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Glad to add my welcome to you tonight,

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glad to see you.

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Many of you have been here faithfully night

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by night and others morning by morning.

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Some of you may have joined us for

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the first time tonight.

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And our concern throughout this week has been

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to focus our attention upon the person of

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the Lord Jesus as the one who is

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not only our Redeemer because of what he

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did 1900 years ago when he died for

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what we've done, but who is our life

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because he rose again from the dead to

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indwell us by his Holy Spirit and take

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the place of what we are.

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So he died for what we've done and

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he takes the place of what we are.

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To me to live is Christ.

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That's why the Lord Jesus said in John

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14, because I live, and he was speaking

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of his resurrection, because I live, you will

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live also.

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You will live by virtue of the fact

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that I live.

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In other words, you'll have a quality of

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life that you've never had before.

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It will be God imparted life, divine life.

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And that is why, in order that we

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may understand more fully the content of our

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faith, what it really means to be a

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Christian, we have of necessity had to focus

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our attention upon the one who is our

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life.

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I am the way, I am the truth,

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I am the life.

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We expect God to take, we expect people

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to take God seriously when the Lord Jesus

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says I am the way, and we should

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expect folk, and we should expect ourselves to

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take him seriously in the same way when

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he says I am the life.

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But as I trust him to be the

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way, for me a guilty sinner back to

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a holy God, so I learn to trust

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him for what he claims to be, my

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life.

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He that hath the Son hath life.

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He that hath not the Son of God

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hath not life.

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And we saw yesterday, out of the sixth

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chapter of John's Gospel, that the Lord Jesus,

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in emphasizing that apart from coming to him

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and believing on him, we don't have that

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quality of life that he imparts to forgiven

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sinners.

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If you will remember the fifty-third verse

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of the sixth chapter of John, verily, verily,

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I say unto you, except you eat the

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flesh of the Son of Man, come to

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him, and drink his blood, believe on him,

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you have no life in you.

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You haven't begun to live, you're just existing.

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You're subhuman.

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You're physically alive, you're soulishly active, but you're

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spiritually dead.

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Destitute of that content for which God created

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you.

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You don't have life in you.

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You must be born again.

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Having been born the first time of the

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flesh to receive animal life, you have to

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be born the second time of the Spirit

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to receive divine life, by the exceeding great

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and precious promises, thereby becoming partaker of the

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divine nature.

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But we saw last night that the Lord

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Jesus didn't put a period there.

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He wasn't satisfied that we might have life.

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He went on to explain the implications of

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having life, what it was going to involve

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for you and for me.

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That the crisis of regeneration would only precipitate

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the process of sanctification.

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That the act of faith by which we

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are redeemed through his death precipitates the attitude

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of faith by which we are saved by

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his life.

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And that to believe on the Lord Jesus

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Christ as an act is to precipitate believing

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on the Lord Jesus Christ as a process.

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These things write we unto you that believe

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on the name of the Son of God,

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that you may know that you have eternal

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life because you have believed, and that you

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may go on believing.

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Live in the good of that which has

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become yours because you have believed.

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And you will only live in the good

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of what is yours because you have believed

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insofar as you go on believing.

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So believing on the Lord Jesus Christ is

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more than just making a decision, more than

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just registering your conversion.

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Believing on the Lord Jesus Christ is the

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process of a lifetime on into eternity.

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And when we see him face to face

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we shall go on believing on the Lord

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Jesus Christ.

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It is, in other words, the reestablishment of

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man in his true relationship to God, a

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faith-love relationship, a love relationship freely entered

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into that is constantly declared by an attitude

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of dependence, believing.

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And that's going to be the work of

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God while we're here on earth.

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For in answer to the question, what shall

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we men do that we men might do

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the works of God, the Lord Jesus said

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this is the work of God, and by

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this definition you'll know the answer to your

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question.

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This is the work of God that you

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believe on him whom he has sent.

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In other words, you recognize that you have

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to take every step in an attitude of

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dependence upon the one who has come to

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inhabit your redeemed humanity and your dependence upon

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him, your attitude of faith will release his

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divine life.

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Then you'll see the work of God.

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You'll see things happen that are only explicable

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in terms of Jesus Christ.

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This is exactly what the Lord Jesus promised.

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John 7, 38 and 39, he that believeth

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on me, not just has believed, no, he

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that believeth on me, the present continuous tense,

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he that goes on believing on me, out

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of his innermost being shall flow a process,

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riveth of living water.

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But this spake he of the Holy Spirit,

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divine activity, clothed with redeemed humanity, this spake

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he of the Holy Spirit, whom they that

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believe on him should receive.

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For the Holy Ghost was not yet given

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because Jesus was not yet glorified.

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The restoration of divine life, the restoration of

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our divine content, in the person of the

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Holy Ghost could only be achieved by the

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accomplishment of his decease at Calvary.

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The finished work, whereby through his shed blood

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we would be reconciled to God and he

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being raised from the dead and glorified in

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his father's right hand, the father would implement

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the promise that he, the Lord Jesus, gave

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to his disciples that the comforter should come.

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So that the spirit whom they had recognized

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with them in his person might thereafter be

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as from Pentecost in them.

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Do you remember the promise?

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John 14, verily, verily, verse

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12, I say unto you, he that believeth

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on me, the works that I do shall

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he do also, and greater works than these

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shall he do for this good reason.

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I go to my father.

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Verse 16, and I will pray the father,

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and he shall give you another comforter that

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he may abide with you forever.

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I will pray the father, and he shall,

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future, give you another comforter, that he may

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abide with you forever.

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I'm with you for a little while, but

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he's going to be with you forever.

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Even the Spirit of Truth, the Holy Spirit,

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whom the world cannot receive because it seeth

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him not, neither knoweth him.

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That constitutes the world.

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The world is that mass of humanity uninhabited

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by God.

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That's the world.

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And that mass of humanity uninhabited by God

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is uninhabited because sin isn't forgiven.

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You pass out of the world, translated out

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of the power of darkness, the world into

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the kingdom of God's dear Son, the moment

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you claim forgiveness through the shed blood of

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Christ.

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The moment you claim forgiveness through the shed

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blood of Christ, on the grounds of forgiveness,

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the Holy Spirit is restored to you, become

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inhabited by God, and thereby you're translated out

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to the power of darkness into the kingdom

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of God's dear Son.

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The Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot

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receive because it seeth him not, neither knoweth

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him, but you know him, he says, he,

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the Spirit of Truth, dwelleth with you because

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I have presented my body through the eternal

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Spirit to my father without spot.

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So you know that he has been with

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you.

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For he, the eternal Spirit, through whom I

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have presented my body to the Father, is

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the one who has displayed the glory of

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my father, so that when you have seen

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me, you have seen the Father.

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When you've heard me speak, you've heard my

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father speak.

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When you've watched me do, you've seen my

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father do.

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For my father who dwells within me, through

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the eternal Spirit, doeth the works.

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He dwelleth with you.

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He shall be in you.

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The one who has been dwelling with you

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is going to be in you.

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Chapter 16, verse 4, these things have I

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told you, that when the time shall come

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ye may remember that I told you of

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them.

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And these things I said not unto you

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at the beginning, because I was with you.

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But now I go my way to him

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that sent me.

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And none of you asketh me whither goest

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thou, but because I have said these things

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unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart, as

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though I came for any other purpose but

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for this.

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Nevertheless I tell you the truth.

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It is expedient for you that I go

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away, for if I go not away, the

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Comforter, the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of Truth,

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my other self will not come unto you.

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But if I depart, I will send him

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unto you.

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For the Holy Ghost was not yet given,

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because Jesus was not yet glorified.

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Sinful humanity could only be re-inhabited by

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God, when sinful humanity became redeemed humanity.

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So the Lord Jesus Christ says, I must

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go away.

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If I don't go away, the Comforter never

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can come.

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Because unless I go away the way appointed,

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unless I accomplish my death at Jerusalem, he

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can never come and inhabit you, redeemed sinners,

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as he has already been inhabiting me, the

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sinless incarnate Word of God.

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In other words, if I may repeat this

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again, the life he lived, in his sinlessness,

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qualified him for the death he died, that

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the death he died, in its atoning efficacy,

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might qualify you and me to become the

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recipients of the life he lived.

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That's the whole purpose of Christ coming into

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the world.

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Not just that you might get to heaven,

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but that your, your redeemed humanity might become

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re-inhabited by God, the temple of the

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living God.

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So the Holy Spirit might come back into

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your human spirit, and from your human spirit,

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as we saw last evening, he might invade

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your human personality, recapture your mind, and your

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emotions, and your will, for the sovereignty of

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Jesus Christ.

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So that the Lord Jesus may live his

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life again on earth, in you, and through

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you, today.

271
00:13:26,610 --> 00:13:40,110
John's Gospel, chapter 12, and

272
00:13:40,110 --> 00:13:47,790
verse 23, And Jesus answered them, saying, The

273
00:13:47,790 --> 00:13:51,770
hour is come, that the Son of Man

274
00:13:51,770 --> 00:13:52,770
should be glorified.

275
00:13:55,390 --> 00:13:58,470
The hour is come.

276
00:13:59,430 --> 00:14:01,430
But didn't the Lord Jesus Christ live for

277
00:14:01,430 --> 00:14:02,490
33 years on earth?

278
00:14:05,340 --> 00:14:07,660
What then was the significance of this hour,

279
00:14:07,800 --> 00:14:09,560
that he should call it the hour?

280
00:14:13,870 --> 00:14:19,790
The hour is come, that the Son of

281
00:14:19,790 --> 00:14:20,950
Man should be glorified.

282
00:14:22,250 --> 00:14:24,150
This is not the first time that the

283
00:14:24,150 --> 00:14:27,250
hour is mentioned.

284
00:14:28,090 --> 00:14:30,130
If you look in the 7th chapter of

285
00:14:30,130 --> 00:14:37,460
John, and the 30th verse, Then they sought

286
00:14:37,460 --> 00:14:39,520
to take him, but no man laid hands

287
00:14:39,520 --> 00:14:45,580
on him, because his hour was not yet

288
00:14:45,580 --> 00:14:45,900
come.

289
00:14:48,080 --> 00:14:49,960
But was the one hour in the life

290
00:14:49,960 --> 00:14:51,920
of the Lord Jesus Christ that had greater

291
00:14:51,920 --> 00:14:53,780
significance than any other hour?

292
00:14:59,280 --> 00:15:04,570
Chapter 8, and verse 20, These words spake

293
00:15:04,570 --> 00:15:06,770
Jesus in the treasury, as he taught in

294
00:15:06,770 --> 00:15:10,070
the temple, And no man laid hands on

295
00:15:10,070 --> 00:15:14,270
him, for his hour was not yet come.

296
00:15:17,550 --> 00:15:19,910
Nobody could touch him, because he was living

297
00:15:19,910 --> 00:15:23,130
his life according to program, according to a

298
00:15:23,130 --> 00:15:24,310
divine schedule.

299
00:15:25,870 --> 00:15:27,810
His hour had not come.

300
00:15:31,020 --> 00:15:33,820
In the 17th chapter, and the first verse,

301
00:15:36,600 --> 00:15:40,000
John 17, verse 1, These words spake Jesus,

302
00:15:40,200 --> 00:15:41,900
and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and

303
00:15:41,900 --> 00:15:45,280
said, Father, the hour is come.

304
00:15:47,220 --> 00:15:50,080
Glorify thy son, that thy son also may

305
00:15:50,080 --> 00:15:52,020
glorify thee.

306
00:15:53,180 --> 00:15:58,760
What was the hour for the Lord Jesus

307
00:15:58,760 --> 00:15:59,300
Christ?

308
00:16:01,920 --> 00:16:05,040
The hour without which he would have lived,

309
00:16:05,240 --> 00:16:06,260
to live in vain.

310
00:16:11,930 --> 00:16:14,990
Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come,

311
00:16:15,090 --> 00:16:17,390
that the son of man should be glorified.

312
00:16:19,250 --> 00:16:21,950
Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a

313
00:16:21,950 --> 00:16:24,570
corn of wheat fall into the ground and

314
00:16:24,570 --> 00:16:28,790
die, it abideth alone.

315
00:16:31,220 --> 00:16:35,480
But if it die, it bringeth forth much

316
00:16:35,480 --> 00:16:35,900
fruit.

317
00:16:37,320 --> 00:16:39,600
He that loveth his life shall lose it.

318
00:16:40,340 --> 00:16:42,320
He that hateth his life in this world

319
00:16:42,320 --> 00:16:44,240
shall keep it unto life eternal.

320
00:16:46,310 --> 00:16:48,810
This is the hour without which the Lord

321
00:16:48,810 --> 00:16:51,090
Jesus would have been born and would have

322
00:16:51,090 --> 00:16:54,450
lived for 33 years on earth in sinlessness,

323
00:16:54,910 --> 00:16:55,470
in vain.

324
00:16:59,750 --> 00:17:02,150
When the Lord Jesus Christ was here on

325
00:17:02,150 --> 00:17:04,630
earth, we discovered the other night, that his

326
00:17:04,630 --> 00:17:09,030
whole life was synonymous with that righteousness that

327
00:17:09,030 --> 00:17:09,990
the Lord demands.

328
00:17:10,430 --> 00:17:13,310
Romans 10 and 4, he was the end

329
00:17:13,310 --> 00:17:14,510
of the lawful righteousness.

330
00:17:15,890 --> 00:17:24,910
He satisfied every demand of the Lord.

331
00:17:24,910 --> 00:17:26,990
In him there was no sin.

332
00:17:27,369 --> 00:17:55,280
And even

333
00:17:55,280 --> 00:17:58,060
if Jesus Christ had not been God, which

334
00:17:58,060 --> 00:18:02,660
he was, even if he had not been

335
00:18:02,660 --> 00:18:07,720
the Creator, which he was, even if he

336
00:18:07,720 --> 00:18:14,980
had not been in the beginning, as man,

337
00:18:17,380 --> 00:18:18,940
he would have had a perfect right to

338
00:18:18,940 --> 00:18:23,100
step right out of time into eternity, straight

339
00:18:23,100 --> 00:18:26,720
from heaven, straight from earth to heaven, on

340
00:18:26,720 --> 00:18:27,640
the basis of the law.

341
00:18:29,160 --> 00:18:29,820
Oh, yes.

342
00:18:31,420 --> 00:18:34,300
In his own right as man, Jesus Christ

343
00:18:34,300 --> 00:18:35,440
would have had the right to go to

344
00:18:35,440 --> 00:18:38,520
heaven, even if he hadn't been God.

345
00:18:41,750 --> 00:18:43,410
Because the only thing that keeps man from

346
00:18:43,410 --> 00:18:44,210
heaven is sin.

347
00:18:46,620 --> 00:18:48,720
The only thing that keeps man from the

348
00:18:48,720 --> 00:18:50,260
presence of a holy God is sin.

349
00:18:50,860 --> 00:18:51,960
And in him there was no sin.

350
00:18:53,600 --> 00:18:55,800
And Jesus Christ would have had the right

351
00:18:55,800 --> 00:18:57,860
as man to go straight from earth to

352
00:18:57,860 --> 00:18:58,120
heaven.

353
00:19:01,930 --> 00:19:03,510
At the end of 33 years, he might

354
00:19:03,510 --> 00:19:05,190
have said to his father, Father, I'm coming

355
00:19:05,190 --> 00:19:07,230
home, straight home.

356
00:19:08,690 --> 00:19:11,930
And supposing he had done so, without the

357
00:19:11,930 --> 00:19:16,660
cross, would his father have received him?

358
00:19:16,840 --> 00:19:17,200
Oh, yes.

359
00:19:19,770 --> 00:19:23,730
Before Pontius Pilate, the Lord Jesus said, one

360
00:19:23,730 --> 00:19:25,930
word from me and my father would send

361
00:19:25,930 --> 00:19:27,090
ten legions of angels.

362
00:19:27,270 --> 00:19:29,510
You say you have power to slay me,

363
00:19:29,590 --> 00:19:31,690
you have power to crucify me, or you

364
00:19:31,690 --> 00:19:34,230
have power to release me, said Jesus Christ,

365
00:19:34,310 --> 00:19:35,350
you have no power.

366
00:19:39,600 --> 00:20:07,190
And if I gave my father one word,

367
00:20:07,190 --> 00:20:08,890
that was no idle boast on the part

368
00:20:08,890 --> 00:20:09,590
of Jesus Christ.

369
00:20:09,710 --> 00:20:11,010
He meant every word of what he said.

370
00:20:11,050 --> 00:20:12,490
He never said words he didn't mean.

371
00:20:17,230 --> 00:20:20,710
And if the Lord Jesus Christ had said

372
00:20:20,710 --> 00:20:23,470
the word to his father, and his father

373
00:20:23,470 --> 00:20:25,450
had sent the ten legions of angels, and

374
00:20:25,450 --> 00:20:27,570
he had been received straight away from earth

375
00:20:27,570 --> 00:20:33,050
to heaven, without submitting to the cross, he

376
00:20:33,050 --> 00:20:35,510
would have been received by the father, for

377
00:20:35,510 --> 00:20:37,990
what he was, perfect God and perfect man.

378
00:20:38,950 --> 00:20:41,050
And he would have had the eternal right

379
00:20:41,050 --> 00:20:45,250
to remain with the glory, and enjoy that

380
00:20:45,250 --> 00:20:47,950
glory with the father that he had had

381
00:20:47,950 --> 00:20:49,210
before ever the world was.

382
00:20:59,960 --> 00:21:10,220
But he would have remained alone, eternally

383
00:21:10,220 --> 00:21:12,600
alone.

384
00:21:16,260 --> 00:21:18,180
For the life he lived on earth, thirty

385
00:21:18,180 --> 00:21:22,720
-three years, being the complete fulfillment of the

386
00:21:22,720 --> 00:21:27,160
righteousness demanded by the law, could only have

387
00:21:27,160 --> 00:21:29,980
condemned you and condemned me as the law

388
00:21:29,980 --> 00:21:31,900
condemns you and the law condemns me.

389
00:21:32,920 --> 00:21:35,280
The life he lived for thirty-three years

390
00:21:35,280 --> 00:21:37,340
on earth could never have got you or

391
00:21:37,340 --> 00:21:41,800
me to heaven, could never have atoned for

392
00:21:41,800 --> 00:21:42,240
our sin.

393
00:21:43,920 --> 00:21:47,100
It could only have mocked us for our

394
00:21:47,100 --> 00:21:50,480
moral depravity and our spiritual destitution.

395
00:21:54,070 --> 00:21:57,030
Reading from the Amplified New Testament in John's

396
00:21:57,030 --> 00:22:05,920
Gospel, chapter 12 and verse 23, back to

397
00:22:05,920 --> 00:22:09,040
the passage that we have just been considering.

398
00:22:11,250 --> 00:22:16,430
John 12, 23, and Jesus answered them, the

399
00:22:16,430 --> 00:22:18,530
time has come for the Son of Man

400
00:22:18,530 --> 00:22:21,930
to be glorified and exalted.

401
00:22:23,430 --> 00:22:28,310
I assure you, most solemnly I tell you,

402
00:22:29,090 --> 00:22:32,230
unless a grain of wheat falls into the

403
00:22:32,230 --> 00:22:34,750
earth and dies, I want you to listen

404
00:22:34,750 --> 00:22:42,330
to this particularly carefully, it remains, it remains

405
00:22:44,280 --> 00:22:53,000
just one grain, but it remains, never becomes

406
00:22:53,000 --> 00:23:02,010
more, but lives, goes on living, by itself,

407
00:23:03,210 --> 00:23:04,010
alone.

408
00:23:05,450 --> 00:23:06,850
That's a grain of wheat.

409
00:23:08,070 --> 00:23:09,850
If it doesn't go into the ground and

410
00:23:09,850 --> 00:23:16,030
die, it remains, one grain, never becomes more,

411
00:23:17,270 --> 00:23:22,270
it lives, and goes on living, by itself,

412
00:23:23,270 --> 00:23:23,710
alone.

413
00:23:26,090 --> 00:23:28,030
That is why the Lord Jesus spoke of

414
00:23:28,030 --> 00:23:33,880
the hour, without which he would have been

415
00:23:33,880 --> 00:23:36,960
born to live in vain.

416
00:23:38,780 --> 00:23:40,540
He might just as well have stayed in

417
00:23:40,540 --> 00:23:42,300
heaven as come down to earth, to live

418
00:23:42,300 --> 00:23:43,960
a life like that and go straight back

419
00:23:43,960 --> 00:23:44,360
to heaven.

420
00:23:46,440 --> 00:23:48,080
He could have been as sinless in heaven

421
00:23:48,080 --> 00:23:55,820
as he was sinless on earth, but he

422
00:23:55,820 --> 00:23:57,840
came to live that kind of life on

423
00:23:57,840 --> 00:24:05,980
earth that by virtue, that you and I

424
00:24:05,980 --> 00:24:07,880
might become the recipients of the life he

425
00:24:07,880 --> 00:24:08,340
lived.

426
00:24:09,780 --> 00:24:14,180
That was the hour for which he was

427
00:24:14,180 --> 00:24:14,460
born.

428
00:24:20,070 --> 00:24:26,670
Because you see, in his utter sinlessness, God

429
00:24:26,670 --> 00:24:28,850
added to him your sinfulness.

430
00:24:29,990 --> 00:24:32,390
God made him to be sin for us

431
00:24:32,390 --> 00:24:35,250
whom you know sin, that we might be

432
00:24:35,250 --> 00:24:36,810
made the righteousness of God in him.

433
00:24:38,010 --> 00:24:40,150
What the law could not do through the

434
00:24:40,150 --> 00:24:43,850
weakness of our flesh, what it could do

435
00:24:43,850 --> 00:24:50,710
through the sinlessness of Christ, what the law

436
00:24:50,710 --> 00:24:52,310
could not do through the weakness of the

437
00:24:52,310 --> 00:24:56,210
flesh, God sending his own Son in the

438
00:24:56,210 --> 00:25:00,010
likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned

439
00:25:00,010 --> 00:25:00,830
sin in the flesh.

440
00:25:02,130 --> 00:25:05,170
Had the Lord Jesus himself sinned, he could

441
00:25:05,170 --> 00:25:08,030
only have incurred himself his own penalty.

442
00:25:09,250 --> 00:25:11,590
But because of the life he lived in

443
00:25:11,590 --> 00:25:15,250
sinlessness, he was qualified to die for you

444
00:25:15,250 --> 00:25:17,670
and for me, to take our place vicariously,

445
00:25:17,970 --> 00:25:20,270
and there was imputed to him your guilt

446
00:25:20,270 --> 00:25:20,870
and mine.

447
00:25:21,310 --> 00:25:25,670
And God executed in his person our sin.

448
00:25:27,920 --> 00:25:29,780
So that when you and I give ourselves

449
00:25:29,780 --> 00:25:32,900
to Christ, we give ourselves to him that

450
00:25:32,900 --> 00:25:37,000
being identified with him in God's economy, we

451
00:25:37,000 --> 00:25:40,580
might be executed with him and buried.

452
00:25:45,390 --> 00:25:47,130
Then God raised him from the dead.

453
00:25:48,250 --> 00:25:50,290
That you and I might become the recipients

454
00:25:50,290 --> 00:25:53,230
of the very life he lived.

455
00:25:54,150 --> 00:25:58,270
So that the Holy Spirit, who occupied his

456
00:25:58,270 --> 00:26:01,330
whole yielded humanity as he was a man

457
00:26:01,330 --> 00:26:05,370
on earth, might come and occupy our humanity

458
00:26:05,370 --> 00:26:07,890
now redeemed through the death he died.

459
00:26:09,350 --> 00:26:13,370
That qualifies us to be re-inhabited by

460
00:26:13,370 --> 00:26:16,770
the one who inhabited him, the Eternal Spirit.

461
00:26:18,050 --> 00:26:20,610
So that the very life that he possessed

462
00:26:20,610 --> 00:26:24,470
on earth, becomes your life and mine.

463
00:26:25,750 --> 00:26:26,890
That's regeneration.

464
00:26:27,990 --> 00:26:29,330
That's new birth.

465
00:26:30,430 --> 00:26:32,870
So the very life that a forgiven sinner

466
00:26:32,870 --> 00:26:35,770
receives, the very instant that he's born again,

467
00:26:36,050 --> 00:26:38,450
the very instant that he's redeemed, that life

468
00:26:38,450 --> 00:26:41,030
is the identical life that Jesus Christ lived

469
00:26:41,030 --> 00:26:42,010
1900 years ago.

470
00:26:44,190 --> 00:26:46,470
That's the sublime genius of our salvation.

471
00:26:47,830 --> 00:26:50,090
That's why God never expects you or me

472
00:26:50,090 --> 00:26:51,610
to be made perfect in the flesh.

473
00:26:52,490 --> 00:26:55,630
That's why God abhors every attempt on your

474
00:26:55,630 --> 00:26:57,970
part or mine to re-educate an old,

475
00:26:58,130 --> 00:27:02,190
wicked, fallen nature that God executed and sentenced

476
00:27:02,190 --> 00:27:05,190
to death and carried out that sentence in

477
00:27:05,190 --> 00:27:07,550
the person of his son 1900 years ago.

478
00:27:09,820 --> 00:27:10,860
It grieves God.

479
00:27:10,940 --> 00:27:12,200
It offends God.

480
00:27:13,700 --> 00:27:16,300
It's in defiance of God's wisdom and God's

481
00:27:16,300 --> 00:27:18,680
whole redemptive plan and purpose, when you and

482
00:27:18,680 --> 00:27:20,820
I try to re-educate a fallen nature

483
00:27:20,820 --> 00:27:23,260
to live like Christ, when God says, I

484
00:27:23,260 --> 00:27:25,900
have sentenced that old, wicked nature of yours

485
00:27:25,900 --> 00:27:28,320
to death, and I have executed in the

486
00:27:28,320 --> 00:27:30,780
person of my sinless son, that you, by

487
00:27:30,780 --> 00:27:32,380
virtue of his death, on your behalf.

488
00:27:43,420 --> 00:27:46,700
That's why the Lord Jesus Christ said, the

489
00:27:46,700 --> 00:27:51,700
hour has come, for which I was born

490
00:27:51,700 --> 00:27:54,620
and for which I have lived, that by

491
00:27:54,620 --> 00:27:56,960
my death taking you into death, you might

492
00:27:56,960 --> 00:27:58,860
become the recipients of what I am.

493
00:27:58,860 --> 00:28:02,780
Life, by the exceeding great and precious promises,

494
00:28:02,980 --> 00:28:05,020
becoming partakers of the divine nature.

495
00:28:07,620 --> 00:28:10,100
That's the whole principle of life out of

496
00:28:10,100 --> 00:28:10,380
death.

497
00:28:13,040 --> 00:28:13,900
Here's a grain of wheat.

498
00:28:15,660 --> 00:28:16,840
It has life.

499
00:28:20,280 --> 00:28:24,520
However, will that life that is contained within

500
00:28:24,520 --> 00:28:27,760
that grain of wheat ever become another grain

501
00:28:27,760 --> 00:28:28,120
of wheat?

502
00:28:28,680 --> 00:28:32,960
However, will that life ever be reproduced by

503
00:28:32,960 --> 00:28:33,620
copying it?

504
00:28:34,640 --> 00:28:36,900
Did you ever produce another grain of wheat

505
00:28:36,900 --> 00:28:38,500
by copying one grain of wheat?

506
00:28:41,040 --> 00:28:44,980
Was ever a harvest weeped by copying grains

507
00:28:44,980 --> 00:28:45,300
of wheat?

508
00:28:46,620 --> 00:28:47,260
Never.

509
00:28:48,920 --> 00:28:52,140
Every harvest that is reaped is harvested from

510
00:28:52,140 --> 00:28:52,740
a graveyard.

511
00:28:57,510 --> 00:28:59,130
I could copy a grain of wheat a

512
00:28:59,130 --> 00:29:02,430
thousand times, and plant a thousand copies that

513
00:29:02,430 --> 00:29:05,130
I have made, and every copy will be

514
00:29:05,130 --> 00:29:11,930
sterile, because it does not contain the life

515
00:29:11,930 --> 00:29:13,230
of the original grain.

516
00:29:15,110 --> 00:29:17,090
And that is what the Lord Jesus meant

517
00:29:17,090 --> 00:29:19,550
in John 6 when he said, until you

518
00:29:19,550 --> 00:29:21,850
have come to me and believed on me,

519
00:29:21,930 --> 00:29:23,910
you do not have any life in you.

520
00:29:24,110 --> 00:29:26,190
You can copy me, you can emulate my

521
00:29:26,190 --> 00:29:26,430
example.

522
00:29:33,730 --> 00:29:34,670
But you won't have life.

523
00:29:35,990 --> 00:29:42,600
You will be a sterile copy, never capable

524
00:29:42,600 --> 00:29:45,120
of growth and never capable of reproduction.

525
00:29:45,620 --> 00:29:46,600
You will be dead.

526
00:29:48,790 --> 00:29:50,590
Now that's nominal Christianity.

527
00:29:54,790 --> 00:29:56,430
Just a copy of the real thing.

528
00:30:00,530 --> 00:30:02,390
Except a grain of wheat fall into the

529
00:30:02,390 --> 00:30:03,810
ground and die and abides alone.

530
00:30:06,850 --> 00:30:08,630
It remains just one grain.

531
00:30:09,570 --> 00:30:10,830
Never becomes more.

532
00:30:11,610 --> 00:30:13,410
But lives by itself, alone.

533
00:30:16,500 --> 00:30:22,900
When they opened Tutankhamen's tomb, and other of

534
00:30:22,900 --> 00:30:27,520
the ancient Egyptian pharaohs, they found corn and

535
00:30:27,520 --> 00:30:30,160
wheat that had been placed in the tombs

536
00:30:30,160 --> 00:30:34,060
in their superstition, imagining that they were providing

537
00:30:34,060 --> 00:30:37,060
food for the late deceased.

538
00:30:40,220 --> 00:30:42,020
It had been there in the tomb for

539
00:30:42,020 --> 00:30:42,940
thousands of years.

540
00:30:44,200 --> 00:30:46,080
And yet the amazing thing is this, when

541
00:30:46,080 --> 00:30:48,280
they took those grains of wheat out of

542
00:30:48,280 --> 00:30:50,340
the tombs where they had been buried for

543
00:30:50,340 --> 00:30:52,680
thousands of years, and planted them in the

544
00:30:52,680 --> 00:30:55,220
earth, the grains of wheat which had remained

545
00:30:55,220 --> 00:30:58,820
alone, all those thousands of years, in the

546
00:30:58,820 --> 00:31:02,780
darkness, sprouted, grew and reproduced.

547
00:31:04,900 --> 00:31:06,650
The life germ in a grain of wheat

548
00:31:06,650 --> 00:31:08,450
is the nearest thing to eternal life that

549
00:31:08,450 --> 00:31:09,130
you can imagine.

550
00:31:12,210 --> 00:31:13,410
But it will remain alone.

551
00:31:14,810 --> 00:31:16,490
Never be more than one grain.

552
00:31:17,210 --> 00:31:22,450
It will live by itself until it dies.

553
00:31:23,690 --> 00:31:26,250
Until it relinquishes what it is, it can

554
00:31:26,250 --> 00:31:28,090
never become what it was intended to be.

555
00:31:30,920 --> 00:31:33,060
And if the Lord Jesus Christ had not

556
00:31:33,060 --> 00:31:37,700
relinquished himself into death, he would have remained,

557
00:31:40,170 --> 00:31:42,670
he would have lived, he could have gone

558
00:31:42,670 --> 00:31:44,950
straight back to heaven, he would have been

559
00:31:44,950 --> 00:31:47,190
welcomed by the Father, he would have had

560
00:31:47,190 --> 00:31:49,030
the glory with the Father that he had

561
00:31:49,030 --> 00:31:50,690
before the world was, but he would have

562
00:31:50,690 --> 00:31:55,910
lived by himself, alone.

563
00:31:59,190 --> 00:32:01,150
He would never have been called in the

564
00:32:01,150 --> 00:32:04,310
Bible the first fruits of many brethren.

565
00:32:06,130 --> 00:32:07,930
He would never have been described in the

566
00:32:07,930 --> 00:32:12,150
Bible as the first begotten from the dead.

567
00:32:14,840 --> 00:32:16,940
He would have been born, he would have

568
00:32:16,940 --> 00:32:21,260
lived, gone straight to heaven, eternally lonely.

569
00:32:22,640 --> 00:32:24,540
And he would have left you, and he

570
00:32:24,540 --> 00:32:26,240
would have left me on earth, and the

571
00:32:26,240 --> 00:32:29,120
whole fallen race of the fallen seed of

572
00:32:29,120 --> 00:32:32,960
Adam, dead in trespasses and sins.

573
00:32:33,520 --> 00:32:37,800
Maybe hopelessly trying to copy, hopelessly trying to

574
00:32:37,800 --> 00:32:41,020
emulate the matchless life of the perfect example

575
00:32:41,020 --> 00:32:44,100
that was exhibited 1,900 years ago, but

576
00:32:44,100 --> 00:32:47,920
a message only of frustration and despair would

577
00:32:50,320 --> 00:32:53,420
be the invitation to fallen unregenerate men to

578
00:32:53,420 --> 00:32:56,040
live the kind of life he lived 1

579
00:32:56,040 --> 00:32:57,140
,900 years ago.

580
00:32:57,140 --> 00:32:59,360
For what the law could not do through

581
00:32:59,360 --> 00:33:01,760
the weakness of the flesh, his life could

582
00:33:01,760 --> 00:33:03,300
not do through the weakness of the flesh,

583
00:33:03,580 --> 00:33:08,200
unless that life somehow could be reproduced, imparted

584
00:33:08,200 --> 00:33:09,060
to you and to me.

585
00:33:10,100 --> 00:33:12,380
And that could only be possible by virtue

586
00:33:12,380 --> 00:33:15,080
of the fact that he died the death

587
00:33:15,080 --> 00:33:15,680
he did.

588
00:33:16,360 --> 00:33:20,460
Make sin for us that we might become

589
00:33:20,460 --> 00:33:21,880
the righteousness of God in him.

590
00:33:24,970 --> 00:33:27,070
Our sin was imputed to him that his

591
00:33:27,070 --> 00:33:29,230
life might be imparted to us.

592
00:33:30,150 --> 00:33:30,870
That's the gospel.

593
00:33:38,350 --> 00:33:57,080
Acts chapter 30 and

594
00:33:57,080 --> 00:33:57,760
verse 28.

595
00:34:01,400 --> 00:34:03,920
And though they found no cause of death

596
00:34:03,920 --> 00:34:06,680
in him, for you see he was sinless,

597
00:34:06,820 --> 00:34:10,199
that was the life he lived, which qualified

598
00:34:10,199 --> 00:34:12,239
him for the death he died.

599
00:34:13,400 --> 00:34:16,280
Yet desired they Pilate that he should be

600
00:34:16,280 --> 00:34:16,880
slain.

601
00:34:16,880 --> 00:34:18,239
Verse 29.

602
00:34:19,179 --> 00:34:22,060
And when they had fulfilled all that was

603
00:34:22,060 --> 00:34:25,040
written of him, in the volume of the

604
00:34:25,040 --> 00:34:28,920
book, that's why he came, they took him

605
00:34:28,920 --> 00:34:32,260
down from the tree, and they laid him

606
00:34:32,260 --> 00:34:33,000
in a sepulchre.

607
00:34:34,400 --> 00:34:39,600
And the perfect sinless grain of wheat, the

608
00:34:39,600 --> 00:34:46,520
incarnate word, whose seed remained within him, who

609
00:34:46,520 --> 00:34:52,909
did not and who could not sin, was

610
00:34:52,909 --> 00:34:53,250
buried.

611
00:34:56,760 --> 00:35:01,540
He relinquished what he was, but God raised

612
00:35:01,540 --> 00:35:04,620
him from the dead and made him what

613
00:35:04,620 --> 00:35:10,830
he was intended to be, your redeemer and

614
00:35:10,830 --> 00:35:11,110
mine.

615
00:35:12,980 --> 00:35:18,180
Keeping your finger in Acts 13, turn with

616
00:35:18,180 --> 00:35:20,780
me to the epistle to the Hebrews.

617
00:35:26,030 --> 00:35:29,730
Verse 8 of chapter 5.

618
00:35:31,010 --> 00:35:34,070
Hebrews 5, verse 8.

619
00:35:37,700 --> 00:35:43,210
Though he were a son, yet learned he

620
00:35:43,210 --> 00:35:43,990
obedience.

621
00:35:45,030 --> 00:35:48,150
As we discovered last night, as the Son

622
00:35:48,150 --> 00:35:54,170
incarnate humanity, the Son can do nothing by

623
00:35:54,170 --> 00:35:54,670
himself.

624
00:35:56,050 --> 00:35:58,150
I can only take every step in an

625
00:35:58,150 --> 00:36:01,290
attitude as man of total dependence upon my

626
00:36:01,290 --> 00:36:01,610
Father.

627
00:36:03,310 --> 00:36:05,750
Though he were a son, yet learned he

628
00:36:05,750 --> 00:36:09,770
obedience by the things which he suffered, and

629
00:36:09,770 --> 00:36:14,900
being made perfect, he became the author of

630
00:36:14,900 --> 00:36:17,280
eternal salvation unto all them that obey.

631
00:36:18,260 --> 00:36:20,980
How did he become the author of eternal

632
00:36:20,980 --> 00:36:21,580
salvation?

633
00:36:22,940 --> 00:36:27,620
By the obedience that led him to Calvary,

634
00:36:27,700 --> 00:36:30,220
where he relinquished what he was, that he

635
00:36:30,220 --> 00:36:35,140
might be the author of our eternal salvation.

636
00:36:37,350 --> 00:36:40,490
Had he never relinquished, he could never have

637
00:36:40,490 --> 00:36:41,050
become.

638
00:36:43,420 --> 00:36:52,380
He, being made perfect, became perfect in vocation,

639
00:36:53,340 --> 00:36:56,340
as he was already perfect in his person.

640
00:36:57,600 --> 00:37:01,480
And his vocation was to lay down his

641
00:37:01,480 --> 00:37:03,220
life a ransom for many.

642
00:37:04,380 --> 00:37:08,520
And by his obedience to his vocation, he

643
00:37:08,520 --> 00:37:14,940
became what he could never have become if

644
00:37:14,940 --> 00:37:17,760
he had not been prepared to relinquish what

645
00:37:17,760 --> 00:37:18,400
he was.

646
00:37:19,180 --> 00:37:24,360
He was made sin, and he relinquished his

647
00:37:24,360 --> 00:37:26,840
sinlessness to be made sin.

648
00:37:28,360 --> 00:37:31,440
He relinquished his right to step straight from

649
00:37:31,440 --> 00:37:33,780
earth to heaven, to go by way of

650
00:37:33,780 --> 00:37:38,760
the cross, that he might become what he

651
00:37:38,760 --> 00:37:39,820
was intended to be.

652
00:37:41,360 --> 00:37:44,880
This was his hour, without which he would

653
00:37:44,880 --> 00:37:47,200
have been born to live for thirty-three

654
00:37:47,200 --> 00:37:53,560
years in vain, to be eternally lonely.

655
00:37:55,890 --> 00:38:03,730
Back to Acts 30, verse 30.

656
00:38:05,150 --> 00:38:10,350
But God raised him from the dead.

657
00:38:15,620 --> 00:38:17,580
He was raised by the Holy Spirit.

658
00:38:19,140 --> 00:38:22,180
The Holy Spirit, whom he relinquished when he

659
00:38:22,180 --> 00:38:26,960
was made sin, was the one by whom

660
00:38:26,960 --> 00:38:33,300
we are told, in Peter's epistle, he was

661
00:38:33,300 --> 00:38:33,760
quickened.

662
00:38:35,140 --> 00:38:45,410
1 Peter, chapter 3, and

663
00:38:45,410 --> 00:38:45,950
verse 18.

664
00:38:47,330 --> 00:38:50,450
1 Peter 3.18, For Christ also hath

665
00:38:50,450 --> 00:38:57,430
once suffered for sins the just, relinquishing his

666
00:38:57,430 --> 00:39:03,910
justness for the unjust, being identified with all

667
00:39:03,910 --> 00:39:06,810
man's sin, that he might bring us to

668
00:39:06,810 --> 00:39:08,490
God, that he might become what he was

669
00:39:08,490 --> 00:39:10,670
intended to be, the author of our eternal

670
00:39:10,670 --> 00:39:11,270
salvation.

671
00:39:12,530 --> 00:39:15,770
Being put to death in the flesh, but

672
00:39:15,770 --> 00:39:16,490
quickened, how?

673
00:39:17,250 --> 00:39:18,150
By the Spirit.

674
00:39:21,610 --> 00:39:23,170
God raised him from the dead.

675
00:39:25,580 --> 00:39:26,920
Acts 13, verse 32.

676
00:39:28,000 --> 00:39:29,360
Acts 13, 32.

677
00:39:30,200 --> 00:39:34,600
And we declare unto you glad tidings, how

678
00:39:34,600 --> 00:39:36,820
that the promise which was made unto the

679
00:39:36,820 --> 00:39:42,610
fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us,

680
00:39:42,730 --> 00:39:46,050
their children, in that he hath raised up

681
00:39:46,050 --> 00:39:47,030
Jesus again.

682
00:39:47,810 --> 00:39:50,410
There were certain promises made to the fathers

683
00:39:50,410 --> 00:39:52,450
in the Old Testament in the volume of

684
00:39:52,450 --> 00:39:56,130
the book, which he came to fulfill, presenting

685
00:39:56,130 --> 00:39:58,290
his body to the father through the eternal

686
00:39:58,290 --> 00:39:59,410
spirit without spot.

687
00:39:59,410 --> 00:40:02,170
There were certain promises made to the fathers

688
00:40:02,170 --> 00:40:05,530
that were fulfilled when God raised up Jesus

689
00:40:05,530 --> 00:40:06,770
again from the dead.

690
00:40:07,890 --> 00:40:09,690
Now this may be a surprise to you.

691
00:40:10,590 --> 00:40:13,710
This may be an unusual interpretation, but it

692
00:40:13,710 --> 00:40:15,750
isn't mine, it is the interpretation of the

693
00:40:15,750 --> 00:40:18,470
Holy Spirit, given to you here in the

694
00:40:18,470 --> 00:40:20,590
record, the 13th of Acts.

695
00:40:21,170 --> 00:40:23,410
It came as a surprise to me, because

696
00:40:23,410 --> 00:40:26,270
I, without reference to the interpretation given by

697
00:40:26,270 --> 00:40:28,310
the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts,

698
00:40:28,570 --> 00:40:33,830
had interpreted my own way, the way that

699
00:40:33,830 --> 00:40:36,710
seemed to be most logical, without thinking.

700
00:40:38,190 --> 00:40:40,770
God hath fulfilled the same unto us, their

701
00:40:40,770 --> 00:40:43,540
children, in that he has raised up Jesus

702
00:40:43,540 --> 00:40:46,300
again, as it is also written in the

703
00:40:46,300 --> 00:40:49,200
second psalm, thou art my son, this day

704
00:40:49,200 --> 00:40:50,340
have I begotten thee.

705
00:40:50,340 --> 00:40:54,130
Did you ever read the second psalm?

706
00:40:55,350 --> 00:40:57,150
And when you read the second psalm, and

707
00:40:57,150 --> 00:40:59,030
you read, thou art my son, this day

708
00:40:59,030 --> 00:41:00,510
have I begotten thee, what day did you

709
00:41:00,510 --> 00:41:02,090
think of, automatically, instinctively?

710
00:41:03,070 --> 00:41:03,770
Christmas day?

711
00:41:04,630 --> 00:41:05,270
I did.

712
00:41:07,210 --> 00:41:09,130
This day have I begotten thee, and I

713
00:41:09,130 --> 00:41:10,090
thought of Christmas day.

714
00:41:11,510 --> 00:41:11,910
Bethlehem.

715
00:41:13,090 --> 00:41:14,730
Of course, that was the day when Jesus

716
00:41:14,730 --> 00:41:16,270
Christ, God's son, was begotten.

717
00:41:16,430 --> 00:41:17,070
But was it?

718
00:41:18,030 --> 00:41:19,330
According to this scripture?

719
00:41:22,520 --> 00:41:25,420
We declare unto you glad tidings, how that

720
00:41:25,420 --> 00:41:27,280
the promise which was made unto the fathers,

721
00:41:27,460 --> 00:41:29,560
God hath fulfilled the same unto us, their

722
00:41:29,560 --> 00:41:32,320
children, in that he hath raised up Jesus

723
00:41:32,320 --> 00:41:32,740
again.

724
00:41:32,860 --> 00:41:34,800
He's risen, as it is also written in

725
00:41:34,800 --> 00:41:37,160
the second psalm, thou art my son, this

726
00:41:37,160 --> 00:41:38,480
day, the day that God.

727
00:41:42,350 --> 00:41:45,590
The Lord Jesus was begotten from the dead.

728
00:41:47,090 --> 00:41:48,970
And the day he was begotten was the

729
00:41:48,970 --> 00:41:50,930
day God raised him from the dead.

730
00:41:52,050 --> 00:41:54,250
And don't you see that if the Lord

731
00:41:54,250 --> 00:42:08,510
Jesus had only been born in Bethlehem, he

732
00:42:08,510 --> 00:42:10,930
would have been the perfect grain of wheat,

733
00:42:11,090 --> 00:42:14,910
remaining just one grain, never more than one.

734
00:42:15,230 --> 00:42:18,830
He would have lived by himself forever.

735
00:42:19,990 --> 00:42:21,990
Born never to be begotten.

736
00:42:23,210 --> 00:42:25,610
Born never to become what he was intended

737
00:42:25,610 --> 00:42:26,410
to be.

738
00:42:26,910 --> 00:42:28,750
The author of our eternal salvation.

739
00:42:28,750 --> 00:42:33,480
That's why the Lord Jesus, again and again,

740
00:42:35,890 --> 00:42:41,490
is called the first begotten from the dead.

741
00:42:43,680 --> 00:42:51,180
In the Colossian epistle, chapter 1, verse 18,

742
00:42:52,520 --> 00:42:54,780
Colossians 1.18, he is the head of

743
00:42:54,780 --> 00:42:56,520
the body, the church who is the beginning.

744
00:42:58,200 --> 00:42:59,160
He's the beginning.

745
00:42:59,700 --> 00:43:01,840
He was the first perfect grain of wheat.

746
00:43:02,460 --> 00:43:03,080
The beginning.

747
00:43:04,560 --> 00:43:06,440
That is where the whole life of the

748
00:43:06,440 --> 00:43:07,920
church stems from.

749
00:43:09,040 --> 00:43:12,960
Given just one grain of wheat, in the

750
00:43:12,960 --> 00:43:15,360
course of the generations of grains of wheat

751
00:43:15,360 --> 00:43:17,680
that have relinquished themselves that they might become

752
00:43:17,680 --> 00:43:19,900
what they were intended to be, we could

753
00:43:19,900 --> 00:43:21,900
have a million grains of wheat, but the

754
00:43:21,900 --> 00:43:22,440
life continues.

755
00:43:27,290 --> 00:43:28,050
Isn't that right?

756
00:43:30,150 --> 00:43:31,130
And he was the beginning.

757
00:43:33,940 --> 00:43:35,560
In the beginning was the Word, and the

758
00:43:35,560 --> 00:43:37,260
Word was with God, and the Word was

759
00:43:37,260 --> 00:43:45,620
God by him.

760
00:43:45,620 --> 00:43:47,560
This life was the light of man.

761
00:43:49,240 --> 00:43:50,900
He was the life from the very beginning.

762
00:43:52,680 --> 00:43:57,380
But, in Adam's sin, Adam forfeited the life

763
00:43:57,380 --> 00:43:58,860
of the one who is the beginning.

764
00:44:00,140 --> 00:44:02,760
And the purpose of God in Christ was

765
00:44:02,760 --> 00:44:05,260
that we might receive again the life of

766
00:44:05,260 --> 00:44:05,760
the beginning.

767
00:44:07,220 --> 00:44:08,900
The Lord Jesus said, I am come that

768
00:44:08,900 --> 00:44:10,560
you might have life.

769
00:44:13,090 --> 00:44:15,170
I am the life.

770
00:44:16,480 --> 00:44:20,840
You had the life until your forefather, Adam,

771
00:44:21,060 --> 00:44:21,800
sinned.

772
00:44:21,980 --> 00:44:23,600
But I have come into the world so

773
00:44:23,600 --> 00:44:25,060
that you may have life again.

774
00:44:26,540 --> 00:44:28,700
The first Adam was a living soul, but

775
00:44:28,700 --> 00:44:29,280
he died.

776
00:44:29,400 --> 00:44:32,240
The last Adam was a quickening spirit.

777
00:44:33,600 --> 00:44:35,920
One who could raise dead men to life

778
00:44:35,920 --> 00:44:36,220
again.

779
00:44:39,580 --> 00:44:41,640
Who is the beginning?

780
00:44:42,700 --> 00:44:45,620
The firstborn from the dead.

781
00:44:46,680 --> 00:44:49,100
That because the sinless grain of wheat that

782
00:44:49,100 --> 00:44:53,860
came from heaven, the Word incarnate died identified

783
00:44:53,860 --> 00:44:57,500
with man's wickedness, sin, guilt, and shame.

784
00:44:58,540 --> 00:45:00,660
All who put their trust in him as

785
00:45:00,660 --> 00:45:06,440
Redeemer, accept his vicarious, substitutionary, atoning death, might

786
00:45:06,440 --> 00:45:09,300
become the recipients again of the life he

787
00:45:09,300 --> 00:45:11,680
lived, the original grain of wheat.

788
00:45:15,470 --> 00:45:17,030
And so we could go through the scriptures.

789
00:45:17,470 --> 00:45:22,030
If you look in the Revelation, chapter 1

790
00:45:22,030 --> 00:45:27,030
and verse 5, from Jesus Christ, who is

791
00:45:27,030 --> 00:45:31,670
the faithful witness, the first begotten of the

792
00:45:31,670 --> 00:45:34,390
dead, the prince of the kings of the

793
00:45:34,390 --> 00:45:34,710
earth.

794
00:45:38,320 --> 00:45:42,720
In Adam, all men became the heirs of

795
00:45:42,720 --> 00:45:43,120
death.

796
00:45:44,400 --> 00:45:47,500
In Jesus Christ, the last Adam, all men,

797
00:45:48,060 --> 00:45:50,700
if they so will, may become the heirs

798
00:45:50,700 --> 00:45:51,260
of life.

799
00:45:52,880 --> 00:45:55,440
But don't you see every boy, every girl,

800
00:45:55,580 --> 00:46:05,010
every man is

801
00:46:05,010 --> 00:46:08,210
redeemed in the blood of Jesus Christ, receives

802
00:46:08,210 --> 00:46:09,790
the very same life?

803
00:46:11,230 --> 00:46:12,690
The life of the beginning.

804
00:46:13,850 --> 00:46:15,370
The life of Jesus Christ.

805
00:46:22,890 --> 00:46:29,380
Ephesians and chapter 2.

806
00:46:31,430 --> 00:46:32,790
Better read just a verse or two from

807
00:46:32,790 --> 00:46:34,890
the first chapter to get the true context.

808
00:46:36,770 --> 00:46:40,410
Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 18.

809
00:46:44,400 --> 00:46:46,460
By having the eyes of your heart flooded

810
00:46:46,460 --> 00:46:49,160
with light, so that you can know and

811
00:46:49,160 --> 00:46:51,100
understand the hope to which he has called

812
00:46:51,100 --> 00:46:54,320
you, and how rich is his glorious inheritance

813
00:46:54,320 --> 00:46:57,160
in the saints, so that you can know

814
00:46:57,160 --> 00:47:00,020
and understand what is the immeasurable and unlimited

815
00:47:00,020 --> 00:47:04,300
and surpassing greatness of his power in and

816
00:47:04,300 --> 00:47:08,040
for us, who believe as demonstrated in the

817
00:47:08,040 --> 00:47:17,690
working of God.

818
00:47:17,790 --> 00:47:19,810
Paul says, if you want to know what

819
00:47:19,810 --> 00:47:49,440
is the immeasurable, verse 22,

820
00:47:49,620 --> 00:47:51,500
he has put all things under his feet,

821
00:47:51,740 --> 00:47:52,500
Jesus Christ.

822
00:47:53,260 --> 00:47:56,180
Has appointed him the universal and supreme head

823
00:47:56,180 --> 00:48:00,660
of the church, which is his body, the

824
00:48:00,660 --> 00:48:03,000
fullness of him who fills all in all,

825
00:48:03,680 --> 00:48:07,720
for in that body, the church, the fellowship

826
00:48:07,720 --> 00:48:11,860
of forgiven sinners, lives the full measure of

827
00:48:11,860 --> 00:48:15,840
him who makes everything complete and who fills

828
00:48:15,840 --> 00:48:18,280
everything everywhere with himself.

829
00:48:19,280 --> 00:48:20,260
Isn't that tremendous?

830
00:48:23,230 --> 00:48:28,830
His body, the fullness of him who fills

831
00:48:28,830 --> 00:48:32,570
all in all, for in that body, the

832
00:48:32,570 --> 00:48:35,510
church of Jesus Christ, the invisible true church

833
00:48:35,510 --> 00:48:39,290
of Jesus Christ, that comprehends every boy, girl,

834
00:48:39,490 --> 00:48:46,450
man, and reconciled to God, in that body

835
00:48:46,450 --> 00:49:01,350
lives the full measure of him by

836
00:49:01,350 --> 00:49:05,870
the process of life out of death, who

837
00:49:05,870 --> 00:49:08,230
fills everything everywhere with himself.

838
00:49:09,310 --> 00:49:14,150
Chapter 2, verse 1, and you, Christians in

839
00:49:14,150 --> 00:49:19,390
Ephesus, and you, Christians in Lubbock, he made

840
00:49:19,390 --> 00:49:26,380
alive, who were dead by trespasses and sins,

841
00:49:26,820 --> 00:49:31,760
verse 4, but God, so which is he

842
00:49:31,760 --> 00:49:35,540
in his mercy, because of and in order

843
00:49:35,540 --> 00:49:38,260
to satisfy the great and wonderful and intense

844
00:49:38,260 --> 00:49:41,800
love with which he loved us, even when

845
00:49:41,800 --> 00:49:45,100
we were dead by our own shortcomings and

846
00:49:45,100 --> 00:49:49,280
trespasses, he, God, made us alive together in

847
00:49:49,280 --> 00:49:51,520
fellowship and in union with Christ.

848
00:49:51,760 --> 00:49:55,480
He gave us the very life of Christ

849
00:49:55,480 --> 00:49:58,820
himself, the same new life with which he

850
00:49:58,820 --> 00:49:59,380
quickened him.

851
00:50:03,010 --> 00:50:07,220
So the Lord Jesus, the perfect grain of

852
00:50:07,220 --> 00:50:11,300
wheat, taken down from the cross, was buried

853
00:50:11,300 --> 00:50:12,260
in the ground.

854
00:50:12,260 --> 00:50:13,800
God raised him from the dead.

855
00:50:14,600 --> 00:50:16,900
And there was fulfilled the wonderful promise, this

856
00:50:16,900 --> 00:50:18,060
day have I begotten you.

857
00:50:18,540 --> 00:50:24,420
Obedient unto death, he became the author of

858
00:50:24,420 --> 00:50:25,560
our eternal salvation.

859
00:50:27,960 --> 00:50:32,200
And the first ear of corn was reaped.

860
00:50:33,840 --> 00:50:38,100
It was a very fat, healthy ear of

861
00:50:38,100 --> 00:50:44,240
corn that was reaped of that first sinless

862
00:50:44,240 --> 00:50:46,820
grain that was laid at Calvary into the

863
00:50:46,820 --> 00:50:47,180
tomb.

864
00:50:49,440 --> 00:50:51,380
For on the day of Pentecost, we are

865
00:50:51,380 --> 00:50:58,500
told, some 120 men and women waited at

866
00:50:58,500 --> 00:51:03,220
Christ's command to receive the firstfruits of his

867
00:51:03,220 --> 00:51:04,100
death and resurrection.

868
00:51:05,860 --> 00:51:10,180
And on the day of Pentecost, their redeemed

869
00:51:10,180 --> 00:51:13,680
humanity was suddenly re-inhabited by the same

870
00:51:13,680 --> 00:51:16,440
spirit by whom he was raised from the

871
00:51:16,440 --> 00:51:16,740
dead.

872
00:51:20,900 --> 00:51:23,020
And the life of the Lord Jesus Christ

873
00:51:23,020 --> 00:51:24,400
that he had lived on earth in his

874
00:51:24,400 --> 00:51:29,360
own humanity was imparted by the Holy Spirit

875
00:51:29,360 --> 00:51:29,860
to them.

876
00:51:31,260 --> 00:51:33,480
And the life of the original grain was

877
00:51:33,480 --> 00:51:34,880
now reproduced.

878
00:51:35,520 --> 00:51:37,540
And the life of Peter and James and

879
00:51:37,540 --> 00:51:41,860
John and the other apostles waiting at Christ's

880
00:51:41,860 --> 00:51:44,600
command to be endued with power, life from

881
00:51:44,600 --> 00:51:47,020
on high, the lives they lived were not

882
00:51:47,020 --> 00:51:56,660
imitations according to a certain

883
00:51:56,660 --> 00:51:58,800
mold that was projected upon them.

884
00:51:59,160 --> 00:52:01,760
The lives they lived on earth were the

885
00:52:01,760 --> 00:52:04,240
life of Jesus Christ.

886
00:52:05,400 --> 00:52:07,340
The very same life of Jesus Christ.

887
00:52:08,880 --> 00:52:11,020
Now clothed with their humanity.

888
00:52:11,400 --> 00:52:14,360
For the life he lived had been reproduced

889
00:52:14,360 --> 00:52:14,740
in them.

890
00:52:15,560 --> 00:52:18,020
They became partakers of his divine nature.

891
00:52:18,660 --> 00:52:20,240
Life had sprung out of death.

892
00:52:22,580 --> 00:52:24,420
And the life that had been imparted to

893
00:52:24,420 --> 00:52:26,440
them by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit

894
00:52:26,440 --> 00:52:29,580
was in its turn imparted to grow and

895
00:52:29,580 --> 00:52:30,240
to reproduce.

896
00:52:32,280 --> 00:52:34,280
And on that very same afternoon the life

897
00:52:34,280 --> 00:52:36,260
of the Lord Jesus clothed now with the

898
00:52:36,260 --> 00:52:39,900
humanity of 120 men and women redeemed in

899
00:52:39,900 --> 00:52:47,610
his blood and re-inhabited received the Holy

900
00:52:47,610 --> 00:52:47,930
Spirit.

901
00:52:49,410 --> 00:52:52,110
And the life that the 3,000 others

902
00:52:52,110 --> 00:52:55,010
received was identical with the life that was

903
00:52:55,010 --> 00:52:57,670
lived by the original perfect grain of wheat.

904
00:52:58,950 --> 00:53:02,590
And all down the centuries life has sprung

905
00:53:02,590 --> 00:53:03,150
out of death.

906
00:53:04,390 --> 00:53:06,430
Until you and I today here in Lubbock

907
00:53:08,030 --> 00:53:09,790
if we are redeemed in the blood of

908
00:53:09,790 --> 00:53:13,930
Christ are the possessors of the same life

909
00:53:14,670 --> 00:53:17,870
of the original grain of wheat, the Lord

910
00:53:17,870 --> 00:53:18,130
Jesus.

911
00:53:18,990 --> 00:53:20,330
So we may say to me to live

912
00:53:20,330 --> 00:53:22,570
is Christ.

913
00:53:30,080 --> 00:53:31,740
What then is the object of the preaching

914
00:53:31,740 --> 00:53:32,440
of the truth?

915
00:53:35,410 --> 00:53:36,590
For the believer.

916
00:53:40,100 --> 00:53:41,920
The object, of course, of the preaching of

917
00:53:41,920 --> 00:53:43,920
the truth to the unbeliever is that they

918
00:53:43,920 --> 00:53:45,480
might be convicted of the fact that they're

919
00:53:45,480 --> 00:53:45,840
dead.

920
00:53:46,660 --> 00:53:47,500
Conviction of sin.

921
00:53:48,860 --> 00:53:50,960
And in repentance toward God they may put

922
00:53:50,960 --> 00:53:54,180
their faith in Jesus Christ the Redeemer and

923
00:53:54,180 --> 00:53:55,440
obtain the Holy Ghost.

924
00:53:58,540 --> 00:54:00,640
This is the spiritual ministry that we might

925
00:54:00,640 --> 00:54:04,900
obtain and be governed by the Holy Ghost.

926
00:54:05,880 --> 00:54:08,020
So the first ministry of the gospel is

927
00:54:08,020 --> 00:54:12,420
that unregenerate, unconverted, unforgiven sinners might obtain.

928
00:54:13,200 --> 00:54:15,080
That's the first object of preaching truth.

929
00:54:15,560 --> 00:54:17,680
That men might obtain what by nature they

930
00:54:17,680 --> 00:54:18,260
don't have.

931
00:54:18,640 --> 00:54:19,000
Life.

932
00:54:21,900 --> 00:54:23,680
But what's the full measure of the purpose

933
00:54:23,680 --> 00:54:24,740
of the preaching of the gospel?

934
00:54:24,900 --> 00:54:26,440
Not only that men and women and boys

935
00:54:26,440 --> 00:54:28,200
and girls might obtain, but that they might

936
00:54:28,200 --> 00:54:33,210
be governed by the Holy Ghost.

937
00:54:34,690 --> 00:54:35,370
Tell me this.

938
00:54:36,130 --> 00:54:38,530
How much good in terms of reproduction is

939
00:54:38,530 --> 00:54:40,430
the grain of wheat that has never submitted

940
00:54:40,430 --> 00:54:42,690
itself to death that it might be governed

941
00:54:42,690 --> 00:54:43,630
by the life within?

942
00:54:44,810 --> 00:54:48,630
How much jurisdiction, how much sovereignty how much

943
00:54:48,630 --> 00:54:51,390
control does the life germ within a grain

944
00:54:51,390 --> 00:54:53,950
of wheat exercise over that grain of wheat

945
00:54:53,950 --> 00:54:55,110
until the grain of wheat dies?

946
00:54:56,810 --> 00:54:57,350
None.

947
00:54:59,920 --> 00:55:02,660
For over a thousand, for three, four thousand

948
00:55:02,660 --> 00:55:06,080
years there were grains of wheat in the

949
00:55:06,080 --> 00:55:06,880
Pharaoh's tomb.

950
00:55:09,950 --> 00:55:12,190
And yet the life germ for all those

951
00:55:12,190 --> 00:55:15,230
thousands of years didn't make the slightest difference

952
00:55:15,230 --> 00:55:17,490
to the behavior or conduct of those grains

953
00:55:17,490 --> 00:55:17,850
of wheat.

954
00:55:20,160 --> 00:55:24,980
The hidden life germ exercised absolutely no jurisdiction,

955
00:55:25,360 --> 00:55:27,960
had absolutely no control over the shape of

956
00:55:27,960 --> 00:55:28,460
things to come.

957
00:55:28,660 --> 00:55:31,320
Not for thousands of years.

958
00:55:31,320 --> 00:55:33,200
And then suddenly those tombs were opened up,

959
00:55:33,520 --> 00:55:34,780
the grains of wheat were put into the

960
00:55:34,780 --> 00:55:44,720
ground, they died and suddenly fashioned

961
00:55:44,720 --> 00:55:45,680
the shape of things to come.

962
00:55:47,780 --> 00:55:48,260
See the point?

963
00:55:49,680 --> 00:55:50,580
You're born again.

964
00:55:51,880 --> 00:55:57,220
That means you've been born of the Spirit.

965
00:55:59,780 --> 00:56:00,780
That's what you are.

966
00:56:03,450 --> 00:56:05,290
Have you ever become what God intended you

967
00:56:05,290 --> 00:56:05,650
to be?

968
00:56:08,170 --> 00:56:09,910
Have you ever been begotten?

969
00:56:13,330 --> 00:56:15,250
The Lord Jesus could have been born without

970
00:56:15,250 --> 00:56:16,670
ever having been begotten.

971
00:56:17,850 --> 00:56:22,340
If he had chosen never to die but

972
00:56:22,340 --> 00:56:23,340
just go straight to heaven.

973
00:56:27,860 --> 00:56:29,940
Don't you see how tragically possible it is

974
00:56:29,940 --> 00:56:31,360
for you to be born of the Holy

975
00:56:31,360 --> 00:56:35,440
Spirit and have an imputed righteousness that will

976
00:56:35,440 --> 00:56:37,360
make you fit for heaven and gives you

977
00:56:37,360 --> 00:56:39,620
the right by virtue of the righteousness with

978
00:56:39,620 --> 00:56:42,160
which you have now been imputed, the righteousness

979
00:56:42,160 --> 00:56:44,120
with which you now are clothed, you have

980
00:56:44,120 --> 00:56:46,060
the right as a born again redeemed sinner

981
00:56:46,060 --> 00:56:55,040
to go straight to heaven and live forever

982
00:56:58,830 --> 00:56:59,290
alone.

983
00:57:03,930 --> 00:57:07,750
If as the recipient of the life of

984
00:57:07,750 --> 00:57:10,030
Jesus Christ you are never prepared to die

985
00:57:10,930 --> 00:57:14,950
to yourself, you'll get to heaven.

986
00:57:17,350 --> 00:57:19,070
If you've claimed cleansing in the blood of

987
00:57:19,070 --> 00:57:20,030
Christ, you'll get to heaven.

988
00:57:20,030 --> 00:57:21,630
You don't deserve it, but you'll get to

989
00:57:21,630 --> 00:57:21,870
heaven.

990
00:57:22,010 --> 00:57:22,730
That's why he died.

991
00:57:24,070 --> 00:57:25,870
And because your sin is forgiven and you're

992
00:57:25,870 --> 00:57:28,270
fit for heaven by the imputed righteousness of

993
00:57:28,270 --> 00:57:30,690
Christ, there has been imparted to you the

994
00:57:30,690 --> 00:57:31,430
life of Christ.

995
00:57:32,790 --> 00:57:34,210
But if you want to, you can live

996
00:57:34,210 --> 00:57:36,170
for 33 years on earth with the life

997
00:57:36,170 --> 00:57:38,870
of Christ imparted, never to be revealed.

998
00:57:40,450 --> 00:57:43,210
That life imparted to you never allowed to

999
00:57:43,210 --> 00:57:48,230
exercise any jurisdiction, never allowed to shape the

1000
00:57:48,230 --> 00:57:51,010
things to come, never allowed to play any

1001
00:57:51,010 --> 00:57:56,460
role in your life, never allowed to exercise

1002
00:57:56,460 --> 00:57:59,020
jurisdiction or sovereignty, and you will get to

1003
00:57:59,020 --> 00:58:09,660
heaven alive, remaining just one to live

1004
00:58:10,360 --> 00:58:13,540
by yourself eternally alone.

1005
00:58:18,620 --> 00:58:20,100
For if you hold on to what you

1006
00:58:20,100 --> 00:58:24,340
are as a forgiven sinner, you will never

1007
00:58:24,340 --> 00:58:26,840
become what God intended you to be.

1008
00:58:29,760 --> 00:58:33,220
You will never be declared to the world

1009
00:58:34,220 --> 00:58:35,300
for what you are.

1010
00:58:39,230 --> 00:58:41,570
How many believe that Jesus Christ really was

1011
00:58:41,570 --> 00:58:42,090
God's son?

1012
00:58:46,020 --> 00:58:47,880
There were some who said they believed, like

1013
00:58:47,880 --> 00:58:49,820
the apostles and the disciples, but when he

1014
00:58:49,820 --> 00:58:50,640
died, what then?

1015
00:58:53,270 --> 00:58:54,030
They all ran away.

1016
00:58:55,670 --> 00:58:58,690
And they said, we trusted that it had

1017
00:58:58,690 --> 00:59:00,710
been he that should have redeemed Israel.

1018
00:59:00,850 --> 00:59:01,530
We were mistaken.

1019
00:59:03,900 --> 00:59:07,780
Even after 33 years of sinlessness and perfect

1020
00:59:07,780 --> 00:59:15,460
ministry, nobody convinced.

1021
00:59:16,440 --> 00:59:18,080
Not even Peter, James, and John.

1022
00:59:19,460 --> 00:59:21,080
So that when the Lord Jesus, risen from

1023
00:59:21,080 --> 00:59:23,000
the dead according to program, stood in the

1024
00:59:23,000 --> 00:59:24,320
midst and showed them his hands and his

1025
00:59:24,320 --> 00:59:26,280
feet and said, be not afraid, it is

1026
00:59:26,280 --> 00:59:26,900
I myself.

1027
00:59:26,980 --> 00:59:28,700
Handle me and see, they all thought they'd

1028
00:59:28,700 --> 00:59:29,320
seen a ghost.

1029
00:59:34,680 --> 00:59:39,220
When was he convincingly declared to be the

1030
00:59:39,220 --> 00:59:40,460
son of God with power?

1031
00:59:43,060 --> 00:59:54,390
Romans chapter 1, verse

1032
00:59:54,390 --> 00:59:54,670
1.

1033
00:59:57,480 --> 01:00:01,160
Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to

1034
01:00:01,160 --> 01:00:04,400
be an apostle, separated under the gospel of

1035
01:00:04,400 --> 01:00:08,240
God, which he had promised afore by his

1036
01:00:08,240 --> 01:00:14,320
prophets in the holy scriptures concerning his son,

1037
01:00:15,220 --> 01:00:18,240
Jesus Christ, our Lord.

1038
01:00:18,900 --> 01:00:20,780
Get the significance of that, it's so easy

1039
01:00:20,780 --> 01:00:23,000
to read a verse and you don't quite

1040
01:00:23,000 --> 01:00:23,780
get what it says.

1041
01:00:24,380 --> 01:00:27,920
Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to

1042
01:00:27,920 --> 01:00:31,000
be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of

1043
01:00:31,000 --> 01:00:31,200
God.

1044
01:00:31,280 --> 01:00:32,140
That's the thing to remember.

1045
01:00:32,780 --> 01:00:35,740
Paul was separated unto the gospel of God.

1046
01:00:36,000 --> 01:00:38,740
His vocation was to declare the gospel of

1047
01:00:38,740 --> 01:00:43,440
God, verse 3, concerning God's son, Jesus Christ,

1048
01:00:43,560 --> 01:00:43,880
our Lord.

1049
01:00:44,500 --> 01:00:48,240
Paul was separated to the proclamation of the

1050
01:00:48,240 --> 01:00:51,900
good news concerning God's son, Jesus Christ, our

1051
01:00:51,900 --> 01:00:54,920
Lord, which was made of the seed of

1052
01:00:54,920 --> 01:00:56,740
David, according to the flesh.

1053
01:00:56,840 --> 01:01:00,160
When was he made of the seed of

1054
01:01:00,160 --> 01:01:02,040
David, according to the flesh?

1055
01:01:03,220 --> 01:01:03,700
Bethlehem.

1056
01:01:04,080 --> 01:01:05,400
That is when he was born.

1057
01:01:07,180 --> 01:01:08,080
Verse 4.

1058
01:01:10,140 --> 01:01:12,860
And declared to be the son of God

1059
01:01:12,860 --> 01:01:17,420
with power, according to the Holy Spirit, by

1060
01:01:17,420 --> 01:01:18,700
the resurrection from the dead.

1061
01:01:18,760 --> 01:01:20,300
What happened on the day he was resurrected

1062
01:01:20,300 --> 01:01:20,920
from the dead?

1063
01:01:20,980 --> 01:01:21,720
He was begotten.

1064
01:01:24,260 --> 01:01:26,120
Was he declared to be the son of

1065
01:01:26,120 --> 01:01:27,200
God with power?

1066
01:01:30,440 --> 01:01:31,000
Oh, no.

1067
01:01:34,520 --> 01:01:36,380
He was declared to be the son of

1068
01:01:36,380 --> 01:01:38,040
God with power on the day that he

1069
01:01:38,040 --> 01:01:39,660
was begotten from the dead.

1070
01:01:41,910 --> 01:01:43,610
And when risen from the dead, he stood

1071
01:01:43,610 --> 01:01:45,210
in the midst of his disciples and showed

1072
01:01:45,210 --> 01:01:47,070
them his hands and his feet, the hallmarks

1073
01:01:47,070 --> 01:01:49,310
of his saviourhood, and said, Handle me and

1074
01:01:49,310 --> 01:01:49,570
see.

1075
01:01:49,890 --> 01:01:51,730
It says that the gloom was banished.

1076
01:02:42,590 --> 01:02:43,870
Not until he was raised from the dead.

1077
01:02:45,190 --> 01:02:46,310
How long have you been born?

1078
01:02:47,810 --> 01:02:48,970
Into the family of heaven.

1079
01:02:55,230 --> 01:02:57,290
How convincing to the world around you has

1080
01:02:57,290 --> 01:02:59,010
your claim to sonship been?

1081
01:03:00,290 --> 01:03:03,130
How convincing amongst your friends?

1082
01:03:03,830 --> 01:03:06,090
How convincing amongst your business associates?

1083
01:03:07,010 --> 01:03:09,390
How convincing amongst your own family?

1084
01:03:10,430 --> 01:03:12,750
How convincing amongst your fellow students?

1085
01:03:13,670 --> 01:03:16,970
How convincing in the school classroom has your

1086
01:03:16,970 --> 01:03:18,810
claim been to sonship?

1087
01:03:19,670 --> 01:03:20,830
You have given testimony.

1088
01:03:20,990 --> 01:03:21,630
You've given witness.

1089
01:03:21,750 --> 01:03:22,410
I'm born again.

1090
01:03:22,530 --> 01:03:23,250
I'm a son of God.

1091
01:03:23,310 --> 01:03:24,110
I'm a daughter of God.

1092
01:03:30,040 --> 01:03:31,600
I'm a I tell you this, that your

1093
01:03:31,600 --> 01:03:34,460
claim to sonship will never be declared with

1094
01:03:34,460 --> 01:03:43,380
convincing power until you by faith in you

1095
01:03:43,380 --> 01:03:49,340
and through you until you have allowed the

1096
01:03:49,340 --> 01:03:51,280
Holy Spirit who has come to indwell your

1097
01:03:51,280 --> 01:04:10,020
human Jesus

1098
01:04:10,020 --> 01:04:10,560
Christ.

1099
01:04:11,540 --> 01:04:14,020
Then at last your testimony will be convincing.

1100
01:04:14,920 --> 01:04:16,680
When what you are and what you do

1101
01:04:16,680 --> 01:04:21,320
is explicable only in terms of Jesus then

1102
01:04:21,320 --> 01:04:23,100
your sonship will be declared with power.

1103
01:04:26,200 --> 01:04:29,960
Then you will begin to live supernaturally.

1104
01:04:30,600 --> 01:04:32,260
A life that isn't yours.

1105
01:04:34,780 --> 01:04:38,040
Then you will be legitimately numbered amongst those

1106
01:04:38,040 --> 01:04:41,980
who by a moral and spiritual resurrection have

1107
01:04:41,980 --> 01:04:44,620
been lifted out from among the dead even

1108
01:04:44,620 --> 01:04:45,640
while still in the body.

1109
01:04:46,580 --> 01:04:48,440
And your friends and your family and your

1110
01:04:48,440 --> 01:04:50,700
school chums and your fellow students will scratch

1111
01:04:50,700 --> 01:04:53,300
their head and your business associates and they

1112
01:04:53,300 --> 01:04:55,100
say I don't know really what that chap

1113
01:04:55,100 --> 01:04:57,060
is talking about but one thing I know

1114
01:04:57,060 --> 01:05:00,440
is this there's no explanation for that fellow's

1115
01:05:00,440 --> 01:05:02,320
life, there's no explanation for that boy's life,

1116
01:05:02,420 --> 01:05:04,440
that woman's life, that girl's life but Jesus

1117
01:05:04,440 --> 01:05:04,900
Christ.

1118
01:05:07,870 --> 01:05:10,030
Then your sonship will have been declared with

1119
01:05:10,030 --> 01:05:10,430
power.

1120
01:05:14,530 --> 01:05:17,850
Born and begotten.

1121
01:05:22,560 --> 01:05:23,260
You're a Christian.

1122
01:05:24,180 --> 01:05:25,720
Well thank God for that you've been born.

1123
01:05:31,540 --> 01:05:33,060
Have you ever been begotten?

1124
01:05:36,890 --> 01:05:44,100
Is the resurrection life of Jesus Christ manifestly

1125
01:05:44,100 --> 01:05:45,460
obvious to the world around you?

1126
01:05:50,660 --> 01:06:00,360
To you unconsciously declaring your sonship, the life

1127
01:06:00,360 --> 01:06:03,460
you live being a million times more compelling

1128
01:06:03,460 --> 01:06:08,280
than the word you speak because what you

1129
01:06:08,280 --> 01:06:10,860
are in terms of human character is only

1130
01:06:10,860 --> 01:06:15,320
explicable to the world around you in terms

1131
01:06:15,320 --> 01:06:16,340
of Jesus Christ.

1132
01:06:25,690 --> 01:06:27,470
That is normal Christianity.

1133
01:06:31,200 --> 01:06:32,740
That is what it means to be a

1134
01:06:32,740 --> 01:06:36,400
healthy member of the body of Christ that

1135
01:06:36,400 --> 01:06:39,420
is filled with the full measure of himself

1136
01:06:39,420 --> 01:06:46,180
who fills everything everywhere and that is why

1137
01:06:46,180 --> 01:06:47,980
he died and rose again.

1138
01:06:49,660 --> 01:06:56,480
That was his and to live anything less

1139
01:06:56,480 --> 01:06:58,280
than a life like that is to cheat

1140
01:06:58,280 --> 01:07:02,060
Jesus Christ of that for which he was

1141
01:07:02,060 --> 01:07:08,340
born, lived and died and rose again.

1142
01:07:13,960 --> 01:07:18,200
Tomorrow evening we're going to pick up the

1143
01:07:18,200 --> 01:07:21,880
threads from there and I suggest that in

1144
01:07:21,880 --> 01:07:25,340
anticipation you take the trouble to read the

1145
01:07:25,340 --> 01:07:29,060
first dozen verses say of the 55th chapter

1146
01:07:29,060 --> 01:07:36,650
of Isaiah Isaiah 55 and in our closing

1147
01:07:36,650 --> 01:07:41,210
message tomorrow night after a simple demonstration that

1148
01:07:41,210 --> 01:07:42,630
I shall give you in terms of pictures,

1149
01:07:42,770 --> 01:07:44,410
these aren't pretty pictures, they're not designed to

1150
01:07:44,410 --> 01:07:46,250
entertain you they may even be some of

1151
01:07:46,250 --> 01:07:47,930
the pictures I showed you last year because

1152
01:07:47,930 --> 01:07:50,010
I've only brought a very small selection as

1153
01:07:50,010 --> 01:07:52,770
I'm travelling rather a long way and to

1154
01:07:52,770 --> 01:07:55,970
save weight but after a simple illustration of

1155
01:07:55,970 --> 01:07:59,250
the principle in terms of these sequences that

1156
01:07:59,250 --> 01:08:01,910
I shall show you the latter part of

1157
01:08:01,910 --> 01:08:06,900
the meeting we shall explore what really happens

1158
01:08:06,900 --> 01:08:08,200
when a grain of wheat grows into the

1159
01:08:08,200 --> 01:08:11,280
ground and dies in other words when a

1160
01:08:11,280 --> 01:08:20,700
Christian yields to the demands of discipleship the

1161
01:08:20,700 --> 01:08:24,100
sheer thrill of it the sheer privilege of

1162
01:08:24,100 --> 01:08:29,160
it the sheer inevitability of blessing inherent in

1163
01:08:29,160 --> 01:08:36,340
it it should send us away hilariously happy

1164
01:08:40,729 --> 01:08:45,149
more than conquerors through him that loved us

1165
01:08:48,700 --> 01:08:59,170
to be normal Christians instead of subnormal now

1166
01:08:59,170 --> 01:09:06,060
let's bow our heads in prayer Lord Jesus

1167
01:09:06,060 --> 01:09:15,670
we thank thee for thy obedience unto

1168
01:09:15,670 --> 01:09:19,609
death we thank thee for thy willingness to

1169
01:09:19,609 --> 01:09:28,029
relinquish that thou mightest become just what we

1170
01:09:28,029 --> 01:09:34,460
need the author of our eternal salvation and

1171
01:09:34,460 --> 01:09:39,899
how we bless thee tonight that we possess

1172
01:09:39,899 --> 01:09:46,149
thy life that thou art for us the

1173
01:09:46,729 --> 01:09:56,730
beginning the first begotten amongst many brethren how

1174
01:09:56,730 --> 01:09:58,590
we thank that we may be numbered tonight

1175
01:09:59,690 --> 01:10:03,870
amongst the many brethren of whom thou art

1176
01:10:03,870 --> 01:10:07,650
the first begotten who share the life with

1177
01:10:07,650 --> 01:10:10,270
which thou thyself was raised from the dead

1178
01:10:12,930 --> 01:10:15,550
we pray that we may be declared in

1179
01:10:15,550 --> 01:10:20,910
our sonship with power by the Holy Ghost

1180
01:10:22,600 --> 01:10:26,040
and for thy name's sake Amen