In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the need for believers to take responsibility for their spiritual growth and to actively pursue a life of destruction of worldly desires and ambitions. He encourages the audience to run the race for Jesus and not be hindered by criticism or fear. The preacher shares the example of Paul, who immediately started running for Jesus after his conversion and continued to witness for Christ despite facing challenges. He challenges the audience to examine their own lives and ask if they have experienced a true and complete destruction of their old ways, emphasizing the power of the cross in bringing about this transformation.

Perhaps a fitting climax to these nights in the past when we've been thinking about the great altar and burning for God. Amen. That your life should be consumed for God. If I was to say to you how many of you sang that in reality and would be prepared this moment to quit all for that. How many of you would really get on your feet. I don't mean in the world of never never or fantasy. I mean in reality and move with steady pace to its fulfillment. Instead of one more memorable soon forgotten evening. May the Lord just get right hold of us. Amen. God bless us. I said to Helen I'll sing it tomorrow night. I thought I was, you know, I'd forgotten I wasn't going to be here tomorrow night and I'm preaching somewhere else. And I thought that perhaps tomorrow night again we could sort of be on our theme and there I could sing him then and so on. But tonight is our last night together. I'd forgotten that. Well, at least this time. Praise the Lord. We'll turn to Scripture and see what God has for us tonight from his word. And I want to speak to you from the book of Galatians chapter 2. The second chapter of the Galatian letter. So far as we know, this is the one letter that Paul wrote with his own hand. He usually used a secretary as we would say. An amanuensis is the sort of way we talk about it publicly. Whatever that may mean. But he dictated his letters, in other words. But this one he wrote with his own hand. I don't know exactly what that means, but I expect that it means that it's something that's dearer to that. Because, you know, some people say to me, now you write a lot of letters, wouldn't you like to have a secretary, wouldn't you? Can't you use a dictaphone and all this business? And then in the end it comes down to, but it would lose that sort of personal touch, wouldn't it? Yes, this is what I usually say. Yes. And some letters are far too intimate to share even with a secretary and a mechanical thing that goes by keys. For they have to deal with grave problems and needs. It may be that this was something that was burning in the heart of Paul when he wrote to these Galatians. And in this lovely chapter that we're going to look at, we shall see something of the wonder of simple basic truth that he had in his heart and imparted to these people. Some of you that know me fairly well will also know that I sometimes like to start at the end and work back to the beginning, which I am going to do in this chapter. For it is at the end of the chapter that the whole key to everything he has to say is revealed to us. And it's in verse 20. I, he says, am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. And this is really the whole of Paul's secret. Glory be to the name of the Lord. He has revealed it. It's a Paul, it didn't lie in anointings or all these sort of words that get banded about us in this charismatic era that we've reached. The whole thing so far as Paul was concerned was that he had come to a time in his life when he had stood with God against himself and had taken the death sentence on himself completely. He hadn't dodged it. He hadn't sort of wanted to use Jesus Christ as a way to escape from penalty for sin and banishment forever. He'd seen that God's great giving in Jesus Christ was that he should bring his Christ into a man. And that he had provided the whole secret of the cross of Calvary. I think that too few people have discovered the great secret of the cross of Calvary. I don't think we really believe it's as great as it is. I don't think we do. I think that we sentimentalize about it. I think we weave poems around it. And all sorts of things. But how few people have come to the great secret of what God accomplished on the cross. It's an unknown cross. I'm not talking about whether we know it's this sort of shape or whatever it is. That's not what I'm talking about. But the cross to God was something so vast and wonderful. Without it, he was bereft of means to fulfill what he wanted to fulfill. In people's hearts and lives. Hallelujah. And he took the cross principle that had ever lain in his heart. And at last Paul saw it. He came to this place where he saw what God was after. God wanted a power whereby he could put men and women to death without putting them through pains of the body and the flesh. Without having their bodies impaled on a cross. Without having them crowned with thorns. He found this way of bringing men and women full of self and self ambition. Man and woman. And bring them to an utter end of that kind of existence. For existence it is. And what a miserable existence at that. And releasing men from the bondage of self. Of in this marvelous way. Whilst retaining the personality intact. To deal with their core of self centeredness. Which is the root of all sin. It's the breeding ground for all sin. And whilst it remains in a man or a woman. For all the blood that God shed. And for all his grace to forgive. And for all his mercy. He could never get through. To bring that man or woman into a clear place where he or she can be what God wants them to be. For they are to be a transcription of Jesus Christ in the world. The whole marvelous revelation of the cross is for this. There had to be a place for redemption. There had to be a place for bloodshed. There had to be a place and a time. For dealing with all that. But these were only means to an end. That Christ may come and dwell inside a man or a woman. Taking up his abode there. So that man or woman, now I hope you are listening to this because this is the key and the center of everything that God is doing. That man or woman from that time should live an entirely Christ centered life. For God in the world. And you know it by the change that takes place. You know it by everything that happens. You know the way their life is geared from that moment. You know the way they move up. You know they don't cotton on to some idea that's moving about in a generation. They have got the revelation of the word. The eternal word. They have to learn what's happened to them. They have to be taught of God. That's a great thing. There always has to be a beginning. When a man or a woman is born of God. Then they don't know anything. This is one of the tremendous things. They don't know anything yet of this great kingdom into which they've come. One of the greatest obstacles to people living the Christian life is that they think that if they get saved. When they're say 25. Then they are 25 years old. And they're not. And they think they know something. And they don't know anything. And you see a baby. It's alive. And you give a baby a rattle. You know it's a rattle. But you've got to tell that baby it's a rattle. It's a rattle. It's a rattle. It doesn't know it's a rattle. You have to tell it it's a rattle. It doesn't know it's a rattle. And neither do you. You have to be told. You have to be taught that the things you've got in your hand. If you like. The things you've received. You have to be taught what they are. If only people would believe that. Especially if they come and say when they're 40. They think they know a lot. They will not receive the fact that they don't know anything. They won't receive that. And it's this carnal mind that comes to bear on spiritual reality. That ruins the life. Amen. Nobody. At least few there are. Who accepts the great truth. That they shall be all taught of God. Nobody believes that. And that's the fundamental thing. In the new covenant. Every man. Has to be taught. And taught of God. But you see if you get born again when you're 35. Or 25. Or perhaps even 15 now. You've read so many books you think you know something. You don't know anything. I mean you've read Watchman Me. You've read all these books. You think you know something. You don't know anything. If only men and women would believe that. If only men and women would come to the basic secret that's revealed in this verse. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I live. Yet not I. But Christ liveth in me. In the life that I now live. In the flesh. I live by the faith of the Son of God. Who loved me and gave himself for me. Amen. First of all to know that you've come to love. And you've been wonderfully loved. And before you believed about it now you'll know it. Because he's living inside. And he's your living love inside. And you're all aware of it. Amen. It's not something you're trying to pull down out of the skies. It's not something you're trying to extract from adverse circumstances. You'll know it. It doesn't matter if the devils confront you or the world turns upside down. Whether you lose everything you've ever gained. You should have already have counted it lost anyway. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter whether your business collapses. Whether your wife dies. Whether your husband turns bad on you. Whether your children go renegade. Doesn't matter whether England goes from bad to worse. Don't matter. The Son of God loved me. He's living inside loving you. That's the first. That's the basic operation of it all. He is living inside and he's loving you on the inside. And what does it matter what happens outside much. That's the basic thing. Praise God. Loving me here. Amen. How did you get there Paul? Oh, I was crucified with Christ. I submitted. I yielded. I gave myself up to this. To die with him. Glory be the name of the Lord. To die with him. Oh, I don't enter the cross. I don't come on the cross at the point of redemption from sin. I don't come there. I don't come there. Coming there via betrayal. And via the whipping post. And via the denial. And via the blood stained way. I don't come that way. I don't come there via buffeting, spitting, scorning, shaming. I don't come that way. That was exclusively Jesus' way. Everything that he did in the flesh, in the body, was exclusively his way. But what he did in the spirit, beloved, was your way. You join him there that he died as you. Glory. On that cross and how many of us believed it. And God doesn't think we've believed it unless we have joined it. Then he believes we've believed it. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. It's a great place to come. Where you see that you've been crucified with Christ. And you're not trying to believe something positionally. But you've entered into it experimentally. Too much has been built on positional presentation of truth. It has to be taught us. But oh, to come to the glorious place of identification with the Lord Jesus Christ. I am crucified with Christ. And the only way you can come into this life is to be crucified into it. Nevertheless I live. You've got to be crucified in the life. You cannot live it. You cannot experience it. You cannot know it. Life, as God talks about life. I cannot know this. And as I go God's way into it. Praise him. I enter into it. He lives in me. And then of course it's all tremendously. Here it's not my responsibility. When I'm at this place. I'm going to talk about responsibilities in a moment. But where I start it's not my responsibility now. I'm not struggling to believe this or that or the other. Here comes some chap called Northeast. He's got white hair. He thinks he knows everything. He tells you this, that and the other. He says you should believe this and you should believe that. And you should believe that you see. And all the time you don't try to live by believing this and believing that. And believe the other. You live by what Jesus believes. Living in you. And you live by his faith. The faith of the son of God. Who loves me. Gave himself to me. I'm living by his faith. I have no responsibilities here. It's entirely his. He has to be in me so powerfully. That he exerts his lordship over me. That his personality dominates my personality. His faith comes from me. If he can't teach me his faith he's a failure. But he's not a failure. He's the world's success. Praise God. He lives in me. He communicates his faith to me. So that I find living easy. What a marvelous thing it is. To be able to live like that. Are you living like that? Oh. The son of God loved me. There wouldn't have been much love if he didn't do all he did was outside cracking a whip. Come on believe this now. Get on. Believe that. Come on. That's not love. I might think I was a horse trained in a circus. He comes inside. He lives in there. He communicates in the way he knows. In the way he only can do. His faith to my heart. And then if I live that way I only believe the things he believes. I'm not struggling to believe what some say. Oh so and so this so and so that. Now we all want to believe. Absolutely. And then you see all crushed and condemned. Because you can't believe what some harebrained fellow is saying. Or what somebody is putting out there. You ought to believe. Look at so and so's book you see. And all this business. Beloved. You start to live. Not by so and so's book. But by God's book. The son of God. Loved me. He gave himself for me. I'm living by his faith. Now he knows me. He loves me. He's not going to start saying boop boop boop boop boop. He loves me. He knows what I can take. How much I can take. Like mothers I see them. Because the fellowships are so young. Girl meets boy. They get married. They have babies. And then you see mothers measuring out bottles. And this one is shaking them up. Putting the top on. And they go. Two ounces. Six ounces. It's no good giving them a steak. Kidney pie. He knows. They know exactly what. Basically he's loving. Wonderfully he's faithful. To you. And you will live by his faith. If you will only think that you know nothing. Let him think. The biggest hindrance to God amongst Christians is what they know. But the Bible never holds out what you know. It's who you know. Christ living in here. That's the intimacy of knowledge. Praise God. And now this is a wonderful thing. And this is how it all starts. And I want to point this out to you. The next verse. The next phrase. The first phrase in the next verse. I do not frustrate the grace of God. Now you have frustrated God's grace. Now he'd be very gracious to you. But you're frustrating his grace unless you let him come through to this position in your life. And therefore you are frustrating his purposes. Would you? You'll never burn out for him. Never. Unless. You go right through with his great grace. Are you there? He's more than grace just to forgive you. It's absolute grace that he'd live in you. Or me. What is that hymn we used to sing? I wonder what he saw in me. To suffer such deep agony. Oh, the love that sought me. Yes. Oh, the blood that bought me. Oh, the grace that brought me to the fold. Are you there, beloved? Is Christ living in you? It's a dream unless you are crucified. He's not prepared to share your heart with you. He's gotta be there. He's not prepared to share your life with anybody. Not on these realms. Bless the name of the Lord. Alright. Alright. Now once you got there. You've made a start. And. Now we've gotta finish at a certain time. So I must keep my eye on my watch. Half past. Nine o'clock. Nine o'clock is it alright. I'll try and be through. In time. Let's go. But you see the Bible is so full of truth. However can you. I mean. If I preached day and night now until I died. I'd just about get through a chapter I think. If I really concentrated. Here is the great truth of God. Let's move on. I want you to look with me now. In verse seventeen. Where Paul is speaking. He says. If while we seek to be justified by Christ. We ourselves also are found sinners. Is therefore Christ the minister of sin. Now. If you've got to this great place. You have to realize that Jesus Christ. Is not the minister of sin. If he's in you. He will not minister sin to you. So now you will know who's in you. He is not. The minister of sin. Glory be to God. He does not allow sin. He never sinned himself. And he won't allow you to. He never told lies of any color or description. He never compromised with evil. To save his job or to retain a customer. Or anything like that. He beloved. He was absolutely free of sin. And he's the one that's come to live in your life. Oh glory. Lord you won't minister sin to me. Isn't this a marvelous thing. Listen. The person that lived in there prior to him. Ministered sin to you. Sin was ministered in your own heart. You hadn't a chance in the world. You fell every time. Because he that was living inside was ministering sin. In your own heart and in your own life. What a dreadful state. And what's this great cross for? To get rid of him. The minister of sin. Get him out of you. Hallelujah. Let the minister come in from God. Let the minister come in. Jesus Christ with his marvelous ministry. He'll minister to you all the basic things of his natural life. When I mean natural I mean naturally God. What he will minister to you beloved. Talk about a foundation for holy living. Oh God. Mine eyes thy holiness have seen. Did you see God's holiness? The standard of it. The glory of it. The sweetness of it. The attainability of it. Mine eyes have seen it. It was at that time that I told you tonight when I met this great stanza. This hymn. Oh my heart loved it. Amen. Praise God. He's come to minister to you righteousness. Holiness. Faith. Rest. Power. God. Blessings. Purity. He's come to minister these things to you. Inside here. Not here. Here. Right inside you. Glory be to the name of the Lord. You've got a minister in you as well as a Lord. What kingly grace. What princely love. He's living in you. Let's move on. Every one of these verses is worth a night's preaching isn't it? I think so anyway. And we'll look again. Listen. Look at verse 18. If I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. Listen. When did you ever come to a place in your life when you went in for destruction? Total and universal destruction in the whole of your life. When did it ever come to you? Isn't this the tragedy of people? No destruction. The destructive power of the cross is phenomenal. And unless you and I see this, we're going to miss the positive side of it. Don't wonder at it. Oh, hallelujah. Have you ever had a great destruction? Ah, where was I? Oh, I remember out in Canada when I was out there last fall as they say. Fall is an ominous word, isn't it? It's a theological term. But that's when I was out there. And we had some meetings in this place called Stouffville. And some young men came. There was a young man. He'd been brought by somebody else. He wanted to see me afterwards. We found a quiet spot. We got up in the corner. And he went through all his stories. I said, yeah, you've been in dry temperature. He said, yes. I said, you've been in contact with evil spirits? And he said, yes. And he went right through. And boy, he looked it. He looked freaked out. He'd got beads round his neck and something hanging on here and chains and bangles. He looked more like a woman than he did a man. God give us some masculine men. They'll never be like Jesus Christ. These men. Jesus Christ was a man. And a he-man. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Men trying to look like women because of some freakish ideas they've got. Soft. He'd got all these beads, bangles, jingles and jangles and troubles. So I said to him, are you wanting to be free? Do you really want to get free? He said, yes. I said, then take those things off your neck. He went, ooh. I believe I've still got some of the remnants of it in my case. Lots of. Out they went. Off they came. Destruction. You're not surprised he got free, are you? God cast the devils out of him. Made him a new man. He got to a place. Destruction. That destroyed the image of the life in which he'd been living. People are building up an image. And presenting an image. Glory be to the name of the Lord. He destroyed it. Now listen. If you're going to be a man that's going to regard a new woman too. You must not build again the things that you've destroyed. Now start thinking back in your life. Especially if you've been saved a long time. Have you started to build again the things you've destroyed? Because when God came to you it was such a dynamic work. And they all started to creep back. Didn't you see that all the unclean things in the sheet. That Peter saw contained creeping things of the earth. Yeah. The creeping things. They're not only great roaring lions that come to frighten you. There are creeping things. They creep back into your life. And the things that once you denounced and renounced and got clear of. There they are. They're in your home. They're in your life. Now. If you build again the things that you've destroyed. Thou destroy the glory of the life that you say you've received. No more building in old materials. Hallelujah. Ouch. A lot of it. Think of that hymn of Jesse Porter Heads. The clutter. The rubbish that people have got. Thinking they're going to build this up into something for God. You're building a tomb. And you're the one that will lie in it. Nothing of that. You don't build anything. Jesus Christ is not the minister of sin. And he will not build in any materials that he has destroyed at the cross. None of them. And you mustn't do it. If you're going to live for Christ. By the time we're through tonight. You will be able to measure up and see whether you've ever really begun to live for Christ. You will know whether or not you are a born again Christian. Or whether you aren't. Or whether you were once really born of God. And now look at you. Now the Lord has got to have this thing down on a real foundation. Do you remember the story of the Ephesians? You do, don't you? That Paul went there to preach this glorious gospel. All sorts of things went on at Ephesus. They worshipped Diana of the Ephesians. They had great astrologers and stargazers and I don't know what. Prognosticators. They had men that knew how to get in touch with the devil, mediums, witches, wizards. They had great books written about them, mighty tomes. And then God moved in. Hallelujah. Praise the name of the Lord. And something happened there when that man Paul went on. And it happened so really, beloved, that all these people that were in power over people's hearts and minds. Oh, how terrible is this lust for power that dominates people's hearts and minds. I'll do anything to have power over their fellow men. Or power here or power there. Hellish power. I'll do anything. Power. These men were men of power. But when Christ came, beloved, they went home and got all their books and bought them all out. And burned them. All the recipes for deviltry. All the spells for black magic. All the lot. Burned them. Burned the rubbish altogether. Glory be to the name of the Lord. When did this devastating phase. When did this real power come to your life? When did it happen? Put your finger on the time in your life, man or woman. If you can't, it's never come. It's not feeble believing, crying out of the dust. That's where we start. Oh God, hear me. Oh God, help me. Lord, come. Lord, I believe you. Lord, forgive me. Yes, that's where we start. But glory be to God when he comes. You're in the dust and see what power does. He makes Adam out of the dust. Breathe into him. He's up. And he's a king in creation. That's power. Hallelujah. When did it reach your heart like that? You see, if you lived in a foreign country. Now we've got Paul and Di here tonight. I dare say they'll back me up. I hope they don't let me down. I won't call on them. I'll see by their faces whether they agree or disagree. But if you lived in a foreign country, I mean, say India or some of these other countries where they're animists and worship false gods and they're idolaters and Muslims and all these other people. When they come to Christ, beloved, they are expected to make a clean sweep. Amen. And they do. Hallelujah. They make a clean sweep of it. Praise the name of the Lord. And they're liable to be found at the bottom of a well with a knife between their shoulders too for doing it. It's no soft thing. It's soft in England. It's real. And they're expected to make the break. They're expected to come and get baptized in water. They're expected to come and make a stand for God. But Englishmen, oh no, you carry on. Boy, yeah, topic of conversation. Now, my beloved brothers and sisters, don't you let the devil deceive you. You have got to go in and this is what you have to do. You've got to make a great destruction. You've got to do it. He comes in, as I said, that's his responsibility. Now it's your responsibility. Out it goes. Hallelujah. And the blueprint of it in your mind to which you've been moving your life for the last 10, 20 years has got to go too. The things written in ambition, that great driving power inside you all got to go. Hallelujah. How do you know whether God's going to radically change your life within the next 12 months and want you somewhere else? Here then is the tremendous thing you've never seen, the great demands of Jesus Christ on your life. He's not the minister of sin. He won't dance to your tune. He won't fit into your ideas. Do you understand it? He ministers the glorious things of God. Amen. Let's go right on then, shall we? Why, this is tremendous seeing. Remember in verse 16. We, he's speaking as a Jew here to Jews. Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, verse 16, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not by the works of the law. For by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. You've got to remember this. That no works that you can do will ever bring you to justification in the sight of God. You must not attempt to live to justify yourself in the sight of God or in the sight of men. That's the proof, one of the great proofs that you've been crucified with Christ. For the human spirit loves to justify itself for what it does. It loves to vindicate itself. That's what it will do. This is the proof that the death has taken place. No self-justification. Amen. Look at Jesus. He goes as a lamb to the shoulder. He doesn't even seek to raise his voice to justify one thing he's done. You read through his trial and death and see. He never justifies anything. Hallelujah. He says, I never spoke openly. Ask them. That's right. I did this. Never, never. Beloved, here's the proof that the work of Christ has been wrought in your heart. And if you stopped justifying yourself you wouldn't have been having that argument with your husband. And you wouldn't have had this argument with your wife. Or with your parents. Or with your boss. Say, well he was doing this. There's no excuse for you to do it. Of course there has to be a reasonable explanation. Here then is the root of the things that divide families and homes. Homes and families. Self-justification. Vindicate yourself. Clear your name. No. As I said this morning. If you tend to live to your name you'll go down in the dust where your name belongs. So shall the Lord show us the real truth. Let them say what they say. Let them do what they want to do. Glory be to God. Justification for your heart must come from God. Amen. We're justified by the faith of Jesus Christ. What a marvelous thing it is. Let's move on again. Verse 14. Perhaps we'd better start a bit earlier. Verse 11. When Peter was come to Antioch that was Paul's base you know. I withstood him to the face because he was to be blamed. For before that certain came from James he, that is Peter, did eat with the Gentiles. But when they were come he withdrew and separated himself fearing them which were of the circumcision. And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation. But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel I said unto Peter before them all If thou being a Jew livest after the men of Gentiles and not as do the Jews why compelst thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? Hallelujah. Listen. You must walk uprightly. You've got to walk uprightly in every situation before all people. Are you walking uprightly? If you're not upright then you're crooked, bent, twisted. You and I must walk in righteousness before everybody. Are you walking uprightly? Uprightly. I didn't say stiff and starchy. Uprightly. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Are you upright in your business transactions? Are you upright in your shopping dues? Are you upright in your family? In your work? Do you walk uprightly before your neighbours? Before your children, your parents? Do you walk uprightly? Hallelujah. Now the Lord insists that you walk uprightly. And you've got to walk uprightly as this verse says, according to the truth of the gospel. Not according to the set of cronies that you mix with. You've got to walk uprightly. Praise God. Before everybody. Hallelujah. Chiefly before the Lord. Before your subordinates and before your insubordinates. You've got to walk uprightly. Everywhere. Are you doing that? Hallelujah. These are simple fundamental things of the Christian life. And God knows nothing more powerful to get you upright than the cross. That's straight up enough. When the old bent, crooked, twisted, perverted self has been crucified. Hallelujah. That'll put your back up straight. Get nailed on that cross. What a glorious truth it is, beloved, for us to understand what the Lord is saying to us. Now, you see, it's so important, and to Paul it was so important, that he was prepared to go into contention with Peter. Now this is something at apostolic level. You may often have wondered about these verses saying, well, fancy that, Paul rebuking Peter. Now, if you come from a certain background, you may not like this, you might like to think that it was Peter always putting everybody right, but Paul put Peter right. And the great thing about Peter was this, that he even led another apostle astray, and that was the apostle Barnabas. For Barnabas was an apostle too. And they were carried away by Peter. Now, why did Paul rebuke Peter? Well, you say, because he did this and did that. No, no, it wasn't just that he did. It was never, never really, the things that he did, and they never are the things that you do. They are dealing with the reasons why you do them. That's the most important thing. Now then, why did Paul rebuke Peter? He said, was it a temporary slip up? No. I'll tell you why. I've already drawn your attention to it tonight. There was a time in Peter's life when God came to him on a rooftop, and he let down from the heavens a sheet in which were all these creepy things and all the unclean things. And it was God's way of showing that there was no difference between the Jews and the Gentiles. And he'd had a revelation from God, but he'd gone back on his revelation. That's why God rebuked him. That's why Paul rebuked him. He'd gone back on his revelation. I know many people who've done that. Gone back on the revelation that God has given them. Paul says, I rebuked him. Now you must not go back on your revelation. You mustn't think you know it all. God adds revelation to revelation. But you must not go back on any one of them. Amen. When people go back on the revelation that God gives them, they carry out a people along with them. Barnabas had never had Peter's revelation, though he was an apostle. There's great difference between men on apostolic level. I don't want to discuss that now. But here then is the tremendous truth for all our hearts to understand. You've got to go on with God. It's progress all the way. And you've got to walk uprightly. You haven't got to do anything, beloved, that's at all hypocritical. This word, dissimulation, is the same word as hypocrisy. Was Peter a hypocrite? He was acting hypocritically at that moment. Paul says so. But they were carried away through this kind of action. Why? Fear. Afraid. You haven't got to be afraid of what he thinks or what she thinks or whether this group accepts you or whether that group doesn't. You must walk uprightly according to the revelation that God has given your man. It's an entrustment from God. Hallelujah. Walk. While ye have light, walk in the light. That's what Jesus says, keep walking. Let's move on again. Oh, this is a tremendous thing. Let's look right up higher. And in verse 9, talking about James and Cephas and John, see these great apostles, got a great array of apostolic names here, Paul, Barnabas, Peter, John, James. Well, it says, they seemed to be pillars. Praise God. Now this is another thing, listen. You don't go, I'm talking to beginners, because all you older ones can listen to me. We don't mind them listening to me, they know a lot. But here's the tremendous thing, listen. A man has to seem to you to be what he is. Don't go by reputation. Oh, Peter. We got there. Now Peter's come. James. John. When Paul went up there, right to the very seat of it, to Jerusalem, you can read all about it. He said, well, they seemed to be pillars to me. That's right. And that's why he had, that's another reason why he had to rebuke Peter. Because he had to be a pillar in the church. And he was acting in a hypocritical manner, through fear. Again, let me differentiate between being a long-standing hypocrite, and at times acting in a hypocritical manner, through fear of what other people think of you. Beloved, you've got to seem what you are, and what you are appears to people. People know whether you're a feather in the wind, or a paper bag in a breeze, or whether you're a pillar, whether you stand there for God. You know, don't get swept away and overruled by big names. In fact, Paul's very clear about this. Look in verse 6. Of those who seemed to be somewhat, whatsoever they were, it maketh no difference to me. God accepteth no man's person. That's right. God doesn't accept personalities. See, this is quite contrary to the world in which you live. You're taught that you've got to sort of build up your personality. You've got to, especially if you're a salesman, the first thing you've got to do is sell yourself. You've got to build your personality up. You've got to be acceptable. You've got to move this, move that, and off you go, psychology classes and the techniques of this, that and the other. Mother of God. In this realm, beloved, there's one great person and it's Jesus Christ. And he comes to live in a man. Now, a man can't help it if he's a natural leader. He can't suddenly say he's not. It's no good anybody who isn't a leader trying to be a leader. We can't help the way we're born and God's got a purpose for every one of us and a place in his kingdom. But it's no good putting on manners and airs about it, beloved. Hallelujah. You've got to live in that which you are and stay within your measure and you will find that God will increase it. What a precious thing this is then. To learn to live in utter simplicity and speedily, because we're going to break bread tonight as we were saying this morning. We will see something else here. Verse 8. He that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision was mighty in me. Oh, hallelujah. If he's in you, he's mighty. He works effectually in you. He's not an inefficient bungling sort of person when he comes in and make a mess of everything. He's mighty. Hallelujah. All he needs is that you and I should cooperate with him. He will live in us and he will work in us effectually. It doesn't matter what your inward spiritual need is and this I deal with primarily. You can know that he is effectually working and he will deal with it. He will deal with your emotions. He will deal with your imagination. He will deal with your mind. He will deal with your capacities for love and hate. You still have a capacity for hate. That's hate the devil and hate sin and hate the rest of it. He will deal with you, normalize you, make you a man by God's standards. If you say your mother did this or you were forsaken and you were put out into an orphanage when you were two or something like that. Lots of people get a chip on their shoulders. We do pity them. No, no, I'm not on the wrong line about this but you know this that if he comes in, it's God in you. People have got such big chips on their shoulders about this, that and the other. There's a man who carried a cross on his shoulder. His name is Jesus. He'll deal with all the chips. There is no excuse acceptable in heaven. Jesus Christ and the cross of Calvary is the complete answer to your needs. Hallelujah. It's whether you will humble yourself to believe it. It's whether you will come and let the Lord be Lord in you. Absolutely. It's whether you will go to the cross. It's whether you will be crucified. And mark it. If you won't be crucified then he must be. By you. For Jesus isn't dead. He's alive. He's alive. Thou may the Lord teach us his great truth. Oh Lord, I want to go through with you. We need to clarify our thought. And let us see the truth. Brothers, have you started to run for Jesus? Oh, glory. There are some people sitting back criticizing others that have started running. That's true. Oh, watch him. He'll fall over. Cautious, cautious, cautious, cautious. And by the time they finish they're running backwards. Come on, you young men and young women. Have you started the race? What are you running for? For whom are you running? What are you doing? See, when I do this, I do that. Everything in this world is of the world system. Everything. Are you running for God? Hallelujah. Blessed be the name of the Lord. See, old Paul started running straight away. You read it, Acts 9. He starts to run straight away. Fourteen years after he's into the world. I suppose I'd better go and check up. He goes up to Jerusalem because God revealed it to him that he should. He said he went up by revelation. And he checked up a bit. This is what the letter's all about. Fourteen years afterwards. He said, oh, you know, he got on course. I reckon this man had a real experience. He got on course and he started to run straight away. Must have had something real. Is that what you're doing? Oh, there's him, there's her, there's this, there's that. I suppose I'd better be a bit wise. Well, few people as wise as Lucifer. Beloved, get some seal in you. It's dark around. My advice to all you young people is if the elders won't run, you leave them behind. So I'm going home to sleep in an elder's house tonight. But it's still my advice to you. Leave them. So we've got to obey our elders. Not if they're not right. Paul had to put one of them right. An elder in the church. I'm not saying they're wrong. And they don't think I mean that either. And if they are men of God, I'll tell you the same. So they get up and run and wait for no man. Hallelujah. Get going. Set Reading University alight if you're a student there. Or your office. Or where you work. Did I ever tell you the story of a schoolmaster I know? I reckon there are lots of them in the room. So never mind. Do your good. You tell the story about a preacher afterwards. That'll be alright. I was preaching. Fiona knows all about this. I think she must have been there. In famous Hockenheath. I went up there for a series of meetings. Some of you may have heard me say this. I don't know. Well, you've heard the tape that came out of it. This is the point. Some of you have. And a young man came to me. He said, after the first evening's meeting, he said, I'm going to find out what makes you think. I want to talk to you. Oh, I said, no. You know, I've got a great list here to sort of see people. I can't just talk to you. Sometime, if I've got the time. He said, I'm going to find out what makes you tick. You know? I said, oh, yes. Yeah, alright. Anyway. Two more meetings went past. After that night, the third night he came to me. He said, he said, I'm going to find out what makes you tick. You know? I said, oh, yeah. Well, alright. We'll have a talk if it's possible. And so and so and so and so. I've got too many problem cases to sort of see. But you know, that stuck in my heart. And the next night, I stood up and I announced that I was going to preach on what makes a man tick. And I told them some of the things how God administers them in my heart and life. I just told you two little things, about two solos tonight. Just little incidental things. When I finished, he couldn't get off his chair. Schoolmaster. Couldn't get off his chair. Nor could a lot of other people. Shattered. I'd like to tell you a lot of the stories. The next day, went through and he came to me the next night. He said, I've had a fantastic day today. I said, who? Have you? Yes, he said. I've witnessed for Jesus in every class I've taken. And I've witnessed to all the staff in the staff room. He says, I've had a fantastic day. See. When did you witness last? Somewhere. We are so political and diplomatic. We won't call a spade a spade. We'll say it's a digging tool shaped like this. If you buy a nice one, it's a silver colored blade and it's got this shape handle. Yes. You know what? You're ashamed of Jesus Christ. You'd rather keep your friends and your jobs and your money and people's esteem than you keep the fire of Christ burning. Hallelujah. That's the truth. That's the truth. And I tell you the truth as you'll hear it on the day of judgment when you stand before the throne of Jesus Christ. People think you're gone. Well, that's all right. But I live for Christ. Amen. Is he living in you? Or is he not? Praise the name of the Lord. You can be a man of God. If you've got the courage. And if you're not a man of God, whose man are you? Receive us. Receive us. But, dear, we've been talking about fire for three nights. Fire. Glory be to God. Jesus Christ had revolutionized everyone if they'd only let him. Praise the name of the Lord. Oh, this is great truth. And look, I read in verse four. We'd better get this one. I think probably I'm finished. And it says that Titus, who was with him, was a Greek, but he wasn't compelled to be circumcised. And this all happened because of false brethren, unawares brought in, who came in privileged to spy out our liberty. Now listen, you must have liberty. You've got to have liberty. Amen. There are people who spy out people's liberty. That's right. They talk about being brethren, but they're false brethren. You mustn't think that everybody comes along and says he's a brother in Christ, that he is. You've got to see whether or not he understands what he's talking about. To be in the liberty of the children of God. A. Liberty from self crucified with Christ. B. Liberty from sin. Jesus is not the minister of sin. Liberty from a false life, building up what you once destroyed. Liberty from being bent, twisted, being upright. Hallelujah. Liberty of walking uprightness before God. Hallelujah. Liberty from being afraid of big names and conforming to this, that, and the other. Liberty to walk with God. Amen. Liberty to be able to really come to conclusions about seeing yourself as the blessed Christ in you tests what is in every other man. To see whether he is a pillar. Whether he is what he says he is. Liberty to run for Jesus. Hallelujah. Everybody else getting their hands off you. Saying, go on brother. Get on with it. Go out there. If anybody ever comes to me and says, I want to do this. I feel God's calling me to do this. After a few sort of examinations, as you as right or wrong, I say, go on brother. I'm behind you. Count on me. Might be the other side of the world, but I'm with you. Get on. Do it. Oh glory. Are you in liberty? Absolute liberty. We must have freedom to worship God. We must have freedom for the Spirit to move in us. You should not come in here and start every meeting but by Dave announcing the first hymn. That's all wrong. You've nothing conformed to a pattern. You'll be as stuck up as any denomination if you keep going. Start some courses without the hymn books for a start. That's right. Come and let somebody else start. I don't mean come out the front and usurp authority. That's not what we're talking about. Liberty to move. As God wants you to move. You must have it, beloved. Glory to his name. Do you believe it? What do you? Well, next time I come, let me see it in operation. I suppose you're taking that as a promise that I'm coming. Well, if I come again. Now the Lord bless you. And get right up and keep going. Get on that altar and keep burning. Move in that grace and love. Submit yourself. And if the elders have to say to you, we're a little bit out of kilter there, well, accept it. Up the myth tree for the next six months. Because somebody told you you were wrong. You can't bear to be told you've got such a marvelous image of yourself. Nobody knows anything when you start. We're learning together. Aren't we? Praise the name of the Lord. We've got to be out by nine o'clock. I suppose I'd better stop. We're going to break the bread and drink the wine and we're going to move in the great communion of God. I suppose you're looking for the things to happen that you always do when you break bread. Stop being conformists. That doesn't mean to say you've got to break through and do something stupid. It does mean that you've got to move in this glorious liberty of Jesus Christ. Amen. Hallelujah. Come on, let's worship.