THE LORD’S TABLE TUNE "LOVE DIVINE" 8.7.8.7. WORDS BY JIM BYRD
1. God in mercy sent the Savior, From His throne to earth below; By His death and resurrection, He has conquered ev’ry foe. See Him wounded, bruised, forsaken, Sacrifice of God was He; Bearing all our sins and sorrows, Jesus died on Calvary.
2. So we gather by commandment, At this table which is spread; To remember with thanksgiving, Christ Who suffered in our stead. He the Bread of Life was given, For His people Jesus died; Shed His blood for our salvation, God was fully satisfied.
3. Here for us the bread is broken, Emblem of that Holy One; True Messiah, blest Redeemer, God the Father’s precious Son. In remembrance of our Savior, Who redeemed us on the tree; See the wine poured out before us, Speaks of blood which set us free.
4. God in justice punished Jesus, For He bore iniquity; By His death He sealed our pardon, Saved His chosen family. Now enthroned in matchless splendor, Christ our Savior - bless His Name; Give unto Him laud and glory, Praise the Lord and spread His fame.
"Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus: that ye may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." (Romans 15:5-6)
THE INFLUENCE OF ATONING BLOOD Has atoning blood so influenced our eyes that we see no true beauty apart from Christ crucified? Has atoning blood influenced our ears so that we can listen to no sound so sweet as that of Jesus’ precious name? Has atoning blood so influenced our hands that we are willing to labor for His sake? Has atoning blood so influenced our feet that we cannot safely take a single step without Him? If this is the case with us, then we are the servants of Jesus Christ, bought with His blood, born into His house and blessed with His bounty. –Thomas Bradbury
RELIGIOUS BAKERS "Jesus said unto them, Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees" (Matthew 16:6). We are familiar with leaven which, when added to dough, causes expansion of the batter. It has an altering or transforming influence on the mixture, making it rise. When someone prepares bread, they don’t bake leaven alone - who in their right mind would eat that? Rather, a small amount of leaven must be added to dough, in a skillful way, and so a delicious product is created.
When our Lord warned of "the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees," He was referring to their erroneous teaching. "How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees? Then understood they how that He bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees" (vv. 11-12). He was warning His disciples of the corrupt message of the leaders of Judaism. What did these religious bakers do? They subtly mixed a little error with Biblical truths. They did not openly deny the Word of God, for then their doctrine would not have been received, but they cleverly added a small amount of leaven to the gospel so that their unsuspecting hearers would receive the altered teachings.
Satan has many religious bakers today, and they are proficient in blending leaven with truth so as to make their false gospel palatable to the natural man. Rarely do they oppose the scriptures outright, else most would refuse their doctrine. What they do is blend a small amount of error with the the Word of God. They talk about salvation by divine grace, but make salvation hinge upon man’s decision or works. They declare the sacrifice of Christ, but make the success of that sacrifice rest upon the belief or repentance of the sinner. They preach justification by faith, but make man’s faith to be the cause, the reason or the basis for justification, rather than the result, the effect, or the evidence of justification. They preach the necessity of the new birth by the Holy Spirit and then make the new birth to be the result of man’s free-will. In short, they always set forth the salvation of sinners as being dependent upon something man must contribute, rather than solely conditioned upon the blood and righteousness of Christ.
How much leaven must be added by a religious baker to transform the true gospel into a false gospel? "A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump" (Galatians 5:9). –Pastor Jim Byrd
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