Joni Mannell - The Breaking Of Bread - Class 5 - A Jealous God

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

1. 0:02

   So we now ask our brother Johnny to come forward and read us in this fifth study on the overall theme of the the breaking of bread. And today’s dealing is with the jealous God. Brother Johnny.

2. 0:26

   Thanks, brother John. Good morning, brothers and sisters. I can’t believe it’s our fifth and final session already. You’ve been a very patient and kind audience. Thank you for that. And we’ve had a lovely time. And as I said at the beginning of the week, these, these thoughts that I’ve been sharing with you, I’m, I totally confess were, were thoughts that were a journey of my, my, my own personal pursuance.

3. 0:49

   Really. They were things that I did for my sake so that when I sat down on a Sunday, I had something that I could think about and I could concentrate on. And I, I think I kind of added a, a caveat at the beginning of the week that said, listen, if you don’t get anything out of that, then I’m just here telling you what I did and how I felt.

4. 1:06

   And I just hope, brothers and sisters, that in the journey, some, some of the things that I’ve found helpful personally to me may have been helpful to you as well. So our our final session, the Lord whose name is jealous is a jealous God. And I suppose that this is just really to finish off some of the things that we thought about yesterday. But we’ve been on a remarkable journey, haven’t we really? We’ve gone through so many things. We’re we will have sat here for nearly five hours by the time I finished this morning.

5. 1:35

   And yet when we meet together on a Sunday or, or in whatever circumstances it is that you meet brothers, sisters, to break bread in whatever occasion it might be, I guess you don’t get 5 hours normally to sit down and think about all these things. And it’s amazing, isn’t it Ren sisters, how much we can contain in our minds and how much we can actually bring to bear when we think about it, on the simplicity of what we do together. I’ll never forget 11 occasion when I was doing mission work in the Ukraine.

6. 2:04

   I was only a young guy. I was probably 1819 and we went to visit this brother in in isolation miles and miles away. It took us about 24 hours I think on the train to get there, which by British standards, by the way, is a long way I understand maybe not so for you guys.

7. 2:20

   And we arrived in isolation and we only had probably 24 hours to spend with this brother and sister who maybe got to break bread with other people, I don’t know, 2-3 times a year. And as we neared the end of our time together, the brother turned to me and said his English was OK to say this.

8. 2:36

   He said, you know, what time is your train? What, what time are you catching your train? How long have we got left? And all that we had to do left was just to break bread together. And I looked at my watch and I said, well, I think we got about four hours. Why?

9. 2:48

   And he said, well, can you make a breaking of bread last for four hours? OK, well, in, in the UK we’re we’re kept pretty tight on a tight leash in terms of how long we get when we’re exhorting on a Sunday morning. And I’d never been asked to give a four hour exitation before.

10. 3:05

    And I felt a little chill run down my spine. But I thought what a lovely spirit that was Brent and sisters that for that brother, every moment he had left, he wanted to be spending in fellowship around the memorial in together of our Lord Jesus Christ. That’s a lovely thing, isn’t it? And when you think about the amount of time and we, I, for me, it feels like we’ve barely scratched the surface of some of the issues that we’ve been talking about and how much God has given us to think about and dwell on as we come to remember. And be grateful for the work of our Lord Jesus Christ. Well, we’ve seen the joy set before him. We’ve seen the power of the word made flesh in the bread. We’ve seen the the new wine Speaking of new things, better things change things.

11. 3:44

    Our our thinking and our living has been challenged by the Lord himself to do as he has done, to feel it and live it as keenly as as he has done. And so now we come to this idea of God being jealous. And I, I want to leave you on a high. No question about.

12. 3:58

    That I want to I want to send you. This week with a real feeling of positivity about the awesome things that God has done for us and how he wants us to feel about it. And I want you to explore this morning with me how how much God wants us to be in a relationship with him and and that as we come week by week to to remember the Lord Jesus Christ, the price he was.

13. 4:19

    Willing to pay in order to create that environment where we could be with Him, we could feel one with Him, we could understand that He wants to do whatever it takes to get us to sit in His presence. And be joined to him, be a part of him. And it’s lovely, isn’t it, that God describes himself as a jealous God before we come to Numbers 5 and the law that John has read for us.

14. 4:41

    Coming me to Joshua 24, this it’s not one of the names of God that we often talk about or study. And yet there’s no question that the Lord whose name is jealous is a jealous God is one of the names and titles that God chooses for himself. And it’s it’s really rather lovely when you think about the implications of God being jealous for us. Joshua 24.

15. 5:09

    It’s an extraordinary occasion. You remember at the end of Joshua’s life, he he brings the people all together for one last time and he asks them. To renew the covenant, this new generation who’ve now entered the promised land, they have the opportunity to create the Kingdom of God here on earth. And Joshua brings them all together and tries to stir them up and, and motivate them and, and consolidate all of their feelings and their commitment to the things that he’s brought them into this land for. And, and he he challenges them, doesn’t he? Verse 15 of Joshua 24 If it seemed evil unto you to serve the Lord choose you this day who you’re going to serve, whether the gods which your father served on the other side of the flood or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell.

16. 5:55

    But As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. And you get this lovely refrain from the people that that was an echo of what we were thinking about yesterday. Verse 16 All the people answered and said, God forbid we should forsake the Lord to serve other gods. The Lord our God, He it is that brought us up and our fathers from the land of Egypt and the House of bondage, who did these great signs in our sight. Verse 18 The Lord drave out from before us all the people, the Amorites, who dwelt in the land.

17. 6:23

    Therefore, we also will serve the Lord, for He is our God. And listen now to the challenge of Joshua to these people. Verse 19 Joshua said to the people, you cannot serve the Lord. He’s a holy God. He’s a jealous God. He will not forgive your transgressions and sins. If you forsake the Lord and serve strange gods, He will consume you and do you her.

18. 6:48

    And although that sounds challenging, it’s. Lovely in a way, isn’t it? Joshua is saying. God is so jealous to have your undivided attention. You need to be really cautious and careful about the commitment that you make to Him and how determined you. Are to see it through. God is a jealous God. He wants your affection, he wants your attention.

19. 7:09

    And when we turn aside and says and we give it to other things and we dedicate our lives and our time and our energy and our emotion to other things that are on the fringes of, of the, of our purpose of becoming like God, God gets jealous about it. He doesn’t cast. Us off and go oh forget that.

20. 7:25

    Forget Johnny. Then he’s off. God gets jealous about the fact that my time and my affection is being dedicated to other things. I think Joshua. Was actually quoting from Exodus 20. Just a quick flick back there, right back to the beginning of Israel’s experience with God again where we were yesterday as as Moses receives the 10 commandments from God here on Mount Sinai. And just look at the very words which God introduces the 10 commandments to the children of Israel. Exodus 20 verse 4 commandment #2 You will not make any graven image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

21. 8:17

    You will not bow down yourself to them or serve them. For I, the Lord your God, I’m a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and 4th generation of them that hate me, and showing mercy unto thousands. Of them that love me and keep my commandments. Do you see how tight Bren and sisters God wants this relationship with us to be.

22. 8:37

    He says you will not make verse for any graven image or any likeness and he purposely lifts those words right out of Genesis 1, doesn’t he? Verse 26 when God made us in the beginning, he made us in his image and after his likeness. We walk around Bren sisters every single. Day of our Lives. Bearing the image and likeness of God Himself or the capacity to to bear the image and likeness of God. And when we decide that in our lives we’re not going to display the image and likeness of God, God gets jealous for it. When he looks down on my life, He wants to see me developing the image and likeness, not leaving it dormant. He’s given me this extraordinary body and this incredible mind to use to develop His image and His likeness like I was made in the beginning.

23. 9:20

    The only creature on the planet, Bren sisters, the only species with the ability to make themselves in the image and after the likeness of God himself. And so often, Bren sisters, we spend our lives like animals, doing nothing but exercising the function of our bodies and not elevating our minds and challenging our minds to the things that the capacity and the potential God has made us for.

24. 9:44

    And when that happens, Bren sisters, God gets jealous. I the Lord your God, verse 5, I’m a jealous God. God loves us that much. Bren sisters. It’s, it’s incredible actually, when you think about some of the attributes of God, isn’t it? He, he presents himself to us in such human terms that we might begin to understand how he feels. God loves, he gives, he’s forgiving, he delights, he rejoices, he listens, he hears, he protects, he cares, he sorrows.

25. 10:16

    Remembering in Hosier, he said. My heart recoils within me. At the thought of casting off his people, he describes himself as as having these emotions churning up inside that you and I can associate with so that we can understand how he feels about us and brother and sisters. When you, when you know those those feelings that you get deep in the pit of your stomach when, when you are involved in somebody you care about. When, when emotions come into play and the issues of life challenge those emotions because you live and care about people and you hurt when you know they’re hurting and you feel things.

26. 10:51

    When you know they’re going through experiences and difficulties. And sometimes we’re just overwhelmed. With a sense of wonder and love when we think about the people with whom we’ve built relationships in our lives. And that’s how God feels. Brethren, this is about us, I guess. When we think about feeling jealous, it’s not normally a positive thing, isn’t it? We normally think of jealousy as being a negative emotion to have.

27. 11:17

    When you’re jealous of somebody, it’s normally because you want something that you can’t have or you want somebody that you can’t have, all right? And we feel jealous because somebody else is getting something or somebody that we would like to have somebody’s affections or somebody’s time or somebody’s attention. I feel jealous every night when I come home from work if if Esther’s gone to her mum’s and Elisa’s playing with grandma because I walk in the room and grandma’s such an exciting person.

28. 11:44

    You know, when Daddy walks in the room, he’s really just an irrelevant being, right? Because grandma’s very exciting. It’s grandma does all sorts of things with Elias that Daddy doesn’t do all right. And we start feeling jealous that we wish Elias felt towards Daddy like he does towards Grandma. And sometimes it’s a negative thing, but when you think about it, run sister if.

29. 12:06

    You were on the other end of it. If somebody was feeling jealous for you. In a way. It’s quite a nice thing, isn’t it? Sometimes. And and the very thought, Run says is that God feels jealous for us. He’s not passive about our relationship with him. He wants to have our attention. He wants to have our affection.

30. 12:30

    He desires to have our our time and our energy and our thoughts and our feelings and our lives and our attitudes and our decisions. He wants to be involved and he feels jealous when he’s not. Isn’t that a lovely thing? Absolutely extraordinary. Welcoming me to Numbers 5 and this, this law that we were reading about, the law of jealousy. And let’s Sebring sisters, how it will be applied in the New Testament as being directly relevant to how we need to feel and how we need to understand our relationship with God when we come to take the bread and drink from the cup of the Lord. We read it together and let’s let’s just run through some of the details to to get the picture of what’s going on here really clear in our minds.

31. 13:16

    Numbers chapter 5 then, and the issue you will have noticed is verse 14, when the spirit of jealousy comes upon a man. All right, so this is a law that was exclusively to be used by the men. The women, as far as I can tell, were not able to apply this law, only the men.

32. 13:36

    And there’s obviously spiritual significance in that. God is not chauvinistic. He’s teaching us a lesson about His relationship with us. God is going to be the husband ultimately in this parable that’s painted here in this chapter, and we are going to be his wife. That’s the principle, isn’t it? And yet God, without overtly saying that, gives the law for the for the men in the in the camp of Israel to use over their wives.

33. 14:01

    Verse 14 If the spirit of jealousy comes upon him and the man is jealous of his wife and she is defiled, or if the spirit of jealousy comes upon him and he’s jealous of his wife and she’s not defiled, either way the husband can use this law. Let’s think of some scenarios then.

34. 14:15

    Let’s let’s suggest, for example, that a husband has a suspicion that his wife has been unfaithful. He is entitled to use this law to prove whether or not that’s been the case. On the other side of the coin, perhaps there are rumours that a man’s wife has been unfaithful and he’s absolutely confident that’s not the case.

35. 14:32

    Maybe there’s a rumour going around the camp. Maybe there’s some nasty gossip that’s going around that needs to be put an end to. Well, the man can equally use this law. If he’s absolutely convinced his wife is it has not been defiled, she’s not been unfaithful, then he can employ this law and God will be the one who will make a declaration of, of, of the fact that there is innocence on the part of his wife. So either way, the man can use this law. To either prove his wife guilty or innocent. And God will be the judge, not man. The priest might go through the ritual, but God will be the one as she drinks the water, who will determine whether or not she’s guilty.

36. 15:08

    Verse 15, The man will bring his wife to the priest. He will bring her offering for her the 10th part of an efer of barley meal. He’ll pour no oil upon it or frankincense on it. It’s an offering of jealousy, a meal offering of memorial designed to bring iniquity to remembrance. And I want you to remember that when we come to the New Testament, the very purpose of this law is to bring iniquity to remembrance on the part of the woman who is on trial. The objective is for her to search her heart and mind and for God to be the judge of whether there is any iniquity in her.

37. 15:42

    And it’s about bringing iniquity to remembrance. And what we’re going to discover, Brent says, is when we come to drink the cup ourselves, week by week, it’s about bringing iniquity to remembrance. Verse 17, The priest will take holy water in an earthen vessel of the dust that is on the floor of the Tabernacle.

38. 16:02

    The priest will take it and put it into the water. It’s kind of a strange thing to do, isn’t it? In a way. He takes some water, he picks up a handful of dust from the floor and he puts it in the water. Not very nice to drink, but that’s the process that that the priest has got to go through. And we need to just explore in a moment why, why that was the case.

39. 16:21

    Verse 19, the curse was now explained. The priest will charge her by an oath and say to the woman, if no man has lain with you, and if you’ve not gone aside to uncleanness with another instead of your husband, then you’ll be free from this bitter water that causes the curse. Isn’t that lovely? The very first statement that is made is. If you are.

40. 16:42

    Innocent, then blessings are going to come from this. If you’re innocent, isn’t that lovely? However, if not verse 20, if you have gone aside to another instead of your husband, and if you have been defiled and some man has lain with you besides your husband, then the priest will will charge the woman with an oath of cursing.

41. 17:02

    The priest will say to the woman, the Lord make you a curse and an oath among your people. When the Lord makes your thigh rots and your belly swell, this water that causes the curse will go into your bowels. It will make your belly swell and your thigh rot, and the woman will say Amen, Amen.

42. 17:16

    Now I don’t know quite exactly, brothers sisters, what the physical outcome of this curse would be or like it. All I think we need to know for the purpose of this morning is that it doesn’t sound too pleasant. All right. If the woman is found guilty, the curse will not be something she would have normally wanted to experience in normal everyday circumstances.

43. 17:37

    And then the priest would do something really interesting. Verse 23, The priest will write these curses in a book. That makes sense, doesn’t it? It’s a, it becomes a legal document. Both the man and the wife are agreeing to this process. This curse is being documented and written for everybody to understand that when she drinks this water, there’s going to be consequences, either a blessing for innocence or a curse for guilt.

44. 18:02

    But then the most bizarre thing happens. As quickly as the priest has written it down in the book, he blocks it out again. Verse 23. The priest will write these curses in a book and then he will block them out with a bit of water. Isn’t that fabulous? It almost seems like a waste writing it down in the 1st. Place, doesn’t it?

45. 18:21

    If he’s suddenly going to quickly blot it out again with the water, why is he doing that? Well, let’s let’s follow it through verse 26. The priest will take a handful of the meal, offering even the memorial and burn it on the altar. And after he will make the woman drink the water. So after all this process has been through, it’s been written and documented that the the writing has been blotted out almost into the water.

46. 18:45

    It’s as if the water the woman is now going to drink contains the documented curse. It’s been blotted out, the ink has been blotted out into that water along with the dust from the floor. And she’s now going to drink this, this concoction of dust and cursing that’s been documented in the book. And we will see what will take place. Verse 27, when he’s made her drink the water, it will come to pass.

47. 19:07

    If she is defiled and has done trespass against her husband, the water that causes the curse will enter her and become bitter, and her belly will swell and her thigh will rot, and the woman will be a curse among her people. And if the woman is not defiled but clean, she will be free and conceive seed. So you get the picture of what’s going on. There is a question over the guilt or the innocence of a woman.

48. 19:34

    This process has gone through and the drinking of this cup is now going to determine what the outcome of her life will be. And I’m guessing from the inference there at the end of verse 28 that the the blessing would be to conceive seed. And part of the curse would be the inability to conceive, seed and go on and have a family and have children.

49. 19:57

    Well, brothers and sisters, now that we’ve looked at it, let’s just think about some scenarios because this is where it gets interesting, isn’t it? It’s one thing reading it there on the page. What about if you were the family involved in this situation? Imagine, brethren, for a moment that you are, you are the husband in this situation and you either suspect your wife’s unfaithfulness or you are determined to prove it.

50. 20:21

    Let me ask you a question. Would you go through with this procedure? Let let’s take either case. Let’s say you did suspect there was unfaithfulness in your wife. Would you bring her to the priest and make her do this? That’s an interesting question, isn’t it? Even if you were suspecting of guilt, would you do this?

51. 20:41

    I mean, the implications and the consequences for guilt being found were not mild. This woman will be an oath and a cursing throughout the entire camp of Israel. Would you go through with this? Let’s say you believed your wife was innocent. Would you go through with it? You’d have to be pretty confident, wouldn’t you?

52. 21:01

    God was going to be the judge, nobody else. You remember how the Lord Jesus says in Matthew 5 even a man looking on a woman to lust after her, in her, in his heart, has committed adultery with her? And imagine if that were the principle being applied here over faithfulness and unfaithfulness. Would you?

53. 21:18

    Would you have the confidence to put your wife on trial and make her drink and God be the judge of her innocence with the potential consequences? Sisters, imagine if you were the wife in this situation and brethren, you do it too because in the greater principle, God is going to put us all on trial any moment now as we go through our session.

54. 21:38

    Imagine you were the wife in this scenario. How would you feel? Let’s say you knew you were guilty deep down inside. This law is about bringing iniquity to remembrance. And whether or not everybody else knows or not, each one of you knows in your own heart whether there is guilt or innocence in your own life.

55. 21:54

    How would you feel as you approach the priest? And you took the cup of that that with that water of cursing. Imagine if you were innocent, how confident you would have to feel about whether or not you’d been guilty, even in just the smallest part as you drank the water, knowing that God was being the judge. He was the one who was examining the contents of your mind and your feelings and your emotions and all of your experiences of life.

56. 22:23

    And the question is, Brent says, can you think of an occasion when this law was actually used in the record of Scripture? That’s the, that’s the fascinating thing, isn’t it? And I in it’s literal sense here, I, I can’t find one, which I suppose in a way is a lovely thing, but there was 1 occasion and it’s right where we were yesterday back in Exodus 32.

57. 22:44

    And in fact, I want to suggest you brethren, it was this occasion that actually caused God to articulate this law and have it documented. The Apostle Paul in Galatian says that the law, the laws were added because of transgression. And what I think he means is that as the children of Israel went through the wilderness for 40 years, every time there was a problem, God found a solution and he documented the law that had been the answer to that problem.

58. 23:12

    So, and this is going to be one example, this, this law was the answer to what happened in Exodus 32 at the Golden calf when the whole nation en masse had been unfaithful to God. All that the Lord has said we will do and be obedient. And God put them on trial. And he was the one who determined who had been guilty in that, in that rebellion and who had been innocent. The red heifer was another one you might remember. Because of their unfaithfulness and not being willing to cross the Jordan and go into the land, God said all their men would die.

59. 23:40

    And because they had such contact with death over the next 40 years, God had to bring in laws about cleanness and uncleanness when it came into contact with dead bodies. Because a whole generation of men and women were going to die out there in the wilderness and death was going to become a daily occurrence for the next 40 years that they were going to have to deal with. So God has to have to write laws to deal with that situation. The law was added because of transgression. And I want to suggest to you, Brent sisters, that Numbers 5 was written as a result of what happened in Exodus 32. Coming me to verse 19 of Exodus 32. We were here yesterday.

60. 24:16

    As soon as Moses came near the camp and he saw the calf and the dancing Moses, anger waxed hot, and he cast the tablets out of his hands and broke them beneath them out there and. He took the calf which they had made, He burnt it in the fire, ground it to powder, strawed it upon the water, and he made the children of Israel drink it. And there you are right there.

61. 24:39

    That was the prototype of this law in Numbers five. He ground that calf to powder. I don’t know how you do that with gold. By the way, I don’t know if we’ve got any metallurgists amongst us. Not very easy to grind gold to powder. I’m certainly not sure how Moses made them drink it.

62. 24:56

    Can you imagine, Brent Sis, as the authority and the control this man had over this congregation that he could, he could create this, this situation where this calf has been ground to powder and he’s making the men and women of Israel drink the water into which it’s been ground. And it seems to me, Brent Sis, this is the only time this Law of Numbers 5 is used in Scripture.

63. 25:20

    Come down to verse 35 of of Exodus 32, the Lord. Plagued the people. Because they made the calf, which Aaron made. Now I guess drinking water with gold dust in it probably would make you I’ll again. I, I don’t know, I I’d need to ask a doctor about that one. I’m pretty sure drinking gold isn’t that good for your system.

64. 25:41

    But you can see the inference of what God is saying, that as the people drank, the Lord plagued the people. He was the one who determined as a result of drinking that water, who had been innocent and who had been guilty in the rebellion there on the wilderness floor at Mount Sinai. Now just keep a finger in Exodus and turn over to Deuteronomy 940 years later, as Moses reminds the men and women what had happened, he almost confirms that this was the situation.

65. 26:14

    Deuteronomy 9 verse 13 and just listen to these words and, and, and pick up all the echoes from the passages we’ve looked at so far this morning. Deuteronomy 913 The Lord spoke to me saying, and This is why he was still on the mountain. The Lord spoke to me saying, I’ve seen this people.

66. 26:34

    It is a stiff necked people. Let me alone that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven. Do you hear those words? Blot out their name from under heaven. And I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they. So I turned and came down from the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire the tab, the tables of the covenant were in my hands, and I looked and behold, you’d sinned against the Lord your God and have made a molten calf. You turned aside quickly out of the way the Lord had commanded you.

67. 27:01

    And I took the two tables and cast them out of my hands, broke them before your eyes, and I fell down before the Lord. As at the 1st 40 days and 40 nights. I didn’t eat or drink because of all your sins that you’d sinned in doing wickedly in the sight of the Lord to provoke Him to anger. I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure with the wherewith the Lord was wroth against you to destroy you. But the Lord hearkened to me at that time also. Verse 21.

68. 27:27

    And I took your sin, the calf which you have made, and I burnt it with fire, stamped it, and ground it very small, until it was as small as dust. And I cast the dust into the brook that descended out of the mount, and he made them drink it. He ground it as small as dust and he describes the calf as their sin.

69. 27:52

    Do you notice that he he equates to the golden calf with, with grinding their sin into dust, their iniquity, their guilt. And that’s what he was making them drink. He wasn’t the golden calf, it was their sin. It was about bringing iniquity to remembrance. It was about making them realise that they had to bear the consequences of of their own choices and he made them drink their own sin, which is why there in Numbers five.

70. 28:16

    It was documented there in the book and blotted out into the water that the the priest might make the woman drink her own sin, her own guilt that had been documented there in the records of the men and women of Israel. I made you drink your sin back in Exodus 32 and here as Moses goes up the mountain now and.

71. 28:37

    Pleads for the people with God. It’s it’s one of the most heart warming moments in Bible history, isn’t it I I don’t know how Moses rose to the spiritual stamina that he did to to to carry out this act here on the mountain with God. Exodus 32 and verse 31. Moses returned unto the Lord and said, oh, this people have sinned a great sin and have made them gods of gold. Yet now if thou wilt forgive their sin and you notice, I don’t think there’s a translation that I’ve come across that doesn’t leave a pause at the end of that sentence.

72. 29:19

    It’s just a 1/2 finished sentence. Yet now, if thou wilt, if thou wilt, forgive their sin. And even in the old Hebrew manuscripts, for instance, there’s just a gap there. Moses just didn’t know how to end that sentence. And if not, if you can’t forgive their sin, verse 32, blot me, I pray thee, out of the book which you have written. Isn’t that mind blowing?

73. 29:48

    If you can’t blot out their sin, just as the priest would do for the woman there after it had been documented in Numbers 5. If you’re not willing to blot out their sin and find a solution, then blot me out instead. I’ll do it for them, you know. But it says God has two very specific books that He’s written. 1 is a book of remembrance and one is a book of life.

74. 30:13

    They’re two very specific books that come up a number of times in Scripture and it seems like God is saying, I want you to play one off against the other. If you’re not willing to blot out their sin from the book of remembrance, then blot out my name from the book of life instead.

75. 30:30

    Let’s do a trade off, isn’t that? Just mind blowing. And you know the answer, Brent, sisters of the Lord God verse 33, how much that must have oh just warmed the heart of Almighty God to know Moses was willing to do that for his people. Verse 33 the Lord said to Moses, whoever has sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book. I can’t take your offer, Moses.

76. 30:54

    It’s awesome. I’m willing to even begin again with you. I’ll start my whole promises through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob again with you. I feel like doing that, you know that God was willing to do that with Moses. He loved him that much. But he said at. The end of the day, Moses, it can’t be your name that comes out of the book.

77. 31:11

    Whoever sinned against me, he will be the one who’s blotted out of the book. And can you see all these lovely ideas, challenging ideas that are coming out of this law that God wrote there in Numbers chapter 5? Well, how does it work, Bren sisters, for you and me? How does all this translate into a Sunday morning, into the lives of men and women sitting in Canada in 2011, all those years later? Welcome with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 10 and see how the Apostle Paul tells us what this means to you and me. And I don’t know if.

78. 31:50

    You’ve felt this when you’ve read Paul’s first letter to Corinth, but. The build up to this great moment in one Corinthians 11 where he gives his a unique breaking of bread discourse, the only one that comes outside of the gospel records I received of the Lord, that which I delivered. Unto you that the same night in which the law was betrayed. Brethren, sisters, the apostle Paul has been limbering up to that moment in One Corinthians 11 for for several chapters. And we’re just starting to reach the climax of it here in One Corinthians 10.

79. 32:17

    And he’s right there in the wilderness, back in Exodus 32, with the children of Israel. 1 Corinthians. 10 and verse 7 verse 6. These things were our examples. He says the children of Israel in the wilderness to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted neither be idolaters as as were some of them as it is written.

80. 32:38

    The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play direct quote there from Exodus Exodus 32 come down to verse 14. Therefore my. Dearly beloved, flee from idolatry. I speak as to wise men. You judge what I say, the cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ, The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?

81. 33:05

    For we, being many, are one bread and one body, and are all partakers of that one bread. We’ve Cumbran sisters to partake of something unique together in fellowship, all of us as one body and it’s so important, says the apostle Paul. How can you think of taking members of that body and allowing them to to associate with with other bodies things that are of just inconsequential value in comparison?

82. 33:29

    Come down to verse 21. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and take the cup of devils. You cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table and of the table of devils. I tried to show yesterday how even there in the wilderness floor at Mount Sinai in Exodus 32, whilst they were bowing down and doing whatever they were doing in front of this golden calf, they were also offering burnt offerings and peace offerings. And the absolute abhorrence of those two things somehow being mixed up together, which is what the Apostle Paul says we run the risk of doing in our lives.

83. 34:00

    You can’t blend the two together. You can’t. You can’t sit here one minute, one day on a Sunday and commit yourselves to being part of one body. How? How just wrong does that feel to then the next day be a part of something else? How can that work? Says the Apostle Paul. And notice what the result.

84. 34:16

    Is here we go. Verse 21 You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and take the cup of devils. You cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table and of the table of devils. Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he? Can you see what’s going to happen? Says the Apostle Paul. If you try and be unfaithful in your commitment to the body of Christ, you’re going to find yourself on trial one day when you come to sit around the Lord’s table with your bread and sisters, and as you drink the cup, it will no longer be a cup of blessing.

85. 34:48

    It runs the risk of becoming a cup of cursing because we will have lost the ability to discern the Lord’s body of which we have committed ourselves to being a part. Are you prepared, Bron Sisters, to provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are you stronger than Him when He puts you on trial, like the man there in Numbers 5, to test whether there is guilt or innocence? There is going to be a very specific test, Bron Sisters, that the Lord God is going to use to determine innocence. And the marvel of it is it’s not perfection. The test of innocence for for the Lord God, Bron sisters, when He puts us on trial is not perfection. It’s our ability to discern the Lord’s body. Turn over to Chapter 11, the bit that now the apostle Paul specifically for these brethren in Corinth has been working up to.

86. 35:40

    Let’s come in, in verse 27. You know these words right in the middle of his breaking his bread discourse, Verse 26. As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do show the Lord’s death. And we talked about that, didn’t we, the other day, what that means. And now it’s now really going to be concreted as to what the Apostle Paul means. Now you can’t miss it because he’s saying now it’s going to have to have an impact on your life. As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you demonstrate that you’ve understood your commitment and your participation in the blood and in the. Body of the Lord Jesus Christ, verse 27. Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be found guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.

87. 36:27

    That’s big stuff, isn’t it? For God to find us guilty for the death of His only begotten and well beloved Son is big stuff. I would not want to be giving evidence on the stand in the trial of the life and death of the Lord’s only begotten Son and being found. Guilty of his death and what was the test?

88. 36:53

    For he verse, sorry, verse 28, let a man examine himself and let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. For he who eats and drinks unworthily eats and drinks damnation to himself because he cannot discern the Lord’s body. Do you see what the apostle Paul is saying? He’s saying you need to take a real careful look inside yourself because the the the the thing that will determine your innocence or your guilt is your ability to discern the Lord’s body and your own relationship to it.

89. 37:27

    Verse just come back to verse 25 after the same manner he took the cup when he’d Sup saying this cup is the New Testament in my blood. This do ye as often as ye drink it in remembrance of me. This whole this whole issue. Brent says. This whole feast was about bringing iniquity to remembrance.

90. 37:44

    This do in remembrance of me, and that’s what the whole law of jealousy was about there in Numbers 5. And now, Bran sisters, the curse is only going to apply to those who can’t see themselves and judge themselves effectively. Verse 29 For he who eats and drinks unworthily eats and drinks damnation to himself because he cannot discern the Lord’s body. This is why verse 30 Many are weak and sickly among you in sleep.

91. 38:07

    Verse 31 If we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged if we can come Bran sisters week by week and find ourselves guilty. Then we will not be judged any further by Almighty God. But if we come week by week and we cannot see the guilt in ourselves, if we cannot see all the issues that would cause. Us a problem with God.

92. 38:28

    That’s when He will find us guilty, not when we find innocence bred and sisters. He doesn’t want us to find perfection in our lives. This is the wonder of God, isn’t it? This is the awesome nature of our relationship with Him. He’s not seeking perfection, he’s seeking honesty. He’s seeking an ability to understand ourselves to the intent that he needs to do no more, to the point that we can see in ourselves our own weakness and our own guilt. Can you imagine that woman coming to the priest and and holding that cup of cursing in her hands? Sisters, perhaps you are the only ones who can understand in in the right level of detail how you would be feeling as you were to drink that cup, knowing you needed to do it with. Such a level of.

93. 39:11

    Self examination. And I wonder what you would say. I wonder if there would be women standing there going, do you know what? Bring it on. Give me the cup, I’ll drink it, no problem. I’m innocent. Or whether there will be women who will be standing there pleading. That they might not be subject to the judgements of God and that He would find mercy and grace knowing that they were not as faithful as they would like to be.

94. 39:38

    And somehow, brother and sisters, now the apostle Paul says, when we come to drink the cup, somehow instead of it being a curse, this is the wonder of it, isn’t it? You would think as we come week by week and we hold the cup and we examine ourselves and we see all the guilt and the problems in our life that we’re about to drink from a cup that is going to bring nothing but cursing into our lives.

95. 39:58

    And yet somehow the apostle Paul says we end up drinking a blessing. How does that happen? Come over to Colossians 2. You’re probably ahead of me.

96. 40:18

    How does it happen that this cup that should bring about cursing because of our guilt and our iniquity brings about a blessing? Colossians chapter 2 and verse 13. Read these. Read these two verses really carefully. Absolutely beautiful. Colossians 213. You were dead in your sins. And the uncircumcision of your flesh, flesh has He made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all your trespasses.

97. 40:47

    He blotted out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us. It was written down everything that we’d ever done. All of our problems are written in the book of remembrance of Almighty God. They’ve been documented and they’ve been blotted out by Him and he’s taken them out of the way and nailed them to the cross. It’s almost as if the book, the page has been ripped out of the book by the Lord Jesus Christ so that now when the, when the, when the the document is is dipped into the water and blotted out, there’s nothing there. It’s gone.

98. 41:18

    It’s been wiped clean. The slate has been wiped clean. And now brains sisters, when you come to drink from the cup, there’s nothing there. It’s gone. He drank the cup for you. It’s extraordinary, isn’t it? The one man who, when he examined himself could find no fault, drunk the cup of cursing and bitterness for you and me.

99. 41:37

    And now when we drink his cup week by week, we just drink blessing. And it’s not a bitter cup of water. It’s been turned into wine, the bitter water that the Jews attempted to use to purify themselves. It’s right there at the wedding at Cana, has now been turned into the new wine, the royal wine of the Kingdom of heaven, and we drink nothing but a blessing. I don’t know how that makes you feel, Britain sisters, and how that just turns your life inside out and upside down as you leave and begin your life again.

100. 42:12

     Being able now to discern the Lord’s body and how you are in relation to it and your commitment to live as best you can, discerning that body and giving yourself to it. Come with me, brother and sister, to Matthew 26, just a moment in the upper room when the disciples felt this, this piercing gaze of examination under the eyes and the gaze of the Lord Jesus Christ. Matthew 26 There was just a moment in the upper room when the Lord wanted his disciples to feel that that that self examination feeling that that you and I are familiar with having having done it many times at the breaking of bread. And hopefully now with a with a deeper insight and with more awareness of what it is that we’re actually examining when we do week by week.

101. 43:12

     And in Matthew 26 and verse 20, this is what we read. When the evening had come, Jesus sat down with the 12 And as they did eat, he said, verily I say unto you, one of you will betray me. And he purposely did that. He wanted each one of them to not be sure whether they were the one who was going to be found guilty of the body and blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. One of you will betray me.

102. 43:39

     And they were exceeding sorrowful. Verse 21 and began every one of them to say unto him, Lord, is it I? And you can imagine why they would do that, can’t you, brother and sisters? You can imagine Peter going Is it me? And you can imagine him feeling 11 other pairs of eyes looking at him going, is it you? And so he he articulates it to the Lord. Lord is it I because he wants to hear from the mouth of the Lord so that he can be vindicated in the eyes of everybody else that it’s not him.

103. 44:07

     That’s what they were doing, wasn’t it? They weren’t they weren’t certain whether it was them or not, but they needed that vindication in front of everybody else. Just like the woman. They’re in numbers five. Part of the process of that law was that God would declare her innocent Lord. Is it I? And of of course, Peter’s looking Jesus square in the eyes, wanting all of his eleven friends to hear from the very mouth of Jesus that no, Peter, it’s not. You and I wonder if that’s how we feel, Bren sisters. Week by week, when we come, one of you will betray me. Of course, the reality is they all betrayed him. It says every single one of them in the garden for suck him and fled.

104. 44:44

     So although Jesus did something the others never did, don’t mistake it Bren sisters, they all ran away, they all abandoned the Lord in his hour of need, just as we all do at times in our life. Lord is it I And that’s the question we need to ask, isn’t it Bren sisters week by week?

105. 44:58

     Lord is it I and isn’t it lovely? The term they use of address to to the Lord Jesus. Lord, it wasn’t a term of just reverence and deference. It was a it was a term of respect and love. Lord is it I? And as they, as Jesus went round the room, he heard eleven men ask that question, Lord, is it I? But from one of the men he heard something very different. Just look at it.

106. 45:24

     Verse 25 when it came to Judas’s turn, notice what he said. It was different to what everybody else in that room had said. Judas, which betrayed him, answered and said, Master, is it I? That one word just changes everything, doesn’t it? 11 men had said, Lord, is it I? One man had said Master.

107. 45:54

     For Judas, the Lord Jesus Christ was a teacher. He was an instructor. He was somebody who knew how to interpret the Torah. He was somebody who could do amazing things, no question about that. But for Judas, he hadn’t become the Lord’s. He hadn’t become his Lord. He was just his master, his teacher, his rabbi. And it’s a fascinating insight into the mind of Judas Brent. And what you are seeing right there in the upper room is a man who had not been able to discern the Lord’s body. Master, Master.

108. 46:25

     And one of the great challenges Brent and sisters, you and I need to take away this week. For from now on, when we sit around these memorials of our Lord Jesus Christ, we need to make sure we know what our relationship with our Lord Jesus is. Is he just our master? Is he an interesting guy who, you know, no doubt impresses us, fascinates us? His ability to explain things and do things, the logic and the theory of his teaching is engaging. But is he somebody, Bren Sisters, who’s turned your life inside out and upside down?

109. 46:56

     Is he somebody for whom you realise he drunk the cup of blessing and cursing just for you in order to give you a relationship with a God who’s jealous for you, loves you, cares for you? Well, our time together’s nearly gone. Can I take you to Psalm 51?

110. 47:33

     I’m going to tell you, Bruin sisters, just briefly, just for your own interest, a big chunk that I’m about to just, like, carve out of the session. All right, I wanted to take you into Genesis 42 and 43 when Joseph met his brethren after all those years having lived in Egypt. And just can you remember the method which he employed?

111. 47:52

     Finally, when he brought them back on the second time, when they came to buy grain from Egypt, he said to his servants, I want you to put my cup in Benjamin’s sack. It’s the cup, he said to his brethren, by which I divine. It’s a really interesting thing for Joseph to say, a man who I don’t believe was superstitious in any way.

112. 48:12

     And yet for some reason there in the record of Scripture, Joseph tells his brethren that he uses this cup that he drank from on his table. He used it to divine and he and he put it in Benjamin’s sack. And when they set off back to to the land of Canaan for the second time with, with Joseph’s cup in their sack and Joseph’s servants overtake them and they get their sacks and they go down from the eldest beginning at the youngest. And do you remember what happened? They were all protesting their innocence. No, we’ve definitely not stolen anything. In fact, don’t you remember we brought the money back. We’re absolutely innocent.

113. 48:43

     And they went down from the eldest all the way to the youngest. And they marvelled, in fact, that the servants even knew which was the eldest to the youngest. You know, with twelve siblings, I’ve only got 112 siblings. For those of you with big families, you’ll know that’s quite a challenge for somebody who doesn’t know your family that well and has only met you twice to know in which order you come.

114. 49:00

     And it was almost like they were sitting right there at the table of the Lord, 1 by 1. And of course, each one of them said, listen, seriously, I’ve not taken anything. I’ve not stolen anything from your master. And it was only when it came to Benjamin Sack. And of course, Benjamin was the only one who was innocent in the grand scheme of things. Benjamin had not been involved all those 30 years earlier when Joseph had been put in the pit.

115. 49:23

     Benjamin had not been there. And it was only when the cup was found in his sack. And Joseph says, right, he’s the one I want. He’s going to pay the price. Bring him back. Only then, Bren sisters, did all the boys suddenly pour out their hearts. God has found out the iniquity of your servants.

116. 49:40

     We saw the travail of our brother’s soul, and we didn’t relieve him when we had the opportunity. And it was when the cup was found. Brensis is in the hand of the innocent brother. The iniquity was brought to remembrance. It was only then that Judah comes back and you just hear his confession as he pours out his heart and he he.

117. 49:58

     He recounts to Joseph all the damage that he’s done that he’s been harbouring in his heart and soul all of his life. No wonder, Brensis, as Joseph goes out and he just can’t contain it anymore and the tears are rolling down his face as he finally here’s the confession of his brethren and what they’ve done. And you noticed the brother and sisters. The theme of that confession was what they’d done to their father.

118. 50:18

     It wasn’t what they’d done to their brother Joseph. When Judith pours out his heart, you have a look at it when you get time. How many times did I count it? Let me just see if I can see it here. 15 times brother and sisters in. 20 in 15 verses Judah says in his confession.

119. 50:35

     I nearly brought down the grey hairs of my father to the grave in what I did to his son. And it was only when they saw the cup in the hand of the innocent brother that the brethren begin to express the damage they realise they’ve done to their father. It wasn’t about Joseph.

120. 50:53

     It was nothing was about Joseph. What they were witnessing was the pain and the hurt they’d caused their Father for all these years because of his love for his Son, and how those brethren had not been able to discern the body and the blood and the life of the well beloved Son of the Father.

121. 51:12

     And that’s our challenge, Brentis, isn’t it? Somehow to engage in these things week by week when we come to understand how much the Father loves us and cares for us, and to make sure that when we eat and drink, we do it discerning the Lord’s body and not be found guilty. God loves us and he wants us to understand how much he’s willing to do to redeem us, to give us a relationship with Him and to actually be found innocent. He was willing to pay the price in the life of his Son and he just wants us to understand it and appreciate it and to not have it been given in vain.

122. 51:46

     Well, here in Psalm 51, let’s let’s end here because David at the darkest moment of his life, having been unfaithful, having committed adultery, now realises he ought to be on the receiving end of this law of jealousy. David knew his Old Testament inside out. No question. David understood the principles of Numbers 5 and he knew that if any law now needed to be employed besides stoning, this was the one Psalm 51 verse one. Have mercy upon me, O God, according to your loving kindness.

123. 52:26

     According to the. Multitude of your tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Here it is. This is David now sat down with his seat belt on at the memorial table saying, Lord, I know what’s going to happen. I know I’m going to be drinking the cup. Even though that law was designed for wives and for women, David knows he is the wife in this relationship.

124. 52:47

     He is the bride of Christ, his Lord. He is the one in the marriage relationship with Almighty God and He is the one who’s done damage to it. And now he says, I know what’s going to happen and I’m pleading with you for mercy. Blot out my transgressions. I want you to blot them out. I’m just not sure I’m ready to drink the cup, Right? That’s what David is saying, isn’t it? Come down to verse 9.

125. 53:07

     He says it again. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all mine iniquities. And he’s, he’s bringing to bear all these lessons that he’s learnt from Exodus 32, from Numbers 5, from Joshua 24, all this understanding about his relationship with God. And he’s now about to employ all the principles of these laws. Have mercy upon me and blot out my transgressions. Verse 3 And this is what he’s going to do instead of taking the cup and drinking it.

126. 53:35

     This is what David’s going to do instead. Verse. Three, I acknowledge my transgressions. And my sin is ever before me against thee the only have I sinned and done that which is evil in thy, in thy sight, that thou mightest be justified when you speak. And. Clear when you judge in if, if this judgement is going to work, says David. I understand what needs to happen here. I’m the one who needs to acknowledge my sin. I’m the one who needs to understand the issues and the challenges and the weaknesses and the failings in my life. If you are going to be righteous when you judge me, verse 15, this is what happens.

127. 54:17

     Brethren, sisters, when? When he confesses his sins, O Lord, open thou my lips and my mouth. Will show forth your praise, for you desire not sacrifice, or I would give it. You have no delight in burnt offerings. If there was an offering under the law, says David, that I knew I could bring, that would somehow make me feel better In this situation, there is no question I’d be right there at the altar.

128. 54:42

     But I know that’s not what you’re looking for. The sacrifices of God, verse 17, are a broken spirit. And if I bring that offering, says David, a broken and a contrite heart, O God, you will not. Despise. Isn’t that lovely? God doesn’t want us to bring offering upon offering, gift upon gift, week by week, brainsisters.

129. 55:01

     He says if you bring a broken and a contrite heart in full awareness of what it is that you’re bringing to my altar, I will not despise it. I don’t know how that makes you feel, Brent sisters. Knowing that I can bring my broken heart to the breaking of bread and that God will not despise it just sends a lovely shiver down my spine that God will not despise that offering. Verse 6 Behold, you desire truth in the inward parts and in the hidden part.

130. 55:35

     You will make me know wisdom. Isn’t that lovely? All these things that God has ever done, Bren sisters, are to elicit that from our deepest insides. Truth, honesty, awareness, self understanding, all the things that God has ever done were to elicit those things from us because when they’re there, when they can be seen, when they can be brought out into the open, God can deal with them while ever they remain hidden, we remain lost.

131. 56:04

     And I want you to now notice Brent sisters, just as we finish what awesome things happened when David came in this situation. He says I want you to blot out my sin and my iniquity, but please don’t bring upon me the curse. Please. I appeal to your loving kindness and your tender mercies.

132. 56:20

     Forgive me. Blot out my sin and my transgression. Find me a solution that doesn’t involve the things I know I deserve and see what God. Will receive Bren sisters from David as a result. Verse 10 create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Don’t cast me away from your presence and take not your Holy Spirit from me.

133. 56:41

     Restore to me the joy of salvation and uphold me with your free spirit. Because do you know what I’m going to do says David. As a result of having been through this process, this is what’s going to happen. Verse 13 then will I teach transgressors your ways and sinners will be converted to you.

134. 56:57

     Now I know what it is. Bren Sisters. Says David that I need to tell people about my understanding of God. If you’re willing to do this for me, then I’m going to teach transgressors your ways and I’m going to bring sinners back to you. Verse 14, Deliver me from blood guiltiness, oh God, oh God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. Oh Lord, open my lips and my mouth will show forth your praise.

135. 57:21

     Isn’t that beautiful, Bren sisters? David says if you can do that for me. There is no question in my mind of what my next preaching campaign’s going to be about. If you’re willing to restore me in favour in your presence and forgive me and blot out my transgressions, then will I teach transgressors your ways?

136. 57:39

     Then will I open my mouth and tell people about what kind of God you? Are. And Brent, this is in our preaching and in our teaching. One of the hardest things, certainly in the UKI think we we find is to know how to get hold of this awesome principle and open up the doors of understanding to the men and women of the world. If they could only understand the feelings they could have and the experiences and how it would turn their life inside out of this kind of relationship with Almighty God. And Brendan says only can we go out and preach the gospel of salvation and forgiveness and righteousness in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ.

137. 58:16

     When we’ve been through this process ourselves, when we’ve stood holding that cup and we’ve discerned the Lord’s body, and we feel and understand all that God has done for us in the Lord Jesus Christ, then then can we teach transgressors the ways of Almighty God. Then we can tell other people what God has done for you and what God has done for me.

138. 58:39

     Well, Bren, sisters, thank you for coming on this journey with me. And as I take the bread of heaven and share in the royal cup of the King, I remember that against my name in the book of life, the curse of all mankind has been written. I know I’ve not been faithful to God, and my life is testimony to that, no question.

139. 58:59

     But as I drink the water of bitterness, I discover the wine of blessing instead of drinking a curse. The sins that are blotted out, I discover were blotted out by him, and he took the curse so I could be blessed. And may it be, Bren sisters, that we can see even in our failure, God is jealous for us. He loves us to that extent, and He wants me to present, to be presented faultless before Him with exceeding joy. That’s what we think about yesterday, isn’t it? That it’s not done with this sense of Oh well, never mind, Johnny.

140. 59:31

     I know this has been a disastrous journey, but I’m willing to do this for you, that we might be presented in his presence before his glory with exceeding joy. You will worship no other God, for the Lord whose name is jealous is a jealous God.