In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the transformation that occurs when one accepts Christ. He highlights how believers were once dead in their sins, following the ways of the world and being influenced by the devil. The preacher also addresses the Gentiles, reminding them that they were once without Christ, alienated from the promises of God. He encourages the audience to embrace the glory of God and to seek revelation from the Holy Spirit. The sermon emphasizes the need for believers to have a spiritual mindset and to be prepared for the future resurrection and transformation of their bodies.

Well, and now, what? I want to talk to you about now. You know, Paul the Apostle was a man God used in many ways and he went many places and he preached in many situations and conditions and he wrote some wonderful letters. I want you to turn with me to the Ephesian letter now. He went to Ephesus and you know that at Ephesus he was the one who brought into the situation the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost came into the situation of Ephesus, which was a dead believing company of people. He brought in the blessed Spirit of God, as you may read in Acts chapter 19. You may read it there quite clearly for yourself. And then a true church of Jesus Christ sprang into being. You know that he stayed three years at Ephesus, one period, ministering the mighty truths of God. And all Asia heard the word of God. It was a precious and glorious experience for this great Apostle of God. And then he wrote the letter to these Ephesians. And you know, of course, he wrote two. We've lost one. He wrote one brief letter to them. We have the longer one, the one the blessed Spirit in his wisdom saw fit to retain for us. This gem of revelation from God. And in it he, oh he speaks of such glorious things and I want us to revel in them for this next hour or so and then perhaps on for the rest of our lives. It's the great now of God. Now. He comes at it this way. I'm going to take them a little out of order because I think that you will agree with me that this is the only way to take them. As we read this Ephesian letter, he speaks of the great now in their lives. Chapter three, let's start there, shall we? Just for our reading to introduce ourselves at the correct place. For this cause, I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, if you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God, which is given me to you would how that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery. Is it a precious thing, beloved, that this dispensation of the grace of God so wonderful to them that he made known unto a man the revelation of the mystery. And I want you to see and understand this, beloved, that not one of us has a single hope unless we're willing to pass into the revelation of the mystery. This is where it all lies. A mystery has been revealed. A mystery has been revealed. And it's here we read in the apprentices here. I wrote a four in few words, whereby when you read, you may understand my knowledge of the mystery of Christ. That's the short epistle to the Ephesians. He made known unto me the mystery, verse five, which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the spirit. And it's this word now, here it is. This isn't the first time it occurs in the letter, but it's the obvious place where we start. That it all starts with us, beloved, because there is a present revelation. Amen. But let's get something of the background before this. And he, in writing in the first chapter to them, says this. Verse 12, we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ, in whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory. Amen. Verse 15, wherefore I also after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, and so on. He moves on. This man, he hears something wonderful to his heart, that here is a company of people that have real faith in Jesus Christ, and love to all the saints. What a precious thing that is. That's enough to inspire any man, if he has a spark of anything within him, to want to open his bowels and gush out toward a people who have faith in Jesus Christ. And it's only faith in Jesus Christ that can bring you to the place of abandonment, which will bring you to the proper love toward all the saints. Because that's what Jesus has, love to all the saints. It's a glorious thing, beloved. And it's this that undoubtedly prompts his letter. I know it's under the power of the Holy Ghost, but it prompts his letter. There's always a beginning somewhere in our conscious, finite experience. In the Blessed Spirit, of course, it has always lain there. But God has human instruments, and he gets hold of them, and he does marvellous things in them. He brings them to experiences, and they have a conscious understanding of something, and they start, but oh, beloved, it's been in his heart, way back there, this love, bless the name of the Lord, this love toward a people whom he foreknew in Christ. Oh, and he's ready to, to just, God. And so Paul writes his letter. And the type of people to whom he's writing is this, these people, listen, verse one of chapter two, you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, among whom also we all had our conversation in times past, in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. Verse 10, verse 11, wherefore remember that ye being in time past, Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands, that at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope without God in the world. Chapter four, 17. Remember that this is what Paul calls times past, what you used to be. Hallelujah. Here it is. Walking as the other Gentiles walk, verse 17, in the vanity of the mind, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart, who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with greediness. What a terrible picture. But bless God, this is what he says, verse two of chapter two, that was in time past, what you used to be. Hallelujah. You know, when Jesus Christ really gets hold of you, you've got a past, but it is past. It's gone, got a past. It's really past. It isn't present. It's past. Amen. You know that hymn we sang the other day, so delightfully, now it is past and over, gone my sin and shame. Jesus, Jesus did it. Glory to his name. Do you like that hymn? It's a great one, isn't it? That's it. You've got a past, beloved. Amen. And it's really past. You were hard. You were darkened. You were serving your lust. You were walking according to the devil's oversight of the world in which you live. You were fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind. And by your very nature, you were a child of wrath. But, but God, it's when God steps into that situation, which he did in Christ. You see, and this is what Paul is talking about in that third chapter. This gospel in verse five of chapter three was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the spirit that the Gentiles should be made fellow heirs and of the same body and partakers of his promise in Christ by the spirit. You know, really, this is one of the verses. I don't know what the newer translations do with this or the paraphrases, but this is one of the verses that loses the punch of the spirit, the punch of the spirit in this, in this verse. It says that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs and fellow members of the same body and fellow partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel. This great word fellow. That's the punch and power in the spirit. Glory be to the name of the Lord. It's so wonderful that this revelation has been given to us, beloved. This gospel, beloved, is a revelation. And although I'm preaching it to you tonight and you've got the record of it in print, it's got to come as a revelation to your heart. Are you ready to receive it? Has your heart got a great big gaping mouth in it saying just pour it in? I'm after revelation. That's what I'm after. I'm not after some kind of dream. I'm not seeking some sort of new thing like the Athenians, but I want this revelation. It's the newest thing there is in 1973. When it comes to a man, it's a revelation. It brings him out of the toils of his mind. It brings him out of the grip of Satan. It brings him out of the rottenness of the world. It brings him out of the corruption of his own flesh. It brings him under the plane where God is speaking and God is saying such glorious things. Oh, it's so, so precious to come onto the ground or plane or whatever you want of revelation. And it's been revealed. And listen, beloved, here's the privilege. Every one of us in this room tonight ought to be sitting up with our ears wide open. A revelation from God. A revelation from God. Lord speak to me. I want a revelation. My being needs to see something. My whole spirit. You see, he says, you were dead. Think of it. And how does God meet this death? By sending a revelation into it. That's how he meets that death. You were dead. And then came a revelation from God that reached our dead souls. Is that right? That's the only way you can be saved. A revelation comes to you. Amen. That's how old Paul got it. Going along in his absolute blindness, in the stygian gloom of his religious mind and dogmatism, a murderer at heart, thinking he was a hero of the nation. And going along, and suddenly there shone a light round about him, bright as a new day sun. And the voice said, soul, soul, who thou? Revelation. Amen. And he kept on that peak of revelation. He kept there. He knew that as he'd begun, he got to continue. He kept there. He spoke later of being caught up to the third heaven and having revelations or hearing such words that it's not lawful to utter. This man lived on that peak of revelation. How long he'd laboured in the inspired scriptures and was dead, dead, utterly dead. Revelation of Jesus Christ. And that's where he lived. He lived there. He let everything else go for this. Amen. Now, beloved, now there's a revelation. Hallelujah. Now there's a revelation. Not just a record of a revelation. We have that in our books, in our hands. But there's a revelation, beloved. Have you ever received a revelation, dear Inwood man? Have you? Have I had a revelation? Hey, revelation. When revelation comes, I'll tell you what happens to you and then you'll know whether you've ever had one. I can tell you because I've had the many, many, many of them. You might be praying, you might be reading, you might be walking along the road. I remember once I used to work for my living once. What I mean by that is when I sort of came out of ordinary, normal work, my daughter Marion told the little girl she played with, my dad don't work, don't, don't go to work now. She said he don't work for his living now. But that's what she said. But there it is. Children know, don't they? I remember once when I used to be working for my living, I was working in the midst of a tremendous noise in the place where I was working. And I was going to, I'd walked this way familiarly. I used to do it, I don't know how many times during the course of a day. I went to this place and I stood at this place in my same old post and I want to encourage you people that have to go on the daily slog and the grind. And I stood there and God gave me a revelation and it seemed that I came to the mystic pause for all the noise went, everything. I wasn't carried away. I'm not at all psychic. I'm as thick as two planks. I've got nothing about that about me, nothing at all. I was there and, and, and in this revelation, I was carried away. I never saw anything, but my spirit went the way I was keen right on the job. I was doing the job just as right, all going on fine, nothing went wrong. But I went into the holiest of all. I went via, I could hear as it were, the golden bell and the pomegranate tinkling on the road, giving out its golden tone. I should never forget it on the robes of Aaron. And then the cease as he divested his robes and went into the holiest of all. And I went into immeasurable stillness. Hallelujah. It's gripping me now while I talk about it. I'm back there. Revelations are permanent. They're not evanescent things. They don't come and go like the smoke of a fire. You live in the revelation. I could recount them one after another. When God moves in revelation, beloved, I tell you everything in a moment of time. You see, you know, you understand, you're in like that. You don't need any explanation. You pick up the Bible and read the Bible account of it. You say, yeah, that's right. You say, that's right. What? You say the Bible's right. Revelation. Oh, thank God. He's got us out of the old hang dog days of mere words. We're in the revelation of the spirit. We're in the day of the spirit. We're being introduced. We're being got ready for the great age. Hallelujah. Do you believe it? When this mortal should put on immortality, everything, beloved, we're all, we're going to have spiritual bodies then even you better get a spiritual mind and soul. Now you better be a spiritual man. Now I warn you. This is the whole glory. Now I can see why God gave me that revelation that I spoke to earlier. Ah, I can see now. The whole thing, beloved, is that God is, is moving in this great realm. Now we're in the days of the revelation. Amen. Are you? Glory be to the name of the Lord. Now let's go back because you see in that second chapter, this is where we should have started. If we'd have been reading through, it says at that time, verse 12, you were without Christ being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now, now I want to take you back in that same chapter. I've already talked to you about it before. There's a now before there's a, but now in verse 13, let's go back to the end of verse three. And we read that we were by nature, the children of wrath, even as others, but God, that's right. But God, but now we've come in on the back. God's intervention. Amen. God's intervention. Bless it. But God, who is rich in mercy for his great love, with he loved us, even when we were dead, as quickened us together with Christ by gracious saved, this raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ in the ages to come. Oh, hallelujah. You see, we've begun. We're in an age that's anticipating ages and ages, ages to come. Hallelujah. Ages of it will be young now. Glory be young. But now, but now hallelujah. Have you got this ringing in your very bowels? But now hallelujah. Is this the transforming truth within you? But now in Christ, where in Christ Jesus, but now I'm in Christ Jesus. Oh, hallelujah. You sometimes were far off a made nigh by the blood of Christ. Isn't that marvelous? I'm right near now. Don't you stop there. There are lots of people stop there. That's only a beginning to be, to make your nigh. But now, uh, you were far off. You've been made nigh by the blood of Christ. That's marvelous. That's only a beginning. We glory in the blood, but let's go right on. For he is our peace who has made both one and broken down the middle wall of partition between us. Having abolished in his flesh, the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances for to make in himself or twain one new man. So making peace and that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby and came and preached peace to you, which were a file and to them that were nigh for through him, we both have access by one spirit unto the father. Beloved, I want to tell you this much that unless the blood could bring you there, it was of no use. The blood was shed to bring you to the father washed in that blood, redeemed by that blood. That's why the blood was shed. Glory be to the God didn't go in for senseless blood shedding. God went in for shedding that blood because of the great purpose in his heart. He didn't just shed that blood to make me nigh. He shed that blood that I go right to the father in that marvelous. Amen. Now beloved now where am I? Oh, I've gone into the father by the one spirit that was in him and that we share beloved if we're off him as we should be by that one spirit to the father. The blood was shed for God to have a family for the seed is in the blood. That's right. And the seed was not released for the Holy Ghost to use until the blood was shed. Amen. Praise him. The Holy Ghost has come now through this marvelous thing of Jesus Christ that we may not be standing worshiping the blood great as it is, but that through the blood we should be worshiping our God. Hallelujah. Pure, free, redeemed, and generous. Made nigh, brought in right to the heart, right to the center. What can I say? Where the words start or where can you end only in your own futility? For that's a thing of the spirit. We're in the realm of the revelation. And if you don't know this, my words will not make it plainer to you. We're there. Are you there? Conscious of it? Hey, but God, but now, now it's God. God. It's all God. The father, God, the son, God, the Holy Ghost. I've had a new beginning, not in the world, not in sin, but in Christ, in God. I've had a new conscious beginning. God was always conscious of having me there before the foundation of the world. And I'm so glad about this beloved. Ah, I'm there. Are you there? Now I'm there. And beloved, whence, once we know we're there, what's it all about? Let's look at verse 19 comes the other. Now, now, therefore, because of all this, you are no more strangers and foreigners, the fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God. If I said to you, hand up every one of you now, be absolutely honest. Now you be absolutely honest. Now I'm not going to say I'm putting the word if in, if I said hands up every one of you that felt a stranger here, would you put your hand up? I'm not saying whether your host and hostess has given you a warm welcome and you've had a nice cup of tea and that. I'm not talking about that. You feel a stranger? You feel a foreigner? There aren't any, not in Christ. Amen. Praise God. He did come into the world a Jew, but when he came up out of the out of the grave, what was he? When he came back, as it were the second time, he came in first time through the womb of a Jewish maid. When he came up from the grave, where are you going to place him? What nationality is he now? A new man, isn't he? Hallelujah. It's new, this. This is wonderful. No strangers here, no foreigners here. Praise him. It's all so glorious. You mustn't think you're going to see a big Jew sitting on the throne when you get up to heaven. You're going to see God. God, born of the Jews according to the flesh, declared to be the son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead, by whom we have received grace and apostleship. You remember I'm quoting from Romans one. This is it. Grace and apostleship didn't come because Paul was a Jew. It came from this man who was raised from the dead. Hallelujah. I read in the paper the other day something about one of the hierarchies on earth that there's a great deal of dissatisfaction with it because all the cardinals, most of the cardinals are Italians. You see, most of the big wigs are Italians and now they're beginning to think this is all wrong. Partiality, chauvinism or whatever you want to talk about. The whole glorious thing. Hallelujah. It says nothing like this here. Nothing like that about it. He came back from the dead. That's right. He was declared to be an apostle by him that was raised from the dead. Do you see the difference between Paul? He was the great new beginning even in apostleship. Hope you see it. Before that they'd all been Jews. Well, I mean, you know what I mean. They were all sort of elected Jews by this on earth. Jesus on the earth. Jesus after the flesh. Jesus comes back and he's a new man among the apostles. This Saul of Tarsus, he's a new man. Hallelujah. He said, I don't know Jesus Christ after the flesh. I know him after the spirit. I'm glorified. Amen. Hallelujah. It was all revelation. Marvelous. Oh, it's so great brother and sister to know this universal God. Now he says you're not a stranger and a foreigner, but you're a fellow citizen with the saints. You're of the household of God and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord in whom ye also are builded together for inhabitation of God through the spirit. Isn't this a marvelous thing? Now we're being, we're the household of God. We're not just of the family of God. We're of the household of God. We're being built up in a holy temple. Can't you see beloved your great predestiny aren't the beginnings of it in you now? Don't you hear that which comes down to you whilst you get on the earth? Can't you hear it all? Don't you know what it's all about? Hallelujah. Do you know why this book's been written? You should read it through and through and through and through. Read the New Testament through 10 times. So every once you read the Old Testament, read it through, see beloved, not just where you've come from, but where you're going to see where you're going. Hallelujah. And this is the whole thing you're moving on. And in the revelation, we've got the record of when this great temple city is complete. It's the last two chapters of the book. There are two most important chapters in the Bible really, if you're willing to want to get down to Bible study and what you're heading for. You've got to know your new heredity. You've got to know your new direction. You've got to know what it's all about, what you're going unto you see. And here we are, beloved, and you read of these in the New Testament. They wave their hands. They wave their palms. They glory. They shout. They fall down on their faces. They worship the Lamb. They cast crowns before Him. They start to sing new songs. Amen. You collect it all up through that through that revelation book of yours. Haven't you got that already in you? This is what temple's worship is all about. Amen. You should hear it now. The songs of the redeemed. They should be in you. That's what temples are for. Fountaining out praise, worship, adoration, glory upon the near sighted God no longer afar off. Here projected onto the blessed spirit renewed within us. There it all is. The spirit gives the word. He's written words in a book all far too meager to bring out to us what this is all about. We're all living stone. We're all being built into that. Come on, get close to me. Stones lie up snug. That's how they're built together. Come on, we're being built together into a holy temple of the Lord. Doesn't it thrill your heart? No, no. Glory be to God. We don't hear the dirges of the devilish synagogues of Satan anymore. Not us. We're here. We're refined. We're redeemed. The Spirit's working in us. Amen. The Lamb. Everybody's crying and shouting for a clear sight of the Lamb. The jewel of heaven. The last great revelation. The Lamb in Father's bosom. The almighty God who conquered everything through a Lamb. Did away with all sin. Broke down all barriers. Ended all divisions. Feeling a foreigner and an alien and separated and a stranger and dirty and outside and unwanted and rejected. Hallelujah. The Lamb. The Lamb. Everything's been overcome by the Lord God almighty with a Lamb. How do you see your craning in this? Glory, glory, glory. Now, beloved, now, now, now. Hallelujah. How goes it with your soul? Is it now with your soul? Now. Amen. Glory. I'm not a single, singular, mighty, miserable person anymore. I'm just identified with all the rest of the stones. Loose side of me. I'm just another stone amongst all the rest. Here we are, beloved. Oh, we will worship the Lamb. Glory be to God. I forget that. I won't tell you how old I am. I forget that I'm this age. I forget that my hair is white. I see the time's come for me to have it cut again. Let's start again to look like a woman. So I, I, I, and I, I, I, I forget all that. And I will worship the Lamb. Glory be to the Lord. I forget everything. Praise God. Do you know one of God's greatest secrets? I'll tell you one of God's greatest secrets. Manually so full of marvelous secrets. But I'm going to tell you one of his great secrets. He knew how to become a little baby. You don't, you see, that's your trouble. He knew how to become a little baby. You can't do that to save your life, can you? Which is all spiritual. It's all spiritual. But your spiritual state shows in your outward behavior. You, you'll be a schizophrenic yet. You'll make yourself separate. That's my spiritual side and that's my other side. But God's not schizophrenic. To worship the Lamb, beloved. Have you ever been head over heels in love with Jesus? Past bearing. Gone beyond yourself. Or have you given him a little deposit? That's my love, Lord. He doesn't believe you. And you wouldn't either if you were him. Hallelujah. Glory. I love you, Lord. If you have to say that you can't love him like that, come to this now. Now. Come on. Come on. Now. Now. Of course you can. Of course you can. We're here. We're worshiping the Lamb. We're in the temple. The songs of redemption are in our hearts. Amen. And we'd better pass on into the third chapter. I love these nows. Don't you? Amen. And it's for this cause, says Paul, for this cause I pour the prisoner of the Lord for you gentiles. And then you should really insert a parenthesis at verse 2 and make it in that verse 13. For he takes up, takes it up again. For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. But you know, Paul's great parenthesis are not always put in because the people who translated the Bible didn't understand what was a parenthesis and what wasn't. You have to make allowance for that. But, but the whole glorious thing is, he says for this cause and then comes his parenthesis. Now, if you've heard of the dispensation of the face of God, which is given me to you would, how that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery. And then within the parenthesis, another parenthesis, as I wrote afore in few words, whereby when you read, you may understand my knowledge of the mystery of Christ, which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit, that the gentiles should be fellow heirs and fellow members of the same body and fellow partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel, whereof I was made a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual in working is the great word. It's the Greek word energy by the effectual energy of his power unto me, who less than the least of all saints is this grace given that I should preach among the gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. Amen. Now, beloved, we are fellow members of the same body. Now we're fellow partakers of his promise in Christ. Everything's equal here. Everything. Don't you think I've got any more promised to me than you have? Why is it that some people seem to have more than others? It's because they believe it and get into it. That's all. We're all on the same basis. Because they give themselves to it. Hallelujah. They just believe it. That's the whole simple secret. People that seem to have their mental ray clear. People that seem to have their understanding quickened. People that are so simple that they see that this is the revelation of God. Lord, I give myself up to the revelation. And I'm going in here. I'm a fellow member of the body of Christ. The body of Christ. Praise God. I'm a member of the body of Christ, but I'm not a member unless I'm a fellow member with you. Nothing particular about me. We're all in this. The body. You do know this, don't you? You do know you're a member of the body, don't you? Of Jesus Christ. Now you are. You've been baptized into this body. Praise God. And what you've got to do is to start really believing that. And you've got to believe it with all that you are. Not just this part up here. You've got to believe it with all that you are. I'm a member of your body. And I'm going to function as a member of your body. And I'm going to be a member of your body. And I'm here, Lord, just to be that. I'm serving you. And I'm a fellow partaker of the promise in Christ by the gospel. I'm a fellow heir with everybody else. Everything's mine. Are you ready? Are you ready for that? Oh, to start functioning here. It can only come from inward revelation. You can't say, oh, well, all right, I believe you. But tell me what I've got to do. You're on the wrong ground. It's all revelation. It's something that's instinctive. It's something that's in the spirit. It's something that makes you know. It's something, it's revelation in you. There's, I mean, I don't know. There's no blueprint anywhere. There's no book you can turn to. There's no library about this. The whole glorious thing is that the only library God ever has is this book. And it's to tell you that the spirit comes and it makes you, you start to function. Hallelujah. At first, it's a bit strange, but I promise you this, if you get in straight away, as soon as you're born, instead of hanging about on the bank for 10 years, it won't be so strange. Straight away. Hallelujah. That's it. You can hang about here about 50, 60, 70 and what do you do? My, you've got a lot to unlearn then. This is the tragedy with so many people. They're always having to unlearn so much. Something of that which isn't right in the sight of God. But once you're born, and listen, you should be born in a church. You should be born into this. You should never have been robbed of these things since you first started to go to Sunday school. I realized when God met me that I'd been robbed of so much by very good men too. But you see, the better the man is who robs you. Well, you know what I mean? For instance, there's some money being stolen here. Well, I mean, if it was I that stole it, you see, you say, Mr North, I'd let him have everything. I'd have my jewels. I'd trust him. You see? Didn't he lead me to Jesus? Didn't he do this? I'd trust him with everything here. Hallelujah. And if I stole your £8, what then? You see, it's the good. It's when you're robbed by the good. That's the tragedy. You expect some scoundrel of a drunkard or a dope addict or someone that's been trained to steal money and brought up to do it never had a real change of heart. Of course. You see, and I was robbed by good people. Never knew. But when at last it dawned on my heart, my wife's testimony, in the mouth of two nurses, I plunged in. Shall I tell you that? Glory be to God. In fact, we both plunged in together. You see, here it is. Glory be to God. Plunge in. I didn't know anything. I was at the mercy of the waves, if you like. Oh. You remember that glorious hymn that the, I think it was Booth wrote it. Booth wrote some fine hymns, you know. Dear old General Booth. He really did write some. Thou ocean of mercy, thou life-giving sea, says how often I've stood at the edge of this life-giving sea. I draw back no longer. I plunge in. It rolls over me. Hallelujah. To plunge in. Blessed be the man who plunged in. In this, I'm a fellow man. I'm an heir to it. It's my natural life now. New supernatural life. It's the way I live. It's the way I've been born now. Born again, of course. This is the whole glorious truth. I'm not dead anymore. I'm alive to this kind of life. This is what it is. This kind of life. Now, now, now. So many have lived partial lives, mutilated lives. This is what the Gospels are all about. When you read your Gospels, you Gospel preachers now, listen to me, you may only properly preach regeneration, and that in only a limited and typical sense, from the incidents of the raising of the dead in the Gospels. When you read of a withered hand being healed, and the lame made to walk, and the blind made to see, this is all to teach you about the atrophied members of those who really are the children of God. Remember that Jesus Christ came to his own. They were God's children. I know that they'd gone far down, and he'd come to teach them about a new birth. But you see, it's Lazarus who's a type of the truly one who's been raised from the dead, you see, or the widow's son, or Jairus's daughter. But when he went into the synagogue and said, stretch out your arm, that means this man was living an atrophied life. So many like that in the churches. They're not in the full use. They're hobbling, they're limping, they're bowed together like this. They can't lift up themselves. They can't do anything. That's the states. Read through your Gospels now with a new idea and make a list of these things, these sicknesses, these conditions, arms, eyes, ears, legs, backs. That's right, 38 years in this case. 38 years he was alive. But was he? This totally emancipating love. God opened the eyes of everybody to see what it's all about. To come out whole from the womb of God. To be baptised with all my members here and functional by his grace. And I'm in there, alive. Oh, how wonderful that is, beloved. Oh, it's so precious. And this, now there's a purpose in this. I hope you see the way we've come. It all starts with the revelation. Then you see you're made nigh and so on. And now you're being built into a temple. Now you see what? Now you're in a body. Hallelujah. It's so precious. Is there another now? Oh, yes. It's too early to stop, so we'll go on. And it says, unto me, verse 8, who am less than the least of all the saints. Now, if Paul was the less of the least, some of you ought to be totally ashamed of yourself then. Because you can't be less than that. You can't be less than that. He's at the bottom. And I'll tell you why he's a foundational man. This is why there's so few foundational men. There aren't men who are less than the least. They're all looked up. Oh, brother, so great, man. Coming to preach to us, you see. So we're all trying to climb up here. And all the time we've been getting down there. Less than the least. The whole thing's gone wrong. And when a man gets to that place, then he's a foundational man. God can build something on him. Hallelujah, you see. Unto me, he says, less than the least of all the saints. Is this grace given that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ and to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery which from the beginning of the world hath been hidden God who created all things by Jesus Christ. That's all about it, he said. His job was to make everybody see what this revelation is that had been hidden. That's his job. That was his job. That's apostolic. To make men see, to make them understand, so that they go home saying, yeah, I see, everything's come clear to me today. Hallelujah. That's it. Praise God. That's apostolic ministry. Coming back to the original. Understanding what it's all about. Sure. And a man's got to be sure in himself. He can't move on theories and propositions. Can't do it. Don't blame him. He'll chain himself down in fear. He dare not let go of these things that he's been anchored to for years. He can't do it. But when the blessed revelation comes like the blinding light on the Damascus road that reached the heart of Paul, and when a man is constantly going up to revelations, whether he goes up to a third or a second heaven, it doesn't matter so much. He said, I don't know whether I was in the body or out of the body. I don't care whether I was in this earthy casket or whether I was a wafer. I didn't make any difference. The revelation that pours in, he's the man, let the revelation keep pouring in. Glory, glory to God. All the miseries are going to be swept away. All the mists are going to clear. All the difficulties are going to be dealt with. All the explanations that the spirit demands are going to be given. Amen. And the spirit must demand these things. The spirit must know. The spirit of a man must know, or else how will he allow himself to be built into something that he can't trust? That's how he started. Christ, in whom you first trusted. That's where we were in the first chapter. After you first trusted in Christ, after you believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. Glory be to the name of the Lord. That's the earnest of everything that's to come. We're living for the future. Glory be to God. We're in a body. Make all men see this mystery. Hallelujah. God grant that tonight in this room, hearts may see this great thing that God is wanting to impart to us. For if you don't see it, beloved, you will wallow in the former mire like the pig that was washed. We're to go on. And here we are to this intent. This is the reason, verse 10. That now, here it is, here's the next one. Now, glory be to God. Amen. I'm in the temple. I'm in the body. Now, come on, I'm beginning to see what it's all about. My faculties and my inward spiritual man are all open. It's pouring in this revelation. What am I moving to? Here it is. With this intent that now unto the principalities and powers in the heavenlies might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God. Hallelujah. Praise God. The manifold wisdom. Was God wise? I'll ask you a question. Do you think we've got a wise God? You're sure? I'm going to ask you a question in a minute. If you're not careful, you'll stumble over it. You're sure God's wise? I'm not trying to catch anybody, but you've got to know. All right, then, if he's all wise and all knowing, and he knew what was going to happen on the earth, did he? Did he? Well, why did he put the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the garden when he knew that he would take it? Why did he do it? Do you think he was wise or foolish? You're saying that from understanding or because you've been trained to say that? Was he wise? Now, it's the manifold wisdom. Was he wise in doing that? Oh, man, he was wise. Oh, man, he was wise. He'd made a man and he had powers patented on God, but they'd never been tested. Never, never. He'd just got, well, there'd never been anybody vying for his affections. Nobody. Of course, he had him. See, it's the same thing. You get it in Job. You get the heart of it. See, there's Job. And the devil says, ah, yeah, you'll see, you'll see. You're blessed still. At least you put a hedge around him. You've done this, you've done that. There you are. See, he was going to have a good old knock of God. And that's the spirit that was in his heart at Eden. God said, now, I'll put in the tree of evil. Go on, devil. That's right. Amen. Hallelujah. This contest between God and Satan, this good and evil, do you think he was wise? He was wise. He's got me. He's got a man. I'm a poor example, but suffer me to give you just a little a crown, will you? You may be the big loaf. Hallelujah if you are. But at least he's got me. And I choose to love him. And because I choose to love him as against the other. Oh, what white hot love that becomes. Let the blasphemers argue. Let the atheists come up. Let them all come up. Hallelujah. God's wise. He wanted somebody like you all on tiptoe to love him quite heatedly. Lord, I won't have the sin. I won't have the devil. I don't want the world. I don't want anything that made me a child of wrath. I want to be a child of peace and rest and love. Isn't that you? Amen. That's only one point of this wisdom. It's manifold. Would you like me to go on and give you other instances? But not in the past, whether God was wise in doing all the things he did, say with the children of Israel. You think them out. Were they wise moves on God's part? Look, was God wise? I'll take one illustration more for you. When he brought the children of Israel out of Egypt, you see, and they came out of Egypt. And you must read your Bible carefully about this. God told them where to go to camp. They were the camp and chapter 14, pi, pi, hi, hi, Ruth. And they were the camp by the Red Sea. And I was able to do this. There you are. They had the mountains on one side that the Red Sea there that the wilderness here and the Pharaoh and his host there. Now then was he wise. The people said, Oh, come here. Come on, Moses, just go like that. Make a way in the sea. I'm going to drown this Pharaoh and all his host. He won't let you go. Won't he? Wasn't he wise to make them pitch there? See, it was a master move. The devil said, now we've got them, you see. Oh, this wisdom of God. You work the other out. There's so much of it in the scripture. Hallelujah. Now we, it's our turn now. It's us. We've got to show to all these principalities and powers up there, whatever their names are, who they are, where they've come from, how big they are, what their dominion and power is, whether they breathe out sulfur out of their nostrils or whether they have forked tails or what they've got, make any difference to us. Hallelujah. I'm going to show them what in saving you, do you think God was wise in saving you? Look at the things you've let him down on. Have you? It was the devil. Look at the things you've failed on. Do you think God was wise? I mean, you, you take, take the 12 apostles, we'll take it, we'll take another illustration of it. He chose 12 men and listen, he chose the devil, chose Judas. And I, well now, surely, now surely that was, that was a bit of foolishness, wasn't it, to choose Judas? Or was it another glorious move of his great wisdom? Hallelujah. Was it? What do you think? It's all so precious, beloved. The manifold wisdom of God. Now, beloved, now this is God's intention, and now unto those principalities and powers in the heavens as might be known by the church, the manifold wisdom of God according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus, our Lord. You see, he wasn't working according to a man and a woman in a garden. He was working to the purpose that he purposed in Christ Jesus. He wasn't working according to the, according to the local purpose that he had in the creation of man. He was working according to the universal purpose he had in choosing us in Christ. That's what it's all about. You know, I come and I bow my high heart. I wonder at the loveliness of God. Amen. He's working according to the eternal purpose not a purpose for time being, not a purpose for a few years. He isn't working according to the purpose he had in bringing a people out of Egypt and giving them two tables of stone to have the finest law system and religious system on the earth. He's not working according to that. Hallelujah. He's working according to the eternal purpose which he had in Christ Jesus, our Lord, that that blessed Jesus should become a man, that that blessed Jesus should be the second man. And I don't know what man I am. I might be the nine million million millionth man since, but I'm a man in that image. Glory. I'm a man. Hallelujah. Oh, where are you? You the 999th millionth and one, doesn't matter where you are. I don't know when you were born again, but you're there. The purpose he had in Christ. Think it, think it beloved more than the stars and the multitude. And I want to tell you that this age is going on until God's completed that promise. He made to Abraham more than the stars of the heaven in multitude, trillions and trillions of them going away through the Milky way. They're stretching right out there. He's going to fill that literally. Do you believe it? It's marvelous. I'm in it though. I'm in it. Are you in it? Are you in it now? Don't pretend to understand the problems of the earth, nor does anybody else do that. If I sit in parliament, will I hear that they understand? Or if I go and sit at the feet of the gnomes of Zurich, you think they understand? Where should I go? Where's your wisdom be found? Do you think it's found in the Pentagon, the white house or the black one? Do you think it's found anywhere? Do you think it's found to sit at the seat of that blasphemous Lord Russell of Liverpool? Where do you think that this man Emerson had it? Do you think Plato had it? None of them have it. God has it. Where's the philosophy that will save the world now? Where's the dollar or the pound? Where are the diamonds? Where are they that will save the world now? Nothing. Nobody has any wisdom. Nobody. Except the church. Yeah, they have wisdom. They're going to prove to the principalities, it doesn't matter what men think, it's to the principalities and powers. They understand what men bluff and blubber about. They understand. It's them. To them. They're going to show to the principalities and powers. I reckon that now they're standing here gazing, listening. Hallelujah. They're listening to the declaration of the wonder of this mighty revelation from heaven. This incredible thing. It's to them. It doesn't matter whether my neighbour across the road understands it. My business with him is to get him saved, not to try and make him understand the wisdom of God. It's these. In the heavenly places, not the earthly ones. The manifold wisdom of God. Amen. According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him. Wherefore in verse 13 he says, I desire that you faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory. Amen. Don't you faint because I've had some trouble about you. Hallelujah. I'm just doing my job, that's all. That's all. Don't worry about that. I've got a job to do. I'm a member of the body of Christ. I have a place to fill in God's temple. It may be that he'll be next to the chief cornerstone. It may be that he'll, he's one of the pillars. For he said in the Galatians when he wrote them, he said, and when I perceived that James, Cephas and John were pillars. Pillars in the temple. Well pillars only a big stone, that's all. It's only a big stone. That's all it is. Big long stone. Praise God. It's only a stone. This, you see, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. The only thing that matters, beloved, is that this revelation's going on. The devil's gnashing. He gets all his host. He says, come on you invade here. Do this, do that, do the other. And they keep trying, but it doesn't seem to matter. This temple keeps getting built. Why? Because Jesus said, I will build. The body's still being filled up. He said, in three days, I'll raise it again. Hallelujah. Nothing could stop it. Here we are, beloved. We're in this mighty thing that God is doing. And now, oh, let's read on, shall we? And now. For this cause, verse 14, I bow my knees unto the father of our Lord, Jesus Christ, whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that you being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all saints, what is the breadth and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that you might be filled with all the fullness of God. Amen. Praise him. If we're going to show forth all the wisdom of God, we've got to be filled with all the fullness of God. The eternal purpose, one of the eternal purposes anyway, that God had in Jesus Christ our Lord, was that he should dwell in my heart by faith, that I should be rooted and grounded in love, and I, you see, together with all the saints, remember, we're all in this together, we're all the living stones, we're all members of the body, that I, together with all the saints, I can't do it on my own, I need you very badly, don't you slack, don't you drop off, God keep me faithful to you as well as to him, that with all the saints I should be able to comprehend the length, the depth, the breadth, the height, to know the love of God, Christ, which passeth knowledge, and it passeth knowledge in order that I might be filled with all the fullness of God, that lies well out beyond my knowledge. Amen. Do you know, good beloved, I think God's very wise. He was wise enough to know that he couldn't have a son unless he was filled with love. Grace is the handmaid of love. The cross is the handmaid of love. It's the power of Christ. The blood was the crimson servant of love. Hallelujah. It's expression, it's wonder, brought me here to be filled with all the fullness of God. I'm so small, Lord, I'm so tiny, forgive me for that, if I need forgiveness. Let me move right in, but how can I ask forgiveness for that which I cannot help except that I'm in this condition because of my sheer stubbornness that wouldn't believe that I ought to be much greater than I am because of all the years I've known this mighty blessing of the Holy Ghost. To be filled with all the fullness of God. What do you say to that? Now, there's another blessing now, and this is the crowning bit of all. This is the crowning thing of all. Now, you've understood all this, have you? You're in here, are you? Well, now, hallelujah. Doesn't matter about these principalities and powers, now, in our thought, now we're passing on to the real objective. Here it is. Now, unto him that's able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, providing we ask or think it according to the power that worketh in us, not some dream world in which we live. Unto him be glory in the church. Now, glory. Hallelujah. Now, glory. Amen. Where? In the church? In this room? Let's hear you shout. Glory. Glory is something you can't keep quiet about. Glory. Oh, this being melted. This thing that transcends all my powers. This glory of God. Oh, glory in the church. You see, this is what he says. Higher up. Listen. I'm praying to the Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory. It's from the riches of his glory that he grants you to be filled into the heights and lengths and depths of the love, breadth of the love of God, and that it all should surpass your reckonings and abilities to understand, so that you might be filled unto all the fullness of God. I don't know how to say it, that you should be full of glory. It's all the glory. Don't you see what it's all about? Glory is all my powers integrated, all my powers fused into one. All my powers beautified, heated seven times hotter in the furnace of love. Glory, burning, glowing for God. Glory. Isn't that right? A glowing man, because a glowing God. He sat on a mercy seat. Glowing with glory. A glowing man. Why? Because he's been raised up to sit in those heavenly places with Christ. Glowing with glory. Hallelujah. Breathing it in. This is my natural air. This is it. Loved, loved, loved, full of love. Being filled into all the fullness of God. Lord, come on. What are you holding back for? What it's all about? Get your feet off the earth. It's in the heavenly places. Have you ever reached them yet? God, you may not shout like I do. You've got the glory. You've got the glory. You've got the glory. Unto him be glory in the church. Now, glory in the church. Glory. How can you contain glory? Doesn't this mean that I've passed beyond everything of earth? Am I going to be glorified when I leave this earth? Isn't it that in the spirit I'm already carried away? I'm living in the anticipations. I not only hear the glorious music, I not only feel the wondrous love, I'm suffused with the glory. What a life to live. Is this possible? Amen, it's possible. Amen, it's provided. Glory to God. Will you believe it? Will you believe it or won't you believe it? What God's after. Say, well, I'm going to work tomorrow. Oh yeah, you'll be a better workman. I shall have a better holiday. I've got a day off tomorrow. Yeah, the glory of God. How do you describe glory? Do I have to stand on my head to show you? Or do I have to hang on a cross? The glory of the Lord shone round about them. They were so afraid. People are afraid of the glory. They're afraid of it. You're scared of it, friend. You're scared of it. And the angel said, fear not. Fear not. Don't be afraid. Unto you. That's the way he starts. That's how the voice from the glory speaks. Unto you. Well, aren't you? Now it's got to be the glory, beloved. It's got to go beyond wisdom. It's got to go beyond love. It's certainly got to go beyond grace. And that's what all these are about. The glory of God, who is rich in mercy for his great love, wherewith he loved me, even when I was dead, has quickened me together with Christ. By grace, I'm saved. I've raised me up together, made me sit together in the heavenly place of Christ in the ages to come. He might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward me by Christ Jesus. They're going to have all that revealed to me. Glory going on and on and on and on. Have you begun? Have you begun? He's able to do exceeding abundantly above all that you can ask and think according to the power that works in you. Lord, is it for me? Is it for me, Lord? Can I have it? Lord, is it mine? He said, it says it's thine, my child. Don't you believe anything else? Don't you believe anything different? Don't you go according to your natural state? Don't you go according to a past sin? Don't you go according to the scars it's left on your mind? Don't you go according to the wounds it's left on your soul? Don't go according to the ravages of the devil? Don't go according to what your mother or father did or said? Don't go according to that. You're cut off from it all. Hallelujah. Bless him. Go according to him. Hallelujah. Get on your toes. It's Jesus, I'm a member of your body. Hallelujah. Jesus, I'm built into this temple. Jesus, I'm going to worship you. That's what a temple's for. I'm only going to exist for worship. That's what a temple exists for. Amen. That's all I'm here for. I'm going to love you. Love you. Worship you. Glorify you. Amen. Amen. Oh, come on. Let's do it. Are you in this? If you're not, you know you've got to get in tonight. I give you an invitation. You come and kneel here. We'll pray. Come on. You make the commitment. You've got to move. Now, now you can have a past after tonight. Cut off from you. And you've got a great present and what a future. Now, and it's going to be now forever, for there's no tomorrow. Yesterday, today, forever. I shall proceed in a succession of nows and of God. Now, now you're in sin or you're out of it. Now, you're in gloom or in glory. Now, you're in hatred or love. Now, you're in the body or out of it. Now, you're in built into the temple or you're not. Now, just at this moment. It's all here and God is able to change your time. And make it all eternity. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Eternity is a succession of anticipations and fulfillments. Ain't it marvelous? Anticipations and fulfillments. That's how God feeds you. That's how he leads you. This is grace. This is the law of development. Come on. You seek the Lord. You're not there. You come now. Do business with God.