Our Lord Jesus Christ, our blessed
Saviour, constantly faced opposition throughout His ministry. It beset
Him everywhere He went. He found occasional hours of
relief in the presence of His disciples, Certainly, he enjoyed
the hospitality of those close friends, where perhaps in Bethany,
in the home of a friend, he might find some hours of quietness. But in the main, wherever the
Lord preached, wherever the Lord witnessed to himself and the
things of his father, which was the message which he as that
great prophet brought, He faced opposition and contradiction
of sinners. I sometimes wonder how he restrained
himself. I sometimes wonder how it was
that he was able to withhold from dealing severely with those
that spoke to him and acted. They were after blood very often
and we find throughout the Lord's ministry that on several occasions
they would have taken him and thrown him over a cliff or done
him physical harm. We even read in this passage
today that, in John chapter 8, that there were those who would
have done him damage, violence, even in the treasury and the
temple, and yet we're told that no man was able to lay hands
on him, for his hour was not yet come. Lord knew men's hearts. He was able to discern their
motivation when they came and spoke to him, when they brought
their allegations and their contradictions and their arguments and their
inquiries. He knew what was in men's hearts. He knew if it was a genuine inquiry,
and he knew if they were simply maliciously endeavouring to ensnare
and entrap him in their fancy legal lawyer talk. In this occasion, the Lord speaks
perhaps as forcibly to his enemies as he does at any time. And here
in the 49th verse of John chapter 8, we didn't read it, but he
is very frank with these scribes and Pharisees that were so antagonistic,
so opposing towards him. He says, you dishonor me. You dishonour me with your talk.
You dishonour me with the things that you say, with the things
that you do, with these trumped-up charges that you bring, with
these allegations that you make, with these doubts that you keep
on peddling, with the damage that you're doing to these little
ones around who have ears to hear. You dishonour me. What
a thing to have as an epitaph. What a thing to have as a statement
written against you that you have spent your life dishonouring
the Lord Jesus Christ. You have spent your life dishonouring
the eternal Son of God. The disciples were not as gracious
as their master. They would happily have called
down judgment on those people that dishonored the Lord. There
is an occasion when the Lord was heading towards Jerusalem. that he was going to pass through
a Samaritan village and probably wisely he appears to have sent
on some of his disciples to say, look, the Lord is coming into
the village, there's a group of men and disciples with him
and he would like hospitality in the village, he wants safe
passage to go through the village. It was a very dignified dignified
thing to do in approaching the village and its leaders in this
way? Well, the Samaritan villagers,
they refused to receive the Lord Jesus Christ. The effrontery
of these people, they said, no, you're not welcome in our village.
We could take that picture and we could extrapolate it and we
could lay it over our society today, could we not? You're not
welcome here. You're not welcome in our town. You're not welcome in our city.
The Lord Jesus Christ, the one of whom we have been reading,
who came, who visited this world with that great purpose of redeeming
his people, saving sinners from judgment and from damnation. And you're not welcome here. How dare they say such a thing
to the Son of God, the Lord of glory? It is a sad thing when the glorious Gospel is hid from
the eyes and the ears of sinners. But the Lord Jesus Christ would
not have what the disciples would have. The disciples wanted to
call down judgment on these Samaritans. This is what we read in Luke
9. And when the disciples, James and John, saw that the Samaritans
prevented Jesus from entering their village, they said, Lord,
wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven and
consume them, even as Elias did? Goes back to an account in 2
Kings 1. Let's call down fire on these
people. Let's show them just how obnoxious
they have been. Just how rude their actions have
been. Just how contrary they really
are. Let's give some evidence of your
power and your glory and permit us to call down fire on their
village that they might be consumed. But he turned and rebuked them
and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. For the Son of Man is not come
to destroy men's lives, but to save them. And they went to another
village. Just as easy as that. And the
Lord just moved on. And you see, that's what is happening
still. How often we get angry in our
own hearts, in our own souls. We don't know what kind of spirit
we're of. We just wish that the Lord would
put some of these troublemakers, these cheats and liars and opponents
to the gospel in their place. Bring them down. Show them who's
boss. The Lord Jesus says he came to
save men's souls, to save their lives. You see, that's our purpose
in this world. As preachers of the gospel, as
gospel churches, as witnesses to the things of the Lord Jesus
Christ, it is not to imagine that we need to vindicate ourselves
of the effrontery of those who are around about us. That's not
our job. Our job is to speak the words
of the One who came to save men's lives, to seek them out. And if they will not hear, then
we move on to another village. If they will not listen, then
we accept that that's their choice, that's their decision, that's
the way they will have it. and we will turn aside, we will
take the shame, we will take the affront, and we will move
on and we will seek an audience where the Lord will provide one.
What manner of spirit have we when it comes to preaching the
gospel? How easy it is to speak harshly
of those who oppose us, to think ill of those who oppose him, Rather, the Lord says, I say
unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do
good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully
use you and persecute you. I always marvel at how the Lord
took Saul of Tarsus and made him the Apostle Paul. Saul of
Tarsus had a long and illustrious career ahead of him as a hammer
of the church, and the Lord stopped him in his way. He had done so
much damage already, but the Lord said, now turn around. I
have a different path for you to walk. I have another road
upon which you must travel and you will suffer much in my service. We should always pray for the
Lord to convert rather than call upon him to judge. Dearly beloved,
Paul writes, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath. For it is written, vengeance
is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord. And we wish upon no
man that they should fall into the hands of the living God. It is a fearful thing so to do,
and we trust that the grace of God will be extended yet to these
gainsayers and opponents these wicked men and women who populate
our towns and our cities, who aggravate their own judgment
and damnation by the things that they say and do, and yet we extend
our hand of friendship still. We say, listen, We have words
that will help, we have one who will save, and we bring the Lord
Jesus Christ before an unrepentant and a graceless world. In this passage that we read
together in John chapter 8, we find that the Pharisees were
about this business of flatly contradicting the Lord Jesus. They said to him in verse 14. Verse 13. They said to him in
verse 13, thy record is not true. And Jesus said, my record is
true. And that was it. They said, your
record's not true. What you say of yourselves, not
true. And the Lord said, it is true. You see, we don't need to get
into the debate. We don't need to get into the
argument. We don't need to meet them on their own terms. We don't
need to meet them at the level of the contradiction that they
throw. The Lord said simply, you say
it's not, and I say it is. My testimony is true. The problem is that men and women
don't understand the things that the Lord says. The problem is
that there is a deadness in their appreciation and comprehension
of spiritual things. They are carnally minded, says
the Apostle. They are motivated by a thought
process that cannot conceive of the truthfulness and the legitimacy
and the propriety of the things that are said from heaven. Your record's not true. My record
is true. The Lord Jesus points to four
things. He denounces these men's attitudes
in four ways in this passage that I want to direct our thoughts
to this morning. These enemies that came contradicting
him, this is what he speaks of them. He says in verse 15, you
judge after the flesh. He says in verse 19, you don't
know me. He says in verse 23, you are
from beneath, you are of this world. And he says in verse 43,
you cannot hear my word. He didn't berate them. He simply
told them the facts as they were. You say it's not true what I
say. I say it is true. And the reason
why you don't understand this is because you judge after the
flesh. It's because you don't know me. It's because you are of this
world. And because you cannot hear my
word. And it is against these men and
this principle that the Lord makes the significant contrast
that he gives us in this passage. The great difference between
these who cannot hear, who do not know him, who do not have
his word, who are from beneath, who judge by the flesh, the big
contrast is that they are not his disciples. And he says in
verse 31, such as hear my word, continue in it as disciples indeed. I want to just draw your attention
to that word there, indeed. They are disciples indeed. The word means that they are
most certainly and truly the disciples of the Lord. There were those who numbered
themselves among his disciples. Judas Iscariot was numbered amongst
the disciples, but he was not a disciple indeed. And here is
the characteristic that shows us the true nature of a disciple
indeed. He is one who is truly so. John the Baptist, we are told,
was a prophet indeed. He was truly a prophet of God. Nathaniel, one of Jesus' disciples,
was an Israelite indeed, a true son of God. And Paul, writing to Timothy,
says that there are many widows. But not all are widows indeed. Those who are truly in need of
the help and support of the Church. It is those who continue following
after the Lord Jesus Christ, being taught of Him, seeking
after His wisdom, who are the true disciples. And they have
been changed altered, converted. They have been given something
from above which contrasts with the fact that they no longer
judge after the flesh. They now know the Lord Jesus
Christ when once they did not. They are no longer termed as
being from beneath, but rather seated in heavenly places with
Christ Jesus. And they hear the Word of God. So the Lord says of them in John
chapter 8 verse 32, Ye shall know the truth, and the truth
shall make you free. If the Son therefore shall make
you free, you shall be free indeed. You shall be truly free. You
shall be free indeed. Because they heard the word,
because they now know Him, because they are born again from above. And because they know the truth,
they know the Lord Jesus Christ as Lord and as Saviour. They know why He came, they know
what He did, they know what their interest is in that great sacrifice
that He made upon the cross. The blood that was shed avails
for them and they have been changed and altered and brought into
this freedom. They have been made free. Indeed,
the world cries out for freedom. It's the great call. Whether
you're a an inhabitant of an autocratic state, or whether
you're a student at a university, or whether you're an artist wanting
to be liberated from the constraints of the world around about you.
The big call is for freedom. Give us freedom. That's all we
want. That's all we need. And what do men do with their
freedom? They pursue the lusts of their
flesh. and they bring judgment upon
their head, oh, to be free indeed. Free indeed with a divine freedom,
with a God-given freedom, with the very grace of the Lord Jesus
Christ bestowed upon us. Free indeed. Freedom changes
everything in the life of the disciples who are free indeed. Lord speaks against these enemies
that contended with him, and he calls them, in verse 34, they
are the enslaved children of the devil. Whosoever committeth
sin is the servant of sin. And what I want to do in the
next few minutes that we have available is just look at a couple
of ways in which this contrast between those who are the servants
of sin and those who are free indeed is set before us in this
passage. The servants of sin, the first
thing we pointed out there in verse 15, the servants of sin
are after the flesh. They judge according to the flesh. Now that is simply a fact. That's what the Lord says, they
judge according to the flesh. They don't have any other parameters. They don't have any other basis
upon which to judge things. We look upon this world and it's
inappropriate that we, like these sons of thunder, James and John,
want to call down fire on these people. It's pity that should
be engendered, for they know no better. They are ignorant
in their sins. They are deceived and benighted
in their attitudes. They judge after the flesh. And all they can do is pursue
that enslavement into which they have been brought by their father,
the devil. 1 Corinthians 2, verse 14, the
Apostle Paul writes, The natural man receiveth not the things
of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him. Neither
can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. And the world around about looks
at us and it laughs, because it can't understand what we're
doing here this morning. It can't conceive of why we would
want to get up out of bed and drive many miles, kilometers,
to get here, or to be engaged in this activity. They don't
know what it is we're getting from this. Because they look
at things with a fleshy look. They understand things according
to this world. And this is an otherworldly experience. The Lord Jesus Christ said, that
which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born
of the spirit is spirit. You must be born again, he told
Nicodemus. That change has to take place.
These men had fleshy values. And the Apostle Paul later tells
us that in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. That is the state
of the men and women of this world who judge after the flesh. And yet a great change is effected
by the Lord Jesus Christ. For when He makes us free, He
liberates us from that narrow contained, restricted perspective. He shows us that there's something
beyond. He shows us that there's a dimension
which we haven't yet touched. He opens up a door, a door which
takes us out of the here and now, out of the commonplace,
out of the worldliness, out of the fleshiness that constrains
our soul, and he gives us a glimpse of eternal realities. He makes
his people see that, see this here, that isn't what's real. The reality is that which is
spiritual and soon this is going to disappear. This is going to
be wrapped up like a rag, like a scroll. It's going to be finished,
and the true realities will dawn upon men and women then, and
what a fearful day that will be. I have a friend who talks about
the gates of hell. The gates of hell. The gates
of hell do not prevail against the children of God, but the
gates of hell prevail against those who have no desire after
Him. We've been hearing in recent
days how these gates have opened under the feet of men and women
that we know of personally, and they have fallen down into hell. They have fallen down into hell
and that which they had no conception of suddenly proved to be their
reality and they fell into the hands of the living God without
a saviour. There is a gift from God that
is found in the Lord Jesus Christ that teaches men and women no
longer to judge after fleshy values, but to see and to understand
that which is spiritual. The Lord Jesus Christ came to
liberate the captive. He came to release the prisoner,
to redeem the slave, to deliver that which was captivated by
sin, that was ensnared by Satan, and that was enslaved to the
lusts of their own flesh. And freedom in Christ, freedom
in Christ brings a new beginning, a new start. To be in Jesus Christ
is to be walking Paul says, not after the flesh, but after the
spirit. It is to be pursuing a course
of life that transcends the worldly, the here and now, the constraints
of this world, and sees us through a glass darkly, with difficulty at times, but
nevertheless, with certainty and assurance sees us pursuing
a different way. To be free to walk after the
Spirit. Turn with me to Romans chapter
8. I just want to read a couple of
verses to you. I was thinking about this and I thought any
commentary that I make upon this thought is going to be much less
useful than Paul's words on the matter. Free to walk after the
Spirit. Look at verse 5 of Romans chapter
8. For they that are after the flesh
do mind the things of the flesh. but they that are after the Spirit,
the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is
death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity
against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed
can be. So then they that are in the
flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh,
but in the Spirit. If so, be that the Spirit of
God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit
of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the
body is dead because of sin. But the Spirit is life because
of righteousness. You see the contrast? You see
the difference that is here? These men were fleshy. They judged
after fleshy things. But the freedom the Lord Jesus
Christ gives through His death at Calvary and the resurrection
life which He bestows upon His people is a freedom that takes
us into a life of righteousness in Him. We possess the righteousness
of God. We are made fit for the presence
of God. We are given that which equips
us for all that we will ever require. And we follow after
the Spirit. That is what it is truly to be
free. That's what it is to be free
indeed. The second thing that these men
had said to them was that they were servants of sin and they
knew not Christ. We read that in verse 19. Those who judge after the flesh
cannot know the Lord Jesus Christ. No matter how much they talk
about him, they don't know him. They can talk about him all they
like and often do, and yet they do not know him. They can study
about him. They can go through a course
and get a degree and a doctorate all about him and not know him. They can sing about him. till
their throats are sore and red and not know anything about him. They don't know him. These men
were amongst the most religious men probably that ever walked
upon the face of this earth as far as their studies and their
researches and their heritage was concerned. And you can be
religious and be bereft of spiritual truth and understanding. But those that are made free,
they know him. Their senses have been attuned
to spiritual prompts and provokings. They have ears to hear, They
have eyes to see. They have been brought into a
place and a position where that which is heavenly, that which
is divine, that which is spiritual, starts to take a hold in their
lives and in their thoughts and in their heart, and they are
motivated by different things. We read a little bit earlier
from Luke, about the light that shone in darkness. It is a reference
to Isaiah chapter 9. There we're told in verse 2,
the people that walked in darkness have seen a great light. Someone
switched the light on and they see as they never saw before. That's why it's a conversion.
They see things that they never understood before. A light shone in darkness. They
that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath
the light shined." Oh, we dwell in this world and we dwell in
this fleshy body and we are part of the carnality which this world
is. Paul says, we've read it already,
there's no good thing in the flesh. But, as we dwell in this land,
constrained by all this flesh and time issued. Nevertheless,
we have seen something of the eternal, something of the divine
through the Lord Jesus Christ. The light has shone. In 2 Corinthians
4, 6, the apostle says, for God has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. you look into the face of Jesus
Christ, you see the light that he is, that shines in that face,
and we know something of an eternal truth, and that makes us free. Horatius Bonner, an old Scottish
minister, theologian, hymn writer, he wrote these words, and they're
very telling. Here, here, O my Lord, I see Thee face to
face. Here would I touch and handle
things unseen. Here, grasp with firmer hand
eternal grace and all my weariness upon Thee lean. To know Him,
is life. To know Him is freedom indeed. And to know Him is to be known
by Him. The Lord knoweth them that are
His. John tells us we love Him because
He first loved us. And we know Him because He first
knew us. He has known us in eternal affection. He has known us from before this
world ever was. Remember the other night we spoke
about the fact that our names were written down in the Lamb's
Book of Life? He knew us before we were ever
known to this world, to our parents. You only have I known of all
the families of the earth. For whom he did foreknow, he
also did predestinate, to be conformed to the image of his
Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover,
whom he did predestinate, them he also called, and whom he called,
them he also justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified."
Do you know what the Apostle says next? after he says those
words about God's foreknowledge, God's knowledge of his people
before they were ever born, and the great chain of salvation
that was forged in the purpose of God to accomplish their redemption
and deliverance and union together with him for all eternity. that
predestination, that justification, that calling, that glorification,
these great powerful pillars of truth upon which our gospel
understanding stands. Do you know what Paul says after
he says that? It's too much. It's too much. Who is sufficient for these things? How can I, what shall we say
to these things? How possibly can the men and
women of this world understand these things with their fleshy
understanding? It's the reason why we are so
often contradicted upon these very points, because they are
an antipathy towards the natural carnal men and women. We struggle
with them. and yet we see them as the truth. You say my record's not true. It is true. It is true. We know, says John, 1 John 5,
verse 20, we know that the Son of God is
come. and hath given us an understanding,
that we may know Him that is true, and we are in Him that
is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God. This is eternal life. The third allegation that is
made, we're watching our time. The third allegation that is
made of these men is that they are of the world. They are from
beneath. This is their world. This is
their world. They seek fleshy things. There is a pursuit after the
sensual. They demand the increase and
the improvement of the intellectual. They studiously pursue the evidential. This is their realm. This is
their place. And in their place, in their
generation, they're wiser than us. The Lord said it. Yet they are following the course
of this world. Their passions are earthbound. Their ambitions are constrained
by these things that they see around about them. It is the
hope of earthly pleasures that they desire. But Abraham, whose children we
are by faith, he looked for a city which had foundations, whose
builder and maker is God. The world seeks to pursue its
own values and its own ends. We've thought a little bit about
that over the past few weeks, about the worship of the creature. That's all it has, it's all it
can do. Hebrews 11 verse 16 says, but
now they desire a better country. That is unheavenly. Wherefore
God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he hath prepared
for them a city." It is a wonderful thing to be able to look beyond
the grave, to be able to look beyond the end of life in this
world and see that our hopes are built not in the amassing
of the pleasures of this world, whatever they may be, but in
the entering into those better things that have been laid up
for his people. The worldly wise, the men of
this world, they will always be at variance with the church
of Jesus Christ. It has to be so, for they view
things differently. They see things in that limited
capacity, they cannot understand those things which we aspire
to and which we hope for. So Paul writing to the Galatians,
I'm sure you've just been thinking about this recently, he says,
but as then, looking back into the experience of Abraham and
his children, but as then, he that was born of the flesh persecuted
him that was born after the Spirit. Even so, it is now. That's our
lot in this world. But let's not go around calling
down fire from heaven. Persecute us, they will. We must
enter into that which we seek, that heavenly land, that holy
city, through much tribulation. As it was then, so it is now. He of the flesh persecutes those
of the Spirit. the servants of sin, hear the Lord Jesus Christ's
words, ye shall die in your sins. A city prepared for a godly people,
a spiritual home, holy, eternal, And those that are free indeed
are seated already in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, a people
united with God, a people fitted for glory. Lord Jesus Christ
says to his people, I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go
and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive
you unto myself that where I am, There ye may be also. Paul writes to the Corinthians,
As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy. And as is the heavenly, such
are they also that are heavenly. This is the difference. This
is the breach. This is the contrast. There are
those that are after the earth and those that are after Christ
the heavenly. And those who are free indeed
look beyond this life, they look beyond this world, they look
beyond this body. And we know that if our earthly
house of this tabernacle were dissolved, We have a building
of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. What a blessed privilege we have
as those who are his disciples indeed. Servants of sin cannot
hear Christ's words. He says of them, year of your
father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. They have no appetite for the
gospel, and they have no desire to be where it is preached. But
the free, they want to hear the things of God. They want to feed,
they want to be nourished, they want their appetite. to be satisfied in these holy
truths, these gospel doctrines, this preaching of the Word of
God, the very Word of Christ, that they can now hear and see
and understand. They want to be fed by it. And that's why it's a gathered
congregation. That's why it's the Lord that
brings us to such places. The free are free indeed, free
to hear the word of God, and the Lord says, of them my sheep
hear my voice. They hear the spiritual witness. That which is conveyed in the
gospel is a blessing to their souls. They derive from it Holy
Spirit comfort. so that their days are blessed
by the comfort of these divine truths entering into their souls
and giving them a reason and a justification beyond all the
troubles and the trials that afflict and affect their lives. He speaks and his servants hear. The Holy Spirit teaches them
in the Gospel how to live in pursuit of their Saviour. He
reminds them of the things that the Saviour has said and He leads
them into all truth. Lord Jesus says, The Comforter,
which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name,
he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your
remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you. And they follow
me and they shall never perish. This is not an empty word that
we hear in the gospel. This is not an inconsequential
voice that sounds out to us when the Lord Jesus Christ speaks
to his people. This is a voice, this is a word
that enters the heart, it feeds the soul, it quickens the spirit,
and it comes with power. Peter says, being born again,
not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word
of God, which liveth and abideth forever. For all flesh is as
grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the
flower thereof falleth away. but the word of the Lord endureth
forever. And this is the word which by
the gospel is preached unto you." Our blessed Savior came into
this world. He lived a sinless, worthy life before men. They contradicted him left, right,
and center. Ultimately, they had their way
and they took him to the cross and there they slew him. And
he died on the cross and he shed his blood. But in that great
sacrifice that the Lord Jesus Christ made, an act was performed
that opened heaven's gates. for a fleshy, sinful people just
like you and me. And our Saviour has accomplished
the redemption of His own. Every single one that was placed
into His care and keeping by the eternal purpose of God is
secured in Him. And there is such a sufficiency
in our Saviour Jesus Christ and in the blessings that flow to
His people through that sacrifice, that there is nothing that we
shall ever want or lack in this world that shall not be provided
for us, even though we are troubled because we are now no longer
of this world, but are a spiritual people. Lord Jesus Christ is seated in
heaven today. He is seated there as our representative
in glory and we are seated in him in the very presence of his
Father. Yes, we are confined within the
walls of this building. Yes, we've got the demands of
our day that lie ahead. Yes, we're going to have to go
back and get engaged with this world again. on Monday morning
and all the problems that that will bring. But our Saviour is
seated in heaven right now and we are seated in Him. And no
matter what they say to contradict us, your record's not true! Oh
yes it is. Oh yes it is. Wherefore, He is able to save
them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever
liveth to make intercession for them. I trust that as we've met
together over these past few weeks that we've been able in
some small way to see the Lord Jesus Christ, to lift him up,
to understand a little bit more about what he has done and what
he has said and what he has for his people. In a few moments
we're going to take the time to share in the communion and
what we sometimes call the Lord's Supper. This is speaking pictorially
of exactly what we've been talking about in the gospel. That here
was the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ shed and his body broken. And here we find a union as that
blood in picture form enters into our bodies and that bread
becomes part of us. And we see there a picture of
the union that we have with the Lord Jesus Christ. We live in
Him and He in us. But it speaks of a testimony
also. And as we participate and share
in these things, we are declaring that we understand the significance
of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ and that we, by faith
have entered into the blessings which he secured for us there
on the cross. Eat freely, my friends, drink
freely, for the Lord has made you free indeed. But woe betide
that man or that woman that eats and drinks damnation to their
soul, not discerning the Lord's blood and his sacrifice in these
things. We do not look with fleshy eyes
upon such a feast as this, but we rejoice that the Lord has
made us spiritually alert to understand and grasp the truths
that he has given us in the gospel. Amen.