM. So I got thinking.

I read this earlier this past week and I've been thinking

those past few days seems to be like an incomplete picture of

the regular burnt offering until I was out and about and it hit

me like lightning. And I pulled out my phone to my

Bible app and I reread what we opened with at the beginning of

this sermon. Look again at verse 33.

And when the 6th hour, which is noon, had come, there was

darkness over the whole land until the 9th hour.

You see what this means? That although Jesus did die in

the afternoon, something supernatural occurred.

This blackness blanketed the land and gave the appearance of

the evening. And so in a symbolic way, we see

Jesus Christ as a regular burnt offering, nailed on the cross in

the morning and giving up his life under the midnight

blackness during midday. But this darkness also means

something else. I find it interesting that when

you recall the birth of Jesus Christ from Luke's vantage

point, we learned that it happened at night.

And Luke 2 verse 8, we're told that it happened at night.

Luke 2:8

And that night had many awesome things happening, including

this. An Angel of the Lord appeared to

a group of shepherds out in the field at night.

But do you remember what happened when they appeared?

Says there that the glory of the Lord shone around them.

So at the birth of Jesus Christ, though it was at night, there

was a heavenly light that blazed on the scene.

And now as we come to the death of Jesus Christ, at the peak of

the day, we read of this blackness covering the sky.

God was behind this blackness. This was not coincidence.

This was not an act of Satan. We know for certain that this

darkness that covered the whole land was orchestrated by the

Father. And that is more confirmed when

again you read the Old Testament.

What do you discover? That in many places, when God

causes this darkness to occur over a place, it is often

equated with a readiness of His judgement.

And so my personal reading, I just finished the book of Amos

this week, and I stumbled upon a passage concerning something

that you've probably read called the Day of the Lord.

That might sound like an exciting title, but it's

actually supposed to be a terrifying 1 because the Day of

the Lord is consistently something that refers to God's

wrath visiting a people, and in many passages it points to His

ultimate judgement to come with His retribution against the

wicked, the day of the Lord. And let me quote to you what

we're told about the Day of the Lord from Amos's writings and

Amos 5 verse 20. You don't have to turn there,

Amos 5:20

just listen, please. Is not the Day of the Lord

darkness and not light and gloom with no brightness in it?

I mentioned this to you to highlight that when this unusual

darkness overshadowed Calvary, it signalled that God's fierce

judgment was ready to be unleashed.

For three hours of darkness from noon till 3:00, there was a

spiritual transaction that was taking place that none of us can

explain or even conceive with our imaginations.

God showed up on Calvary and He was performing a work on His Son

who willingly chose to become the sin bearer of humanity.

And so shattering was this experience to the Son of God

that he voiced His lament by quoting the first part of yet

another Old Testament prophecy, Psalm chapter 22.

Psalms 22 · chapter mention

Do you see it in verse 34? My God, my God, why have you

forsaken me? Pause.

In what way did God the Father forsake God the Son?

Definitely not the Son of God separating himself from the

nature of God. Definitely not Jesus Christ

temporarily disconnecting himself from the essence of

divinity. Nor is this forsaking.

This is so important because I believe many people

misunderstand this. Nor is God the Father forsaking

this experience that the Son was lamenting and echoing from David

and Psalm 22, indicating that God the Father was absent from

this moment. Now.

Instead, he was present, but in a different way.

God was very much present, but He was present with His

terrifying judgement. In other words, when Jesus is

lamenting, why have you forsaken me, He is vocalizing that He has

tasted the separation of the Father's comfort and warm

affection, the intimate communion that he's always known

has been veiled. And it was so agonizing to him

that he said it with a loud cry. I want you to imagine this for a

moment. We've been studying the trial of

Jesus, the torture of Jesus, and now the crucifixion of Jesus.

And we got glimpses of what he endured, the slander, the

spitting, the slapping. And what do we find in Jesus?

A silent lamb. There was no outburst.

But when it came to this darkness, when it came to the

Father judging our sin on the Son, he cried.

He cried with misery, agony, pain.

An old minister observed it rightly when he said that at the

earliest infancy Jesus suffered at the hands of men.

The earliest phase of his ministry, Jesus suffered at the

hands of Satan. But when it came to the cross,

Jesus was destined to suffer at the hands of God.

That's what we're witnessing here.

The Lord Yahweh chastising his anointed shepherd.

We're witnessing that and strangely though this is

inconceivable, we somehow behold a beauty in it and that's

unfortunately not the case for many who witnessed it first

hand. Notice how some interpreted

Jesus words in verse 35 and some of the bystanders hearing it

said behold he is calling Elijah.

What are you talking about? They misinterpreted the words of

Jesus Elohim, and they began to think to themselves, oh, he's

calling upon the prophet Elijah. Now, why would they come to that

conclusion? They came to that conclusion

because they were familiar enough with their own scriptures

that Elijah was transported into heaven, He didn't die.

And that Malachi promised that before the day of the Lord would

come, before God would come and clean up the whole world, before

judgement would arrive and he would establish his Kingdom,

Elijah would go forth as a forerunner.

And so in their mix thinking, they're thinking, OK, he's

calling upon Elijah. He claimed to be Messiah.

He claimed to be the Son of Man. So maybe Elijah's going to show

up. And I thought, how did you

mishear him? Because again, it says there in

verse 34 that he cried with a loud voice.

He didn't whisper it, He didn't mumble it.

He cried it with precision. He cried it from the depths of

his heart. And so you might be surprised.

How do they hear Elijah? I'm not surprised actually,

after meditating on it. Why?

Because think about the hearing of most of the people throughout

Jesus ministry. The things that he said about

himself, the things that he taught, how it was

misunderstood, how it was misapplied, how it was missed

all together. Do you think it'd be any

different as they come to the final moments of Christ's life?

They misheard it. They misinterpreted it.

You know, I was looking at this and I thought to myself of a

verse that we studied many months ago in the book of Mark.

Jesus in one of his teachings said something that we apply to

an entire sermon concerning our relationship to God's voice and

his word. Can I remind you, as we're ready

to wrap up the book of Mark in a few weeks, look at Mark 424 and

remember what Jesus said in one of his teachings.

And he said to them, Mark 424 And he said, Jesus said to.

Them pay attention to what you hear.

It's possible even for you to say in love.

I say this for you to be hearing but not paying attention to what

you're really hearing. I want to be surprised if some

of us are thinking about laundry food.

Why do you think Jesus said pay attention to what you hear?

Because it's possible for us to be hearing but not really

listening. And that comes with

ramifications. And with all the horrors that

took place on Calvary, let me add this one.

The irresponsible hearing of these bystanders.

You're saying why? Why are you making it so

extreme? I'm making it extreme because of

their lack of hearing led to their lack of understanding that

prophecy was being fulfilled right before their eyes.

Psalm 22 was being realized and here they are thinking, oh,

Elijah, it might come. And here's what I did.

I studied this the other day and I stepped back reading this

passage, meditating on it, putting it together.

Lord may never be so of me that as I read your word or hear your

word that I miss what you're really saying.

I don't want that to happen to me.

I don't want to miss what you really reveal about yourself.

I don't want to miss about what your prophecy say about the

future. I don't want to miss about what

you demand of me as a Christian. I don't want to misinterpret

anything. I don't want my preconceived

notions, my ideas, my distractions to get in the way

of what your mouth is saying. I'm telling it to me now.

I telling it to me the other day.

Now I'm telling it to you. I don't want to miss what your

word has to say when it's preached, when it's read, when

it's when it's heard. I don't want to miss what you're

doing in the world. I don't want to miss what you're

doing in my life. I don't want to be blind and

deaf to to all that you might be conveying.

But because of whatever reason, my ears are caked and I can't

really perceive it. And so I miss it.

Behold, he's calling Elijah and then something happens in verse

36. Someone ran and filled with a

sponge sour wine and put it on reading, gave it to him to

drink, saying wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take

him down. That seems like a random act,

but it's not. When you compare it to John's

account. John tells us one of the seven

sayings of Jesus on the cross. 2 simple words, I thirst.

When you compare it, you realize that Jesus said I thirst and

John tells us to fulfill scripture.

Yet another prophecy. He said I thirst and this man

ran to fulfill that need. And before you think that this

is a ray of mercy in a very dark and gloomy and evil sight, Mark

tells us and clarifies the real reason why he went through all

this trouble to help Jesus with his thirst.

He said it right. Wait, let us see whether Elijah

will come to take him down. It wasn't a quench his thirst.

It was to satisfy his curiosity or even to mock him.

And again, it's amazing how any part of the Bible can provide

practical application and instruction, and it's no

different here. I look at this and I realize

that as dark again as everything has been reading Mark 15, it

gets even darker. Even in this one act.

The depravity of man is so vile, and it shows us what you and I

are capable of. Unrestrained, unhinged.

If the Holy Spirit doesn't harness our hearts, we can even

look at opportunities to provide mercy and charity and seize it

instead, to make it about us, to satisfy selfishness and

carnality and the flesh. You have a man who provided

drink and you think that's nice of him, but in reality he just

wants to see a show. Laura, I don't want to ever,

ever look at potential opportunities to do good in your

name and manipulate it for my sake, whatever that sake is.

And that's why in Romans 12/9, the Holy Spirit tells us,

believers, let love be genuine, genuine.

And I could have said love. He said no, no, it's possible to

love with laces of hypocrisy. It's possible to love and it's

polluted. Only the Holy Spirit in His Word

can decontaminate our love and make it pure holy.

Let love be genuine and regardless of this person's

motive, you know what Jesus does in order to fulfill Scripture.

He plants his dry lips on that dirty sponge and he takes a sip.

And after he takes a sip, we read Fulfilling Psalm 6921.

We read that He made a loud cry and then breathe his last.

I can assure you that when Jesus made this loud cry, it wasn't a

screech of agony. It wasn't a taunt of anger.

Because John tells us what was behind that loud cry. 3 words

that you know very well. It is finished.

And he didn't whisper it the way I just did.

He thundered it with triumphant authority.

Oh, I wonder what that sounded like.

It is finished. That was strange for somebody

who was suffering crucifixion because your lungs were

collapsing, you were losing breath, you were dying of

exhaustion. And yet this is just another

idea to confirm that Jesus was completely in control.

It is finished. What was finished?

The achievement of atonement, the complete obedience of Christ

that would make our salvation necessary was complete.

The suffering that He needed to endure to make the payment for

your sin and mine was done. The fear that mankind has

suffered with concerning death has been put to an end because

of His death, and the uncertainty of our entrance into

eternal life has been solved forever.

It is finished. And when he made this cry,

something supernatural happened. You think how much more can

happen? Well, we read what happened just

like that midnight at midday, as one preacher put it, there was

another act of God where? Look here, verse 38 and the

curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.

The Bible's so specific from top to bottom, showing that it was

God who ripped that veil. What is this curtain all about?

Well, for hundreds of years when God called the nation of Israel

to build that worship center that we referenced earlier,

there was this thick veil that separated the people from the

most Holy place where God resided and manifested His

glory. And that barrier served as a

constant reminder that our sinfulness separates and

alienates us from enjoying the fullness of God's presence.

So that's what the priest saw. That's what the people

understood. And it was, it was there.

It was there always, always, always.

And only one time of the year could the high priest enter in

for a few moments representing the people of God.

And now what we see here is, which I find so fascinating

because throughout the years, all the lambs, all the bulls,

all the goats, all the birds that were slaughtered in the

millions, how much blood did they accumulate?

How much blood did they sprinkle?

It didn't shred an inch off that veil.

And yet when the Son of God shed his blood, it ripped that veil

like a piece of Kleenex. That's what God was after all

along. Now we have entrance into his

presence. And listen to this.

It's not about just us going into the Holy of Holies.

That's the symbolic picture. It's the fact that God who

reside in the Holy of Holies now moves out and lives in US.

What accomplished that? The blood.

And now God is committed to find his home, which He did in His

temple, which is the church, not this building.

Buildings are wonderful. We got to meet somewhere, you

and I collectively, the temple of God, where the Holy Spirit

dwells and God is committed to making us his permanent address

until we meet him for face to face and enjoy him without any

interference for all eternity. That's what we're in.

That's the new covenant. But more than the the entrance,

the symbolic picture of us now having gotten God having us, we

see here with the ripping of the veil, the cancellation and

nullification of the old covenant and the inauguration of

the new covenant, we don't need temple sacrifices anymore.

We don't need to shed anything. What he has done is enough now.

And So what we have here is the inauguration of the new

covenant. There is now a new way in which

we relate to God, in which we worship God, in which we are

grafted into the program of God. And since this time, millions

have been joined, millions have been adopted into this wonderful

covenant. Do you think that this temple

veil ripped and nobody noticed it?

I haven't. We touched on this a few weeks

ago when we were talking about the power of the gospel and one

little part of the sermon where even Pharisees were saved.

Do you remember? We talked about that briefly,

and that's found in Acts chapter 6, verse seven.

Acts 6 · chapter mention

You don't have to turn there, but let me remind you that we're

told early in the church, the church movement, it says, and a

great many priests became believers.

I wonder how many of those priests were in the temple

witnessing that veil tearing. I wonder how many saw it and it

registered and they were ready to receive Jesus as their

Messiah. The veil tore from top to

bottom. The priests were not the only

one who were saved. We read of an individual in

verse 39. This is our last verse before we

break bread. And when the centurion who stood

facing him saw that in this way he breathed his last.

He said truly, this man was the Son of God.

He was a centurion. He was not just an average

soldier. He supervised hundreds of

soldiers. We have right to believe that

this centurion was part of this whole process, Christ's trial,

his torture, his beating, the caring of the cross, the

crucifixion on the cross. He witnessed everything.

He witnessed the patience of Christ, the elegance of Christ,

the dignity of Christ. He heard every word that he

uttered from the cross. And the cherry on the top is

that when he died, the way he died and the earthquake took

place and the rumblings happened and the fear and, and all of

these things accumulating, it dawned on him this man was the

Son of God. Here's why this is so massively

important in connection to the gospel of Mark.

As one unit, Mark records us by the Spirit, yes, but also

strategically by the Spirit. This is the first time, funny

enough, we're at the end of the book, and this is the first time

that through human lips this precise confession was made that

Jesus was the Son of God. The Father proclaimed it at his

baptism. He reaffirmed it on the Mount of

Transfiguration. Demons said it on many

occasions, but through the lips of a person it occurred for the

first time here at the cross. And through whose lips?

A Gentile. This was the Son of God.

Now, last week you and I remembered that this was not the

only person who at this time made a saving confession.

There was a thief on the cross, remember, and he learned from

his own blasphemies that he was a Sinner from his past life,

realizing that he was very close touching distance to the Savior

of the world. And he said other would you

Remember Me when you come in your Kingdom and Jesus confirm

today you will be with me in paradise.

That thief was not just a thief. He was a Jewish thief.

So even in the the final moments of Christ's mission, the

culmination of his work, when Jesus is dying, you know what

happens? A Jew gets saved.

A Gentile gets saved. What's the lesson?

Here's the lesson. Whether you're a Jew in this

place or not a Jew, whether you are a hardened police officer or

a crazed criminal, if you're a murderer or a blasphemer, no

matter who you are, as we behold the cross, we are being told

emphatically, Jesus will forgive you no matter what you've done.

Here's where I'm ending. No matter what you have done,

Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, is ready to wash you

with His blood, delete your debt of sin, make you His own, live

in your heart, shepherd you throughout your life until you

meet Him face to face. So there's a time coming where

His unfiltered presence will shower over us for all of

eternity. But my constant prayer, knowing

these truths have been experienced in my life,

believing that this book is true.

Lord, help me experience Your glory, Your power, Your presence

as much as is possible on this side of heaven.

And that's a prayer that God faithfully answers in many ways.

Do you have a saving relationship with Jesus Christ?

Do you, do you, do you? Behold how prophecies have been

accomplished, how the person of Christ is undeniably attractive

and unlike anybody else in all of history.

After what you've heard week after week after week, you see

this man, after all these events, made a conclusion.

This man was the Son of God. Can I ask you, what's your

conclusion of Jesus? Does this only confirm to you

that he is indeed the Son of God?

Are you still doubting or are you among the blasphemers who

still mock You know what's amazing?

When Jesus will be buried, and we're going to study that soon.

And when he raises from the grave, you actually find out

that the Pharisees who realize that that tomb was empty still

didn't believe they conspired and they paid off some of the

soldiers, telling people, make sure that you let people know

that the disciples took them away.

It's amazing how our hearts can be hardened despite all the

proof before us, but I am. I'm closing here before we open

this table to ask you please, if you don't know him, be confirmed

in that conviction. Have certainty to why you'll

deny him. Don't be indifferent with your

soul, challenge your skepticism and if you even seek Him in your

skepticism with an honest heart that wants to know the truth

with your limited understanding. God is so gracious to lead you

and make himself known to you. And I pray that every person

here would walk out knowing that their names have been written in

the Lamb's book of life. I pray that your soul is saved.

I pray that you know this Jesus of whom I believe.

And I preach unashamedly as we come to this table to eat.

We are remembering his body and his blood.

And we're going to sing in a moment and go straight to the

table. And Pastor Ben is going to lead

us in giving thanks for the elements.

But it is my duty to ask you that if you're not a believer in

Jesus Christ that you respectively reserve yourself

from participating. This is this is something like

Jesus instituted for his church, for those who believe in the

message that I just preached. And so if you've put your faith

in Christ, you're coming here to remember, it's not because of

what I've done. It's not because of what I've

shed with this blood or any other person's blood or any

other animal's blood. It's because of his blood.

That's what you're OK. So listen, let me tell you

something. We're celebrating today.

This is a celebration. So come to this table happy and

hold those elements with joy. He died for me.

So if you if you don't believe in that message, I pray that you

would. And when you do, you can you can

join this table, but if you don't just watch and what you're

watching is people lining up coming to take these elements,

proclaiming by way of drama. I'm saved by his grace.

Believer, if you believe this message, but your heart is not

lined up with the gospel way of life, you bring more joy to your

master by repenting and reconciling with those that you

haven't reconciled with instead of taking of this.

So I ask you to reflect on your own life, but let me also say

that Jesus is not looking for perfection to get to this table

or us. None of us are welcome.

But if there's something that you are justifying that you know

is sin, that's what he means by warning us in First Corinthians.

If you know it's sin, but you're holding on to it, let go of it

before you take any of this. But believer also, if you are

conscious that you're a Sinner, we all are.

But you know in your, your heart of hearts, I want to live holy.

I want to live a repentant life. Come, come, come, come.

This is for you. Praise team.

Can we come and can we worship? We're going to sing reflectively

and then we're going to partake. Take this time now as they come

and prepare. Don't worry about who's beside

you and just prepare your heart to worship the Lord with this

ordinance. Shall we do that?

I'm going to join you here.