PRESENTER'S NOTES

Peace and rest to YOU! What a week for me, and even all of us. I went to a memorial service of an old friend this last Sunday, and then we all have probably heard of the terrible tragedy at Fort Hood. Sin is sin, no matter how small, but some sins affect so many people. All of us are subject to death because of sin. I know this is not a pleasant subject, but it is true. All of us have invoked the requirement of the greatest sacrifice on earth, the sacrifice of our Lord and Savior, Jesus, the Christ. On the one hand, this could be VERY discouraging, but...

By faith, we are saved from eternal death through that very same tragedy, a tragedy anticipated and prepared for, even before the first molecule of a man was formed of the dust of the ground!! God knew what He was making. God knows, from the beginning, what He was, is, and will be doing. CHOICE! Choice means everything, and you and I have made THAT choice.

All that is left for us is to run the race and not turn back. That is all. Nothing more. Keep on keepin' on. Never give up, but find the purest joy in knowing the power of God to mold us into a new creation, while we realize there was no way possible for us to enter by ourselves into eternal life.

The Way is before us every single day. May we find great comfort as we meditate on that in this day of rest and reflection; on looking at what God has made, and seeing that it is designed for very, very good.”

That phrase, “keep on keepin’ on” is by no means a statement I imagined into existence, but it’s a very important phrase to me concerning my Christian walk.

TITLE: KEEP ON KEEPIN’ ON

We came to Passover reiterating or reaffirming our commitment to God. Lonnie Johnson shared with us a sermon last week (you might have seen it posted in our Facebook group) where Malcolm Murray explained the meaning of the wine taken at the Passover.

Mr. Murray showed how it reflected a marriage proposal, and by following a process common to marriage proposals of that time. He also explained how Jesus, Himself, did not seal that proposal. The disciples drank of the wine, but Jesus in Matthew, Chapter 26, we will find, He did not.

Matthew 26: 26 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.”

27 Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. 28 For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. 29 But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.”
So, we took of the body and blood of Christ, the Bridegroom, who was offering a proposal of marriage to His virgin bride-to-be. We accepted payment for our life through His broken body and a new marriage covenant by taking of his spilled blood. But the bridegroom is yet to seal the deal. He must drink that wine before the marriage supper.

Until then we are betrothed to our Lord, and every year we come before God reaffirming our commitment to be a chaste bride-to-be made ready for Christ’s return.

So, now we are experiencing an immediate benefit of that sacrifice, having been lead, not by our own strength, or ability, or perception --- out of sin, becoming free from sin and it’s power to destroy. This price was paid with the death of our Lord.

Last year I spoke of the resurrection of our Lord, and so, not only do we have payment made for our own lives, we see the hope to come in that He now lives. We could say that as a result of these things we were led to a realization that only God is our source of strength and that a proposal has been made.

If we are baptized, then we are also aware that God knowing we could not overcome or even understand on our own sent us a Helper and Comforter that would guide us into all knowledge and lead us into full submission.

Today is the last day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Tomorrow will be like any other day. We will likely even bring leavened bread back into our homes, and it will no longer be a symbol of leaving sin behind. It will just be yummy, fluffy, soured bread, a result of a somewhat miraculous process caused by yeast.

Tomorrow will not be an annual Holy Day. It will not be a part of a God-ordained festival. It won’t even be a weekly Holy Sabbath day. It will simply be the third day of the week.
As a matter of grammar I want to submit to you that we do not, “recommit”, at the Passover. A better use of terminology might be something like, “REITERATE or REAFFIRM an original commitment.”

I submit to you that Corinth did not need to evaluate its worthiness to take the Passover because it was Passover. They needed to pursue a deep measure of self-evaluation because to live unworthy of Christ’s salvation and take the Passover is the ultimate expression of hypocrisy or ignorance; an extremely teachable moment.

Romans 6: 12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. 13 And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! 16 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? 17 But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. 18 And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness.

As we close in on the end of this first Holy Festival of the year, we must continue to embrace the commitment we made before God when we were baptized. We must remember we WERE slaves of sin and ARE now slaves of righteousness.

So in closing let us be reminded of the task at hand, today… and tomorrow… and any other day as freed men and women which is to behave as slaves to God’s righteousness. Our task, brethren, is to keep on keepin’ on.