once again the help of God. I'd
like you to turn with me to the chapter that we read together,
1 Corinthians chapter 10, and the text you'll find in verse
17. For we being many are one bread
and one body, for we are all partakers of that one bread. As we looked at this morning
of the Lord Jesus Christ and the multitudes who came to him. He dealt with the ones and with
the twos. but also he dealt with the multitudes. He was filled with compassion
when he had to feed the 5,000. He was filled with compassion
when he looked upon Jerusalem. He was filled with compassion
when multitudes were brought to him and he healed them of
their sicknesses and he healed them. cast out those that were
possessed with spirits and what drove the Lord Jesus Christ to
come to earth was that there was that deep-rooted sin within
his people that they were unable to save themselves, unable to
heal themselves and as we saw this morning the majority are
concerned with that external sickness, that external effects of that true deep-rooted
sin. The sickness that they see is
what concerns them the most. It's that, as I said, those times
when our loved ones are ill, it's then that we're driven to
the throne of grace to intercede on their behalf, to ask the Lord
for healing mercies. But Jesus came to deal with the
sins of his people. the sins of his people spanned
from Adam all the way to the end of the earth. There is a
great multitude. The scripture speaks of this
as being one bread and one body. There is not a distinction, there
is not a separation from Jew and Gentile. In the Lord Jesus
Christ all have come by faith and all look to the Lord Jesus
Christ for their salvation. He is the Lamb of God, he is
the one sacrifice, he is the only way by which someone may
enter into heaven. The scripture tells us that none
of the sacrifices of the Old Testament ever brought a forgiveness
of sin, ever cleansed a soul from sin, they never justified
any single person but as that person offered a sacrifice in
faith looking to that perfect sacrifice that was going to come,
that was a means by which that person would be saved. but we
know that the Lord Jesus Christ, he had to come. As we looked
at on Wednesday, the lamb had to be slain and the blood had
to be placed on the lintel and upon the doorposts, that God's
word had to be followed exactly to enable those underneath the
blood to be provided with that salvation, that the angel, when
he saw the blood, he would pass over. And that symbolised that
perfect sacrifice in the Lord Jesus Christ. And as we look
through the scriptures that continuing sacrifices, that ongoing sacrifices
held at the temple all pointed to this perfect sacrifice that
would come. the Lord Jesus Christ and so
Adam trusted in Christ and the last person ever to live upon
the face of this earth who belonged to the Lord Jesus Christ will
be looking back to the Lord Jesus Christ and they are found as
one body in Christ as Christ is their head. speaks of, for we being many
are one bread and one body, for we are all partakers of that
one body. Jesus tells us that He is the
bread that came down from heaven. Your fathers, he says, ate manna
in the wilderness and are dead. The people of Israel, as they
were delivered from Egypt, we know that the Lord miraculously
sustained them for those 40 years in the wilderness by the river
of water and that continued supply of manna six days a week. Although
it was an amazing provision that was not an eternal provision
that looked to and symbolized or a type of the true bread that
came down from heaven. The manna sustained the people
for a day. It provided their bodies, their
physical bodies with that nourishment needed to go about their daily
tasks and to continue on the journey of life. But it did not
bring them eternal salvation. It did not transform their soul
or nourish their soul. It was for the body. and they
ate of it, they continued to grow older and then eventually
they all died. We know that the scripture tells
us that because they rebelled against God, because they disbelieved
that God was able to assist them to cross over the River Jordan
into the Promised Land, they wandered in the wilderness. and
there they died in the wilderness because of their unbelief and
so the bread, the manna from heaven did not give them eternal
life it just pictured the true manna that would come down from
heaven which is the Lord Jesus. John chapter 6, verse 32, when
they were saying, Moses gave us this manna. And Jesus says
unto them, verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not
that bread from heaven, but my Father giveth you the true bread
from heaven. For the bread of God is he which
cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto the world. Then said
they unto him, Lord evermore give us this bread. And Jesus
said unto them, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me
shall never hunger. He that believeth on me shall
never thirst. Jesus says he is the bread. that
came down from heaven, not to sustain the body but to sustain
the soul. Those who feed upon Christ by
faith, those who trust and rest upon him have eternal life for
their never-dying soul. It is a nourishment, a spiritual
nourishment for the soul. If you remember when the Lord
Jesus Christ came to the woman at the well at midday. He came to the well and he sits
there as he rests. He sends his disciples to go
and to get some food. He meets there a lady and he
speaks to this lady regarding living water. The woman said
unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is
deep. From whence then hast thou that living water? Art thou greater
than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof
himself, and his children, and his cattle? And Jesus answered
her and said, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again. Whosoever drinketh of the water
that I shall give him shall never thirst. But the water that I
shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up
unto everlasting life. We know that that well of water,
that living water is the Holy Spirit of God. The scripture
tells us that that living water shall be as a river flowing out
of his bosom. a water to cleanse, to satisfy. And so Christ is the bread that
came down from heaven and we read that he is the water, he
is the rock from which that water flowed to sustain the people
of Israel as they wandered through the wilderness journey. Types
of the Lord Jesus. Yes, they drank of that water
but they thirsted again. Yes, they ate of the manna and
they needed more the next day. But Jesus Christ is the true,
he is the living water. He is the bread that came down
from heaven and those that eat upon him, who have faith in him
and are nourished by him and are cleansed by him. He grants to them an eternal
nourishment, an eternal life that can never be taken away. As we looked at on Wednesday
that blood that was placed upon the doorposts for the Passover
lamb got washed away in the end. or those houses are destroyed
but the blood of Christ remains forever. The blood of Christ
as Christ himself is there in heaven at the right hand of the
father as the great high priest for his people. Wounds still
evident for the father to see that that sacrifice was accepted
in heaven for eternity and the seal of God's approval was marked
by the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so his people
have that guarantee, the guarantee of this gift of his Holy Spirit,
but the guarantee that Christ, the first fruits of the resurrection,
rose again on the third day and that they also, having been given
that bread, having feasted upon that bread will one day rise
again with him. And so Jesus Christ is the true
bread that came down from heaven. The Bible uses the term bread
because bread is well known for its simplicity but its nutritional
value that people can just live off bread and water is sustaining. And so Christ in his simple gospel
that manner that came down from heaven that sustains his people
with that spiritual nourishment for their soul, that he gives
them not just life for one day, but he gives them eternal life. He says, I am come that they
might have life, that they might have it more abundantly. We hear,
don't we, of people today speaking about having your best life now
and an abundant life, an abundant, joy-filled life. All this world
has to offer is things that pass away. It can never truly satisfy
a soul that is longing for the Lord Jesus Christ. It can never
truly satisfy. It needs continually topping
up. But Christ is enough. Once we
have feasted upon him, once we have tasted that the Lord is
gracious, It is enough. Paid in full. Eternal life given. Spiritual nourishment. And so the text speaks of We
being many are one bread and one body for we're all partakers
of that one bread. All of those believers in the
Lord Jesus Christ, a part of that bread, a part of that body,
they have all partaken of that one bread, that true bread of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And then Jesus Christ is the
head of the body. We read in the next chapter, chapter 11. Be ye followers of me even as
I am of Christ. Now I praise you brethren that
you remember me in all things and keep the ordinances as I
deliver them to you. But I would have you know that
the head of every man is Christ and the head of every woman is
the man. and the head of every Christ or head of Christ is God. And so the head of this body,
the body, the believers in the Lord Jesus Christ is the Lord
Jesus Christ himself. It speaks of one bread and one
body symbolising the unity of that church, that one true church. As we look at the world today
we see that there are many churches, local churches that form themselves
together under pastor or eldership, under church membership and they
meet together seeking to follow the scriptures. Yet ultimately
there is only one church, one true church, and it does not
exist in one denomination. It is a worldwide church that
Christ has a people who praise him not just here in Hastings
but all over the UK, all over Europe and all over the whole
world there are a people that Christ has called out of the
darkness and brought into the light and they are part of his
body, they are part of this one love. There are people who like
to think that there is only one denomination That is not true. There is not one denomination.
There is one true church. And every day the Lord Jesus
Christ is building his church and the gates of hell will not
prevail against the building of that church. We may look at
England and we may think, well, things are very, very difficult. Churches are very small. And
we seem to govern the advancement of the gospel by what is being,
what is taking place in our surroundings. Christ is moving, his Holy Spirit
is moving in other countries. Multitudes are being won to the
Lord Jesus Christ. There are movements of the Holy
Spirit in other places of the world and they are all part of
the body of the Lord Jesus Christ just because they may have another
skin colour, they may speak another language, they may have another
culture, they may worship God in a different style does not
mean that they are separated from the body of the Lord Jesus
Christ. No the scripture speaks completely
of one body and of one bread. Yes as it was with the Jews. There were the different sects,
different understandings, interpretations of scripture as it is with the
Christian church. Some people can say major on
the minus and it brings an imbalance to the preaching of the word
of God. But ultimately there is only
one truth, that Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ, is the head of
the church and that there is only one way into that body,
there is only one way to be a member of that church, there's only
one way to be a part of that bread, is to enter in. through
the doorway, which is the Lord Jesus Christ. It is Christ and
Christ alone. It is the trust solely and completely
in the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, not by works of
righteousness that we have done. If you are resting in your denomination,
then you will go to hell. If you are resting in your religion,
then you will go to hell. It is Christ and Christ alone,
Jesus only. can do helpless sinners good. If you want to be part of the
true church of the Lord Jesus Christ then you are to look to
the Lord Jesus and the Lord Jesus Christ alone. As we looked at
this morning it is Him and Him alone who can forgive sin. Him
alone and it's to come to Him and Him alone with your sin. with the debt that you owe to
God and to come by faith to Christ and to lay at the feet of the
Lord Jesus Christ and say God be merciful to me a sinner. If you come with all that you
have done, all that you are then you will never find favour
in the sight of the Lord Jesus. To come with your sin And as Christ's spirit moved,
go into all the world and preach the gospel. And he that believes
shall be baptised. Go into all the world and make
disciples. And so the gospel from that very
moment has been moving, advancing through the whole world. Those
who believe and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, those who
hear the message of the gospel, they obey that message. They
are baptised into the visible church of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Yes, we have the thief on the cross. He was not baptised. But that does not mean that he
was not a member of this body. It does not mean that he was
not a member of this bread. It just means that he was not
able to become a member of the visible church of the Lord Jesus
Christ because he was taken to glory straight away. But that
is an exception. That is an exception. God sometimes
works in extraordinary means, but the normal means for God
to work is for him to open people's hearts that they may understand
the scriptures. Like Lydia, he opened up her
heart and she attended unto the things that were spoken by Paul.
She believed the gospel and she was baptised. It is the normal
way by which people enter into the visible church of the Lord
Jesus Christ and it's then, once they've entered into the visible
church of the Lord Jesus Christ by being baptised, it is then
that they're able to partake of the communion of the body
and the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. They are part of that
one bread and that one body. In Romans, a chapter 12. From verse 3 it says, For I say,
through the grace given unto me, that every man that is among
you ought to think of himself more highly than he ought to
think, but to think soberly, according as God hath down every
man the measure of faith. For as we have many members in
one body, and all members have not the same office, so we being
many are one body in Christ, and everyone members one of another,
having then gifts differing according to the grace given unto us. Whether
prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith. Or
ministry, let us wait on our ministering or service. Or he
that teaches on teaching. Or he that exhorteth on exhortation. He that giveth, let him do it
with simplicity. He that ruleth with diligence.
He that showeth mercy with cheerfulness. And so it speaks here of one
body. that the believer has been brought
into union with Christ and not only have they been brought into
union with Christ but they've also been brought into union
with one another, that they are part of this one worldwide body
of the Lord Jesus Christ that is ultimately split up into members
of local churches, are all part of that whole body of Christ. What is amazing is this. So we being many are one body
in Christ, every one members of another. But the Lord Jesus
goes even deeper. in John chapter 14. Not only
does he say that the believers are members one of another, that
they are knit together in the unity of the spirit, but he says
that he is also knit together and in unity with them. John
14 verse 19 yet a little while and the world seeth me no more
but ye see me because I live ye shall live also and that day
ye shall know that I am in my father and ye in me and I in
you We know when the Lord Jesus Christ
ascended up into glory, he promised the apostles that he would send
them the Comforter, the Holy Spirit. And he told them that
when he sends the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, that he would
be with them, that he says, I will come to you. I will not leave
you comfortless. And so as Christ in his humanity,
in his ascended body, his resurrected body ascended up into glory,
he sent his Holy Spirit to dwell amongst his people. We read,
don't we, in the Old Testament that the temple was the dwelling
place of God. There in the Holy of Holies,
God's presence was. that we read in the New Testaments
that do not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit
who is in you. And so Christ has given to the
church his Holy Spirit. He gives him to each believer. He is the one that enables them
to believe and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. If you are believing
and trusting in Christ, it's because the Holy Spirit has opened
up your understanding and enabled you to lay hold of the truths
of God's word. And he says, I will be. I will
come to you and in that day you shall know that I am in my father
and ye in me and I in you. the unity that there is in the
true church. Each believer is indwelt by the
Holy Spirit of God when they come together twos or threes
that Christ is present with them in the midst that when we come
together to worship each individual believer is indwelt with the
Spirit of God not here and there But every single day, 24-7, that
Christ's spirit is indwelt in the believers and that they are
knit together by that spirit. In John 17, in Jesus's prayer,
he says, verse 20, neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall
believe on me through their word. So as the apostles were sent
forth into the world, Christ's prayer was that those who would
believe through the word of the apostles would also experience
that great blessing that the apostles experienced. As they
were knit together in the spirit, he says this, that they all may
be one. As thou, Father, art in me, and
I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world
may believe that thou hast sent me. And so as we believe in the
triune God, that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Jesus says to
Philip, that as you have seen me, Philip, you have seen the
Father. If you know the Father you must
know the Lord Jesus Christ. If you know the Lord Jesus Christ
you must know the Father and if you know Christ then you must
know the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit is the one who
has taken the things of Christ and showed you them. And if you have been shown Christ
then you are part of this body. He says I in thee that they may
be one in us that the world may know and believe that thou hast
sent me and the glory which thou hast given me I give unto them
that they may be one even as we are one I in them and thou
in me that they may be made perfect in one that the world may know
that thou hast sent me and hast loved them and hast given and
thou hast loved me father i will that they also whom thou has
given me be with me where i am that they may behold my glory
which thou has given me for thou loves me before the foundation
of the world and that was christ's prayer that as the gospel went
forth with power accompanied by the holy spirit as he opened
up their understanding to christ that they would be brought together
in unity, unity of the spirit and the relationship between
themselves, the Lord Jesus Christ and God is as though they are
one. One bread and one body. The believer belongs to the spiritual
body of the Lord Jesus Christ. He belongs to that and she belongs
to that spiritual bread. That one loaf for we being many
are one bread and one body for we are all partakers of that
one bread. Bread itself is that substance that is worldwide sustaining. Begins as wheat in a field. planted by a farmer, it grows
and it waits there for harvest and then it is cut down. It is dried, it is ground to
flour, it is winnowed, water is added, it is then baked and
then we have bread. And it is really the same with
the believers. We grow up in a great field,
the world. And then the farmer comes and
he harvests one and another. He then grinds us to powder. He works on us. He shows us our
sin and he winnows us. in the wind. We were in Kenya,
we used to see the ladies often winnowing the maize there with
their big trays, throwing it up in the air and the wind would
cart away the chaff. And so that's how Christ works
on his people. He grinds us in the mill. He
winnows us and gets rid of our chaff. He grinds us to powder
in order to make us something. He takes us and crushes us. Shows
us our sin, shows us our iniquity, ourselves. Brings us to nothing
and then begins to work in us. Flour of itself is no good. Water and yeast and salt must
be added. You know in the scripture speaks
about yeast as sin. At the Passover meal they were
to have bread without yeast. And so the church is a bread
without yeast, it's a bread without sin. Water is added to bind it
all together. The Holy Spirit is described
in the scripture as water. And it's the Holy Spirit that
unites the church of God It is him that binds the true church
together. And it is needed. The scripture tells us that through
much tribulation we must enter the kingdom of God. This world
is not the home of believers. Christ is constantly, we say,
needing his church. And then it is his bait. is baked. Isaiah 48 tells us, verse 10, Behold, I have refined thee,
but not with silver. I have chosen thee in the furnace
of affliction. And so this bread, once water
has been added, once it has been kneaded, it is placed into the
oven and it is there in the furnace. And it's in the furnace that
the heat does the work and prepares that bread for whoever is going
to eat it. Ultimately, this one true church
is going to be presented to Christ. This one, his bride, But he says, I have chosen thee
in the furnace of affliction. And so this church, this bread
is baked. Jesus says. in the world you
shall have trouble. Be of good cheer, I've overcome
the world. A good baker knows how long to
place the bread into the furnace and the Lord knows how long to
place you and I in the furnace so that it does the right thing
so we are we could say risen we are browned off enough He always gives a way of escape. In the chapter that we read,
1 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 13. There is no temptation taken
you but that which is common to man. That God is faithful
who will not allow you to be tempted above that which you
are able but will with the temptation also make a way of escape that
you may be able to bear it. And so there is that placing
into the furnace that this bread, this church, that is to be baked
and to be tested and to be tried in the fire. time in which we live we each
have our individual trials but as a church we are not undergoing
true persecution, we have our individual lives and individual
circumstances in our lives that are our trials and our difficulties
and that are part of that process that Christ has placed us in
but there are times There are places in this world where the
true Church of Christ as a body are persecuted and are roasted
we could say in this fire of affliction. I read recently of
those in Nigeria who are suffering extreme persecution and death,
being chased from their homes and never able to go back again. And the scripture tells us that
we are to remember those who are in this furnace of fire,
in this in these times of persecution
as being persecuted with them for we being many are one bread
and one body. So as this bread is united by
the Spirit of Christ, what unites each of these believers, what
brings them into union with one another is the Lord Jesus Christ
himself, is the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Every single
one who is a member of this body of Christ, a member of this loaf,
when asked, how did you get here? What brought you to this point?
How did you become a member of the body of Christ? Where do
they point? They don't puff themselves up
and say, well, I went to chapel, you know, for 10 years without
stopping. No, they point to the Lord Jesus
Christ. They point to the blood. and
say behold the way to God. The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ
is what has enabled these people to mix together. There's only
one church that is brought by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ
and all our partakers of that one bread all have come by the
Lord Jesus Christ and all have received eternal life. But true communion takes effort. Although this body has been brought
together by the blood of Christ and is knit together by the unity
of the Spirit, yet they are individuals. They are individual members of
our church, individual members of the true church. There are
people that come from all walks of life, different academic abilities,
different statuses, different races and they all come together. And so communion with one another
takes effort. Do not think that the Christian
life is just going to run completely smooth. The Apostle speaks of
those who are able to comprehend the true freedom that is involved
in Christ, that their consciences are able to partake in meat that
has been offered to idols, but there are also those who believe
that meat offered to idols is sinful for somebody to partake
in, as we read. When we come to the meat market,
don't ask about whether the meat has been offered to idols. The
Apostle Paul believed that he, in Christian freedom, was able
to eat meat that had been offered to an idol. His conscience was
able to comprehend that that idol that it had been offered
to was nothing. He said that there was brothers and sisters
who were not able to comprehend that. Maybe they had been brought
out of idol worship and realized something to the extent of what
took place. And so they were unable to eat
meat that had been offered to idols. And the Apostle Paul says,
well, to save my brother stumbling, to save my brother thinking bad
of me, I would rather restrain myself from eating. I would rather not cause my brother
any offence or not cause him to stumble by me using the freedom
that we have and so the apostle was willing to make sacrifices for the unity
of the church, for the good of his fellow believers. He felt Christian liberty, yet
he did not want to cause his Christian liberty to cause a
fellow believer to stumble or to believe that Paul himself
was not a believer. within in Romans chapter 12 again
it tells us there from verse 9. Let love be without dissimulation
abhor that which is evil cleave to that which is good be kindly
affectionate affectioned one to another with brotherly love
in honoring preferring one another You see there is to be that sacrifice
that humility. not to think as Paul could have
easily well I'm an apostle I know better I'm going to eat whatever
I like. No he understood that his brother
was weaker in the faith that his experiences that he had been
through in life caused him to believe the things that he believed
and therefore he was willing to relinquish the things that
he believed for the good of his fellow brother. Just as Christ Let this mind be in you. The Lord Jesus Christ, let this
mind be in you. Honouring and preferring one
another. This doesn't come naturally.
This doesn't come easy. We don't like to edify and encourage
and prefer one another to ourselves. We believe that, you know, we've
got it right and everybody should do what we say and how we do
things. But it says honour and prefer
one another. Putting self last. It doesn't
come naturally and therefore it's got to be a conscious decision
that has to be taken place in the mind of the believer. A prayerful
condition, a prayerful decision. Make me Lord humble. Enable others to step over and
above me. Help me to prefer one another
and to be the least. Keep me from being self-ambitious. Help me, Lord, to be the least. It's not easy. Not slothful in business, fervent
in spirit, serving the Lord, rejoicing in hope, patient in
tribulation, continuing instant in prayer, distributing distributing
to the necessity of the saints given to hospitality bless them
which persecute you bless and curse not rejoice with them that
do rejoice and weep with them that weep be of the same mind
one towards another Mind not high things that condescend to
men of lowest state. Be not wise in your own conceits. Recompense no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the
sight of all men. if it be possible as much as
lieth in you live peaceably with all men dearly beloved avenge
not yourselves but rather give place to wrath for it is written
vengeance is mine saith the lord and i will repay you know these
are things that we have to acknowledge and decisions that we have to
make in our christian experience we will not be overtaken by rashness
or overtaken by by anger or overtaken by the desire for revenge. To rest on the fact that so-and-so
has done something bad to me now I want to get them. I want
to make sure that something bad happens to them. You have to
prayerfully consider take this hard selfish attitude away from
me. Let it pass by. The scripture
says, Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord. Give place, get rid
of anger. Live peaceably with all men,
as much as lieth in you. Help me, Lord, not to be proud,
high-minded. Keep me, Lord, low. We say, don't
we, the bigger they come, the harder they fall. We've seen
it in those people in the church, those famous pastors, those celebrity
pastors. They get elevated to this higher
state. Thousands follow them, watching
their videos and their clips and their sermons. And then suddenly
you hear, bang. have fallen, fallen in sin. Mind not high things, but condescend
to men of a lower state. Be not wise in your own conceits. Therefore, if thou in enemy hunger,
feed him. If he thirsts, give him drink.
For in doing so thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be
not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. These are decisions
that you have to make. The flesh drives for revenge. The flesh wants your enemy to
struggle. You see him and he's struggling
there and you think, well, I'll just leave him to get on with
it. I don't like him. That's the flesh. But Christ in you
says, go and help him. Go and help him. Go and provide
for him. Give him his food. Give him his
drink. Maybe as a modern day example,
you see someone you've fallen out with, your enemy, they're
at the side of the road, their car's broke down. The flesh says, look at him, let's pass by. So is him right. But the spirit
of God in you would not say that. The spirit of God would say,
stop, feed him. help him, act like a Christian,
act like the Lord Jesus Christ who made himself of no reputation
and suffered at the hands of sinful men for the salvation
to bring about the salvation of his people and so true communion
with the saints takes effort. prayerful consideration of how
to act in specific situations that you bring glory to the Lord
Jesus Christ. Do not be like the Pharisees
who love to pray on the corner, who like the high rooms in the
feast as Jesus says, but condescend to be men and women, boys and
girls of low estate, knowing that Christ exalts the humble
and he abases the proud for we being many are one bread and
one body for we are all partakers of that one bread and that bread
is the true bread the bread that came down from heaven the Lord
Jesus Christ. Well may we examine our lives
this afternoon and consider am I part of this bread Am I part
of this body? Am I bringing glory? Am I light
to this world? Am I bringing glory to the Lord
Jesus Christ by my behavior as a Christian being part of this
body, the body of the Lord Jesus Christ? What part of the body
am I? We being many are one body, each
member of that body having different parts, different abilities, different
skills, all to bring Glory to the head, the Lord Jesus Christ. May the Lord add his blessing.
Amen. Let us sing, in closing, from
hymns for worship, number 50. Number 50. A pass of knowledge,
that dear love of thine, my Saviour Jesus, yet this soul of mine,
of thy love, in all its breadth and length, its height and depth,
is everlasting strength, no more and more. Number 50. My Savior Jesus, yet this Son
of mine, would offer love in all eternity. ? Lost in strength and woe ? ?
Lost in strength and woe ? ? And I'll sit there in that dinner
of thine ? ? My Savior Jesus, get these lips of mine ? ? Beauty, queen of all ? Isaiah, Jesus, yet this heart
of mine, would sin, but love's unfools a rich son free. The phone is off, my love for
him below. My emptiness, oh, I may freely
breathe. Oh, Thou who art above the heavens,
bring the rest of me. with thy love, lead me to the
living fount of heart, and there, in simple faith, draw nigh He's good face to face I see,
and at His home He's where I'm held at ease. And all His glory,
all His breath, and then He's home. Dear Lord and Almighty God, we
thank Thee for Thy love, that Thou didst so love the world,
that Thou didst give Thine only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. We thank Thee for the work of
Thy Holy Spirit, who takes the things of Christ and reveals
them to us, and we pray the Lord that he may apply the word this
afternoon and bless our never-dying souls that thy word may be a
seed planted into good ground that it may bear that fruit for
thy honour and for thy glory. Do dismiss us then with thy blessing
and now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love
of God the Father, the fellowship and communion of the Holy Spirit
to be with us now and for evermore. Amen.