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We have spoken already of the purpose of

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God in creation and have said that he's

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embraced far more than Adam ever came to

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enjoy.

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What was that purpose?

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God wanted to have a race of men

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whose members were gifted with a spirit whereby

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communion would be possible with himself who is

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spirit.

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That race, possessing God's own life, was to

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cooperate in securing his purposed end by defeating

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every possible uprising of the enemy and undoing

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his evil works.

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That was the great plan.

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How will it now be effected?

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The answer is again to be found in

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the death of the Lord Jesus.

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It is a mighty death.

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It is something positive and purposive, going far

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beyond the recovery of a lost position.

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For by it, not only are sin and

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the old man dealt with and their effects

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annulled, but something more, something infinitely greater is

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introduced.

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Now we must have before us two passages

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of the word, one from Genesis 2 and

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one from Ephesians 5, which are of great

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importance in this connection.

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And the Lord God caused a deep sleep

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to fall upon the man and he slept.

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And he took one of his ribs and

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closed up the flesh instead thereof.

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And the rib which the Lord God had

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taken from the man made he a woman

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and brought her unto the man.

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And the man said, this is now bone

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of my bones and flesh of my flesh.

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She shall be called woman because she was

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taken out of man.

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Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also

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loved the church and gave himself up for

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it, that he might sanctify it, having cleansed

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it by the washing of water with the

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word, that he might present the church to

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himself, a glorious church, not having spot or

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wrinkle or any such thing, but that it

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should be holy and without blemish.

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In Ephesians 5, we have the only chapter

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in the Bible which explains the passage in

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Genesis 2.

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What we have presented to us in Ephesians

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is indeed very remarkable if we reflect upon

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it.

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I refer to what is contained in those

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words, Christ loved the church.

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There is something most precious here.

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We have been taught to think of ourselves

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as sinners needing redemption.

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For generations that has been instilled into us.

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We praise the Lord for that as our

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beginning, but it is not what God has

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in view as his end.

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God speaks here rather of a glorious church,

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not having spot or wrinkle or any such

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thing, but holy and without blemish.

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All too often we have thought of the

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church as being merely so many saved sinners.

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It is that, but we have made the

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terms almost equal to one another as though

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it were only that which is not the

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case.

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Saved sinners, with that thought you have the

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whole background of sin and the fall.

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But in God's sight, the church is a

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divine creation in his son.

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The one is largely individual, the other corporate.

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With the one the view is negative, belonging

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to the past.

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With the other it is positive, looking forward.

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The eternal purpose is something in the mind

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of God from eternity concerning his son.

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And it has as its objective that the

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son should have a body to express his

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life.

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Viewed from that standpoint, from the standpoint of

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the heart of God, the church is something

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which is beyond sin and has never been

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touched by sin.

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So we have an aspect of the death

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of the Lord Jesus in Ephesians, which we

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do not have so clearly in other places.

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In Romans, things are viewed from the standpoint

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of fallen man.

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And beginning with Christ died for sinners, enemies,

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the ungodly, we are led progressively to the

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love of Christ.

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In Ephesians on the other hand, the standpoint

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is that of God before the foundation of

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the world.

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And the heart of the gospel is Christ

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loved the church and gave himself up for

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it.

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Thus in Romans, it is we sinned and

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the messages of God's love for sinners.

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Whereas in Ephesians, it is Christ loved.

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And the love here is the love of

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husband for wife.

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God forbid that I should suggest that the

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Lord Jesus did not die for the purposes

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of atonement.

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Praise God he did.

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We must remember that today we are in

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fact in Ephesians 5 and not in Genesis

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2.

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Ephesians was written after the fall to men

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who had suffered from its effects.

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And in it, we have not only the

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purpose in creation, but also the scars of

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the fall, or there would need to be

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no mention of spot or wrinkle.

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Because we are still on the earth and

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the fall is a historic fact, cleansing is

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needed.

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But we must always view redemption as an

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interruption, an emergency measure made necessary by a

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catastrophic break in the straight line of the

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purpose of God.

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Redemption is big enough, wonderful enough to occupy

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a very large place in our vision.

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But God is saying that we should not

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make redemption to be everything, as though man

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were created to be redeemed.

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The fall is indeed a tragic dip downwards

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in that line of purpose.

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And the atonement, a blessed recovery whereby our

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sins are blotted out and we are restored.

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But when it is accomplished, there yet remains

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a work to be done to bring us

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into possession of that which Adam never possessed

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and to give God that which his heart

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desires.

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For God has never forsaken the purpose which

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is represented by that straight line.

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Adam was never in possession of the life

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of God as presented in the tree of

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life.

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But because of the one work of the

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Lord Jesus in his death and resurrection, we

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must emphasize again that it is all one

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work.

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His life was released to become ours by

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faith.

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And we have received more than Adam ever

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possessed.

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The very purpose of God is brought within

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reach of fulfillment by our receiving Christ as

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our life.

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Adam was put to sleep.

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We remember that it is said of believers

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that they fall asleep rather than that they

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die.

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Why?

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Because whenever death is mentioned, sin is there

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in the background.

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In Genesis 3, sin entered into the world

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and death through sin.

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But Adam's sleep preceded that.

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So the type of the Lord Jesus here

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is not like other types in the Old

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Testament.

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In relation to sin and atonement, there is

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a lamb or a bullock slain.

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But here Adam was not slain, but only

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put to sleep, to awake again.

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Thus he prefigures a death that is not

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on account of sin, but that has in

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view increase in resurrection.

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Then too, we must note that Eve was

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not created as a separate entity by a

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separate creation parallel to that of Adam.

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Adam slept and Eve was created out of

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Adam.

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That is God's method with the church.

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God's second man has awakened from his sleep

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and his church is created in him and

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of him to draw her life from him

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and to display that resurrection life.

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God has a son who is known to

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be the only begotten.

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And God is seeking that the only begotten

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son should have brethren.

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From the position of only begotten, he will

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become the first begotten.

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And instead of the son alone, the entrance

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of thy words giveth light.

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Some servant of God has been used by

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him to confront us with his living word.

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And that word has made an entrance into

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us.

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Or perhaps we ourselves have been waiting before

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God, whether from our memory of scripture or

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from the page itself, his word has come

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to us in power.

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Then it is, we see something we've never

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seen before.

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We're convicted.

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We know where we are wrong and we

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look up and confess, Lord, I see it.

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There is impurity there.

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There is mixture.

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How blind I was.

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Just fancy that for so many years I've

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been wrong there and have never known it.

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Light comes in and we see light.

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The light of God brings us to see

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the light concerning ourselves.

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And it is an abiding principle that every

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knowledge of self comes to us in that

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way.

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Light has one law.

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It shines wherever it is admitted.

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That is the only requirement.

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We may shut it out of ourselves.

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It fears nothing else.

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If we throw ourselves open to God, he

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will reveal.

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The trouble comes when we have closed areas,

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locked and barred places in our hearts where

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we think with pride that we are right.

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Our defeat then lies not only in our

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being wrong but in our not knowing that

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we are wrong.

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Wrong may be a question of natural strength.

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Ignorance of it.

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You can see the natural strength in some

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but they cannot see it in themselves.

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And we need to be sincere and humble

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and to open ourselves before God.

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Those who are open can see.

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God is light.

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We cannot live in his light and be

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without understanding.

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Let us say again with the psalmist, oh

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send out thy light and thy truth.

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Let them lead me.

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We praise God that sin is being brought

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to the notice of Christians today more than

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hitherto.

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In many places the eyes of Christians have

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been opened to see that victory over sins

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as items is important in Christian life.

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And in consequence, many are walking closer to

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the Lord in seeking deliverance and victory over

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them.

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Praise the Lord for any movement toward himself,

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any movement back to real holiness and to

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God.

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But that is not enough.

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There is one thing that must be touched

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and that is the very life of the

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man, not merely his sins.

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The question of the personality of the man,

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of his soul power, it is the heart

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of the matter.

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To make the question of sins to be

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everything is still to be on the surface.

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Holiness, if you only regard sins, is still

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something on the outside, still superficial.

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You have not yet got to the root

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of the evil.

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Adam did not let sin into the world

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by committing murder, that came later.

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Adam let in sin by choosing to have

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his soul developed to a place where he

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could go on by himself, apart from God.

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When therefore God secures a race of men

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who will be to his glory and who

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will be his instrument to accomplish his purpose

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in the universe, they will be a people

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whose life, yea, whose very breath is dependent

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upon him.

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He will be the tree of life to

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them.

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What I feel more and more the need

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of in myself, what I feel that we

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all need, as the Lord's children need, to

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seek from God, is a real revelation of

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ourselves.

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I repeat that I do not mean that

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we should be forever looking in on ourselves

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and asking now, is this soul or is

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it spirit?

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That will never get us anywhere.

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It is darkness, no.

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Scripture shows us how the saints were brought

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to self-knowledge, was always by light from

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God, and that light is God himself.

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Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Peter, Paul, John, all came

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to a knowledge of themselves because the Lord

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flashed himself upon them, and that flash brought

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revelation and conviction.

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We can never know the hatefulness of sin

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and the hatefulness of ourselves unless there is

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that flash of God upon us.

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I speak not of a sensation, but of

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an inward revelation of the Lord himself through

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his word.

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It does for us what doctrine alone can

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never do.

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Christ is our light.

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He is the living word.

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And when we read the scriptures that life

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in him brings revelation, that life was the

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light of men, such illumination may not come

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to us all at once, but gradually.

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But it will be more and more clear

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and searching until we see ourselves in the

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light of God and all our self-confidence

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is gone.

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For light is the purest thing in the

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world.

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It cleanses, it sterilizes, it kills what should

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not be there.

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In its radiance, the dividing asunder of joints

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and marrows becomes to us a fact and

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no mere teaching.

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We know fear and trembling as we recognize

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the corruption of man's nature, the hatefulness of

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our own selves, and the real threat to

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the work of God of our unrestrained soul,

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life, and energy.

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As never before, we see now how much

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of us needs God's drastic dealing if he

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is to use us.

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And we know that apart from him as

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the servants of God, we are finished.

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But here, the cross, in its widest meaning,

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will come to our help again.

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And we shall seek now to examine an

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aspect of its work which meets and deals

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with our problem of the human soul.

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For only a thorough understanding of the cross

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can bring us to that place of dependence

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which the Lord Jesus himself voluntarily took when

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he said, I can of myself do nothing.

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As I hear, I judge.

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And my judgment is righteous because I seek

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not mine own will but the will of

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him that sent me.