I'm sure the Lord Jesus as our creator
had a wonderful sense of humor.
If he as our creator had not had
a sense of humor, he wouldn't have created
us with a sense of humor.
In point of fact, if he hadn't have
had a sense of humor in all probability,
he wouldn't have created some of us.
And I'm sure there were occasions when the
Lord Jesus had fun with his disciples.
And I think one of those occasions was
probably that incident that is recorded for us
in the 16th of Matthew.
In the 13th verse of that 16th chapter
when Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea
Philippi, he asked his disciples saying, Whom do
men say that I the son of man
am?
Or in so many words said the Lord
Jesus, what's the latest?
Because then as now, everybody had their own
way out ideas as to who he was,
what he had come to do and how
he was going to do it.
And one of them said this little group
down the road and they think of John
the Baptist.
Well, you know what happened to John the
Baptist, he had his head cut off.
And that little group down the road thought
that the Lord Jesus, John the Baptist had
had his head back on again and was
back in town.
And they probably chuckled about that.
And then another one of the disciples said
there's a group the other side of town,
they think you're Elijah.
Well, you know what happened to Elijah?
One of the two men together with Enoch
who never suffered physical death, caught up in
a whirlwind.
And there were those the other side of
town who thought he'd been orbit all down
the centuries, but he had landed and he
was back in town.
They chuckled about that.
And somebody else said you'll never believe this,
but there are some people even think that
you're Jeremiah.
As if you look that miserable.
And some people think you're this prophet and
some people think you are that prophet.
They said some say that John the Baptist,
some Elijah, others Jeremiah or one of the
prophets said the Lord Jesus to them, but
whom say he that I am.
Whatever anybody else may have to say, no
matter what way out ideas they may cherish.
To what conclusion have you come?
And Simon Peter answered and said, thou art
the Christ, the son of the living God.
And of course Peter was completely right.
He was the Christ, the anointed one, greater
prophet than Moses, greater priest than Aaron, greater
king than David.
The one in whose person there was comprehended
all those offices that these who had lived
before foreshadowed of his coming.
Said the Lord Jesus, blessed art thou Simon
Bar-Jonah, flesh and blood, hath not revealed
this to you, but my father which is
in heaven.
You haven't, in other words, come to this
conclusion because you're smart.
It's because my father, God in heaven, has
been pleased to reveal it to you.
All truth ultimately is by revelation.
And you might well have imagined that having
thus identified the Lord Jesus, together with the
others who no doubt would have added their
affirmation, they were now highly qualified to go
out into the highways and the byways and
tell the world that Jesus the Messiah had
arrived.
The ones of whom all Israel had been
waiting all down the centuries.
But it comes sometimes as quite a surprise
to discover in the 20th verse of that
chapter that the Lord Jesus then charged his
disciples that they should tell no man that
he was Jesus the Christ.
Just so soon as they had discovered his
identity and plucked up enough courage to bear
testimony to the fact, the Lord Jesus placed
them under a total prohibition and forbade them
to tell nobody that he, Jesus, was the
Christ.
And you might wonder why it was that
the Lord Jesus called men to be his
disciples, some of them named to be apostles,
and then forbade them under any circumstances to
tell anybody that he, Jesus, was the Christ.
And the answer of course is very simple.
At this stage of their understanding they hadn't
a clue what it was all about.
And I don't mean by this that they
didn't have a sentimental attachment for the Lord
Jesus or that they didn't have an affection
for him.
That they weren't motivated by a considerable amount
of loyalty to his person and to his
cause.
That they didn't have a considerable amount of
enthusiasm to get the movement off the ground.
But you see, to say that the Lord
Jesus was the Christ is one thing, but
to understand what is the Christ he'd come
to do, quite another.
To declare that he was the Messiah, one
thing.
To understand his messianic mission, quite another.
And at this stage they hadn't a clue.
And that's why the Lord Jesus told them
to keep their mouths shut.
You see, they hadn't yet learned a principle
to live by.
And the Lord Jesus knew that.
And as we have already discussed, enthusiasm, dedication,
activity, can never ever be a substitute for
truth.
And they did not yet know the truth.
From that time forth, in the 21st verse
of that 16th of Matthew, it goes on
to say, began Jesus to show unto his
disciples how that he must go to Jerusalem,
suffer many things of the elders and chief
priests and scribes and be killed and be
raised again the third day.
Whereas the Lord Jesus gave them a simple
panoramic preview of that which he had come
to accomplish.
And how he was going to do it.
And nothing of what he said would startle
us.
I suppose to most of us here tonight
it would be old hat.
Having known of it, most of us, from
our mother's knee that the Lord Jesus would
go to the city of Jerusalem and there
he would be delivered into the hands of
wicked men, be done to death.
But the third day he would rise again
from the dead, the conqueror over death and
sin and hell and the devil himself.
But Peter took him and began to rebuke
him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord,
this shall not be unto thee.
And for all his dedication, for all his
loyalty, for all his affection for the Lord
Jesus, Ben placed himself squarely between Christ and
the cross.
He didn't want the cross because he didn't
understand the cross.
And he didn't understand the cross because he
didn't see the need for the cross.
And he didn't see the need for the
cross because he didn't understand his own case.
In common with a whole race of fallen
men, born dead, for whom the only remedy
would be resurrection.
And the Lord Jesus turned and he said
to Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan.
Thou art an offense unto me.
You're offensive.
Thou savest not the things that be of
God, but those that be of men.
Your concepts, your philosophy, your theology is of
the earth, earthy.
It is that which is of man.
And the one whose lips, only so short
a while before, had been the mouthpiece of
the Father God in heaven, were the next
moment the mouthpiece of the devil himself.
Sad, isn't it, that when the Lord Jesus
said, Whom do men say that I the
son of man am?
They could quote every Tom, Dick, and Harry.
They knew everything that man had to say
about the Lord Jesus.
The one thing they did not know was
what God had to say about the Lord
Jesus.
And it was because of this abysmal ignorance
of the issues involved that the Lord Jesus
placed them under this total prohibition.
It was a prohibition that is repeated in
the following chapter, as well you know, in
the 17th chapter in the Mount of Transfiguration.
The Lord Jesus revealed in that glory that
was a foretaste of that which was his
forever.
Moses and Elijah together with him.
An exotic experience that you might imagine would
well have undergirded their faith and motivated them
to go out with added enthusiasm.
But as they came down, verse 9 from
the mountain, this is the 17th chapter, Jesus
charged them saying, Tell the vision to no
man until the Son of Man be risen
again from the dead.
In other words, no matter what you may
have seen, no matter what you may have
heard there in the Mount of Transfiguration, not
a word until the Son of Man be
risen again from the dead.
Because the Lord Jesus knew perfectly well that
in spite of all their affection and dedication
to his cause, nothing would make sense until
the resurrection.
That's why as you may well discover from
the book of Acts, as also constantly in
the epistles, the disciples were excited about the
resurrection of the Lord Jesus.
Because that's when it happened.
Not until the Lord Jesus was risen again
from the dead did they discover a principle
to live by.
We're told of what happened in the 24th
chapter of Luke's gospel.
Remember when the women came excitedly telling them
that they had been rebuked by angels because
they sought the living amongst the dead, that
they had seen an empty tomb.
And on the way even to break the
good news to his disciples, they had seen
him.
And their words in the 11th verse of
the 24th of Luke were as idle tales.
And they believed them not.
This was Peter, James, John, and the other
of the disciples.
They said, women you're hysterical.
We've all had a tough time and if
your nerves have snapped, we don't blame you.
But don't come talking that kind of nonsense,
idle tales.
We buried him.
He's dead.
Now that was the only gospel, that was
the only good news, that the disciples had
at that time to tell the world Jesus
is dead.
Little wonder the Lord Jesus told them to
keep their mouth shut.
They didn't want the cross and didn't believe
in the resurrection.
But something happened to them as it happened
to Peter.
That which of course completely transformed their lives
as it is intended in God's timeless economy
to transform yours and mine.
The Lord Jesus rose again from the dead
and appeared to his disciples in the upper
room.
As they repudiated the testimony of the two
disciples who too had encountered the Lord Jesus
on the road to Emmaus, though they didn't
recognize him, telling their risen Lord about their
dead Jesus.
But those to whom he revealed himself as
they constrained him to spend the night under
their roof and sat at his table, though
their guests playing the role of host, he
took the bread and broke it.
And it says their eyes were opened and
they knew him.
In the 31st verse of that chapter.
For you see two pairs of eyes watched
one pair of hands and they saw the
print in the nails.
Then he disappeared, vanished out of their sight
and they came to excitedly.
Did not our hearts burn within us while
he opened the scripture.
And as they thus spake, telling the other
disciples how they had encountered the Lord Jesus
and was known of them in the breaking
of bread, verse 36, as they thus spake,
Jesus himself stood in the midst of them
and he said, Peace be unto you.
But they were terrified and affrighted.
Suppose they'd seen a spirit treated in terror,
thought he was a ghost.
And the Lord Jesus said, why are you
troubled?
Why do thoughts arise in your hearts?
Behold my hands and my feet.
Didn't you hear what these two disciples said
about my hands when I broke the bread
at their table?
Well, behold my hands and for good measure,
have a look at my feet.
That it is I myself.
Handle me and see.
And they rediscovered the Lord Jesus in the
power of his resurrection.
And the consequences were immediate.
We're told they could hardly believe for joy.
That's always the characteristic of somebody who knows
experientially from within their own hearts that Jesus
is alive.
Not just academically, not giving a mental consent
to a theological proposition.
Not saying I believe it because the Bible
says it.
Even though it does, and you have the
right to believe it, but saying it because
you know experientially every moment of every day
that he having suffered a death like yours,
you right now are enjoying and sharing a
resurrection like this.
Jesus is alive because he lives in me.
And momentarily I am drawing upon those illimitable
resources that have become mine by virtue of
who he is, my once crucified now risen
Lord living now where he does within my
heart.
Sharing his life.
Clothing his divine activity with my redeemed humanity
who has been added to the Lord as
a living individual member in particular of that
new body corporate that the father gave him
on the day of Pentecost.
The church, not an institution, not a piece
of real estate, but a fellowship of redeemed
sinners cleansed in his blood indwelt by his
Holy Spirit pulsating with the divine energy.
Joyfully anticipating every new day to dawn so
that they can let God loose in the
world in which they live by virtue of
their availability to his divine indwelling.
I am a Christian.
That's exciting.
As exciting of course as life is always
intended to be once you've learned the principle
to live by that Jesus is alive and
all that he is you've got because he
lives within you as once the father lived
within him.
You can't have more and you need never
ever enjoy less.
A new joy.
These are the words of the Lord Jesus
which I spake unto you while I was
yet with you that all things must be
fulfilled which were written in the Lord Moses
and in the prophets and in the Psalms
concerning me and he opened their understanding that
they might understand the scriptures and added to
their new joy they got a new Bible.
A Bible that made sense.
Thus said he it is written and thus
it behoved Christ to suffer and to rise
from the dead the third day that repentance
and remission of sin should be preached in
his name.
I have accomplished that reconciling act that will
allow you to the uttermost ends of the
earth to proclaim forgiveness to all who in
true repentance toward God will put their trust
in God's Son and claim cleansing through his
shed blood.
A new joy, new Bible, a new message
and said he to them in the 48th
verse you are witnesses of these things.
Added to your new joy the new Bible
added to your new Bible a new message
on the basis of my redeeming atoning death
and now a new responsibility.
But he said you're not ready yet to
discharge that responsibility because you haven't learned a
principle to live by.
Slowly laboriously you've come to recognize that I
didn't drift to disaster.
That my death upon the cross was not
that of a noble idealist who lived before
his day.
I didn't pay the price of being too
progressive nor was it simply a sentimental gesture.
I lay down my life a ransom for
many by that atoning death I have satisfied
the last demand of a holy God for
every sin ever committed in all time.
One sacrifice for sins forever.
But in spite of the fact that you've
now come to understand why I died you
haven't entered into the good of it.
So tarry in the city of Jerusalem until
you be endued with power from on high
because the purpose of my atoning work upon
the cross was that you being reconciled to
a holy God might become the recipients again
of that quality of life for which man
was made.
Who so created man that the presence of
the creator within the creature is indispensable to
his humanity.
And that hasn't happened yet.
And of course he enlarged upon this in
the first chapter of the book of Acts
and we might turn to that for a
moment if you would care so to do.
In the first chapter of the book of
the Acts the former treatise says Dr.
Luke author of this his second book as
he was the author by inspiration of the
Holy Spirit of the gospel of Luke.
The former treatise have I made of Theophilus
of all that Jesus began both to do
and to teach.
Until the day in which he was taken
up after that he through the Holy Ghost
had given commandments unto the apostles whom he
had chosen to whom also he showed himself
alive after his passion.
By many infallible proofs being seen of them
40 days and speaking of the things pertaining
to the kingdom of God.
What do you think the Lord Jesus was
talking about during those 40 days when he
spoke to them of those things that pertained
to the kingdom of God.
But he wasn't talking about heaven.
Glorious of course as heaven indeed will be
for said the Lord Jesus in my father's
house and many mansions if it were not
so I would have told you.
If I go I will prepare a place
for you and if I go to prepare
that place for you I will come again
that where I am there you may be
also marvelous.
But he wasn't talking about that he had
already talked a whole lot about that to
them but it wasn't this that he talked
about on this occasion when he for 40
days spoke to them concerning the kingdom.
In order to discover what he was talking
about we need just to flip the pages
back though we will return to this chapter
to the 17th of Luke when there were
those who came to the Lord Jesus in
the 20th verse of the Pharisees who asked
when the kingdom of God should and the
Lord Jesus answered them and said the kingdom
of God cometh not with observation literally you
probably have it there in the marginal translation
that you'll have in the center of your
Bible not without which show.
The kingdom of God can't be defined in
terms of religious real estate it can't be
defined in terms of a religious body an
organizational entity a denominational group or evangelistic crusade
it won't be represented by a bunch of
people dressed in peculiar clothes swinging incense it
doesn't come by outward show said he neither
shall they say look here it is look
there it is for behold said the Lord
Jesus the kingdom of God is within you
is within you.
You see you were made that way you
were created in such a way that the
presence of the creator as king in his
kingdom is indispensable to a man's humanity.
The kingdom of God where God should be
king is within you so if God is
the king and you and I are the
kingdom where should the king be in his
kingdom and this is what the Lord Jesus
was talking to his disciples about during those
40 days what was involved in this reconciling
act that would restore guilty men on the
grounds of redemption to that relationship to a
living God that would allow him actually to
re-inhabit their humanity so that they would
literally be added as individual members to a
new body corporate that the father intended to
give to his son so that as once
incarnate in the flesh and blood that was
born on that first Christmas morning in Bethlehem
he might now occupy another body that body
which is his church and incarnate in their
flesh and blood continue with their hands and
continue through their lips to do and teach
the things that he had begun to do
and begun to teach in the body the
first the father first gave him when we
was born at Bethlehem the kingdom he said
what it's going to take for you to
discharge your new responsibility as those who having
a new joy in a new bible in
a new message are being commissioned to go
to the last end of the earth and
tell the world that there is redemption through
the shed blood of Christ repentance and remission
of sins what is going to take for
you to discharge this responsibility to God's holy
satisfaction is the restoration to you of that
quality of life for which man was made
and which was lost in Adam in the
day that he fell which was the day
that man died and this hasn't happened yet
so that last you know why I was
born lived and died and though now at
last though somewhat reluctantly you admit that I'm
risen again from the dead you are not
yet equipped for that purpose which having first
created you I have now redeemed you so
being assembled together with them in verse four
he commanded them he didn't just throw out
the suggestion it was a categorical command he
commanded them that they should not depart from
Jerusalem that is in the discharge of their
new responsibility get on with the job they
were not to depart from Jerusalem but to
wait for the promise of the father which
saith he you've heard of me and then
he went on to explain what the promise
of the father was that had not yet
been fulfilled and for which they were to
wait that they might be enabled for their
new responsibility John he said truly baptized with
water but ye shall be future tense baptized
with the Holy Ghost not many days hence
said the Lord Jesus this hasn't happened yet
it's the promise of the father which you
have already heard of me long since I've
told you about it during those three years
in which I was with you I told
you that this was the ultimate purpose of
my coming my living my dying and my
rising that that might be restored to you
was forfeited in Adam the life of God
but it hasn't happened yet but not many
days hence and then of course that day
dawned the day of Pentecost the birth of
the church the day upon which the father
God in heaven presented to the son the
new body that day on which the first
120 men and women in all human history
since Adam fell were restored to life were
born again from above in receiving the gift
of God in the person of the Holy
Spirit through whose presence in life their state
of death would be abolished regeneration the renewing
of the Holy Ghost now of course we
recognize and we may need to touch upon
this very lightly tomorrow night again that there
was a time lag between the understanding of
the redemptive act the death of the Lord
Jesus and the regenerated purpose the coming of
the Holy Spirit in spiritual new birth the
baptism of the Holy Ghost whereby they were
to be added to the Lord and added
to his body baptized into that body there
was a time lag a time lag of
course that no longer exists because the Holy
Ghost the life of God restored to the
soul of man was not yet given because
Jesus was not yet glorified he hadn't ascended
from the Mount of Olives into his father's
presence so that from his father's presence there
glorified he might in the person of the
Holy Spirit come to inhabit their humanity as
for 33 years he had allowed the father
to inhabit his for said he is the
father sent me I'm going to send you
on exactly the same basis and with the
same resources at your disposal as the father
sent me marvelously furnished by his divine indwelling
for every act in which I was to
engage every word that I was to speak
everything that I was to do so I'm
going to send you marvelously furnished by my
divine presence for every act every word every
decision for as I without my father could
do nothing so you without me can do
nothing that's why you're to wait until this
endearment this endearment with power from on high
when the Holy Ghost is come said he
8th verse 1st chapter then you will bear
witness because it's not power as an impersonal
entity that God gives you it's a person
somebody in whom you'll draw upon all those
illimitable resources that will become yours by virtue
of the fact that through his presence in
you you will share my life as for
33 years by his presence in me I
shared the life of my father Jesus being
full of the Holy Ghost Luke 4 1
so the day of Pentecost came marvelous thing
happened that for which the Lord Jesus died
who said I am come that you might
have precisely what God gave on the day
of Pentecost life in the person of the
Holy Spirit through whom they were to share
the resurrection of Jesus Christ and on that
day Peter stood up excitedly for at last
it had penetrated he had learned a principle
to live by every moment of every day
2nd chapter the book of Acts verse 22
Peter standing up on the day of Pentecost
said you men of Israel hear these words
Jesus of Nazareth a man approved of God
that was the startling discovery that Peter made
on the day of Pentecost that although they
had long since recognized his deity co-equal
in deity with the Father and the Holy
Ghost in the triune Godhead the one who
was in the beginning with God was God
and by whom all things were made and
without whom was not anything made that was
made the creative deity and in him alone
that life which is the life of men
they had long settled for his deity but
the great discovery on the day of Pentecost
was his humanity that for all those years
and in particular while he taught them during
those latter three years he'd been trying to
tell them what it takes to be a
man God that my presence in you will
be as imperative through the Holy Spirit as
the presence of my Father in me has
been imperative through the Holy Spirit and on
the day of Pentecost Peter suddenly understands you
men of Israel hear these words Jesus of
Nazareth a man approved of God what are
the characteristics of a God-approved man well
Peter goes on to explain you men of
Israel hear these words Jesus of Nazareth a
man approved of God by miracles signs and
wonders which God did by him and now
it penetrates I realize now what was the
dynamic of his life who died and rose
again and ascended to be with his father
the dynamic of his life was the Father
in the Son he kept telling us but
though we listen and listen and listen we
never heard the Father who lives in me
does the work and at last on the
day of Pentecost it penetrated miracles signs and
wonders which God did by him a God
-approved man and Peter discovered what it means
to be a God-approved man a God
-approved man is a man with that state
of heart that lets God do it and
of course this was life transforming for Peter
I see it now the Lord Jesus though
God played the role of man though the
creator he came to fulfill the role of
creature and in the sinlessness of his humanity
he allowed the father to play that role
in him as man that he our Lord
Jesus as God intended always that he should
play as God in us and he was
trying to teach us the whole time without
my father I can do nothing my father
is imperative to every act in which I
engage every decision that I make every word
I speak the words that I speak unto
I speak not of myself my doctrine is
not mine but his that send me but
now our Lord Jesus having accomplished the redemptive
act having shed his blood to cleanse our
hearts he's now risen from the dead he's
been ascended to the father he's glorified there
and he's come in the person of the
Holy Spirit to live in us and be
to us now as God all that that
for 33 years he allowed his father to
be to him as God I see it
says Peter marvelous I realize now why he
died for us he died for us that
dealing with our sin he risen from the
dead might come again to play that role
in us as God for which man was
made and which he allowed his father as
God to fulfill in him sky's the limit
Peter suddenly realized if only we as men
will be prepared now to be to the
Lord Jesus as God what he as man
was prepared to be to his father as
God he the Lord Jesus now as God
will be to us all that the father
as God was to him that's the gospel
that's the gospel in all its glorious sublime
simplicity for the Lord Jesus uncome that you
might have life what life that quality of
life for which man was made the life
of God the life of God in other
words something fantastic had happened to Peter and
he explained it very simply the two great
discoveries that became his after the resurrection in
the first chapter of his first epistle let's
glance at those two verses that are relevant
in the first chapter of the first of
Peter's two epistles that comprehend the two great
discoveries that completely revolutionized his life and that
of course are absolutely imperative to you and
to me if we're to enter into the
good of all that so which the father
God in heaven in infinite compassion and love
and mercy sent his son in the 18th
verse of the first chapter of Peter's first
epistle for as much as you know that
you were not redeemed with corruptible things as
silver and gold from your vain behavior received
by tradition from your fathers but with the
precious blood of Christ as of a lamb
without blemish and without spot who verily was
foreordained before the foundation of the world manifest
in these last times to you well something's
happened to Peter this is the same Peter
who said not so Lord that can't happen
to you this is the same Peter upon
whom the Lord Jesus laid that total prohibition
and said not a word tell nobody that
I Jesus and the cross who didn't want
the cross now he says we're redeemed not
with silver and gold but with the precious
blood of God's dear son as of a
lamb without blemish verily foreordained before ever the
world was far from thinking that Jesus had
drifted to disaster that they had buried him
now he sees that the unfolding of a
timeless redemptive purpose Peter has discovered the grounds
of our redemption the death of the Lord
Jesus for us and for him now that
was the first part but there was better
to come for that in itself would not
have been adequate for his salvation or ours
in the third verse of that same first
chapter I like the way it's put here
in the Amplified New Testament very succinctly blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ by his boundless mercy says Peter
we have been born again to an ever
-living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ
from the dead we have been born again
through his resurrection Peter has made this dual
discovery that our redemption demands his shed blood
and our regeneration our new birth demands his
resurrection that we're redeemed by his death and
we're born again by his resurrection in other
words that the Lord Jesus suffered a death
like ours redemptively so that we now might
share a resurrection like his regeneratively he discovered
that it takes the death of Christ to
reconcile us to God redemption and it takes
the life of the Lord Jesus Christ to
restore to us what it takes in regeneration
to fulfill the function for which man was
made because Peter has learned that man was
so engineered if I may dare to say
it again in such a way that the
presence of the creator in the creature is
indispensable to his humanity and Peter has discovered
that the death of the Lord Jesus for
him wouldn't be enough if it went for
the life of the Lord Jesus and if
it was the death of the Lord Jesus
for him that redeems him and the life
of the Lord Jesus in him that regenerates
him then something had to happen between his
death for us and his life in us
resurrection and the Lord Jesus knew perfectly well
until that had happened nothing would make sense
nothing but now everything made sense and Peter
realized that the resurrection was the very heart
of the gospel he recognized of course there
could be no resurrection apart from the death
of the Lord Jesus nor would God in
heaven in his holiness have the right to
restore the life of God to anybody apart
from that atoning death that would be accomplished
vicariously by the Lord Jesus for us but
Peter fully understood that the death of the
Lord Jesus for us would never have been
adequate in itself to make us once more
functional from God's point of view but what
happened when man fell into sin was that
he forfeited the divine content and only the
restoration of that divine content God himself could
ever make a man morally competent to discharge
the office for which he was made that's
why he enlarges upon this in the first
chapter of his second epistle and I'd like
you to turn to that in the second
of Peter's two epistles and of course he
addresses himself to those who have obtained like
precious faith and you understand what Peter means
by that who've learned to adopt that disposition
towards God that gets God going and lets
God do it that's the nature of faith
faith as I have already indicated to you
I believe is never demonstrated by what you
are doing for God what you're doing for
Christ that only demonstrates faith in yourself that
you've got the capacity to do it and
God says you don't faith that disposition that
God demands of you and me without which
it's impossible to please him is a disposition
that recognizes I can't God never said I
could but God can always said he would
it's a principle to live by and Peter
says those who have obtained like precious faith
who've learned by disposition to let God do
it it is according he said as his
divine power has given to us all that
pertains to being alive God's divine power something
he says which demanded the release of all
the illimitable dynamic of deity all the power
of God according to his divine power he's
given to us all that pertains to being
alive that's the first thing he says in
the third verse now what would you say
pertains to being alive without making it complicated
life life when the Lord Jesus was confronted
with a man four days dead and stinking
and they somewhat reluctantly at his command rolled
away the stone and the Lord Jesus wanted
now to give that man back all that
pertain to being physically alive what did the
Lord Jesus have to give to him physical
life and we call that resurrection in other
words the Lord Jesus four days later restored
to Lazarus what four days before he had
forfeited physical life because the Lord Jesus knew
perfectly well that if Lazarus was ever again
to be physically alive they had to be
restored to him that which pertains to being
physically alive physical life well what pertains to
being spiritually alive if the Lord Jesus comes
to you and to me recognizes as he
does that we were born as the seed
of a fallen Adam spiritually bankrupt alienated from
the life of God dead in trespasses and
sins and the Lord Jesus wants to restore
to you and restore to me what it
takes all that pertains to being spiritually alive
what's he got to restore spiritual life well
the big question is what is spiritual life
I mean we talk glibly and sing glibly
and preach glibly and pray glibly about eternal
life but what is eternal life it isn't
going to heaven something a million to a
million times more wonderful than that this is
the record that God has given to his
eternal life and this life that he's given
to us that which pertains to being spiritually
alive this life is in his son he
that has the son has life he that
doesn't have the son of God a person
actually resident within him doesn't have life he's
dead only two kinds of people as you
well know on the earth those who are
indwelt by Jesus Christ and those who are
not that's the essential difference between a person
who's born again and one who isn't because
this life which alone is eternal God's life
is in his son in him was life
this life that was in him was the
light of men and says Peter it's according
to his divine power that he has given
to us what pertains to being spiritually alive
and the only way that he can give
us what pertains to being spiritually alive is
by giving us himself but in this third
verse Peter goes on to say that that
which pertains to being alive life is that
also which pertains to godlikeness godliness in other
words if ever by what you and I
do say and are we to reveal the
glory be restored to image so that others
in us see him then his presence within
us is indispensable as the one who by
his holy spirit shares his life with us
and who through that holy spirit now is
allowed by us as the father was allowed
by him to teach our minds control our
emotions so direct our wills that he Christ
from within might govern our behavior so by
his divine power God has given to us
all that pertains to being spiritually alive and
that which pertains to being spiritually alive Christ
living within us is that which pertains to
godliness righteousness glory that's why of course Paul
to which we shall later return tomorrow in
the epistle to the Colossians first chapter 26
27 Christ living in your heart whose presence
in life pertains to being spiritually alive is
your only hope of glory glory isn't heaven
glory is the restored image glory is that
from which man has fallen for all have
sinned and come short of the glory and
Christ living in your heart his presence that
pertains to being alive is that which alone
pertains to being restored to glory godlikeness the
image in which man was made illustrates very
simple way have you ever sat after dark
in a room you know with the light
on writing a book writing a letter or
reading a book and suddenly the light goes
out you say that's funny and you fiddle
for the switch wonder whether it was half
cocked and then suddenly flipped but you discover
that it's on so you think well maybe
a fuse but under the crack beneath the
door into the next room you can see
light and so far as you know it's
on the same circuit so you say to
yourself well it couldn't be a fuse because
this is on the same circuit as that
the current the light must be flowing through
the wires so the switch is on the
current's flowing but there's still no light well
you say it must be a broken lamp
so you unscrew it or take it out
of the socket take it into the room
where there's light and you examine the bulb
very carefully and to your surprise you discover
that the filament is intact it isn't broken
so now you're presented with quite a dilemma
the switch is on the current flows the
bulb is intact but there's no light but
as you examine the bulb a little more
closely you discover that at the point of
contact dirt dirt now you understand what's happened
at the point of contact where the light
that flows should get in dirt and you
realize that when the dirt got in the
life went out and the light went off
and in all sublime simplicity there you've got
the story of the fall of man into
sin an electric light bulb actually is a
very beautiful picture of a man you know
it's got a body the bulb and our
bodies tend to take on that shape after
a bit we don't call it bulb we
call it bulge so there's the body you
see that's the body through which the light
is released into the world around us the
physical visible audible body that God gave us
to reveal his glory the bulb in the
bulb there's the filament that's the soul mind
emotion and will that's your behavior mechanism where
the life of God through the holy spirit
teaching the mind controlling emotions directing the will
governs behavior so that he controlling your behavior
will reveal through your body to the world
God behaving that's life or righteousness god-likeness
you see if it's God who teaches your
mind God who controls your emotions and God
who directs your will so that God through
mind emotion and will governs your behavior who
will other people see when you behave God
he made us that way that's why the
Lord Jesus in the sinlessness of his humanity
who allowed only the father by the holy
ghost indwelling his human spirit to have complete
total unchallenged access to his soul teaching his
mind controlling his emotions and directing his will
always governing his behavior who testified without my
father i can do nothing he could say
he that has seen me seen my father
but you see if there's a bulb representing
the body if there's a filament representing the
soul there's got to be a point at
which the life of God gets in to
motivate the soul to produce that righteousness that
is revealed through the body to the world
in light that's the human spirit that unique
capacity that God gave to man as opposed
to any other form of animal life that
allows God by the holy spirit within the
human spirit to impart his life to man
so that man is not only physically alive
but spiritually alive so that that life God's
life in the person of the holy spirit
might have access to the soul the filament
so motivate our behavior patterns that what we
do say in art reveals his righteousness now
what happened when Adam fell into sin was
that the dirt came in the life went
out and the light went off as by
one man sin came into the world dirt
in and death by sin life out that
turned the light off for in him was
life and this life was the light of
men and when the life went out the
light went off and man was plunged into
the abysmal darkness of spiritual death and degradation
now tell me this if this would have
happened to you what would you do about
it well you say I get some sandpaper
and I clean the dirt off well that's
reasonable so you get the sandpaper and you
clean the dirt away so dirt out so
now you've got a nice clean lamp or
if you like a redeemed lamp the dirt
has been removed for the blood of Jesus
Christ God's son cleanses us from all sin
he bore our sins in his body on
the tree behold the lamb of God that
taketh away the sin of the world dirt
out redemption what did it demand his death
for us reconciled not with corruptible things like
silver and gold but the precious blood of
God's dear son dirt out so now you've
got a nice clean lamp you've got your
sandpaper you've got the dirt out so you
bring that nice clean lamp into the dark
room stick it on the table and say
now I've got a nice clean lamp I
can go on writing my letter or reading
my book would that help how much more
light would you get from a nice clean
lamp on the table than from a dirty
lamp in the socket you get no more
light and getting the dirt out would of
course be an exercise in futility unless you
were prepared having got your sandpaper and got
the dirt out to screw the lamp back
into the socket and get the life in
because only that will put the light on
that's the gospel that's what Peter's saying according
to God's divine power he has given to
us all that pertains to being alive and
that pertains to God-likeness God has done
according to his divine power all that pertains
to putting back into man what it takes
to produce life it's what he
continues to tell us in the fourth verse
is involved in spiritual regeneration or new birth
fourth verse by the exceeding great and precious
promises we are made partakers of the divine
nature that's incredible that's what it means to
be saved living together with Christ on the
grounds of redemption dirt out he our risen
Lord Jesus coming to take up residence within
your humanity by the gift to you of
the Holy Spirit that first took place on
the day of Pentecost so that you might
by his divine indwelling become a partaker of
the divine nature so that his nature might
be revealed by what you do and say
and art of the world in which you
live and as once they looking at him
this is all the father so now others
looking at you see the son look at
the second chapter of Paul's first chapter of
Paul's second epistle to Timothy to Timothy chapter
one according he says end of verse eight
to the power of God who have saved
us and called us with an holy calling
in other words he's called us to holiness
he's called us to godlikeness he's called us
to reveal righteousness who have saved us and
called us with an holy calling not according
to our works but according to his own
purpose and grace which was given us in
Christ Jesus before the world began but is
now made manifest by the appearing of our
Savior Jesus Christ who has abolished death our
Lord Jesus as the Savior has appeared to
abolish death how do you abolish death how
did the Lord Jesus abolish death physical death
in Lazarus he restored physical life if he
came to abolish spiritual death what must the
Lord Jesus do restore spiritual life there's only
one way to abolish death restore life and
says Paul the Lord Jesus our Savior has
appeared to abolish death and hath brought that
life and immortality by which he has abolished
death to life how does the Lord Jesus
bring that life to light the restoration of
which to you and to me abolishes death
how does it come to light well by
what we do and what we say and
what we are dirt out redemption life in
new birth regeneration light on sanctification sanctification isn't
you know a pious stance a religious pose
you don't have to have your bible under
your arm and head slightly on one side
or wear black stockings sanctification is simply being
used intelligently for the intelligent purpose which intelligently
created that's sanctification anything can be sanctified when
I put my shoes on my feet and
walk down the street with them on my
feet I sanctify them I use them for
the intelligent purpose which they were intelligently created
I don't have to I could go barefooted
down the road and put my shoes on
my head you might think I was a
little unusual and you'd be right when you
look at your watch you sanctify it you
don't look at it to admire it I
mean you may but you don't do that
more than once or twice after you've just
been given it or bought it but after
that you look at it to find the
time because that was the object in the
mind of the person who created it so
when you look at your watch you sanctify
it probably some of you have already sanctified
your watch several times since I started tonight
how do you sanctify your glasses well you
put them on your nose because that was
the object of the exercise that's why they're
made that particular shape two things that stick
out like that go over your ears a
little bit that goes over your nose you
sanctify them you stick them on your nose
and you look through them now you don't
have to there are all kinds of other
uses to which you can put your glasses
as you probably do I open my letters
with mine do you excellent letter opener and
in an emergency which quite often occurs when
you're traveling as I do I stir my
coffee with them all kinds of things you
can use the glasses for but they really
weren't intelligently designed to that end if you
want to sanctify your glasses you stick them
on your nose and look through them these
are a little unusual because I don't need
the top half so I can only half
sanctify these glasses you understand what sanctification is
you see when you get a lamp that's
got dirt and therefore the light went out
and you clean the dirt off to let
the light in by screwing it back into
the socket you sanctify it because the light
in then produces the light that can be
revealed and banish the darkness and so to
be sanctified simply means that claiming redemption through
the shed blood of the Lord Jesus knowing
perfectly well why he died for me so
that he risen again from the dead might
come and live his life in me I
can allow him now to behave through me
so that by allowing him to work with
my hands speak with my lips see with
my eyes hear with my ears and walk
with my feet clothe his divine activity with
my humanity others in me will see him
sanctification isn't a blessing it's a person of
God is he Christ made unto his wisdom
righteousness sanctification redemption it's somebody whom you are
allowing to be who he is God in
the man because that's what it takes to
be a man and it's all according to
his divine power one last thing Paul follows
up on this in the first chapter of
his epistles of the Ephesians and it's his
supreme concern on Sunday evening we recognized that
it was his prime preoccupation to know Christ
and the power flowing out from his resurrection
that I might know him not master new
techniques or become an expert in certain theological
propositions but says Paul I want to know
the Lord Jesus in the power of his
resurrection so that I might enjoy that spiritual
and moral resurrection that lifts me out from
among the dead knowing that only that spiritual
resurrection the restoration of the life of Christ
that pertains to godliness can bring about that
moral restoration that I may in that same
way come to know the power outflowing from
his resurrection which exerts over believers that if
possible I may attain to the spiritual and
moral resurrection that lifts me out from among
the dead even while still in the body
on earth Philippians 3 11 and he says
this my preoccupation for myself that I may
so know Christ that the power that flows
out from his resurrection may be demonstrably obvious
to the world in which while I live
so they may know who he is that
inhabits my humanity by what I do and
what I say and what I am he
said this is my supreme preoccupation also for
you and so in the 16th verse of
that first chapter of his epistle to the
Ephesians I cease not to give thanks for
you making mention of you in my prayers
that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ
the father of glory may give unto you
the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the
knowledge of Christ the eyes of your understanding
being enlightened that you may know and here
are three things to which we're going to
come back tomorrow night but briefly comprehend it
first the hope of your calling for you
have been called to holiness and he said
I want you to know what hope you've
got of fulfilling that calling and becoming holy
which simply means godlike he said I want
you to know the hope of your calling
Christ living in your hearts your only hope
of glory and he said I want you
to know the riches of his inheritance in
the saints not just your inheritance in him
but his inheritance in you and thirdly what
is the exceeding greatness verse 19 of his
power to us would who believe now what
power is he talking about the exceeding greatness
of God's power to us would who believe
well he's talking about the same mighty power
that Peter was talking about third verse first
chapter of his second epistle the mighty power
whereby he gives unto us that which pertains
to being alive and Paul says I want
you to know as Peter wants you to
know what is the exceeding greatness of God's
power to us would who believe and then
he goes on to describe that power according
to the working of his mighty power which
he wrought in Christ when he God raised
him from the dead chapter 2 verse 1
and you and you do you know what
the power was that God exercised in your
life when you believed did you think that
salvation simply meant a little decision for Jesus
filling out a decision form or raising your
hand or just saying a prayer did you
realize at the moment of your new birth
on the grounds of redemption what power was
released by God to bring about in you
that which God had in mind in sending
his son the apostle Paul tells you the
exceeding greatness of God's power to us would
who believe according to the mighty working of
his power which he wrought in Christ when
he God raised him from the dead and
you have he quickened who were dead in
trespasses just as surely Paul says as God
exercised all his illimitable resources in the dynamic
of deity to raise his son from the
dead that is exactly the power that got
exercised when he God raised you from the
dead God verse 4 chapter 2 who is
rich in mercy for his great love where
we beloved us even when we were dead
in trespasses and sin what tense is that
that's the past tense even when we were
dead in trespasses and sins ha quickened us
together with Christ what tense is that past
tense when we were dead he has quickened
us together with Christ what sort of resurrection
is he talking about physical resurrection well of
course not because they were still physically alive
they've never suffered physical death how could they
enjoy physical resurrection when they've never never suffered
physical death he's not talking about physical resurrection
he's talking about that spiritual resurrection that constitutes
a spiritual new birth which is nothing less
than the restoration to us now of that
life that God the father restored to his
son then when he God raised him from
the dead that's new birth and it takes
as much divine energy to restore a boy
girl man a woman to life in new
birth as it took God when he raised
his son from the dead because you see
that life that the father God restored to
the son when he raised him from the
dead I'm not talking about his physical resurrection
which he enjoyed three days after they took
that dead body from the tomb and from
the cross and placed it in the tomb
true enough the Lord Jesus came back into
that dead body and he enjoyed a physical
resurrection and in that resurrection body he appeared
to his disciples and for 40 years as
we have seen taught them but I'm not
talking about his physical resurrection I'm talking about
that spiritual resurrection of the Lord Jesus whereby
he was the first man to be raised
from the dead the firstborn the first begotten
and that life that the father restored to
him when he the father God raised him
from the dead is precisely that life that
he restores to you and to me in
the moment of new birth by the gift
of the Holy Spirit the life of God
restored to the soul of man indispensable to
the likeness of God in the character of
man this is the good news of the
gospel that we're redeemed by his blood not
with corruptible things like silver and gold says
Peter but by the precious blood of God's
dear son that we are born again by
his resurrection because says Peter as surely as
his life was given for me his life
now has been given to me and all
that he is to whom that life was
restored that he so gladly and lovingly laid
down is mine because that life restored to
him he by his presence in me has
been restored to me I'm alive in God
and Christ living in my heart now is
my only hope of being restored to glory
for his life in me pertains to being
alive and that life in me that pertains
to being alive is that life alone that
pertains to God likeness and apart from who
he is living now where he dies I
can do nothing I am nothing and I
have nothing for said he to me without
me you can do nothing but if only
you will be to me as man what
I then was to my father as man
I now as God will be to you
what he then as God was to me
and from that moment sky's the limit it's
a principle to live by foolish Galatians who
has bewitched you who has bewitched you do
you remember having begun a brand new life
by the gift to you of the Holy
Spirit through whose presence you share the life
of Jesus Christ who by his presence in
life abolishes death are you not made perfect
in the flesh he says can you be
that done that having claimed redemption through the
blood of Jesus Christ dirt out having received
the gift of that person God the Holy
Spirit through him his life comes in you're
trying to turn the light on in the
energy of the flesh poor silly thoughtless unreflecting
senseless Galatians that's the amplified New Testament amplified
not exaggerated just amplified because you see the
English language is so weak and poor compared
to the rich language in which God in
his wisdom chose to give us the original
we use one poor little miserable inadequate word
foolish Galatians what God really meant was you
poor silly thoughtless unreflecting senseless Galatians in other
words can you be that done what have
they done to deserve that love let me
ask you said he this one question did
you receive the Holy Spirit the very life
of your risen Lord as the result of
obeying the law and doing its works or
was it by hearing the message of the
gospel and believing it and immediately you understand
what Paul presupposes is the consequence of obeying
the gospel not getting out of hell in
and heaven but receiving a person God the
Holy Ghost through whom we share the life
of Christ in spiritual new birth to be
marvelously furnished by his presence unto every good
work well they knew the answer to that
they haven't received the Holy Spirit as a
big pat on the back from God because
they did so well it was because they
heard the good news of the gospel that
God though we never deserved it for his
day for his sake who died in our
place was prepared to restore to us the
Holy Spirit through whom we'd share his life
when he says let me ask you this
one question are you so foolish so senseless
so silly having begun your new life spiritual
will you the Holy Spirit are you now
reaching perfection by dependence on the flesh you
receive the Lord Jesus to indwell your humanity
to impart to you all the fullness of
deity to be to you as God all
the father was to him as God and
you ignore his presence lock him up in
the cellar live on as though he might
just as well be dead hanging on the
cross at very best in heaven behind the
clouds peeping at you on earth you ignore
his presence and try to be made perfect
in that all that damning nature that you
possess before ever you were redeemed the flesh
that can only abuse misuse and prostitute your
humanity he said can you be that dumb
that you get the dirt out without realizing
that God put the life in and so
although alive you go on living as though
you were dead can you imagine going down
the road and there's a lady on the
side of the road with a head under
the hood and you start out of the
kindness of your heart and say excuse me
madam can I help and she says yes
this thing won't go and so you get
into the front you switch the engine on
and as you anticipate it there's no no
petrol in the tank and so you say
excuse me madam would you take your head
from under the hood under the bonnet I'll
tell you exactly why this thing won't go
it doesn't have any petrol and cars seldom
go without petrol um but I'll tell you
what you say to this dear lady I've
got a rope in the back of my
car and I'll tell you to the next
petrol pump so you tow her to the
petrol pump and you say to the man
there fill the tank and so he fills
the lady's tank and to her great embarrassment
she discovers she has no money with her
and so you say oh please don't allow
that to embarrass you that's my my privilege
and you pay the bill you pay a
debt you did not owe because she owes
a debt she cannot pay redemption that's redemption
he paid a debt on that cross he
did not owe because we owed a debt
we could not pay redemption but why on
behalf of this lady have you paid a
debt you did not owe because she owed
a debt she could not pay why'd you
do it fill the tank to give her
what it takes to drive home well she
thanks you profusely you get into your car
begin to drive off but just as a
final gesture you stick your head out of
the window to say goodbye and to your
amazement you see this lady pushing the car
home with a full tank can you imagine
anybody being that dumb are you that dumb
foolish Galatians pushing a car with a full
tank having received Christ as your redeemer so
that he risen from the dead might come
and live within you and share his life
with you and you live as though you
were still dead trying to be made perfect
in the flesh how easy it is in
our stupidity to miss the whole point that
Christ gave himself for you only that he
might give himself to you now because he's
the only one who's got what it takes
so why not stop pushing why not get
on board switch on put your foot in
the gas and go for a ride and
discover that he's big enough for the job
it takes Christ to be a Christian because
Christ in the Christian puts God back into
the man