======================================================================== THE BREAD WE EAT by Roy Hession ======================================================================== Summary: This sermon emphasizes the transformative power of repentance and the blood of Jesus in experiencing true freedom and grace. It highlights the importance of understanding and appropriating the sacrifice of Jesus, moving from legalism to a deep reliance on His grace. The speakers share personal testimonies of encountering God's grace and the need for continual repentance and faith in Jesus for true spiritual growth and freedom. Duration: 1:03:01 Topics: "Transformative Power of Repentance", "Reliance on Grace" Scripture References: Hebrews 12:29, Galatians 2:20, John 6:53, Isaiah 1:18, Psalm 51:10 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DESCRIPTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This sermon emphasizes the transformative power of repentance and the blood of Jesus in experiencing true freedom and grace. It highlights the importance of understanding and appropriating the sacrifice of Jesus, moving from legalism to a deep reliance on His grace. The speakers share personal testimonies of encountering God's grace and the need for continual repentance and faith in Jesus for true spiritual growth and freedom. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------ I wonder have you sometimes felt the marked contrast between the joyous hymns we sing, such as we've sung this morning, and your own experience. Sometimes the contrast can be puzzling and even painful. The hymns are saying one thing and giving one testimony, but your heart isn't really saying it as well. And this seems to be characteristic of the hymns. They speak so positively, so joyously, and yet though we try and sing them heartily and mean it, it doesn't seem to make a lot of difference. I was especially thinking this when we were singing our first hymn, A Shelter in the Time of Storm. Ashaved by day, defenced by night, a shelter in the time of storm. No fears alarmed, no foes affrighted, a shelter in the time of storm. And how confidently we sang, the raging storms may round us beat, a shelter in the time of storm. We'll never leave our safe retreat, a shelter in the time of storm. And it came back to me a thought which I want to share with you that may be of help. This isn't the message, this is just the porch as we heard. Sometimes I've started with the porch and never left the porch. I have given up what I was going to say. What you've got to realise is this. This is the song of a man who's been in a far country and returned. And this is how he found things in Jesus, now he's repented. The thing is you see, we're in some sort of a far country, not necessarily the far country of original sin, but some minor far country into which we've got ourselves. And we try and sing the songs that can only be true of us when we're back in the Father's house in the far country. These songs are expressive, what it's like when you've got right. But we try and sing them before that happens. And the thing seems terribly unreal. You see, the songwriters don't often tell you how you got there. I mean to say if a person's got back, they're full of what they're found. And it is possible for a testimony to fail to tell you that they didn't feel like that yesterday. That there'd been a real bad way. But they repented and they got back to Jesus and the blood and they found the quick way back after the long way out. And oh how wonderful it is. But what helps me, what helps me is to hear that it wasn't like that yesterday. And how he got back. Now the songwriters, well they're poets. And they're full of the new vision and they write. In the nature of the case, and I don't criticize them for it, of what it's like now they've got back. There are some songs which tell you how they were far from sin and how grace brought them back. Not many songs tell you how the Christian can be when he can get wrong with God. You're not supposed to get wrong if you're a Christian. You're not supposed ever to be down when you're a Christian. It's a shameful thing if you're not bursting with pain. Is it? The great thing is to see he doesn't shock Jesus. There's no surprise to him. If it were otherwise, why has he made such tremendous provisions for the saint of God? If he never has his problems, if he never gets into the dark, why is all this elaborate gorgeous provision of the blood of Christ shown us in the tabernacle? Entrance into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. Why is that made if we never get out of the holiest? And so it helps me to say this is how I find it when I get right with the Lord. And I think when the storms do come, invariably you adopt the wrong attitude. And you do have fears. And you do have alarms. But for how long? It didn't be there for any longer than it takes you to get to the cross and then you're back with Him. And all that you are singing here is really true when you're doing that. But please don't think by trying to sing a hymn heartily it's of itself going to make any difference. It's after you've got back that this becomes expressive of your experience. It's very interesting how in the psalm, invariably David or the other psalmist, because they weren't all written by David, it tells you who was the writer at the top of each psalm. You know Moses wrote one psalm, did you know that? So it's true David wrote most of them. Invariably he puts the end of the beginning. He's had a real bad time and he's cried to the Lord and the long arm of grace has reached him and put him on the rock. So he starts with that. How good God is, invariably. Truly God is good to Israel, he says in one psalm, and to them that are of a clean heart. That's the end. He says, but it hadn't always been that way. He says, truly my steps were well my God. I began to doubt whether you were good to those who are of a clean heart. And he tells you of his deep need and how he found his way back to peace as he cried to God of grace and he comes out where he begins, at the end of the beginning. And then having told you his testimony, he tells you how. Now I just share that with you because it's good to know it and it helps me. Well, this is how it is when I'm walking with Jesus. I know I'm not always the happy light but I can get back and then he is indeed found to be a shelter in the time of storm. Now Brother Manley mentioned a conversation we were having this morning and I want to pick it up a bit from there. He said, he said that I said, that faith doesn't only operate of course in the realm of the supplies necessary for God's work. It does. Nor does faith only operate in the great crises of adversity such as sickness and the like. It operates there. But for me, the ministry of the word is as much by faith as anything. I tell you to go ahead, a man might go ahead as our brother perhaps has with a building project by faith with not very much in the bank at all that he's going to trust. I tell you when you go to preach the gospel you go as empty of matter and ability as the bank balance may be empty at times. And we venture out into the seeming void but with Jesus. And we find the rock beneath it. I can't tell you what I go through in this ministry. Sometimes there's nothing I want to do less than the next piece of service. I give anything in the world to quit and when I feel like that I say hallelujah there's a great time coming round the corner I know from experience. But I'm much more aware of not having these experiences and I just want to be so confident that faith, why it doesn't come other than through exercise of heart. And so this principle of faith is not only for the bigger things as the outward part of service, not only for adversity, not only for ministry, but in the straightforward living of the Christian life. And with that in mind I want to turn you to John chapter 6. And we're going to look at verse 28. Then said they unto Jesus, John 6, 28, What shall we do that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he has sent. They said therefore unto him, What sign showest thou then that we may see and believe thee? What dost thou work? Our fathers did eat manna in the desert. As it is written, he gave them bread from heaven to eat. Then Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, Moses gave you not the true bread from heaven, but my Father giveth you the true bread. For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto the world. Then said they unto him, Lord evermore give us this bread. And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life. That often happens, you're asking Jesus for something. And he surprises for you by saying, I am that something. The woman at the well said, We know that when Messiah cometh, he will tell us all things. When Messiah cometh, I that speak unto thee and he. We've got to see that Jesus himself is the end of the struggle. For whatever it is we need. You could be asking him for the very thing and he says, I am that thing. Possessing me, you've got it. I am the bread of life. And then in verse 49, he continues, Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever. And the bread that I give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. The Jews therefore strove among themselves saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? And rather than mollify and minimize the imagery, he makes it even worse. From their point of view. Verily, verily, I say unto you, except you eat the flesh and drink the blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life. And I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed. My blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me and I live by the Father, so he that eateth me shall live by me. Jesus is of course referring us back to that daily miracle by which the Israelites were sustained for forty years in the wilderness. And they never knew really what it was. That's why they called it manna. Manna or manhu was the first thing they saw. When that morning they walked on the wilderness and they saw after the dew had gone up, a small brown thing everywhere, a small brown thing. And they said, What is it? Manhu. And so as that was the first word they uttered when they saw that thing, it became manhu or manna to them. And manna simply means, What's it? What is it? And for answer they were told that that unlikely insignificant small round thing, this is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat. And so they found it to be. And they always called it as I say, What's it? It was the new cereal on the market, What's it? Mother would say, We'll have some more What's it? Isn't the What's it good today? And there were all sorts of various ways in which it could be served. But to their dying day they never understood it and yet it worked. And yet it worked and sustained them. Now when you were saved and were brought out of Egypt, you found yourself in a desert. You didn't know much about the desert in this sense before. The world was no desert to you in the old days. There was fun, there was friendship, there was money, there was what you called a good time. But grace laid hold on you, convicted you of sin, and brought you out with a mighty hand out of that old life. Only to find yourself in a desert. The world which had been so attractive before to you became a desert. That's one of the evidences that you've been born of God. That this world is a desert. The things that once gave you pleasure in it no longer give you pleasure. The friendships that meant so much to you, they no longer mean that to you. And you look at the whole thing. It's a waste, towering wilderness as far as any satisfaction to the child of God. Now the problem was for how in the world they were going to live in that desert. Two million people it is thought, comprised that company who came out. Men, women and children. And they just went out with joy, just with a few provisions. Which were soon gone. And there they had this great wilderness to go through. How were they to be provided for? And of course they murmured, doubted first. But grace had it all ready planned. And here was this small round thing. And they were told, this is the bread the Lord has given you to eat. You've been brought out of Egypt into a desert that doesn't matter what the desert is. It doesn't matter that it's unfertile. You're going to be fed with this mysterious miracle to the rest of your days. How am I to live in a world which is no friend to grace? In a world that's at enmity with my Lord and opposed to me. Where all its attractions attract me in the wrong direction. And for answer it shows you a small round thing in a stable. You say, what's that? This is the bread the Lord has given you to eat. And it becomes even more irrelevant it would seem when you see that one. Not welcomed as Messiah by everybody, but left to die as if he were a criminal on a cross. You say, what's it? And God says, it's that, it's the bread the Lord has given you to eat. The only means by which you're ever going to live through this alien world. Then we see him risen from the dead. That looks a little more impressive, but even then we don't quite know how that's going to relate to us. God says, I'll tell you what that is. That, one, is the bread given you to eat. And not only himself, but the word that he gives it, sometimes doesn't seem relevant to our needs. The great need of the church for revival. And there are those who have the grave responsibility of leadership in their churches. And they long for the moving of God and for revival to come into their midst. And they're trying, as it's right to be concerned, all sorts of ways that this might happen. And all they hear, so often, is a very simple, elementary message. You say, what am I listening to? I'm only listening to the gospel. That was my problem. When I first heard the message that the missionaries and the African leaders brought back to England from revival in East Africa. I first heard what they had to say in 1947. And my first wife said to me, well, I don't think much of it. They're not much preachers. Why, she said, you're a better preacher than they are. Doesn't seem relative. I mean, I had a very well developed, deeper life, message. And it had helped me no end at one time. True, it had died on me. But I could always give it. But this was so elementary. And I, in effect, said, what is it? And God says, I'll tell you what it is. This is the bread the Lord has given you to eat. This message, this elementary message of grace which we were first heard we were saved, this is the message. This is the bread. This is the revival by which the church is going to live. So this is quite an accordance, characteristic of deity, to confound us, to stumble us with the simplicity of things. And yet that which we sometimes tumble over is the bread the Lord has given you to eat. And I had to pass my well developed, deeper life message. I didn't hear any much about Romans 6, 7 and 8. Those brothers said they'd come to share with me what we've learnt in the Bible. And the first message they gave was a message on Cain and Abel. Cain, the man who came by work, and Abel, the man who came by the blood. You preachers know that well, like me. I preached it, you preached it. And especially it's an evangelistic message. And they gave this message and they said, you know, we discovered that we were Cain. Coming by the way of our being a missionary, and doing so much. But nothing real happened in our lives and God didn't move until we began to repent. And come as Abel came, there's nothing but the blood of Jesus. Well I said, that's simple, I preach that. It's the way of work, the way of faith, we know that. And yet I had to learn that this was the bread the Lord had given me and given the church to eat. None other than Jesus, known in stark elementary simplicity. And I began to see that I was a Cain. I was a tiller of the ground. Was I a tiller? Very interesting, out in East Africa there was a great saintly African. He was one of the first to be blessed in the revival. When as yet there were only two men for several years who had found the answer. Remember, God's spiritual movement had beginnings as little trickles and there it began with two men. And it crossed the colour line at the very beginning. One a missionary doctor, another an African civil servant. Who admitted to one another they were both beat as Christians. And spent two days over their Bibles seeking God for the answer. And this dear man, this African, he was very active in the early years of God's moving. Then became sick. And then just lived a retired life in his little home working in his garden. But he became the prophet of the revival. I don't mean prophet in any special supernatural way, but men sought his advice. And when one of them, the other Africans who were active. When one of them had come to England, would return to Uganda. He'd always go and see this brother, Sir Bambi was his name. And he'd inquire diligently about various people he'd heard tell of. Praying for every step. He said, now tell me, you come back from England, you know when you were there before you told me of a man, what was his name? Roy Hudson? How is he? I had the impression as I prayed for him, that he's always striving. How right he was. I was trying to get by my effort. What was already in Jesus was difficult. I was a killer of the ground. Bringing the result of my efforts to God. And going back to that first sermon, slowly I began to see that I wasn't an able. I was a saint. Oh, I was saved by faith, yet not by work. So when it came to everything else, it was work. And God helped me to take Abel's place. He showed me wherein I had to repent. And in repenting, what could I do but come by the way God had appointed, the blood of the Lamb. And I know the mystery. That small, round thing. It meant a new chapter for me, if it didn't mean revival for England. It meant it for me. Though of course it was an awful lot to learn. And I made many mistakes in those early years, and still do. But this, the Lamb. That which we cannot understand. That seems perhaps irrelevant to our present needs. This is the bread the Lord has given us to eat. Every country, every nation has its characteristic diet. In India they live on rice. In Italy, well rumor has it they live on spaghetti. In Germany, which I often visit, I know for a fact they live on something they call roots. Every day, sausage. Every day it's roots. In English, in England, rumor has it, over here, that we live on fish and chips. We're not quite so monotonous as that, but certainly it's much appreciated. And in America, hamburgers. Tell me, what does a Christian live on? He lives on Christ. He's not only saved by Christ, he's got to live on Christ. He lives on pure, unadulterated Jesus Christ. And where that's been the diet. Where there have been godly wise ones, who've seen where the saints have been trying to supplement their diet, and add something to it, and introduce works of some sort, rather than grace. And where they've maintained that this is the best, that's where the Spirit of God has gone on continuously in the Bible. And those as individuals are prepared to live on Christ, not on methods, not on wonderful schemes of outreach. Not on the latest fad that's going around among evangelicals, whatever it may be. The last thing we've got to do, is that on Jesus, new life goes on. I would say, every spiritual movement that's pitted up, has pitted up for lack of this. Your additions to Jesus have crept in. I only know of the spiritual movement that I've had such close touch with. All the things that have tried to come in. The Oxford group tried to capture it. The Pentecostal tried to capture it. And special forms of legionaries have tried to capture it. But some of those Africans. If it was left to the missionaries, there would have been all sorts of diversions. We're so used to them. A new emphasis produces a new denomination in our country. But they sparked it. Some would travel hundreds of miles to put something right to the people, who were inclined to divert off to this, off to that. And to this day, this is the day. And that's enough. Jesus Christ is made to me all I need. He alone is almighty. He, He is all I need. Wisdom, righteousness and power. Holiness this very hour. My redemption, full and sure. He is all I need. And I've had my temptations to be diverted. I was in touch with a movement of revival in Canada some time ago. And it seemed so much along the line that I most desired. And I went and spent some time with the brothers there. And true enough, God was working. They had their own way of doing things. Different from what I'd been used to. I said, why isn't God using me like that, Ray? And so I began to try and imitate them. In the matter of their message. Not necessarily in their message, but it wasn't very different from what I was trying to do. And you know, it only had the effect of disturbing my brother. It nearly upset the whole conference. Which, which I was, I won't say leader, but one of the team. And I said, brother, what are you doing? Putting on the pressure on us. Trying to get us to respond in a certain way. You're striking. And I thanked God, he gave me the grace of repentance. You're right, brother. God's right, I'm wrong. I came back. I kept to just that. Jesus had this walk in the light with him. Found it all in him. And the blessing went on. Now, in, Jesus in calling himself the bread of life said, you've got to eat it. It's a daring expression. And when the Jews found it difficult to receive, he went on and made it worse. And said, you've got to eat my flesh and drink my blood. Well, obviously that's a picture. What is it a picture of? It's a picture of what brother Manley was talking about, faith. But especially of faith that appropriates that which is offered. Food, with regard to you and me, goes through two stages. First, it's on our plate. You say, it's my food. Mum puts it on your plate, it's yours. But there's a further stage to which it goes. When you put it in your mouth. Then it really is yours. No one wants it after it's been in your mouth. You've made it yours. What was potentially yours, you've made it yours. Now, Jesus is on the plate for the sinner. He's on the plate for the weak, failing saint. He is yours. He belongs to you. Did you know that? He belongs to the sinner. He belongs to the failing saint, just because you are that. These are the ones in whom he specializes. I'm yours. Come for you. Not even your worst failures can alienate me from what is yours. I am yours. But I've got to go further and see that. And sing these wonderful hymns for me, for me, for me. I must appropriate this. I must say, that which is offered of me, I take to be mine. And I make it mine by the appropriating faith. And I think that is what eating is meant to symbolize. Could you have a better symbol of that which makes, that which is offered yours, than eating. And I'm to appropriate, I say, thank you Jesus, you offered to be this to me, then I'm happy with that. I'm counting on you as that. Mine. And that one comes in and becomes the life of your life, as food, becomes the life of our body. Now the interesting thing is, that Jesus divides himself into two. My flesh, my blood. And for me, I can see two distinct stages. Though I'm not going to say it must be the same stages, distinctly two for you. But I did have to learn, how to eat his flesh. And then I also had to learn, how to drink his blood. His flesh is that which he gave for the life of the world. And I've got to appropriate that life of his, to be mine. Not only my forgiveness, not only a place in heaven. But the life that I now live, I must live by faith in the Son of God, who lives in me. I'm not to expect my life to be improved. There's a chorus that years ago, the famous gypsy evangelist taught everybody. Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me. Very sweet one. And he went on to say, O thou spirit divine, all my nature is thine. To the beauty of Jesus be seen in me. Well, I'm not sure that's quite correct. Though I love the chorus. It might be better written, and some people have tried to put it this way. O thou spirit divine, make all truth nature thine. There's only one beautiful thing about the Christian, that's Jesus, who lives in me. And I've got to learn, in despair of what I am. To count on the fact I have him. Facing needs beyond me. Confessing that fact, I have to add, nonetheless, for this need, I have Jesus. And that's the way to go through. And if people wonder at the way you're going through, say, oh thanks for me, you don't know what I'm like. How I did begin to react the wrong way. But what you see is not me. It's Jesus. The life which I now live. I live by faith in Jesus, who I have made mine. Now it was an important time for me when I made this discovery. I remember the morning when I saw it there written in Galatians 2.20. That the eye that was jealous of many other things was judged at the cross. Ended, not mended. And I appropriated Jesus to be my life. I put the onus on him. And as I dared to believe it. And count on it. I had every evidence that he was that. I never won any souls for Christ. Or hardly any, until that became. And it was on the head of that experience that God called me from a London bank. Into a full time evangelistic work. And Jesus, as I trusted him, was the evangelist. And he knew how to bring people to himself. I found there wasn't that easy truthfulness that I'd known before. Prayer was a struggle. Preaching was a chore. Not that I gave up for a moment. As I said last night, I tried to make up for what was lacking. About my own efforts. And there I was. And I was virtually back where I was. And then it crossed. The version of the Bible came across my path. And whereas it didn't give me my advanced teaching. It gave me something more elementary. The message of the blood of Jesus. And of the grace of God to save me. And I got a call to sin. And if things weren't right, it was because of sin. I quit seeing sin. Perhaps after I saved, I had a sensitive heart and conscience. But I wasn't a repentant Christian. And had I been, I wouldn't have known what to have done with that which I repented of. Because I'd not yet really seen the power of the blood of Jesus. In the life of a believer. And God says, you believe in the cross. You've now got to learn the truth of life. And so there was a stage when I enjoyed seeking the flesh. Appropriating that life. But that's not the whole picture. In spite of all that, you being a child of Adam, there will be all various things from time to time in which the old man would express himself. It's alright to say reckon yourself dead to sin. But what happens, what do you do when you haven't? And when things have gone wrong and relationships have been spoiled because you haven't. No going back to Romans 6 will help you there. Romans 6 is not a gospel, it's a principle. When things have gone wrong, I don't need a principle. How they shouldn't go wrong. In the future, I need a gospel. That sweet message of grace that Jesus came to give. As the old hymn says, remember, I'm a sinner that Jesus came to help. And how glad I was to be able to go back. To that small round thing. And find it utterly sufficient for my needs. And my emptiness. And my wrongs. And I learn to live with love. Just hopefully. I want to tell you there's one thing in the deity that really belongs to you. His glory doesn't belong to you. His majesty doesn't belong to you. His Lord and God has promised he doesn't belong to you. Shall I tell you that? In Jesus his son belongs to you. His love. His love. It belongs to you. Now don't look at that with those eyes. And Francis Ridley Haverhill has that wonderful hymn. Precious, Precious Blood of Jesus. And the chorus is Precious, Precious Blood of Jesus. Ever flowing through me. Oh believe it. Oh receive it. Peace for me. Or you can't appropriate the blood. For cleansing. For forgiveness. For restoration. For boldness to enter the holiest. Save if you call sin, sin. But calling sin, sin isn't well enough is it? You can feel worse rather than better after that. Seeing this beautiful provision in which God has anticipated every last thing before I ever committed it. And said it. And I began to drink the blood. I know no other way of looking at it. Because it isn't merely being restored to where you were before. How do I get boldness? And freedom? I have liberty. Boldness. To enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus. I the weak failing man. So I follow you Lord. And so this is the way. And this is where faith comes in. Another aspect of faith that makes life. What grace offers. And does not see in our lacks and failings a disqualification. But if honestly confessed. Those things are the things which make us unbelieve. The grace. Grace can be defined in many ways. Here's one. Good news. For bad people. Regardless if they confess how bad they are. I love it. And when you're humble enough to admit it. The bells of heaven ring out. Deep hymns. Of great joy. And that man. He has liberty. By the power of the insufficiency of the blood of Jesus. To walk into the holiest holy. Of God's presence. As if the place belonged to him. Which it does. The blood has made it yours dear one. Now normally you would think. That. You would begin. By drinking the blood. And then going on. To eating the flesh. Yes. First of all the blood. Then the cleansing of sin. And then risen life. But it didn't happen that way with me. It was the other way around. Someone has said. Ideally the Christian life should begin with repentance. And go on in faith. Ideally. But nearly always. It begins with faith. You're told. Open your heart. Let Jesus come in. Don't worry. Take it by faith. And that's how I began. Or there was a surrender. Because I was fighting God up to that point. But faith was the thing. Only later did I see. If I was going to go on. I had to go on by faith. How am I going to go on? With repentance. So faith is always associated with repentance. It is to bring the blessing of Jesus. The praise of God. This is the blood. Every contingent is the blood of Jesus. Nothing keeps on flowing. To you, yes. Not to the angels. I'm telling you. And the attitude. The courage. There is the breath of life. Think of Christ living in you. That's just fine. But I say again, it's the principle. There is an element of gospel. You weep. Hallelujah. You can have Christ living in you. But what if you fail to let him live in you? And things get wrong. And the old Adam is expressed. And the harmony of the whole is spoilt. Going back to Galatians 2.20 or Romans 6. We've got to go back to what Jesus was like. Amen. It's simple grace that we first take. And as a fountain opens to sin and uncleanness. And we've yet to experience the full majesty of that blood. When we take that place. Amen. I think we've got five minutes. I'm told we're pleading. End it. Well then I'm going to ask my wife. If she will add a little more. You heard that perhaps. She's the most sensitive person in the world. About taking a meeting on too long. She dies a thousand deaths. As long as I do preach. But you heard him who knows. And the word goes. It doesn't matter. Well I hope they're not too dark. I was just looking at another verse. In this passage that Roy's been speaking about. Where it says. The disciples. Said this is a hard sin. And Jesus knew that they murmured. He said this is offensive. And then. Something. From that time. Went back. And walked with him. No more. And then Jesus said unto him twelve. Will you also go away. And Jesus said Lord. Whom shall we care. You've got the word for Christ. And in a way that sums up. How all this came to me. This message of the power of the blood of Jesus. Which I think has been. Well. Absolutely life giving to me. As a Christian. And I didn't see it. For so many years. I sang about it. I prayed about it. I read about it. But somehow. It never really. Got home to me. Until. These missionaries came. To our church. Way back in 47. As Roy was saying. Roy and I. We've only been married twelve years. He and his first wife. Were going up and down the country as evangelists. As he's been telling me. I was just a very ordinary church member. One of the older young people. And they came. To our church. And I can remember. What an impact. It had on my life. Because I had been saved. For ten years. I'd been. Brought up as we say. I hate to say raised. Raised in all these different grasses. Putting him. In a home that really had. The things of God. And yet there was a great emptiness in my life. And. God in his mercy took me to Switzerland. To a. House for. Young people. And there I heard about Jesus. And it was there. That I met him. He met me and saved me. Then I went home. And I joined this. Evangelical Bible based. Very sound church. And for ten years. I thought to live out my Christian life. And it was really hard work. And you know. Not having that background. I looked at people. And I thought oh yes. That's what a Christian is. But somehow. I got disillusioned. I found that wasn't what a Christian was. Not as I read it here. And then we had fellowships. In our church. Again. I felt disillusioned. That wasn't what I read here. But it wasn't the other people chiefly. It was myself. That I was disillusioned about. And I used to read books. On the victorious life. I used to listen to preachers. And it came across to me. That. If I did various things. If I prayed more. If I read the Bible more. If I was more involved. In this and in that. And if I gave more. If I perhaps went to the extreme. Of being a missionary. Then. This. This. What you call it. This reality of Jesus. That I was looking for. If I did all these things then. This would become mine. But always this eluded me. And you know there's no end. There's no end to the things that you can do. I know you know all this backwards surely. You've been through the same old rigmarole. As I have. And there's no end. Is there? You keep hearing of something else you ought to do. And then you'll make it. And you find you don't. And. Makes me think of the story of Naaman. Who was told to go and wash. And how he didn't want to do that. And how. You know. If you were told to do. Some great thing. You would do it. How much rather then. When you're told to just go and wash. And really that was what it was. When these men came. And they shared with us. Roy's referred to them several times. They shared their testimony. I've never heard preachers. Talk like that before. They told us how God had met with them. The doctors. Doctors. Men had been out on the field for 20, 30 years maybe. And then how. In the midst of the years. God had moved by his spirit. And he had come into that station. That mission station. He had. Brought conviction. He had shown them. That all that they had done. For him as they thought. Was nothing. But there were things that he saw. And he led them back by the spirit. To conviction. He led them back to the cross. Back to repentance. Back to seeing. The power of the blood of Jesus. And they shared these things. And I can remember. One day they shared. How a team of them had gone out. And how. Jealousy had come in. To that group of three men. And how they had had to attend. Of jealousy of each other. Another girl. And I said to her. You know. I'm one of those men. Talking about jealousy. I really don't think I'm jealous of anyone. What we call famous last words. God began to show me. Jealousy in my heart and mind. But. The thing. That I really saw then. Well I don't know. It's all. You know. There was one boy particularly. He spoke to me. During that time. And. You know. I know you think we English are very reserved. Don't you? You'd be surprised. I was saying to Manley. Last night in the car as we drove back. I said you know this thing. In this church. This is nearer to what we know. Than anything else we've met in America yet. And I think he was a bit surprised about it. But I was very reserved. And very tied up as a person. I had been. All my life. A very sort of tied up personality. And I. Was content to get on with it. I thought well that was me. That was my personality. There were other people who were. Outgoing and you know. Could share the Lord and everything. But surely the Lord had a face for someone like me. And I would look after the flies. You know. And make the cups of coffee. And sell the books. I didn't mind. What we called paying second fiddle. I thought it was nice and. You know. A sign of humility. But God broke in on my life during that week. And he said oh no. He said don't call that your personality. Call it sin. And if you're able to call it sin. There's all the power. The blood of Jesus. And that was it effectively. And I certainly wouldn't be talking to you this morning. If that wasn't true. And. That was only the very beginning. And then God began to show me. And he said to me. All these things you've been trying to do. To get through. To a place of reality. They don't mean a thing. But the things. That don't. Stop your fellowship with me. Are these. Things you're not calling sin. And he began to show me. Attitudes. Reactions. Things like self pity. All sorts of things. And he showed me. To come. And to repent. And to find that the blood of Jesus. Was sufficient. He set me free. And he's going on doing that. And to my mind. This is terribly important. And the pastor said to him. Well I'd rather watch you than to talk about it. And he said. I ain't talking about the blood. He said. Oh I don't think there's anyone here. Who needs to know that much. I'm sure that there's never any conversation. Be they never so. Or. I don't know. Having climbed the ladder. In theology or. Spiritual knowledge. It doesn't need. To hear about the blood of Jesus. We all need it. To my mind it's a secret. That the Lord has given us. And so many of us know how to eat the flesh. But where we fall down. Is that we don't understand. About thinking about it. And I owe so much. To those dear brethren. Who taught me this. And I'm learning still. And I'm learning that this is the heart. Of the grace of God. What is the grace of God. We were talking in the car. We had good conversations in the car. It's a good job. It's a nice journey of 20 miles. It's not cheap grace. It's not do as you like. In my mind grace is more demanding. Than law. Every attitude. Every reaction. The Holy Spirit. Shines his light. His light into your heart. And tells you to repent. Roy and I know this. In our life together. We're always going to get right. But it's not a laborsome thing. It's not a big. Heavy sort of thing. I think when we talk about repentance. And the cross and the blood. We think we're going to go through some long. Sort of penance. I think we need to do God the. Honor. Of accepting. That the blood has finished it all. And the quicker we come. And believe in the blood. The more honor we give. To the Lord. And the longer you take. In thought of rummaging around. And feeling that your tears. And your bad feelings. Are going to bring some honor. And that's adding. To the finished works of Christ. And. I just praise God. That it just is set. From sin to grace. So quick. Like blinking your eye almost. And the blood is set. Isn't it tremendous. I really think. You know it's seen. That I can count. Just as I have. Roy and I have been married 12 years. Many. The first wife. Was my dear friend. She was very gifted. She was a great speaker. I've never heard a woman. Who was able to. Speak. The way that she was. And people would say. I know it out of confidence. If she was speaking. Everyone would listen. And it was so often. That God moved when she spoke. And. Can't go into it all now. You're perhaps wanting to leave. And stay for life. But. The Lord took her. In a car crash. And it was a great loss. To all of us. They had been known. As Roy and Revel. You know people looked upon them. Rarely. You know so much. And I remember when the friend. Called me on the telephone and said. There's been an accident. And the Lord's taken Revel. For himself. My first reaction was. Well how's Roy? And they said we don't know. He's been injured. But we don't know. And I said. Oh dear mercy if the Lord took him. I can't imagine how he'll get on without Revel. And that was how it was. But the Lord didn't take him. And the Lord healed him and restored him. And then later. He showed us that it was. His will that we should know. And I just prayed the Lord for that. And I knew that Revel would be glad. And there were all sorts of things connected with it. That I could share. But I must go on. But one thing. Roy said. That she had said. Helped me so much. And I was talking to Revel one day. And I said to her. How would you sum up. What God has been showing us. Over these years. And she thought for a minute. And she said well. I think I would put it this way. I've seen a new sight. Of the character of God. Whereby. I can afford. To be myself. Well that helped me. I can tell you. Praise the Lord. That's what I've seen. I've seen a new sight of the character of God. I've seen grace. I've seen the God of grace. And I've seen. That doesn't mean that I just. Believe in Jesus. At the beginning of my Christian life. And I can do what I like. As long as I'm sitting in church on Sunday. Oh no. I've seen that it means that. He will. Receive me back. That was good. And that his grace says. There's the power of the blood of Jesus. To make you right again as me. And. I thought. I've seen a new sight of the character of God. Whereby I can afford to be wrong. I don't have to be right all the time. And I can afford to be weak. I didn't have to be rebel. I didn't have to be someone. Who could speak wonderfully. I didn't have to be someone. Who was made a lot of. Or whatever it was. I could just be him. And it set me free. And I got praised the Lord for it. And this is all grace. But grace of a different kind. In Hebrews it says. Let us hold fast to grace. Our God. Is a consuming fire. You ever put grace to that? That's how it is. Praise. Just one story to end. Because it sums it up. I think Roy put it in his book. That it means a lot to me. Two years after this. People came to our steps. I went to Africa to work. As a secretary in that mission. And that was a tremendous privilege. And we had a friend out there. Who was a nurse. Working in the mission. And she tells the story. Which we both love to tell. How. One day she was walking over. The mission hill. From her home. To the hospital. And as she walked. She met one of the African virgins. And he greeted her and said. Good morning sister. Are you praising the Lord this morning? And if they ask you that. They really mean are you praising the Lord? They mean you to say. They really want to know. Are you walking with Jesus? And you know she said. I couldn't say I was. I just shook my head. And I said no you see. I'm not praising the Lord this morning. And she said well why is that? And she said well. I lost my temper. I got so angry with somebody at home. Before I left. And I feel so bad about it. I'm not praising the Lord. And you know. The answer was this. She said well. Has the blood of Jesus lost its power? And he walked on and left her. That was all he said. Praise the Lord. And as she walked on. To that hospital. She said. And I realized. What I was doing. And I was allowing the devil to. Keep me in the dark. Make me feel down and depressed. She said I just came back. And realized. That the blood of Jesus hasn't lost its power. And I repented. And the sun came out again. And when she got to that hospital. She was able to share Jesus. But you know she wouldn't have been able to. She might have been a missionary. But. What's the good of being a missionary. If you can't share Jesus. What's the good of being a pastor. If you can't share Jesus. But the cause of the power in the blood. She came out of darkness. Into the light. And all the time. That's how it goes. Because the devil shows. Quick to get us in the dark. And I believe he's really out to get. The children of God in the dark. Makes you feel bad. Makes you feel small. Makes you feel you're not making it. But there's power in the blood. ======================================================================== Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/2xRMMyD_cH4.mp4 Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/roy-hession/the-bread-we-eat/ ========================================================================