In this sermon, Pastor Babij explores how, in the midst of Jesus’ teaching regarding true greatness for His disciples, Jesus presents Himself as the ultimately great One. Pastor Babij explains Jesus’ greatness in three main points:
- The Greatness of Who Jesus Was: God, Man, and Messiah
- The Greatness of What He Became: A Suffering Servant to Mankind
- The Greatness of What He Actually Accomplished: Salvation for Sinners
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and we’ll look at Mark chapter 10 and I am going back to verse number 45 Mark chapter 10 and verse number 45 I’m going to kind of Park on this passage this morning and it says this for even the son of man did not come to be served but to serve and give his life a ransom for many let’s pray father this morning as uh we meet before you we can only come in the name of Jesus Christ and I pray Lord that as we live each day that we would grow more deep ly in love with Christ well we know Lord when we have a relationship with you and we love you we hedge against sin so I pray Lord that you would this morning give us a deeper understanding of what you accomplished on the cross and in doing so Lord give us give us a deeper love for you so Lord we would serve you from the depth of our souls and that it wouldn’t be something that just routine or something that ends up being just cold service but I pray Lord that our heart would be thrilled to want to live for you every day we get up and I pray Lord Jesus that you would show us from the word of God the very things that you accomplished in our behalf so that we can be saved and I pray Lord you would strengthen Us by it and I ask this in Christ’s name amen now in the passage before us Jesus is teaching his disciples what it really means to be great to be great in the kingdom of God if you really want to make a difference and make an eternal mark on Humanity then you must be a servant that’s what the message has been so far Jesus perception of greatness in Mark 10 reveals the mind of God on the subject if you look at verse 43 and 44 it says but it is not so among you but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be slave of all only Jesus can really teach teach us true greatness so service alone is the indicator of real greatness in God’s eyes now just backing up a little bit remember the disciples view of greatness is who will have the best seat in the kingdom of God the world’s perception of greatness is a person who controls and commands others but the Lord said real greatness consists of doing things for others and I mentioned last time that I had read a quote that said the best way to measure the quality of a man’s character is how you responds to someone who can do nothing for him see my friends if it were not for Jesus coming to this earth to serve we would all be without hope because we’re Sinners with nothing to offer God yet the Lord responded to sinful Humanity who had nothing to offer him by offering himself and then as a servant he tells us if you wish to be great Jesus says be a servant if you wish to be first of all be a slave but today I want to focus on the great God of Wonders now look with me again and I want to kind of unpack verse number 45 because in looking at it we’re going to see a personification of real greatness a greatness that led to Ultimate Triumph now let’s spend some time on this Lord’s Day focusing on three characteristics that display the greatness of Jesus Christ and these characteristics will give you a fuller understanding of the work of Christ which again should lead us to a deeper love for him and so the first characteristic of jesus’ greatness in verse number 45 is the greatness of who he was now who was he in verse 45 says even the son of man there’s that title even the son of man that’s who he was he was the son of man in fact it was Jesus alone who gave himself this title remember as we’ve been going through the gospel of Mark Jesus avoided using the term Messiah especially in reference to himself instead he spoke of himself as as the son of man of his coming suffering and death the term son of man kind of half concealed and half revealed his identity as Messiah and because Jesus has been ministering all through the gospel of Mark in the context of substantial misunderstanding and uh constant conflicting Messianic expectation he avoids his identity as the Messiah he does that until he makes clear himself what the understanding of Messiah ought to be and what’s the understanding of messiah’s office see his Redemptive mission was inseparably connected with his death and resurrection and so here in this passage of scripture we get a clear purpose of his mission that the son of man has come to do something he has come from Heaven to Earth to serve but he also also has come from Heaven to Earth to give his life a ransom for many now let me just unpack that because there’s three thoughts that converge when Jesus uses the title son of man the first thought lifts Jesus out from among all men as being the one who Bears the human nature like no man Bears it true man but more than a man God yes Jesus he is also the son of of the Living God now that becomes this has actually become evident all through the gospel of Mark when we see that Jesus has authority over demons he has authority over nature he has authority over disease he has authority over paralysis and when he heals the paralytic back in Chapter 2 he really upset his audience because he made an indirect claim of who he was matter of fact he made that claim so indirectly but they got it they got what he was trying to do so they actually retorted out against him and they said this in chapter 2: 7 why does this man speak that way he is blaspheming who can forgive sins but God alone so yes the son of man has Authority on Earth to forgive sins this becomes a significant truth found in the gospel of Mark that on Earth that very phrase stresses the fact that he who can forgive sins has appeared on Earth so that forgiveness is no longer far away it’s no longer something you find at the temple but something that you find in a person Jesus Christ who has come to this earth that God has come near to deal with our greatest need and that’s the be forgiven of sins the sins that condemn us and the sins that separate us from God that’s all in the phrase son of man a second thing in the phrase son of man it connects Jesus to humanity as a suffering servant in his mission in his first coming to Earth I’ve been already talking about that but there’s a third thing that comes to mind when we think of the son of man and that it is truly a Messianic title and it’s connected with jesus’ greatness his power and finally his exaltation the Prophet Daniel his description of the son of man rules All Peoples and All Nations the phrase son of man is used eschatologically that means in the end time reference in connection with his consummation of all things at the end in fact in Daniel 7 verse 13 to uh 27 the prophet sees in Vision number five a powerful Kingdom succeeding the fourth Great and Powerful Kingdom on Earth in other words Daniel sees in his vision one like the son of man that this power is said to be the kingdom of the Saints of the most high that smashes all the other kingdoms and takes over as the last Kingdom of the world ruled by Jesus Christ of course the Messiah in fact it says in Daniel this Daniel chapter 7 I kept looking in a night vision and behold what the Clouds Of Heaven one like the son of man was coming and he came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him and it gave him and to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples Nations men of every language might serve him his Dominion is an everlasting Dominion which will not pass away and his kingdom is one which will not be destroyed so in other words Jesus the son of man because of him being given this kingdom is also ultimately giving the authority to judge humankind for it says back in Mark chapter 8 and verse number 38 and you should turn there it says that for Mark 838 for whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation the son of man will be ashamed of him when he comes in glory of his father with the Holy Angels and then again turn over to Mark 13 and verse 26 and 27 again using the phrase son of man to something quite uh in the future it says then in chapter 13: 26 then they will see the son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory and then he will send forth the angels and will gather together his elect from the Four Winds from the farthest end of the Earth to the farthest end of heaven and of course in Revelation it tells us I looked and behold a white cloud and sitting on the Cloud was one like the son of man having a Golden Crown on his head that him being a king and then a sharp sickle in his hand that being he is a judge so Jesus Christ is referred to the son of man the clouds symbolizing the holy and divine presence of God and the white symbolizing the righteousness and purity of Christ and the golden the crown or the Victor’s re is given to a Victor and designates the Messiah as one who has conquered and thereby won the right to act in judgment so the title son of man links Jesus the God man with the entire process of redemption the consummation of which is the final judgment but right here in this passage in verse 45 of back in Mark chapter 10 the stress is upon the humiliation of Jesus during his Earthly Earthly sojourn the humiliation of Jesus would accomplish something great that is that jesus’ great Mission as the son of man was that he had the authority to remit sin and that Jesus had come to bring to us us to make our own that remission that anybody who would come to Christ Christ would no wise cast them out and Christ at that moment when somebody comes in faith and repentance to believe in him remits their sin so their sin could no longer be brought up against them in any kind of judgment and then in the end they would be saved from the wrath of God so Jesus shows us God getting involved in the world getting his hands dirty he accomplished the greatest mission in the complete opposite way the world leaders and their systems and governments would do not by command not by control not in his first coming but by service suffering and death see that that is the first characteristic of the greatness of the Son of God the son of man Jesus Christ the second characteristic of Jesus greatness found in verse 45 is the greatness of what he became what he became what did he become he became a servant he became our servant it says he did not come to be served in verse 45 but to serve so although Jesus was infinitely great himself all powerful to lorded overall he came in his Incarnation on a mission that was the very opposite Jesus could have rightfully compelled all men to be servants and even slaves but he himself the Lord Of Glory the creator of the Heaven and the Earth and Mankind came to serve so Mark in his gospel portrays Jesus pres principally as a servant King who we should all follow and we’ve seen that Jesus the servant savior performed to the greatest degree of Excellence all through through the gospel of Mark in his authority in the authority of his teaching his hearers recognize that he taught like no one had ever taught he taught with authority not like the scribes and the Pharisees not like the leaders of his day of course as a perfect servant we saw that he cares about the physical and the spiritual needs of people without diverting from his main task that is to preach the kingdom of God so he is able to save Souls we saw Jesus demonstrate his power of compassion to overcome uncleanness as represented in leprosy and we have observed Jesus as the friend of sinners which shows us the real Scandal of Grace that is Jesus can and turn us sinners into what we were intended to be mature image bearers who reflect the glory of God by forgiving Us by cleansing us and then by making us his friends just imagine we are friends of God when we come to Christ and in very real way that’s the Lord table reflects it reflects us sitting around the meal and participating in the bread and of course the cup that represent the Flesh of Jesus and and the Incarnation of Jesus and then of course the blood that he shed for to wash away our sin and that we sit down at peace with God being friends of God that’s an awesome thought and that is the thought that this terms son of man really brings to our mind that he was our servant the first time he came and that all is made possible by scandalous Grace and his choice to be the Friend of Sinners so his service has already been in progress but his service has not come to an end there is a greater service to come the purpose of the Lord’s life and coming into the world the first time was to give and not to receive or to take Jesus was the greatest Minister who ever walked the face of this planet see our passage has woven into it primarily A discipleship mandate as Jesus uses himself as the model of those who seek to serve but there’s something more Jesus shows the extent of his servant Hood he’s willing to die on behalf of lost Sinners he’s willing to die now this is brings me to the last part of verse number 45 of Mark chapter 10 and the third characteristic of Jesus greatness and it’s this the greatness of what he actually accomplished and what did he accomplish the substitution for sinners now notice again in verse number 45 what did he do in the last part of it he did actually the first thing to give his life it says and of course that means to give himself over to death to submit to that enemy to the purpose of Jes Jesus life was to serve and to give voluntarily willingly his own life but it says secondly here that he was to give his life as a ransom to give his life as a ransom for many see his life was a ransom and the root of the Greek word for ransom is the word luo which means to loose to set free to unbind so see the the full Greek term for ransom is Lutron which means to a price paid to affect the release of one who has been held in bondage and who has been held in bondage we have we’ve been held in bondage to sin so what is a ransom it is a price for liberating either a person or a thing that has been taken or possessed by another and the teaching here is that Christ by his death looses the bonds and sets us free who were prisoners and that he does so by paying the price the price that he paid is his own precious blood for it says in Corinthians chapter 6 by way of a question it says or do you not know that your body is the Temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you whom you have from God and that you are not your own God owned you he has authority over your life for you have been bought with a price therefore glorify y God in your body and first Peter says it in a different way and very specific and listen what it says in 1 Peter 1:18 it says knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers but with Precious Blood as a lamb unblemished and spotless the blood of Christ so see we were redeemed not with perishable things but with something that was imperishable and that was the Eternal blood of Christ the word Redemption has the same idea that you you you redeem something by paying a price to get it back so that means a redeemer is one who takes action to set another free in fact the word Redemption is at the heart of jesus’ mission when Jesus went into the synagogue in his hometown of Nazareth as he started out his ministry he opened the Hebrew scriptures and he turned to and read Isaiah 61 and this is what it says in Isaiah 61 recorded in Luke the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor and then he says this and he has sent me to Proclaim release to the captives there it is the Lord comes to loosen us from the bonds and the condemnation of sin for all those who would repent and believe in Christ so Jesus is seen in the New Testament as the Redeemer the one who redeems his people from captivity setting them free by offering himself as a ransom now who was the ransom paid some say The Ransom was paid to Satan because Satan had Satan held Fallen mankind under bondage in other words Satan was the kidnapper who snatched us from the father’s house and Christ came to pay the ransom to the devil to set us free but if that is the case if that is the case it would be the kidnapper who had the upper hand because it would be the kidnapper who set The Ransom price if the ransom was paid to Satan then it would be Satan who was the Victor and not Christ so in other words it wasn’t Satan so that cannot be the correct answer to the question so who was the ransom paid especially in light of the Bible’s what the Bible says about who the Victor is passages tell us about the work that Christ accomplished in first John it says he came to accomplish this to take away sin and that’s what it says he appeared in order to take away sins the very reason Jesus came into the world and appeared as the godmen was for that very reason in first John there’s another reason why Jesus came and that is to destroy the works of the devil the son of man appeared for this purpose to destroy the works of the devil the devil is the originator and instigator of sin he brought sin into the world his work includes opposing the work of God tempting people to sin and then enslaving them until death his work also included keeping people in darkness and blinding them to the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ so Jesus came to destroy the works of the devil now this means to render his work inoperative and Powerless he breaks the devil’s controlling Power by dying in the place of Sinners becoming a satisfaction before the father a propitiation for for sin in other words Jesus atoning sacrifice dealt with the problem of human sin and in doing so destroyed the work of the devil again this cannot be the correct answer to the question that it was Ransom to the devil The Ransom was not paid to Satan but the ransom was paid to God because God was the one who had to be satisi satisfied it was God’s justice that needed to be satisfied so when the Bible speaks of Ransom it speaks of that Ransom being paid not to a criminal but to the one who is owed the price of redemption the one who is the offended party in the whole complex of sin and that offended party is God the father so you see Jesus offered himself in payment to the father for us and in doing so made Redemption for his people redeeming them from captivity in fact in the book of Hebrews it tells us that Christ entered Heaven having obtained an eternal Redemption an eternal ransoming that means what Christ has done and this security that he gives those who believe in him it cannot be undone this is so rich that I do not want you to miss the picture here because the root of this picture is really found in the Old Testament Israel had a custom called the kinsman redeemer the kinsman redeemer was a relative who could be authorized to pay off one of his relatives debts including a bride price for example in Leviticus CH 25 in verse 23- 27 the Bible says this it says the land moreover shall not be sold permanently for the land is mine for you are but aliens and sojourners with me thus for every piece of property you are to provide for the Redemption of the land if a fellow Countryman of yours becomes so poor he has to sell part of his property then his nearest Kinsman is to come and buy back what his relative sold in other words in ancient Israel it was the custom for a family to take care of the Debs The Depths uh of its members if somebody fell into debt then one of its members were to redeem what they lost if one member of the family became poor and had to sell off part of the possessions a Kinsman could come and pay the price that was owed in order to redeem the property back now three things were needed to qualify to be a kinsman redeemer number one you had to be a near relative number two you had to be able to pay the ransom price you had to be wealthy enough and powerful enough to do it and number three you had to be willing to do it so it wasn’t by coercion that anybody needed to do this it was by a willing heart so you remember the story of Ruth and Boaz Boaz acts as a Kinsman redeeming Redeemer for Naomi and Ruth well you know what these are examples that can be applied to the work of the son of man the work of messiah in his atonement in the ransome that Christ pays Christ becomes the kinsman redeemer so that means Christ had to qualify in three ways he had to qualify in this way willing to pay the Redemption price that means he will work as a kinsman redeemer for his people to pay off the debt secondly he had to be a near relative the Bible mentions Jesus in Hebrews as an elder brother and of course Jesus becomes a man the god man so he can have a relationship with humanity and of course what he does as the man the god man is he pays is the indebtedness that we have incurred before God and then he had to be able to do it he had to be able to pay the Redemption price that mean he had to be wealthy enough powerful enough to buy us out of indentured servitude by paying the price for our freedom to the Father the father had to accept that price and then we would be set free so see there’s a lot going on In this passage of scripture when it comes to Jesus being the son of man so that means that the ransom was offered to God the father against whom we have sinned and who alone has the power to inflict the penalty so then Jesus saw us caught in the slave market of sin he had pity Upon Our hopeless situation by paying the ransom price by doing it willingly and he had the ability to do it and of course by paying that Ransom Christ with his own blood he did it for this reason in order to redeem us out of slavery and bring us into the family of God that means that Jesus sacrificial death on the cross purchased the release from bondage of those many Sinners who would believe in him not everyone not everyone will be saved but the many will be saved and there’s one other thing in verse 45 of Mark chapter 10 that not only did he give his life not only did he he give his life as a ransom but he gave his life as a substitute now I want you to notice the last part of the verse says to give his life a ransom for many that word for means instead of in the place of that on the cross Jesus was dying in the place of sinners in other words if you know Christ he was dying in your place he was taking the condemnation of your sin he was he had the full Wrath of the father poured on him for you so you can be set free so you can be set free from God’s Wrath so that Jesus would fulfill all that was symbolized of him in the Old Testament sacrificial system by which the lamb was slaughtered and burnt on the altar as an offering before God to represent atonement for sin see the lamb was a substitute so when John the baptizer called Jesus the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world he was saying that Jesus would be the substitute who will make the real and final final atonement for Sinners way back in Isaiah chapter 53 it says yet he bore the sin of many and interceded for transgressors in Matthew 20:28 again ransom for many and then in Timothy it tells us for there is one God and one mediator between God and man the man Christ Jesus who gave himself a ransom for all the testimony born at the right time now just remember for a minute that the Old Testament sacrifices were designed to do something to God they were designed to propitiate God that once the sacrifice was offered and the sin covered and removed or atoned for the Wrath then the wrath of God against the sin has been appeased and satisfied so this propitiation was secured by the experation of guilt big words definitions of those words are very simple the definition of experation is to WIP out the guilt of sin so these sacrifices in the Old Testament meant to propitiate God and the result of that was that God would wipe out the guilt of the people’s sins so this experation was affected by the vicarious punishment of a victim so you remember what happened a victim was taken an animal was was substituted for The Sinner and this animal then became the one who bore the punishment for The Sinner so the Old Testament sacrifices show that it is because the animal was substituted for the offender and his sin was dealt with in the animal that his guilt was expirated or wiped out and God was propitiated satisfied with respect to the sinner that is God’s disposition toward the sinner changed from the Wrath that he had towards the sinner to forgiveness and peace and friendship that’s what happens when Jesus died on the cross so we’re forever learning about the gospel don’t think think you know it don’t think you have it all together and you’ve heard it before you haven’t heard it before we need to hear it again and again because we have leaky Minds right and as you get older it gets leakier you’re trying to figure out how to keep it in there so you memorize you have cards you have helps uh so you don’t forget and one way we don’t forget is we have to hear it again and we have to hear it again and we have to hear it again and again and again till we get it till we live it that’s what we have to do so I know I dumped a lot of theology on you this morning but you know what we need a good theology lesson once in a while don’t we because we need to be jolted out of our comfort Comfort zones and be put in a place where we honestly have to ask the question do I really know Christ as my Lord and Savior and now am I living for him do I have do I have deeds and works to prove I’m a Believer does my mouth prove I’m a Believer does my actions prove I’m a Believer does what I’m thinking in my mind prove I’m a believer that I love Christ and I want to live for him and I want to serve him like he served me and I want to serve him to the extent he served me of course I’m can’t die on a cross that’s finished that’s done but I can give my service to him I can give my life to him I can wear out for him right I can burn out for him maybe not rust out because Rust Out means you’re not doing anything see that’s what we need to be so the story of Jesus does not end at his crucifixion neither at his resurrection if it did the cross would be a symbol of crushing defeat and despair the good news is that Jesus not only destroyed the power of sin on the cross but he also D destroyed the power of death on the third day God raised him back to life triumphant over Darkness death and Satan Jesus is Alive he is here today to reverse Every curse and cancel Satan’s every work and while Sinners are forgiven and the broken relationship between Sinner and a holy God restored in Christ Jesus and believe me you can go to the bank with that one in fact you can go to death door with that one because death death’s door doesn’t mean anything to a Believer it means we go from one place into an eternal place into the presence of God to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord so if you already are a child of God let us not only receive him gladly as Our Redeemer and Advocate but let’s gladly give ourselves and all we have to a service that’s what he’s asking us to do everybody can be a servant of Christ everyone but if you look at your life are you a servant of yourself or are you a servant of Christ surely if Jesus cheerfully died for us it is a small thing to require Christians to live for him I once read an illustration about describing what believing in the Lord Jesus Christ or remaining in unbelief with be likened to and it went like this two skydivers jumped from a plane at500 ft both were wearing parachutes one of them folds his arm and ignores the rip cord and says to himself I’m perfectly safe because of my parachute he is still saying these words as he hits the ground at 100 miles an hour the other skydiver knows he will be safe only if he actually pulls the rip cord and lands safely see if you don’t know Christ and maybe this morning will be the day you may be ready for the first time to respond as a child of God then let’s not forget that he who fulfill the engagement to suffer and to give his life a ransom also fill fulfilled his engagement to save anyone who comes to him and there’s two steps you need to know to come to him to repent of your sin of your unbelief of what you’re ever trusting in to save yourself and come to him it’s not enough to feel sorry for your sin or even to fear the punishment you’ll face in Hell repentance is is a heartfelt sorrow of sin it is but it’s also a renouncing of it and it’s a sincere commitment to forsake it and to walk in obedience to Christ and then the Bible tells us to believe you must personally trust the Lord Jesus Christ to save you so trusting him as the resurrected Lord and as a living person who forgives IES sins and offers eternal life freely we’re all trusting something we’re all trusting someone but only one person can save us from the wrath of God and that’s the Lord Jesus Christ amen so there must be a transfer of our trust from whatever you’re trusting in some people Trust in religion some people trust in their own philosophy of Life some people trust in power and money some people trust in their own ability to save themselves but the only one you can trust in that can offer salvation is Jesus Christ so see if you receive Christ as your lord and savior the Lord will not delay in invest tigating your suitability or your worthiness or your past come with your sin come with all of it no matter who or where you are in the nick of time as you repent and believe the parachute opens and you are safe in Christ the only place you can be safe so put your hand on the rip cord and pull the promisees the promise of God is everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved and why is that because of what the Bible says in verse 45 of Mark chapter 10 for even the son of man did not come to serve to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many that’s why so this becomes the central passage in all the gospel of Mark everything revolves around this passage there’s one other event that we’re going to look at next week before Jesus gets to his passion it’s actually the end of his ministry and there’s one other thing that he does before he launches out to Jerusalem to be crucified and to be beaten and to die in the place of Sinners and then ultimately to rise again there’s one other thing we’re to look at that next week let’s pray Lord this morning I I think about this passage of scripture Lord and and I realize that you can’t really exhaust what you’ve done there’s so much more to be said about your death there’s so much more to be said about the extent of it and Lord I pray that we would never get tired of hearing the gospel we would never get tired Lord of of realizing that it is the Gospel of Jesus Christ that saves and only saves and I pray Lord those who know that and are clear about that I pray Lord Jesus that we would be serious servants as we contemplate living for the Lord Jesus Christ and I pray Lord today that if somebody didn’t come to know you yet or they thought they knew you and their life doesn’t reflect any evidence that they are a Believer I pray today would be the day that you would speak to them and you would bring them to a place where they would turn from their unbelief and and believe in trust in you as their lord and savior and for all those Lord who do know you Lord make us much better servants than we are and make us usable in your church in building up the body and advancing the kingdom being the mouthpieces for the gospel Lord please do that in our life and in our church and I pray this in your precious name amen okay this morning we do have the Lord’s table and remember the Lord’s table is a memorial Feast where we eat the bread and we drink the cup in remembrance of Jesus Christ now it’s important for all believers to come and men who are serving can come forward as I’m speaking it’s important for all believers to come of course as they come in the infinite wisdom of God there are certain things that need to be done first of all there needs to be self-examination uh a self-examination should be practiced Faithfully before communion the real the realizations that we are coming to think upon his death for us should of course give ample cause to search our hearts and of course our lives uh and to confess any sin any selfishness any anything any bitterness that may be in our heart to restore any relationships that uh have gone South that we need to ask for forgiveness and then all also this ordinance uh we bear a testimony a public testimony of our faith of Christ who died for our sins so really no one has the right to participate in this Lord’s table who does do not believe that he or she is Redeemed by the precious blood of Christ and then of course the Lord’s supper also brings to our mind the sufferings of Christ where he bore our sin and he shed his blood to wash those sins away so these basic truths should always be brought to our minds and our hearts so they’ll keep us from straying away they’ll keep us focused on the right things they’ll keep us in in a in a sense in uh resting on the Simplicity that we have in Christ and of course one of the last things is that the Lord says do this until I come that the Lord’s going to come either he’s going to come and get us in death or he’s going to come and we’re going to be alive when he comes so in other words we look back at the calvary and we rejoice in our Redemption we rejoice in him buying us from the slave market of sin and then of course we look forward to his coming and the prospect of seeing Jesus Christ face to face that is the promise that is given to us in the word of God so I pray now let’s take a few minutes prepare our hearts uh we were going to have testimonies today but we’re we’re going to do that next week all right we’re going to do the testimonies next week all right so let’s take a few minutes and just prepare our hearts to partake of the Lord’s table and I’ll be back to read the scripture