Jesus Christ is the True Manna -- the True Bread of Life

Brethren, the last time I was with you, we began a series of sermons preparing us for the Passover. I want to continue that. I may mention that I wanted to cover the three major aspects of the Passover service—the foot washing, the bread, and the wine. In the first sermon, I talked about the power of humility, or more specifically, the healing power of humility. In this split sermon, I want to talk about the bread—Jesus Christ. Regarding the bread, when we give the Passover service, we spend a significant portion of time reading from John 6. In that chapter, we see where Christ discusses the Old Testament physical manner and compares it to himself—the spiritual manner, the true spiritual bread. Let's take a moment now and just take a look at those scriptures, which we'll be reading on Passover. But let's look at them right now. John 6, starting in verse 32.

Of course, this is different for me as I'm sitting here in my kitchen with an artificial background behind me. I'm used to announcing a scripture and hearing your pages turn, hearing people call for whatever in the background. I'm sitting here to share. When you put a person in the chair, it's a little harder for gestures. It's just kind of an interesting experience that I'm facing now, the rest of our speakers will be facing. And I'm sure that we'll learn a lot from this aspect. Okay, John 6, in verse 32. Then Jesus said to them, Most assuredly I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven, but my father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. Then they said to him, Lord, give us this bread always. And Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. He who comes to me shall never hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst. But I said to you that you have seen me, and yet you do not believe. All that the father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will by no means cast out.

Now, I've always taken verse 37 to be a very encouraging scripture. You know, this past overseas, and as we examine ourselves, we tend to focus on our failings, our weaknesses, where we've not done what we would like to do, echoing Paul's comments that he made in the book of Romans. But here it says, all the father gives me, and you are a part of that group, will come to me, and the ones who come to me I will by no means cast out. So part of the season we're in is not only the Passover season, but the days of Unleavened Bread. And as you and I repent of our sins, then we will not be cast out. We will be forgiven.

Verse 38, for I have come down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. This is the will of the Father who sent me, that of all he has given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. And this is the will of him who sent me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have everlasting life. I'll raise him up at the last day. Moving over to John 6, verse 48, I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and are dead.

So here Jesus Christ talks about manna, physical manna, and he's going to relate this to himself. Verse 50, this is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one might eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone who eats this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I shall give is my flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.

And then lastly, chapter 6, here, verse 53, Then Jesus said to the most assured that I save you, unless you eat of the flesh of the summoned man, and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life. And I'll raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is food indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him, as the living father has sent me, and I live because of the father. So he who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread which came down from heaven. Not as your fathers ate the manna, and our dead, he who eats this bread will live forever.

Brother, why would Jesus Christ take this much space in a very important section of Scripture for this time of the year? Why would Jesus Christ compare himself to Old Testament manna?

Are there lessons that you and I can learn from the Old Testament manna that prepares us for the New Testament New Covenant Passover? In this sermon, I want to take a look and focus on the spiritual lessons that are there for us to learn as we take a look at the Old Testament manna. Now, the overall theme for my message today is this. Jesus Christ is the true spiritual manna, the true bread of life. Now, let's take a look at manna and the lessons we can learn as New Covenant New Testament Christians that would help us to appreciate these days, this time we are now in. Let's turn over to Exodus chapter 16. And you might leave a marker here at Exodus 16. We'll go from here to other places, but we'll be coming back several times here to Exodus chapter 16.

Exodus chapter 16, we see that one of the very first things that I believe God wants us to appreciate and understand is that the manna came miraculously from heaven.

The manna came miraculously from heaven. It was God's grace to his people. We see that here in the Old Testament, we certainly see that in the New. Let's take a look at Exodus chapter 16 verse 4. Then the Lord said to Moses, Behold, I will reign bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day, but I might test them whether they will walk in my law or not.

But notice it says here, I will reign bread from heaven, manna coming from heaven, to feed the people, perhaps between two and three million people. They needed to be provided for. They needed God's grace to get them through the wilderness, to feed them, to sustain them. And that's exactly what our Father did.

And as you and I think about Jesus Christ, the true manna, he also came from heaven. He also came as a manifestation of God's grace. And we are to be so appreciative of that at this time of the year. In your notes, you might want to jot down John chapter 3 and verse 16. You know the Scripture. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

That's God's grace. This is the New Testament bread of life that Jesus Christ said he was, to sustain our people so that they could understand the great plan of God that he has for them. Brother, in this Passover season, we are to reinforce in our hearts and minds the need we have to be fed, to be nurtured, to be sustained by the true spiritual manna, Jesus Christ.

As I gave in a sermon not too long ago, we need to abide in him. If we abide in Jesus Christ, we will have fruitful lives. We must remember that this plan, the plan of God that gives true life, this Passover is the very first step in that plan, and that we must give thanks to our Father and our elder brother, Jesus Christ, for their parts to play in this plan.

We thank God this Passover season for his grace, grace that has been miraculously given to us, grace which we lovingly have bestowed upon us here in the New Testament and also in the Old Testament. So, my first thought was that the manna came miraculously from heaven as a manifestation of God's grace. That's something that we should really fully appreciate.

Another thing we can appreciate about Old Testament manna is that the manna tested the faith of God's people. The manna tested the faith of God's people. We see, let's go back now to Exodus chapter 16. Exodus chapter 16. Then the Lord said to Moses, Behold, I will reign bread from heaven for you. Now notice the rest of this verse. And the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not.

That shall be on the sixth day that they shall prepare what they bring them, and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily. So, there's another good reason here that we can look at the Old Testament manna and have understanding for our New Covenant lives today. God has always been in the process of working with his people to help them grow in character, to grow in grace. And by charging his people to gather bread every day for that particular day, they were to gather just one day supply, one day at a time, no more, no less.

And in so doing, God was testing them. Were they going to obey? Were they going to do what they needed to do to be fed, to be sustained? Now, for us as New Covenant Christians, we can think of Matthew chapter 6 and verse 11. Matthew chapter 6 and verse 11, where it says, give us today our daily bread, daily bread. How important is that that we receive our daily bread? That daily bread is learning about our Savior. That daily bread is us living our lives according to the pattern we see in our Savior Jesus Christ, the true bread, the spiritual manna. But also notice that, you know, they were to gather a certain quota every day.

On the sixth day, they were to gather twice as much, twice as much. They were to prepare in that way. By commanding the people that they gave her twice as much food on the sixth day, again, they are being tested. Are they going to live according to God's laws or not? You might put in your notes Romans chapter 6 and verse 17. Romans chapter 6 and verse 17.

But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart, you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered.

This past overseas, as New Covenant Christians, as we think about the bread of life, the true spiritual bread, the true manna, we have to ask ourselves, are we obeying from the heart, as opposed to just obeying mechanically as a matter of road, as a matter of habit, or are we obeying from the heart? So a second thing we see about the manna is a test of the faith of those in the Old Testament church. A third thing we see about the manna in the Old Testament, and we see how it applies in the New Testament as well, is that the manna sustained the people.

The manna sustained the people. Exodus chapter 16. Let's look at verse 12.

I have heard the complaints of the children of Israel. They speak to them, saying, at twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God. We drop down to verse 35.

And the children of Israel ate manna forty years until they came to an inhabited land. They ate manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan.

So here we see that God would provide for them for forty years to sustain them. Now, were these people perfect? Were they sinless? Of course they weren't. They were people just like us, and yet God sustained them for forty years. His grace by which they received the manna, by which they received the quail, that God's grace was there for them, to provide for them, to forgive them when they would repent of their sins, to provide the physical sustenance, to sustain them, to heal them, to help them to grow in understanding as they would hear of God's Word, as God would teach them His Word.

And so the manna was there to sustain the people, just as Jesus Christ is here to sustain us and be with us. This past overseas, it's not uncommon for people to again view themselves through all their weaknesses, all their faults, all their failings. But in the wilderness, God didn't say, you know, you are a stiff-hearted, stiff-necked people, a hard-hearted people. I'm going to walk away from you. I'm not going to give you manna any longer. No, He gave them manna every day, just like even though there are times in our lives when we do things that we feel are not the best. We don't feel that we are walking according to God's grace as we should. God doesn't just slam the door on us and walk away. Yes, He wants us to be in a repentant frame of mind. Yes, He wants us to get sin, root sin, out of our life, root and branch, get it all out. But He also realizes we're clay. And in your notes, you might want to jot down Hebrews chapter 13 and verse 5. Hebrews 13 and verse 5. Let your conduct be without covetousness, be content with such things as you have, for He Himself has said, I will never leave you or forsake you. I will never leave you or forsake you. I'm sure that each and every one of us can point to significant ways in our life in which our loving God has sustained us by His grace, sustained us physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, every way you can think of. God has sustained us. It's like He sustained Israel with that Old Testament manna. He sustains us here in the New Covenant, New Testament, with Jesus Christ. Another thing that we see in the Old Testament manna is that God had the manna memorialized.

The manna was memorialized. God commanded that we could turn to Exodus chapter 16 again, or if you're still there. Exodus chapter 16 verses 32 through 34.

Again, I may be doing this a little more quickly since I don't hear pages turning. My apologies for that. Let me give you the time to go there if you were someplace else.

Exodus chapter 16 verse 32. Then Moses said, This is the thing which the Lord has commanded, till the knower with it, to be kept for your generations, that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.

Moses said to Aaron, Take a pot and put an omer of manna in it, and lay it up before the Lord, to be kept for your generations. As the Lord commanded Moses, so Aaron laid up before the testimony to be kept. Here you see that God commanded the omer to roughly two courts of the manna to be kept as a memorial for future generations. God wanted a testimony for future generations to declare how he was there, how his grace was there for his people.

Now, I would like you to turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 11.

1 Corinthians chapter 11. We will start our Passover service. Mr. Bradford will be conducting a Passover service through a webcast this year here in Chicago. Mr. Duran and I will be webcasting over to Beloit. But this is one of the very first things we do in our Passover service, as we turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 11. Chapter 11 verses 24 and following. Verse 24, When he had given thanks, he broke and said, Take, eat, this is my body, which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me. Verse 25, In the same manner, he also took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood. This do as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me. So here in two verses, we see where not only was the Old Testament manna memorialized. Here we see that in two verses, we have a New Testament memorial. It is very important that we understand that the Old Covenant manna and the New Testament manna, Jesus Christ, are to be memorialized. And of course, we do this as a matter of doctrine once a year, according to God's Holy Day calendar. God's Holy Day plan of salvation. We are to proclaim the Lord's death until He comes. We are not to proclaim His resurrection, as the world will do with Easter. We are not to proclaim His birth, as people will do with Christmas. We are to proclaim the Lord's death as a memorial. And we do that. And we've been very successful in doing that, very proper in doing that. So, brethren, as we've taken a look to this point, and I'm not certainly not done with the message today, we've seen some instances of the connection between the Old Covenant, Old Testament, manna, and the New Testament, New Covenant, manna, Jesus Christ. But let's drill down even further and examine some specific characteristics of manna. And again, learn other lessons that God has for us with manna. Characteristic number one, and this is by no means an exhaustive list. Characteristic number one, manna is white, was white. Manna was white. Let's go back to Exodus, again, chapter 16.

Exodus chapter 16 verse 31.

In the house of Israel, call its name manna, and it was like white coriandersea, and a taste of it was like wafers made with honey. Manna was white. It symbolized purity. It symbolized righteousness. And this Passover season, as we think about our lives, as we examine ourselves to see whether we are in the faith, like our Savior, Jesus Christ, we want He set the very, very highest bar. We want to make sure that we follow that. In 1 Peter chapter 1 and verse 15. Let's turn there. 1 Peter chapter 1 and verse 15.

But as He who called you as holy, you also be holy in all your conduct. You also be holy in all of your conduct. We want to be white. We want to be righteous with God's righteousness, with Christ's righteousness. We want to follow the example of our family, our elder brother, and our father God. We want to be white. We want to be pure.

Now, by partaking in this spiritual manna, we demonstrate our desire to renew our total commitment to God and God's way of life. We will be reading on Passover evening. 1 Peter chapter 2. Let's turn there. 1 Peter chapter 2 verses 21 through 24. We want to be white, just as the Old Testament manna was white. 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 21.

For to this you recall, because Christ also suffered, was leading us an example that you should follow His steps. Who committed no sin? He, the New Testament, Greta of life, the New Testament manna, was white. 2 Peter chapter 2. Who committed no sin? Nor was the seat found in his mouth? Who, when he was reviled, did not revile and turn out threatened, but committed himself to him who judges righteously?

One of the things we do at this Passover service, this Passover season, is we rededicate ourselves. We renew our commitment to live as Jesus Christ Himself lived. We've got the Holy Spirit of God in us. And Scripture also refers to it as the Spirit of Christ. We've got that in us, so that we also would walk away from sin as a way of life. That we would be striving to be pure and white.

When he was reviled, did not revile and turn out, but he suffered, did not threaten, but committed himself to Him who judges righteously. Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on a tree? That we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness. That we might live to be white. That we might live to be pure, as the days of unleavened bread speak to us. That we root out all the things that are wrong and sinful, so we can be pure.

As pure as we can be in this flesh. You know, it's impossible for us to be perfect, but we can have an attitude of perfectly wanting to obey God. And that is something that the manna would teach us. So, one of the first characteristics is that manna was white. A second characteristic.

Second characteristic, we spoke about this a little earlier. I wanted to go drill down even a little deeper here. That the true spiritual manna is a gift from God.

One of the great characteristics of our Father and elder brother is the grace of God. The grace of God. Chapter 16. I'll just read it again. You don't need to turn there. Then verse 4. Then the Lord said to Moses, Behold, I will reign bread from heaven for you. Again, God's grace being given to us, as God's children, as Jesus Christ's brothers and sisters.

The very grace of God. That's something we did ourselves. In your notes, you might want to turn to, or in your Bibles, turn to 2 Timothy chapter 1.

2 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 9.

2 Timothy 1.9.

Talking about God who has saved us and called us with a holy calling. A holy calling. A white calling, if you will. White in terms of spirituality. Who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began. Well, notice we have a holy calling for God's holy people. We've got a holy purpose, which was given to us by God's grace. A true spiritual manna is a gift of God's grace to us. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son. Romans chapter 6 and verse 23.

We learned this as a memory scripture years and years ago. Romans chapter 6 and verse 23. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The gift of God through God's loving grace, through the true spiritual manna, we have eternal life, the greatest of futures that lies ahead for each and every one of us.

You know, brethren, God's grace permeates every facet of the Christian's life. Every facet. Our calling was, we were called by the grace of God. By the grace of God, our hearts and minds were opened. By the grace of God, he gave us, he granted us repentance. By the grace of God, after we were baptized, our sins were forgiven. By the grace of God, we were given God's Holy Spirit. By the grace of God, our name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life. By the grace of God, as we walk through our lives, God sustains us and teaches us and gives us so many blessings. By the grace of God, we understand the scriptures that give us hope and gives us comfort through those same scriptures. By the grace of God, we have spiritual gifts. Let's look at James chapter 1 and verse 17. James chapter 1 and verse 17.

James 1, 17. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. Every good gift through God's grace. The Old Testament manna was a manifestation of God's grace. Today, the true spiritual manna, Jesus Christ, through Him, we have the gifts of grace that we enjoy so very much.

Third characteristic I wanted to point out to you, and we may mention this earlier, but I want to make mention of this in a different light. How the characteristic of manna today is it's gathered day by day. Now, the point I made earlier in the sermon pointed to being tested. The man was a point of testing for God's people. But also, it is also a point where we grow day by day, not just being tested, but we need our daily bread. Let's go back to Exodus 16 again. We've read a number of times, verses 4 and 5. Let's look at verse 12, which I think I read earlier as well, but let's start here in verse 12.

I have heard the complaints of the children of Israel. Speak that I'm saying, a twilight you shall eat meat in the morning and you shall be filled with bread, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God. Verse 16. This is the thing which the Lord has commanded. Let every man gather it according to each one's need. Notice, it's becoming personalized. According to each one's need, one omer for each person. According to the number of persons, let every man take for those who are in his tent. Then the children of Israel did so and gathered some more, some less. So when they measured it by omer, he who gathered much had nothing left over. If he would gather little had no lack. Every man gathered according to each one's need. Each one's need. Let's turn over to Matthew chapter 4. Matthew chapter 4.

Matthew chapter 4.

In verse 4.

But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. So now we don't live by physical bread. We live by the true spiritual manner that we gather every day. We live by spiritual bread. We live by the words that proceed from the mouth of God, from the mouth of Jesus Christ. In chapter 6 of Matthew, verse 11.

I referred to this earlier. Matthew 6, 11. Give us this day our daily bread, our daily bread. Brethren, during this time of the Passover, again, we need to renew our commitment, our dedication to living this way of life, not just prior to Passover, but every day of the year.

We should be acting as if Passover is all through the year, that we have a way that we live, and that we are continually in harmony with God, that we are continually abiding in God the Father and Jesus Christ, that we are continually growing in grace and knowledge by gathering the manna every day. Notice, let's go back to Exodus 16.

When we do things on our own, apart from what God directs us to do, notice what happens. Exodus 16, verse 19. Exodus 16, 19. And Moses said, let no one leave any till morning. Not withstanding, they did not heed Moses, but some of them left part until the morning, and that bread worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them, so they gathered every morning, every man according to his need. And when the sun became hot, it melted. It melted. And so when you and I don't properly analyze and live by God's Word, every day, when we lean to our own understanding, then it becomes true in our life what happened here. It stank. This obedience to God stinks, and we don't want to be in that situation. But notice, just dropping down to verse 22, when we do things according to God's daily Word, when we do things according to the directives of our true spiritual manna, Jesus Christ, when we follow those directives, verse 22. And so it was on the sixth day that they gathered twice as much bread, two oomos for each one, and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. And they said, and this is what the Lord has said, tomorrow is the Sabbath rest, the holy Sabbath of the Lord. Bake what you will bake today, boil what you will boil, and lay it for yourselves, and all that remains, be kept until morning. So they laid up until morning as Moses commanded, and it did not stink, nor were there any worms in it.

Didn't stink because people were living by the daily bread. People were living according to the directives, the laws of God's set of motion. And it shows here the interesting fact that, you know, prior to the, what people would say at the beginning of the Old Covenant, here you've got people getting ready for the Sabbath in a proper way. And as they're getting ready for the Sabbath in the proper way, as they're listening to God and doing the things God had directed, Christ had directed, they were blessed in what they did. So when you and I take heed to the true spiritual manna, the true bread of life, it works. We're blessed. We're fed. We're nurtured. We're sustained.

And that's a beautiful thing to behold. Beautiful thing to behold. Let's go over to Matthew chapter 7.

Matthew chapter 7.

Matthew chapter 7 verse 21.

You and I must build on and live on the teachings of the true manna, the New Covenant bread of life, Jesus Christ. Matthew chapter 7 verse 21. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, talk as cheap. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, you'll enter the kingdom of heaven. But he who does the will, does the will of my Father in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name, done many wonders in your name, then I'll declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me you who practiced lawlessness. Therefore, whoever hears these sayings of mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock, Jesus Christ. And the rain descended, the floods came, the winds blew, and beat on that house, and it did not fall because it was founded on the rock.

Brandon, we're seeing just a little taste of what the world is going to go through at the end of the age. We know at the end of the age there's going to be horrendous disease epidemics that will kill millions of people.

This should sober us as Christians, as we have a little bit of a look into the way things will be for so many people. And our heart goes out to our brothers and sisters and our families and our co-workers and our neighbors. We don't want them to go through this, but this is the way that they're going to have to learn, where the rains will descend on them and the floods will come, the various things that we see prophesied at the end of the age will come. And since they're not founded on the rock, they will fall. We don't want to be a part of that number. Verse 26, But everyone who hears these sayings of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built us out of the sand, and the rains descended and floods came, and the rain was destruction.

I think I just switched those two, so forgive me for doing that. As you and I practice living by the true manna, as we hear verse 24, forgive me for the mistake there, as we hear these sayings and do them, I will liken them to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And for us, as we listen and eat our daily bread, our daily manna, when the rains are sad and the floods come, the winds blow. We will not fail, because we have been doing the proper things. Again, my apologies for switching those around. Last point, I'm going to take you over time just a little bit here. Last point, last characteristic of the true spiritual manna was that the true spiritual manna was crushed.

It was crushed. Let's take a look at Numbers chapter 11.

Numbers chapter 11.

Numbers chapter 11 verses 7 and 8. Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its color was like the color of bedlam. The people went out and gathered it, rounded on millstones, or beat it into mortar, cooked it in pans, made cakes of it, and its taste was like the taste of pastry prepared with oil. But notice here we see that people didn't just always eat manna just as it was. They could take it, gather it, grind it, and make flour out of it, and use it for cooking.

As we saw a little bit in the earlier message by Mr. Duran, let's take a look at Isaiah chapter 53. He'll cover it again in more depth next Sabbath. But Isaiah chapter 53.

Isaiah chapter 53 verse 3.

Walking in about Jesus Christ, the prophecy for regarding him. He is despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from him. He was despised and we did not esteem him.

This verse shows the total suffering of Jesus Christ. You know, prior to him being tortured, and him being crucified, and a spirit going into his side, and all those things, he had all of his friends, his disciples, desert him. I swear they never knew him. Fled didn't want to be anywhere near him. Part of his Christ's suffering was mental in nature. Part of his suffering was emotional in nature. Just as we as human beings, we go through life and we have mental suffering. We've got emotional suffering. Certainly we've got spiritual and physical healing suffering. We'll see that in just a moment. But Jesus Christ was a total sacrifice for us. The true spiritual manna was crushed. Was crushed in terms of going through those trials. Verse 4, surely he has borne our griefs, our sicknesses, carried our sorrows, carried our pains, yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised. And the original, I believe, says, crushed. He was crushed for our iniquities. The chastisement for our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we were healed. He was crushed. The Old Testament manna was crushed. So it could be consumed.

The New Testament manna, Jesus Christ was crushed for our benefit so we can have the forgiveness of our sins. We must not let anything stand in our way, brethren, following our Heavenly Father and our older brother, Jesus Christ. There's so much more I can discuss with you about the manna, but I think you can study that on your own from this point. There's so much to learn, and we want to make sure we're learning those things. Looking to the Old Testament examples, which teaches us new covenant, New Testament lessons. I'd like to end the sermon today over here in Romans chapter 8. Let's go to Romans chapter 8.

A section of Scripture I think that all of us love so very, very much. Romans chapter 8, starting in here in verse 35. You know, brethren, we are not able to assemble together in large groups. We all miss that. We all wish things were different, but we live in a world. We've got to understand what's happening in the world. We have to suffer along with the rest of the world.

That should want to make us yearn more and more for God's kingdom when we see the suffering of those around us. The notice here, very encouraging Scriptures, Romans chapter 8 verse 35, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Not coronavirus, not COVID-19, not stay in your home orders. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sorrow? No, those things won't separate us from Christ. As it is written, for your sake we are killed all day long. We are counted as sheep for the slaughter. Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. Yes, we will go through our share of issues. We will go through our share of hardships, privations. We will know those among us that we love so much, fall victim to death.

Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us, through God's grace. For I am persuaded that neither life nor death, angels or principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height nor depth nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Nothing will separate us from God's love. Nothing will separate us from the true spiritual man.

From the true bread of life. I appreciate the opportunity we've had here today to talk and go through the Word of God. I am sure that I'll continue to hear how you are serving behind the scenes, how you're showing love to your brothers and sisters in the faith, and maximize love to other people as well. We don't just love our own, and that's it. We are people of love. We demonstrate that love by caring and giving where we can. If we are able to go to work, I'm sure you are doing things for your co-workers. That are loving and compassionate. I've heard of people who go to work and they bring extra hand sanitizer. They bring extra bars of soap. They bring extra toilet paper. Some of these things that we would almost snicker at a few weeks ago, but they do it out of concern. We love our brothers and sisters. Years ago, a man told me that spirit is thicker than blood, and that is true. I'm sure that as I continue and Mary continues, and you continue to phone one another and talk to one another through through phone or internet or Facebook or whatever means you've got available to you. I'm sure that as we do that, we're going to draw closer together in ways we can.