It's good to be here with you folks
and fellowship together.
And, you know, I remember saying one time,
well, you can go to these big churches,
but I'm not criticizing the church for its
size, you know, but I said, is there
a real fellowship sitting there looking at somebody's
neck in front of you?
It's a communication, it's a fellowship, it's a
sharing one with another.
And in the Lord, and there's value, there's
profit in that, by the Lord are able
to give a word or do something that
will edify the rest of the body.
And so we certainly believe that God is
working in the body of Christ and that
He will yet have that image that He
has desired, a people, sons and daughters of
the Most High God, made in the image
of Jesus.
That's a big order, I know.
But that's God's plan, that He would conform
us to the image of His Son.
And I know you start talking like that,
well, leave me out of it, I could
never do that.
And I thought, now what if when that
dump of clay was there in the ground
and God was forming it, if it had
a voice, God, what are you doing?
Well, I'm making a man in my image.
God, you can't do that to me.
And we're just that lump of clay.
Can't God form us in His image if
He could take a lump of clay and
make that lump of clay to have life
and cause us to rise up in His
image?
And it was made in the image of
God.
He lost that image, He forfeited it, but
God didn't give up His plan because one
man failed.
So, God planned in the fullness of time
to bring forth another man in His image,
in a far higher degree of God's image
than the first Adam was.
So that God's intention is to have a
race of people on this earth like the
Lord Jesus.
Oh, that sounds so awful, doesn't it?
Doesn't it seem strange, you and I, that
because we were born of Adam's race, we
grew up to be sinners, defiled and unclean,
sweet and innocent as these little children are?
Somehow if they're born in Adam and they
come to maturity in Adam, they're going to
be sinners.
Why?
Because they were born in Adam who sinned.
You believe that?
Well, then if we believe that, can we
not believe that if the second Adam, the
last Adam, came to earth to learn obedience
here on earth by the things that he
suffered and was perfected?
Not that he had sinned before, but perfection
doesn't relate to sin.
It relates to growth and to maturity.
And Jesus had to come to earth to
learn obedience.
Well, was He disobeyed?
No.
But up there, there's no place to learn
obedience.
He was Lord of all.
And down into the realm of man in
the form of fallen human nature, not taking
his sins, but taking that nature, he might
learn obedience in that realm.
People think we're going to die and go
to heaven and be perfect.
Jesus came from heaven to earth to learn
obedience, that He might be perfected through sufferings
here in the earth, walking in a body
such as we have, yet without sin.
And so it's not strange, and yet it
seems strange to the church when we talk
about God bringing forth the people in the
image of Jesus, in His likeness.
People say sometimes, you know, forget that far
-off stuff, you know, just get down to
the simplicity of the gospel.
Well, I can't make it any simpler than
that.
And if I go down there to Cranbrook
and buy seeds, and I get that seed
and it says radishes, I expect if I
plant that in the ground, it's going to
bring forth radish, because the seed is radish.
Does that sound strange?
Well then, if God Most High took upon
Himself the form of man that came into
the earth to be a seed, that would
drop into the ground, God's intention was that
from that seed they would arise in the
fullness of God's intention.
Another one like Jesus, a man in His
image.
So it's very simple really, isn't it?
But I think we think it is complicated,
because somehow our minds by nature have not
been renewed to comprehend.
The things of God.
And only by the Spirit of wisdom and
revelation that God gives, lays upon us, infuses
within us, only by that Spirit of wisdom
and revelation can we really come to understand
and see and believe the things of the
Spirit.
But the natural man receives not the things
of the Spirit of God, but for their
foolishness unto Him.
Foolishness unto Him.
So what does God do?
By renewing grace, by the redemption that's in
Christ Jesus, He draws us to Himself, gives
us the experience of new birth, and puts
His Spirit upon us, that by that Spirit
within us we might be able to understand
and comprehend the things of the Spirit.
The natural man can.
Only the Spirit of God within us can
unfold to us the mysteries of the Kingdom
of Heaven.
So we thank the Lord that He is
taking away the veil from our hearts and
minds, that we might see Him.
The only thing that hinders us from seeing
Jesus is that veil of the flesh.
And the fact is that when Jesus died
on the cross, the veil of the temple
tore asunder from the top to the bottom,
it says.
I know there was an earthquake, but if
it was the earthquake that did it, well,
it would seemingly start tearing from the bottom
up, but God spoke from Heaven and His
Word came down and cut that veil from
the top to the bottom.
And as one pointed out, it was probably
around the time of the evening sacrifice when
that priest would be standing there, you know,
before the veil, and suddenly it just tore
asunder.
Yet it wasn't slain, but why not?
In olden times, if they stood there before
God and the veil was there, if they
went in behind that veil, they'd be smitten
except one day a year, on the day
of atonement.
And here that veil was rented.
He survived.
Why?
Because there was no glory there.
God rent the veil to show them that
the glory was no longer there.
But symbolizing also that the veil was really
the flesh that God was tearing.
It was the flesh, that human nature that
we have, that God was tearing asunder.
When God completes that work of tearing His
veil, which we carry around with us, the
mind of man, the mind of the flesh,
when God completes that work and tears that
veil, we can't help but thank Him.
We thank the Lord for every good thing
He is doing His people, for every good
thing He has done.
But why can't we not lift our sights
a little to thank Him for the good
things which He has yet to do, which
is far beyond anything we've seen yet.
God did not exhaust all His treasures of
wisdom and knowledge and the beauty of His
presence back in the early days of the
church, or when we're born again, when we
give our hearts to the Lord.
He still has much to be revealed.
You say, you're going to tell us about
some of those things?
Well, I am a little.
Things that I feel the Lord has shown
me by His Spirit.
Things that I feel I've seen by the
Spirit.
But no matter how much I tell you,
be it little or much, in the opinion
of people, the Apostle Paul says, The eye
has not seen, ear has not heard, neither
has entered into the hearts of men the
things that God has prepared for them that
love Him.
I remember that was a quotation I learned
early in life, because going to Sunday school
and church, and people who testified, they'd be
given an opportunity to say a word, they'd
be given their testimony.
You'd hear that scripture.
Eye hath not seen, or ear heard, neither
hath entered into the hearts of men the
things that God has prepared for them that
love Him.
And they stopped there.
But it goes on.
But God has revealed them unto us by
His Spirit.
The things that I haven't seen or even
heard, God has revealed them unto us by
His Spirit.
For the Spirit searches all things, yea, the
deep things of God.
Why does God put His Spirit within you?
We thank the Lord for renewing us by
His Spirit, and then baptizing us with His
Spirit.
What for?
To search out those depths in God.
Oh, I know that He gives us ministry,
He enables us to get words from His
heart.
He perhaps lay hands on the sick that
they might be healed, or perhaps to prophesy.
But the Spirit of God is here to
search out the depths of God.
We might come to know Him.
Oh, you say, I know Him.
I spoke like this one time in, well,
it was a big church in Calvary.
I think I only spoke there once.
But some of the young people afterwards were
saying, well, how do they know we know
God?
We know God.
And I was saying they didn't know God
a little, but I mean, they know so
very little.
Paul, having ministered powerfully by the Spirit for,
I don't know, 20, 25 years, I've never
figured it out.
Writing to the Philippians, what does he say?
Oh, that I might know Him.
Well, Paul, you know Him as I knew
God one percent of the way you know
Him.
But having done many of those wonderful works
that we read of in the book of
Acts, but the Spirit.
He says, oh, that I might know Him
and the fellowship of His sufferings and the
power of His resurrection.
We only know Him according to our capacity
to know Him, which is very limited.
So what does God do?
He puts His Spirit in our hearts, that
by His Spirit within us, if we'll let
Him search us out, He'll search out the,
yes, the hidden things of the heart and
make them manifest, and He might deal with
that and be done with that.
But the Spirit is there to search out
the depths of God, that we might come
to know Him as He really is.
So God has much to do yet in
all of us.
Came across a little poem in 1 John,
chapter 2, I think.
You know there's a little poem in there?
John says, A new commandment I write unto
you, which thing is true in Him and
in you?
Which thing is true in Him and in
you?
You mean what's true in Jesus is to
be true in you and I?
That's the new commandment.
Oh, I can't obey that.
Don't you know that the new commandment isn't
something we obey really?
The new commandment is that working of God
in our hearts and lives is what causes
us to obey, causes us to walk with
Him.
That's why so often you'll read in the
Old Testament, Cause me to know you, O
Lord.
Moses said, didn't Moses know God?
The Lord, He said, lead me in your
way.
Cause me to walk in your way that
I might come to know you.
Because no matter how much we have walked
with God or how long, Oh, there's so
much yet we know.
We know so little about this God of
whom we speak.
He came to reveal Himself in Jesus.
And Jesus is the revelation of God the
Father in the earth.
God who spoke in sundry times and in
diverse matters, we're told, in the Old Testament,
Paul writing to the Hebrews, He spoke in
diverse matters, in the Old Testament, past the
least last days spoken of to us in
this time.
And a Greek scholar pointed out it and
said, in his sundries, he said, in sun.
In other words, he spoke through angels, through
dreams and visions, through prophets.
But now his speech in the earth is
in sun.
Not just in any sun, but that's how
he speaks.
By becoming a son of God in the
earth.
That's the voice of God in the earth.
That's how he's spoken in these last days,
by his son.
His son is that voice of God, in
other words.
Even as John wrote in what we call
the Gospel of John.
In the beginning was the Word, and the
Word was with God.
And the Word was God.
The same as in the beginning, with God.
And then he goes on to say, And
the Word became flesh, and dropped alive.
So God's whole intention, his thought, his mind,
his heart, his knowledge, his wisdom, was all
in that Word that God spoke in his
son.
That Jesus was that spoken Word of God.
He was the Word of God.
He was the revelation of God.
What is your Word?
Is it not?
You have a thought, you have something in
mind that you want to convey, and sometimes
it's hard to convey, but you find the
right word and you say it, and so
it reveals what was in your heart and
mind.
So our Lord Jesus coming to earth, was
the revelation of the Father.
Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing.
I think it was Wesley that wrote it.
Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing.
God's heart, his mind, his intention, hidden in
God, and now spoken forth in flesh.
The Word made flesh and dwelling amongst, and
we beheld his glory.
The glories of the only begotten of the
Father, full of grace and truth.
Oh, if he had only stayed here these
2,000 years, wouldn't it have been wonderful?
I used to think when I was younger,
you know, we really missed a lot, being
born in this generation.
You know, we missed a lot.
If we had just been there when Jesus
came, how wonderful that we were there in
the land of Israel, and we'd come to
know Jesus.
And of course, that was childish thinking.
Because in the fullness of time, I came
to understand that God had something better in
mind than him staying here these 2,000
years.
Oh, perhaps visiting Canada once.
Oh, once every 10 years, you know.
Because if he was going to visit all
men, he'd be busy all the time going
here and there.
God had something better.
He was just taken up into the heavens
and glorified at God's right hand, that he
might send forth his Spirit in the earth
to dwell in each one of us.
That the Spirit of Jesus himself.
I know another comforter, because he comes in
a different manner.
He comes this time in the Spirit to
dwell in his people.
And Jesus said, that's better, that he just
stayed here and there.
Not comprehending, not having very little comprehension of
the purpose of Jesus' coming.
They were totally dismayed and disappointed and puzzled
and bewildered when Jesus said, now I'm going
away.
But he said, if that knocks your heart,
be troubled.
It is expedient for you.
I don't read the Living Bible much or
those new translations too much.
I refer to them once in a while.
But this version says something.
It is expedient for you.
It is better for you.
It is to your advantage.
It's for your benefit that I'm going away.
But Jesus, you came here.
Now you want to go away.
How can it benefit us if you're going
away?
Because he said, if I don't go away,
the Holy Spirit cannot come in and dwell
in you.
But if I be part of the Father,
I will pray to the Father and he
will send the Spirit to abide within you.
And when he comes, he'll lead you into
all truth.
Because he will not speak out from himself,
but he'll only speak what he hears.
And he will show you things to come.
And Jesus is pleased to have it that
way.
That he who was one manifest Son of
God on the earth, the one on whom
the Father lived and dwelt and took up
his habitation, in this man, in this Lord
Jesus, he came not to stay here these
two thousand years and go around preaching the
gospel to the kingdom all over the earth,
but to minister for three, three and a
half years and died.
And he'd already revealed that to some of
his disciples when some of the people came
down to keep the feast in Jerusalem and
they heard about Jesus and the wonderful miracles
he performed and they came to Philip, I
think it was, and Andrew, and they said,
we want to see this Jesus.
So they go and tell him.
He might come down with one wish to
keep the feast here and they would like
to see him.
And I puzzled over Jesus' answer for all
the many years.
And have you ever puzzled over some of
the things Jesus said?
And you go and ask somebody, what does
Jesus mean?
Well, that might be helpful, but we have
to be ready for his answer.
And Jesus said, in answer to that request,
we'd like you to come to Greece.
We've come here to see how we'd love
to have you up where we live.
Jesus said a word back to them except
a corn of wheat fall into the ground
and die that abideth alone, but if it
die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
But that isn't what they wanted to know.
They wanted him to come and talk to
them.
I know, but that was his answer.
And God will answer your questions, but maybe
not the way you would like him to
answer.
He'll answer your questions in due course, but
not the way you would like.
So we say, Lord, I want to go
all the way with you.
I mean, I'm not making fun of that.
I mean, certainly I hope that's the desire
of all of you.
I certainly appreciate this opportunity to come here
and minister to God's people and all you
young people.
Hopefully to encourage you a little along the
way.
Hopefully to give you a new vision, new
expectation, because there's none to be found in
this world.
And it might not be long before we'll
see such devastation going on in our country
and many parts of the earth.
Such devastation that we think, God, where are
you?
But the psalmist David, he beheld something that
was very tremendous.
When he said, One time, though, the earth
be removed and the mountains cast into the
depths of the sea and the waves would
roar, roll around because of the disasters taking
place.
That sounds like an atomic bomb, doesn't it?
Earth removed, the mountains cast into the sea.
The next line, there is a river.
The streams shall make glad the city of
our God, the holy place of the tabernacles
of the Most High.
Let's have this fixed in our hearts that
no matter what happens, our hope is in
our God who rides upon the storm, who
causes the storm to happen because God's plan
is to bring down all the wisdom of
man in this world.
To reveal it as it really is.
Foolishness in the sight of God.
He's going to bring it down to nothing
in the day of the Lord.
And that day could be so close.
We don't know.
And so it might give us a little
sense of fear and what's going to happen
if those things happen.
But God wants to assure us that He's
talking about the day of the Lord, which
He says is a day of darkness and
blackness to those who don't know Him.
But He never calls it the night of
the Lord.
You know that?
The day of the Lord is never called
the night of the Lord.
It's the day of the Lord.
Because God is a God of light.
And therefore as we consider the awesome things
coming upon the earth, the Apostle Paul says,
therefore put on the armor of God.
Put on the breastplate of faith and of
love.
And for a hell not the hope of
salvation.
I don't go around criticizing people's doctrines per
se.
But this doctrine, oh, we're going to miss
it all.
I know trouble is coming.
God will get us out of here.
It's not right.
We're appointed unto trouble.
The church all through church history has been
a persecuted people.
Whenever they walked with God, whenever they really
know Him, they were persecuted.
We thank the Lord for the little measure
we know Him.
But when we come to know Him, and
when the commandment that was true in Jesus
is true in us, that the same life
that is in Jesus is in us, the
same word that was in Jesus is in
us, don't you worry.
We'll be persecuted.
Because light cannot subsist with darkness.
Darkness cannot subsist in the light.
One or the other.
The light either extinguishes the darkness, or if
there's not enough light there, the darkness will
overwhelm it.
But Jesus came as the light of the
world.
And when He went away to glory, He
said, You're the light of the world.
Oh Jesus, I thought You were.
I'm going away.
My spirit is coming to dwell in You,
to take up its habitation within You, that
You might be the light of the world.
You are the light of the world.
A city that is set on a hill
cannot be hid.
I'm not too much for what they call
dispensationalism, although it's a key teaching in most
Bible schools.
Not denying that there were certain dispensations, but
there's no place that I can find where,
if you're in this dispensation, this is all
you're going to change.
You come to the next dispensation, then you
can get a little more.
Try to read where He's not.
He walked with God way back there, early
part of the book of Genesis.
He walked with God.
We're told when He was 65 years of
age, He walked with God, and He walked
with God for 300 years, and God took
Him.
People say, well, you know, He got so
righteous, so perfect, God just had to get
Him out of this evil world.
Nonsense.
Before He was translated, He had this testimony
that He pleased God.
Before He was translated.
Why do people think that if you get
the fullness of love, and you come to
the maturity of Jesus, and you're walking in
the perfections of the Lord Jesus, oh, I've
got to get them out of that earthquake.
Can't leave them.
God wants that kind of people here in
the earth.
Heaven's full of love and truth and righteousness.
Jesus came to earth to bring heaven down
to earth.
Literally?
Yes, literally.
That's why from the time He ministered on
earth until this day, every Sunday morning in
May of the church, He'll be saying, Lord,
Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done in earth as it
is in heaven.
You say, when I get to heaven, I'll
do God's will in perfection.
God wants us here.
Jesus came to earth that given the earth,
He might do the will of God in
perfection.
And be perfected through sufferance.
Come to maturity through sufferance.
We want to be like Jesus, but when
we see the pathway, we're trying to, well,
I saw that film, Passion.
It made things look very real.
But I couldn't help but realize that just
looking at the picture that was manufactured to
portray the reality of what Jesus suffered, it
does not really change the heart.
When Paul came to Galatia, filled with the
Spirit, anointed with the Spirit of God, he
said, when I preached Christ among you Galatians,
you saw Jesus Christ evidently portrayed before you.
Because the Spirit came to reveal Jesus.
When the Spirit takes up His habitation in
us, if He desires, we're His habitation.
Where nothing else can live, nothing vile can
live, no darkness can be there.
I'm telling you, there'll be an impact made
in this world.
For which Jesus came and died and rose
again and ascended.
That as a high priest upon the throne
He might produce His seed in the earth.
The seed of Christ Himself reproduced in the
earth.
That's what the earth is waiting for.
The earth is waiting for that, groaning for
that.
All creation is groaning.
We don't understand.
They don't understand.
Paul says they're groaning.
As in birth time, waiting for the manifestation
of God's sons.
The untaken away of the veil of God's
people.
Earth's waiting for that.
For you and I are still somehow secluded
behind that veil of the flesh.
Creation is waiting for the day when God
will take away that veil.
And they'll see Jesus revealed in multitudes of
people in the earth.
And the manifestation of the sons of God
is nothing less than that.
The manifestation of the sons of God is
the manifestation of the Son of God Himself
revealed in mortal flesh.
I don't doubt that through the centuries we've
had a taste of that from time to
time.
That God would bring a people a step
closer to Himself.
God would reveal Himself mightily.
He's done it all through church history.
And there have been great revivals because of
God doing that.
And then in another generation or two the
glory of that revival would sort of fade
away and darkness would settle down again among
God's people.
But the structure of the church would carry
on.
Heedless of the fact that the glory had
departed.
Not realizing the glory had gone.
But God did this to our fathers a
way back there.
A hundred years ago, five hundred years ago.
And left us this glorious heritage.
There's no heritage from the Father that's worth
cherishing.
If it is not the heritage of a
living Jesus walking in the midst of His
people.
That's the heritage that God left us.
And that's the only heritage we should desire.
Jesus Himself coming forth and manifesting Himself in
His people.
Taking up His habitation within us.
I think it was Augustine that said one
time that man was made man was made
to find his home in God.
And man can never be satisfied until he
finds that habitation in God.
As I read that one time I said
in the exact wording I thought, yes, that's
true.
God made us to be a home for
God.
But by the same token God made us
in His image and is remaking us in
that image which was lost that He might
find His habitation in us.
Oh, you say, God doesn't need a habitation.
He certainly does.
You say, oh, He fills the heavens sets
His habitation home.
God said, Heaven is my throne.
Earth is my footstool.
Where is the house that you will build
unto me?
And where is the place of my rest?
Hath not my house made all these things?
They thought they had that foolish thought that
because God had ordained this temple that they
were building a house for God.
And even Solomon who built it said, Oh,
God, shall man build any temple wherein you
can dwell?
Solomon said, he knew it wasn't a house
for God.
But he said, let it be a place
where your name will rest.
That your people, perhaps in the days to
come will find themselves in adversity or perhaps
taken off to a strange land or in
trouble.
May it be, God, that they will turn
towards this temple where you put your name
and seek you earnestly and pray and hear
their prayer.
It's just to be a house of prayer.
And Jesus made that clear.
God, this is not God's temple.
It's a house of prayer for all nations.
And so God says, where is that house
you're going to build for me?
You know, it's sort of, well, I'm not
criticizing what they did, but you go down
the street and you see this church building
built for the glory of God.
Glory of God.
And where's the house that you're going to
build for him?
Well, God is building a house for himself.
God wants to take up his habitation in
you and I in such a dimension of
his presence that it will be known in
the heavens and eventually in the earth where
God dwells.
Where does God dwell?
Heaven's my throne.
Earth's my footstool.
Where are you going to build me something?
But, he said, to this man will I
look.
Even him who is poor and of a
contrite spirit.
And that trumps up my word.
Thus saith the High and Holy One that
inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy, I dwell
in the high and holy place.
Ah, but with him also who is poor
and of a contrite spirit and trembles at
my word.
He dwells in the high and holy place
and with this one who is humble and
contrite of heart and trembles, oh, that God
would restore that fear of God to his
people.
Wherever I may hear God speaking to me,
I'll think of that king.
I forget which one it was.
The temple had been left desolate for a
long time and God put in his heart
to have the priests go in and cleanse
the temple of it and they found the
book.
They found the priest read it to the
king.
You mean God said this and we're not
doing what he said?
Walking away from him rather than drawing closer
to him?
It's filled with fear because of it.
God can speak clearly from heaven and today
there's hardly any fear of God anymore.
It's not always going to be that way.
God is preparing sons of the earth, sons
and daughters of the Most High in whom
he will dwell in such an emphatic way
in such a depth of his presence that
as they move around amongst men the fear
of God will be projected.
The fear of God.
You say, well, I don't want God's love.
I don't want his fear.
Well, you won't have much of his love
until you really fear him.
Because they're almost synonymous.
Jesus was one who loved righteousness and hated
iniquity.
He said, I do always those things that
please the Father.
And because he loved the Father so much
he feared him with a holy fear.
And God is yet to restore that to
the church.
When he has a people in whom God
is dwelling in fullness and walking with him
and obeying him, once again the fear of
God will rest upon his people.
A holy fear that causes you to love
him so much.
He won't do anything that would be displeasing
to you.
That kind of fear.
A fear that you love him so much
that you fear that you might do something
that would displease him.
Malachi cries out and he says, If I'm
a master, where's the respect?
If I'm a father, where's my fear?
Where's the fear?
If you call me father, where's that holy
fear that you should have?
True love.
True love for God causes you to love
him so much you fear to do anything
that would be displeasing.
When God's glory was manifested in the early
church, we're told that a great fear came
upon the people.
And no man dared join themselves to the
assembly of the people of God.
Unless they went there looking for God, desiring
God to change them.
No man dared join themselves to that.
No advertising, if they ever come to this
church, we've got everything home for them.
We've got a great group of young people,
we've got an orchestra and a choir and
all the programs come to our church.
I'm telling you, they would not go to
that church that was filled with the fears
and power of God unless their hearts were
seeking Him.
They're not going there.
I'm talking about what God's going to yet
do.
He's given us a taste of it in
times past.
He's going to do it again in greater
glory, greater manifestation than was there in the
early church.
Isaiah gives a prophecy that I could never
understand until recent years.
He says, In that day the light of
the moon shall be as the light of
the sun.
Oh, you see, that would be awesome.
The light of the moon shall be as
the light of the sun.
And the light of the sun shall shine
seven times brighter.
If that literally happened, we'd be burnt.
God is going to do that in the
spirit that truly our own nature might be
burnt.
But it speaks of God's people.
The moon reflects the glory of the sun.
It has no light of its own, but
it reflects the glory of the sun.
And on that day, the moon, the church,
will shine with the brightness of the sun
of righteousness.
But you say, now you're taking away the
glory of Jesus.
You think you're going to be like him
and shine as brightly as he does.
What was it, if we could only understand
that God puts his glory on his people,
that it might reflect him, not reflect us,
not reflect our glory, but crush our glory,
bring it to ashes, that that glory he
puts upon us might bring down to his
glory.
And that's the way it was in the
early days.
God put all that glory upon him.
And every time he did anything, spoke anything,
performed miracles, he was always quick to let
that glory go right back to the Father.
So that he took that position and incarnation,
he took that position as one who could
do nothing.
You say, well he could do anything.
Jesus, when he came to earth, took the
position voluntarily, knowingly, that as a son of
God, coming to dwell in the midst of
man, I won't be able to do anything.
I can do nothing of myself.
He took that position.
That he might be a pattern for you
and I.
We know we can't do anything.
So we want his gifts and his power
so we can do things that he did.
But Jesus had all that power and glory,
but he said, I can't do anything of
myself, because he took that position of a
servant that I can't do anything except the
Father shows me.
And so when we hear the prophecy, the
thing that David gave way back there in
the Old Testament, speaking of the sacrifices of
the temple.
David was a prophet, and if you read
the Psalms very often, you'll see how he
was really speaking prophetically of Jesus.
And this was one of those times where
he said, sacrifice and offering, thou wouldst not.
But they were offering sacrifices and offering according
to the law of Moses.
God ordained it.
But David was speaking prophetically at the time
that would come when God would say, I'm
tired of all that.
It's finished.
I don't want any more of your sacrifices.
Sacrifice and offering, thou wouldst not.
His body.
In burnt offering and in sacrifices for sin,
thou hast had no pleasure.
And yet we read how that God many
times when a man came to him with
the lamb or the bullock and offered it
to God as a burnt offering, that God
smelled the sweet, sunny, savor.
But it was only because that offering, that
bullock, that lamb spoke of the true sacrifice
that was yet to be revealed.
Because that heart man was right and sought
God, God accepted that lamb or that bullock
because the time would come when his own
son would become the supreme sacrifice.
So by revelation, God showed through with that.
Sacrifice and offering, thou wouldst not.
His body is now prepared for me.
In burnt offering and in sacrifice for sin,
thou hast had no pleasure.
Therefore said I in the volume of the
book that is written of me, I come
to do thy will, O God.
So instead of sacrifices, burnt offerings and sin
offerings and meal offerings and all the rest
of them, here was one who would come
in the fullness of time saying, Father, I'm
here with you.
Do thy will, O God.
The apostle Paul takes that up right into
the Hebrews and says, by that will, by
that desire, by that will that Jesus declared
he would do, we are sanctified by the
offering of the body of Jesus once more.
And so God never had any real pleasure
in any of those things, any of the
works that God's people presented to him in
his past, except that if their hearts were
right, then he accepted it in view of
the ultimate sacrifice that was yet to come.
And so having finished the work of redemption,
he said, I'm not going to stay here
much longer.
I won't be here much longer.
Their hearts were saddened because, Jesus, you came
here to set up a kingdom, didn't you?
Not understanding it, yes, he came to establish
a kingdom, but that his kingdom was not
of this world only.
Not in the case of taking over the
resources of the earth and the oil and
the silver and the gold and all the
resources of the nations.
No, he didn't come to take over that
kind of a kingdom.
Jesus said, my kingdom is not of this
world.
He was accused before Pilate for being another
king.
They thought, well, he says he's a king,
and there's no king but Caesar.
And so they said, Pilate, if you let
him go, then very well, the emperor will
hear about it and you'll be in trouble.
So he said to Jesus, are you a
king, huh?
He hasn't did it for a while, but
he said clearly, yes, I'm a king.
For this cause came I into the world.
For this cause was I born.
For this cause came I into the world.
Now I bear witness to the truth.
That's the kingdom he came to establish in
your life and mine.
In us, it's in Jesus.
If it doesn't happen, his sacrifice was in
vain.
All the parishioners over here, I say the
same.
It's in vain that if that seed doesn't
sprout and bring forth after its kind, then
you planted it in vain.
Did you not?
But God saw the fruit of his sacrifice
because it was a sacrifice of a total
obedience before him, where in coming to earth
he would be not a king, but a
bondsman.
Took the form of a servant, literally a
bondsman, that he might learn obedience here on
the earth, prove himself the perfect son of
God, son of man, be that seed that
goes to the ground in the fullness of
time, there it comes forth the harvest.
God's waiting for that harvest still.
And like the Moravian Brethren used to say,
who knew these truths so perfectly, persecuted for
it.
You and I come to know the truth
and in the depth that God wants us
to know the truth and walk in the
truth, don't you worry.
You won't have to go looking for persecution.
Persecution will come.
It will be there.
For as many as will live godly in
Christ, Jesus shall suffer persecution.
Oh, you say we've got freedom in this
country.
I know, do you know why?
We're not righteous enough, we're not holy enough,
we're not a people that are walking as
Jesus walked on the earth.
When that happens, we'll be persecuted the same
as Jesus was.
You can't avoid it.
There's a simple reason.
If darkness comes around and there's a light
there, one or two things are going to
happen.
If the light isn't powerful enough, the darkness
will extinguish it.
But the light of Jesus will expel the
darkness no matter how dark it is.
This world is getting pretty dark.
It's all according to prophecy.
When he says, Arise and shine for thy
light has come, he goes on to say,
for darkness shall cover the earth.
Gross darkness of people.
We're there.
But having uttered those words, the light shall
arise upon thee and his glory shall be
seen upon thee.
We're not looking at the dark side of
things as we see the darkness approaching.
See the glory that comes out of it.
Darkness shall cover the earth and gross darkness
of people.
Light shall arise upon thee and his glory
shall be seen upon thee.
That's God's intention.
The light of the moon shall be as
the light of the sun, and the light
of the sun shall be seven times brighter.
In the day when God will bind up
the breach of his people and heal the
stroke of their wounds.
God knows the wound that's been inflicted on
the church.
God knows that wound.
Christ knows it.
He bore it.
Because of that wound that Christ bore, he
will yet receive the reward of his sacrifice.
So the Moravians had that.
That was the keynote of their testimony.
May the Lamb receive the reward of his
sacrifice.
The Lord Jesus, the Lamb that was slain,
is going to be rewarded for that sacrifice.
What kind of a reward?
The reward of God's redeemed people cleansed and
purified and made holy and presented to him
as a gift from the Father to the
Son.
You?
Me?
Yes.
No.
In the state we're in.
But in the state we will be when
God has finished the work that he has
begun in us.
And on that day God will say, this
church, I give it to my son as
a reward of his sacrifice.
He deserves it.
You think God's going to...
Well, those people can never be perfect.
I've tried to work in their hearts for
two thousand years and they can't make it.
Son, this is the best I can do.
I present these people.
I know he's got a little bit of
sin.
This guy's a...
That's the best I can do, son.
I'm saying, Jesus is going to work in
his church and then his church is worthy
to be presented to the Son.
Made worthy not by our purse, by the
working of the Holy Spirit within us.
You're going to help us do it.
What shall I say?
Yield him with all our hearts, minds, souls,
spirits.
I don't have any heavy weight upon me
but just to seek the Lord earnestly.
Do his will.
Simple as it might be.
That's all he requires of you.
I've got this ministry to be fulfilled.
I've had words of prophecy.
I'm going to do this and that.
So I want to work on it.
I want to get the right setting so
that the Lord can fulfill these things that
he said he would do in me.
And let us not do that because as
surely as you and I try to make
a prophecy happen, it's going to fail.
Well then, what's the prophecy for?
I encourage you to draw closer to him
and do his will because prophecy falses.
I think I have failed.
There are many in life to whom God
spoke and said, my son this and that.
Trying to make it happen or getting weary
of waiting on God or whatever, they somehow
lose that vision.
And those wonderful things that were supposed to
happen do not happen.
So let us understand this.
There's nothing wonderful about any man.
And the gift you receive from God is
only great because God gave it.
There's not any greatness in you and I.
God gave it.
Therefore to him be all the glory.
And the gift he gives us is not
just to make us go and do powerful
things for God.
It's to edify the body of Christ.
To help each individual member in the body
to come into his inheritance.
Like little Caleb, you know, 85 years of
age.
He comes to Joshua and says, I want
that mountain.
Remember you and I were in Canaan and
God promised us that?
Now he says, I've worked these five years
I think it was trying to get everybody
into their little inheritance in Canaan.
The time comes and he says, no.
You know, these tribes have got their inheritance
and now I want my mountain.
So let's not be selfish about this gift
God gives, be it great or little.
Let's not despise it if we consider it's
too small to worry about.
For the man who received the one talent
is the man who failed not.
The man who received five, if he multiplied
it, presented ten to his master.
The man who got one talent said, why
didn't God give him more?
Didn't God excuse him?
Give him one talent.
God said, I'll see the man who might
lose this.
I'll just hold it for him till he
comes back.
That's the man that failed God.
All he had to do was invest the
one and get two.
All the man with two talents had to
do was invest it and get four.
He had five talents.
Well, God expected ten from him.
And so the man with one got two
and then went on investing.
He'd have, no time he'd have four.
No time he'd have eight.
So let's not despise the little gift that
God gives.
If you feel, well, I don't, you know,
I'm nobody, I don't have it.
I think every one of us need to
search our hearts and say to the Lord,
Lord, you put me in the earth for
a purpose.
Just show me what you want me to
do.
And then do it.
You say, well, that's not great.
My brother over there, we grew up in
the same church and he's doing mighty things
and I want to do mighty things.
Well, that's where your heart needs to be
burned in the fires of God for aspiring
after greatness.
Jesus aspired after humility and meekness and doing
the Father's will no matter how insignificant it
might be.
Let our aspirations be simply to do the
will of the Father where he has placed
us.
Faithful is your job.
Oh, I don't like this job.
God called me a minister.
I got credit and I got a book
and a minister.
I've heard of people doing that but they
couldn't get along with their job.
He decided, well, I guess God wants me
to preach.
Listen, God calls those who are busy faithfully
doing the work that God gave them to
do.
God called Moses looking after sheep in the
desert of Midian.
I don't think he lost the vision but
he realized, I can't do it, Lord.
It's up to you.
I tried.
I tried to deliver my people and I
started to do it.
I goofed and here he was in Midian
40 years later looking after sheep and he
saw a burning bush revealing himself.
A little grandson.
He's got 17 grandchildren now and his little
sister, I don't know, maybe three or four
years old came to his dad with a
piece of paper and pencil.
Daddy, tell me God.
Well, how do I explain to you I
can't do this?
I can't do that.
But her little brother was there a couple
of years older.
He says, here, give me the paper.
I'll draw God.
And he drew a burning bush.
So the little seven they learned at home
around the table or gathered together in a
meeting like this.
They learned a little of the ways of
the Lord as they grew up.
And may we nurture that and realize that
God's hands on them.
It's a time when the enemy's out to
destroy the home and destroy the family.
It's in the age of making great strides.
God's going to raise up a true father
of ministry in the church.
That's going to speak truth to these young
people and they're going to hear a verse
from the Old Testament.
Behold, I send you Elijah the prophet.
And he shall turn the hearts of the
fathers to the children at first.
And the hearts of the children to the
fathers.
Lest I come and smite the earth with
a curse.
God's going to have a powerful generation in
the end time.
Men will be very young.
You young people, don't be discouraged.
Don't be ambitious in the flesh.
Just try and do things for God and
get to know Him.
Right in your own job, be faithful.
At home, be faithful.
When you're out there in the workplace, be
faithful.
You're learning obedience.
God will be considering your attitude towards your
employer.
Your associates in the business world.
He'll look at all that.
All that will give you points.
I shouldn't use that word, maybe.
It was commended before God.
Faithful in that, we just live to be
faithful in that.
If you're faithless in the unrighteous manner, which
concerns all the things of this life, that's
wealth, that's riches.
If you're unfaithful in that, is God going
to commit to you the true riches of
heaven?
Let's just walk with God.
That lays upon you and I responsibility to
know His voice well enough that we know
what He wants us to do.
I know many young people are in trouble.
What am I going to do in life?
I want to know God's will and God's
plan.
I remember getting this letter from a younger
man.
He said, I want you to pray with
me that God will reveal to me His
plan for my life.
Often when I get these letters, suddenly I
don't have the answer, but as I sit
down to answer them, very often, hopefully, usually,
I feel I have a word for them.
And I said to this young fellow, I
said, now God's not going to...
I can't pray that God will show you
His plan for your life because God doesn't
want to show you His plan.
He might give you a little invitation to
any degree of onus.
Well, I'd like to know why.
Well, then I could work on it.
That's the problem.
And that's why God doesn't show you.
You need to work on it.
Try and make it happen.
So then what do we do?
It's very clear.
Paul writing to the Romans, I beseech you
therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that
you present your bodies a living sacrifice, not
a spurned offering of the lamb, holy, acceptable
unto Him, which is your reasonable service.
And be not conformed to this world, but
be ye transformed by the renewing of your
mind, which you might prove, so that you
may be good, acceptable, and perfectly liberal.
Not three different kinds, but it's a growing,
it's a maturity.
And three speaks of that coming to maturity.
Outer court, holy place, holiest of all, you
know, writing to your little children, father, young
man, there's lots of these triplets there, you
know, coming to fullness, coming to maturity.
And so that you might know it as
a good will of God.
You see, but God wants me to, I
know, but right now you can do that,
which is faith in His sight.
If you do what God's committed unto you
to do, which you will only know, as
you say, Lord, I'm yours, I've committed all
to you, then He's faithful to you.
God should know.
That's good.
If you're faithful in that, it'll be as
acceptable, according to most versions, quite out of
the word, isn't just the way I accept
it, but well-pleasing.
If you might do that good will of
God, as you walk with Him, the will
of God will be well-pleasing.
Finally, perfect.
A word that the church doesn't want to
hear, we can't be perfect.
Don't talk to me about perfection.
God can't make me perfect.
I'm telling you, only God can do it.
You're not going to do it by going
to heaven.
Jesus came from heaven to earth to learn
obedience.
You're here on earth now, and you can
learn obedience now.
Perfect obedience in God's ultimate plan.
So help us, Lord Jesus.
We thank You for these precious young people
gathered here tonight.
We know their hearts are unto You.
We know many of them have questions and
problems.
And that You would lead us in walking
in this way, in this wilderness way.
We might come to know Your ways.
No matter how difficult it might be with
some of them, Lord, I pray that great
grace will be upon them that You'll overshadow
them with Your love and truth and keep
Your hands upon them all their days and
bring them, Lord, to that place where they
love You with all their heart, mind, soul,
and spirit and are willing to do anything
or nothing, whatever You might put in their
hands to do.
Guide and direct them, Lord.
May great grace be upon them as they
fellowship here and take away at this scale
from their eyes a veil from their heart
that only Your glory might be revealed in
them, Lord.
The glory which is not to glorify them,
but to glorify the Son who goes with
Him.
For therefore You ascended in heaven and put
Your glory upon Your people.
You said, The glory which Thou hast given
me, I have given to them, that they
may be one as Thou fathered in me
and I in thee, that they might be
one in us that the world might believe
that Thou hast sent me and has loved
them as Thou has loved me.
God, that's a prayer that You uttered that
we have a people that were one with
You.
That the world might know the cause of...
Here's a people like Jesus Your hand upon
us all.
Blessed are we unto their hearts In Jesus'
name, I pray.