Once again shall we turn to that book
of Exodus, and this evening we're going to
read about the table.
Exodus chapter twenty-five.
Exodus chapter twenty-five, and reading from verse
twenty-three.
Thou shalt also make a table of chipping
wood or acacia wood, two cubits shall be
the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth
thereof, and a cubit and a half the
height thereof.
And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold,
and make thereto a crown of gold round
about.
And thou shalt make unto it a border
of an hand breadth round about, and thou
shalt make a golden crown to the border
thereof round.
And thou shalt make for it four rings
of gold, and put the four rings in
the four corners that are on the four
feet thereof.
Over against the border shall the rings be
for places of the staves to bear the
table.
And thou shalt make the staves of acacia
wood, and overlay them with gold, that the
table may be borne with them.
And thou shalt make the dishes thereof, and
full cover with all of pure gold shalt
thou make them.
And thou shalt set upon the table showbread
before me always.
Well now, we've read about the table, and
just that verse about the showbread, but let
us read a little more about the showbread
in the next book.
We'll read in Leviticus chapter 24, reading
from verse 5.
Leviticus 24, verse 5.
And thou shalt take fine flour, and bake
twelve cakes thereof.
Two-tenths deal shall be in one cake.
That means each one would weigh about six
pounds.
And thou shalt set them in two rows,
six on a row, upon the pure table.
And thou shalt put pure frankincense upon each
row, that it may be on the bread
for a memorial, even an offering made by
fire unto the Lord.
Every Sabbath he shall set it in order
before the Lord continually, being taken from the
children of Israel by an everlasting covenant.
And it shall be Aaron and his sons,
and they shall eat it in the holy
place.
For it is most holy unto him of
the offerings of the Lord made by fire
by a perpetual statute.
Now that passage brings before us the showbread.
Now just a verse or two in the
New Testament, in the first epistle of John.
Verses that will help us with our talk
this evening.
First epistle of John, and reading in chapter
5, reading from verse 11.
First epistle of John, chapter 5, verse 11.
And this is the record that God hath
given to us eternal life, and this life
is in his Son.
He that hath the Son hath life, and
he that hath not the Son of God
hath not life.
These things have I written unto you that
believe on the name of the Son of
God, that ye may know that ye have
eternal life, and that ye may believe on
the name of the Son of God.
Verse 20, And we know that the Son
of God is come, and hath given us
an understanding, that we may know him that
is true, and we are in him that
is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ.
This is the true God, and eternal life.
That is our reading for this evening.
So now this evening we are turning our
attention again to what we've already
dealt with, because it's all of a piece,
and then we're going on again with what
we have for this evening.
I think we're well aware, because we've had
it night by night, of this straight line.
We've seen how God makes a beginning with
his own very throne, the ark, the mercy
seat, the cherubim, which are in the holiest
of all, and then he comes out step
by step until, in bringing in the priesthood,
he reaches the furthest place from where he
began, and that is where the thin offering
was burned outside.
So God begins with his own very throne,
comes out step by step, until he reaches
the place of sin and the place of
the thin offering outside the camp.
Coming right out there to make possible these
priests going into his presence.
Coming out, as we know, in Christ, the
thin offering, coming out to the place of
sin where we are, and making provision for
us in Christ the thin offering.
And that is where we begin.
He began there, and he came out to
where we were in our sin, and made
provision for us in the thin offering.
We begin there, we avail ourselves of what
he has provided for us in the thin
offering, and we make our way into his
presence.
And as we do so, we're trying to
take in all the value of what we
find as we're moving forward step by step.
So we have seen, then, that the priesthood
is typical.
Aaron the high priest, the type of Christ,
our great high priest, and Aaron's son's type
of priest, of Christians, because every Christian is
a priest.
Then we saw that these priests were brought
in, first of all, bathed from head to
foot, ceremonially, clothed with their priestly garments.
And then we found that they are brought
into a position where they identify themselves with
a thin offering, a burnt offering, and an
offering of consecration.
Identifying themselves with those offerings by pressing their
hands upon the heads of the offerings.
This brings them into all the value of
those offerings.
Typical of ourselves being brought into this priesthood,
where we have access into the very presence
of God, and we can offer up our
spiritual sacrifice.
Now, we have seen that as far as
God was concerned, this was a completed work.
It was a perfect work.
The priests were established.
They were now able to serve, and were
able to enter into the sanctuary.
And we too are brought into a work
which is perfect and complete.
It's the work of Christ on that cross,
as thin offering, as burnt offering, and as
offering of consecration.
So we are established as priests.
Now we may move on in our service.
We move on and into the sanctuary, that
is, into a place where we have that
communion, and where we can worship God in
spirit and in truth.
So we've moved on.
We've taken up all the value of this,
and seen that this is something which we
need to understand.
We need to be established in this, that
as far as our position is concerned in
the sight of God, it is something which
is perfect.
It doesn't depend upon us one little bit.
It depends upon Christ.
Not what we may do, but what he
has done.
We are brought into all the value of
that, and we realize that by one offering,
he's perfected us forever.
And by so doing, we have no more
conscience of sins.
That doesn't mean to say that we are
perfect and we do not sin.
But it does mean that we've been brought
into such a position that we realize there
is no condemnation.
We realize we are secure, eternally secure.
And that's the great thing that we really
do need to lay hold of.
That this work has all been made over
to us in such a way that we
stand before God just as he sees Christ.
That we are eternally secure.
No one can touch Christ or move him
from where he is.
And he's there for us and he's there
at us.
We may stumble, we may fall, but it
will not touch that position that God has
brought us into.
It will not undo that work that Christ
accomplished.
It will not move Christ from where he
is in that place in which he has
been accepted by God himself.
By serving the Lord from day to day,
morning, noon, if we stumble or fall, we
do not make it less ours.
You see?
It's something which is settled once and for
all.
Before God, it is fixed.
Now then, not perfect, we still make them
and so we saw that God brought in
the labor.
These priests could become defiled even in their
priesthood, even in their service, they could be
defiled.
If so, they did not go back again
for that bathing, that clothing with priestly garments,
that sin offering, birth offering, offering of consecration.
No, they made use of the labor.
They washed hands and feet and that was
sufficient to cleanse them and to keep them
in a condition in which they could go
on in their service and go on in
their worship.
So we too have got the labor.
We as children of God, if we sin,
we have an advocate with the Father.
We are in a relationship, we are his
children, so our advocate is there with the
Father.
If we sin, that moment, he is there
to intercede on our behalf and advocate with
the Father.
And if we sin, we have an advocate
within, the Holy Spirit is there.
And we must make use of our labor
as they made use of theirs.
If we confess our sins, he will be
faithful and just to forgive and to cleanse
us from all unrighteousness so we are restored
to that fellowship and communion.
Now, this doesn't mean to say that the
priest could afford to be careless and indifferent.
Neither does it mean that we can afford
to be careless and indifferent.
But because we have been brought into a
world which is perfect and complete and nothing
can undo it, then it doesn't matter.
Even if we sin, it doesn't matter, it
does.
They have to wash hands and feet that
they die not.
So with us, it's a very serious thing.
We must seek to maintain ourselves in that
condition in which God can use us.
That is, in that position in which we
have fellowship.
We are not walking in darkness, but we
are walking in the light, and we have
fellowship with him.
And as we do so, the blood of
his Son, Jesus, cleanses us, cleanses us from
all sin.
That's a great thing.
Now then, having come into that, we have
seen the glitters of what we find in
the sanctuary.
All that we have down here is only
a beginning.
All that we have down there is taking
us to the cross.
Christ, him crucified.
That we have seen in the court, that
glistening blood doing its deadly work day in
and day out.
We have seen the sprinkling of blood, the
pouring out of blood.
We have seen that agony, bloodshedding and death
going on all the time.
We have seen that there must have been
a dreadful smell that came from that burning
flesh.
Not a pleasant place.
And that is plainly taking us to the
cross, to Christ, of him crucified.
But when we move through the door into
the sanctuary, all is so different.
There we find all is calm, all is
quiet, no suffering, no agony, no death.
So we realize this is Christ and him
crucified, but inside is Christ and him glorified.
This has to do with Christ down here.
That has to do with Christ up there.
And just as we see all this pointed
to Christ on that cross, we realize it
was a means to something else.
As it was with the priests, a means
for them being able to enter the sanctuary
and have to do with God in there.
And to do with those things that spoke
of the heavenly.
So we brought into all the value the
finished work of Christ.
That is not something in itself.
But it enables us to go on to
know him in the power of his resurrection.
And so as we step through the door,
we begin to realize now we are dealing
with Christ up there.
So we saw, first of all, that immediately
in front of the veil there was the
altar of incense.
Now that is in that straight line.
Beginning with the ark, the mercy seat, the
cherubim, the very throne of God is coming
out.
We've seen that straight line right away from
that synagogue into the gate.
The gate to the altar is the altar
of incense.
As much as to say, well now, having
come into all the value of what is
down here, you may move on and in
and you can worship God in the beauty
of holiness.
You can have communion with him in all
the concerns of the person in the works
of his beloved son.
You can realize there that Christ is up
there as your great high priest, up there
as the altar of incense, up there as
the incense itself.
That incense is all the preciousness and all
the worthiness and all the excellence of Christ.
And he's there in all that excellence, in
all the value of that finished work of
the cross.
So we thank God that we have such
a great high priest right there in the
very presence of God ever living to make
that intercession for us.
Now then, as we are moving in, God
will have us take note that on the
far side there was a table with sure
bread on it, and on this side there
was a lampstand with seven lamps upon it.
See, as much as he says, well now
then, I've come out to where you are
and made provision for you, you've averred yourself
of what I've provided, and now you're coming
in, and you're able to come right in
there and worship in spirit and in truth.
Well listen, whilst you're doing that, I want
you to take in that table and that
sure bread, and I want you to take
in that lampstand and the seven lamps.
See, so now we're going to try and
learn something.
As we have access into the presence of
God and can worship him in spirit and
in truth, that is all there is to
it.
There is still to be progress.
We are still to go on to know
Christ in a deeper and a mightier way.
Whilst we have that access into the very
presence of God, we are still to go
on to know more and more concerning the
personal work of his beloved son.
So then, tonight, whilst we realize we can
get to that altar of incense and bring
out our shroud of sweet perfume, we're going
to look at the table.
Now, we've read about it.
We saw that that table, again, was made
of that same acacia wood, speaking of the
perfect humanity of Christ, and then it was
overlaid with pure gold, bringing before us the
deity of Christ.
Down in the court, remember, the acacia wood,
the perfect humanity, because there you have the
thought of suffering, enduring the wrath of the
Holy God.
But the moment we get inside, we leave
that behind us.
Now, suffering, agony, bloodshedding and death, that's down
there.
The moment we enter inside, it's all gold,
it's all glory, it's Christ up there.
So there's the table, the acacia wood, the
perfect humanity, the gold, his deity, he is
now glorified.
So the table has to do with fellowship
and communion.
Christ is our table.
Christ is up there in the very presence
of God as our table.
That is to say, he is maintaining us
in that place of fellowship and communion with
God.
The table has to do with fellowship and
communion.
So he is our table, up there, you
see?
Maintains us in that place of fellowship and
communion with God.
Now, Lord said, I want you to put
sure bread on that table.
You shall make twelve cakes of twelve loaves
and place them upon the table.
They shall be there for seven days.
On the seventh day, you shall remove those
twelve loaves and put other twelve on.
It's the continual bread.
The table is never to be without it.
So as you are taking the twelve off,
you will put other twelve on.
And the twelve loaves that you take off,
you will hand over to the priests.
And they shall eat it in the holy
place.
It will be their food, it will be
their sustenance.
That simple, isn't it?
We've got that before.
The table is Christ up there, maintaining us
in that place of fellowship and communion.
The bread upon the table is there for
seven days, bread of presence, in the presence
of God, removed, handed over to the priests,
and it became their food, their sustenance.
That bread also speaks of Christ.
The table is Christ, the bread is Christ.
Now, people sometimes say to me, oh, Mr.
Brown, tomorrow night you'll be talking about the
table and the sure bread.
Yes.
Oh, well, I suppose you'll be telling us
all about our coming together to take of
the bread and of the wine, as we
may remember, the Lord Jesus.
And I have to say, well, not really.
And they say, oh, but we thought, of
course, when you were dealing with the table
and the bread, that this would be the
great thought that would be brought out.
You know, our coming together to remember the
Lord in this way.
Well, now, I want us to be very
careful about this, because it's an expression which
is used very often.
In fact, I think they use it more
than anything else.
That is, we talk about the Lord's table.
Here we have a table and sure bread,
and the thought there is not so much
our gathering together to remember the Lord in
the breaking of bread.
The thought there, rather, is this.
That as the priests were brought into that
position and condition by means of sin offering,
burnt offering, offering of consecration, and that access
into the holy place, that they were able
to partake of that bread.
There were twelve loaves of cakes which may
have reference to these people, the twelve tribes
outside, but the twelve tribes never partook of
it.
Only the priests partook of that bread.
It was their food, their sustenance.
It didn't come outside at all.
So then our thought is that as these
priests were brought into all the value of
that finished work, and then went in and
they became partakers of the table of the
bread, that this is our being brought in
through faith in Christ, born again, becoming children
of God, found in a relationship, and therefore
seated at his table.
We are in a fellowship, we are in
a communion.
This is not our gathering together to remember
the Lord in the breaking of bread.
This has to do with each one of
us being brought into all the value of
the finished work of Christ, and when that
takes place, we are born again, we become
the children of God, and we are in
a relationship table.
Now, no doubt most of you will remember
that in Paul's first epistle to the Corinthians
in chapter 10, that he's talking about these
people Israel in the wilderness.
And he brings out quite a lot of
detail concerning these people Israel.
And he says that all these things happened
unto them for tithes, and they've been written
down for our learning, we upon whom the
ends of the ages have come.
So the Apostle Paul has in his mind
these people Israel in the wilderness.
And these people in the wilderness had a
table.
These people Israel outside had a table that
the Lord spread for them.
They were in a relationship, they would have
been by the blood of that Paschal Lamb.
They were baptized unto Moses in the cloud
and in the sea, and in the wilderness
they had a table.
But here in the priesthood they have a
table.
And therefore there is that thought of relationship.
Now then, in that tenth chapter he is
talking about the Lord's table.
He speaks of the cup which we bled.
He speaks of the bread which we bled.
You notice the order.
When he speaks of the Lord's supper, when
the Lord himself instituted the supper, he took
bread, and then the cup.
When Paul brings it out in the eleventh
chapter of 1 Corinthians, he brings out the
bread and then the cup.
But here the Apostle is dealing with the
cup, the cup which we bled, and the
bread, you see.
And he's talking about communion.
And that cup and that bread, no doubt,
have to do with what we, on the
first day of each week, are seeking to
do when we come together to remember the
Lord in the breaking of bread and in
the taking of that cup.
But he gives it in the other order,
because he's got a different thought in his
mind.
What he is talking about in the tenth
chapter is the Lord's table.
What he is talking about in the eleventh
chapter is the Lord's supper.
Now, we don't distinguish.
We're always talking about the Lord's table.
We come to the Lord's table.
We partake of the bread and the wine
at the Lord's table.
If somebody does wrong, it must mean we
put them away from the Lord's table.
If people come from some other place and
they're going to remain in this district, we
receive them at the Lord's table, you see.
So, it's always about the Lord's table.
But there's a difference between the Lord's table
and the Lord's supper.
They told me in one place, I was
at some time ago, they said, we had
an old brother in the meeting, and he
was very, very upset because he hadn't got
anything to do.
He couldn't speak, he couldn't preach, he couldn't
teach.
But he was truly born again, and he
wanted to do something, but there was nothing
he could do.
So they said, poor old chap, can we
give him something to do?
And they thought it over and said, well,
yes, let's tell him that he can come
every Sunday morning and put the table in
order, spread the cloth and put the bread
and the wine there.
You know, see if everything's all right for
us to come together to remember the Lord.
That'll be something for him to do.
And one day, surely, he was delighted.
Oh, this was a tremendous thing, wasn't it?
Being able to prepare the Lord's supper.
Well, one of the brethren went there early
one morning, and he found the old man
sitting there on a chair, and he was
sobbing his heart out.
And he went through and said, brother, whatever's
the matter?
Oh, he said, it's terrible.
Oh, it's dreadful.
He said, what's terrible?
What's dreadful?
Oh, he said, I don't know what we're
going to do, I don't know what we're
going to do.
And he says, tell me what's happened, what's
gone wrong?
Oh, he said, this is terrible.
Oh, he took him a long time to
get it out, the old man.
And at last he said, well, brother, he
said, oh, let me tell you.
He said, you know, we keep the table
in that old room there.
And I went in to bring it out.
He said, I'm clumsy bringing it out.
Brother, he said, the leg's come off the
Lord's table.
Whatever.
Whatever are we going to do?
The poor old man was weeping his heart
out because the leg had come off the
Lord's table.
She gets some weird and wonderful ideas all
about the table.
The old man reading out the expenses, the
assembly expenses, read various items out.
And then he said, repairs for the Lord's
table, two dollars.
What are we getting to?
And let's remember, as far as we're concerned,
the Lord's table means that we have all
been brought in by means of that finished
work of Christ, born again, children of God,
and we're at his table.
That's the Lord's table.
We're there at his table.
No matter where we are, at home, at
work, at play, we're always there to be
at the Lord's table.
We're his children.
That's our place of fellowship and communion.
But what about the Lord's supper?
Well, you see, on the first day of
the week, we come to remember the Lord.
We come to partake of the Lord's supper.
We don't come to the Lord's table.
This morning, here we had the table spread
with bread and wine.
And the people came through that door and
they took their places.
Why did they take their places?
You say they took their places at the
Lord's table.
No, they didn't.
They took their places at the Lord's supper.
They were already at the Lord's table.
No matter where they are, they're at the
Lord's table.
But not at the Lord's supper.
So really speaking, those who came here this
morning, they came through that door and they
took their places at the Lord's supper.
And when they finished the Lord's supper, they
went out.
They left that behind them.
But they'll be here again next Wednesday.
But what about in between?
Do they come to the Lord's table on
the first day of each week?
And will they leave it?
No.
They are at the Lord's table all the
time.
That's that place of fellowship and communion.
So that's what this table is telling us.
This is the main truth where, although the
bread, the wine, are reminding us of the
fact that these are the evidence of the
Lord's supper.
But the thought in chapter 10 is the
Lord's table.
The thought in chapter 11, the Lord's supper.
Now, let's remember that.
Let's keep it clear before.
When we come together, we're coming together to
the Lord's supper.
We're coming together to remember.
You know, I'm not trying to make you
offenders in this, because you might think of
it in this way.
You see, we always think of the disciples
and the Lord reclining around the table, you
see.
And they're sitting at the table, he took
of the bread and he took of the
cup.
You see?
And we've got this in our mind, and
so we say, well, yes, we've got the
bread and the cup, we've got the table,
you see.
So we come to the table.
All right.
But I think it would be just as
well if we reminded ourselves that we've always
had the table, but on the first day
of the week we spread it with the
Lord's supper.
You see, so we partake of it.
I think it would be much better for
us if we just get this clear.
All right.
So then, we are thinking, when we are
thinking of this table, we are thinking the
Lord's table.
It's a fellowship, it's a communion.
And that table was spread with bread.
And that bread speaks of Christ.
Now, I want you to follow me, because
I think this will be really helpful to
you.
I'm going to ask you some questions.
I don't want to shout out the answer.
I'm not going to point at this one
and say, well, you answer this one, and
you answer this one, because if I do,
I'll lose my congregation.
But I'm going to put the questions to
you, and I want you to think.
Form the answer in your own mind, and
then I'll take you on, bit by bit,
and we'll just see where we get to
with this.
And the very first question I would ask
you is this.
Have you got eternal life?
Now, let me get to you with a
personal question.
I'm not talking in this way, well, have
you always understood that?
Is that what you've been taught?
Is that what you've accepted?
No, I'm not saying that.
You can accept it as a teaching, as
a doctrine.
You can accept it in that way.
But I'm not talking, I'm asking you a
personal question.
Have you got eternal life?
That's the thing.
Not whether you were taught that, or whether
you understand that.
Have you got it?
Now, listen, I want to know, have you
got it?
Well, I take it that most of you,
if not all of you here tonight, will
say, yes.
Yes, I've got that eternal life.
Now, are you absolutely sure that you've got
it?
You're quite sure?
You say, yes, I'm quite sure.
Well, how do you know that you've got
it?
Well, I can feel it.
Can you?
Oh, no, don't say that, you can't feel
it.
Well, how do you know that you've got
it?
Well, I know, I'm the authority of the
word of God.
What does it say?
Well, it says, you that believe of half
everlasting life, half eternal life.
And I believe.
And I'm sure I've got it.
All right.
Now, if you've got it, you're sure you've
got it, will you tell me where it
is?
Now, you answer, you say, I have got
eternal life.
I'm absolutely sure I've got eternal life.
Tell me where it is.
Oh, you say, well, I've got it, yeah.
Well, where is it?
Well, it's, oh no, it's in my red
handbook, handbag, you know.
I've got it, oh no, I'm sure I've
got it.
All right, tell me where it is.
Well, it's somewhere inside.
Inside where?
Inside pocket?
No, no, no, inside me.
Well, inside, yeah, you mean inside you.
Well, it's in my soul.
Oh.
So, you've got that eternal life, you're sure
you've got it, and it's somewhere in your
soul.
Yes.
Well, I tell you what it's doing there.
You say, doing?
Yes.
You say, you've got it there inside in
your soul.
Now, I'm asking, what is that eternal life
doing in your soul?
And you say, it isn't doing anything.
Oh.
So, you've got it somewhere inside, but it
is not doing anything.
Now, I wonder what you've got at the
back of your mind when you say that.
If you say, yeah, I've got that eternal
life, it's somewhere inside, it's not doing anything,
it's lying there dormant.
What's at the back of your mind?
I wouldn't be a bit surprised if this
isn't at the back of your mind.
You're saying to yourself, now, yes, I've got
that eternal life, it's inside there, it isn't
doing anything, but it's there.
And you see, now, I'm living natural life.
And this natural life might come to an
end at any time.
It might come to an end slowly, it
might come to an end suddenly.
But the moment that natural life, this natural
life that I'm living, the moment it comes
to an end, I've got another one here
that's going on forever and ever.
You see.
That's it.
I've got eternal life inside, not doing anything,
but it's all there, ready.
Ready for the moment when I die, when
this natural life comes to an end, and,
oh, now I'm living that life that goes
on and on and on.
It's eternal.
Is that at the back of the mind?
So you might be saying, oh, Mr. Brown,
don't tell us we're wrong.
No, I'm not telling you you're wrong.
You're right enough, but you're losing something.
Something which is very precious and very valuable.
You're losing it.
And what's that?
This.
That if you have got that eternal life
somewhere inside, it should not be lying there
dormant.
It should not be there doing nothing.
If you have got eternal life, you should
be living it right now.
Not waiting till you die.
Now, one or two other things that may
help us.
I'm going to tell you now that you
have not got that eternal life in yourself.
Oh, but you said we've gone through that.
We said, yes, we've got it somewhere inside.
We're sure we've got it there inside.
Now you say, we haven't got it.
You are not listening.
I said, I'm going to tell you that
you have not got that eternal life in
yourself.
Oh, you've got it.
But you have not got it in yourself.
When I read my Bible, I find there
are only two who have got that eternal
life in themselves.
Do you remember who they were?
As the Father hath life in himself, Yes?
So hath he given to the Son to
have life in himself.
All right?
So they're the only two who have got
that life in themselves.
You have not got it in yourself.
Neither have I got it in myself.
They have.
And if one might have crossed your mind,
Oh, yes, Mr. Brown, when you're talking about
the Father and the Son, what about the
Holy Spirit?
Well, he is the Spirit of life.
All right.
So then, we have not got that life
in ourselves.
When I was saved, I had a longing
desire to know more and more about the
Lord Jesus Christ.
And just after I was saved, the Christians
came to me and said, We've got to
introduce you to two young men, two Christians,
and they'll be a help to you.
I said, That's good.
I'd like Christian companionship.
So I went with these two fellows a
few times, and then I said to them,
If you fellows do this sort of thing,
if you'd like to, you know, to live
like this, Well, I said, You go ahead,
but not me.
I said, I could do that, those sort
of things, before I was saved.
But now I know Christ is my Savior.
I said, I'm not happy about this.
I said, No, I'd prefer to be on
my own.
So I left them.
And then I thought, Well, no, you still
need help.
So I looked around the assembly, and I
found two men a bit older.
And I got with these two fellows, and
I thought, Yes, this is a bit...
Well, it was a bit better, but not
much.
And I thought, Well, no, I'm not making
very much progress.
So I looked around, and then I saw
two elders, rather young ones.
And I thought, Well, if I could get
with those two, I think I'd make some
progress.
And so I dared to do it.
I waited until they were coming out of
the meeting, and I got between the two
of them.
One of them was Mrs. Brown's brother.
And these men lived for the meetings, for
the meetings.
They wanted always to know more and more.
And when I got between them, I'll tell
you, I was learning all right, but I
wasn't learning quick enough.
I was listening to one, listening to the
other.
Each side a minute and a half at
a time, I didn't know what they were
talking about.
And one day one of them said, Now,
he said, What you're talking about now is
objective truth.
And I said to myself, Well, I thought
truth was just truth.
You know, just one kind of truth.
But he said, Ah, brother, this is objective
truth.
Well, I thought, Well, I don't know what
objective truth is.
And as we moved on as a group,
the other one said, Ah, now we're coming
on to subjective truth.
And I said, Oh, that's another kind of
truth.
He says objective truth, he says subjective.
And there are many more kinds of truth
there are.
See?
I don't know.
But what I'm trying to get before you
this evening is truth which is subjective objective.
It's going to be difficult, isn't it?
No, it isn't.
It's very simple.
And it just means this.
That that eternal life is in God and
it's in Christ.
Not in you and not in me.
And that eternal life, as far as we
are concerned, is never outside of Christ.
It is never apart from Him.
It is always in Him.
When I believed on the Lord Jesus Christ,
when I was born again, God begat in
me the Spirit of His Son.
From that moment onward, it was Christ in
me.
Now then.
The eternal life is in Christ.
And when I believed and was born again,
God begat in me the Spirit of His
Son.
And so Christ is in me.
That eternal life is subjective objective.
Get it?
It's in Christ.
It's never outside of Christ.
And Christ is in me.
And I'm not so much concerned about the
eternal life which is in Him.
I'm concerned about Christ Himself.
In whom the eternal life is.
And who is in me.
Now do you wonder when I said to
you, if you have got eternal life, it
shouldn't be lying there dormant.
You should be living it right now.
Because that eternal life is Christ.
You remember that?
You were reading it.
That life is in Christ, and it's never
apart from Christ.
You remember the scriptures?
God hath given unto us eternal life, and
this life is in His Son.
He that hath the Son hath the life.
He that hath not the Son hath not
the life.
You can't have that life apart from Christ.
So the moment we believe, the moment we
adore Him again, God begets in us Christ.
Christ in you.
Christ in me.
You see?
We're not concerned about the eternal life.
We are not stressing the fact of its
duration.
But we do, you know.
That's what we're talking about all the time.
Oh yes, we've got eternal life.
All the life we've got now is not
eternal.
It might end any year.
Oh, but we've got eternal life.
All this life's going on forever, after its
duration.
Well, we should be stressing the fact that
it's a different kind of life.
It's the very life of Christ Himself.
And He is in you, He is in
me.
And He wants to live in you, and
in me.
Not be living our lives just as we
think fit, and then when we die, we
will find an eternal life.
No, no.
Let's get this clear.
To be born again, to be brought into
this relationship, it's Christ in you, it's Christ
in me.
And He wants to reach down into your
thoughts, into your desires, into your will.
He wants to live in you, says the
Apostle Paul.
I'm crucified with...
You see, we're right back here, aren't we?
Coming into all the value of what takes
us to the cross that we may go
on to know Christ in a deeper and
a mightier way.
That's it.
Christ in you, and Christ in me.
Growing in us, living in us, taking possession
of us more and more from day to
day.
That's why Christ went to the cross.
Not to make the cross something in itself,
but to make possible this that God wants
in you and me, that we should live
Christ.
That's a great thing.
Now then, notice this.
The bread was handed over to the priests,
and it became their food.
It was their support.
Now, although we have been born again, and
Christ is in us, that eternal life which
is Christ, He is in us.
Although this is true, that He is the
eternal life, that life, nevertheless, needs to be
supported.
From day to day, although we have eternal
life, although we have Christ in us, we
still need support.
We still need nourishment.
And Christ Himself is that nourishment.
He's the bread, and we need that bread.
Where do we find it?
We find it in the Word of God.
I sometimes say to people, this is a
very wonderful book.
It's a book of books, sixty-six books
in one.
It's a miracle that we have it.
God, in His own way, and He has
ensured that we have this Bible, this book
of books.
Why did He do it?
And people say, well, He did it so
that we'd know how to be saved.
Is that all?
Well, no.
So that we'd know how to live a
good life.
Is that all?
Well, yeah.
Well, I said, I don't know.
If that's all that God had in His
mind when He gave us this book, there's
something wrong with this book.
Because the biggest part of that book has
nothing to do with salvation.
And nothing to do with living a good
life.
The biggest part of it.
And if God only wanted us to be
saved, He didn't need to write a book
that big.
He only needed to give us a few
texts of Scripture, like John 3.16, John
5.24. You've got the Gospel there, all
right, on a big foot like that.
And if He wanted us to live a
good life, He'd give us the Ten Commandments
and you couldn't get beyond those.
But He hasn't.
He's given us a book of books.
Now, you remember that the Lord Jesus Christ
turned to some people one time.
They were following Him.
And He said, I know why you follow
Me.
You don't follow Me because of the works
that I'm doing, because of the miracles that
I'm doing, because of the things of God.
No, no.
You follow Me for the bread that I
gave you.
And He said to these people, now labor
not for that bread that perisheth, but labor
rather for the bread that endureth unto eternal
life.
That's what He said to those people.
And if I asked you, if I said
to you, now what do you think He
meant when He said that?
You see, all He was telling these people
that they ought to believe on Him.
That is, they should eat the bread that
came down from heaven.
He Himself is the bread of heaven.
So they should eat it, that they might
have life.
But He wasn't saying that.
Listen again.
He said to them, labor not for that
bread that perisheth.
That's a present continuous tense.
It's always perishing.
Labor rather for the bread that endureth.
Present continuous.
That endureth, not bread that brings you to
eternal life, but bread that brings you throughout
eternal life.
It's the support, it's the nourishment from the
moment you are born again.
And Christ is in you.
You need that nourishment.
It's Christ Himself.
And that's going on right the way through
as long as you are living that kind
of life.
Eternal life.
That's the thought.
Labor for the bread that endureth.
Right the way through this kind of life.
And so He gives us this book.
I marvel sometimes the way people use it.
They give it to many people.
It's like a lucky packet.
They came to me one place and they
said, have one.
And I looked and I said, sorry, I
don't smoke.
Some cigarettes, Mr. Brown.
And I said, what is it?
The promises.
Oh, sorry.
So I took a promise.
And I noticed that everyone who took a
promise got a very nice one.
Oh, what beautiful promises.
And I thought, well, yes, it's all right.
You can pick out all the nice promises
and you can enjoy them.
But let's remember, God didn't give us the
book just to do that sort of thing.
A lot of people get into difficulties, you
know, and they say, oh, I don't know
what I'm going to do.
And they get the Bible and they fall
over and they put their finger like that
and they always say, now, what do you
want me to do, you know?
Yeah, well, I remember reading about, you know,
I heard of a young fellow.
He was working with a man and the
man wasn't a very nice man.
He worked for him for quite a while
and then he came home and he said
to his mother, mother said, I can't go
on working for that man.
You know, he said, he's a silly ass.
He's no brains at all.
He says, he's an ass.
He said, I can't work for him anymore.
His mother said, you be careful now.
It's easy to give up a job, but
it's not easy to find another one.
So she said, now, you pray about it.
Oh, he said, well, I couldn't go on
working for a silly ass like that.
He said, no matter what I say to
him, he won't listen to me.
He said, he's no brains at all.
She said, now, you be careful.
You pray about it.
So he prayed and prayed and prayed until
as a result, well, I don't know.
So he got his Bible, you know, and
he prayed and he prayed.
And he put his finger on it and
he looked at it and he said, abide
you here with the ass.
Well, it's amazing, isn't it, what you can
do with the word of God, you know.
Pray about it.
No, now, listen.
Why did God preserve the book to us
that we might be laboring?
Hmm?
Labor not for that bread, but perish.
Labor.
What's labor?
Labor for the bread that endures that support,
that nourishment you need throughout this kind of
life you're living now, this Christ life.
That's it.
Labor for it.
It's there.
God has given us that book that we
should labor to find the bread.
Christ.
Christ in all the scriptures.
That's why he gave us that book.
Nothing less than that.
It's to find Christ.
And we need Christ.
Now, I know it isn't easy.
Some people have come to the conclusion that
when God did preserve this book to us,
he really didn't know what he was doing.
They know better.
And these people say, well, yes, you know,
it's a big book, and God gave it
to us, but he didn't understand, you know,
but we understand.
Now, they say, it's much too big for
you.
You'll never be able to understand that big
book.
So, we're going to make a little one.
And so they made a little one, you
see.
They put the sound here, and the prayer
there, and so on.
They made it up, and they said, now
then, put that big one away, cover it
with a Nancy MacArthur, and forget it.
Now, take this little one, and that's all
you need to be concerned about.
It's a nice little book, and you can
carry it with you and carry it with
you, you see.
That's it.
God didn't know what he was doing, and
he gave us a big one.
They know what they're doing, and they give
us a little one.
Did God not know what he was doing?
Oh, he knew what he was doing.
Well, why didn't he put it in more
orderly?
You know, take the Westminster Confession.
Where does this wind up, isn't it?
No.
Well, why didn't God do that?
Why?
No, no.
No.
You see, he has arranged it so that
you got to labor.
You've got to compare Scripture with Scripture.
You've got to hunt.
Oh, you see, you're not always shooting at
the right one.
Didn't God know all that?
He knew it.
You see, he wanted us to be dependent
upon him when we were reading it.
Always finding it necessary, dear Lord.
Unless you help me, I don't understand.
That was what the Lord intended.
When I was doing tent work, I had
a caravan, a very old gypsy caravan.
Not these double-lined things we have today,
you know.
Trailer, you call them.
Now, you know what I mean when I
say caravan.
A gypsy caravan.
And it had a wooden box down each
side, and a horsehair mattress on each, which
was as hard as the wooden box itself.
And I slept on one of these things,
you see.
And at night, it wasn't very warm, I
tell you.
So in this place where I was, there
was a very fine Christian lady, and one
day I found her walking around my caravan.
And I looked at her, and I could
see her walking around and shaking her head,
and I thought, oh, I'm in for a
spot of trouble now.
So she came out of the front, and
she said, I said, yes, Mr. Brown.
I said, yes.
You don't tell me that you live in
this?
I said, yes, I do.
Oh, but she said, you can't live in
it.
I said, but I do live in it.
Oh, but she said, you'll get pneumonia.
You'll die.
You're a servant of the Lord.
We want you.
You know, we depend on you.
You've got to preach and teach.
She said, you live in a thing like
that, you'll die.
Well, I said, I've been living in it
quite a long time now.
I haven't died yet.
She said, yes, but you will do.
I said, no, I'm all right.
I'm quite comfortable.
She said, listen, Mr. Brown.
Down at my house, I've got a lovely
place there.
A nice room.
I've put aside a prophet's chamber.
You can come down there and make yourself
comfortable.
Then you can come up to the meetings,
but you'll be comfortable down there.
Oh, no, I said, I'm quite comfortable here
in this caravan.
Oh, yes, she said.
I thought you'd talk like that.
She said, here am I, a child of
God, and I've got a nice house and
I've got a prophet's chamber and I'll take
you to the Lord's service and you come
and make yourself comfortable.
And he says, you're all quite happy, aren't
you?
So I thought, oh dear me, what am
I going to say?
You know, and of course, weakness.
I said, all right, maybe I'll come down.
She said, all right, I'll expect you.
And sure enough, there was the little horse
and cart that came up to pick me
up.
I got a suitcase with a few things
in it and away I went.
When I got there, the driver said, all
right, carry your suitcase there.
So he took it and knocked at the
door and made open this, you know, lace
cap on her head and white lace apron
and she said, I'll come in.
So he went in and she said, upstairs.
So the fellow upstairs with the suitcase and
he went into the bedroom and I followed
and when I went in I nearly ran
out again.
Prophet's chamber.
As I went in the room, there was
one of these great big illiterate beasts in
the bed with a cannon and your feet
sinking into the carpet.
This is no place for me.
I'll never be happy in this place.
So I felt the cannon and I thought,
that's all right.
That's where I'll sleep.
I'll be there.
If I go in there I'll never get
out.
And I tried it.
You know, put my hands in and it
went wrong.
And then I heard the lady's voice.
Mr. Brown?
Yes.
Can you stay a moment or two?
Yes.
So I went down and said, where's your
Bible?
Well, I have a small Bible here.
I want to ask you some questions.
So I said, yes.
Mr. Brown, oh, please.
Will you explain to me, you know, all
about those...
And I thought, why did I come...
So I did my best about the room.
No, I said, I wanted to unpack my
suitcase.
He said, you can do that anytime.
I got some more questions.
Well, after a few days there I thought,
if I stay here any longer I'll be
demented.
Ah, so I go out back to my
mind and I said, this woman, she's got
endless questions.
Question after question.
Hour after hour.
oh, so I said to one of them,
oh, I'm going to tell you a story.
Miss Ollison.
I said, well now, there was a minister,
you know, with his collar, and he was
travelling by train and the attendant came along
and said, take your place for lunch, you
see.
So he got up and he went to
the dining car and there were tables for
four people, tables for two.
So he went and sat at the table
for two.
And it gradually filled up but the one
seat where he was was left empty.
So after he'd been served his soup, the
door was open and a very rough looking
man came in, horsey-fied looking fellow, came
in and he looked and he saw that
empty seat.
And he said to his attendant, so he
went up and he said, get a seat
for me.
He said, one there.
He said, oh, sorry, I'll just go down.
So he went all the way down and
came back and said, it's only that one
there.
He said, take that one.
So he said, we're coming from the next
city.
Oh no, too late for me, I've got
to get off.
So, oh, sorry.
He said, take, all right, I'll take that
one.
So he went and sat down and the
minister was finishing his soup and the attendant
took it away and he brought him his
fish.
And this fellow was sitting there and he
looked at him and he said, he says,
you're a minister, aren't you?
Church minister, he said, yes.
He said, you're a parson.
Yeah, he said, I'm a parson.
He said, you read the Bible?
He said, yes, I read the Bible.
Read it every day?
Yes, he said, I read it every day.
Well, not always.
Oh, he said, you're a parson, you read
the Bible, you read all the preachers in
the church, he said, but you read the
Bible and you don't always understand it.
No, he said, I don't.
He said, what do you do when you
read it and you don't understand it?
He said, I do what I'm doing with
this fish.
When I come across a bone, he said,
I remove it and put it aside on
my plate and go on and enjoy the
fish while other fools will choke themselves with
the bones.
Oh, Mr. Brown, he said, how dare you?
Well, I said, you asked for it, didn't
you?
I said, you've got a Bible full of
bones, haven't you?
Oh, yeah, I think I have.
And when that lady wrote to me years
afterwards, oh, there's a footnote there, Mr. Brown,
all the bones.
Yeah, I know.
I know there's plenty.
But God gave us the book that we
should be occupied with it, you see.
It's labour, comparing Scripture with Scripture.
No Scripture of private interpretation.
It doesn't mean that here's some private according
to your opinion, here according to mine.
No, no, no.
No Scripture of private interpretation.
You can't take any Scripture out of its
context and say, it means this.
You can only interpret it in the light
of the rest of Scripture.
That's work.
That's labour.
That's the only way.
And so God intended that, to be occupied
with the book that we might find the
bread.
That bread that changed Europe.
Christ as our Sister, taking us right away
through.
How we ought to be occupied with that
book, so that we can live that life,
that Christ life.
A friend of mine was invited out to
a minister's house, and when he got there,
the minister had gone away, and there was
his wife, and she said, Are you the
evangelist?
He said, Yes.
She said, Well, please come in, but my
husband has been called away to someone who
is very ill.
In fact, I think the person is dying,
and may not be back for lunch, but
we can sit a while.
And so I went in and sat down,
and my friend thought, well, he would try
and make a bit of conversation, so he
said to the lady, Excuse me, he said,
but have you any particular way in which
you read your Bible?
She said, No.
He said, You know what I mean, some
people read a chapter in the Old Testament
in the morning, a chapter in the New
Testament in the evening, some people start in
Genesis and read through, and he said, I
wonder whether perhaps you have some particular way
you read your Bible.
No, she said, No, no, no, I haven't.
He said, Well, ma'am, would you tell
me how you read your Bible then?
She said, I don't.
He said, I beg your pardon?
She said, I don't read it.
The minister's wife.
You don't read it?
No.
To me, she said, it's the dryest book
in the house, I can't be bothered with
it, I don't understand it, so I don't
read it.
So he said, Ma'am, excuse me, were
you engaged before you were married?
Yes, of course I was.
Were you ever departed from your beloved?
Oh, yes, occasionally, I had to go away
for a week or so.
Did he write to you?
Yes, of course he did.
And when you read the letters, did you
destroy them?
No, I didn't.
He said, You mean to say you kept
them?
She said, Yes, I did.
Did you read them again?
And she said, Yes, I did.
Matter of fact, she says, I've still got
some of them.
Now and again, I have another look at
them.
He says, Ma'am, will you tell me
how it is that you go back to
those letters and read them again and again?
Well, she said, because I love my husband.
When you love your lord, you'll read that
book over and over again.
.