The Message Of The Cross Gets To Rome - Part II
April 2023
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“For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: And when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me.” —I Corinthians 11:23-24
Part I of this article series left off with the ordinance of holy communion. First, when a person partakes of the Lord’s Supper, he should take a few minutes to remember something very important. I Corinthians 11:24, Paul quotes Christ: “This do in remembrance of me.” The next verse says, “This do ye, as oft as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” Yes, the practice of holy communion requires us to remember something; to look backward and see why and how this important ordinance was established. What does it really mean?
The Lord’s Supper should be understood involving several Old Testament historical realities:
Genesis 3:21 tells us that almighty God sacrificed an animal using its skin as a covering for the nakedness and sin of Adam and Eve.
In Genesis 4:4, Abel presents a sacrificial lamb as a blood sacrifice unto God.
In Exodus 12, God instructs Moses to have every family to select a very special sheep or goat, to kill it and splash its blood on the door post of each family dwelling as an atonement for sins.
In the book of Leviticus, God instructs Moses to institute the animal sacrificial system involving lambs, goats, and bulls which was instituted to deal with sin.
I Peter 1:18-19 says, “Forasmuch as ye know, that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold … but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”
Truly, the death of Christ on the old rugged cross two thousand years ago dealt with the sin issue once and for all.
Second, partaking of the Lord’s Supper requires us to look inward. This identifies the doctrine of sanctification. In I Corinthians 11:28-30 Paul writes, “But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.”
Before partaking of the Lord’s Supper, we should look inside our hearts and minds and ask God to forgive us of sin—sins of commission or omission. I John 1:9 tells us, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
And in I Thessalonians 4:3-4, Paul writes, “For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that you should abstain from fornication; That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor.”
Paul clearly taught the necessity of radical faith in the shed blood of Calvary to live a sanctified life unto Christ and the world. Sincere repentance and faith in Calvary cleanses from all sin.
Third, in I Corinthians 11:26 we read, “For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord’s death till he come.” In this brief passage of Scripture, the Paul admonished us to look upward. Paul strongly believed in the coming of the Lord in his lifetime. He writes in Titus 2:13, “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.”
In I Thessalonians 5:23, the apostle Paul links together the doctrine of sanctification with the doctrine of the second coming of Christ, when he writes, “And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Proper observance of the Lord’s Supper does contribute to one’s sanctification in sincere preparation for the coming of the Lord.
PAUL GOT TO PREACH IN ROME
In Romans 1:14, the apostle Paul declares, “I am a debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians.” Paul felt that he owed something. He really wants to preach Christ and the cross in Rome. Do we possess that same quickening?
In Romans 1:15, Paul declares, “I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also.” He was anxious to get to the world capital and preach.
In Romans 1:16, Paul said, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation.” He knows the gospel will change lives.
In Acts 28:16, we read that Paul finally arrives in Rome and was able to preach the great doctrine of Christ and the cross, and many lives were changed.
In a sermon, someone once asked, “Do you live on the right side of Easter?” Are you fully persuaded that Christ was crucified for your sins, arose from the grave on the third day, and that He is alive today?
More than a hundred years ago, Lewis E. Jones wrote the great hymn “Power In the Blood.” I think the first verse deals with what salvation is all about:
Would you be free from the burden of sin?
There’s pow’r in the blood, pow’r in the blood;
Would you o’er evil a victory win?
There’s wonderful pow’r in the blood.”
I think the second verse is about sanctification:
Would you be free from your passion and pride?
There’s pow’r in the blood, pow’r in the blood;
Come for a cleansing to Calvary’s tide—
There’s wonderful pow’r in the blood.
Yes, you can be set free from the guilt of past sins:
“Would you be whiter, yes brighter than snow?
There’s pow’r in the blood, pow’r in the blood;
Sin-stains are lost in its life-giving flow—
There’s wonderful pow’r in the blood.
And then there’s that beautiful chorus:
There is pow’r, pow’r, wonder-working pow’r
In the blood of the Lamb;
There is pow’r, pow’r, wonder-working pow’r
In the precious blood of the Lamb.
This great hymn of the past makes abundantly clear that everything we need spiritually is found by exercising total faith in Christ and the blood of Calvary. Truly, there is power in the blood.
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