Major Ian Thomas emphasizes the transformative power of applying the truth of the Gospel in our lives, illustrating that true liberation comes from recognizing Christ as our life and source of strength. He contrasts the spiritual poverty of the Israelites in the wilderness with the abundance available in the Promised Land, urging believers to step into the fullness of life that Christ offers. Thomas warns against self-reliance and the danger of forgetting God's provision, encouraging a moment-by-moment reliance on Christ for spiritual vitality. He highlights that the essence of faith is not merely believing but actively living out that belief in obedience to God. Ultimately, he calls for a deeper understanding of our identity in Christ, which leads to a life of purpose and fulfillment.

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