Knowing the Lord - His Freedom, His Mind and His Inclusiveness

[00:00:05] Could we turn this evening to a passage in John? In John, chapter eight. [00:00:16] The gospel according to John and chapter eight. [00:00:23] And we will read from verse 31. [00:00:34] Jesus therefore said to those jews that had believed him, if ye abide in my word, then are ye truly my disciples. And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. [00:00:50] They answered unto him, we are Abraham's seed. And have never yet been in bondage to any man. How sayest thou? Ye shall be made free? [00:01:02] Jesus answered them, verily, verily, I say unto you, everyone that committeth sin is the bondservant or slave of sin. And the bondservant or slave abideth not in the house forever. The son abideth forever. If, therefore, the son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. I know that ye are Abraham's seed. Yet ye seek to kill me. Because my word hath not free course. In you I speak the things which I have seen with my father. And ye also do the things which ye heard from your father. They answered and said unto him, our father is Abraham. Jesus saith unto them, if ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the work of Abraham. But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I heard from God. This did not Abraham. Ye do the works of your father. They said unto him, we were not born of fornication. We have one father, even God. Jesus said unto them, if God were your father, ye would love me. For I came forth and am come from God. For neither have I come of myself, but he sent me. Why do ye not understand my speech? Even because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father, the devil and the lusts of your father. It is your will to do. [00:02:33] He was a murderer from the beginning and standeth not in the truth. Because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own, for he is a liar and the father thereof. But because I say the truth, ye believe me not. [00:02:54] Which of you convicteth me of sin? If I say truth, why do ye not believe me? [00:03:02] He that is of God heareth the words of God. And for this cause, ye hear them not, because ye are not of God. [00:03:15] Shall we bow together in prayer? [00:03:20] Father, we just want to thank thee that we are found here in thy presence this evening. And we do worship thee, Lord, that thou hast made such a provision for us. That when we come to thy word, we do not have to rely upon our own intelligence. Or our own resources or abilities. Where the spirit speaking thy word or hearing thy word. But, Lord, thou hast given us that gracious ministry of the Holy Spirit. And we thank thee that he is here this night to lead us into the truth as it is in the Lord Jesus, to take of the things of thyself in our Lord Jesus and make them real to us, to declare them to us. Now, Father, we want to tell thee we rely and depend upon the blessed ministry of thy spirit this night. Open our hearts and appropriate Lord, that anointing for ourselves, whether in speaking or in hearing that, Lord, we may meet with thee. Thy word may come to dwell in us, and there may be a practical outworking of thy word in our lives, each one and in our life together as thy people. And this we ask in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen. [00:04:41] In the philippian letter and chapter three and verse ten, there is this little phrase of the apostle Paul found in his testimony, that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings becoming conformable unto his death. And last night I began to speak a little bit about knowing him, some of the ways in which we really need to know the Lord. And I said last night I would not talk about those areas that are so often talked about, that is, our devotion to the Lord, our personal walks with the Lord, all these things which are essential and fundamental. I'm taking that for granted. I'm talking in these two evenings about some areas in which we need to know the Lord that are not often talked about. And we spoke about knowing the all sufficiency of Christ last night. That God, of God are we, if we have truly been saved, of God are we in Christ Jesus who has made unto us wisdom from God, righteousness, sanctification and redemption. In other words, every single thing we require, not only to be saved, not only to have our sin forgiven, not only to be clothed with the righteousness of God's son, to have an eternal standing with God, but all that we require to be conformed to the image of his son. Every single thing we need to meet, the emergencies, the vicissitudes, the problems, the difficulties of life, every single thing has been foreseen by God in your life and my life, and in our life together. And he has made provision in the Son for us so that there is all sufficiency in him. We can never stand before God one day and say, well, it was too much for me, the circumstances you allowed to come into my life. Really too difficult, too colossal, too crisic, too complicated. And therefore you must understand I collapsed. God will say, I saw that crisis and I provided the grace and I provided the power. Why didn't you find it? Why did you turn in on yourself? Why did you look at the problems? Why didn't you look to me? We have no excuse if we will only look to the Lord. We have an all sufficiency and therefore every great trial, every valley of the shadow of death, every problem, every emergency becomes a new discovery of the Lord Jesus. Something that adds a lustre to our history with God, something that brings something into our lives that would never have been before. Because generally speaking, it's need that forces us to a fresh discovery of God. [00:08:00] When we're all happy and moving along and everything's flowing, we don't force feel the need to go. It's terrible, isn't it, really? We just don't feel the need of the law. But when everything's going wrong, suddenly we get on our knees, we spend a little more time in prayer, we start to search the world a little more deeply, we begin to listen more carefully for anything the Lord might say. And we find the Lord and we come through with something that we didn't have in times of fatness and plenty. [00:08:26] Somehow or other we've discovered the Lord. Now the all sufficiency of Christ is tremendous and it covers every single aspect. Its not only what we need in our being changed into his image, but what we need for the service of God. Has God called you? Has God given you something for the family, for the body of Christ? Has he given you something for the work of God? Is he calling you to be one of his servants? Well, whatever it is, whether it is a great apostle, a great prophet, or some humble little help in the body locally, all that you need to fulfil that ministry has been provided in the Son, and its there for us to appropriate and taste and experience and of course, everything we need for the church. Everyone says its so difficult to see the house of God really built, to really get into relationship with one another, to really flow together, to function together as the Lord's people. And it is difficult, because every country thinks it's the most difficult country of all for this, believe me. The early church was created and produced in circumstances of colossal, overwhelming opposition. And even when it began to spread everywhere, then a colossal program to liquidate it was launched and they were fed to the lions and wild beasts, put into gladiatorial arenas, made slaves, all kinds of things. And you know, they found such grace that the church was built underground in the cataclysm in the caves, the church functioned. It spread and spread and spread until in the end, Rome, Rome disappeared into dust. [00:10:12] But the church of God is still with us today. [00:10:16] Imperial Rome was the thing that got broken and disappeared. And the church of the living God is the thing that's still with us today. And still the Kremlin hasn't learned its lesson. [00:10:29] Chairman Mao or President Idi Amin or any of the others, they haven't learnt their lesson. They still believe they can crush the church because it's not flesh and blood. Behind it are these powers. Now the all sufficiency of Christ is simply tremendous, but we mustn't talk anymore about that. And then we talked about the supremacy of the Lord Jesus last night and the fact that God has made him head of the body, which is the church, that in all things he might have the preeminence he has given him that position that is absolutely supreme. And the Lord Jesus at the right hand of the majesty on high is the guarantee that the earth and its fullness, the world and they that dwell therein are going to come back to God and bow the knee before God. He is the guarantee of this. And in the end it says, every knee shall bow, whether things in the heaven or under the heavens or under the earth, on the earth or under the earth. Everything is going to bow the knee to the Lord Jesus Christ. And he's going to sum up all things, whether in the heavens or on the earth or underneath, everything is going to be summed up in him. And of course, we talked last night about authority and the crisis of authority and the fact that the United States, like european society, is facing a crisis. Authority. This isn't something that has suddenly come upon us. It's been with us right from the beginning. As the apostle Paul said in two Thessalonians, the mystery of lawlessness doth already work. And he was speaking then 2000 years ago. The spirit of Antichrist has been in the world from the beginning. Only there is something that restrains. But, says the apostle, by the Holy Spirit, there will come a day when that which restrains will be taken away and then the lawless one, the man of sin, will appear the Antichrist. And then there will be a final tremendous surge of evil over the whole world to overcome the work of God and frustrate the purpose of God. Now I believe we're in the threshold of just that. That's why in your nation, in our nation, we are facing a breakdown in law and order. Constitutionally we have freedom. Constitutionally we have certain things guaranteed. But slowly and surely there is a breakdown of law and order. Anarchy is beginning to take over in many, many areas, and we see it in our homes. All this business about home life, overthrowing the order in home life, overthrowing family life, substituting the family unit with another unit, as it were, to abolish marriage. These, you may think, are strange things to bring up, but they are the debating point in our universities as to whether there is another form of morality for this new society. And this is what it means by lawlessness. It doesn't mean there won't be any law. It means there will be a kind of law which is against the law of God. It can do without the law of God as revealed in this book. They call it the Judeo christian concept, which is old fashioned, square, and needs to be destroyed. We are told half the mental homes are filled with people as a result of the Judeo christian concept, that divorce is mounting because of the Judeo christian concept. And now we are told, because we are moving into the space age, there is no longer any need for this christian concept. Well, this Judeo christian concept is nothing other than the revealed word of God. [00:14:19] And to overthrow it is lawlessness and must bring in its consequences the most terrible, terrible bondage and results. Now, we, as the people of God, are like little colonies in the midst of all this lawlessness, in the midst of all this rebellion that are to express God's authority, the authority of the Lord and of his Christ, of his messiah. We are to be, as it were, those who reveal, by our families, by our personal lives, by our families, by our relationships, by our business life, by above all, our church life, something of the authority of God and of his Christ, not a dictatorial authority, but life, real life, something living, something wonderfully free and real. Well, now, tonight I would like to move on as the Lord leads us to one or two other areas in which we need to know the Lord Jesus. [00:15:27] And the first one I'd like to talk about tonight is the freedom of Christ. [00:15:34] We need to know him in this way. We need to know the freedom of Christ. Now we read together in John and chapter eight, those wonderful words which we can well just read again. John, chapter 832. And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. And verse 36 if therefore the son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. [00:16:10] Now it says in Ephesians chapter four, the whole thing is summed up in one little phrase in Ephesians and chapter four and verse eight. Wherefore he, when Jesus ascended on high. He led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. He led captivity captive. [00:16:40] So we know that when the Lord Jesus died on the cross, he destroyed the basis of all bondage. It says in Hebrews, chapter two, that through death he destroyed him that has the power of death. And who has kept men in bondage all their lifetime through fear of death. Now, thats you and me. [00:17:11] And although we may not call it fear of death, fear of death comes much wider than fear of physical death. It is something much, much bigger, much wider than just physical death. It is all that corruption that comes out of the realm of death. Death, after all, physical death belongs as a consequence of sin, and it is something to do with the evil one. And therefore there is a whole realm of death. The enemy's great weapon is always spiritual death and physical death. He always is at work to bring death into a meeting, to bring death into a fellowship, to bring death into a work. And you've only got to look at church history to see that things have begun with a colossal burst of resurrection life. And within a generation, they're dead. [00:18:08] How has it happened? Because the enemy has worked ceaselessly to bring in those things that spell death. And slowly but surely, he takes over any real movement of the Holy Spirit till it becomes a form, till it becomes an institution, till it's crystallized into death. It becomes like a statue, a monument to a past glory, an evidence of something that God did in a previous generation. Now, I think that this is very important for you and me to understand because, you see, it says that if the sun shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed. Do you honestly mean to tell me that having been delivered from the powers of darkness, as it says in Colossians 113, and transferred into the kingdom of God's dear son, the enemy won't work over time to bring you back into that bondage. Oh, says someone, once you're freed by the Lord, once you're converted, you'll never be bound again. That's not what the word of God says. The word of God says in Galatians chapter five and verse one, for freedom did Christ set us free. Stand fast, therefore, and be not entangled again in a yoke of bondage. In other words, if the word of God says, stand fast in the freedom of Christ, for which you were made free, there is a real possibility that a yoke of bondage will come back onto your neck. [00:19:41] And generally speaking, that yoke of bondage comes back upon us without us even knowing it. [00:19:47] Before we know where we are we are back in the yoke. Now, what does a yoke do? A yoke can be reasonably comfortable, but it means that when theres a yoke on you, you have to to do a certain things that someone else wants you to do and you have to go in a certain direction. In other words, you may feel in your heart, the Lord wants me to fall into the ground and die, but you can't because every time you say, I'm going to die, I'm going to die, there's a yoke that says, oh no you're not. [00:20:23] And you suddenly find you can't. You know that you should ask forgiveness of somebody you know very well. You've been convicted about it very well. You should go to that person and humble yourselves before that person and say, I'm sorry for what I said to you the other day, not this kind of thing, you know. Could I have a word with you? The Bible says I should speak the truth in love. [00:20:45] You hurt me terribly the other day and I went home and had a sleepless night and I thought such evil things about you. But the Lord has convicted me about these, the evil thoughts I had about what you said. [00:21:05] And now I've come to ask forgiveness. No, that's not forgiveness. Asking forgiveness is when you don't mention a single thing. You just simply come and you simply say, I'm sorry for what I said or what I did or the attitude I had. Now we sometimes know that we should do this, but we can't. [00:21:24] What is it? It's a yoke. [00:21:27] We know very well what the Lord wants us to do, but there's a yoke. We can't do it. There's just a flick, as it were, of some rain somewhere at the back there. And the yoke takes us round this way and we're off in another direction. Even though we want to go sometimes, we know that we should take this course because it is the will of God for us, but we can't. We find something else steering us away from the will of God. [00:21:52] We have got entangled in a yoke of bondage. [00:21:59] Now it stands to reason that if we are living in a world that lies in the evil one, if we are living in a world that Jesus said, your father is the devil, you are of your father the devil. In other words, there is a relationship with God's enemy and there is a poison in the life stream of this humanity. It stands to reason, surely that the enemy is not going to allow there to be a whole company of people who are freed from that yoke, freed from that bondage. Is he going to stand by and say, well, I've lost them? Never mind, I'll try and keep the rest? No, he knows very well that those people who have been delivered from the power of darkness are going to be the test and the means of many more of his captives being freed. So the word goes out that somehow or other, the strategy has got to be, the priority has got to be given to tripping up those who've been freed. [00:23:05] And the enemy doesn't mind us having meetings, singing hymns and saying prayers, so long as he can sit on top of the whole thing so it doesn't get anywhere. And there are. We have to say it. We're all in these kind of meetings, aren't we? I mean, whether it's here or whether it's elsewhere, we find that we come together in the name of the Lord. We know that we're God's free people, but somehow there's something sitting above and no one seems to know how to cope with that. [00:23:31] Now, it says very clearly in two Corinthians, chapter three and verse 17, where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. [00:23:43] So here is one great foundational truth in this matter, that where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. Here is another foundational truth that comes before that one. And it is ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. So we must never despise the word of God and never, as it were, devalue the word of God, nor must we ever devalue the ministry of the word of God or the study of the word of God, because it is the truth coming to us through the Holy Spirit that frees us. Now we can know a truth up here and make it a bondage. [00:24:34] You know, we turn a truth into a kind of legalism and then we're inhibited, we're bound. But the real truth, when the Holy Spirit illuminates us with truth, it frees us. All of a sudden we see, oh, I was bound in that amount. [00:24:51] Then there is something, another truth that is foundational, and it is this. The finished work of Jesus Christ has broken any single bondage in the whole realm of this universe. There is not a single form of bondage that has not been shattered by the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And thats why it says that when he rose, when he ascended, he led captivity captive. He took the whole realm of bondage bound. He took the whole realm of captivity captive. He took the whole of that sort of fettered sphere of Satan. Fettered? [00:25:40] Isn't that marvelous? [00:25:42] Well, now you see our job as the Lord's children, as some of you, and if you're at the conference, will remember we majored on this for one evening. [00:25:54] Our great job as the children of God is to proclaim liberty. [00:26:00] We belong to the greatest liberation movement in world history. [00:26:06] Zionism, real Zionism. Not just the political Zionism, but real Zionism, spiritual Zionism. We belong to a movement for universal liberation. And wherever the church is being built, whether it's here in Richmond, or whether it's somewhere else in the states, or whether it's on the other side of the Atlantic or anywhere else in Russia, where the. The church is being built as a liberated area, they are standing there as God's free men and women, and they are proclaiming a liberty dwell. Do you think the powers of darkness, the local rulers of darkness, do you think world rulers of darkness, principalities and powers are just going to stand back and say, oh, yes, yes, yes, yes, no. They're going to do every single thing in their power to stamp that thing out, to liquidate it. [00:27:00] So no wonder you and I are constantly faced with this problem. Now, that's why you brothers who've got responsibility in a company like this, you must take this matter seriously, to take it to the Lord continually. It's one of our great jobs to proclaim liberty. [00:27:18] You see so very often this atmosphere that sits on top of us all and we can't move is a phantom. We've only got to assert the Lord Jesus as lord. We've only got to assert his lordship. We've only got to declare the truth about him. And the thing cracks open. You've only got to stand up and worship the Lord for a few minutes, and I mean really worship the Lord. And you can feel that thing roll back. It's like a cloud that sort of hymns you in. And then when you really worship the Lord, it just rolls away and suddenly there's freedom. [00:27:50] Now, isn't it a funny thing that when that happens, people can come out with their problems. Suddenly people who felt they couldn't move, they sat there, they're inhibited, can suddenly come out and say, could I. Could someone pray for me? I mean, I'm in real need. Or something else that's been buried in someone's life comes bubbling up to the surface. It's all there. [00:28:10] So the first thing we need to do, we who are responsible for the Lord, is to be custodians of the freedom of God's people. [00:28:19] And to watch all the time to see that their liberty, which is our birthright, is not compromised by the enemy. This is the supreme job of elders. It is the supreme job of responsible brethren in any company. And that's why when we look around in christian circles, we shall see all kinds of forms of christian work. But so very often there is terrible bondage because the brethren in those places have long ago ceased to assert the lordship of Jesus Christ. They just take it as well. We're Christians. We're meeting together. We'll sing a hymn here and we'll sing a hymn there. But isn't it interesting? When the Holy Spirit falls on a congregation, the first thing they know is they're free. [00:29:04] But however much the Holy Spirit falls on the congregation, it will not be many months before they're bound again, because we are in a colossal battle now. That's why we have to look after one another. [00:29:17] That's why that Isaiah 58 says, take away the yoke which is in your midst. In other words, we find these things in us. Now, of course, we've got to open up to one another if we're going to sit there sort of and, you know, sort of, oh, I hope the Lord will free me one of these days. We're not going to get very far. There's a sense in which we've got to open up to one another and be able to come out into the open and say, look, I've got a problem. I don't know what it is, but somehow I can't praise the Lord, I can't worship, I can't pray, for instance, or I can't witness. We need to share these things with one another. And then we as brothers and sisters have got to minister to one another to help. I don't mean in a great highfaluting way, you know, sort of getting all artificial and sort of, you know, here comes the great apostle. [00:30:06] I lay my hands upon you, you know, but I mean, just as simple brothers and sisters. Simple brothers and sisters, we can, just as it were, help one another to keep, to stand fast in the freedom. Is it such a thing to be ashamed of that one or other of us has got into bondage? The greatest of us will get into bondage at times, my dear people of God, it's obvious that if we're in a war, there are going to be casualties, and some of the greatest of the servants of the Lord are going to fall as casualties. We need to come to their aid. It's not a question of how great a person is, how small. We need to help each other, love each other, care for each other, minister to one another. [00:30:53] It's a tremendous thing when people minister to you. Sometimes when I go out from the. From the church at home and they pray for me, some brother will come up, or sometimes a sister, too, praise the Lord. But sometimes a brother will come up. And I remember on one occasion, just recently, a brother came up and he said, as they were praying, I got this little word and he gave me a little. [00:31:15] He'd written it down and he just gave it to me. [00:31:19] Well, he seemed to be very nervous. I suppose he thought, you know, there was one of the big guns being prayed for as he goes out on world ministry. And then as they were praying, a little verse came into his head and he thought, oh, dear, I can't go up and give him that here. Think I'm being presumptuous, you know, think I'm being. I think I'm one of the big guns myself. So. But instead he tripped up and he gave me. Now, when I was on the playing, I remembered this. I thought, oh, I must look that up. So as soon as I arrived at my destination, I looked it up. And quite honestly, when I read it, it didn't mean so much to me then, but my word, within two weeks, I was living on that word that brother had given me. I was in all kinds of situations where it was absolutely a word from the Lord. No, it was just a member of the body. [00:32:11] The funny thing is, it wasn't one of the other elders or one of the other full time workers that came up with a word and said, here, I've got a word. And I would have thought, oh, I must take note of this. You see, it was just a simple member of the body that the Lord, you see, the Lord does this so that there's no schism in the body. He sometimes takes the humblest member of the body and he says, go give this to brother so and so. [00:32:33] And you sometimes think, why doesn't the Lord use some of the other bigwigs? You know, the sort of big noises in the joke? The Lord says, no, no, I'm not going to do that. I'm going to, because I want the whole body to be balanced so that everyone feels dependent on one another's interdependence. However greater ministry a person might have, they're dependent when it comes to my speaking on some of the simplest members in that body. So that's a wonderful thing. It's one corinthians chapter twelve. [00:33:04] And you see, isn't it lovely when someone has the freedom to do that? And isn't it a bondage when they don't? Because that means I could have gone on that journey and been that poor, because that word the Lord gave never got to me through that, brother. And what a joy it was for him when I wrote to him and said, I've been living on your word for two or three weeks. I'll tell you all about it when I get back. [00:33:31] You see, I mean, it means that we all really do feel we belong to one another, and that the Holy Spirit is no respecter of persons, but uses whom he will as he will how he will. And that's a very wonderful thing. And you see, it's so sad when we get bound. [00:33:51] Now, you know as well as I do, I'm not talking about this freedom that some people have got, freedom to be butterflies, freedom sort of from all responsibility, all discipline, freedom to flip from group to group, freedom to tell us all where we're wrong as they go from group to group. You know, this group is wrong here, that group is wrong there, this group is wrong there, you know. Oh, this kind of freedom that some people revel in. They tell me they're free. I don't think they're free. I think they are bound to selfishness. [00:34:23] There's no such thing as laying down their life for the Lord and for their brothers and sisters. All they want is their own satisfaction and none of the disadvantages. They don't want to be trapped by the heavy side of fellowship. They only want to have the happy side of fellowship. They want to get in on these kind of times when there's a little bit of life and ministry and so on. But they don't want to have all the wear and tear of everyday life with the people of God. And as you well know, the everyday life of the people of God is not a paradise where all we spend our time treading on one another's corns and bunions, rubbing up one another the wrong way, banging the nails through one another's hands and feet. [00:35:19] But, you know, the Lord knows exactly what he's doing. And it's a wonderful thing to be a prisoner of the Lord Jesus. And as you probably noticed in Ephesians, chapter three, verse one, the apostle Paul says, I the prisoner of the Lord Jesus. And then he goes off into a great digression, which is one of the most wonderful digressions in the New Testament. And then after having one of these digressions which speakers are often prone to. He comes back in Ephesians chapter four and verse one and says, I, Paul, the prisoner in the Lord Jesus. Now, I think that's wonderful. After his digression, he changed one preposition before he said, I, Paul, the prisoner of the Lord Jesus. Now he says, I, Paul, the prisoner in the Lord Jesus. And I find that wonderful, because there's no greater freedom than being a prisoner in the Lord Jesus. Dear old Paul was sitting there chained to a roman guard. He couldn't even go to the bathroom without the guard. [00:36:19] Now you just put yourself in his position. He had to be changed so they would never get away. Not a thing in that poor man's life that was private, not a thing. He'd got an unsaved God chained to him. And here is the apostle dictating letters that if anything ever has revealed the freedom which is ours in the Lord, those letters do. The man soars into the heavens and plumbs the depths and gives us a revelation by the spirit of God that the greatest theological minds in the world have never yet fully fathomed. And yet he was chained to a roman God. That is freedom. [00:37:05] Some of you are chained to unsaved husbands, and some of you are chained to unsaved wives, and some of you have got unsaved bosses, and some of you have got what I would call unsaved circumstances. And you know you're chained to these things and you feel, oh, Lord, if I could be free of this, I would soar away into the heavens like a bird. But the Lord says, no, no, no, you wouldn't. If only you could accept the change. [00:37:38] In other words, in the end, the apostle Paul said, ive got more right to be here on this end of the chain than the God has on the other end, because im here by the will of God. [00:37:54] And when he saw that it was freedom, then the Holy Spirit was free to take him into the heavens and into the depths and into the breadth and the length of what is ours in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so it can be with you. Your circumstances become not a prison house. They become, they can become an unexplored world in the Lord Jesus. [00:38:17] But now, coming back to this matter of freedom, you and I need to take this very seriously. It's not something we can just sort of listen to in a message and say, okay, no, no, no. This is something we especially responsible for and we've got to watch over. We've got to encourage the saints in this matter. We've got to minister to one another. We've got to free one another in the name of the Lord. We've got to, as it were, pray over one another. [00:38:44] I mean, not praying over publicly necessary or even privately, but I mean, behind the scenes, we pray over one another for one another, perhaps would be a better way to put it. Well, we know that there's some bondage. Oh, for shepherds that care for the people of God like that, that have a real concern that there shall be no bondage in the house of God. We have been taken out of the house of bondage, and we are God's free men and free women. And we want the right kind of freedom, don't we? We want the yoke of the Lord. Jesus said, come unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and learn of me. For my yoke is easy and my burden light. Now that's the yoke we want. The yoke. That means that when he says die, we die. And when he says give yourself, we give ourselves. And when he says go, we go. And when he says stay, we stay. That is marvelous. Freedom. And then there is another way in which I think we need to know the Lord this evening. I would love to spend the whole evening on this matter of freedom, because it's an area which we desperately, desperately need. And when it comes to this testimony of the Lord Jesus, corporately we find that it's as if all hell comes out to sit on us. [00:40:04] It's as if somehow or other the enemy has said, I'm going to bind these people lest anything happens. Well, dear friends, take seriously what I've said about this whole matter of liberty and freedom, to know the freedom of that I may know the freedom of Christ. [00:40:26] And then I think another matter that we need to take careful note of we find in Philippians and chapter two. Now I'm going to read this as a few verses, but I'm going to read it because then I wont have to say quite so much, because its all here. If there is therefore any exhortation in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the spirit, if any tender mercies and compassions make full my joy that ye be of the same mind, having the same love, being of one accord of one mind, doing nothing through fact, action, or through vainglory, but in lowliness of mind, each counting other better than himself, not looking each of you to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others, have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God counted not the being on an equality with God, a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient even unto death. Yea, the death of the cross. Wherefore also God highly exalted him and gave unto him the name which is above every name, that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven and things on earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the father. [00:42:26] This second thing I'd like to underline tonight is the mind of Christ. We need to know the mind of Christ. [00:42:36] What does it mean, the mind of Christ? Well, now, what is a mind? [00:42:42] A mind is where we think or where we ought to think. [00:42:52] That's our mind as opposed to our heart. [00:42:57] We think here. [00:43:00] And we have that old saying, as a man thinks, so he is. [00:43:09] Now, of course, the Bible says quite a lot about minds. Be very careful of these movements that tell us not to use our minds. [00:43:18] There are a number of them that all go in the end into the. [00:43:22] Where we are told not to use our minds because our minds are flesh, our minds are sold. So we must bypass our minds. This is always dangerous. The Bible speaks in Romans and chapter twelve and verse three, verse two. Be not fashioned according to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind that ye might prove. That ye may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. In other words, we must first be renewed. Our mind must be renewed. And when our mind is renewed, are transformed. [00:44:08] And when we're transformed, we can start to prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Otherwise, what happens? We have the kind of mind that knows better than God. [00:44:21] Oh, many of us would never come out in the open like that and say, I've got a mind or better than the Lord. But why do we have arguments with the Lord? Tell me, why do we have arguments with the Lord? Because we know better, that's why. [00:44:36] We would never come out into the open and say, I know better than you. You telling me to go this way? Never. It would be my destruction if I went that way. Never, never, never. [00:44:47] I know better. [00:44:50] You don't love me really. You just want to get me into that kind of dark way where I have to wear black or brown or blue and look miserable. [00:45:02] You know the kind of mentality we have. [00:45:07] You and I would never come out into the open and say these things. I'm only just saying what's really in our hearts, because what we do is we actually, the way we act reveals that we think this way. You see, if you really had the mind of Christ, you would welcome the will of God. You would prove what is the good and perfect and acceptable will of God. When he said, out with the television, the television would go. Now, I'm not against television, don't get me wrong. I didn't throw that in so that half the company would kick the television out by tomorrow morning. [00:45:41] I often watch television myself, but I am quite sure that there are some people who, without any shadow of a doubt, are so slaves to television that God says to them, out with their, now we have a big battle over that kind of thing. [00:46:02] I immediately say, why? [00:46:06] So and so watches it, and he's one of the responsible leaders. [00:46:16] But you see, it doesn't matter what so and so does. [00:46:20] The Lord is speaking to you. [00:46:23] If God has said to you, no earrings, no earrings. It's no good you saying, but so and so has earrings. [00:46:34] There's nothing wrong in earrings. For that matter, there's nothing wrong with nose rings. [00:46:42] I mean, there's nothing wrong with hearing people get so tired that I remember once a brother coming to me and saying, why do you? Of course, I never wear it over here. But they came and said, why do you wear a handkerchief in your suit pocket? [00:46:57] It was an older brother. So I looked at him very respectfully and said, oh, I don't really know. And he said, well, it's vanity. [00:47:12] So I went back to the Lord, and I said, brother, so and so says it's vanity. I know. I really never thought of it like that. Lord, my handkerchief in my pocket there. I was always taught that I should put a handkerchief in the pocket there. I never thought of it, that it was vanity. And the lord said to me, if he, if he brings this matter up with you again, ask him why he has come on his trousers or buttons on his sleeves. [00:47:51] And I said, oh, thank you so much, lord, because why do we have buttons on our sleeves? [00:48:00] Do you know why? [00:48:04] Because about 150 years, years ago, the dragoons used to wipe their nose, and the officer said, put buttons there. They won't do it. [00:48:15] That's true. I know you're laughing. [00:48:20] And ever since then, they've put buttons on their sleeves. [00:48:24] It's fashion. But isn't it funny? [00:48:29] You see, when the dress goes up, it's worldly, but in five years time, everybody's dress goes up in the christian circles, when it drops, it's worldly. I remember another brother saying to me at some time about this whole matter. He said, you know, he said, I think it's disgusting, these short skirts. You're an older brother. He said, I think it's disgusting, these short skirts. And I said, yes, it is rather. It's the fashion of this world, isn't it? So he said, absolutely. So. I don't know what things are coming to now. I was delighted a month later because the maxi skirt came in, which was right down to the ground, and I thought, this mother's going to be thrilled. But lo and behold, one month after she came to, he said, now it's down to the ground. [00:49:18] And I said to him, I thought you would be delighted. You were talking about, you know, how unseemly it was. All these sorts, you see. I mean, it's so silly when it comes to these things. But now, listen, there is the time when the Lord speaks to us about something. He speaks to us about what we do, what we wear, the amount of jewelry or whatever it is. I mean, the colors we wear, or whatever else. I mean, the Lord has a right to speak to us about these things. There are phases of discipline and education, and often it's to prove whether we will obey the Lord or not. The Lord is, as it were, bringing out what's in our hearts, you see? Now, the main thing is this. Why do we have such a problem following the Lord? Because we really feel we know better than the Lord. That's really what it is. [00:50:06] If I really believed that the Lord was love and that he adored you and me, I would have no problem about when he says, do this, because I know he was not doing anything that's going to injure me or harm me. I know it's going to be for my bed, for my blessing, and for my highest. [00:50:23] Now do you begin to understand why we need a renewed mind? Because it all starts up there, that's why. [00:50:30] It's my little thought process that goes on. And unwittingly, I think, no, I know better than him. [00:50:38] He says, go this way. It'll be my end if I go that way. I want to go this way. This is the way along which all my satisfaction and joy lies. [00:50:49] And so I go that way and I lose everything. [00:50:55] And if I had gone the Lord's way, I might have had a lot of problems, but I had tremendous joy and great peace and a tremendous experience of abundant life and much fruit. [00:51:08] Now, this matter of the mind of Christ is all important because what we think conceptions govern behavior. [00:51:20] Never forget that. Conceptions govern behavior. [00:51:24] So our minds are most important. [00:51:28] And there's a second thing up here in the mind. We associate the mind, or ought to, with knowledge and wisdom. [00:51:39] Knowledge is a fact and wisdom is what to do with them, isn't it? [00:51:46] Now my point is this. It have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. [00:51:56] What is the mind which is wisdom? [00:52:00] What is the mind which has all the facts at its fingertips? [00:52:07] It is the mind that never grasps at its position, but can humble itself even to the death of the cross. [00:52:22] Now, what is the mind of the flesh? The mind of this world? The mind of this world is I'm going to get to the top even if it means knocking a lot of other people off the ladder. [00:52:36] That's the mind of this world. You go up by knocking others out of the way. [00:52:42] What is the mind of this world? [00:52:44] You fight for your rights. [00:52:49] I've got rights. I'm going to fight for them. That is the mind of this world. The ghost of Adolf Hitler still haunts us. Might is right and the whole of this world is built on this thing. [00:53:03] Well fight for our rights. Were not going to take it lying down. [00:53:08] But the mind of Christ is that you go down to go up. [00:53:15] Its the exact opposite. [00:53:18] You go down to go up. Now its not so remarkable when you start to look at it because you see if you look at, for instance, James, the letter of James, chapter four, verse ten. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and he shall exalt you. [00:53:40] Verse six. But he giveth more grace. Wherefore the scripture saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble. Be subject therefore unto God, but resist the devil and he will flee from you. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and he shall exalt you. One Peter, chapter five. [00:54:03] One Peter, first letter of Peter, chapter five, verse five. Likewise ye younger, be subject unto the elder. Yea, all of you gird yourselves with humility to serve one another. For God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time. [00:54:33] So the mind of Christ is always humble yourself under the mighty hand of God that he may exhort you in due time. Now sometimes the Lord leaves us, like Joseph in the prison for seven years and we may feel the due time has long since departed and try to get out one way or another. But due time is due time and the Lord will never do anything until the due time, when we really have learned our lesson, he brings us up. But isn't it a wonderful thing? This is the way the Lord Jesus went. We can have this mind in you, in us, which was also in him. [00:55:18] I mean, when I really think about it, have you got trying circumstances? Well, he did. I can't imagine what it must have been like for him, God the Son, to be born of a woman and to be contracted to a foot of flesh. [00:55:33] I can't imagine. If that's not limited circumstances, what is? [00:55:39] And he limited himself to being rocked in a woman's arms and dependent on other human beings, carried about God the Son. [00:55:51] Well, he knows all about it from the inside, then. So the mind that was in Christ can be in me. If he's in me, that mind can be in me. And if I've got troublesome circumstances, I can learn how to live in those troubled circumstances. Because he's in me. He's been in all this before. Am I having a problem about the will of God? And quite honestly, I don't really like it. I have to be honest. I can't be artificial and spiritual and say, oh, Lord, your will is absolutely the best. In spite of what's been said this evening. I feel in my heart, Lord, I've got to be honest. I don't like this. [00:56:30] Do you know, I've got someone in me who once said, father, if it be possible for this cup to pass from me, nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt. And he won the battle. And he's in me. [00:56:47] His mind is in me. [00:56:51] I don't know how to lay myself down for others, but I have someone in me who laid down his life for others. [00:57:01] He's in me. The mind's in me. [00:57:05] That's why the apostle Paul says in corinthians, he hath the mind of Christ. [00:57:10] It's there. [00:57:12] Oh, to know it. Do you have problems with others? [00:57:18] He endured the gainsaying of sinners. The contradiction of sinners. [00:57:24] Not only the contradiction of antagonistic, unsaved sinners, but those that he was saving. [00:57:30] My goodness. Think of Peter. Think of the rivalries between John and James and Peter. Think of all the infighting of the disciples. Think of Judas. [00:57:41] And you say that you cant put up with brother so and so, or sister so and so. [00:57:47] I tell you the whole question is a matter of rights. [00:57:53] Jesus said, if any man will follow me, let him deny himself. Take up his cross and follow me. [00:58:00] And another rendering for that deny himself is simply let him give up all right to himself, take up his cross and follow me. He that loseth his life for my sake and the gospels the same shall find it unto life eternal. And he that preserves his life the same shall lose it. [00:58:20] This doesn't mean you lose your salvation. It means you lose all the joy and abundant life of God in this time and much reward in the kingdom to come. You lose your inheritance. It's not worth it, dear friends. It's really not worth it. You're fighting to preserve your life, fighting for your rights and bristling at every opportunity about anybody who says anything about you. My dear, dear child of God, how do you know the way of the cross? [00:58:54] You know, we sort of. I've said this to some of you before, but I'll repeat it again because in one sense it's worth repeating. I mean, the trouble with most of us is, you see, we've got this marvelous idea of being crucified. We sort of say, oh, Lord, I want to know the way of the cross. And then we feel there'll come a revelation. And an angel, glistering, dazzling in brightness, will take a silver hammer and a golden nail and take my hand and. And put it out on the cross and then, bang. A nail, oh, so gently through it. And then. [00:59:30] And then you'll take my other hand and up onto the other and then with a silver hammer and a golden nail, gently tap it in. [00:59:40] And then I shall be crucified. [00:59:44] I shall have such bliss, full of peace and joy radiating down. And I'll look at that person that's been saying evil things. That's going, you know, it's going to be such a lovely experience. [01:00:08] Forgive me, those of you over there, but that's not the way the law brings us to know the way of the cross. Do you know what happens? [01:00:21] Those who are nearest and dearest to you, they crucify you, you know, they sort of say, all the trouble with you is you're so big headed and bang. The nails gone through the hand. And we say, how dare they? How dare they? Big headed, or what do you think you are? [01:00:45] And so we fight for one another. I am right. Oh, you don't think. How does the Lord crucify us? He crucifies us through one another. [01:00:55] Sometimes circumstances are, generally speaking, relationships, often those nearest and dearest to us. And there's no gentleness about it. [01:01:06] One great big nail. Bang. It's true. You don't have to bother your little heads about going the way of the cross. Once you're ready to go. Once you've asked the Lord, Lord, I'll go there, the Lord will take care of it. [01:01:19] Within a few hours, you'll have your first opportunity to die. [01:01:24] And then you'll be able to say, when someone says to you, you know, I think you're one of the most long winded people in this company. And then you'll say, I'm going to hit him. And then you think, no, no, it's praise the Lord opportunity to die. [01:01:47] Now, I know that's putting it rather idealistically, but that's how it comes. [01:01:51] So the next time your beloved says something about you, just remember that. Praise the Lord. [01:01:59] Praise the Lord. [01:02:01] I can take up my cross. [01:02:05] I can give up all right to myself on this. Now, if you don't want to give up all right to yourself, you'll fight furiously. [01:02:13] You'll say, if I take this lying down, he'll walk over me every time. Or if I allow this, she'll do this and this and this. I'm not going to do it. [01:02:22] I'm not going to allow it. [01:02:25] And then, of course, you missed the whole opportunity. [01:02:28] If you want to fight for your rights, you can. But you know what happens? You lose all joy, all peace, your life abundant and fruitfulness. You'll just be a shriveled up, embittered saint. [01:02:45] And that's what most of us become. Have this mind in you. It doesn't matter whether you're the leader or whether you're one of the simplest members in the body of the Lord Jesus. The fact of the matter is that, that we all have to have this mind in us. I think that that is so wonderful to have the mind of Christ, because it's this mind, the mind of Christ, which leads to glory and leads to the throne. [01:03:15] So do you want to come to the throne? [01:03:18] Do you want to come to the glory? [01:03:22] If you want to come to the throne, you must remember the words of your Lord, him that overcomes, while I grant the sit down with me in my throne, even as I also overcame and sat down with my father in his. The mind of Christ. [01:03:45] It is a wonderful thing to have the mind of Christ. [01:03:49] You read those words, didnt you? In the beginning there. Oh, wouldnt it be wonderful if it was true of every fellowship of gods people, if there is therefore any exaltation in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the spirit, if any tender mercies and compassions, make full my joy that ye be of the same mind. You cant be that when youre all fighting for rights, having the same love, being of one accord of one mind, doing nothing through faction or through vain glory, that self aggrandizement. [01:04:28] But in lowliness of mind, each counting other better than himself, not looking each of you to his own things, but each of you also to the things of others, have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. [01:04:52] You know, to be on an equality with God was really something. [01:05:01] I think thats something to be grasped. [01:05:04] But it says he did not existing in the form of God counted, not being on an equality with God, a thing to be grass, but emptied himself. [01:05:18] Thats something tremendous. [01:05:21] The mind of Christ empties himself. [01:05:28] In other words, youre prepared to be a slave. Now, what the word says is very beautiful in mark chapter ten and verse 43. But it is not so among you. But whosoever would become great among you shall be your minister or servant, and whosoever would be first among you shall be slave of all. [01:05:56] I think thats an amazing word. It says, if you want to be great, then become like a hired servant in a house. Now, a hired servant had rights, but he was a hired servant. [01:06:10] If you want to be great prominent in the kingdom of God, then become like a hired servant. But if you want to be first become a slave. [01:06:24] The difference between a hired servant and the slave was a hired servant had hours, and a slave had no hours at all. [01:06:36] Well, now, don't tell me that anyone's going to find that easy. [01:06:41] To be at the beck and call of the Lord's people. [01:06:46] To be just simply requires a life laid down. That's no easy matter, believe me. And we can only do that if we have this mind in us. There's no other way to really know the Lord fully than having that mind of his in us. And now lastly, and I will only touch on this because I have spoken about it a number of times here and elsewhere, there is one other way in which we need to know the Lord Jesus, and that is what I call the inclusiveness of Christ. The inclusiveness of Christ. Romans twelve. [01:07:26] For even as we have many members in one body, and all the members have not the same office, so we who are many are one body in Christ and severally members one of another. [01:07:46] I find this a most wonderful thing. Listen again. But of God are ye in Christ Jesus, plural ye not just you personally, but of God are ye. This is one corinthians, chapter one, verse 30. But of God are ye plural in Christ Jesus who was made unto us, wisdom from God, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, that he that glorious glorieth in the Lord, that he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Now, I find this marvelous, because I am in Christ, and Mike here is in Christ, and this mike is in Christ too. And Chuck here is in Christ. No, we havent got our own Christ. [01:08:42] Theres only one Christ. [01:08:44] We four are in the same Christ. [01:08:47] Isn't that wonderful? [01:08:49] And I find it absolutely amazing to think that every single born again believer has been placed by God in the same Christ and then the same Christ is in us. Inclusiveness of Christ I think absolutely wonderful, because every single true born again believer is in him by the appointment of God. Be they catholic, be they whatever theyve labeled themselves, if theyre born of God, theyre in Christ and theyre mine. And im theirs. [01:09:25] Its the inclusiveness of Christ because God has included everyone whom he saved. Now, lets be quite honest. There are some people that I wouldnt have saved, and if you were honest, you wouldn't either. [01:09:42] You know, there are some of the believers that you think, oh dear. [01:09:48] And if you were honest and didn't want to blaspheme, or perhaps I would say if you were honest and almost ready to appear to blaspheme, you would say, why did the Lord say that one? [01:10:06] A load of trouble, one of God's awkward squad. [01:10:18] You know, if I had been the Lord's advisor, there are awful lot of people I would have advised him not to save. [01:10:33] But of course, I was not the Lord's adviser, for which many in the kingdom will be eternally great. [01:10:45] And I have no doubt that if there were others who were the advisers, I wouldn't have been saved. [01:10:54] Because you see, the wonderful thing about it is this, that it is God who has saved without advice from anybody, he has saved. Now, if he has saved, can I build a middle wall between us? Shall I put up a barrier and say, no, I cannot do it? [01:11:20] That's what I mean by the inclusiveness of Christ. And since really we're going to live together for eternity, why don't we really seek to live together down here? [01:11:31] I don't mean, of course, all sell your homes and all live communally, that kind. I don't mean that at all. What I mean is this, if we're really going to be together forever, isn't it best for us to start to be realistic about the whole thing now and start to say, well, so and so is very different to me. In fact, I might say that I feel so and so is incomparable as far as I'm concerned, but we're going to be together for eternity, so we might as well start loving one another now. [01:12:10] And after a while perhaps we shall begin to appreciate, you know, one of the great ways to start to love somebody is to pray for them. [01:12:19] I don't, of course, mean pray for them in a superior way, you know, Lord, break so and so. [01:12:26] I mean, this is one of the ways we can pray for one another, you know. Oh Lord, so and so and so difficult. Break him, change him, Lord. [01:12:37] But I mean really, to pray for one another, we take the time to begin to find out some of the problems and circumstances. Circumstances. And we make it a point of praying for that person, if not every day, at least once every few days. You know, you cannot pray for a person and not begin in the end to love them, because as you pray for them, you begin to take an interest and you begin to have a care for them. And then after a while you begin to develop a tenderness toward them and after a while you begin to love them. [01:13:17] Now people tell me there are some people they cannot love. Rubbish. [01:13:23] If God loved you and me, we can love anybody. [01:13:29] Really, we can love anybody because once the Lord is in us, we can have that love of him in us. [01:13:38] Now, this inclusiveness of Christ is tremendous because there is an exclusiveness also of Christ. And I just want to mention this because everyone who is not born of God is excluded. [01:13:51] He may be a cardinal, maybe a theologian, he may be a top ranking minister or pastor, he may be a deacon or an elder, but if he is not born of God, he is not in Christ. [01:14:10] I dont say that in order to become exclusive, but just to make the point that only God really knows all those who are his. [01:14:21] And we have to be very clear on this point that just because a persons religious doesnt mean to say that theyre born of God. [01:14:30] I was delighted to hear of a big First Baptist church that I have spoken in for a week of meetings in Florida a year or two ago. He's just got a new pastor filled with the Holy Spirit. And as he's been preaching, 44, including some of their top officers, have got saved. Now this was an evangelical fundamentalist place and they've gone so far as to baptise the whole 44 again publicly. Well, praise the Lord for that. You see, the trouble so often has been in baptist things that people have come into a kind of decision, being rushed into the pool, baptized as if theyre born of God. And in many cases its been a kind of decision in the head with no instruction, so that many have come into the church that are not really born of God, sometimes being little children that have been taken through the waters to hardly know what they're doing and think then that they're in Christ. [01:15:39] No, it's wonderful when the Lord really starts to work. But if all that is excluded, there's something else that's excluded, too. You see, the Lord Jesus is called in Colossians three, verse eleven, the new man. [01:15:53] And that means that the old man is excluded, had everything to do with him. [01:15:59] In two corinthians, chapter five and verse 17, it says, wherefore, if any man be in Christ, there is a new creation. Thats how I love the rendering. It says, he is a new creature in the King James. But it can be just as correctly rendered. There is a new creation. There is a new creation. Christ is the new creation. He said, behold, I make all things new. [01:16:21] Well, if he is the new creation, the old creation has no place in this. [01:16:25] Our problem is we've carried over from the world all the methods, procedures and techniques of any human club and thought that, well, the church is the same. Let's get it all going. Whereas in actual fact, the church is a divine, heavenly organism, that's not being mystical as being practical. [01:16:43] And once the church is in living touch with its head, the body begins to grow and function and develop and builds itself up in love. And God gives to it the kind of ministries that help it to come to the place where it builds itself up in love. [01:17:02] So we need to get this clear. We need to be a company of the Lord's people that keep our arms and hearts and minds open to every single believer worldwide. [01:17:16] It is a wonderful thing, which I often remind myself. It's come to me with new revelation in the past month that the church is not only one geographically, that is every believer over the whole face of the earth, but is one as far historically, historically, which means that this very night I am one with all the saints that are gathered in the kingdom. [01:17:44] Now, they used to say this in the apostles Creed. I believe in the communion of saints. Those of you with episcopalian background and some other Presbyterians, you all know this apostles creed. I believe in the communion of saints. And what does it mean, the communion? It means communion, union with the saints. Not meaning in a spiritist way that we can get in touch with them or. I personally don't believe in the catholic way of asking the saints up there to pray for us or act on our behalf. But you see, it was on the basis of this idea that they did ask them. Well personally I don't think we need them. I think the Lord Jesus is quite sufficient and although I honor and respect his mother and one day I'm going to meet her so I want to be very careful what I say. [01:18:37] I do respect the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ and honour her as the mother of our. I don't think we need to have her have to put in a word to the Son in order to get a prayer answered. It seems to me it's quite sufficient to be within the will of God and pray in the name of the Lord Jesus. [01:18:57] But you know this is a wonderful thought to me, that we are one historically, that all those saints that have gone before with all their varied experience and their diverse backgrounds, all the different colors and races and nationalities and social classes, they're all one with us. [01:19:19] I find it marvelous. [01:19:22] And really I think what God wants to do is to get a kind of representation of that down here because these people didn't belong to the Methodists or the Presbyterians or the Catholics or the Baptists or the Moravians, they belong to the church. [01:19:42] I remember years ago at home with this I must finish. [01:19:47] I remember years ago at home we had to register with the government. The government brought a law in that all christian bodies should register with the government if they want. Once they get large you know where they've got to have a place to meet him because of fire regulations. You know we have a welfare state. I suppose you're getting that way too where we're watched all the time by government bodies for our own safety and good. [01:20:13] And we had to register with the government on this. And of course we came, they, they said well now what denomination are you? And we didn't know what to put in so we scratched our heads for a long time and this poor man was so bothered he thought well he said is it such a problem? [01:20:35] Are you Church of England? Well of course we're Church of England. I said I mean we belong to the church in England but we're not Church of England in the sense that we're episcopalian. So he said well are you presbyterian? Well I said yes we are Presbyterian because we've got presbyters but I said we're elders but I said we're not Presbyterian if you understand. Oh he said I see. Well are you Baptist? Well I said yes we are Baptist. We're baptized by immersion. [01:21:04] But I said we're not baptized if you are, understand what I mean? So he said oh I see. So he said, well, are you Methodist? Well, I said, maybe we're not so much Methodist because we don't like methods too much. But I said, we've got. We've got. We've got the new birth. I said, and that's what they really spoke about all the time, regeneration and a real experience of perfect love. So he said, well, you must be something. He said, I don't think you're salvation army. Well, I said, we do believe in doing good work amongst the poor, and so we do believe in a social outworking of the gospel. So he said, well, are you pentecostal? So I said, well, we have. We do believe in gifts, and we do believe in an experience of the Holy Spirit. Well, he said, I don't know what to do. [01:21:55] So he said, maybe your exclusive brethren. [01:21:58] Oh, no. I said, we're not exclusive brethren. And I was almost on my tip of my tongue to say to him, well, we do exclude all who don't belong to the Lord Jesus. But I thought, no, I won't be too clever. [01:22:10] And so then he said, well, we've got to put down something here. Well, I said to him, couldn't we put down Christians? [01:22:20] So he said, well, that would seem a bit funny. He said, if I put down here denomination, no one else Christians. [01:22:31] When he said, you really have nothing else that you can put there? No, I said, nothing. [01:22:39] And I said, you know, we don't want to put down some of these things that others did. In the early days. They took names that they were called by, and then it became the name of their denomination, like the Quakers, you see. So I said, we really don't want to. So then he said, well, this will have to go to my superiors. But he said, I'll take this away and I'll see. And it went right to the top. [01:23:02] And we had a charming letter to say that we were registered for the first time in history as the denomination known as Christian. [01:23:15] And, you know, we've been. I wrote back to the dear man and I said, well, I said, we gain over everybody else because they can't say what we can say. Every time someone's married amongst us, they have to have this little thing, you know, which says, married at Halford House, which is a licensed place of worship, according. You don't have this problem over this side in the denomination known as Christians. [01:23:45] And of course, what we love about it is I wrote to him and said, I said, we are. We belong to the denomination which includes everybody from the apostle Paul, Saint Augustine, St. Jeremy, St. Teresa John House, who they burnt, and Jeremy of Plaque and John Wycliffe and John George Fox John and Charles Wesley and George. We've got them all. [01:24:17] See, when we get to heaven, there will only be one denomination, and that's the Christians. [01:24:23] It's a wonderful thing to see the inclusiveness of Christ and to find a ground upon which we can be built together. [01:24:31] And there is no other ground upon which we can be built together than the inclusiveness of Christ. That is the foundation which God has laid, which no one else can lay. And once we find that foundation, we can really start to come home. We know that we can't get away from that again. If we live here, we find that foundation of the Lord Jesus Christ. God can start to build us together in him. May he do this work in us. May it be said of us all that we know him, whom to know is life eternal. Shall we pray, Father? We do just very simply, bow here in thy presence. We have covered a number of matters. And, Lord, our prayer is that we might know thee in this way. We might know thy freedom. We might know thy mind dwelling in us, and we might know thy inclusiveness, Lord, so that we receive one another as thou hast received us. [01:25:37] Lord, only thou canst burn this whole matter into us. Let there be an outworking lord of this word in all our hearts. We pray, thou knowest, Lord, where there are areas of bondage. [01:25:48] Thou knowest, Lord, the enemy's tactics in this part of thy family. Seeking to bring heaviness in, seeking to bring inhibition and self consciousness so that we are unable, as it were, to operate or function under the sovereignty of the Holy Spirit, as we ought, Lord, we rebuke this thing in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. [01:26:11] And we say, o Lord, give us such an understanding of thyself as our freedom, that we shall learn to stand fast in that freedom to which we have been called and learn to serve one another in love. [01:26:28] And Lord, on this matter, having that mind of yours in us, o Lord, thou nurse the need. We're all the time having collisions and problems, lord, whether at home, in business, at work, in college or in the church, Lord, help us, we pray to learn what it is to empty ourselves and to become a slave and to humble ourselves evil to the death of the cross. Because we know, Lord, that in due time thou wilt exalt us to thy throne and give us a fullness and an authority and an experience that cannot be denied. And, o Lord, we pray that we may learn what it is to be built together, fitly framed together, knit together in him. Do this, o Lord, we pray and we ask it in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.