Well, I want to look at Deuteronomy
chapter 8 and verses 2 and 3 this morning. It's the first Sunday
of a new year. We've just passed that milestone.
When you're on a long hike, you know, any one step doesn't seem
much different to any other step as you're going along, but you
pass a milestone or you pass something that catches your attention
on the way and you stop and you pause to think and you remember
the hike so far and you're reminded of the intended destination and
so as we start this new year I know it's the 7th of January
so it's not exactly the first but it's the first Sunday of
the new year so as we start the new year let's take a moment
to pause and to heed the call of these two verses, 2 and 3,
in Deuteronomy chapter 8. You see, life is a journey from
birth to death. There was a stupid comment made
by those who rule over us in the coronavirus, so-called pandemic,
You might guess from that what I think of it all, but in that
time they said things like this, every death is a tragedy. Well,
if every death was a tragedy, every birth is a tragedy, because
life is a journey from birth to death. But the Christian life
is a journey from darkness of fleshly ignorance, ignorance
of God, ignorance of eternal life. It's a journey out of that
into the marvellous light of God and on into the glory of
God's kingdom. And so often, living in this
world, as believers, we lose sight of the fact that that is
the goal. It's not just some distant thing
that is so far from us that we needn't bother about it yet.
It should be our everyday experience that the kingdom of God is what
is our destiny. The kingdom of God is where we
are citizens now in this life. And I would ask you, are you
on that journey? Are you on that journey of Christian
life? If you are, I know you will confidently
answer yes. Yes, you know you are. You know
you believe the gospel of grace. Or else you will say, no, that's
nothing to do with me, I don't want anything to do with that
sort of thing. I find increasingly, as I'm getting
older and speaking to older people, and finding their rejection of
any thought of the truth of God, do you know what I think often
it results from? bitter experiences in their past,
in their childhood, or as growing up, in the false religion, the
false Christian religion of this world. And that experience has
said to them, don't touch that with a barge pole, don't go near
that. And so they want to know nothing about it whatsoever.
But then there are many who say, I think I'm a Christian, but
I'm not sure, or I don't know where I stand. John Newton wrote
to him, and one of the verses in it is this, "'Tis a point
I long to know. Oft it causes anxious thought. Do I love the Lord or no? Am
I his or am I not?" Do you know, as I go on, I'm less and less
enamored with that verse of that hymn of John Newton. I love John
Newton's hymns overall, but I think the believer, the true believer,
can most definitely know, can most definitely be assured that
he is the Lord's and he is following in that way. So this message
is primarily addressing you who are on that journey out of the
darkness of this world and ignorance of God onto the glorious kingdom
of God. Primarily, that's who I'm addressing.
And God's word as a whole, the Bible, speaks to his people. It doesn't speak to the world.
You say, what's the Bible for? It's to teach the world how to
live. No, it's not. It's for God to tell his people
how he saved them out of darkness and brought them into his marvelous
light. But perhaps Even though this is primarily addressed at
believers, perhaps some who will hear it at the start of this
new year might be moved to seek and to find. Some young people,
perhaps. Some younger ones might be moved
to seek and to find. Some who thought that this would
have no relevance to them whatsoever might be brought to think about
their mortality. and the frailty of life, and
how fleeting it can be, and what they can do, seek the Lord while
he may be found. They might come to question and
find themselves on that road to the celestial city. Now in
the scripture The exodus of the children of Israel from the bondage,
the slavery of Egypt through 40 years of wilderness wanderings. into the promised land of Canaan,
that pictures the Christian's life journey in many ways. Deuteronomy is the fifth book
of Moses, the Pentateuch, pent meaning five. Deuteronomy is
the fifth one of the five books of Moses, and its title means
second law. In other words, it's a reminder
of the law previously given. It's a reminder and an exposition
of the law previously given. And one reminder, in particular,
is a reminder to remember. And it's in our verses, chapter
8 and verses 2 and 3. Let me just read them again.
And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led
thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and
to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou
wouldst keep his commandments or no. And he humbled thee. and
suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna which thou
knewest not, neither did thy fathers know, that he might make
thee know how that a man doth not live by bread alone, by bread
only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of
the Lord doth man live. So remember all the way. That's what I've called this
message. Remember all the way. There it is at the start of verse
two. Thou shalt remember all the way. And I want us to note,
first of all, that this is a way. Your life as a believer, out
of darkness into the marvelous light of God and on into the
glorious kingdom of God, is a way ordained of God. Remember, all
the way which the Lord thy God led thee these 40 years. That's
the Christian life. It's a path ordained of God to
bring each one of his people safe to heaven. It's ordained
of God. You didn't choose it. You're
not working it out. Yes, work out your own salvation
with fear and trembling, because it's God that works in you, both
to will and to do of his own good pleasure. But it's God who
brings his people safe to heaven. This way, ordained of God, has
a beginning. It's a clear beginning. It has a revelation of the divine
truth. It has a release from bondage. It has a long, wandering, often
zigzag journey with ups and downs and highs and lows and joy and
sadness and grief and pain. All of these things on this way
to eternal glory. The beginning for the children
of Israel was when they were brought out of Egypt, out of
the bondage of slavery under the Egyptians, picturing the
world and the sin and the devil holding the people of God in
bondage. And yet God brought them out
by the hand of Moses and Aaron, brought them out from under that
bondage, and revealing the truth of God to them. And the truth
was revealed most prominently in the Passover, when they came
out. When the Egyptians didn't just
say, you're not going to go, the Egyptians said, please go,
get out now. Because the firstborn of all
the land of Egypt were killed, all except those were the blood
of the sacrificial lamb. was painted on the doorpost.
So the angel of death, the slaying angel came, and as God said,
when I see the blood, I will pass over. That was a revelation
of gospel truth. It was an exodus from bondage,
as is the exodus into the marvellous light of Christ, an exodus from
the bondage of sin, the bondage of the will, into the marvellous
light of God. And yet it is in this life, a
long and wandering zigzag journey. Whoever you are, however different
from others, it's all ordained by God. I might... Have you seen where somebody
sees a countryman leaning on a gate in the countryside and
some lost travellers come up and they say to him, excuse me,
sir, could you tell me how I could get to Compton Dundon or some
other quaint English name? And he says, well, I wouldn't
start from here. How do you get to the celestial
city? Well, you might say, looking back on your journey, you wouldn't
start from here. My testimony is, when I look
back, that the journey of the Christian life, I would say,
well, if I could do it all myself again, I wouldn't start from
here. But that was what God ordained. I came into a knowledge of the
things of God. I wouldn't say the truth of God,
but the things of God. in a situation of a false gospel.
I was very much attracted to a pretty girl sitting on a fence
in a play, and there she is now, these days, 50-odd years later.
And we went through various churches with varying degrees of truth,
but the time came when God put us on the road of the true gospel,
the truth was preached. And we've been learning ever
since, layer on layer, precept upon precept, as it says in the
book of Isaiah. Ever since there, God has been
taking us on a wilderness journey, for this world is a wilderness,
has been taking us on a wilderness journey from that initial start,
right the way through, and he will complete it, he will take
us to glory. This is the wilderness wandering
towards the kingdom of God, which was ordained of God for me. And
yours might be different. Yours could well be different.
And it's good to remember. It's not always the way I would
have chosen. but he has ordained it for my
eternal good. Why? Because we know he causes
all things to work together for good to those who love God, who
are the called according to his purpose. For every one of his
elect whom he chose in Christ before the foundation of the
world, he has an ordained way to bring them to eternal glory
for their eternal good. What is his purpose? To bring
us to heaven. That's his purpose. His purpose
is to bring each one of his people to heaven. Eternal life is that
true abundant life of God. Not here and now, but that which
goes on into eternity and never ends. Compared with this life,
as Paul says to the Corinthians, 2 Corinthians 4 verse 17, he
calls this life, however bad is the suffering you might be
going through, some are, our light affliction, which is but
for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal
weight of glory. And he goes on in the next verse,
things which are seen are temporal. Things which we can see and touch
and seem so solid and permanent are only temporary. in the reckoning
of God. But the things which we don't
see, the things of heaven, the things of the Spirit, those are
the things that are eternal. Those are the things that moth
and rust cannot corrupt. The world can see nothing but
here and now. And yet we, as the people of
God, are called by Paul in Colossians 3 verse 2 to set our affection
on things above, not on things in the world. Oh, how much people,
even professing believers, their affection is clearly, totally
centered on the things of this world. Yes, it's good and right
to enjoy things of this world, God's creation. is beautiful
all around us. It's not wrong to look at a glorious
scene and see the wonderful work of God in it all. But set your
affection on things above, where Christ is. Because whatever you
value in this life, it will pale into insignificance compared
with the glory that awaits the people of God, a far more exceeding
and eternal weight of glory. Are you able to remember all
the way in which the Lord thy God has led thee? Can you remember
there being a beginning when he called you out of darkness
into his marvellous light? In Philippians chapter 1 verse
6, do you know this verse? It's worth committing it to memory.
He says to them, These Philippian believers. He says being this
is Paul He says I'm confident of this very thing that he which
has begun a good work in you Will perform it until the day
of Jesus Christ. Do you know? It isn't you that
made you a Christian. I You didn't decide to be a Christian
even though he makes his people willing in the day of his power.
No, it was God that began a good work of salvation in you. And
if God has begun it, I'm very good at starting jobs and not
very good at finishing them. But that's not like God. God,
having started it, will finish it. He who has begun the good
work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ,
until judgment day, and on into eternity. It may have started
in what you might think of as spiritual side street. I think
mine was in an Arminian gospel. But nevertheless, looking back,
tracing back, it was a true beginning. It was a true beginning. It was
a way that God brought me from that situation. It started, in
my case, with an awareness of God, when my friends at school
didn't seem to have any awareness of God whatsoever. It started
with me thinking that there must be something more than this present
physical life and this world. that it can't just end because
otherwise what's it all for? And all of those around me who
were my friends who I used to try to talk to had no idea what
I was talking about and thought I'd lost my mind. I became aware
of my immortality. That this body, I was not going
to live forever. That it was a veil of tears that
lay ahead, possibly. Could be, when you looked at
what was happening to others. And it was a way that would end
with accountability to God, that the day would come in judgment
when I would have to give an answer to him who asked me to
account for all of those things that I had thought and done,
and an awareness of sin. I was guided by providence, not
all God's people, guided by providence, by circumstances, the circumstances
of life, different in each and every case. He sometimes uses
the path of another on the road to the celestial city, to heaven.
That's what Bunyan calls it in Pilgrim's Progress. He sometimes
uses the path that another is on to cross yours and in the
process to cause you to go in the direction he would have you
go. That was certainly true of me. Coming across preachers who
didn't preach religion, who didn't preach law, who didn't preach
tradition that preached the biblical gospel of free sovereign grace,
that preached the gospel that the Lord Jesus Christ has saved
his people from their sins, that he hasn't given them a start
and it's up to them to finish it, that the Lord Jesus Christ
has saved his people to the uttermost. that he has saved them from the
wrath to come. The gospel, the good news, the
good news to sinners of gospel grace. And eventually, to put
us on that clear highway to God's kingdom, with Christ alone as,
as he said, I am your way, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
No man comes to the Father but by me, John 14, 6, so that You worship God in the Spirit,
as Philippians 3 verse 3 says. You stop worshipping according
to religion, but you worship God in the Spirit. And you rejoice,
not in what you have done, or the hymns you can sing, or the
religious acts you do, but you rejoice in Christ Jesus, that
He is my Lord and His blood has cleansed my sin debt from me,
that I bear it no more. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
O my soul, that I have no confidence in my flesh for anything to do
with this life or eternity, but I acknowledge God is sovereign
in all things. If God started you on the journey,
surely, as that verse in Philippians 1 verse 6 says, surely he will
complete it. But why such a convoluted way? Why does he not just save a person
and take them straight to heaven out of this evil world? Well,
these verses tell us. In verse 2, you shall remember
all the way the Lord thy God led thee these 40 years in the
wilderness to humble thee, to prove thee, to know what was
in thy heart, whether thou wouldst keep his commandments or no.
It's a way to teach dependence upon God, to humble you, to prove
your heart, to try whether you will obey, not the strict letter
of his laws, but gospel precepts, the gospel of his truth and grace. He sends trials in this life,
tests to break dependence on self and on this world. We so
naturally gravitate back to self-satisfaction, to looking for the answer to
all our problems in ourselves and the world around us. But
he sends us trials and tests, chastisement. He chastises his
children to break dependence on self and the world. And so
he calls them to remember, he calls you and me, believer, to
remember, to look back, to look back on the trials on the times
of trial and the tests of faith that you've been through, that
you may yet have to go through, the removal of worldly comforts,
the removal of health, such a shock to the system, but something
to which we're all subject, the removal of financial security
in some cases, circumstances that forced us out of worldly
conformity. This is what God did. This journey
is to break our dependence upon this world and set our hearts
firmly on the kingdom of God and of his glory and of that
blissful existence which he has in store in those mansions that
he's created in heaven for his people. We even experience hatred
from this world now. Jesus said to his disciples in
John 15, 18, if the world hates you, and that word if probably
would be better, when you find the world hating you, when you
find yourself out of kilter with this world, you know that it
hated me, him, Jesus, before it hated you. And all of it is
to break the hold of sin and rebellion against God, to wean
us off this world and all that he offers, to sow the seed of
eternity in our hearts. You know what it says in Ecclesiastes
3, verse 11, or is it 11, verse 3? That he's put the world in
our hearts, but that word can be translated as well as a sense
of eternity also. To sow the seed of eternity in
hearts. God has led his people in their
wilderness wanderings to humble them, to prove their heart. Is it the genuine faith of God's
elect that they have, or just an interest in the intellectual
aspects of the Word of God? Because be in no doubt, of all
literature in this world, of all literature, there is nothing
on the level of the book of the Bible, the scriptures. And some
people just have an interest, an obsession, from an intellectual
point of view. That's not the faith of God's
elect. The faith of God's elect, which
God tries in this world with his trials, the faith of God's
elect is that faith which is truly in Christ and him alone.
And then to try obedience, to try whether you'd keep the commandments.
The main one, what shall we do? That we do the work of God, they
asked Jesus in John chapter 6. This is the work of God, that
you believe on him whom he has sent, to try your obedience to
the gospel, your submission to the gospel, your devotion to
God's gospel, to his truth and conformance, to the precepts
that he teaches in the epistles and throughout the scriptures.
You know, we don't live as we want. We live seeking to live
in accordance with the precepts of the gospel. The precepts of
the gospel. It's the gospel that establishes
the righteousness of God. And we don't legally obey, because
in the flesh, by the works of the law, by the works of the
flesh, no flesh shall be justified in his sight. But as redeemed
people, redeemed from the curse of the law, it is for the people
of God, in obedience to God, to seek to live according to
the precepts of God, as they're taught in the epistles. Then
it was a way to cause hunger, verse three, and he humbled thee,
and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manner which
thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know, that he might
make thee know that a man doth not live by bread only, but by
every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth
man live. He who fed 5,000, and that was
at the start of John chapter six, he who fed 5,000, and others,
there was the 4,000 and others that were fed, He caused his people to hunger. Just let that sink in for a moment. He who on that day in his ministry,
in John chapter six, the first few verses, the 5,000 that were
there following him because no man spake like this man. And
where are we going to give them something to eat? And we're a
long way from any shops where they can buy. What can we do?
What have we got? Five loaves and two fishes. And
Jesus gave thanks and broke them and divided them and miraculously
created enough to fill to fill 5,000 people so that they were
no longer hungry. And yet, that same God, he who
fed 5,000, caused his people to hunger, it says in this verse
3. There was no food in the wilderness. In Exodus chapter 16, we hear
what they say. They've no sooner come across
the Red Sea into the wilderness and they're journeying, and in
verse 1, They took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation
of the children of Israel came into the wilderness of Sin, which
is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second
month after their departing out of the land of Egypt. And the
whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured, complained
against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. And the children
of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand
of the Lord in the land of Egypt, When we sat by the flesh pots,
we had loads to eat. And when we did eat, bread to
the full. For ye have brought us forth into this wilderness
to kill this whole assembly with hunger. You see, they complained.
They moaned and complained. But why did God bring them there?
To teach dependence on God. To teach dependence on God. He taught his disciples to pray,
give us this day our daily bread. He alone gives life to every
living thing. He alone does that. Without him,
everything dies. It does. There's no food without
God. God gives life to all flesh that
becomes meat and all vegetation that becomes other aspects of
our diet. He alone gives life to everything.
Give us this day, our daily bread. But as in physical food, so in
spiritual food. Matthew chapter five and verse
six, the Sermon on the Mount. Blessed are they which do hunger
and thirst. He's not talking about food and
drink, he's talking about righteousness. Blessed are they which do hunger
and thirst after righteousness. for they shall be filled. How
shall they be filled? God will fill them by his bounty,
by his grace, by his mercy. If all was easy, would we ever
cry to God for mercy, for provision? If all was easy in whatever way
it was, if the money kept rolling in, the health kept going on,
everything kept happening just exactly as we would want, would
we ever cry to God for mercy and for provision. And so it
is that trials teach God's people. He causes them to hunger for
spiritual nourishment. There's very little in our society,
I know there is in parts of the world, but there's very little
genuine hunger in our society. And so there's very little, I'm
not saying there's none, but there's very little, there's
very little calling on the name of the Lord for help, as in times
gone by. In days gone by, you can read
the testimonies of saints 250 years ago, poor, poor people,
John Warburton, a poor weaver, barely from week to week could
afford to feed his family, dependent on the gifts of others. But there's
very little of that in these days. And so there's very little
calling on the name of the Lord, as in past times. And as in physical
food, so in spiritual. People are so self-satisfied. People in our society are so
easily fed with junk food. Don't you find? so easily fed
with junk food. We find that the people we come
across, you know, we try to be friendly and we seek as much
as in us is to live at peace with all men, but we find what
is it that motivates them? It's the most, in terms of spiritual
things, it's the most junk food. It's worthless. It's no nutrition
in it, whether it's physical or spiritual. But if you're a
true child of God, he suffers you to hunger spiritually, so
that you cry out for him. Blessed are they which hunger
and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled. He
will supply the need. The Christian life is a life
of constantly hungering and thirsting for the righteousness of God
on this wilderness journey. And it's a life with that hunger
that is only ever and constantly met by the filling which comes
from the Lord Jesus Christ. The Israelites complained, and
God gave them manna. Do you know what the word manna
means? It literally means, what is it? We don't know what it
is. They said, manna, what is this? What is it? He gave them
manna from heaven. six days of the week, and then
on the last day, on the sixth day, it would have been the Friday
morning, he gave them double quantities from heaven, because
they didn't go out to collect any on the Sabbath day, the seventh
day. He gave them manna from heaven. And think about this,
he who is the source of all providence and all good, fed one million
people, more than one million people, Every day, with this
manna from heaven, this wafer, this nourishing wafer, whatever
it was, he fed them for 40 years. Even the unbelieving Jews acknowledge
that. In John chapter 6 and verse 31,
as we read earlier, they said to Jesus, our fathers did eat
manna in the desert, as it's written. He gave them bread from
heaven to eat. Even they believe that that was
the case, that he gave them bread from heaven to eat. Those Israelites
symbolized the true people of God. They were redeemed out of
worldly bondage in Egypt. They were brought to the promised
land of Canaan by long wilderness wanderings. They were made to
hunger on that way. Why? Verse three. to teach the
need for bread from heaven. Man does not live by bread alone,
but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. To teach
the need for bread from heaven. Do you know that you have a need
for bread from heaven? that you cannot live without
it. You cannot survive without it. You must have spiritual light
from God. You must have soul food. You
must have God's word to satisfy your hungry soul. So that, as
it says in Psalm 107, verse four, they wandered in the wilderness
in a solitary way. They found no city to dwell in. Hungry and thirsty, their soul
fainted in them. Then they cried unto the Lord
in their trouble, and he delivered them. out of their distresses.
Is that not the experience of the child of God, on and on?
He makes his people cry out to him. My soul, Psalm 42 verse
2, my soul thirsteth for God. Thirst, hunger, same idea. My
soul thirsteth for God, for the living God. Psalm 63 verse 1,
O God, my God, my soul thirsts for thee. It longs as in a dry
and thirsty land. He leads his people, God leads
his people in a way which starves their souls and makes them aware
of hunger for God's righteousness and for his fellowship. Blessed
are they that hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall
be filled. So that they cry to him for heavenly
bread. So that they cry for that bread
which is his word. It says this in Jeremiah 15 and
verse 16. Thy words were found, and I did
eat them, and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my
heart. For I am called by thy name,
O Lord God of hosts. Thy words were found, and I did
eat them, and they were the rejoicing of my soul. By this he teaches
his people to live, not by worldly bread, Not by that, although
we need, give us this day our daily bread, we pray for that,
the providence of God, that he would give us what we need, but
we don't live only by that. Yes, we keep living because we
get nourishment and we breathe air and we drink liquid, and
that keeps our bodies functioning, but we don't live by that alone,
but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. But I
just want to say in the closing few minutes, how is this made
tangible? And by tangible, I mean something
you can get hold of, something you can grip. Otherwise, we're
just grasping at vapor. We're just waving our arms in
the air. Well, the answer is this. This manna from heaven
This way in which they were taught to hunger and God fed them is
a way to teach that that manner truly is Christ, is Christ. Yes, we need every word that
proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord in order to truly live. But you might say, give me something
tangible to grasp hold of. Well, turn back with me in the
closing few minutes to John chapter six. John chapter six. As I said in the first few verses,
well verses 5 to 14, is the account of the feeding of the 5,000.
5,000 people were filled, not just,
they didn't just get a taste of bread, they were filled, they
were full and there were 12 baskets of fragments left over. That's
how That's how bountiful was the provision of that miracle.
And so they thought this was good, and they kept on seeking.
And in verses 24 to 27, when the people saw that Jesus wasn't
there, neither his disciples, they also took shipping and came
to Capernaum. This is across the Lake of Galilee.
And when they'd found him, ah, we found him, we're gonna get
another feed. And Jesus says to them, you didn't, you're not
looking. for me because of the truth,
because of the miracle of God. You're looking because you ate
the bread and were filled. You did eat of the loaves and
were filled, verse 26. That's why you're looking for
another free meal, is what Jesus says to them. You're seeking
another miracle. And then in verses 30 to 35,
again, they say, what sign showest thou then that we may see and
believe you? They've got very short memories,
haven't they? The day before, did they not see the most amazing
miracle? When five loaves and two fishes
fed 5,000 plus the rest, have they not seen enough of a miracle?
But they want to see another one. They want to be fed again.
Come and do what God did to our fathers in the wilderness that
we've read about in Deuteronomy 8. Verse 31, our fathers ate
manna in the desert. He gave them bread to eat from
heaven. But Jesus, who is the word of
God. That's his name in Revelation
19, on his thigh. There he is in his majesty, Jesus. God manifests, that's why I put
that piece in by Don Bell in the bulletin. God our saviour,
he's God our saviour. Our saviour is not just a man,
our saviour is God. He who is the word of God, the
manifestation of God. Show us the Father and this will
suffice. Philip, have I been with you so long and you have
not known me? He who has seen me has seen the Father. He declared
that he is the bread of life, that true bread which comes down
from heaven to satisfy the souls of his people. That alone which
satisfies soul hunger and thirst for the righteousness without
which, as Hebrews 12 tells us, no man shall see God. It's that
righteousness which is only accomplished by blood redemption, the precious
blood of a lamb without blemish and without spot of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And then if you turn in John
6 to verse 48, he declares it plainly. I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in
the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread which cometh
down from heaven. He is the bread which comes down
from heaven, that a man may eat thereof and not die. I am the
living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of
this bread, he shall live for ever. And the bread that I will
give is my flesh, which I give for the life of the world. He
means for his people in the world. He declared he is the bread of
life. We must imbibe him. Verse 56, he that eateth my flesh
and drinketh my blood, not as cannibals, not literally, dwelleth
in me and I in him. It's spiritually, verse 63, the
words that I speak, they are spirit and life. He that spiritually
eats my flesh and drinks my blood, he that spiritually is united
with me in his redeeming grace, he is the one who is the child
of God, who is his person, his child. And Christ is that true
manna which is from heaven. As the wilderness manna fed over
a million people for 40 years, verse 58, those who imbibe Christ
and all that he is spiritually shall live forever. So remember,
in closing, all the way from the beginning of a good work
in you, can you trace it back? Child of God, can you trace back
to a good work that God began in you, and through the ups and
downs of this wilderness wandering, the ups and downs of life, the
darkness and the light, the times of ease and the times of great
trials, the times of joy and the times of abject sorrow, through
all that way, has he humbled you and taught you to depend
on him and not yourself? Has he tested your faith? Has
he tried your obedience to gospel grace? Do you believe it? Are
you devoted to him? Has he made you hunger for heavenly
bread? Has he shown you that bread in
Christ and him alone and brought you to daily feed upon him? If he has, as Philippians 1,
6 says, he will surely complete that work and bring you safe
to his eternal kingdom. Amen.