Joni Mannell - The Breaking Of Bread - Class 3 - Ye do Shew Forth the Lords Death

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

1. 0:00

   This is the Bible study Terra Nova, and this is our brother’s second, third talk. Good heavens. So welcome, Brother Johnny. Well, good morning brothers and sisters. So let’s let’s just make sure we know where we’ve been so far in our first session. I really wanted to share with you. If you remember, it feels like a long time ago now, doesn’t it?

2. 0:32

   We’re just hitting the halfway point. So you know, we’re on the home straights now in our first session, I really wanted to share with you or or at least try and get inside the mindset and the attitude and the demeanour of the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember that. Be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. I want you to have my joy, my peace, the the confidence and the sense of purpose in the mind of the Lord Jesus Christ, that as we come and break bread and share in that memory, we might remember a man who was absolutely determined to fulfil for our sake the things that God had given him to do, and delighted to do so.

3. 1:04

   For the joy set before him, he endured the cross and that joy, Brent sisters, was bound up in you and I and what a privilege it is to think about that and dwell on that week by week. And then yesterday we talked about the symbols of the bread and wine. This bread is my body.

4. 1:19

   And we went through the feeding of the 5000 in John six there where Jesus was at pains to point out that the bread was a symbol of the power of the word of God and what it can do in the life of of any man or woman when they are willing to submit to it and allow their lives and their. Thinking and their.

5. 1:34

   Feeling to be influenced and motivated by it. And he wanted to share that with us. This bread is my body, which I’ve given for you. And and if you’re willing to submit your lives to the power of the word of God, as I have done in mine, then then great things can happen in your life and that power can be harnessed and and made use of in your life.

6. 1:53

   And we thought very briefly yesterday, once again, I ended up rushing towards the end. We were we were at the marriage at Cana with the power of the new wine and the energy and the the the strength that’s exists in that new, never tasted before wine, the symbol. Of the new. Life with all that it can do with the the way it stretches and tests and and expands us and Wetherbrand and sisters, our bottles are are able to be challenged by that that strength and that energy and that power. One brother in the UK when I once gave that talk came up to me afterwards and said have you got the bottle for it? Maybe that’s auk kind of phrase.

7. 2:31

   I don’t know, but but it really struck me to to remember the challenge week by week of whether the bottle of my body is is flexible enough and pliable enough and able to contain and harness the power of the new life of the Lord Jesus Christ that He offers us. And so we come this morning to our session, which I’ve entitled you do show the Lord’s death.

8. 2:52

   And it’s taken right out of that last verse that Terry just read for us in One Corinthians 11. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do. Show the Lord’s death till he come. And this session, Brent says it is. Really, really very. Personally special to me, all of them are this one especially. And when I share with you why, you’ll probably laugh because either you’ll have seen it 100 times before and think, OK, what’s so special about that?

9. 3:21

   Or you’ll have never seen it before and still think, well, I’d never seen it that way, but it’s still still what’s so special about that? And that may be the case. I’m going to take that risk. But you know, I’m a, I’m a simple soul. And you know, brothers, sisters, sometimes when you’re reading the Bible one day and suddenly a penny drops, something falls into place.

10. 3:37

    You see it in a way that you’ve never seen it before. Well, that happened to me one day when I was thinking about what the Apostle Paul meant in this verse when he said, as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord’s death till he come. And I really spent a lot of time trying to work out what was it that the Apostle Paul meant when he, when he just wrote that one sentence.

11. 4:01

    As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord’s death till he come. And, and the, the question I had for myself, brother, sisters and I, I would like you to ask it for yourself this morning as we share this study is what does that verse mean to you? As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you show the Lord’s death till he come.

12. 4:22

    In what way do you show the Lord’s death? By coming week by week and eating from that loaf and drinking from that cup? In what way are you showing the Lord’s death? Is it the act of coming? Maybe that’s what it is. Does it mean the fact that the very fact that we simply come and we sit together in fellowship and we share in those simple memorials is, is it that that’s demonstrating the Lord’s death?

13. 4:46

    The very fact that we came and sat together and did it, is that what Paul is getting at? Let me tell you about the word Paul uses here. You do show the Lord’s death. Terry was reading the Revised Version, I think you proclaim the Lord’s death and the Greek word that’s used there by the Apostle Paul, you do show or you proclaim.

14. 5:06

    It’s a word you know. Well in the New Testament, it’s most commonly translated. Preach. And more than 10 times this word is translated preach. It’s it’s most common translation in the New Testament, this Greek word, you preach the Lord’s death. That’s interesting, isn’t it? This idea of proclamation, I like the Dyglot’s translation. It says you announce the Lord’s death, you make a declaration about it.

15. 5:31

    So that’s interesting, isn’t it? How is it then that by coming to my ecclesia and you to yours, or whatever circumstance it is that you break bread and fellowship with with the body of Christ and with his believers? How is it that by coming week by week, you declare, you make an announcement, you it’s a word of proclamation. It’s a it’s a method of preaching the Lord’s death till he come.

16. 5:53

    I don’t know if you’ve ever seen your attendance at the breaking of bread in that way. It’s one of your most finest preaching tools. Maybe it is that by the fact that your neighbors know that you have a routine in your life that you stick to rigidly. Maybe that’s what it is that proclaims the Lord’s death. The fact that you have this central focus of your life week by week upon which all of the other components of your life revolves.

17. 6:14

    Maybe that’s what the Apostle Paul meant, the fact that you have this discipline and this structure in your life. Maybe that’s how you show the Lord’s death. You declare it, you preach it As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do, You show the Lord’s death. You proclaim, you preach the Lord’s death.

18. 6:33

    Maybe that’s what it is. I had a really interesting experience on on my way to be here. This week I had to explain to my colleagues where I was going. I don’t often take 2 1/2 weeks off work at one in one go. And they were, they said to me, where are you going?

19. 6:49

    So I began with kind of the, the geographical interest. Well, I’m going to Newfoundland, right? Not many people been there before. So a bit of talk about that. Well, why are you going there then? What made you choose to go to Newfoundland of all places? You know so.

20. 7:08

    So I thought I can see a series of leading questions coming here. So I said, well, I’m going to speak at a Bible school. And of course you get the, the the raising of the eyebrows. That’s interesting. Didn’t know you’d be doing that. And your holiday, Johnny. And, and you can start feeling this little sense of trepidation rising in the pit of your stomach now, can’t you?

21. 7:28

    Because the next question, of course, is well. What are you going to be speaking about? And so you knowing what the next three questions are going to be, I start thinking, well, I either keep going here or I bail out. And I, I didn’t, I said, well, I’m going to be my, my theme is.

22. 7:44

    At the breaking of bread. And I found this myself in this really interesting situation of I’ve never had to begin explaining my faith to somebody from this beginning. I’ve started in all other kinds of places, you know, prophecy, the, the, the nation of Israel, politics, suffering, all kinds of other opening kind of gambits for kind of explaining your faith and what the word of God means to you.

23. 8:09

    And I’d never started here before. And the thing that immediately came into my mind was this verse here in one Corinthians 11. As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you declare the Lord’s death, you preach it, you proclaim it, you announce it. And I thought, well, here we go, sit down, buckle up.

24. 8:25

    We’re in for a discussion now about what the breaking of bread means to me, how it changes my life, how it’s at the core of my understanding of what the Lord Jesus Christ means to me and what he’s done in my life and how my faith like pivots really around that. I’m not sure how successful it was. My colleagues have not yet declared their desire to be baptised so and I suspect that may be some way. Down the line, but maybe that’s what the Apostle Paul meant. Maybe he wanted us to make it the focal part of our preaching about what this central part of our routine of worship means in our daily living.

25. 9:01

    As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do it in remembrance of me. But you can tell that by the fact I want to speak for at least another 35 minutes. There’s probably a bit more to it than that, or at least I think there is. And and this is what I I think it is. This these are the.

26. 9:19

    Words that we have here up on the screen from the apostle Paul in One Corinthians 11. As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you show the Lord’s death. You announce it, you declare it, you proclaim it. And I think. The Apostle Paul was picking up on some words of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Upper.

27. 9:36

    Room as he shared the bread and wine that Luke and Mark. I think it is particularly record very simple words, words that we probably quote most Sundays. This is my body, he said, which is given for you. This do in remembrance of me and brethren says when I just kept rolling around that that verse from Luke 22 in my mind, I started to realise that I’ve been reading it wrong for most of my life. This bread is my.

28. 10:06

    Body which is given for you this do in remembrance of me and. I want to really just. Dwell on that that one statement. This, this is my body which is given for you, this deal in remembrance of me. What do you think the Lord Jesus meant? Because this, this is the verse, this is, these are the words I think the Apostle Paul is referring to.

29. 10:23

    As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you show the Lord’s death. There is an action that comes out of coming to the breaking of bread service. There is something that we need to do all right, this is the word do right here in Luke’s Gospel. This is my body which is given for you.

30. 10:38

    This do in remembrance of me. We have to do something. There is an active participative element to to coming and leaving from the breaking of bread service. That’s what the Lord Jesus saying and it’s that word do that kind of jumped out of the page and hit me in the face in a way that it had never hit me in the face before.

31. 10:56

    All right, this do what is the do that the Lord Jesus referring to this this is my body which is given for you. This do in remembrance of me. What is the do bit that the Lord Jesus was referring to? What is it that he wanted us to do? And I’m going to make a personal confession to you brethren, since I made one yesterday.

32. 11:14

    Here’s today’s when I was young in the truth, I used to come to the breaking of bread and think that what the Lord Jesus meant by that was come and take a piece of the bread. Sit it, sit down, eat it, and you’ve done your peace. This bread is my body which is given for you this do in remembrance of me and the doing that I thought the Lord Jesus was referring to was coming, sitting, eating and I suddenly realised bread and sisters one day and this is the point where you’ll be smiling because you’ve been here probably 30-4 years ahead of me. The the thing that hit me in the face bread and sister was I realised that I’d I’d been reading that verse wrong. Let me break it down and take it more slowly If you haven’t seen it before.

33. 11:57

    Jesus was taking the bread from the plate, from the table in front of them, and he blessed it and he broke it and he said this is my body. This bread I want you to see is a representation of my body, and I have given this. Body for you, not the bread. He’s not making a reference to the bread, is he? He’s talking about his body.

34. 12:22

    This bread is a representation of my body, and I have given that body for you. This do in remembrance of me. That’s what I want you to do. I don’t want you to just take this bread and eat it and go your way. I want you to take on board the symbol that it represents, and that’s what I want you to do in remembrance of me.

35. 12:42

    This bread is my body, which I have given. Now I want you to do the same. I don’t want you to just sit here and eat a piece of bread. I want you to take your bodies and give them in service as I have given mine. That’s the do that the Lord Jesus Christ was talking about.

36. 12:58

    This bread is my body which I have given for you. This do in remembrance of me. Give your bodies in service as I have given mine. That’s brothers and sisters, what hit me in the face. Maybe you’ve seen it a million times. Maybe you’ve never seen it before. Just when you just really think slowly and carefully about what it was the Lord Jesus was challenging us to do, He was challenging us to do what He has done. This is my body which I’ve given in service for 33 1/2 years of my life, in service and in as in the most finest obedience I could muster for the sake of my Father. And this bread is a representation of that. And week by week, when you come together and you eat it and you share it, that’s what I want you to do in remembrance of me. And that suddenly changed the whole way in which I came to the meeting on a Sunday.

37. 13:47

    Suddenly it wasn’t just that Jesus wanted me to come and eat a piece of bread. That wasn’t the doing that he wanted me to do. He wanted me to be moved and touched by the symbol. This bread is my body which I have given for you. This do in remembrance of me. If you really want to Remember Me, Brother Johnny, don’t just come and eat a piece of bread. Do what I have done for you in remembrance of me. Give your body in service as I have given mine for you. This do in remembrance of me.

38. 14:25

    I’m sorry if I’m labouring the point where this says just humour me because that that was a day that changed my life. I remember the day all those pennies dropped in my mind for me. That’s how I that’s how I began to read that verse, this do in remembrance of me and that turned that turned my life inside out.

39. 14:41

    That really challenged the way I came to my ecclesia week by week and what I saw in that bread and how it challenged me to take the issues of it away in my life. It’s a challenge to our daily living to be motivated, influenced in the way in which we give our bodies in service for the Lord Jesus Christ.

40. 15:00

    This do in remembrance of me. If you really want to Remember Me and honour my memory and all that I have done for you, then you need to do likewise. In remembrance of me. I want to take you into John’s gospel again. We did this a little bit on on Sunday. And we were remarking yesterday at how extraordinary it is in a way that the the gospel writer who spends most of his time in the upper room, 4 chapters of his gospel sitting right there with the disciples in the upper room, doesn’t seem to actually use these words that the other gospel writers do.

41. 15:31

    This bread is my body which is given for you. This cup is the new covenant in my blood which is poured out for you, this dew in remembrance of me. And yet what when I reread Brethren Sisters those chapters, I suddenly realised that John does use all those words. In fact, he uses them in much greater detail as we were looking at briefly yesterday by by the the feeding of the 5000 and the wedding at Cana. He went into so much more detail than the others about the symbols of bread and wine.

42. 15:56

    And right there in the upper room, Brent says when you actually begin to dissect the words that the Lord Jesus Christ used that are recorded in John’s Gospel, you will discover that the essence of this principle. This is my body which is given for you. This do in remembrance of me is right there, right there in John’s explanation of the of the Last Supper. Let me give you an example.

43. 16:18

    Here’s our words in Luke 22. This is my body which is given for you. This do in remembrance of me. Now let me. Give you some examples? Just some little extracts from John’s Gospel in the upper room. Have a look at this. He rose from supper and began to wash the disciples feet. If I, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet, for I have given you an example that you should.

44. 16:44

    Do as I have done to you. Can you see the echo there in in John’s explanation instead of just condensing it down into that one statement that Luke has done and that the apostle Paul has done? As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death, You make an announcement, you make a declaration.

45. 17:02

    All of a sudden, John’s expanded it out and, and, and we now understand why Luke said this simple statement based on this long discourse here in, in John 13 and 14, Jesus says, I’m going to give you an example of what this bread represents. This is my body which I’ve laid down and given in service to you. And if I’ve washed your feet as an example of what that means in, in as a living practical example, then you ought to be able to do that as well.

46. 17:29

    If I, your Lord and Master, can wash your feet, then if you want to do something. In memory of me. If you want to come and take this bread which has symbolised my my body of service in remembrance of me, then you ought to be washing one another’s feet and be doing as I have done for you. Does that make sense?

47. 17:50

    Let’s look at another. One Jesus took the bread and blessed it and break it and gave it to the disciples. Take, eat. This is my body which I have given for you. Here’s one from John 15, and you know these words so well. I just want you to put them in this context of these verses in the upper room.

48. 18:06

    This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. That’s one of the most challenging things by instances that the Lord Jesus ever said, it seems to me in the record of Scripture. This is a new commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. The old commandment was different. Do you remember under the law it was love one another as you would love yourself, do unto others as you would have done unto you.

49. 18:32

    And that standard is a little bit easier, isn’t it? Because we all have that standard of how we want other people to treat us in life. That’s very variable amongst all of us. And we know that we want to treat others if we can based on how we expect to be treated. Now Jesus says, I’m going to take that standard just right up upper level. Now, I don’t want you to base your standard of how you treat one another on how you want to be treated. I want you to base that standard on how I have treated you. Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

50. 19:03

    This bread is my body. Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. This cup is my blood which I have poured out. Greater love has no man than this, that he would lay down his life for my friends. You are my friends if you do whatsoever I command you, not if you come and sit week by week.

51. 19:23

    And just eat a morsel of bread and take a sip from the cup. You will do it in remembrance of me if you do as I have done for you, if you try and elevate your living and the standards by which you will treat one another and the way in which you will give your lives in service if you do as I have done for you.

52. 19:45

    That’s a challenging that’s a vibrant way, isn’t it, Brent Sisters, to see the bread and the wine week by week. If you really want to demonstrate to make a declaration, an announcement says the apostle Paul about what the Lord has done for you, then don’t just come and sit in the meeting week by week. Take these symbols and make them a reality in your in your daily living.

53. 20:09

    He took the cup and gave thanks and gave it to them saying drink all of it. I used to smile at that when I was a little boy watching my mum and dad drink drink the wine on a Sunday, always marvelling that they always left the cup half. Full. Drink all of it.

54. 20:24

    And of course it doesn’t just mean empty the cup, it means drink. Drink it in its fullness of what it’s supposed to mean to you and signify to you. This is my blood of the New Testament, shed for many for the remission of sins. And notice how John translates that simple statement. A new commandment I’ve given to you, that you love one another as I have loved you.

55. 20:42

    By this will all men know that you are my disciples, if you have loved one for another. That’s what the apostle meant there in one Corinthians 11, isn’t it? As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you declare the Lord’s death. You make a statement, an announcement. By this all men will know that you are my disciples. If you have love one to another, as I have loved you, that’s the declaration we make.

56. 21:07

    Bren sisters, that’s the announcement that we make when we declare the Lord’s death. As often as we eat this bread and drink this cup. And suddenly I realised that what the apostle Paul was saying was he doesn’t mean, you know, 52 Sundays, 52 times, you actually make a declaration about the the Lord’s death. He means as often as you eat this bread, as in loving one another and giving your bodies in service. As often as you drink this cup, He doesn’t mean tasting the wine.

57. 21:35

    He means as often as you pour out your lives. In service, that’s how you declare. You make an announcement about the Lord’s death. By this all men will know. Last one. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do show the Lord’s death. And how does John keep that moving? If a man love me, he will keep my words if he really loves me. If he really wants to Remember Me, there will be an action that.

58. 22:08

    Leaves the meeting room on a Sunday morning or whenever it might be. If a man really loves me, if he really wants to Remember Me in honour in his life or her life, what I have done for him or her, then he will keep my words. You are my friends if you do whatsoever I command you.

59. 22:27

    And I’ve just taken some snippets there that you know so well from John 13 through John 16. But do you see how John, instead of just condensing it down into one or two verses, gives us the living, practical understanding of what those verses mean? As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you declare the Lord’s death.

60. 22:50

    To have really eaten the bread is to have put our bodies into the service of Christ. To have really drunk from His cup is to have poured out our lives for His sake. And General Brethren says, even in that upper room, as the Lord took those two symbols, it seems to me we have.

61. 23:08

    Even in the, even in the very. Things that the Lord was doing. We have some of the finest examples of what He meant that He could have ever given to us. Because as He took the bread and as He took the wine, he prayed twice. Just just think about this and I’m going to really try and take this slowly. I know I’m going to run out of time, but I really want to. This is the slowest bit if I can make myself do it twice. The Lord went in prayer in the upper room and one of the most frustrating things of my life until I meet him one day will be that we don’t have the words of those prayers right. But we’re told this, that the Lord Jesus took bread and gave thanks and he broke it and said this is my body which is given for you.

62. 23:57

    Can you just imagine for a moment? I know it’s hypothetical, brethren, sisters, because and this side of the Kingdom will never know exactly what the Lord said, but just try and imagine for a moment what the content of that prayer might have been. Brethren, when you have to pray on a Sunday, you’re asked to pray for the memorial emblems.

63. 24:15

    Try and think about what this prayer of the Lord might have been. All we’re told is that it was a prayer of thanks. But when I actually stopped to think about that, it just sent a shiver down my spine because I guess, and I might be wrong and I’d love to discuss it with you if you’ve got a view. My guess is that the Lord’s prayer of thankfulness wasn’t for the actual bread on the plate. Thank you for giving us this loaf of bread that we can now share.

64. 24:42

    It may, it may have been that. I’m just saying personally for me I’m guessing it was more than that because the words are. Jesus took bread and gave thanks and he and he’d break it. And he said to the disciples, this is my body. That’s what it is. It’s my body which is given for you. And it was a prayer of thankfulness. Can you imagine that bread and sisters, Father? And I know I don’t want to be flippant bread and sisters by trying to imagine what the prayer of the Lord might have been, but just just for the purpose of our our class this morning, Father, I thank you for giving. Me, this body that I have desired to put into service for your sake.

65. 25:24

    And I thank you that I am the one who in laying it down for these men and women will give them life. And I thank you for giving me that opportunity and that privilege of serving you in that way. And he broke it and he said to them, this is my body which is given for you. This do in remembrance of me that that just turned my world Brentices inside out when I think about my prayers and how often my prayers are prayers of thankfulness do. You remember how the Apostle?

66. 25:53

    Paul said make you don’t be anxious about anything, but in everything with prayer and supplication, make your request known unto God. But he didn’t stop there, did he? He said with Thanksgiving, every single time you pray it needs to be with Thanksgiving. Now let let me tell you something about my life, and again, this is personal confession time, and I’m desperately hoping that you guys have the same challenges in your life than I do. Otherwise, this is humiliation time as well. I find it really easy to go to God in prayer and say thanks when my life’s going swimmingly.

67. 26:30

    But when my back’s up against the wall and I’m standing at the bottom of the barrel and everything’s going at 100 miles an hour and I’m out of control. And I don’t like being out out of control. And I don’t know what’s going to happen next or what the solutions to my problems might be. Saying thank you to God for those moments, those circumstances, those experiences tends to require a discipline in my mind that I sometimes struggle to rise to. And there’s a fine example in the Old Testament. We won’t turn to it now because, as ever, the clock is against me.

68. 27:00

    Do you remember Daniel? A man who was at least 80 years old, if not more, discovered that he was going to get thrown to the lions. He was going to spend a night in the lions den. For all he knew, it might be his last night and when he. Knew that was going to happen.

69. 27:19

    His instinct was to open his window there in Babylon towards Jerusalem. And he got down on his knees and he prayed 3 times a day and the record says like he always did. And the only thing we’re told about that prayer of Daniel was that he said thanks. That’s all we’re told about it.

70. 27:38

    And I, I admire that man greater than he’ll ever know for that prayer. I don’t know how you would feel, Bren sisters, knowing you were about to be thrown to the lions, getting down on your knees and saying, well, do you know what, Father? I thank you for all that you do for me. And I’d be racking my brains, even if I was saying the words, I’d be thinking, what has he done for me? I’m about to be thrown to the lions. And here was the Lord Jesus Christ, Bren Sisters, in the upper room with these men giving thanks for the bread that was a representation of his body that he’d absolutely given unflinchingly in service for these men. And he could say thank you for it. That’s what it means.

71. 28:21

    Brent is in your life. To, to do this in remembrance of him that you, that you elevate your mind and your thinking and the way in which you approach your life and the perspective that you bring to bear on the different circumstances that you go through. So that even when your back is up against the wall, you can sit down.

72. 28:38

    You can take a piece of bread. And you can remember a man who, even when his back should have been never more pinned against the wall, could go to prayer in prayer to his Father with a word of thanks. That that blows my mind. And he did it twice. This cup is the New Testament in my blood, which has been poured out for you.

73. 29:01

    And he gave thanks. I have to tell you, Brin sisters, if that’d have been me, I’m not sure it would have been a prayer of thankfulness. I would have been racking my brains to wonder all the reasons why God had made me, of all people, go through this. Why? What? Was there no other?

74. 29:19

    Way that he could. Save men and women from their worst fate than putting me through all of these things for their sake when there was no justified reason for me going through it. It would have been fine for you to go through it, no problem. You deserved. It I, I don’t deserve it. And yet for the Lord Jesus Christ, for instance, it was a prayer of great thankfulness and gratitude to God that He could be the one who could do this for you and for me. And He asked us to do the same in remembrance of Him. He asked to, He asked us to elevate our mind and our thinking and our attitude in our daily living. If we want to demonstrate that we’ve remembered we’ve been there in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. When we took that bread and when we sipped from that cup, we recognised that there was a challenge being made in our life and in the way we think and in our response to our everyday circumstances, from having been there and witnessed His demeanour and his state of mind.

75. 30:18

    Come with me brother and sisters, to One Peter chapter 2. I want to finish this morning with with a another look at the mind of the Lord Jesus Christ so that we can understand what it means. To do as he has done that we can understand what the challenge looks like in our daily living.

76. 30:45

    To try and follow his example, what it means to put our bodies into his service, what it means to pour out our lives as he did into that cup for us if we really want to do and remember him. What, what does that look like in our in our daily living and here in one Peter?

77. 31:03

    Chapter 2 Peter begins to give us an insight into what that might mean and what it might look like. One Peter chapter 2 and verse 21.

78. 31:17

    For this is what you’ve been called to, says Peter. Because Christ also suffered for you. Leaving you an example that you should follow in his steps. Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. I just want to stop there and think about the challenge of the apostle Peter in those words. This is what you’ve been called to. He says Christ suffered for you.

79. 31:44

    Leaving you an example that you should follow in his steps. There was some suffering that the Lord Jesus Christ endured that he wants you to have a go at in your daily living. He can’t mean the cross, can he? The suffering that the apostle Peter is referring to, there can’t be the cross because he’s saying he wants us to have a go at following in his footsteps and he doesn’t ask us to do that.

80. 32:08

    That’s the absolute wonder brains sisters of the Lord Jesus Christ. He never asked us to go to Calvary with him. He did that for us, but there is some suffering the Lord asked us to experience in our life, asked us to be willing to have a go at some example that He wants us to follow, that we can do. This is what you’ve been called to, says Peter. Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his steps.

81. 32:33

    And here’s the example. Here’s the slap in the face that the Apostle Peter’s now going to give you. Verse 22 Who did know sin? That’s the example. He wants you to have a go at following. He doesn’t expect you to achieve it, but he wants you to have a go now Brent, this is in your daily living.

82. 32:55

    Here’s a challenge for you. If you’ve never tried it before, try having a sinless. Day, just give it a go. Try getting up in the morning and thinking today I am going to have a go at a sinless day. One day in my life. One day when my thoughts, when I would not be ashamed in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ to have him know all the things I think today. I would not have the Lord Jesus Christ ashamed in my life today by anything that I say, anything that I do, any place that I go, anything that I allow my mind to dwell upon or think. You know, in those instinct moments when something happens and we go, you know, I’m going to try and control it. I’m going to try and take possession of my mind and my body and I’m going to try and have a sinless day. And well, it’s 10:30.

83. 33:44

    If today had been the day, I wonder how we would be doing, You know, and that’s the challenge when, sisters, the Lord Jesus Christ wants us to have a go at doing this is what you’ve been called to because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example that you should follow in his steps.

84. 34:02

    Who did know sin? That’s the example. Suffering that Christ endured, Brentsis is to be an example to us. There is some suffering we can have a go at doing for his sake. The example we are to follow is His desire to do no sin. And I wonder, Brents, is if this is the do in Luke 22. This bread is my body which I’ve given for you. This do in remembrance of me.

85. 34:27

    This is what you’ve been called to that Christ suffered for you. Leaving you an example that you should follow in his steps. And what? We’re going to. Discover Brent sisters is just in our last 10 minutes or so is that the suffering the Lord Jesus endured in his desire to do no sin. I’m going to suggest to you just just for the purpose of our class this morning was greater and more painful than any nail they could have driven into his body. And if you try having a sinless day just for one day, you’ll discover how painful that was for the Lord Jesus Christ to do that unflinchingly for 33 1/2 years. And that’s the suffering, Brent sisters, that’s the example that you and I have been called to not Calvary this this suffering coming into Hebrews chapter 5 just back a few pages. Let’s see how this develops.

86. 35:27

    Let’s see how. Much it meant to the Lord Jesus Christ, and I’m not going to take you this morning to any words that you don’t. I’m guessing you don’t know really well. Hebrews chapter 5 and verse 7. Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him, that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared though he was a son, yet he learned obedience by the things which he suffered, and being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation and to all them that obey him.

87. 36:03

    I find that an absolutely lovely insight. Brenthus is into the mind and the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. What it’s telling us is that he didn’t find it easy. First of all, he ended up on his knees in prayer with strong crying and tears. I don’t know how many times in your life when you’ve.

88. 36:22

    Felt the need to pray. It’s been on your knees with strong crying and tears. I can. Maybe I can. Well, I don’t know. Maybe it’s on one hand, isn’t it? I guess for me if that strong crying and tears because. It meant that. Much it was that important to me and what it. Tells us is that even though he was the Son of God, verse 8, the Lord Jesus Christ had to learn obedience just like all of us have to do in our lives.

89. 36:51

    The Lord Jesus was no different. He had to learn obedience to His Father, and yet this was the method. He lured obedience by the things which he suffered. Now, Brendan, sis, I wanted to ask you to go back in your minds and remember, however it was you learned obedience in your lives, what the method was. And if you’ve been watching us with Elias this week or any of the other families with children, you have a very visual example right there in front of you. How do you learn obedience?

90. 37:18

    How do any of us learn obedience? Sure, we learn through suffering, but we learn through trial and error, don’t we? We spend our lives, you know, as children. And mum and Dad say, don’t touch that. It’s hot. And what you discover is until baby has touched the hot thing, he never really knows what obedience feels like, OK, how it doesn’t matter how many times Mum says, I don’t want you to go there. I don’t want you to pick that up. That knife will cut you until you know blood is flowing, until bruises are showing.

91. 37:49

    What you discover is that that’s tends to be the way human nature learns, learns obedience. You learn by trial and error and what I, what I’ve discovered, and again, here’s confession time. It doesn’t change as we get older, does it? It gets a bit more sophisticated. That’s all. So as we get older, we spend our lives going.

92. 38:08

    I wish I’d not said that. If I had my time again, I, I wouldn’t have done that. That decision wasn’t good. I understand the problems that came in my life from having made that choice. I wished I’d not dealt with that person in that way. And if I had my time again, I, I would, I would do that differently.

93. 38:26

    And we learn by trial and error every single day. And I suppose the challenge of adulthood, which I’m one day going to master, is to get to the point where you, where you actually do what you say you’re not going to do anymore. I’m not going to do that again. I’m not. Going to say that again, I’m not going to make that mistake again. And one day, apparently my mum tells me, you get to a point where you stop making the same mistakes over and over again. Because finally.

94. 38:49

    You’ve learnt that they’re, they’re bad things, They don’t help your life, they don’t help those around you. And one day you learn to stop doing it. The Lord Jesus Christ, Princess, couldn’t learn obedience that way, didn’t have the freedom to learn that way, couldn’t go through life by going well. Wished I’d not done that, wished I’d not said that, wished I’d not been there.

95. 39:11

    I wouldn’t have. I wouldn’t make that choice again if I had my time again. Jesus didn’t have his time again. Jesus couldn’t learn obedience that way, couldn’t learn by bumbling through life, making mistake here and error there, Had to learn obedience by a different kind of suffering. And the suffering that the Lord experienced, for instance, is that taught him obedience, I suspect was probably different to the suffering that teaches His obedience. Come back with me just a couple of pages to Hebrews chapter 2. Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 10 For it became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons into glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect through suffering.

96. 40:05

    What was the suffering, Brent? This is that the Lord Jesus experienced that made him perfect. I I don’t believe the right here is talking about Calvary. That wasn’t the suffering that made him perfect. That wasn’t the suffering that made him sinless, A faultless man, a man who went through every day not learning by mistake, by faults, by by poor experience.

97. 40:25

    What was the suffering that the Lord Jesus endured, bun sisters, that made him perfect? This is the example we’re being challenged to follow. Verse 18. For in that He himself hath suffered being tempted, He’s able to succor them that are tempted. The suffering that the Lord Jesus experienced. Princess, it sounds really simple when you just read this verse. The suffering the Lord experienced was temptation. And you go, Oh yeah, I know what that’s like. I, I, I know what temptation means. Of course we do, because we give in to it every day. I can overcome everything except temptation, right? That’s I, you know, anything.

98. 41:04

    I can overcome anything except temptation. And the Lord Jesus Christ had to and the suffering that he endured, Bren Sisters, was every time you and I think, oh, I, I wished I’d not done that. I wished I’d not said that I wished I’d not been there. The suffering the Lord Jesus Christ had to experience was this.

99. 41:21

    I need to think now about what I am going to say. I need to think now about where I am going to go. I need to think about who I am going to be and what I am going to say and how I am going to think and what I am going to do.

100. 41:33

     I need to have such a a discipline and a control over my mind and my body. That I don’t look back in 5 minutes time going. I’ve lost it. It’s gone. That moment of sinlessness that I’m, that I’m aiming for, for you and for me is gone. Just like that. Just so easy.

101. 41:50

     Sin, sin to you and I, Brent and sisters, costs nothing. Because we can, we can go and pray to God on a daily basis and God’s mercy is rich to forgive us and to make up our our weaknesses and our shortcomings. Sin meant a lot more to the Lord Jesus Christ. He couldn’t afford to do it or have it in his life for you and for me.

102. 42:11

     And he asked us to engage Brent. This is in that process. This is what you’ve been called to, says the apostle Peter. The example of the Lord Jesus Christ to engage in his sufferings that you might follow in His steps. A man who. Did no sin, this bread is my body which I have given for you. This do in remembrance of me.

103. 42:32

     Have a girl. Have a go at elevating your mind and your thinking. Have a go at taking greater control of your life for my sake. If you really want to Remember Me, if you really want to demonstrate your understanding of what I’ve done for you, then you have a go at doing it for me.

104. 42:50

     Come over to Matthew 4 really quickly. The writer of the Hebrew says that the the suffering the Lord Jesus experienced was by being tempted. And I suggested to you a moment ago, Bren Sisters, that that was a greater it was it felt like greater pain to the Lord Jesus Christ than any nail driven through his body.

105. 43:13

     And as you know, in in what we classically call the temptations of Jesus. Well, in a way it’s defined for us what that suffering felt like and what it meant to the Lord Jesus. And again, you know this scene ever so well. Jesus verse one was led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.

106. 43:29

     And when he’d fasted 40 days and 40 nights, he was hungry. It’s not really surprising, is it? We made comments about the food at Bible school yesterday. Well, here’s another one. We have. No, we have. We struggle to stand in the Lord’s sandals in this moment in the wilderness, don’t we? We don’t go for like more than three hours without eating food.

107. 43:48

     If you’ve ever tried going for 40 days without food, you’ll know what it does to your mind. It makes everything just feel a little shaky. I’m not telling you that from experience. Maybe just a day or two without food and all of a sudden your perspective starts to go and the Lord hasn’t eaten for 40 days. And the tempter came to him and said if you are the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread and right there bread.

108. 44:15

     And sisters, in that verse you’ve heard what the real temptation was for the Lord Jesus Christ. I don’t know if you ever noticed it before. It wasn’t to make stones into bread. It was deeper than that. Read it carefully. When the tempter came to him, verse 3, it said to him, if you are the Son of God, that was the temptation bred and sisters it wasn’t. The the the.

109. 44:42

     The stones to bread was the secondary issue. The real challenge, the temptation was, if you are the Son of God, are you really the Son of God? Do you really? Think Jesus of Nazareth, son of Mary and Joseph is the Son of God. And you think about that, brethren, sisters, for a moment, and you put yourself in the Lord’s shoes and you think, well, I would have been thinking, yeah, am I, am I really the Son of God? I mean, I remember hearing it as I came out of the Jordan. Just look back at the last verse of, of chapter 3. A voice came from heaven saying, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.

110. 45:17

     And it was, it was as if all heaven was ringing with the words, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. That was six weeks ago and you haven’t eaten a meal since. And now the challenge in your mind is this, Are you really the Son of God? Do you really think you’re the Son of God? Do you really think that when you’re hanging there on the stake with nails through your wrists and your ankles that God is really going to come and raise you from the dead? Do you really believe that?

111. 45:44

     Have you ever had those days, Brent? This is where you just think to yourself, do you know what? I’ve lost my mind. I don’t know what I’m doing. This whole thing that I’ve been learning since I was a kid, the the, the belief that one day the Lord Jesus Christ is going to come back, that there’s going to be an everlasting Kingdom of, of righteousness and and peace on this earth.

112. 45:59

     That’s that’s ridiculous. I must be losing my mind have. You ever had one of those days? Brains, sisters, Johnny Munnell? Do you really think this is all true? Do you really think that one day this is actually going to happen? You think Jesus didn’t have those days? If you are the Son of God, if you really think you are the Son of God, go on, prove it, test it, give me the evidence. Can you imagine when, sisters, how that would have weighed on the Lord’s mind, knowing that he was going to have to hang on a cross?

113. 46:31

     Wouldn’t it be good to jump off the pinnacle of the temple and just feel the angels beneath his feet so that when he did have to go on the cross, he would have some confidence that the Lord will be there? He wouldn’t need to rely entirely on his faith and his understanding of all the things his mother has been teaching him all these years.

114. 46:51

     If you are the Son of God, I don’t know about you, brother and sisters, but I don’t think we’ve ever been tempted in that way ever. And the Lord found that suffering. If you are the Son of God every day of his life, do you really think you need to do this, Jesus? Do you really need to think you need to live in this way and put yourself under this sense of discipline and constriction in your life?

115. 47:15

     Do you really think that’s that’s really going to make an eternal difference for these people? And Genobran says it mattered so much to the Lord that he ended up on his knees in prayer with strong crying and tears because not sinning to the Lord Jesus Christ, not giving in to those temptations affected him to that extent.

116. 47:36

     That’s suffering, that’s suffering to to live your life under that level of discipline and control for 33 years. That’s a challenge. And that must have been painful for him. And I’ve I don’t think I’ve ever got close Bren Sisters to that in my life. And yet what the Lord Jesus is asking us to do, Bren sisters, week by week, when we come and take this bread and when we come and drink from his cup, He’s asking us to do as He did for His sake. Give it a go.

117. 48:09

     Try and elevate your thinking in your mind when you leave the memorial meeting on a Sunday or whenever it might be, Try and give yourselves in service to God to the greatest extent that you can. Make it something that matters to you to discipline your lives and give yourselves in service for Him. Last reference Hebrews chapter 12. And again, you know these words ever so well. Wherefore, seeing we also accomplished about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily besets us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.

118. 49:07

     I once heard a preacher telling a story of, of a woman. I guess it was an American thing because we don’t have them in our country. This, this lady drove into up to her house and she had a number of children and she saw her children sitting on the doorstep playing with skunks.

119. 49:22

     We don’t have skunks in our country. So I’m relying on you to know what that might be like. And she was horrified when she saw it. And she jumped out of the car and she said, run, children run, get away. And each one of them picked up a skunk and ran and you know, Bren sisters, the challenge in our life is sin is like that. Let us lay aside every weight and the sin that besets us instead of.

120. 49:49

     Picking it up and running. With it everywhere we go, let’s have a go at putting it down, leaving it behind, instead of voluntarily carrying it with us and taking it with us, looking unto Jesus. And here’s the crux. Verse 2 The author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy? That was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

121. 50:12

     And here’s the challenge, Brent. This is for you and me for consider him. Who endured such contradiction of sins against himself in case? You ever get? Weary and faint in your minds. In case you ever think Brent is in your life, you’ve suffered more than anybody I know. We always feel like that, don’t we?

122. 50:28

     In our lives, when when the chips are down and things are tough, you feel like nobody’s ever. Gone through this, I’m the only person who in this moment right now is feeling how I’m feeling. And the apostle says, in case you ever feel that you’ve suffered more than any, in case you ever feel that the challenges and the sacrifices that are being laid on you in your life and more than anybody else has ever had to bear, the apostle says, consider him.

123. 50:52

     That’s why we come to remember Him week by week. You have not yet resisted unto blood in your strife against sin. Only the Lord ever had to do that, and He never calls us to do that, brother and sisters, for His sake. He never calls us to shed our blood in our battle with sin. Some men have done it, but He doesn’t call us to it. He just says, take, eat.

124. 51:20

     This is my body which I have given for you, not will give, not on the cross. I have given this body for 33 years in service for your sake. And if you want to do something remembrance of me, then do this. Give your body in service. You know it’s not without coincidence Brent sisters that God said to Adam that in the sweat of his face he would eat bread and for the Lord Jesus Christ to eat that bread to give his body in service caused such sweat on his brow that it was like great drops of blood and Bren sisters in our lives.

125. 52:04

     I’m not sure how often we break a sweat in eating the bread from the Lord’s table. This do in remembrance of me. But if I am to show, if I am to declare, if I am to announce His death every time I eat this bread and drink this cup, if I am to declare the Lord’s death, then I must do an attempt to do and to attempt to elevate my mind to strive to be as love master and as God governed in my own life, knowing that in the failing and in the trying His weakness will His.

126. 52:38

     My weakness will still be made perfect by His strength. And mate Libre, and says as week by week, as we come, and as we take, and as we eat, and as we drink, may we declare, may we announce, may we preach the Lord’s death till he come.