1 00:00:00,560 --> 00:00:05,240 We return to the two passages of scripture 2 00:00:05,240 --> 00:00:10,380 around which our thoughts are circling at this 3 00:00:10,380 --> 00:00:10,880 time. 4 00:00:11,940 --> 00:00:18,480 The first letter of Peter, chapter 1, verse 5 00:00:18,480 --> 00:00:19,060 3. 6 00:00:23,850 --> 00:00:28,010 Blessed be the God and Father of our 7 00:00:28,010 --> 00:00:33,170 Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great 8 00:00:33,170 --> 00:00:38,170 mercy beget us again unto a living hope 9 00:00:38,170 --> 00:00:44,410 by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the 10 00:00:44,410 --> 00:00:44,750 dead. 11 00:00:47,320 --> 00:00:53,200 A living hope by the resurrection of Jesus 12 00:00:53,200 --> 00:00:53,760 Christ. 13 00:00:54,490 --> 00:00:59,360 The letter of Paul to the Colossians, chapter 14 00:00:59,360 --> 00:01:04,000 1, verse 27. 15 00:01:06,670 --> 00:01:10,670 Whom God was pleased to make known what 16 00:01:10,670 --> 00:01:13,330 is the riches of the glory of this 17 00:01:13,330 --> 00:01:18,990 mystery among the nations, which is Christ in 18 00:01:18,990 --> 00:01:19,810 you. 19 00:01:21,010 --> 00:01:23,990 The hope of glory. 20 00:01:29,910 --> 00:01:38,340 While a very great deal of proof and 21 00:01:38,340 --> 00:01:46,600 evidence and material is drawn together 22 00:01:46,600 --> 00:01:57,800 to enforce the one fundamental 23 00:01:57,800 --> 00:02:07,650 reality, it is that reality upon 24 00:02:07,650 --> 00:02:13,200 which we must keep our eye and try 25 00:02:13,200 --> 00:02:17,680 not to lose it in the tremendous amount 26 00:02:17,680 --> 00:02:19,140 that gathers around it. 27 00:02:22,700 --> 00:02:25,640 But I feel quite sure, dear friends, that 28 00:02:25,640 --> 00:02:33,140 we will agree, and I trust very heartily 29 00:02:33,140 --> 00:02:38,660 agree when we close this gathering, that that 30 00:02:38,660 --> 00:02:42,300 which the Lord is bringing before us at 31 00:02:42,300 --> 00:02:48,120 this time is a, if not the, and 32 00:02:48,120 --> 00:02:51,780 I think we could say the most vital 33 00:02:51,780 --> 00:02:56,580 thing in the whole of the Christian life. 34 00:02:57,950 --> 00:03:03,130 The meaning, the reality and the meaning of 35 00:03:03,130 --> 00:03:04,550 those last words. 36 00:03:05,090 --> 00:03:06,470 Christ in you. 37 00:03:09,210 --> 00:03:09,850 The hope. 38 00:03:11,030 --> 00:03:11,770 Glory. 39 00:03:12,770 --> 00:03:18,970 So we are concerned at this time with 40 00:03:21,050 --> 00:03:30,330 Christ living, dwelling, growing within 41 00:03:30,330 --> 00:03:38,410 as the only hope for anything but the 42 00:03:38,410 --> 00:03:41,050 hope of God for everything. 43 00:03:44,480 --> 00:03:53,150 We, in the earlier meditation, sought to show 44 00:03:53,150 --> 00:04:01,170 how mightily this was proved in the experience 45 00:04:01,170 --> 00:04:06,070 of the first believers and the first apostles. 46 00:04:06,070 --> 00:04:15,260 As we saw firstly how the cross brought 47 00:04:15,260 --> 00:04:25,200 desolation to everything until Christ became 48 00:04:25,200 --> 00:04:27,060 an inward reality. 49 00:04:28,720 --> 00:04:32,460 Indeed we could say that that is the 50 00:04:32,460 --> 00:04:34,740 very purpose of the cross on one side, 51 00:04:35,460 --> 00:04:41,040 to show the hopelessness of everything until Christ 52 00:04:41,040 --> 00:04:43,020 comes in, in a living way. 53 00:04:45,440 --> 00:04:50,820 We saw the hopelessness of a merely outward 54 00:04:50,820 --> 00:04:57,790 association with Christ as they spent their time 55 00:04:57,790 --> 00:04:59,590 with him in the days of his flesh. 56 00:05:00,590 --> 00:05:10,180 All the wonderful truth about him being 57 00:05:10,180 --> 00:05:11,960 right present with them. 58 00:05:13,160 --> 00:05:19,340 The infinite truth of incarnation, God manifest in 59 00:05:19,340 --> 00:05:19,920 the flesh. 60 00:05:22,390 --> 00:05:31,810 The wonder of his personality, that divine personality 61 00:05:31,810 --> 00:05:39,540 which was all the time registering itself and 62 00:05:39,540 --> 00:05:42,260 yet not understood. 63 00:05:43,080 --> 00:05:47,540 But of which everyone was conscious. 64 00:05:48,320 --> 00:05:54,120 The impress of a different and a superior 65 00:05:54,120 --> 00:06:01,180 kind of man, of humanity, of personality. 66 00:06:01,180 --> 00:06:06,610 The great fact that right in their midst 67 00:06:06,610 --> 00:06:09,850 through the whole time there was one who 68 00:06:09,850 --> 00:06:14,610 carried in her heart the secret of his 69 00:06:14,610 --> 00:06:19,070 birth, his miraculous birth. 70 00:06:20,830 --> 00:06:24,930 The fact of all his mighty miracles in 71 00:06:24,930 --> 00:06:25,750 every realm. 72 00:06:27,330 --> 00:06:35,770 Then of his teaching which altogether confounded and 73 00:06:35,770 --> 00:06:40,290 defeated the best scholars of his day. 74 00:06:41,290 --> 00:06:47,850 They could never get equal with him, say 75 00:06:47,850 --> 00:06:50,870 nothing of defeating him. 76 00:06:52,070 --> 00:06:57,870 All that they had, with all that they 77 00:06:57,870 --> 00:07:01,230 were closely associated for that time. 78 00:07:02,270 --> 00:07:07,780 And yet when the cross came, it completely 79 00:07:07,780 --> 00:07:16,400 shattered their faith, their hope, and they were 80 00:07:16,400 --> 00:07:20,880 all, the twelve, the seventy and all the 81 00:07:20,880 --> 00:07:22,140 others, scattered. 82 00:07:23,640 --> 00:07:33,140 Forsaking, fleeing, denying, as though all that 83 00:07:34,900 --> 00:07:36,220 went for nothing. 84 00:07:40,990 --> 00:07:49,300 Leaving the necessity for something in addition to 85 00:07:49,300 --> 00:07:49,520 that. 86 00:07:51,460 --> 00:07:55,220 It proved valuable eventually, all of it, when 87 00:07:55,220 --> 00:07:58,660 that other something came. 88 00:08:00,100 --> 00:08:04,980 But it proved to be helpless for them 89 00:08:04,980 --> 00:08:07,660 in the day of the great ordeal. 90 00:08:09,000 --> 00:08:13,560 Because that other was not there and the 91 00:08:13,560 --> 00:08:18,140 other was Christ on the inside, Christ in 92 00:08:18,140 --> 00:08:18,500 you. 93 00:08:20,260 --> 00:08:24,460 As we can say with Paul, Christ in 94 00:08:24,460 --> 00:08:29,520 you, the hope of glory, Christ not in 95 00:08:29,520 --> 00:08:30,040 you. 96 00:08:30,800 --> 00:08:37,600 With all this can only bring hopelessness. 97 00:08:39,799 --> 00:08:44,940 We went on to work, twelve and the 98 00:08:44,940 --> 00:08:50,380 seventy receiving a delegated authority and sent forth 99 00:08:50,380 --> 00:08:55,200 with that authority to heal the sick, cast 100 00:08:55,200 --> 00:08:57,740 out demons, raise the dead. 101 00:08:58,920 --> 00:09:03,560 And so they did, came back rejoicing and 102 00:09:03,560 --> 00:09:07,820 proclaiming even that demons are subject unto us. 103 00:09:10,290 --> 00:09:22,150 Delegated authority, official power, and 104 00:09:22,150 --> 00:09:23,610 in the end, what? 105 00:09:24,610 --> 00:09:27,250 Again as though it all went for nothing, 106 00:09:28,390 --> 00:09:34,300 they are all scattered and peeled in the 107 00:09:34,300 --> 00:09:37,940 deepest doubt, uncertainty. 108 00:09:38,940 --> 00:09:43,080 Yes, being upbraided by Him for their unbelief, 109 00:09:44,120 --> 00:09:48,560 again and again, utterly without hope. 110 00:09:50,950 --> 00:09:59,160 And the cross becomes an actuality until He 111 00:09:59,160 --> 00:10:05,640 came in and by the Holy Spirit took 112 00:10:05,640 --> 00:10:07,260 up residence within. 113 00:10:09,670 --> 00:10:13,590 And then it was different. 114 00:10:15,160 --> 00:10:21,480 Well, that far we went this afternoon with 115 00:10:21,480 --> 00:10:22,620 many more words. 116 00:10:23,540 --> 00:10:26,500 We proceed this evening a little further with 117 00:10:26,500 --> 00:10:26,960 this matter. 118 00:10:29,390 --> 00:10:36,090 The hopelessness of human nature in itself. 119 00:10:39,000 --> 00:10:41,440 Now we look at these. 120 00:10:42,320 --> 00:10:44,740 We don't know very much about the seventy. 121 00:10:46,020 --> 00:10:49,720 We know a little about some of the 122 00:10:49,720 --> 00:10:58,140 followers, like Mary Magdalene, know the Bethany family. 123 00:10:59,140 --> 00:11:01,220 Some others, just a little about them. 124 00:11:02,280 --> 00:11:03,780 We know a good deal more about the 125 00:11:03,780 --> 00:11:04,100 twelve. 126 00:11:05,420 --> 00:11:08,320 As we were saying this afternoon, Peter always 127 00:11:08,320 --> 00:11:11,840 stands as a good representative of the others. 128 00:11:13,160 --> 00:11:16,980 Well, what was true of him was so 129 00:11:16,980 --> 00:11:19,680 true of them in many ways. 130 00:11:22,450 --> 00:11:26,150 We look at them and there are a 131 00:11:26,150 --> 00:11:28,250 lot of good things about them. 132 00:11:30,920 --> 00:11:33,340 Quite a lot of good things about Simon 133 00:11:33,340 --> 00:11:33,720 Peter. 134 00:11:37,840 --> 00:11:40,140 I think in many ways a very lovable 135 00:11:40,140 --> 00:11:41,080 kind of man. 136 00:11:44,770 --> 00:11:46,950 There's no doubt whatever that on the credit 137 00:11:46,950 --> 00:11:50,910 side there was a very warm heart there. 138 00:11:51,750 --> 00:11:54,830 And a warm heart for his master. 139 00:11:57,400 --> 00:12:01,400 There was real good intention. 140 00:12:04,470 --> 00:12:07,910 Good intention people can, as we say, put 141 00:12:07,910 --> 00:12:08,930 their foot in it often. 142 00:12:09,810 --> 00:12:13,350 But good intention was there. 143 00:12:14,150 --> 00:12:16,150 He meant so well. 144 00:12:17,830 --> 00:12:20,630 His motives were all the best. 145 00:12:21,510 --> 00:12:24,070 We could go on saying a lot of 146 00:12:24,070 --> 00:12:27,810 good things about him and about John. 147 00:12:29,350 --> 00:12:30,910 Perhaps you think you could say better things 148 00:12:30,910 --> 00:12:34,720 about John, about them all. 149 00:12:34,720 --> 00:12:36,560 There's no doubt about it, there was a 150 00:12:36,560 --> 00:12:42,180 very good credit side to these people. 151 00:12:46,650 --> 00:12:50,330 They're no worse than we are. 152 00:12:51,070 --> 00:12:54,370 Perhaps in many ways a great deal better 153 00:12:54,370 --> 00:12:56,270 than some of us. 154 00:12:58,600 --> 00:13:03,000 Human nature, the point is, human nature, not 155 00:13:03,000 --> 00:13:08,100 at its worst, but perhaps at its best, 156 00:13:08,100 --> 00:13:12,500 was represented by that company around the Lord 157 00:13:12,500 --> 00:13:12,980 Jesus. 158 00:13:15,960 --> 00:13:16,960 At all their faults. 159 00:13:18,420 --> 00:13:23,540 Sometimes they're blundering, yet not evil. 160 00:13:24,500 --> 00:13:26,720 Nothing vice about them. 161 00:13:28,910 --> 00:13:32,550 Good, honest, open hearted men and women. 162 00:13:35,680 --> 00:13:39,800 In their intention and in a certain realm 163 00:13:39,800 --> 00:13:42,960 committed to Jesus. 164 00:13:44,460 --> 00:13:48,620 And very thoroughly committed to Jesus. 165 00:13:52,410 --> 00:13:59,870 Sometimes breaking out in very strong affirmations and 166 00:13:59,870 --> 00:14:06,210 declarations of devotion and intention to go to 167 00:14:06,210 --> 00:14:10,290 death with him should it ever become necessary. 168 00:14:19,120 --> 00:14:22,630 Calvary, the cross. 169 00:14:26,500 --> 00:14:33,520 Now, what's the real truth? 170 00:14:36,210 --> 00:14:41,090 What is the real eternal value of it 171 00:14:41,090 --> 00:14:41,410 all? 172 00:14:43,960 --> 00:14:48,100 How much of it will go through, survive 173 00:14:48,100 --> 00:14:48,720 and triumph? 174 00:14:51,190 --> 00:14:55,800 Not one bit, not one bit. 175 00:14:59,740 --> 00:15:08,640 We see the desolation of all their protestations, 176 00:15:09,460 --> 00:15:14,320 all their confessions, all their declared good intentions, 177 00:15:16,080 --> 00:15:24,780 all their professions of love, devotion, faithfulness, lying 178 00:15:24,780 --> 00:15:26,420 in ruins. 179 00:15:26,420 --> 00:15:36,220 The most representative is denying repeatedly with oaths 180 00:15:36,220 --> 00:15:40,960 and with curses he has any knowledge of 181 00:15:40,960 --> 00:15:41,860 this Galilean. 182 00:15:46,800 --> 00:15:47,820 We needn't say any more. 183 00:15:53,220 --> 00:15:57,400 The utter hopelessness of human nature in itself. 184 00:16:06,900 --> 00:16:09,660 Where could hope be found? 185 00:16:11,120 --> 00:16:13,240 Would there ever be hope again? 186 00:16:13,240 --> 00:16:20,200 Will hope rise out of those ashes? 187 00:16:24,760 --> 00:16:25,680 Is it gone forever? 188 00:16:27,580 --> 00:16:30,060 Is it finally and eternally hopeless? 189 00:16:31,800 --> 00:16:34,440 Yes, if it's left to them. 190 00:16:35,560 --> 00:16:36,940 If they're left to themselves. 191 00:16:38,500 --> 00:16:39,420 Where will hope be? 192 00:16:39,740 --> 00:16:42,940 Not in themselves, but in Christ in them. 193 00:16:43,820 --> 00:16:49,140 That will be the hope of glory, change, 194 00:16:49,440 --> 00:17:01,380 transfigured outlook, shame, shame, remorse, reproach, glory. 195 00:17:05,130 --> 00:17:06,950 And let us be very, very clear about 196 00:17:06,950 --> 00:17:09,250 this, dear friends, because it's just at this 197 00:17:09,250 --> 00:17:11,349 very point that you and I need to 198 00:17:11,349 --> 00:17:13,910 learn all our lessons over again. 199 00:17:14,540 --> 00:17:17,710 The hope will never be found in ourselves. 200 00:17:19,329 --> 00:17:21,950 Even when we are Christians. 201 00:17:23,170 --> 00:17:26,170 Even though we go right on as far 202 00:17:26,170 --> 00:17:32,540 as any Christians can go, should he leave 203 00:17:32,540 --> 00:17:37,600 us for five minutes, it's as hopeless as 204 00:17:37,600 --> 00:17:39,040 it was before ever we started. 205 00:17:41,070 --> 00:17:44,730 In me, and it's an apostle, and a 206 00:17:44,730 --> 00:17:48,870 mature, experienced apostle, that is speaking in me, 207 00:17:49,410 --> 00:17:52,630 that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good 208 00:17:52,630 --> 00:17:52,930 thing. 209 00:17:53,290 --> 00:17:54,030 There's no hope there. 210 00:17:55,410 --> 00:18:01,730 Christ in you, the hope, and the only 211 00:18:01,730 --> 00:18:02,190 hope. 212 00:18:04,630 --> 00:18:10,470 2 Corinthians 5 contains the very foundation of 213 00:18:10,470 --> 00:18:10,970 any hope. 214 00:18:10,970 --> 00:18:13,170 Where a man is concerned. 215 00:18:14,510 --> 00:18:18,030 The love of Christ, the love of Christ 216 00:18:18,030 --> 00:18:22,250 constraineth us, because we thus judge. 217 00:18:23,530 --> 00:18:25,990 One died in the place of all, therefore 218 00:18:25,990 --> 00:18:26,730 all died. 219 00:18:28,310 --> 00:18:32,610 They which live should henceforth live no longer 220 00:18:32,610 --> 00:18:36,390 unto themselves, but unto him who in their 221 00:18:36,390 --> 00:18:38,330 place died and rose again. 222 00:18:39,210 --> 00:18:41,230 No, we know man after the flesh. 223 00:18:49,340 --> 00:18:53,820 Wherefore if any man be in Christ, there 224 00:18:53,820 --> 00:18:56,420 is a new creation. 225 00:18:57,820 --> 00:19:01,320 The old things are passed away, or they 226 00:19:01,320 --> 00:19:04,000 become new, but all things are out from 227 00:19:04,000 --> 00:19:04,360 God. 228 00:19:07,220 --> 00:19:07,840 The way of hope. 229 00:19:09,160 --> 00:19:13,460 Yes, through the devastation of the cross, up 230 00:19:13,460 --> 00:19:16,580 into the resurrection where it is Christ. 231 00:19:17,580 --> 00:19:23,000 The center and the circumference of a new 232 00:19:23,000 --> 00:19:23,780 creation. 233 00:19:24,740 --> 00:19:28,660 A new creation, that's it. 234 00:19:33,450 --> 00:19:37,530 So, there is no hope whatever. 235 00:19:39,410 --> 00:19:41,890 Absolutely no hope in man naturally. 236 00:19:43,310 --> 00:19:45,230 I say we've got to learn that lesson 237 00:19:45,230 --> 00:19:49,210 all over anew, because you're always, always trying 238 00:19:49,210 --> 00:19:50,790 to find hope in yourself. 239 00:19:50,790 --> 00:19:52,030 That's your trouble. 240 00:19:53,390 --> 00:19:53,910 It's your trouble. 241 00:19:55,930 --> 00:19:57,310 Shall I put it another way? 242 00:19:57,450 --> 00:19:58,990 Your trouble is that you can't find any 243 00:19:58,990 --> 00:20:01,250 hope in yourself, and the fact that you're 244 00:20:01,250 --> 00:20:04,370 troubled about that shows that you want to. 245 00:20:04,990 --> 00:20:06,290 You haven't given yourself up. 246 00:20:10,420 --> 00:20:13,200 God gave you up in the cross of 247 00:20:13,200 --> 00:20:17,700 Jesus Christ as a hopeless mess, and shown 248 00:20:17,700 --> 00:20:20,900 by that very cross how hopeless we are. 249 00:20:23,170 --> 00:20:26,910 But in raising Jesus from the dead, taking 250 00:20:26,910 --> 00:20:30,290 him up, and then sending him as in 251 00:20:30,290 --> 00:20:34,030 the Holy Spirit to dwell within, God started 252 00:20:34,030 --> 00:20:36,730 a new basis of hope. 253 00:20:37,610 --> 00:20:38,950 It is never in us. 254 00:20:39,830 --> 00:20:40,870 It is in Christ. 255 00:20:42,050 --> 00:20:44,030 It never will be in us. 256 00:20:44,730 --> 00:20:47,430 We'll be as hopeless at the end as 257 00:20:47,430 --> 00:20:48,270 we were at the beginning. 258 00:20:48,670 --> 00:20:50,070 It will always be in Christ. 259 00:20:52,280 --> 00:20:54,920 Friends, we've got to make everything of Christ. 260 00:20:55,280 --> 00:20:56,520 Far more than we have. 261 00:20:57,520 --> 00:20:58,740 Far more than we have. 262 00:20:58,960 --> 00:21:03,910 Oh, that we could free ourselves from that 263 00:21:03,910 --> 00:21:08,190 old ground of expectation where we are concerned. 264 00:21:09,370 --> 00:21:13,210 We could quit it and get positively onto 265 00:21:13,210 --> 00:21:14,170 the ground of Christ. 266 00:21:15,470 --> 00:21:16,930 Christ my hope. 267 00:21:18,190 --> 00:21:20,930 With both hands I lay hold on Christ. 268 00:21:21,870 --> 00:21:22,890 Christ only. 269 00:21:23,530 --> 00:21:26,890 But he is the hope of glory. 270 00:21:36,160 --> 00:21:40,120 That is, as to our self-worn attitude, 271 00:21:42,500 --> 00:21:46,660 we've got to take God's position about ourselves. 272 00:21:48,260 --> 00:21:54,780 God's position about ourselves is it has nothing 273 00:21:54,780 --> 00:21:55,520 to do with us. 274 00:21:56,800 --> 00:21:58,580 He has only to do with his Son. 275 00:21:59,760 --> 00:22:08,320 Now, here opens a very large field of 276 00:22:08,320 --> 00:22:10,800 perplexing experience. 277 00:22:12,500 --> 00:22:16,440 And it is interpreted by this one truth. 278 00:22:17,660 --> 00:22:19,940 And this one key opens the door to 279 00:22:19,940 --> 00:22:20,500 so much. 280 00:22:22,020 --> 00:22:24,920 Why does the Lord ignore so much of 281 00:22:24,920 --> 00:22:25,320 our prayer? 282 00:22:27,150 --> 00:22:30,370 And why does the Lord not come onto 283 00:22:30,370 --> 00:22:32,510 the ground that we try to get him 284 00:22:32,510 --> 00:22:33,070 to come onto? 285 00:22:36,810 --> 00:22:39,790 Why do we not find the Lord with 286 00:22:39,790 --> 00:22:48,050 us in much crying, beseeching, entreating? 287 00:22:51,580 --> 00:22:53,100 He doesn't answer. 288 00:22:53,700 --> 00:22:54,500 Doesn't move. 289 00:22:55,180 --> 00:22:55,460 Why? 290 00:22:56,380 --> 00:23:00,420 The answer, dear friends, the explanation is usually 291 00:23:00,420 --> 00:23:02,320 that we're on the wrong ground. 292 00:23:03,040 --> 00:23:05,460 We are taking account of things that God 293 00:23:05,460 --> 00:23:06,700 has finished with long ago. 294 00:23:09,180 --> 00:23:11,520 We are wanting to get God onto ground 295 00:23:11,520 --> 00:23:13,580 that he's abandoned forever. 296 00:23:16,900 --> 00:23:19,340 You will only have the Lord, or we 297 00:23:19,340 --> 00:23:22,760 shall only have the Lord with us at 298 00:23:22,760 --> 00:23:24,940 all while we keep on the ground of 299 00:23:24,940 --> 00:23:25,200 Christ. 300 00:23:26,260 --> 00:23:27,820 Make no mistake about it. 301 00:23:27,880 --> 00:23:30,120 You've got to find out whether that's Christ's 302 00:23:30,120 --> 00:23:33,480 ground, or your ground, or other people's ground. 303 00:23:33,480 --> 00:23:43,130 The ground of human judgments, human interpretations, human 304 00:23:43,130 --> 00:23:50,090 feelings, human desire, that which is natural. 305 00:23:52,770 --> 00:23:56,030 If that ground is the ground on which 306 00:23:56,030 --> 00:23:57,630 we are trying to get the Lord to 307 00:23:57,630 --> 00:24:00,090 encamp and do something, he'll be silent. 308 00:24:01,210 --> 00:24:02,530 And silent forever. 309 00:24:03,110 --> 00:24:03,870 He'll not move him. 310 00:24:05,760 --> 00:24:08,900 One thing about God is that he is 311 00:24:08,900 --> 00:24:09,840 a realist. 312 00:24:11,020 --> 00:24:12,100 A realist. 313 00:24:12,480 --> 00:24:15,260 And if he says in the cross, I 314 00:24:15,260 --> 00:24:19,100 close the door forever to the natural man, 315 00:24:19,340 --> 00:24:21,320 you'll never get him opening that door again. 316 00:24:24,300 --> 00:24:24,680 Not a bit. 317 00:24:26,060 --> 00:24:29,640 Break your heart in prayer to get him 318 00:24:29,640 --> 00:24:31,000 to move and to act. 319 00:24:32,080 --> 00:24:33,060 He won't do it. 320 00:24:33,860 --> 00:24:36,120 Only on one ground, that's the ground of 321 00:24:36,120 --> 00:24:36,440 his son. 322 00:24:37,780 --> 00:24:40,060 Can you provide the ground of Christ? 323 00:24:40,680 --> 00:24:44,240 Then you will find the door open with 324 00:24:44,240 --> 00:24:44,640 God. 325 00:24:45,600 --> 00:24:46,500 And he's coming through. 326 00:24:46,820 --> 00:24:48,000 That's his only ground. 327 00:24:49,320 --> 00:24:55,220 It will be despair and hopelessness until we 328 00:24:55,220 --> 00:25:00,800 can get clean through onto pure Christ ground. 329 00:25:01,440 --> 00:25:02,740 And then it's an open heaven. 330 00:25:03,920 --> 00:25:04,900 It's an open heaven. 331 00:25:05,400 --> 00:25:06,080 It's release. 332 00:25:09,020 --> 00:25:10,840 I said that opens a very big field. 333 00:25:11,900 --> 00:25:13,820 You see, it opens the field of the 334 00:25:13,820 --> 00:25:14,620 whole of the Bible. 335 00:25:18,190 --> 00:25:20,390 Carry this conference right on for the next 336 00:25:20,390 --> 00:25:22,370 two or three years with our Bible in 337 00:25:22,370 --> 00:25:23,690 hand on this one thing only. 338 00:25:24,730 --> 00:25:25,830 On this one thing only. 339 00:25:27,350 --> 00:25:29,570 I would ask you to take this as 340 00:25:29,570 --> 00:25:30,810 the key to your New Testament. 341 00:25:31,750 --> 00:25:33,890 Make no mistake about it, this is the 342 00:25:33,890 --> 00:25:35,070 key to the New Testament. 343 00:25:35,070 --> 00:25:36,950 It is of the old, of course. 344 00:25:37,790 --> 00:25:41,730 But in spiritual reality, every book of the 345 00:25:41,730 --> 00:25:44,070 New Testament must be read in the light 346 00:25:44,070 --> 00:25:44,410 of this. 347 00:25:46,360 --> 00:25:48,120 Christ as God's ground. 348 00:25:49,460 --> 00:25:53,320 And God's ground of hope alone. 349 00:26:00,210 --> 00:26:04,970 You see, that passes from the individual to 350 00:26:04,970 --> 00:26:05,450 the collective. 351 00:26:07,110 --> 00:26:13,050 Oh, we haven't learned much yet of this. 352 00:26:13,050 --> 00:26:19,620 I am aware, dear friends, that this is 353 00:26:19,620 --> 00:26:22,880 perhaps the most difficult thing in the whole 354 00:26:22,880 --> 00:26:23,600 Christian life. 355 00:26:25,660 --> 00:26:27,680 For all of us, every one of us. 356 00:26:29,040 --> 00:26:31,340 And in this I am the most backward 357 00:26:31,340 --> 00:26:34,150 of the pupils. 358 00:26:37,290 --> 00:26:39,230 We will not get anywhere with one another 359 00:26:39,230 --> 00:26:45,470 in our relationship as the Lord's people if 360 00:26:45,470 --> 00:26:47,910 we are going to keep on the natural 361 00:26:47,910 --> 00:26:49,110 ground of one another. 362 00:26:50,740 --> 00:26:53,320 You are judging me according to what I 363 00:26:53,320 --> 00:26:54,040 am naturally. 364 00:26:55,100 --> 00:26:57,620 Taking account of me because of what you 365 00:26:57,620 --> 00:27:00,780 see I am just as a man in 366 00:27:00,780 --> 00:27:01,220 myself. 367 00:27:02,220 --> 00:27:05,400 You will have all the ground for despair 368 00:27:05,400 --> 00:27:06,780 that ever you can want. 369 00:27:07,640 --> 00:27:09,660 And I'll do the same where you're concerned. 370 00:27:09,820 --> 00:27:10,840 I'll have to give you up. 371 00:27:11,340 --> 00:27:11,940 There's no hope. 372 00:27:13,180 --> 00:27:13,760 There's no hope. 373 00:27:15,320 --> 00:27:18,400 Some of us, of course, are unable to 374 00:27:18,400 --> 00:27:23,940 see all the frailties and faults of others. 375 00:27:26,230 --> 00:27:26,990 And where does it lead? 376 00:27:29,420 --> 00:27:30,360 Despair, doesn't it? 377 00:27:30,700 --> 00:27:31,220 Deadlock? 378 00:27:31,760 --> 00:27:32,600 No way through. 379 00:27:33,300 --> 00:27:34,100 No future. 380 00:27:34,500 --> 00:27:35,300 No promise. 381 00:27:40,690 --> 00:27:41,990 The Lord is not with us in that. 382 00:27:43,690 --> 00:27:45,750 Henceforth know we no man after the flesh. 383 00:27:45,970 --> 00:27:49,770 What is the henceforth since all died? 384 00:27:51,050 --> 00:27:51,850 All died? 385 00:27:53,230 --> 00:27:57,210 Ah, this lesson for us all is just 386 00:27:57,210 --> 00:27:57,570 this. 387 00:27:58,510 --> 00:28:02,970 To take account of the minutest bit of 388 00:28:02,970 --> 00:28:04,370 Christ that there is in another. 389 00:28:07,600 --> 00:28:08,480 Focus upon that. 390 00:28:09,180 --> 00:28:10,540 The work of grace. 391 00:28:12,060 --> 00:28:13,860 Go as far as you can, even if 392 00:28:13,860 --> 00:28:15,960 it's only in a sort of negative way 393 00:28:15,960 --> 00:28:17,440 and say, well, what would they be but 394 00:28:17,440 --> 00:28:18,320 for the grace of God? 395 00:28:19,760 --> 00:28:22,080 But go further and say, see what the 396 00:28:22,080 --> 00:28:24,420 grace of God has done. 397 00:28:25,880 --> 00:28:28,940 Now, that's the only way of hope. 398 00:28:29,880 --> 00:28:30,280 Christ. 399 00:28:30,640 --> 00:28:31,680 Christ in you. 400 00:28:33,690 --> 00:28:35,350 Now, do you see what that leads to? 401 00:28:37,590 --> 00:28:41,690 Oh, dear friends, it does mean what this 402 00:28:41,690 --> 00:28:44,590 New Testament is all about. 403 00:28:45,690 --> 00:28:48,890 That we've got to provide one another with 404 00:28:48,890 --> 00:28:51,530 a great deal more of Christ in ourselves. 405 00:28:52,370 --> 00:28:53,190 For hope. 406 00:28:54,350 --> 00:28:57,750 There's got to be a continual increase of 407 00:28:57,750 --> 00:28:58,090 Christ. 408 00:28:58,970 --> 00:29:01,330 A continual increase of the work of grace 409 00:29:01,330 --> 00:29:01,830 in us. 410 00:29:02,270 --> 00:29:03,430 The grace of the Lord Jesus. 411 00:29:05,730 --> 00:29:06,630 It's the only way. 412 00:29:08,350 --> 00:29:10,110 So, as I've said the whole of the 413 00:29:10,110 --> 00:29:11,390 New Testament is about this first. 414 00:29:11,710 --> 00:29:13,170 Christ must get inside. 415 00:29:13,170 --> 00:29:16,070 And then Christ must grow inside. 416 00:29:16,850 --> 00:29:18,230 Until, until. 417 00:29:19,750 --> 00:29:22,290 Will it ever be there is more of 418 00:29:22,290 --> 00:29:23,950 Christ than there is of ourselves? 419 00:29:25,370 --> 00:29:26,410 But that's the way. 420 00:29:29,690 --> 00:29:32,970 The apostles who, as we said this afternoon, 421 00:29:33,130 --> 00:29:38,170 were so meticulous and particular about this matter 422 00:29:38,170 --> 00:29:42,590 of converts receiving the Holy Spirit as a 423 00:29:42,590 --> 00:29:54,410 definite, positive, concrete experience at crisis were 424 00:29:54,410 --> 00:29:58,530 just as particular in all their teaching that 425 00:29:58,530 --> 00:30:01,490 not only should the Holy Spirit have been 426 00:30:01,490 --> 00:30:04,250 received but that they should be filled with 427 00:30:04,250 --> 00:30:04,710 the Spirit. 428 00:30:05,550 --> 00:30:06,850 Filled with the Spirit. 429 00:30:08,110 --> 00:30:10,190 Be filled with the Spirit. 430 00:30:14,830 --> 00:30:17,730 It's only the other way of saying Christ 431 00:30:17,730 --> 00:30:20,750 is in but Christ has got to be 432 00:30:20,750 --> 00:30:22,070 fully formed within. 433 00:30:23,310 --> 00:30:24,390 More and more. 434 00:30:26,680 --> 00:30:28,800 It is a very practical school, isn't it? 435 00:30:29,740 --> 00:30:30,880 Very hard lessons. 436 00:30:32,740 --> 00:30:34,340 But does it not explain much? 437 00:30:35,340 --> 00:30:36,080 Yes, it does. 438 00:30:40,080 --> 00:30:43,660 It's the heart and the core of true 439 00:30:43,660 --> 00:30:46,340 spiritual Christianity. 440 00:30:47,560 --> 00:30:48,520 Christ. 441 00:30:49,680 --> 00:30:51,120 Only Christ. 442 00:30:52,360 --> 00:30:54,400 The Alpha, the Omega. 443 00:30:54,820 --> 00:30:56,620 Beginning, the end, and all between. 444 00:30:57,980 --> 00:31:02,240 A few words before we go on just 445 00:31:02,240 --> 00:31:04,180 another point. 446 00:31:05,440 --> 00:31:12,560 The hopelessness of the kingdom until the King 447 00:31:12,560 --> 00:31:13,480 is within. 448 00:31:16,490 --> 00:31:19,900 How much we could say about the hopes, 449 00:31:20,540 --> 00:31:26,880 the expectations concerning the kingdom that filled the 450 00:31:26,880 --> 00:31:32,880 hearts of every true, the heart of every 451 00:31:32,880 --> 00:31:34,580 true Israelite. 452 00:31:35,500 --> 00:31:41,000 And as we know, these disciples and apostles 453 00:31:42,000 --> 00:31:48,660 were very true representatives of Israel's hopes for 454 00:31:48,660 --> 00:31:49,040 the kingdom. 455 00:31:49,960 --> 00:31:53,580 They cherished that hope. 456 00:31:54,440 --> 00:31:56,400 They built everything upon that hope. 457 00:31:57,500 --> 00:32:02,540 All their thoughts, their mentality was concerning the 458 00:32:02,540 --> 00:32:02,900 kingdom. 459 00:32:07,120 --> 00:32:11,460 Indeed, their very committal to Christ, leaving all 460 00:32:11,460 --> 00:32:16,460 things to follow Him had the kingdom in 461 00:32:16,460 --> 00:32:18,160 view, as its motive. 462 00:32:19,540 --> 00:32:23,160 Right up to the last minutes, we might 463 00:32:23,160 --> 00:32:25,120 say, before He went to glory. 464 00:32:26,080 --> 00:32:29,360 There, I was going to say, obsessed with 465 00:32:29,360 --> 00:32:30,720 this kingdom matter. 466 00:32:31,840 --> 00:32:34,980 Dost thou at this time restore the kingdom 467 00:32:34,980 --> 00:32:35,700 to Israel? 468 00:32:37,220 --> 00:32:40,060 The last words to Him on record before 469 00:32:40,060 --> 00:32:40,680 He went. 470 00:32:43,910 --> 00:32:47,810 But what about the effect of the cross 471 00:32:47,810 --> 00:32:48,730 upon all that? 472 00:32:52,530 --> 00:32:57,550 Yes, the cross, the crucifixion shattered all their 473 00:32:57,550 --> 00:32:58,310 hopes of the kingdom. 474 00:33:00,010 --> 00:33:03,350 We had trusted that it had been He. 475 00:33:06,170 --> 00:33:08,210 We had trusted that it had been He 476 00:33:09,170 --> 00:33:11,650 that would restore the kingdom. 477 00:33:13,780 --> 00:33:16,940 And here, their kingdom lies waste. 478 00:33:17,560 --> 00:33:20,440 And all their hopes, so far as He 479 00:33:20,440 --> 00:33:23,880 was concerned, and the kingdom, were shattered. 480 00:33:26,240 --> 00:33:30,160 Just scattered like dust to the wind. 481 00:33:30,840 --> 00:33:32,480 Where is the kingdom now? 482 00:33:34,420 --> 00:33:36,320 What's the hope of the kingdom now? 483 00:33:39,020 --> 00:33:44,400 Hopelessness of the kingdom came back when He 484 00:33:44,400 --> 00:33:44,960 came in. 485 00:33:49,230 --> 00:33:51,070 That is what Peter is talking about. 486 00:33:51,170 --> 00:33:52,830 Blessed be the God and Father of our 487 00:33:52,830 --> 00:33:55,590 Lord Jesus Christ, who hath begotten us again 488 00:33:55,590 --> 00:33:58,330 unto a living hope by the resurrection of 489 00:33:58,330 --> 00:34:01,110 Jesus Christ from the dead unto an inheritance. 490 00:34:02,810 --> 00:34:07,790 Not to crumble again to the dust of 491 00:34:07,790 --> 00:34:14,130 inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, that faded not away, reserved 492 00:34:14,130 --> 00:34:17,230 in heaven, is the kingdom visioned with its 493 00:34:17,230 --> 00:34:17,630 back. 494 00:34:19,580 --> 00:34:20,420 On what ground? 495 00:34:21,480 --> 00:34:23,980 Christ, the King, with Him. 496 00:34:25,420 --> 00:34:27,260 That was Peter's note on the day of 497 00:34:27,260 --> 00:34:27,900 Pentecost. 498 00:34:29,440 --> 00:34:32,480 That was the preaching of the first preachers, 499 00:34:32,679 --> 00:34:35,159 Jesus Christ is Lord, His Lord. 500 00:34:35,239 --> 00:34:37,480 God hath made Him both Lord and Christ. 501 00:34:44,230 --> 00:34:45,949 That was Peter's note on the day of 502 00:34:45,949 --> 00:34:46,330 Pentecost. 503 00:34:48,110 --> 00:34:51,170 That was the preaching of the first preachers, 504 00:34:51,370 --> 00:34:53,870 Jesus Christ is Lord, His Lord. 505 00:34:53,870 --> 00:34:56,350 God hath made Him both Lord and Christ. 506 00:34:57,010 --> 00:34:59,830 King of kings and Lord of lords. 507 00:35:04,170 --> 00:35:06,970 There's only that hope for the kingdom. 508 00:35:07,830 --> 00:35:10,990 But that's perhaps speaking in large terms, you 509 00:35:10,990 --> 00:35:11,150 see. 510 00:35:11,590 --> 00:35:14,010 What I'm talking about is the preaching. 511 00:35:14,930 --> 00:35:15,990 The preaching. 512 00:35:18,220 --> 00:35:19,940 The preaching of the kingdom, yes. 513 00:35:21,000 --> 00:35:25,280 If you like to alter the phraseology and 514 00:35:25,280 --> 00:35:31,200 say, preaching for man's salvation, that's the kingdom. 515 00:35:32,280 --> 00:35:35,140 It's called evangelization. 516 00:35:37,760 --> 00:35:40,780 But here we've missed the point so much. 517 00:35:43,180 --> 00:35:44,940 What is evangelization? 518 00:35:46,640 --> 00:35:49,260 What is preaching the kingdom? 519 00:35:50,920 --> 00:35:53,420 What is preaching the gospel? 520 00:35:55,040 --> 00:35:56,120 What is it? 521 00:35:57,120 --> 00:36:02,620 Is it just and only announcing certain truths? 522 00:36:03,460 --> 00:36:06,960 Certain facts or certain doctrines? 523 00:36:07,720 --> 00:36:08,080 Is it? 524 00:36:09,220 --> 00:36:09,920 No. 525 00:36:11,980 --> 00:36:17,060 According to the true meaning of the very 526 00:36:17,060 --> 00:36:20,220 words themselves, it is bringing Christ. 527 00:36:22,020 --> 00:36:23,180 Bringing Christ. 528 00:36:24,490 --> 00:36:30,570 Not only speaking about Him, preaching concerning Him, 529 00:36:30,750 --> 00:36:32,010 it is bringing Him. 530 00:36:37,200 --> 00:36:40,620 There is no hope unless you bring Christ. 531 00:36:41,860 --> 00:36:43,860 Your preaching has got to bring Christ. 532 00:36:45,100 --> 00:36:47,840 Your evangelization has got to bring Christ. 533 00:36:47,980 --> 00:36:50,020 It's not to be something in itself. 534 00:36:50,640 --> 00:36:52,040 Christ has got to come in it. 535 00:36:52,540 --> 00:36:55,020 And therefore, therefore, can you not see, dear 536 00:36:55,020 --> 00:36:58,800 friends, why at the beginning the demand was 537 00:36:58,800 --> 00:37:02,420 that they should preach with the Holy Ghost 538 00:37:02,420 --> 00:37:03,580 sent down from heaven? 539 00:37:04,560 --> 00:37:05,680 What is that? 540 00:37:06,440 --> 00:37:10,040 It is nothing other than Christ coming in, 541 00:37:10,440 --> 00:37:14,580 in power, in presence, in presence. 542 00:37:14,980 --> 00:37:17,600 If you and I cannot bring Christ to 543 00:37:17,600 --> 00:37:20,240 the unsaved, we can preach until we are 544 00:37:20,240 --> 00:37:21,460 blue in the face, and it will have 545 00:37:21,460 --> 00:37:22,040 no effect. 546 00:37:23,040 --> 00:37:26,180 You've got to bring Christ to them, into 547 00:37:26,180 --> 00:37:27,120 their presence. 548 00:37:28,260 --> 00:37:30,700 They have got to meet Christ when we 549 00:37:30,700 --> 00:37:31,160 preach. 550 00:37:32,200 --> 00:37:33,440 Sense Christ. 551 00:37:35,020 --> 00:37:38,500 Preaching must be by the Holy Spirit within. 552 00:37:41,010 --> 00:37:43,510 Why so much preaching is ineffective? 553 00:37:46,070 --> 00:37:48,450 Not in the power of the indwelling Spirit. 554 00:37:49,650 --> 00:37:51,050 That is not just a criticism. 555 00:37:52,270 --> 00:37:53,090 It's a challenge. 556 00:37:55,170 --> 00:37:57,230 Salvation rests on that ground. 557 00:37:58,450 --> 00:38:01,550 The hope for men's salvation rests upon the 558 00:38:01,550 --> 00:38:05,600 ground that we bring Christ to men. 559 00:38:07,930 --> 00:38:09,970 I know it's bringing the gospel, the good 560 00:38:09,970 --> 00:38:13,110 news, but it's with that bringing the person 561 00:38:13,990 --> 00:38:15,730 by the Spirit and in the Spirit. 562 00:38:18,350 --> 00:38:25,130 Churches are only born by Christ being introduced. 563 00:38:26,730 --> 00:38:28,370 He is the seed. 564 00:38:29,370 --> 00:38:33,810 The living seed out of which the organism 565 00:38:33,810 --> 00:38:34,590 grows. 566 00:38:35,270 --> 00:38:39,390 You cannot found and form churches from the 567 00:38:39,390 --> 00:38:44,590 outside, collect people and call the collection a 568 00:38:44,590 --> 00:38:45,030 church. 569 00:38:45,190 --> 00:38:47,810 That's not the New Testament way at all. 570 00:38:48,890 --> 00:38:52,410 Every body of believers in any place has 571 00:38:52,410 --> 00:38:54,750 got to be the embodiment of Christ. 572 00:38:55,630 --> 00:39:00,310 One reality is not their teaching or their 573 00:39:00,310 --> 00:39:04,910 manner of procedure, but that Christ is met, 574 00:39:04,950 --> 00:39:06,150 is found, is there. 575 00:39:06,370 --> 00:39:08,890 There's no doubt about it that Christ is 576 00:39:08,890 --> 00:39:09,450 in the midst. 577 00:39:10,250 --> 00:39:11,670 Those people have Christ. 578 00:39:12,670 --> 00:39:14,090 You meet them, you meet Christ. 579 00:39:14,450 --> 00:39:17,030 When you go amongst them, you find Christ. 580 00:39:18,010 --> 00:39:19,570 Christ is in their life. 581 00:39:20,670 --> 00:39:22,790 Christ governs their life. 582 00:39:22,790 --> 00:39:24,150 He governs their business. 583 00:39:24,530 --> 00:39:25,630 He governs their hope. 584 00:39:26,250 --> 00:39:28,630 He governs their relationships with one another. 585 00:39:29,050 --> 00:39:29,750 It's Christ. 586 00:39:31,490 --> 00:39:35,270 The only hope for churches to come into 587 00:39:35,270 --> 00:39:38,230 being, Christ is brought. 588 00:39:39,430 --> 00:39:42,530 And it's the only ground and way of 589 00:39:42,530 --> 00:39:44,990 believers being built up and growing. 590 00:39:47,740 --> 00:39:52,500 If we just grow ourselves, it would be 591 00:39:52,500 --> 00:39:53,820 an awful thing that grows. 592 00:39:56,610 --> 00:40:00,970 Tragedy is so often that there is fear 593 00:40:00,970 --> 00:40:03,930 and the interest of God is made the 594 00:40:03,930 --> 00:40:06,850 playground for the flesh to inflate itself and 595 00:40:06,850 --> 00:40:09,470 display itself and strut up and down. 596 00:40:10,850 --> 00:40:11,390 No? 597 00:40:12,410 --> 00:40:18,600 Spiritual growth, you can understand this, is not 598 00:40:18,600 --> 00:40:23,360 our growth in that sense that we, in 599 00:40:23,360 --> 00:40:24,520 what we are growing. 600 00:40:24,520 --> 00:40:27,620 Spiritual growth is just the increase of Christ 601 00:40:27,620 --> 00:40:28,120 in us. 602 00:40:28,980 --> 00:40:31,040 That's perhaps too simple a thing to say. 603 00:40:32,120 --> 00:40:34,420 But what I'm saying in all this, you 604 00:40:34,420 --> 00:40:38,300 see, in all this, is one thing, Christ. 605 00:40:39,840 --> 00:40:40,840 Only Christ. 606 00:40:41,940 --> 00:40:44,100 The only hope from beginning to end in 607 00:40:44,100 --> 00:40:51,150 any phase or stage or form is Christ 608 00:40:51,150 --> 00:40:59,690 risen, changed, the scene of desolation and devastation 609 00:41:00,250 --> 00:41:06,730 which meets our eyes after the cross, changed 610 00:41:06,730 --> 00:41:10,550 that and gave a new hope, gave a 611 00:41:10,550 --> 00:41:15,130 new hope when he came back in the 612 00:41:15,130 --> 00:41:21,810 Spirit and entered in and began the realization 613 00:41:21,810 --> 00:41:22,750 of the hope. 614 00:41:24,010 --> 00:41:27,170 That's what we have, isn't it, in the 615 00:41:27,170 --> 00:41:27,790 New Testament. 616 00:41:28,470 --> 00:41:31,850 The hope brought in with the resurrection and 617 00:41:31,850 --> 00:41:37,110 then a proceeding to the fulfillment of the 618 00:41:37,110 --> 00:41:37,410 hope. 619 00:41:39,400 --> 00:41:41,060 If we read the book of the Acts, 620 00:41:41,180 --> 00:41:44,500 so-called, it's the hope working out, isn't 621 00:41:44,500 --> 00:41:44,780 it? 622 00:41:45,700 --> 00:41:49,940 The hope in progressive fulfillment. 623 00:41:50,800 --> 00:41:53,180 Well, dear friends, that's where I'm closing this 624 00:41:53,180 --> 00:41:58,040 evening unless it is to underline or reemphasize 625 00:41:58,040 --> 00:41:58,900 this one thing. 626 00:42:00,400 --> 00:42:07,320 As we theologically distinguish the persons of the 627 00:42:07,320 --> 00:42:12,080 Trinity, we do not divide between Christ and 628 00:42:12,080 --> 00:42:16,680 the Holy Spirit in work, in nature. 629 00:42:19,000 --> 00:42:23,220 Therefore, when we speak about Christ in you, 630 00:42:25,570 --> 00:42:28,730 we mean the Holy Spirit within. 631 00:42:29,670 --> 00:42:33,130 When we speak of the Holy Spirit dwelling 632 00:42:33,130 --> 00:42:35,530 within, we mean Christ within. 633 00:42:35,910 --> 00:42:37,590 It's what the Holy Spirit himself means. 634 00:42:38,270 --> 00:42:40,450 What Jesus himself meant when he said, he 635 00:42:40,450 --> 00:42:42,630 shall not speak of himself. 636 00:42:43,930 --> 00:42:45,550 He shall take the things which are mine, 637 00:42:45,850 --> 00:42:46,550 show them to you. 638 00:42:47,550 --> 00:42:53,530 They work together in such complete identity that 639 00:42:53,530 --> 00:42:55,910 you cannot distinguish between them. 640 00:42:56,470 --> 00:42:59,690 Though Christ remains at the Father's right hand, 641 00:42:59,910 --> 00:43:03,870 he is here in you, in us, by 642 00:43:03,870 --> 00:43:04,650 the Holy Spirit. 643 00:43:05,210 --> 00:43:08,490 Now, my final emphasis is upon this. 644 00:43:09,170 --> 00:43:14,970 Our need to be very sure about this 645 00:43:14,970 --> 00:43:18,910 matter of the indwelling Spirit, which is the 646 00:43:18,910 --> 00:43:19,770 indwelling Christ. 647 00:43:20,470 --> 00:43:22,050 I know all the things that are going 648 00:43:22,050 --> 00:43:23,210 to arise around us. 649 00:43:24,990 --> 00:43:27,130 Know what questions you could begin at once 650 00:43:27,130 --> 00:43:30,030 to fire at me about all this matter 651 00:43:30,030 --> 00:43:32,050 of the baptism of the Holy Spirit and 652 00:43:32,050 --> 00:43:32,570 so on. 653 00:43:33,030 --> 00:43:36,510 I'm not surprised that the devil has supremely 654 00:43:36,510 --> 00:43:41,210 confused this whole thing and brought it under 655 00:43:41,210 --> 00:43:43,250 reproach. 656 00:43:43,990 --> 00:43:45,130 Not surprised. 657 00:43:47,420 --> 00:43:48,780 The devil at least knows a good thing 658 00:43:48,780 --> 00:43:49,520 when he sees it. 659 00:43:50,860 --> 00:43:55,940 He knows values when he comes into touch 660 00:43:55,940 --> 00:43:56,300 with them. 661 00:43:57,020 --> 00:44:01,620 And this is the matter upon which everything 662 00:44:01,620 --> 00:44:02,460 hangs. 663 00:44:03,640 --> 00:44:10,580 But, leaving all interpretations apart, all questions, let 664 00:44:10,580 --> 00:44:14,080 us come down to the fact that you 665 00:44:14,080 --> 00:44:18,680 and I must, in our Christian life, know 666 00:44:18,680 --> 00:44:19,800 two things. 667 00:44:20,720 --> 00:44:24,020 Our death with Christ to the old man. 668 00:44:25,100 --> 00:44:30,620 And, through that, Christ within. 669 00:44:32,080 --> 00:44:33,940 The Holy Spirit within. 670 00:44:35,600 --> 00:44:41,720 Starting on heavenly ground only and entirely ignoring 671 00:44:41,720 --> 00:44:44,580 all earthly ground. 672 00:44:45,220 --> 00:44:48,420 Going on on heavenly ground. 673 00:44:48,800 --> 00:44:49,980 That's the way of the Spirit. 674 00:44:51,040 --> 00:44:52,800 Oh, let us learn or seek to learn 675 00:44:52,800 --> 00:44:53,300 this lesson. 676 00:44:56,730 --> 00:44:59,250 Don't want to throw you into the vortex 677 00:44:59,250 --> 00:45:01,770 of great confusion or questions as to whether 678 00:45:01,770 --> 00:45:05,050 you've ever received the Holy Spirit because of 679 00:45:05,050 --> 00:45:07,570 this or that or something else about manifestations. 680 00:45:09,030 --> 00:45:10,750 Don't be troubled about that. 681 00:45:13,670 --> 00:45:16,890 You can know, listen to me, you can 682 00:45:16,890 --> 00:45:18,830 know that Christ is in you. 683 00:45:19,550 --> 00:45:21,910 You can know that the Holy Spirit is 684 00:45:21,910 --> 00:45:27,810 in you by a thousand spiritual evidences without 685 00:45:27,810 --> 00:45:32,770 any of those manifestations that some people say 686 00:45:32,770 --> 00:45:36,070 are the essential proof of the Holy Spirit. 687 00:45:36,450 --> 00:45:38,590 I mean of tongues and such like. 688 00:45:39,030 --> 00:45:42,430 No, they are not essential to the fact 689 00:45:42,430 --> 00:45:44,750 and reality of the Holy Spirit being within 690 00:45:44,750 --> 00:45:45,510 and filling. 691 00:45:46,490 --> 00:45:47,150 They are not. 692 00:45:50,190 --> 00:45:52,470 It's the reality that you and I need. 693 00:45:54,230 --> 00:46:00,750 Not some particular kind of sensations. 694 00:46:02,090 --> 00:46:03,390 And demonstrations. 695 00:46:04,470 --> 00:46:05,610 And noises. 696 00:46:06,770 --> 00:46:07,350 And what not. 697 00:46:08,250 --> 00:46:13,820 It's the deep reality that Christ is in 698 00:46:13,820 --> 00:46:14,180 us. 699 00:46:15,440 --> 00:46:17,860 And there is our hope. 700 00:46:19,020 --> 00:46:20,440 Our hope of glory. 701 00:46:21,440 --> 00:46:23,540 Our only hope of glory, but our true 702 00:46:23,540 --> 00:46:24,200 hope of glory.