Ex 12:17, 'You shall also observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt; therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as a permanent ordinance. 
We are in the process of looking at our communion service with hearts that want to see more completely what pleases the Lord in the manner in which we deal with our actions and minds and attitudes as partake and remember and consider Who the Lord Jesus Christ is in our lives. We must be very careful and respectful in the manner in which we regard and celebrate this time together as His redeemed people. 
I want to be very deliberate to the fact that the bread and juice are just emblems to remind us of the work of Jesus Christ. They have no inherent value nor are they some mystical element unto themselves. They simply serve to bring forth the remembrance of the reality of all that God has done in the so great love with which He has loved us unto Himself. This is a necessary reminder because there are those who make the bread and the wine to have some kind of transformational power. In that type of belief, the elements become the focal point of the communion, rather than the seeking after the heart which honors and adores and gives thanks to God for Who He is and what He has done. 
With this in mind, I would like to share a quote and some Psalms together this morning. I was truly blessed in this study session and felt that it would be good to read these passages together. We always pray that the Holy Spirit would speak most vibrantly and singly to our hearts in the opening of His Word and His truth. We need to reflect on the full measure of what is now true in our lives by the sacrificial work of Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Our Savior. Therefore I hope you will join with me and find yourselves as fully overwhelmed in the details of what God has given to us. 
Initially, let us begin with the following from The Bible Exposition Commentary. This is a wonderful overview of all that we are developing in this deeper deliberation of the value and the significance of our communion together each Sunday morning. 
Quote, Jesus instituted what Christians commonly call "the Lord's Supper" or "the Eucharist." (The word Eucharist comes from a Greek word which means "to give thanks.") Before the cup, Jesus took one of the unleavened loaves, blessed it, broke it and told the men, "This is My body." He then took the Passover cup, blessed it, and gave it to them, saying, "This is My blood"….
Bread and wine were two common items that were used at practically every meal, but Jesus gave them a wonderful new meaning. When Jesus said, "This is My body," and, "This is My blood," He did not transform either the bread or the wine into anything different. When the disciples ate the bread, it was still bread; when they drank the wine, it was still wine. However, the Lord gave a new meaning to the bread and the wine, so that, from that hour, they would serve as memorials of His death.
What, then, did Jesus accomplish by His death? On the cross, Jesus fulfilled the Old Covenant and established a New Covenant…. The Old Covenant was ratified with the blood of animal sacrifices, but the New Covenant was ratified by the blood of God's Son. The New Covenant in His blood would do what the Old Covenant sacrifices could not do - take away sin and cleanse the heart and conscience of the believer. We are not saved from our sins by participating in a religious ceremony, but by trusting Jesus Christ as our Saviour.
Our Lord's command was, "This do in remembrance of Me" (1 Cor 11:24-25). The word translated "remembrance" means much more than "in memory of," for you can do something in memory of a dead person - yet Jesus is alive! The word carries the idea of a present participation in a past event. Because Jesus is alive, as we celebrate the Lord's Supper, by faith we have communion with Him…. This is not some "magical" experience produced by the bread and cup. It is a spiritual experience that comes through our discerning of Christ and the meaning of the Supper….
The last thing Jesus and His disciples did in the Upper Room was to sing the traditional Passover hymn based on Ps 115-118. Imagine our Lord singing when the cross was only a few hours away! End quote. (from The Bible Exposition Commentary. Copyright © 1989 by Chariot Victor Publishing, and imprint of Cook Communication Ministries. All rights reserved. Used by permission.)
	There are several key aspects that I would reemphasize. The first is that this is a time for us to give thanks to God for Jesus Christ. He is The Only Begotten, sent from the heart of God to bear our sins and our rightful sentence of death on the cross. He, Who knew no sin, became sin, our sin, and took it to the cross where it was nailed for all of eternity. This is very plainly spelled out for us by the Apostle Paul in 2 Cor 5:18-21. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were entreating through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 
This is beyond the scope of our understanding and our ability to imagine. Everything that was stacked up against us, our old nature of sin and trespass, our guilt, our shame, our filthiness, our unforgiveness, our anger, our frustration, our hardness of heart, our anguish, and our animosity toward the Holiness and the Righteousness of God, it was all done away with through this one act of supreme and unconditional love by Jesus Christ!
This is why we are to remember Jesus Christ. We are instructed to remember Him. It is to bring to the forefront of our thoughts and our hearts and our minds the truth that Jesus Christ gave Himself utterly in the action of pure and unadulterated love and grace and mercy and sacrifice. 
We do remember that He actually and absolutely died. This was something that had never been and will never again happen to God. He was from eternity and He will be through eternity. However, for those three days, the Son, the Second person of the Triune Godhead, was dead in deed in order to bring forth life everlasting to the humanity whom He had created. 
We also remember and participate in the fact that Jesus is Alive! Apart from Him, there is no life for anyone of us. He rose from the dead and makes us fully partakers of His resurrection life! This is not a memorial, it is a triumphant declaration of His power, and victory, and supreme and eternal conquest over sin and death!   For that alone, we remember Him and we give Him utmost and sincere thankfulness in our partaking of these emblems! 
    The final thing I want to do this morning is to spend time together in the Word as did Christ on the night that He instituted this communion celebration. The scripture tells us that He and His disciples sang a hymn before they went forth from the upper room into the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. The traditional song, or the "Hallel" is from Ps 115-118. Please open your Bibles and let us read these psalms together. 
The reason for this is that, not only is this the Word of God, but it is that portion of scripture which was on the heart of Christ as He knew that His hour to die had come. He left it with His disciples as He left the instruction for partaking of the bread and the wine in remembrance of Him. Therefore, let us read together the Lord's Word in order to honor and reverence Him. These passages contain the very expression of what was going to take place in the hours to follow and what was to be fulfilled by Jesus Christ.
Beginning, then, with Psalms 115. Not to us, O Lord, not to us, But to Thy name give glory Because of Thy lovingkindness, because of Thy truth. Why should the nations say, "Where, now, is their God?" But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases. Their idols are silver and gold, The work of man's hands. They have mouths, but they cannot speak; They have eyes, but they cannot see; They have ears, but they cannot hear; They have noses, but they cannot smell; They have hands, but they cannot feel; They have feet, but they cannot walk; They cannot make a sound with their throat. Those who make them will become like them, Everyone who trusts in them. O Israel, trust in the Lord; He is their help and their shield. O house of Aaron, trust in the Lord; He is their help and their shield. You who fear the Lord, trust in the Lord; He is their help and their shield. The Lord has been mindful of us; He will bless us; He will bless the house of Israel; He will bless the house of Aaron. He will bless those who fear the Lord, The small together with the great. May the Lord give you increase, You and your children. May you be blessed of the Lord, Maker of heaven and earth. The heavens are the heavens of the Lord; But the earth He has given to the sons of men. The dead do not praise the Lord, Nor do any who go down into silence; But as for us, we will bless the Lord From this time forth and forever. Praise the Lord! 
Psalms 116. I love the Lord, because He hears My voice and my supplications. Because He has inclined His ear to me, Therefore I shall call upon Him as long as I live. The cords of death encompassed me, And the terrors of Sheol came upon me; I found distress and sorrow. Then I called upon the name of the Lord: "O Lord, I beseech Thee, save my life!" Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; Yes, our God is compassionate. The Lord preserves the simple; I was brought low, and He saved me. Return to your rest, O my soul, For the Lord has dealt bountifully with you. For Thou hast rescued my soul from death, My eyes from tears, My feet from stumbling. I shall walk before the Lord In the land of the living. I believed when I said, "I am greatly afflicted." I said in my alarm, "All men are liars." What shall I render to the Lord For all His benefits toward me? I shall lift up the cup of salvation, And call upon the name of the Lord. I shall pay my vows to the Lord, Oh may it be in the presence of all His people. Precious in the sight of the Lord Is the death of His godly ones. O Lord, surely I am Thy servant, I am Thy servant, the son of Thy handmaid, Thou hast loosed my bonds. To Thee I shall offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving, And call upon the name of the Lord. I shall pay my vows to the Lord, Oh may it be in the presence of all His people, In the courts of the Lord's house, In the midst of you, O Jerusalem. Praise the Lord! 
Psalms 117. Praise the Lord, all nations; Laud Him, all peoples! For His lovingkindness is great toward us, And the truth of the Lord is everlasting. Praise the Lord! 
And concluding with the reading of Psalms 118. Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; For His lovingkindness is everlasting. Oh let Israel say, "His lovingkindness is everlasting." Oh let the house of Aaron say, "His lovingkindness is everlasting." Oh let those who fear the Lord say, "His lovingkindness is everlasting." From my distress I called upon the Lord; The Lord answered me and set me in a large place. The Lord is for me; I will not fear; What can man do to me? The Lord is for me among those who help me; Therefore I shall look with satisfaction on those who hate me. It is better to take refuge in the Lord Than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the Lord Than to trust in princes. All nations surrounded me; In the name of the Lord I will surely cut them off. They surrounded me, yes, they surrounded me; In the name of the Lord I will surely cut them off. They surrounded me like bees; They were extinguished as a fire of thorns; In the name of the Lord I will surely cut them off. You pushed me violently so that I was falling, But the Lord helped me. The Lord is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation. The sound of joyful shouting and salvation is in the tents of the righteous; The right hand of the Lord does valiantly. The right hand of the Lord is exalted; The right hand of the Lord does valiantly. I shall not die, but live, And tell of the works of the Lord. The Lord has disciplined me severely, But He has not given me over to death. Open to me the gates of righteousness; I shall enter through them, I shall give thanks to the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord; The righteous will enter through it. I shall give thanks to Thee, for Thou hast answered me; And Thou hast become my salvation. The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief corner stone. This is the Lord's doing; It is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day which the Lord has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it. O Lord, do save, we beseech Thee; O Lord, we beseech Thee, do send prosperity! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord; We have blessed you from the house of the Lord. The Lord is God, and He has given us light; Bind the festival sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar. Thou art my God, and I give thanks to Thee; Thou art my God, I extol Thee. Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; For His lovingkindness is everlasting. Amen!
When we consider the manifest heart of God detailed in these passages, the length and the depth and the breadth and the scope of the loving-kindness of God presented and fulfilled in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross, we must be overwhelmed! To think that Christ was singing these choruses with His disciples, knowing full well the extent of what was about to happen. He lifted His heart unto God and gave voice to the manifested glory of God on high with these scriptures. It was in the foreknowledge that what was written so many ages earlier was now to be the eternal salvation of all who would but believe in the gracious gift of God through His own death. 
This should serve to cause us to humbly and reverently and joyfully declare with all our heart, Thou art my God, and I give thanks to Thee; Thou art my God, I extol Thee. Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; For His lovingkindness is everlasting. So be it!
'You shall also observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt; therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as a permanent ordinance. Amen. 
			
	This morning’s benediction is Ps 150:1+2. Praise the Lord! Praise God in His sanctuary; Praise Him in His mighty expanse. Praise Him for His mighty deeds; Praise Him according to His excellent greatness. Amen.