Remember Jesus Christ — John Rhys Watkins

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The Lord’s Supper and Remembering Jesus Christ

Corinthians chapter 11, beginning at verse 23. For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, Take it, this is my body, which is broken for you, this do in remembrance of me.

After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, this do ye, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you do show the Lord's death till he come.

Wherefore, whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup.

For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation unto himself, not discerning the Lord's body. For this cause many are weakened sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.

But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with this world. May the Lord bless the reading and the hearing of his word. Remember Jesus Christ, this is the thought, this is the title of this message, remember Jesus Christ.

You see, Corinthians chapter 11 is perhaps the most spoken on verses in the Bible. Every week we are so familiar with these scriptures. Every week at the communion service, the scriptures are read before the emblems are served.

We know the scriptures, but as the church in Wales learned the lesson, I cannot speak for Northern Ireland, and I certainly cannot speak for America, but for Wales. I'm asking for Wales today, as Wales learned the lesson, do we know what these things mean?

You see, we're not challenging, I'm not challenging tonight the destiny of the church, but it's the condition, it's the desire, this is what concerns this conference today. Not the destiny, God will have his church in heaven.

Make no bones about it, the rapture is going to happen, it will happen on time, and everyone that knows this Christ, that is looking for him, will meet him in the air. We're not challenging the destiny, but the desire of the church.

The condition of the church today, we're going to challenge that. You see, Paul in writing to the church, he begins by saying this, he says, I received of the Lord that which also I deliver unto you. Paul is expressing that his knowledge of Christ went further than a passive observation of an ordinance.

It went beyond that, it went beyond a biscuit and a cup of wine, it went beyond those things. You see, this was something that had come to Paul in the form of a divine revelation. There was no objective value in Paul's understanding.

It was an inward work, this was knowledge that went beyond the mind. This is something that he received of God. We're not just talking about Paul meeting the physical Christ, the resurrected Christ. I believe it goes beyond that.

I believe God is revealing these things into Paul, that Paul can put pen to paper, that we, as Paul said, can receive of the Lord the same things that Paul received. This remembrance, this Christ Paul is expressing, his knowledge went beyond mental retention.

See, the scriptures, they were living and they were inspirational in the hands and in the mind of Paul. These were living things. This wasn't just a dead book. This wasn't a book of stories. It wasn't a book of sermons.

It's living. It's something that inspired his life. It's something that Paul would use to inspire other men. It's something that he'd use to stir that church. Paul knew the value of the scriptures. You see, the Corinthian church, though mightily gifted, was perhaps at this time on the edge of spiritual ruin.

The Divided and Carnal Corinthian Church

You know the book. If we're charismatic, and I believe we are, if we're Pentecostal, and I believe we are, we know that this church, it was a spiritual church. It was gifted, but at the same time, they're on that very edge of bankruptcy, ruin.

This darkness is one step away. At the very beginning of the book, Paul lets the Corinthians know that he's dealing there with a divided church. Not a united church. He says you're a divided church. He says that they were carnal.

He said they were babies. He said they were self-seeking. He said you've fallen, and you've fallen away. See this apostle, this Paul, this man, this preacher, he would not allow the church to escape the cruelty of truth.

He's not going to spare them, because he loves the church. He loved the Corinthians, the Christ church. He has to tell them the truth. Cruel, but it was true. A divided church. A sectarian church. You see, many times, the pen of Paul warns the church to learn the lessons of history.

The Bible, as the ever-sufficient Word of God, is a blessing to every generation that will heed the warnings of God Almighty. Not my warnings tonight, but I'm pointing the church tonight to the voice of God, and to the warnings that we learn the lessons, spiritual lessons.

We have to learn them. When a generation fails to hear the Word of God, then very quickly, that generation will begin to demonstrate something other than the true nature of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is where we are.

This is what the church has become. Does the world out there, the people in the valleys of Wales, do they see a manifestation of the Lord Jesus Christ? Could they walk the streets of Wales today saying, God is in His holy temple.

Could they say those things? If Christ is not being manifest in the church, then what is? What is? What was being manifest in the church of Corinthians? Not Christ. Hence the carnality. Hence the division.

Hence the backbiting. Hence the destruction. Hence the darkness. All of these things. Because they failed to hear the Word of God. They failed to heed the warnings. They were not conscious that it was no longer Christ being made real in that church.

Oh, but they were a spiritual church. You see this vulgar condition that was very evident in the Corinthian church. It was so evident for them. Whilst they enjoyed the worship, the fellowship, the feasting and the spiritual gift.

They were oblivious to the fact that there was something so critically wrong with them. That Paul the apostle is not even sure if these people are saved. He is not convinced that they have been birthed into the kingdom of God.

He is not sure in his mind. Because these people are not what they should be. They are not where they should be. They are not standing anymore on the foundations of Jesus Christ. Paul seems to be confused.

He asks them to check themselves out. To just take a test of reality. To see what it is that is actually anew. He is not sure about the Corinthians. And see some of the churches in Wales. And some of the Christians in Wales.

I am not sure today. If the church in Wales. If everything got together today. How much of that church would be a born again. Birth of God church. How much of the church today will meet the Lord in the air.

How much of the church today. You see I am not sure. I am not sure. There was an outward display of Christianity. But the deep inner working of God was amiss. The testimony of Christ was lacking in almost every sphere of that church.

And worst of all. There seemed to be no alarm amongst the leaders of the church. That was the worst thing for Paul. The elders that had been ordained there. Under apostolic ministry. They are not sounding the alarm.

They are not warning the sheep. They are not feeding the sheep anymore. This is the worst thing for the man of God. The elders of the church. Not simply detached from the problems. They were contributing to it by their silence.

Contributing to the problem. You see. That old saying. Evil prospers when good men do nothing. It is still applicable today. It is always going to be applicable. Evil will rise. Evil will conquer. If good men.

And they are good men. If they do nothing. If they fail to be that voice. If they fail to stand. Evil will prosper. This is one of the problems in Wales. This is why there is darkness in the land today.

Because good men have remained silent in the house of God. Not warned the church of danger. Not warned the church of darkness and decay. We understand that it was the little household of Chloe that sounded the alarm.

In order that the preacher might put things right. I am so grateful to that little girl. That woman. I don't know what she looked like. I don't know where she lived. I don't know if she had a husband.

I don't know if she had children. But I do know this. She warned the church. She warned Paul. That girl. She stood. She stood and she said. Paul. There is something wrong in the church. It is not what it is supposed to be Paul.

It is something other than the workings of Christ working here. This is not just an apostolic call. Every man called to preach has a duty. To reprove. To rebuke. To exhort with all long suffering. To keep going.

To keep exhorting. To keep reproving. To keep rebuking the church. Until the church comes back. Paul wrote to Titus. Exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee. I wonder if this is the problem in the pulpit today.

That we are somehow inhibited. We don't want to cause offense. Because we fear to be despised of others. We protect that glory. We protect our standing. We have to protect that reputation. But Paul warns the church.

He tells that man of God. Exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee. We don't care. We should not be concerned with those that would come and say. The message is too hard. That the message is too severe.

You shouldn't be talking about these things. Talk about the positives and not the negatives. Not concerned with people like that. Before this church will be clothed in Christ. She must be stripped. Before she becomes a virgin.

She must know that she has played the harlot. And the harlot the church of Wales has played. I am sure that the leaders of the church. They have gone to a little Chloe. And they solemnly have warned this girl.

Judge not. Be careful what you say. You have already said. Touch not. Mine anointed. Usually that comes from people that have something to hide. Something that they don't want exposed. Well this anointed.

There is no such thing as an anointed class. It's not a special breed of preachers. This anointed. The little old lady peeling potatoes for her husband. Is just anointed as the man in the pulpit. The anointed is very basic and simple.

And easy to understand. When the anointed came upon Christ. All it meant was. The father says. I'll never leave you. Nor will I forsake you. You open your mouth son. I'll speak. You look into someone's eyes.

I'll see their heart. You touch them. I'll heal them. Wherever you go. I'm gonna go before you. I'll never leave you. Nor forsake you. That's for me. That's for you. That's for everyone. This birth of God.

It's not for a special class of preachers. Judge not. Touch not mine anointed. I'm sure they'd have warned that girl. But this lady. And her household. They knew that the spiritual man. Judges all things.

Not the world. Not the affairs of the world. But the things of God. Those things pertaining to the household of faith. The spiritual man. Judges all things. That doesn't mean judging hypocritically. But judging for the sake of Christ.

Judging. Dividing. This is what the word has to do. This is what the world will do. It'll divide. It'll separate. It'll separate. The wheat from the tares. The sheep from the goats. It'll separate light from darkness.

Every time. If we use the word. And the word only. See what happened to this great church. What happened to the great church in Corinth. What happened to the great church in Wales. That we've talked about all day.

That we've read about. That we've seen on the display board. We've heard that great man's voice. Evan Roberts. We've heard it today. On that gramophone. What has happened to the church. You see. This church.

Just like the Corinthians. They were fashioned in the flames of the gospel. They knew the doctrines of salvation. They preached and experienced. The mighty baptism of the spirit. But now it's all too evident.

That the fire of God. Was nothing to them. But a distant memory. That's all it had become. Just a memory. They'd become cold. And doctrinally content. They were all too happy. To sit there. In the cinders of a Pentecostal pyre.

A revival that once was. It was spent. Once it's spent. It's best left alone. You see I'm grateful for the books in revival. They encourage me. They stir me. They edify me. But that's not revival. That is not revival.

We cannot experience the fires of 1904. You see I believe that God wants to kindle. A new flame. In a new heart. He cannot do it to Mr. Roberts. Mr. Roberts has already set a fire. In glory tonight with Christ.

But a new flame. In a new heart. God may it be us tonight. May it be one of the children. May it be a woman. May it be an animal of the Lord. But may God find a heart. That he can set aflame tonight. You see there's nothing in the bones of Evan Roberts.

People will come here this year. They'll go visit the great man's graves. And they'll open their anointings. There that they can suck it in. But when he went home. The anointing went with him. Nothing there in the old man's bones.

Because he's not there. All you have there is bones. You see I wonder how much of the church in Wales. Is like this Corinthian church. A church that is trying to maintain the presence of God. Through a memory of the past.

There's so much activity concerning 1904. We are grateful for it. But it is at the end of the day. Just a memory. And a distant memory. There's no one here. There's no one that can touch this generation.

And that generation. They've all gone. It's wonderful to remember the past. It's gone. Therefore it cannot bring about an awakening. Or a stirring in the church. All that we have left of 1904. Is sentimentality.

And stories of the giants that walked this land. Though the Revival was burnt out in Wales in 1904. Mr Roberts I believe. Has left us a key to secure another Revival. It's not in his bones. So don't rush to the graveyard.

I believe he's left us a key. It's not in the prayer that he prayed. God bend the church. Every one of you that know the Revival. You've prayed that prayer in public. And you've prayed it in your bedroom.

Didn't bring Revival. It's not in his preaching. You can read his sermons and preach them again. It's not in that. It's not in the great hymns. That they sang in those days. We can sing them today. Revival will not come.

It's not that. You see outside here. On the epitaph. The epitaph of Evan Roberts. Written on his memorial stone at the gates of this church. Says these words. Remember Jesus Christ. This is the key to Revival.

Returning to First Love and True Revival

This is the key for us today. It's in a remembrance of the Lord Jesus Christ. The need of Revival is seen in the words of Christ to the church at Ephesus. You've left your first love. Therefore that tells us there's something lacking.

There's something amiss. If we have to come back and find that first love. To find that first love. Is to remember the Lord Jesus Christ all over again. If we remember Jesus Christ. Then the floodgates of Revival.

They'll open for this generation. And the next generation. All that Evan Roberts found. Was Jesus Christ. There is nothing else. There's no one else to preach. Nothing else to talk about. No one to touch tonight.

Except him. Oh accept the Son of God. Accept this mighty Savior. As Christians today. As Welsh Christians. Do we remember Jesus Christ? Or is it just the preservation of our memories? And your memories.

They will fade. They will fade. I'm 41 and I'm already having senior moments. Ask my children. I sit there sometimes. I'm away with the fairies. So they say. Put it down to senior moments. It will fade.

Is it Christ? Is it remembrance of him? An inward remembrance. Or just memory. You see in this text that we read. It says that the Lord broke bread and said. This do in remembrance of me. This is the emphasis.

The emphasis is on him. Not the bread. Not the wine. It's always upon him. The piece of unleavened bread. Was representative of the Lord himself. It was singular. It was a singular piece of bread. It had a unity.

And it had a harmony. All of its own. It was complex. Yet very simple in purpose. It must be broken. That's what that bread was all for. There's the only reason they brought the bread to Christ. Was that he could break it.

Very simple. It was simple. And his purpose was to be broken. No good having that bread. If it wasn't broken. If it wasn't broken. Then Christ couldn't distribute those pieces. This is my body. Which must be broken.

This do in remembrance of me. You see this breaking of bread. Was not just a taught doctrine. This he did in demonstration before them. Sight and sound do not easily grasp. But the soul will become the avenue of spiritual understanding.

These are the things. Just the avenue. Just the avenue for the spiritual life to come in. You see there are men on the road to Emmaus. They've walked with Christ. They've talked with him. They've seen the miracles.

Everything that we've gloried in God. They were there. But when he died. They're leaving Jerusalem. They're going back to Emmaus. They're going back to where they came from. They're going back to their old world.

They're going back to their old way of life. They followed this Christ. But when he's dead. Their mind says. Who's gonna follow a dead Christ. You see the world won't follow a dead Christ. Neither will Christians.

These men know this God. But they're not gonna follow a dead Christ. So they're going back to their old world. But whilst they're there. Christ comes alongside them. He gives them the doctrine. Expounds the scriptures.

But still they cannot see. It's only when the Bible says. He took bread. He blessed it. He broke it. He gave them. And it says then that the eyes were opened. And they knew him. The Bible says they knew him.

They knew him before he had died. But now they knew him inwardly. They knew him and they were knowing him. They would experience him. If you read on a little bit. It says that he was gone. He vanished.

Taken away from the midst. But the emphasis there is. They knew him. They knew him in that bread. Or so often we say. They saw the nail scarred hands. But I believe it's in that bread. I believe it's in the brokenness.

I believe that Christ was saying. What they did there on that cross. Was break my body. And though they broke it. They didn't know that life was going to come out of that body. And if I can just break it again.

Life will come. Life will always come. Out of a broken body. These men. They're no longer going to go. Back to the old way. They're heading to Jerusalem. They're heading there. Not just to meet with the other apostles.

They know as well as you know. And you know that I know. They're not long up the road. Pentecost is going to come for them man. They're going back for Pentecost. They're going back. Not just for the man.

But for the spirit of the man. That man that once walked with them. Is now going to live in them. Not just going to live in a two. But going to live in a hundred and twenty. And that day another three thousand.

It's a multiplication of Jesus Christ. In that breaking of the bread. The purpose of the church. Is to communicate the presence of Jesus Christ. The real presence of the Lord. Not the fallacy of transubstantiation.

Not in ecumenism. Can we see this God. Not in interfaith worship. Can we see this Christ. You see. If you put a piece of Buddha. Onto this Christ. It is no longer Christ. It's Buddha. If you put a bit of Allah.

Into this Christ. It's no longer Christ. It's Allah. You cannot mix him with anything. He will not give himself to anything. He is above all things. His name is above all names. Not just the name. His nature.

He cannot share that nature. With that which is being rejected. And despised of God. Not give himself to those things. But the church must be able. To communicate that presence. The church reveals the presence of Christ.

Not in those things. But in the way that it conducts itself. In this world. This is how they will know. This is how they will know. That he is alive. If he is alive. Then he must live in me. If he lives in me.

Then they'll see that it's no longer I that live. But Christ lives in me. This is how we to reveal this Christ. He took bread. He broke it. A single united piece of bread. Not a schismatic piece. Not a divided body.

But a thoroughly complete unit. This is what he's looking for. In Wales tonight. A body that is one. A church that is one. Oh that God would find that church. He's always going to have a remnant. But if he could find the church.

That would go beyond all the peripherals. And the mundane of Christianity. And declare and love itself. Love that body. Love one another. As Christ has declared. He'd find that body. That is not schismatic.

You see without a genuine brokenness among the general body. There'll never be another revival. It is impossible without brokenness. We can sing for revival. It'll not come. We can dance for revival. It'll not come.

We can even pray for revival. But without the breaking in the body. All of it is in vain. All of it is hot air. All of it will come to nothing. Without that broken body. The lady just before Christ went to the cross.

She came there with that alabaster box. She broke it. And she poured that ointment upon his head. They didn't hear the sound of the break in. She didn't tell them what she was going to do. But they knew that it was broken.

Because they could smell the fragrance. They could smell that sweet perfume. Upon his body. No good talking about brokenness. No good expounding the doctrine. If there's a brokenness, then the world will know that there's something in the church that smells different about them.

They're not that dry old dusty bunch of Bible bashes that we thought they were. There's a fragrance with them. There's something different about them. There's a shining on their face. They're untouchable, these people.

They smile when it rains. They'll go to church when there's flood warnings. These people. These different. These are a peculiar people. Oh, we've got to be that peculiar people. God wants a peculiar people.

Not a bunch of weirdos that we see today. But a peculiar people. That meaning that they're like Him. That they're like Him. Not like anything else. You see the pressure upon the post-modern church today is to see revival apart from brokenness.

Brokenness, Discernment, and the Church’s Witness

This is the tension. This is the pressure on the pulpit. To revive the church. To revive His church without preaching brokenness. That's the pressure. Because we feel as preachers that sometimes we have to walk on eggshells.

You're afraid to hurt someone. You see very often we see people weeping at the altar and someone has to come in and console them. We have to leave them there to be broken. We have to leave them there that God will break and continue to break.

We have to leave them. God, if you hear me cry today, leave me alone. Don't console my flesh. Let me be there. We have to come. We have to find that brokenness. There is no other way. There's no other way for the preacher.

But there is a pressure on the pulpit. This is why we've seen all those efforts. Ten years ago I came to this chapel. Never thought that I'd preach here. But I did. But ten years ago I came here and I saw everything.

I saw the twitching. I saw the dog barking, the falling, the screaming, the screeching. You name it, I saw it. But it wasn't revival. It didn't bring revival. A twitch is not a revival. Falling down is not a revival.

One man said to me, go to his church. Go in there. Something's happening. They're all barking like dogs. Surely this is a revival. Well I know the pastor of that church. He fed them dog food for ten years.

They're bound to bark. What else do you expect them to do? See, a disturbed, a disturbed and a disaffected body, it can never be broken. The natural man, the natural man is always going to recoil from such a thought.

I'm talking about that natural man. Not them outside. That natural man that is part of every one of us. He does not want to be broken. He's going to recoil at every attempt of the Pope. At every time the hand of God comes upon him, he's going to recoil from that thought.

He will not be broken. The natural man is against such a thing. But all that man does is prolong the pain and the suffering of spiritual impotence. That's all we do. God, if we give ourselves today, if we come with a sledgehammer and just crack these tough nuts, oh God, we'd see revival.

If the spirit would rise up and take his rightful place to have dominion over that soul. You see, there's a tremendous amount of religious activity within the church today. But very little thought for Christ himself.

Many times I've asked people, what is the significance of Jesus Christ today? You let the thought drop down. You give them time to mull it over. But the answers, the general answers that we get is sadly epidemic of a culture that is lost in entertainment.

You see, this subculture, it means well, but does great harm to the body of Christ. We in Wales, we have lost sight of reality. Believe me now. Believe me, we've lost sight of reality. The soul is deceived and is always deceiving.

It'll convince the mind and the intellect that it is the spirit. That it is the spirit. You see, that soul is an imposter. He's a liar. He's a thief. He can disguise himself. He'll pretend and he'll convince everything and everyone around it that it's the spirit.

He'll make itself content in a world of discontent. It'll make itself happy in a world of bloody horror that we see today. It'll lead us down the path that has not been beaten by God. And that soul will cry every step of the way, thus saith the Lord.

Thus saith the Lord. This is what we see much of in the church today. A prophesying and a spiritualizing out of the soul. Because it's a deceived thing. It's deceived and it is deceiving. The light in the church has become subdued and ineffective to the world because we become drunk and giddy in a world of entertainment.

The world out there, it exists for one thing, pleasure. And we brought that world into the church and we've tried to pleasure the church, tried to entertain. And it's all we've done with God's people is cause them to be drunk and giddy.

It's difficult for us today to discern what is of God, what is of the flesh and what is obviously demonic. Very difficult today. But these things shouldn't be difficult. It shouldn't be difficult if we know the word of God.

Not only is there a lack of discernment, but there seems to be a cavalier of attitude that says, I don't care. This is the attitude in much of the church today. I don't care but we must care. We must care because this is not my church.

You're not my congregation. It's His church. We're His people. We're His body. We must care. We have to care for these things. We have to care. We must be the generation that will stand up. We're not gonna wait for the next generation to stand up.

Because we will influence them. You mark it down, we will influence the next generation. And if they see that this generation did not move, then why would they? Why should they? Take a step towards the things of God.

We must care about the things of God. We must care that there's a lack of discernment. We must care about these things and purpose ourselves to do something about it. We're paying a heavy price for not having the guts to remember the Lord Jesus and to honour Him and His Word.

You cannot do one without the other. You can't say that you love the Lord and neglect His Word. You cannot be separated from the written Word. He is and always will be the Word made flesh. You see if the Antichrist, if he'll arise today, it's because the church is forsaken and finally replaced the Word of God with fiction and light entertainment.

Though Wales has been renowned for biblical expositors, we have not allowed the Word of God, we have allowed the Word of God to suffer at the hands of those that claim to be custodians of the truth. If we're unable to recognize that these new, catchy, childish, covetous versions of the Bible are part of a terrible, satanic plan to discredit the true Word of God, then surely the door in the temple is wide open and the welcome mat is placed at the feet of the Antichrist.

Scripture, False Teaching, and the Antichrist

You see that Antichrist, he will go wherever his spirit goes. Lee preached it today that the spirit is working in the churches. You know that Antichrist, one thing that we can say about this man, he's led of the spirit.

He's a man led by the spirit. Not the spirit of God, but the spirit of his father, the spirit of Satan. He's a spiritual man, a man led of the spirit. That spirit will lead him to one place, the temple of God.

But all of these things, all of these things that are happening in our time, the way that the Word of God is discredited. Go to your local Christian bookshop and see some of those things that are called Bibles.

They're not Bibles. They're just trash. That's all it is. It's satanic. That's all it is. But we buy them and we give them to children. There's a Bible out in Wales, they call it the street Bible. It's a gutter Bible.

Someone said, you ought to give it to your son. My son's 12 years old, he's dyslexic. He's got no problem with the King James. He's got no problem with the Word of God. He's got no problem in understanding anything a preacher preaches.

Not going to be able to tell you what the man says. But I'm not going to give him something that is not the Word of God. He may not understand it all, but I'm not giving him something that is not the Word of God.

You see, I see in the very near future that the church will accept the Bible that has the Word God replaced with the Word Allah. The church will accept that book. Christian book shops will sell that book.

Instead of God, it'll have the Word Allah. And everyone will say glory to God. Because the wall of division is coming down. You see, when those things happen, we see that the world, this church, the world of the church has gone too far.

We've gone too far and maybe she'll never recover. Maybe God will rapture a tiny remnant and the church will not even know that some of its members have gone. Maybe those things will happen. You see, the unity here tonight must never be based on a mere doctrinal issue, but in our thorough devotion to the man Christ Jesus.

That's the reason we're here. Not to expound my personal doctrine. We'd have difference of opinions. There'd be little things that we'd disagree on. But we're gathered here today because we're devoted to Him.

We're devoted to the man. We're devoted to the Messiah, to this Christ. Our thorough devotion unto Him. This is what the Lord was conveying to His disciples and to Paul in the urgency of that hour. Do this in remembrance of me.

Come together. Be broken. Break the bread. Come together in remembrance of me. You see, spiritual ascendancy has nothing to do with the mental retention of biblical knowledge. Absolutely nothing. Our thoughts and intellects do not share the divine nature.

His ways are not our ways. My ways are certainly not His ways. The spiritual man will only be realized when the body is made ready to experience brokenness in the hands of a gracious God. Oh, then we'd be a spiritual people.

Then we'd have ascended. Then we'd be in the heavenlies. Then God Almighty would bless the church. If the body here tonight or in any local church will offer itself to God, then Christ will give thanks for that body and He will break it.

If you offer, He'll thank and He will break. But the body, it has to be offered. The body has to be given. And this offering, the offering of the body, it must be in a total abandonment to the will of God, to His good pleasure, to His purpose.

Just give Him the church. Give Him your body. Offer that sacrifice. But knowing this, He will break. He'll have to break that body. If anything good is going to come out of me, Christ is going to have to break it.

Christ can only be seen in a body that is broken. The Beatitudes in Matthew chapter 5, they deal with the body of believers amongst the body of men. The points of reference there is the blessings that come out of a body that is subject to the authority of God.