Twenty-sixth verse, Romans, chapter sixteen, verse twenty
-five.
Now to him that is of power to
establish you according to my gospel and the
preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation
of the mystery which was kept secret since
the world's beginning.
It now is made manifest, and by the
scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment
of the everlasting God, made known to all
nations for the obedience to him.
God who is able to establish you according
to my gospel, according to the preaching of
Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the
mystery that we've been hearing about.
This mystery which is quite in the hope
of God.
And now it's made manifest.
Now it's an open secret, according to the
commandment of the everlasting God.
This open secret, this mystery has been made
known to all nations for the obedience of
him.
For God, you remember that the Lord Jesus
Christ said that truth shall make you free.
But truth is only a liberating truth insofar
as it becomes an applied truth.
The truth of redemption from the penalty of
your sins is the shed blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ never saves you from the
condemnation of your sins until that truth is
applied by faith, until you live the obedience
of faith.
God has limited himself in this area.
He has limited himself by the law of
faith.
And the truth of redemption through the precious
blood of Christ will only set you free
by the obedience of faith when that truth
becomes an applied truth.
But the fuller mystery, the fuller message, this
glorious full gospel of Jesus Christ, this revelation
that was lit from the foundations of the
world, involves something more, as we have seen
already, than the redemption from the penalty of
sin.
We are told that not only did he
die 1900 years ago, externally, that he was
the consequence of our sins in our relationship
to God, but having thus redeemed us and
reconciled us to a holy God, this risen
Lord Jesus, being his God of the right
hand, came in the purse of the holy
city to impart his liberating life, moment by
moment, to the believers, that he might be
a partaker of his divine nature.
And this remains a theory, a cold, impersonal
theory, until it has been, as a truth,
applied by faith, and then it becomes a
liberating truth.
And that is precisely what has been happening.
We have lived in these one or two
days.
There are many of you here, thank God,
who have known these truths now for many,
many months, and sometimes years, but over the
past few hours and days, we have seen
for the first time a crime preached by
heaven, and that truth immediately becomes to a
liberating truth, and it sets you free, and
you step out into the liberty where the
Christ has made you free, and it is
God now who is going to establish you
in it, according to my gospel.
What a wonderful thing it is, this fact,
for those of you who, for the first
time, have claimed, by faith, the life of
the Lord Jesus as your life, in the
same way that once you claimed in your
religion.
You are saying, thank you now for his
power, his victory, his joy, his purpose, his
glorious reckless abandon.
You are thanking him now for that glory
that's already been written, that now he's begun
to tell the concerns of your humanity.
You're thanking him now with a new belief,
a new relaxation, spiritually, for the melody that
has already been composed, and God's going to
play the tune, for the picture that he's
already painted, that he's going to translate now
upon the common canvas of your life.
It's a thrilling and a wonderful thing at
last to be able, spiritually, to relax, and
know that everything is in his hands, and
at last, in your heart, there reigns a
government capable of governing.
Now, that's what it means to have weapons,
when Jesus Christ is Lord and Light.
And there's a very, very, very beautiful picture
given to us of this in the eleventh
chapter of Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy chapter eleven, verse ten.
The land where thou goest into possession is
not as the land of Egypt from whence
you came up, where thou sowed thy seed
and watered it with thy foot as a
garden of heaven.
But the land whither you go to possess
it is a land of hills and valleys
and drinketh water of the rain of heaven,
a land which the Lord thy God careth
for.
The eyes of the Lord thy God are
always upon it from the beginning of the
year even unto the end of the year.
Now, isn't that a wonderful, wonderful picture?
Isn't it?
Didn't you mark that in your Bible and
say hallelujah in your heart?
The land whither thou goest into possession is
not as the land of Egypt.
Not as the land of Egypt.
They sowed the seed there, and there they
had to water it with their feet.
They only got as much water as they
kicked up with their own feet.
It was just a planting ground for the
flesh.
That's what Egypt was.
All the water they ever got came from
beneath.
But the land whither ye go to possess
it is a land of hills and valleys
and drinketh water of the rain of heaven.
It comes down from God.
It's a land which the Lord thy God
careth for.
He waters the valleys.
He waters the hills.
And the eyes of the Lord thy God
are always upon it from the beginning of
the year even unto the end of the
year.
Thousands months in the year.
Finished with this business of being up one
moment and down the next?
You've entered into a land which God cares
for and He's watered it with the rain
from heaven.
And He looked after it twelve months in
the year.
Now that's a land worth having.
And this is the land that God had
given.
And this is what it means to enjoy
liberty in Christ and to discover in the
Lord Jesus himself from within a well springing
up unto everlasting life and that is His
life now.
Everlasting life begins from the moment you are
redeemed and Christ who is that life takes
up residence within your redeemed humanity.
Well that's lovely.
And this is the land into which by
faith now perhaps it was almost a cold
bloody place by faith He entered and with
nothing but a history of failure in the
past He stepped out into Christ.
Well now, just a word of warning.
Let's turn back a page or two to
the 8th chapter.
Deuteronomy 8 and verse 10.
The Lord thy God brings thee into a
good land a land of brook, of water,
of fountain and depths that spring out of
valleys and hills.
This is the 7th verse of the 8th
chapter of Deuteronomy.
A land of wheat, and barley, and vines,
and figs, and pomegranates a land of oil,
and olive, and honey a land wherein thou
shalt eat bread without thirst and thou shalt
not lack anything in it a land whose
hills are iron and out of whose hills
thou mayest dig brass.
Now that, that's the wealth which has become
yours in Jesus Christ.
And, just remember, how long did this land
belong to the children of Israel during the
40 years they wandered up and down in
the wilderness?
How long?
It belonged to them every day, every moment
of that 40 years and they never tasted
a grain.
It was theirs the whole time, but they
wouldn't hate it.
They wouldn't hate it.
What stupid ashes so many of us have
been, haven't we?
To live in self-imposed poverty instead of
entering into the wealth which God has provided
for us in Jesus Christ.
That was the stupidity of the children of
Israel.
This was their stupidity.
It was never God's purpose.
God's purpose for them, we read quite distinctly
in the 4th chapter and the 37th and
the 38th verse Because he loved thy fathers,
therefore he chose their feed after them He
brought thee out in his sight with his
mighty power out of Egypt to drive out
nations from before thee greater and mightier than
thou art to bring thee in.
He brought thee out to bring thee in.
That was the purpose of God.
But they just would not show it.
And do you remember how in the 14th
chapter of Numbers and the 34th verse God
said, Numbers 14-34 After the number of
the days in which ye searched the land,
even forty days each day for a year,
should ye bear your iniquities, even forty years
and ye shall know my breach of promise.
God's breach of promise.
In the margin you have a simple translation
of that.
The altering of my purpose.
It was never God's design that they should
come out of Egypt stay in the wilderness
for forty years before going into Canaan.
That was never the purpose of God.
It was in response only to the rebellion
of their hearts, their total unbelief because they
would not believe that the God who brought
them out could take them in God says
you will now endure my breach of promise.
You will endure, you will suffer the altering
of my purpose.
And I swear in my wrath, God said,
that they should not enter into my reign.
How pig-headed we are.
Do you know why we're pig-headed?
Because we're pig-hearted.
We will not go in.
But some of you have gone in.
You sent the old pig to the slaughterhouse.
Well, that's great.
And I hope these few verses in the
eighth chapter of Deuteronomy, which we're going to
return I hope these few verses now have
made your mouths water.
Mines, pigs, pomegranates, milk and honey.
Verse 10.
Deuteronomy 8.
When thou hast eaten and art full, then
thou shalt bless the Lord thy God for
the good land which he hath given thee.
You didn't deserve it.
You didn't earn it.
You simply took it and you said thank
you.
Beware that thou forget'st not the Lord thy
God.
In not keeping his commandments and his judgment
and his tactics which I commanded this day.
Lest, when thou hast eaten and art full,
and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein,
and when thy herds and thy flocks multiply,
and thy sievens, silver, and thy gold is
multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied.
This is the characteristic of the land of
Canaan, multiplication.
There isn't one nation in Canaan.
There is multiplication in Canaan.
It is far more important that you, as
a Bible student here, should come to know
the Lord Jesus in the power of his
resurrection, that his life might flow out through
you to the healing of the nation, than
you should in the four years that you're
here, learn all the techniques in the world
about evangelism or missionary enterprise.
It is infinitely more important that you should
know this than anything else.
And if you were to go out without
any training whatever, but you knew Jesus Christ
and the power of his resurrection, you'd be
a thousand times more useful on the mission
field than with all the techniques in the
world crammed into your useless head without Christ
in your heart.
That's a fact.
But beware.
Lest, when you have entered by faith into
the law of spiritual multiplication, verse 14, Thine
heart be lifted up, and thou forget the
Lord thy God, which brought thee forth out
of the land of Egypt from the house
of bondage.
Verse 17, And thou say in thine heart,
My power and the might of mine hand
hath gotten me this way.
Now that's a very real danger.
There are those who have tasted in measure
by faith of the possibility of the life
of Jesus Christ within them.
And yet to some it's a memory.
It's an experience of the past.
It's true in measure that every believer has
those moments when almost by accident they reckon
by faith upon the facts of Christ.
And they enjoy what he is, and they
don't really know how or what it was
that happened.
They simply look back upon it as a
peak experience in their spiritual lives.
You see, because I've tried to impress upon
you this from the very start of our
meetings here, that when by faith you step
into what Christ is within you, you are
not getting anything new, you're simply taking what
has been yours ever since you were saved.
And that's why lots of carnal Christians have
moments when they are spiritual.
Because accidentally they become spiritual.
You see, accidentally they begin to reckon upon
Christ who's there the whole time.
But they don't know what it is that's
happened.
And they seem to look back upon it
as a phenomenon of their spiritual experience.
It's usually related to a rally like this,
or usually related to some conference or a
special series of evangelistic meetings, when they're sort
of lifted out of themselves and accidentally plunked
into the place of faith.
But because they don't know what it's all
about, they seem to slither back into the
old place again, you see.
They forget.
And it's possible, it's possible for those of
you who have, by faith, indeed they've stepped
into all the wealth which is Christ, when
you've begun to taste the good of the
Lamb, to forget, to forget, to forget, and
begin to say, my power and the might
of my hand has gotten me this wealth.
But thou shalt remember, verse 18, thou shalt
remember the Lord thy God, for it is
he that giveth thee power to get wealth.
It is he that giveth thee power to
get wealth.
Now will you lay hold upon this as
a spiritual principle that has got to be
absolutely paramount in all your spiritual activity, in
every area of Christian service to which God
may call you?
It is he, and it is he alone,
who gives thee power to get wealth.
It is not your organizational ability, it's not
the amount of financial support that you may
be able to elicit from the home folks,
it's not your own natural gifts, it isn't
your ability to preach, it isn't your willful
personality, it isn't your bullying, dominating capacity to
undermine the wills of other people.
It has absolutely nothing to do whatever with
you.
It is he that giveth thee power to
get wealth, if it should be the kind
of wealth that will stand the test of
time and eternity.
It is he that giveth thee power to
get wealth, always, under all circumstances, and without
exception.
Chapter 9 and verse 4, speak not thou
in thine heart, after that the Lord thy
God hath cast these giants out from before
thee, saying, For my righteousness the Lord hath
brought me to possess this land.
Verse 5, Not for thy righteousness, or for
the uprightness of thine heart, dost thou go
to possess their land, but for the wickedness
of these nations the Lord thy God hath
striven out from before thee.
And that he may perform the word which
the Lord sware unto thy fathers Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob.
It is God's integrity to his declared word.
It is a liberating truth which God hath
uttered in mercy, and which he is in
honour bound to implement to those who by
faith and totally undeservedly take what God is
willing to give.
Now that's the basis upon whichever you will
be get wealth of the kind that stands
the test, and time for eternity.
You look in that lovely little verse, Micah
7, 20.
If you're not quite sure where to find
Micah, don't fumble.
Can't find it myself.
Micah, last verse, chapter 7, verse 20.
It's a very precious verse to me.
Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and
the mercy to Abraham.
Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and
the mercy to Abraham.
When God gave his promise to Abraham, he
uttered that promise in mercy.
It was an act of grace.
God was under no obligation forever to say
what he did to Abraham.
He promised that his seed should be as
the stars of heaven, and as the sand
of the seashore.
He promised that they should enter into this
land for an inheritance.
He said also that in his seed all
the plants of the earth should be blessed.
Everything that God uttered to Abraham, God uttered
out of the goodness and the fullness of
his heart in mercy.
But the moment that God had committed himself
in mercy to Abraham, it became for all
generations the truth to Jacob.
And it became the truth to you, and
the truth to me.
Everything that God has uttered in mercy has
become truth for eternity.
For every promise of God is gay and
amen in Christ Jesus.
And you see here in the ninth chapter
of Deuteronomy, Moses is reminding the people that
he does not strive them out for their
righteousness or for the uprightness of their own
hearts, but God does it that he might
perform the word which he sware unto their
fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
His mercy to Abraham, his truth to Isaac,
his truth to Jacob, his truth to the
children of Israel.
And they were simply laying hold by faith
upon something which God in truth was bound
to give because he had uttered his mouth
in mercy.
Now I want to tell you this, that
if you enter by faith into the victory
which is Jesus Christ, you are receiving nothing
that you deserve.
There is nothing in it in which you
can boast one tiny iota.
It is God's gift to you in truth
because of the mercy of him, and not
for the uprightness of thine heart.
Understand therefore, verse six of chapter nine, Understand
therefore that the Lord thy God giveth thee
not this good man to possess it for
thy righteousness, for thou art a stiff-necked
people.
You're just as stiff-necked now as he
says you ever were.
Now will you appreciate the fact that when
by faith you have stepped into the righteousness
which is God's gift to you in Christ,
you yourself are just as stiff-necked as
ever you were.
Will you remember that?
And you'll avoid the awful pitfall that some
folk get into when they come out for
what they call sanctification and they themselves think
that they are sanctified.
I want to tell you this, that you
yourself will never be sanctified.
The first chapter of the first epistles of
the Corinthians tells us that no flesh might
have a glory in God's presence, that the
old pig might never go hutting around with
its tail up in the air in God's
heaven.
God says that the flesh may never, never,
never glory in your presence.
Of He, of God is Christ Jesus made
unto you righteousness.
Is Christ Jesus made unto you sanctification.
Is Christ Jesus made unto you redemption.
Christ Jesus is made unto you wisdom.
Everything that you have in righteousness, everything that
you have in sanctification, everything that you have
in wisdom or redemption has been made over
to you, credited to you in Jesus Christ.
And no flesh will ever glory in His
presence.
So don't ever pat yourself on the back
and say, I am sanctified.
You are not sanctified.
You may have received by faith Christ who
is your sanctification, but you are just the
old stiff-necked pig that you ever were.
That's a fact.
And if you don't remember that, you'll forget
God.
You will.
As soon as God gives you a little
bit of success, you'll be saying in your
heart, sure as eggs are eggs, my power
and the might of my hand has gotten
me this way.
Now I want to warn you of this,
you see, because I know my own heart
well enough, you see.
I'm simply sharing with you a few things,
that's all, that I've come to know.
Because I live with myself 24 hours a
day.
Wherever I go, I come.
In other words, in other words, I do
not believe in any kind of Christ experience
which will make you independent of a moment
by moment by moment by moment reckoning upon
the fact of Christ within you.
A moment by moment by moment application of
the cross of Jesus Christ to the all's
nature, and a moment by moment a positive
application by faith of the fact of Christ
in the power of his resurrection.
Live, just live in that attitude.
Live in the attitude in which you set
out in every situation dead to within yourself,
not because you've tried to be dead, you
can't commit suicide by crucifixion, it's the one
where you can't kill yourself.
No, but whenever it gets to speeding and
driving males to their own hands and feet
upon a cross, all you can do is
set out by faith of every situation reckoning
that God will carry out the execution.
But don't forget, it is not a negative
attitude, it is a positive attitude.
I am, it is true, crucified with Christ,
but bless God, I am alive unto God
in his dear Son, Jesus Christ.
And it is he within me that gives
me power to forget well.
He is the secret in the thought of
all spiritual activity, and moment by moment I'm
simply applying the fact of the Lord Jesus
to my every situation and knowing his vision.
That was the lesson, as we learned last
night, isn't it?
That the Lord Jesus Christ was trying to
teach Martha.
He was trying to wound her from reciting
the Creed and for the first time to
become a realist and apply the things he
said he believed to the immediate circumstance of
her own life.
Apply the fact that Jesus is the resurrection
and the life to the dead man in
the tomb.
And then you will see the glory of
God.
Let's get away from an academic creed and
have a living Christ and learn moment by
moment to apply the fact of what he
is in us and through us to every
situation.
Now there are some of you who've only
come here over this weekend.
Maybe this is your very first meeting.
It may be that I'm speaking to you
now as somebody who's been converted for many
months, many years maybe and you've never yet,
you've never yet, with all the earnestness and
all the zeal with which you've been trying
to serve God in the past, you've never
yet learned by faith to apply the fact
that Christ himself is your life in you
and the only one who is the source
of all spiritual activity.
And that's why you have been exhausted.
You've been living on your nerves and you
have been a pathetic saviour and you've put
a brave show, you've kept going and you've
gone through all the motions but deep, deep,
deep down in your heart there's a bitter
hunger and a bitter sense of disappointment.
Now I want this message to come to
your heart too tonight that the Lord Jesus
whom you received when you first became a
Christian has been there ever since you were
saved in all the monthly liberating power of
his resurrection life and he's simply been waiting
for the right of way to be himself
nothing more, nothing less but my dear friend
you don't want anything more and you can't
have anything less and you will discover then
for the first time that he it is
that gives you power to beget wealth.
Now I want you to notice this from
this eighth chapter of the Deuteronomy remember what
he says in verses 15 and 16 just
towards the end of the verse who led
thee through that great and terrible wilderness who
brought thee forth water out of the rock
of flint who fed thee in the wilderness
with manna God gave them drink and God
gave them bread and yet it says this
in verse 2 thou shalt remember all the
way which the Lord thy God led thee
these forty years in the wilderness to humble
thee and to prove thee to know what
was in thine heart and he humbled thee,
verse 3 and suffered thee to hunger God
gave them water to drink and God gave
them bread to eat and yet he allowed
them to hunger in the wilderness why did
God allow them to hunger in the wilderness
in spite of the fact that he was
giving them water to drink and bread to
eat because he never intended them to save
in the wilderness if they hadn't hungered in
the wilderness they would have been perfectly satisfied
to stay in the wilderness but the wilderness
wasn't in God's purpose God gave them in
the manna from heaven and the water from
the splitten rock just enough to drink and
enough to eat to save them from death
and to sustain them in life until they
were in Canaan Canaan was to be their
diet not manna and water Canaan, pomegranate, fig,
honey, milk, corn I can swallow it in
my mouth not manna and water in the
wilderness you see God wanted them to hunger
there do you know what the children of
Israel said Numbers chapter 11 Numbers 11 verse
4 and the multitude that was among themselves
lusting and the children of Israel also wept
again and said who shall give us flesh
to eat we remember the fish which we
needed freely the cucumbers and the melons and
the leeks and the onions and the garlic
but now our soul is dried away there
is nothing at all besides this manna before
our eyes nothing but manna nothing but manna
and it got so boring manna for breakfast
manna for lunch manna for supper manna for
breakfast manna for lunch manna for supper manna
for breakfast gets a bit tedious after a
bit doesn't it and they said manna manna
manna manna 7 days a week 31 days
in the month and 52 weeks in the
year manna we're sick and tired of manna
God never intended them to eat manna for
40 years did he?
God had prepared Canaan but the stupid mice
stayed in the wilderness you know there are
some of you folks who say all the
Bible is a bit dull and boring to
me I read it out of a sense
of duty I tell you this if the
Christian life has become dull and boring to
you isn't it because you will not go
in to possess what God has given you
in Jesus Christ you've never tasted the adventure
you've never tasted the thrill of being totally
abandoned to a Christ who will lead you
through in glory and in victory I wouldn't
change places with you for a thousand million
dollars you can stick to your manna for
breakfast and your manna for lunch and your
manna for supper it was good for the
purpose for which it was given but it
was never intended to be their diet for
40 years let's get a little more light
upon this than the fifth chapter of John's
gospel because you must remember this historical record
is given for our encampment God tells us
that quite plainly that we might understand upon
whom the ends of the world are coming
don't you turn to it but in 1
Corinthians 10 verse 11 now all these things
happened unto them referring to the children of
Israel now all these things happened unto them
for example and they are written for our
admonition upon whom the ends of the world
are coming they're written for us they're written
for our learning they're written that we might
profit by what they did the mistakes they
made writing in the epistles of the Hebrews
referring again to the children of Israel in
verse 12 take heed brethren lest there be
in any of you an evil heart of
unbelief in departing from the living God exhort
one another shame while it is called today
now, 1956 lest any of you be hardened
through the deceitful mysticism for we are made
partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning
of our confidence steadfast unto the end today
he said if you will hear his voice
pardon not your heart as in the provocation
we see they could not enter in because
of unbelief and we are to exhort each
other daily in the today of our experience
lest there be in us also a hardened
heart through the deceitful mysticism and the kind
of unbelief that keeps us from going in
now this is written for our admonition that
we might not live in self-imposed poverty
but enter into the wealth that God has
given us in a risen and a living
state now in the sixth chapter of John
verse 7 they said therefore unto the Lord
Jesus what signs showest thou then that we
may see and believe thee what dost thou
workest our fathers did eat manna in the
desert it is written as it is written
he gave them bread from heaven to eat
then Jesus said unto them verily verily I
say unto you Moses gave you not that
bread from heaven but my father giveth you
the true bread from heaven for the bread
of God is he which cometh down from
heaven and giveth life giveth life unto the
world then said they unto him Lord evermore
give us this bread and Jesus said unto
them I am the bread of life he
that cometh to me shall never hunger he
that believeth on me shall never thirst will
you make a special mental note of verse
35 he that cometh to me shall never
hunger he that believeth on me shall never
thirst to believe is not to thirst may
I say that again to come is not
to hunger to believe is not to thirst
all right now verse 46 verily verily I
say unto you he that believeth on me
hath everlasting life he hath begun to live
in other words he that believeth on me
hath everlasting life that does not say that
he that believeth on me will enjoy everlasting
life it says he that believeth on me
hath everlasting life and the tragedy is this
that there are so many men and women
who are true Christians who have believed on
the Lord Jesus and they have everlasting life
but they are not enjoying everlasting life because
everlasting life is Jesus Christ and although they
have received him they are living their lives
totally ignoring the fact that he within them
is the source of all their activities I
am that bread of life your fathers did
eat manna in the wilderness and of death
this is the bread which cometh down from
heaven that a man may eat thereof and
not die I am the living bread which
came down from heaven if any man eat
of this bread he shall live forever and
the bread that I will give is my
flesh which I will give for the life
of the world verse 53 then Jesus said
unto them verily I say unto you except
ye eat the flesh of the son of
man and drink his blood ye have no
life in you unless you eat the flesh
of the son of man and drink his
blood you are dead you don't possess life
a person who has no life in him
is dead he says you are dead unless
you have eaten my flesh you are dead
unless you have drunk my blood whoso eateth
my flesh verse 54 and drinketh my blood
hath eternal life does not say enjoys eternal
life says only that he is a possessor
of eternal life I will raise him up
at the last day a crisis has taken
place a crisis of reconciliation he is a
possessor of eternal life that is far distant
divorce from the fact that he may not
be enjoying that eternal life but he is
at least an possessor of eternal life for
my flesh is meat indeed and my blood
is drink indeed he that eateth my flesh
and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me and
I in him you
see whoso eateth my flesh drinketh my
blood hath everlasting life and those who eat
do not hunger and those who drink do
not thirst so you see to come is
to eat to believe is to drink that
is the significance to eat is flesh and
to drink is blood is to come and
believe but to come and believe makes you
only a partaker of his life that is
the come and believe gospel it is only
good as far as it goes and there
are all too many come and believe Christians
who have eaten and who have drunk and
they have become possessors of that which saves
them from death but they are not enjoying
you see the children of Israel ate of
the manna and they drank of the water
from the smithen lot and it was designed
to save them from death and to sustain
them only until they got entertained and to
come and believe is only the very special
of salvation he that eateth my flesh drinketh
my blood dwelleth in me that physically and
I in him the crisis of coming and
believing is only intended to be the crisis
that precipitates the process says the Lord Jesus
whereby I dwell in him and he in
me as the living father hath sent me
and I live by the father so he
that eateth me even he shall live by
me the Lord Jesus Christ says when you
have come and believed that is not the
end of the story when you have come
and believed you have been made a partaker
of my life I dwell in you and
you dwell in me and as the living
father hath sent me and I live on
earth now by the living father so he
that eateth me is going by this this
crisis that precipitates the process you are going
to live by me now we've already explored
together how it was that the Lord Jesus
lived by the living father how he said
in John 14 verse 10 the father, the
living father that dwelleth in me he doeth
the work he says I live by the
father how much could he do of himself
then answered Jesus and said unto them verily,
verily I say unto you the son can
do nothing of himself nothing I can of
mine own self do nothing this was the
testimony of the Lord Jesus when ye have
lifted up the son of man then shall
ye know that I am he and that
I do nothing of myself he says as
the living father hath sent me and I
live by the father so he that eateth
me even he shall live by me this
is not just a crisis of coming and
believing this is a crisis that precipitates the
process whereby the redeemed who has received the
manna from heaven and has drunk the rock
water from the smitten rock that individual shall
henceforth as a process through time live by
me verse 58 this is that bread which
came down from heaven not as your fathers
did eat manna and are dead he that
eateth of this bread shall live forever he
will be a sharer and a partaker of
my life which begins now honour in time
from the moment that you come and believe
now I wonder if you have really grasped
the significance of that to eat his bread
and never again to hunger is to come
to drink his blood is to believe and
not to thirst again but as those who
have come and believed eaten his flesh drunk
his blood he is to live in you
and you are to live in him and
as he on earth nineteen hundred years ago
lived by the living father who in him
did the work so as the father sent
him he is going to send you so
that you live by him who dwelling in
you himself does the work this is the
relationship that exists between you and the Lord
Jesus it is absolute identity it is a
complete one it is the oneness about which
the Lord Jesus prayed in the seventeenth chapter
of John he says this John seventeen and
verse seventeen sanctify them through thy truth thy
word is truth as thou hast sent me
into the world even so have I also
sent them into the world and for their
sakes I sanctify myself that they also might
be sanctified through the truth neither pray I
for these alone but for them also which
shall believe on me through their word that
you and me that they all may be
one as thou father art in me and
I in thee that they also may be
one in us that the world may believe
that thou hast sent us father he says
I want their oneness, their identity the one
in the other to be the same kind
the same quality of identity that exists between
thee father and me that they all may
be one as thou father art in me
and I in thee that they also may
be made one verse twenty three I in
them thou in me that they may be
made perfect in one this is the identity
of God to redeem people out of every
nation kindred tribe and tongue that shows no
barrier of class or creed or color who
have eaten his flesh who have drunk his
blood who have come and who have believed
and who have become partakers of his divine
nature and who possess eternal life we are
one in each other as the father is
one in the son and the son is
one in the father and the one father
and son are one thing it's unimportant and
that you see is why we are not
added to men and we are not added
to movement we are added to the law
it knows no denominational balance it cannot this
is an identity in life every denominational balance
every unimportant doctrinal balance every barrier of technique
or organization every barrier of class or creed
or color that causes schism within the body
of Jesus Christ is a direct assault and
a punch and challenge to the identity of
life of all believers in Christ we have
been redeemed by the blood of Christ to
partake of one life one system to be
members of one body acknowledging one Jesus and
the life that lives within is none other
than Jesus Christ himself and Jesus Christ prays
to the father I want this situation to
be evidence to the world that the world
may know that thou hast sent us and
hast loved them as I have loved them
how does the Lord Jesus care that the
world would turn from its wickedness and sin
and belief what is it, says the Lord
Jesus that is going to convince the world
that God sent him Jesus says that which
will convince the world that God sent me
here is to teach men and women out
of every kindred, nation, tribe and tongue out
of every part of humanity worlded into an
indivisible oneness by the indwelling presence of my
life by the Holy Ghost and manifestly, patiently
obvious to the world around us then, says
the Lord Jesus the world will believe no
wonder the world remains uneventful no wonder the
world remains in its infidelity and unbelief John
6, verse 59 these things said he in
the synagogue that he taught in Capernaum many
therefore of his disciples when they had heard
these said this is an hard day who
can give many therefore of his disciples when
they had heard this said this is an
hard day who can give this is a
hard day listen the things that I have
been telling you in these last few days
and that you've been hearing too from the
voices of others of God's holy people are
not the simplicity of baby food we've come
off the bottle for these few days I
didn't come here to feed a lot of
babies I know there are babies amongst you
students the only appetite you've got is for
a bottle for some of you even haven't
got that appetite because you're not yet born
you're still dead, infected and sick the only
place you'd feel at home would be in
a mortuary that's what's wrong and just a
word for those of you who are not
yet converted especially those of you who are
here perhaps from the high school don't please
catch me for one moment that you're clever
because you're unsafe you know there's always just
this sneaking idea on the part of a
boy or a girl in a place like
that who isn't converted they think they're a
bit cute you know a bit slick not
to get converted they sound like this they
feel themselves you know just a bit above
the average because they manage to keep on
balance with all the rest of the crazy
now if you're beginning to think like that
you think again don't quank because you're cute
enough to go to hell get that out
of your head may God show you soon
that you are just as childish and stupid
as you look to intelligent people you see
any fool can go to hell you haven't
got a thing to do just stay where
you are any fool can be lost any
fool can be eternally banished from the presence
of the Holy God you've got nothing to
do just be yourself that's all that's not
clever that's stupid that's childish so grow up
and get saved but it's not really the
folk like that that I'm talking about there
are saved in Christ who've only recently come
to know the truth well now thank God
for their growth their growth in fact there
are many many in these few days who've
grown enormously it's amazing how quickly you can
grow once you grasp the truth and apply
it and it becomes liberation truth but I
didn't come to teach you this bottle there
are a number of real babies around the
place aren't there it's very important but wouldn't
you a bit be alarmed just because there
are a few babies around the place if
you went down to the Shining Pole and
you found a thousand bottles all around the
table and you say is this my lunch
oh yes, we don't want to embarrass the
babies you see, they can't get their teeth
into anything better than that so we thought
we'd all better have the same diet now
would you be satisfied with a baby's bottle
of course not now you see that's what
that's what Paul had to write to the
Corinthian church he said I, brethren, could not
speak unto you as unto spiritual but as
unto carnal even as unto babes in Christ
I fed you with milk all I've had
all I've been able to do is just
push you around the yard in your prams
and give you a little prop every now
and again I fed you with milk and
not with meat for hitherto you were not
able to bear neither yet now are you
you're still babies you're still carnal writing to
the Christians in the epistles of the Hebrews
sixth chapter therefore leaving the principles of the
doctrine of Christ let us go on unto
perfection not laying again and again and again
and again and again the foundation of repentance
from dead works in the face towards God
and the doctrine of baptism laying on of
hands resurrection of the dead eternal judgment this
we will do if God permits but let's
go on to perfection let's grow up let's
get mature spiritually don't let forever and eternally
be fed on little tiny morsels pretty little
stories here and pretty little stories there just
a little bit of soul math art and
the Lord Jesus Christ began to teach his
disciples things that were meek but many of
his disciples when they heard it they said
this isn't hard saying who can hear we
don't know we don't know what he means
we don't know what he's we don't know
what he's getting at now some of you
in the early days of this rally you
began to think like that one lad came
up to me he said I didn't know
what you were talking about for the first
two leases just beginning to make sense well
only a moment's conversation with that boy was
sufficient to show that he was a believer
but he's growing up and he's growing up
because he wants to grow up I'm no
prophet but I'm prepared to prophesy that there
are some of you who will still be
on the bottle in another 50 years as
the Lord carries because you like being pushed
around in a pan you've got no responsibility
somebody else will feed you the whole time
you see hanging clothes out in the light
and that's all you'll ever be for
Angelina Tristan and when Jesus verse 61 when
Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murdered
notice their comments were not just what you
might call constrictive criticism when Jesus knew in
himself that his disciples murdered I say what
was the characteristic of the children of Israel
in the wilderness murmur, murmur, murmur, murmur the
whole time they were murmuring always grumbling always
saying we can't get the point of this
why this, why that why can't we go
back to Egypt why can't we go back
to the flesh God why can't we this
why can't we the other we can't see
the point of this we can't see the
point of that murmuring, murmuring and when Jesus
knew in himself that his disciples murmured at
it he said unto them just this offends
you just this offends you when the Lord
Jesus Christ as we saw in our very
first meeting in Matthew 6 began to outline
to the children of Israel to the disciples
he began to outline to the disciples that
he must go to Jerusalem and there he
must be delivered into the hands of wicked
men and be crucified but on the third
day he would rise again from the dead
Jesus kept to his promise and he said
not O Lord this shall never be and
the Lord Jesus said yet ye behind me
Satan thou slavish not the things that be
of God but the things that be of
men you are an offence unto me and
I want to tell you this that the
flesh and fleshly ideas that which is of
the earth earthy is always an offence to
God an offence to Jesus Christ but I
want you to know this the moment the
Lord Jesus Christ begins to apply the fact
that he and he alone is the life
of the believer to the total and complete
and utter exclusion of the flesh that teaching
is an offence to the flesh the flesh
is an offence to God and God is
an offence to the flesh Peter was an
offence to Jesus Christ when he tried to
substitute a man conceived plan of redemption instead
of God suffocating Calvary and the moment the
Lord Jesus began to impose God's plan for
the believer upon the disciples he says now
this offence you verse 63 it is the
spirit that quickens it is the spirit of
the living God who gives life to dead
men the flesh he says possesses nothing the
words that I speak unto you they are
spirit and they are life it is my
words emanating from the power of a glorified
Lamb who was slain but who is alive
again and forevermore it is his words in
the dynamic and power of God the spirit
that possesses life in dead men and the
flesh possesses nothing and the moment to begin
to talk like that in the word today
especially in our big business evangelicalism it is
an offence to the flesh the curse of
evangelicalism today is big business we're cursed with
promotion everybody's promoting something and nearly all they
end up in promoting is themselves that's a
fact the air is thick with people flying
from one corner of the earth to the
other saying in all the best hotels in
every national capital promoting something it's a fact
man man movement monument that's the chronology and
tens of billions of dollars and tens of
thousands of man hours are today harnessed to
the monuments of man that should be in
the service of Jesus Christ in the power
and energy of God the Holy Spirit any
amount of Christian activity is being sincerely invested
in the things that were promoted by men
men flogging Ishmael to make him a blessing
when Ishmael was never in God's economy you
cannot make Ishmael a blessing Isaac was God's
Jesus promise that he came not by blessing
and his power sincerely intended Abraham was not
he tried to get God out of his
grip God had given him a big toss
and for Abraham knowing that he was old
and quite scared of this balance he said
what a good thing God got me to
get him out of this nightmare it went
for me and my good ideas what a
jammed meeting it was with Ishmael and the
stupid man in all sincerity took a bond
moment and paid God and God never recognized
Ishmael never throw him out God and when
in the economy of God Isaac was born
and Abraham never had to lift a finger
to make Isaac a blessing he was in
the eternal purpose of God he had stepped
in Isaac's back into the rest of seeking
from his own work but when God said
take him up and lay him God said
take thine only son thine only son thine
only son and Abraham might have looked up
in the God's face and said excuse me
I have two sons you've forgotten Ishmael and
God said I never knew Ishmael I don't
own Ishmael I renounce Ishmael Ishmael has never
anything to do with me you have only
one son and that is Jesus
and this teaching will cause the flesh to
murmur and it will be unoffensive do you
know what happened look what happened it's going
to happen this afternoon at the fact from
that time many of his disciples went back
and walked no more did you realize that
was the implication of teaching Christ you know
this is the implication of the cross this
is the true significance of the cross the
Lord Jesus Christ constantly chimed out the cross
he chimed them out he
chimed them he chimed them out he out
he continued to chime Christ and the cross
so significant that his disciples said no more
no more the it was not enough I
was to It is to die on it
as Jesus died on it ninety-nine hundred
years ago, and until you are prepared to
be there in the place where they buried
him, to your family relationships, to your human
relationships, to your business relationships, to your own
self-appraisal and opinion, to your own sincere
pre-conceived notions of service, to all your
ishmael, you will never, never be his disciple.
So likewise, verse thirty-three, who fear that
he be abused for sake of not all
that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.
Then stop saying it again.
If you're going to be a Christian and
call him a disciple, if you have come
and believed, if you have tasted of his
flesh, if you have drunk of the blood,
if you have come and believed, recognized that
that Christ is designed only to precipitate you
into the process whereby he is in you
and you in him, and you are totally
identified with the eternal purpose and the eternal
God, which cannot be sifted into the tiny
cracks that are left over in your life
after you have fulfilled your pre-conceived plans
and notions.
The perfect and eternal purpose of an eternal
God is so big that it will only
just fit into your life twenty-four hours
in every day.
And there is no marginal room for you
to please yourself.
We mend the Lord by death.
It is He that gives us power to
get back.
And we have this presence in earth and
heaven, that the excellency of the power may
be expressed.
Troubled in every time, but not in despair.
Perfect, but not in despair.
Passive, but not the present.
Cast down, but not destroyed.
Because no situation is our own.
We step out of it and we say,
Lord, the answer to this situation is death.
That we might not trust in ourselves, but
in the God who raised us again.
Always bearing about in the body the dying
of the Lord Jesus.
That the life host of Jesus might be
made manifest in our bodies.
Isn't it time you did that kind of
thing?
Well, I've finished.
It's too long.
But this is not no today.