Sunday Service: ”Cleaning The Inside” - John 2:1-12

The Old Testament reading this morning

is Isaiah 25:es 1-8.

Oh Lord, you are my God. I will exalt

you. I will praise your name for you

have done wonderful things. plans formed

of old, faithful and sure.

For you have made the city a heap, the

fortified city a ruin.

The foreigner's palace is a city no

more. It will never be rebuilt.

Therefore, strong peoples will glorify

you. Cities of ruthless nations will

fear you. For you have been a stronghold

to the poor,

a stronghold to the needy in his

distress,

a shelter from the storm and a shade

from the heat. For the breath of the

ruthless is like a storm against a wall,

like heat in a dry place.

You subdue the noise of the foreigners,

as heat by the shade of a cloud.

So the song of the ruthless is put down.

On this mountain the Lord of hosts will

make for all peoples a feast of rich

food, a feast of well-aged wine,

of rich food full of marrow, of aged

wine well refined.

And he will swallow up on this mountain

the covering that is cast over all

peoples, the veil that is spread over

all nations.

He will swallow up death forever.

And the Lord God will wipe away tears

from all faces. And the reproach of his

people he will take away from all the

earth. For the Lord has spoken.

The New Testament reading is John 2:es

1-12.

On the third day, there was a wedding at

Canaa in Galilee, and the mother of

Jesus was there.

Jesus also was invited to the wedding

with his disciples.

When the wine ran out, the mother of

Jesus said to him, "They have no wine."

And Jesus said to her,"Woman,

what does this have to do with me? My

hour has not yet come."

His mother said to the servants. "Do

whatever he tells you."

Now there were six stone water jars

there for the Jewish rights of

purification,

each holding 20 or 30 gallons.

Jesus said to the servants, "Fill the

jars with water."

and they filled them up to the brim. And

he said to them, "Now draw some out and

take it to the master of the feast."

So they took it. When the master of the

feast tasted the water now become wine,

and did not know where it came from,

though the servants who had drawn the

water knew. The master of the feast

called the bridegroom and said to him,

"Everyone serves the good wine first.

And when people have drunk freely, then

the poor wine.

But you have kept the good wine until

now.

This the first of his signs Jesus did at

Canaa in Galilee and manifested his

glory. And his disciples believed in

him.

After this, he went down to Capernaum

with his mother and his brothers and his

disciples and stayed there for a few

days. This is the word of the Lord.

>> Thanks be to God.

So, just a little backstory, this is

what I had to write as my major paper in

my third year at student for a professor

named Rick Watts. I had to exedute this

text and it has become my favorite text.

um the layers in it is profound.

Now, you're going to there's going to be

a lot here. Um I think the point will be

easy to get, but it's a lot to get

there. Um I'm going to ask you to be

patient if it um I do have, by the way,

I thought this would be a time to tell

you. There is a Bible study I do that is

on YouTube is on exactly just the

exogetical work I'm doing or just the

hard work stuff. And if you're saying, I

missed that, you can always go back and

it's available. Okay? So, I'm I'm saying

to you if you're sitting here, I was

once you sitting there in class and all

of this seemed like a lot, but I promise

you it's wonderful by the end. Okay? And

here's the thing that I think most

people don't understand. It's this.

I think a lot of people don't know why

this is so important. There are

theories. You've heard the one where

it's just a memorial that Jesus

crucified and died for us. And that's

nice. We have a good reflection and

maybe feel a little bit happy and leave.

You've heard the the theory that it

literally once it's commissioned is the

body and blood of Jesus Christ.

So once it's there, you've got to eat

it. [snorts] Can't leave any leftovers.

You've heard the one where Yes, this is

a true one. When you put the elements

down your throat, halfway down, I guess

they turn into the body and the blood.

It's a strange one. Just hope you don't

have the flu that day. Um,

should have made that joke.

But what is it really? What does it

really mean? And here's the problem.

Here's why communion is so problematic.

is actually the only time we hear about

communion outside of the gospels is Paul

speaking to Corinth saying you're doing

it wrong.

In other words, it's not a prescriptive

way to do communion.

Even in the gospels, the synoptic

gospels, there is the pronunciation of

the bread and the wine and that's it.

There's no comment. There's no

interpretation

and it is left to all kinds of different

ideas. Well, here's what I'm going to

tell you. John does not have the

Passover Lord's Supper in his gospel,

but he does. You sound like you

contradicted yourself, Emry. I just did.

You see, he doesn't actually have the

narrative of the LA Lord's Supper, but

he has communion wrapped into this whole

thing. And today, we're going to look at

the blood,

the wine. Okay? And this is such an

important text because unlike the

others, it interprets what it means for

us.

Why do we do this? And my prayer is

after you listen to this that you when

you take the blood,

the wine, it will have a much deeper

meaning to you.

So, let's get in.

Actually, let's pray because we're going

to need it.

Thank you, Father, for this text, this

amazing genius written text by John. And

we pray that you help us to understand

it and and to take what we can from it

in Jesus' name. Amen.

There's a couple features that are

happening in this wedding of Kaa. You

guys have all heard the story, right?

Has anyone ever not heard the wedding of

Kaa story?

Okay, so you've all heard the story.

>> [snorts]

>> There's a couple features though that

you need to know about the culture they

lived in. It wasn't our culture. The

first thing is your wedding had to last

7 days and you had to have provisions

throughout or you could be sued.

Covenant theology especially marriage

covenants in first century Israel were

very very important and we have

documents on lawsuits.

Number two, the world view was that

marriage was important because God made

his covenant and always as a metaphor

expressed himself as the groom in the

marriage.

You give an example of that out of

Isaiah 54.

For your maker is your husband, the Lord

of hosts is his name. And the holy one

of Israel is your redeemer, the God of

whole earth he is called. Again and

again, he calls himself the husband

because he wants to create a covenant.

Well, you know what a covenant is? An

agreement, a a a binding together

with a confession.

So, he's a husband in the Old Testament.

So, it's always God and us is wrapped

around a marriage.

That shouldn't go unnoticed and it

wouldn't have by those who were there.

Number two, and for those of you guys

who like the okonogan for wine, you're

going to love this.

Wine was the symbol of

right relationship with God.

It meant the covenant was going well.

When the wine was pouring, the covenant

was going well. And in the esqueological

or end times picture out of Isaiah, he

reveals that it is a place where the

wine will be poured out. Again, I'll get

my receipts for you. On this mountain,

the Lord of Hosts will make for all

peoples a feast of rich f food, a feast

of well-aged wine, a rich food full of

marrow and aged wine, well refined.

That's his picture of the end times.

Have you ever wondered?

Okay. So in their world, they also

believed if you ran out of wine, it was

symbolic that God's blessing was off,

that you were under a curse.

Okay? So if you had lots of wine, it

showed God's blessing.

And if you didn't have wine,

something was wrong.

Well, now we get to our story.

Starts off on the third day. Now, I'm

going to tell you right now, they didn't

use numbers like we do. the rules of how

they use numbers in ancient documents

like this which were called Greek bios.

They would use numbers and chronology

any way they wanted if it made a more

important point.

But it had this story had to be true.

Now the third day, the number three

means esqueological fulfillment, divine

fulfillment. Something's going to happen

here that's divinely fulfilled. Okay.

It's also the third day that Jesus was

what?

>> Right? You can see that echo there too,

can't you? There was a wedding in Canaa

in Galilee and the mother of Jesus was

there. Jesus also was invited to the

wedding with his disciples.

When the wine ran out, what did I just

tell you that that represented?

When there's no wine, it means that the

nation is cursed.

When Jesus comes into Israel, he's not

going to find joy. He's going to find an

attack on him, the living God. These

people are idol worshippers. The wine

ran out. This is a judgment picture.

The mother of Jesus said to him, "They

have no wine."

I always wonder, and there's lots of

discussion, why did she do that? I think

she saw him do stuff before, and I think

she's just trying to help. Maybe a

relative doesn't want to get sued. And

Jesus said to her, now here's our first

word. I want you to note this. You got

pen and paper. Write this one down. He

said,"Woman,

not mother, woman, what does this have

to do with me?"

Now, can you imagine? I don't know if

you grew up in my generation,

but if my father said, or my mother

said, and we were at the kitchen table,

Emry, can you go get me that milk? And I

said, "Woman,

why are you bugging me?"

I'm going to tell you something. My

family, I wouldn't be preaching right

now.

This stands out the word because it was

offensive. Somebody said that this is a

an honoring word. I went back and double

checked and triple checked, went to my

encyclopedias. It's not. I think it's

just people trying to make Jesus look

nice. But there's a reason he uses it,

and I'll get there. He says,"Woman,

what does this have to do with me?" He

is not asking as if in why do I care

because this isn't my wedding? But he's

looking at her and saying and asking

that question he constantly does. You're

asking for this. What does this really

have to do with me? They don't know

because what he's going to find out is

what this has to do with him is this

whole gospel.

What does this have to do with me? And

then he says this other thing, my hour

has not yet come. It's only used the

hour of God around his crucifixion.

Okay? So somehow he sees whatever this

has to do with him that if he acts now,

it's going to point to his crucifixion.

Do you see that?

Cuz his hour has not yet come.

Something's correlating between the

crucifixion and this wedding and the

wine.

Well, we're going to go on. By the way,

kids here, don't call your mother woman.

[snorts] Just a tip. And don't try, oh,

Jesus did it. Um,

his mother said to the servants, and

they represent, I believe, the

disciples, but that's a whole other

thing. Do whatever he tells you. Now

there were six stone water jars there

for the rights were there for the Jewish

rights of purification.

Six is the key. Do you know what the

number six means?

Human sinfulness,

human fallenness.

And what would happen in Israel is you

would take this water and according to

the Torah, you would fill them because

you had you were unclean. You may have

been in touch with a dead animal or

something like that. And you would

ceremoniously wash you so you would be

clean. That's what this was for.

So it could clean the outside of you,

but it was there because of human

sinfulness.

Okay? And it says each holding 20 or 30

gallons. Jesus, that's a blot, by the

way. Jesus said to the servants, "Fill

the waters to the jars to the with fill

the jars with water." and they filled

them up to the brim. Whatever is going

to come out of this

thing is going to be overflowing and

available for everyone is what this

means.

And he said to them, "Now draw out some

and take it to the master of the feast."

I think this represents the leaders of

Israel.

So they took it. When the master of the

feast tasted the water now become wine

and did not know where it came from,

though the servants who had drawn it

water knew. In other words, the leaders

of Israel have no idea what's going on.

The servants do cuz they're serving. The

master of the feast called the

bridegroom. Who's the bridegroom?

Yeah, you got it. God in this. And he

said to him, "Everyone serves the good

wine first, and when people have drunk

freely, then the poor wine." Now, this

is a tough one for my Baptist friends.

Um because they like to say that it was

grape juice they were drinking. Number

one, grape juice wasn't created till the

19th century. Um you know, God could

have brought grape juice back, I guess.

I don't know. Um,

but no, it's one of those things, and

I've only heard about this, but

apparently if you have a few drinks,

after a while, the taste goes and you

don't notice the bad taste of another

drink. Again, that's what I've heard.

Um,

and and

everyone serves the good wine first

because yes, it's good. you're you're

not and then and then you get a little

bit of like and then you're like here's

the bad wine but you have kept the good

wine until now. So something's going on

here because what they're saying is

everyone usually p uh gives the good

wine first but because this wine's so

good the wine you gave first was bad

wine. Don't forget that but you have

kept the good wine until now.

This he says is the first of his signs.

Signs pointing to himself. All signs.

What are signposts? They they they point

you to the signifier of the signs.

This is the first of his signs Jesus did

at Canaan Galilee and manifested his

glory. What's the glory of God in John's

gospel? You got to get it by now. It's

the cross. He's glorified on the cross.

And his disciples believed in him.

And then he goes off down to Capernium

with Mummy and the boys. All right.

So, what does this mean?

You got M, you've got the hour, and

you've got this action of of this

purification jar that he's made into

wine. How is this connected with the

crucifixion? And how do we take this

then to understand communion? Well,

where should we go

to the crucifixion? Would you agree? So,

let's go there

and then we can start to interpret.

When Jesus saw his mother and his

disciple whom he loved standing by, he

said to his mother,

second time he said it in the whole

gospel,

Gune, it's a good name, a gune,

the second time. Why would this be the

second time he gives it? Because it's a

literary technique and it's a shocking

way of saying it that he's connecting

this wedding with the crucifixion.

That's why Jesus does these two things.

He's trying to connect them.

Behold your son. He's talking about, of

course, John. Then he said to the

disciple, "Behold your mother." And from

that hour the disciple took her to his

own home. After this, Jesus, knowing

that all was now finished, said to

fulfill the scripture, "I thirst."

Now, what did they bring?

A jar full of sour wine stood there.

What did this just say? that that that

guy at the wedding. Most people bring

the good wine first and then the bad.

But you brought the bad wine first.

What's happening here?

What's the first wine he's going to get?

The bad wine. Just like the feast.

He stood there. So they put a sponge

full of sour wine on a hop branch, held

it to his mouth. When Jesus had received

the sour wine, he drank it. No other

crucifixion narrative does he drink it.

Why does he drink it in this one?

Because he's trying to make a point.

He's taking in the bad wine,

the impure.

And when Jesus had received the sour

wine, he said, "It is finished." and he

bowed his head and he gave up his

spirit.

Since it was the day of preparation and

so that the bodies would not remain on

the cross on the Sabbath, for the

Sabbath was a high day, the Jews asked

Pilate that their legs might be broken

and they might be taken away. This was

the way you mostly finished a

crucifixion.

So the soldiers came and broke the legs

of first and then the other who had been

crucified with him.

But when they came to Jesus, they saw he

was already dead. Well, usually they

would still break the legs, but they did

not break his legs. But one of the

soldiers pierced his side with a spear.

Now, here you go. And at once there came

out blood. And what

what just happened in the Canaan?

The water turned into

What does wine represent?

So what happened here [clears throat]

for those who have eyes to see is there

was a system there to clean the outside

of the jar, right? And this was there

full of water that was meant to clean

the outside of you. And when he points

to who he is, when he shows what he's

about, why does this have to do with me?

He drinks the bad wine, but rather than

going to a jug

and washing the outside, from the inside

of Jesus comes

the good wine represented by his blood

and the water that washes away the sin.

The purification.

Purification now isn't just on the

outside

in this point.

Purification through the blood is on the

inside of our being.

We are not forgiven if this is true just

on the outside or the things we make

mistakes on. If this is true, the core

of your being has been forgiven on the

cross

and you have been washed clean

by the blood.

Isn't that amazing?

What does this have to do with me? It's

a great question. He is the only

location

in any religion anywhere where the

insides of you can be forgiven when you

come to him.

He who saw it has be borne witness. His

testimony is true and he knows that he

is telling the truth that you might

believe in him. And why might we want to

believe in him? Because there is eternal

life.

There's Zoe.

This story from the wedding of Kaa has

shown us that the old way of cleansing

us, whatever that religious way in Torah

was, has been changed. And the very God

himself gave his life for us, took on

the sin, the impure,

and out of him has come the only thing

that can clean us fully and forgive us.

That is powerful stuff.

It's no doubt then why when John was

writing to his little church in the

letter, he said these words.

But if we walk in the light as he is in

the light, we have fellowship with one

another. And the blood of Jesus son

cleanses us from how many sins?

>> All

sin.

all sin. You know why that matters?

Because I don't think a lot of

Christians believe that. I know I

struggle with it.

I think a lot of us think that, yeah,

God's kind of nice and hopefully he'll

forgive me. It's not about you and it's

not about how much he likes you. It's

the fact that he has made it so that you

are fully forgiven

through the cross.

And the blood of Jesus, his son,

cleanses us from all sin.

You know, it's funny.

We live in a weird world right now. A

weird world where people are doing all

kinds of evil all kinds of days. Can we

agree with that? Anybody happen to uh

poke their nose around the Epstein

files?

If you can read that and not realize

that there is a level of evil in this

world that you and I can't even fathom.

When I was a social worker, I used to

have to go to homes and apprehend

children. And then I'd go into these

kumbaya Christian things where it's all

about being nice and good. And I

thought, you have no idea the evil

that's out there. I used to get angry.

You see, the problem is

this biblical story is a real tragedy.

For one,

we were made in God's image and it was

ordered and we chose to be like God and

then we stopped loving each other and we

began to destroy one another. And if you

go back in history and go back and look,

it's always violence,

rape, torture,

every culture all the time.

My friend Todd was telling me that the

defense for the natives to have their

little land in Richmond was, "Hey, we

took this over fair and square and they

were our slaves."

That was the natives. Talking about

another band that was fighting them.

There is no pure place in the world.

And the tragedy was he made us in his

image. And what people around you want

to say to you is actually you're okay.

You're nice. Believe in yourself.

I'm going to tell you right now, that's

crap.

And I'll tell you why I know it's crap.

Is because we are the most drugged

nation ever. And we have more stuff than

we've ever had. These are facts. We are

on more SSRIs, more anti-anxiety drugs,

more this and that and the other thing.

And yet, we have more than we've ever

had.

And you cannot tell me that this world

isn't messed up deeply.

Carl Bart was writing and he was so

offended to by the Germans of his time

who thought the Germans were the good

people. He wrote this right in this time

1930s Hitler was in power and he made

sure he turned this. He said man has

have never been good.

They are not good and they will never be

good. And he means outside of God.

And everything he said there is

absolutely true.

Have I depressed you yet?

Christianity

is the one religion that can tell the

truth.

And I'm telling you right now, at the

core of our being, we're not floating

without God. We're not floating five

feet off the earth doing nice things for

people.

I have people who say to me, "Well,

Emry, why doesn't God just wipe the evil

off the earth?" Well, I always quote Mr.

Sproul, "Why God doesn't eliminate all

evil?" Because if God were to eliminate

all evil, you would be dead.

Oh, come on. Everybody says I want to

feel good.

So does God. But he doesn't want you to

feel good about yourself without him.

That's what makes

the gospel so profound.

And you know what? I'm tired of hearing

about sermons that are about how to be a

better Christian, how to make your

marriage work, how to do this. We need

to start focusing on God and not us.

And what did God do? This is the

incredible thing. He did the great

substitution.

We in all our darkness and evil, he came

down as a full human being.

And he substituted his goodness for our

garbage.

When he got on that cross and said, "It

is finished." When he bled for us, he

made us righteous, we who believe in

him, though we didn't deserve it. And it

says he took sin upon himself.

It's the most incredible truth and

people don't like to tell it anymore

because they say, "Oh, it sounds too

violent."

Well, you can say it sounds too violent,

but it's in the Bible. And have you

looked at the world around you? How's

that not violent?

The most incredible truth I can ever

tell you is Jesus Christ, if you believe

in him, he went and died on that cross

for your sake so that you could inherit

his goodness, his righteousness.

How many of us believe that?

Thank you.

How many times have I heard in a sermon,

it's good to be good, it's nice to be

nice, so be nice.

Well, my problem with that sermon is

you're not good, so you're not going to

be good. And I've met you. You're not

nice.

There's something so amazing in this

that must be said and we've lost it in

the pulpit that Jesus Christ died for us

and our one way back is taking on his

righteousness.

That's it.

John Sto, the concept of substitution

lies at the heart of both sin and

salvation.

For the essence of sin is man

substituting himself for God, while the

essence of salvation is God substituting

himself for man.

Jesus Christ, if you ever wonder if

God's good, ask yourself this. Is Jesus

good? The guy who went and carried his

cross, who said, "It is finished and you

are forgiven. Cuz if he's God, which

we've been told, and you can tell me

that's not good, then good luck looking

at the other gods.

This is the truth that we must proclaim

that God has entered our story

and he has substituted himself for us.

And in the substitution for us, you know

what he did? He poured out his blood for

us.

And it wasn't just a I died and it came.

This blood was there to cleanse us from

our sin.

It's called atonement.

What he did when he took his blood is he

covered us with his blood and he washed

us not just on the outside but the

inside.

Peter knows this. He says, "Know knowing

that you were ransomed from your from

the futile ways inherited from your

forefathers, not with perishable things

such as silver and gold, but with the

precious blood of Christ,

like that of a lamb without blemish or

spot. You were paid for and you were

redeemed because of his blood. You were

washed clean because of his blood.

That's what the wedding of Canaan story

is telling us. You

are cleansed because he died for you and

your sin is covered. Not because you

went, "Oh, I'm sorry enough."

But because he wanted to and he's

already washed you clean.

We have lost the good news when we don't

recognize this.

Now, there's some people who say, "Oh,

well, Emry, you don't understand. This

was really actually a terrible thing,

the cross, because God the Father put

God the Son down and abused him by

killing him."

Number one, you have no idea what the

Trinity is when you say that.

Number two, it was Jesus Christ

willingly taking the cross as God. It

was God who redeemed us on that cross.

It was not one God beating the heck out

of another God so you might get to

heaven. It was one true full God in

three persons. And he died in our place.

And that is a God worth worshiping.

When Jesus Christ shed his blood on the

cross, it was not the blood of a martyr

or the blood of one man for another. It

was the life of God poured out to redeem

the world. Amen. Oswald Chambers.

So when we come here,

if you can still take this as some

memory, good for you. But I'm going to

tell you, there's something so much

deeper in it.

We take these elements and we take that

wine.

We are taking with us a tangible mercy.

He has already washed us, but it reminds

us of what he's done for us. And when it

comes in us, I do believe the Holy

Spirit are in these elements.

And I believe the fruit of what we're

doing is so much deeper. And we should

take it with utmost seriousness because

it's such a gift. Anybody

sinned this week?

The rest of you liars.

You all sinned. And you know what? The

reason you're sitting here and

worshiping is cuz he's faithful. And the

best part is you should run up to here

when this comes

and get your sins forgiven and tangible

again to feel that again. that truth

that he has washed us by his blood.

When I first became a Presbyterian

minister, the people would come in and

they'd see what we only did it like once

every 3 months back then, but they'd see

the communion table.

And you'd think that they were sucking

lemons

because they were terrified of it

because they had read first Corinthians

the wrong way and they thought, "Oh, I'm

going to die potentially because I'm not

absolutely perfect coming to the table."

That is why that is some of the worst

theology. The person who walks in these

doors and is not perfect wants to run

and get clean,

right?

The one who's truly convicted, whose

spirit is unease,

wants to run back to the father

and have this tangible presence.

The other part of this that gets lost,

we always end here, but I'm going to add

one part that I think I really think you

don't want to lose

is communion is also a promise of a

feast.

For now, we take it and it is a reminder

and it is a real presence of God in the

elements and the washing of sin, but

it's points to an abundant life.

See, communion isn't just a thing we do

to remember the past. It's not just a

thing we do to, you know, re react out

Jesus' death. It is a promise of the

feast we're going to have. What was the

purpose of John's writing? These words

were written so that you may believe

Jesus is Christ the son of God and that

you in believing you may have Zoey

abundant life

if that's the purpose then this whole

section's about abundant life so how is

abundant life Jesus want blood is also

the life that brings joy and because

we're cleansed

isn't it John's gospel that says I am

the vine and you are the branches is

she's using the metaphor of a vineyard,

right?

Lesly Noob again. We shall learn that

Jesus himself is the true wine

vine and that the wine of joy is in fact

the blood of Jesus,

the blood of the new covenant poured out

for the life of the world. It is that

alone which can provide joy in its

fullness.

that alone which can provide joy in its

fullness. I wish we did communion every

week. I'm going to show that. I'm not

going to get my way, but I do because I

actually believe communion is not this

dreary memory, but it is the lifeblood

of the church.

I really do.

And I love the fact it's pointing to

something else that the Old Testament

knew. When the wine starts to pour, we

know we're in the res the resurrection.

The promise, my friends, every time it

points in the Old Testament to God

forgiving and having an eternal

relationship with his people is in a

feast. Did you know that?

Well, let me give you a hint.

Isaiah 25. On this mountain, the Lord of

Hosts will make for all peoples a feast

of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine,

of rich food, of marrow, of aged wine,

well-refined. He will swallow up on this

mountain the covering that is cast over

all peoples. In other words, sin's gone

and the veil that has spread over the

nations. That means our ignorance has

been swallowed up.

He will swallow up death forever. Amen.

And the Lord God will wipe every tear

from all the faces. Yes, this is where

Revelation got it from. And the reproach

of his people he will take away from all

the earth. For the Lord has spoken.

Sometimes I think we leave it at the

cross, but we forget that this is good

news.

Do you believe in Jesus Christ? Then

I've got something to tell you.

No matter what happens now,

you're going to live into eternity

and a world of feasting with the Lord

where all of that stuff,

all of that anxiety, all of that sin,

all of that guilt, all of that shame

will be washed away.

And today in part when we do this, it's

a reminder.

It's meant to get us excited for that

day as we take the wine now for that

future feast.

This is good news, guys. It's an amazing

news.

Let's embrace it. Let's come to this

table

and let's come expecting

and reminding ourselves as we take it

that our sins have been forgiven because

of the blood of the lamb.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for your

amazing grace.

We thank you for your cross. We thank

you that you stood in the gap for us.

We who did not deserve it. You gave us

your righteousness and you poured out

your blood as a blood sacrifice for us

so that we would be cleansed from the

inside. We who receive you.

May we look at these communion elements

differently from now on. May we run in

it. If we are sinning, let's run up to

the table

and be cleansed.

We thank you, Father, for your

faithfulness.

Amen.