In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of walking in the calling that God has given us, despite the difficult conditions of the world. He encourages husbands and wives to apply this principle in their relationships. The speaker also highlights the reality that sometimes, after a lifetime of costly ministry, there may be little visible fruit or recognition. However, he reminds listeners that even a small impact on someone's life can make a significant difference. The sermon concludes by emphasizing the work of the Holy Spirit in leading believers beyond their intellectual understanding and into a deeper spiritual experience.

Lord, we can only pray from our heart, under the very deep sense of need, of dependence, of longing, that Thou Thyself would stand fully possessed of every moment of this time and of this day to give Thyself with great application, wisdom, love, and power to securing the completion, so far as this time is concerned, of thought Thou didst have in mind in bringing us together. Thou didst say, after feeding that multitude, gather up, gather up, what remains over, that nothing be lost, that nothing be lost. Believe that this is Thine own desire, that nothing be lost. And we pray that Thou would bring this very definitely into this day, that nothing be lost. We ask in the name of the Lord Jesus, Amen. In our occupation with the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ through this week, and our tracing of its application to different situations and conditions, represented by letters of the Apostle Paul, we have this morning arrived at the letter to the Ephesians, and the place that the cross has and the meaning that the cross has in that letter. I hope that you may have read it before the meeting, or that at least some knowledge of it exists in your minds, so that it is not necessary for me to give you the content of the whole letter. We are not concerned with that at this time, but with this one focus, what has the cross to say to us through this letter. The actual mention of the cross in the letter is infrequent, but references to it by way of implication are very evident. You will recall that early the Apostle addresses these believers as those who have been quickened together with Christ, and raised together with him. That thought occurs more than once in the letter, implying that these believers had come by way of the death, the burial, the resurrection, and that they now stood on the other side of the cross. The cross had had its place and largely done its work in them. They, standing on resurrection ground, were now able at least to be shown what the meaning of the cross is in its greater fullness. And again we are impressed with the spiritual sequence of things in these letters. We have said the divine arrangement of them, so different from the human chronological arrangement, that you move in real spiritual sequence in these letters, as they are given to us by the Holy Spirit in this present order. That, as I have just intimated, is very apparent and patent in the movement from Galatians to Ephesians. In Galatians something had to be got out of the way. The head of that giant, that Goliath, Judaism, and every other ism represented by it, had to be cut off. That giant had to be decapitated. And put aside all legalisms of every kind. Everything that makes Christ smaller than he is, makes the gospel smaller than it is. Everything speaking of a wrong limitation had to be put out of the way before you can get to Ephesians. Because we are going to see Ephesians is the emancipation from all circumscribed horizons. The cross and emancipation from all circumscribed horizons. You are going to move in a big realm, aren't you? When you come into this letter. And of course, anybody who knows this letter, knows what a boundless thing it represents. I am not going to recapitulate a lot of things. I have said in the little book with which some of you may be familiar, the stewardship of the mystery. But I can remind you that this is the letter, more than any other, in the New Testament of superlative. Indeed, this man of such tremendous ability, intellectually and in other ways, was hard put to it when he wrote this letter to find language to express what was in his heart, what he had come to see. His superlatives just topple over one another and spoil all his grammar. He will just build it up, speeding abundantly above all and so on. It's the letter of superlatives and therefore we can rightly sum it up in this way as the letter of emancipation from every limited horizon. I remind you again, there is a real atlas in this sequence that A.I. could make to the Old Testament. And A.I.'s issues, having been settled, and A.K.'s, the element that would pull the people back onto the old Corinthian ground we have in here, A.K. having been removed with all that belonged to him, wife and children, it looks very cruel, very untimely, ruthless to pull A.K. out and his family and stone them all to death. But you must remember the Bible moves on spiritual principles and anything to do with this kind of thing. The thing itself, the A.K. and any related thing to this that Galatians represents has got to be wholly and entirely put out of the way. As Paul said, let it be anathema. And again I say, let it be anathema. He's not having any compromise with any ism that limits Christ or ground that is smaller than Christ. And that all being dealt with so thoroughly, now we can move on. Come out into these great expanses of Christ which this letter represents. And if I indicate a few things, cannot do more than just indicate them with the most restricted comment, you will have to take it away and spread it over for all your future time with the Lord. But it's one thing into which all these things are gathered with which we are concerned on this last day of the Feast or so far as I am. We'll get more present. Here then we have in this letter a whole series of transitions from the limited to the unlimited. A whole series. First of all, there is the transition from the earthly to the heavenly. And all who know this letter know that the characteristic phrase of this letter five times repeated is in the heavenly. Tremendous movement has taken place in the horizon here. In thrust far back from earth. From the earthly to the heavenly. The heavenly in Christ our Jesus. Now I know quite well that that is a difficult idea to thrust. And of course the natural mind immediately gets pictures of something out there far away to heaven. What do you mean by that? What do you mean by that? And it is said that some people are so heavenly that they are no earthly good. We'll come on to that in a minute. Let us get quite clear as to what this really means in the heavenly. It is true that Christ now is in heaven. It is true that there is a super mundane realm in which principalities and powers, world rulers of this darkness, hosts of wicked spirits operate. We'll come on that again. It is true that there is a realm. But it can be very unpractical if it is just a mental conception. A remote abstract idea in the heavenly. The first thing said about this is that we have been made to sit in the heavenly in Christ Jesus. But we haven't. In another sense we are sitting here in this place. And very literally so. Probably as the hours go on with the talking you feel it is very literal. To have to sit there. Very real. And so an element unreality can come into our mentality when we read this phrase repeatedly in the heavenly. What is really meant by that? Well of course our names are written in heaven. In Christ in heaven we have our place. And all our resources are in him. And to come from him as there. Our government has to be from heaven. Many other things. But even so this has got to be brought more definitely into our knowledge. Our experience. The experience of being in the heavenly. That is the point. And until we've got that settled all this about emancipation from limited horizons is but a beautiful conception. What is it? Now let me say at once. It is for all practical purposes in the Christian life here and now in this world, in this life it is an inward thing. An inward thing. Very simple. Very simple. If you have really been born again and you know quite well that that is not the exact translation of the original language. It is born from above. Born from above. Well, new birth. If you really have come into the experience of the new birth which is birth from above what is your first consciousness? Your first awareness from that time? Something that you come to realize right at the beginning. You know quite well that you you've parted with this world and this earth. That is, if you no longer belong here something has happened that has been in the nature of a translation inwardly. Your interest. Those interests which were no longer your interest. Your association. Your own people now. Your own people are the Lord's people. Your gravitation is toward heavenly things. It's an inward awareness and consciousness. We all know something. As we go on in the life with the Lord that becomes more and more. We are on a spiritual pilgrimage. A spiritual pilgrimage inside of ourselves. And our pilgrimage is away. Away. Away. We find it increasingly difficult to be at rest at home in the things of this world and the things which the people of this world have as their ultimate. Now that's very simple, isn't it? But note the apostle is saying this to people who had gone a fair way on the pilgrimage. He'd been with these people in Ephesus and he said to them, dear elders I have not shunned to declare unto you the whole counsel of God. They had gone quite a way and yet here he is after all in this particular connection as we shall see in others saying to Christians to Christians well on the way your life, your life is not here. Don't expect anything here. Don't look for anything here. All your resources are outside and to come to you from outside. Truly as ever the manna had to come from heaven in type and symbol in the wilderness day by day so you have to and you can learn to live every day from about I say that almost elementary and simple but what is your experience? What is your experience? I say to you that after I've mentioned a number of years of seeking to walk with the Lord today, today with all the grey hairs and all the years and all the experience never a day comes but what more than ever before I am conscious that unless the Lord supplies from heaven today they're not worse it has to be like that even after the greatest fullness you might have had large fullness yesterday might have closed the day with very rich provision from the Lord to begin the day as though we never had anything start all over again it's true it's got to be like that that is the first grey horizon into which we are emancipated from earth to heaven and our whole way of life if it is a true spiritual life if the cross has really cut in between us and this world if we really have reached the sixth chapter of the letter to the Galatians the last word about the whole situation of the earth touch and the earth bond God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ whereby the world is crucified to me and I to the world if we really have reached that point of the cross the cut in then we are in a position really in a position to know this wonderful enlargement of heavenly sustenance heavenly provision heavenly fullness has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus where inwardly we are together with him it's an inward thing an inward consciousness you know I'm tempted to put in a big parenthesis there every spiritual blessing but it would be impossible I think to say in a sentence that would be adequate but I'll remind you I'll remind you what the apostle mentions here as some of the spiritual blessings into which we have come by reason of this transition inwardly in the spiritual life what does he say as he says chosen in him chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world have you ever tried to contemplate that is that a blessing no accident in our salvation the working out of an eternal thought chosen in him dare I mention it predestinated to be conformed to the image of his son what a blessing accepted in the beloved I spent a whole conference on that alone didn't we redeemed in whom we have our redemption redeemed enlightened enlightened these are words in Ephesians enlightened endowed healed all in Christ Jesus pure of the blessing in the heavenly in Christ Jesus wonderful things aren't they now you see we need to extend the conference for another month or so ah this is where the conference ought to finish you know with the twelve baskets full over with such a conception such a mighty conception of that into which we have been brought that our whole rise and fall step is so great great the greatness of our Lord Jesus Christ well that's only one of the transitions from the earthly to the heavenly next transition from time into eternity before the foundation of the world is where it begins and unto the ages of the ages where it ends lift it completely out of what kind of its power you know in the other summary of the blessings in Christ given by Paul which we have considered this week he says about the love of Christ shall life or death these are big things the compasses of this earthly sojourn life and death he says no they lose their power they are ruled out here in this horizon of eternity how I'd like to dwell upon before the foundation of the world the counsels of God from eternity concerning the trust the church I think I must stop back here for this little bracketed statement that word pre-death can limit your horizon if you're not careful I see the tragedy of this spread of ultra pre-destination theology I've seen I know the companies of the Lord's people going on in the freedom, the liberty, the life and the joy all moving on and then this thing has come in pre-destination and its theological interpretation and they started going around in mystery you can't get anywhere at all beyond that and it's like a dead hand a dead hand on everything be careful because pre-destination has nothing to do with individual salvation get that? it has to do with the eternal vocation of the church the church and that's the basis and that's where you get the word well pre-death as intended to be helpful to throw the horizon back to deliver us from this awful bondage it's one of the isms, you know great man, good man was Calvin but when it comes to Calvinism be careful from time into eternity we are emancipated thirdly, from the temporal to the spiritual something very helpful we can grasp it it really is a deliverance this an enlargement to realize that the temporal the temporal that is the things of this life things of this life and the things of time things which make up our daily life the events, the happenings the permissive will of God in so many things and the directive will of God in other things all that has to do with our human life here is governed by the spirit if we are in this comfort in Christ of course I said that in Romans you have the whole thing gathered up comprehensively and then the letters following break it up and so out of Romans we bring this to here all things work together for good for them that love God don't stop there and are the call according to his purpose as we shall see in a minute that's the great work of this letter so that the temporal things your sorrow your love your disappointment oh what a large round of happenings trials, difficulties, sorrows suffering, perplexities and so on in things that come into our lives we call them the temporal things because they belong to this life here if we are in this realm in Christ Jesus and the cross has really cut in and emancipated us from the finality of temporal things how often the temporal experience becomes a finality with us we think that spells the end of everything no if in this realm in Christ then the temporal things are governed by spiritual influence do I need to enlarge on that most of us look back upon things that happened we thought what chances what tragedies happening to us and they were pretty difficult very hard and we thought that they spelled the end and we can now see that they had very real spiritual value and that we should not have come into the knowledge of the Lord which we have today but for those things they have not been narrowing things but enlarging things things which happened unto me before the things which happened that happened have worked out have turned out for the further in the way of things enlarging, enlarging various transitions from the temporal to the government of the temporal by the spiritual that's a very large royal mess when you can get out there when by the grace of God we can say the presence of this thing that happened which seems so devastating so desolate seeming to write over everything loss failure disillusion when in the presence of that we, by the grace of God are able to say there's some spiritual value in this that would justify it that will vindicate God's wisdom in allowing it something in this I can't see it now I've come into it sooner or later I've come into it and I can look back upon this and say Christ was the pathway he led them by a straight way he didn't he led them round and round and round in the wilderness and yet the verdict is he led them by a straight way however circuitous it may seem if it's going to reach his end it's straight now it's easy perhaps to say these things but dear friends these are things we have to learn to be emancipated from the domination of the temple into the government of the church yes and this letter is full of that you know full of that and a lot of times it's wanted to show it but let me let me remind you chapter four I beseech you to walk worthily of the calling wherewith you are called you've got to walk amidst conditions in this world which are very difficult he's writing to Ephesians and God only knows how those Ephesians had to live it had to live it walk about amongst how everything could have dragged them down forced them down kept them down this and that and that which we will touch upon now in the midst of it all walk worthily of the vocation wherewith you are called let the greater home rise lift you up of these temporal things and give you a motive a motive an incentive for living here in this world the incentive of another dimension or to be very much more practical lifting out of this letter these temporal things very practical indeed husbands and wives that's very practical isn't it very practical in the world in which we live the relationship there oh what a training ground that is because when you get married you've entered into utopia you're going to have no more trouble that man is absolutely perfect that woman was never in the world not with anyone like her we're never going to have any trouble together now I don't want to spoil it and I'm not speaking out of a history of disappointment no one, no one passed that on but we all know that this this very relationship is one of God's school in which we have to learn very much about the Jesus Christ it's a temporal thing isn't it but look at the horizon into which this letter puts it even as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it so husbands and wives isn't that lifted out into a dimension isn't that a transition my word so Paul says I speak of history I speak of Christ and his church when I'm speaking about husbands and wives and why I'm speaking about Christ and his church can you, can you bring your even your marriage relationship onto the ground of Christ and his church and his giving himself for it and the other way in which it's applied the opposite but the point is lifting it out of this poor state as we know it in the world and as perhaps sometimes you are tried by your husband or your wife sometimes perhaps may I say it's almost a breaking point in which it involves any sacred but I know human life well enough oh yes I know it somewhere away in a a box of all sorts of odds and ends I put it away somewhere there is a bullet and I took that bullet from a gun with which a Christian man was going to shoot his wife workers in the church that's terrible that's perhaps an extreme case but you see you can be driven by the devil to all sorts of things because that relationship is intended by the Lord to represent something so great oh if the devil can really get in between husband and wife and smash that he has he did in a very very big thing he has robbed Christ of a testimony to himself and his relationship to the church and so I'm going to say that perhaps there are few if any relationships that the devil is against more than the relationship of a true partnership of husband and wife and wife and husband seems that he stops at nothing to spoil that because he's going to gain a lot because of Jesus as Paul says I speak of Christ isn't that lifting things out of one realm into another that's Ephesians suffer the word but we must be very faithful we are not just roving in idealism very practical and we come to the next transition the seen as overshadowed by the unseen I think probably that is implied in what I've been saying but we might just underline the phrase the overshadowing of the seen by the unseen and here dear friends it is not just a statement in words a phrase to me to me not that I am anything important or a model but to me this is one of the most testing things in the Christian life I know of few more testing words in scripture than those words used by the apostle not here but elsewhere our light of victory which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory while we look not at the things seen but at the things which are not seen the things seen are temporal the things which are not seen are eternal I repeat I know of few passages of scripture more testing the seen the seen so real so real seems so ridiculous shut your eyes to them they are real all these things that this apostle passed through were real the shipwrecks by the number of them he says a night of the day in the deep perils of robbers perils of false prevalence so on and on were they real? if not go and spend a night of the day in a shipwreck in the sea clinging to some bit of wood a night of the day isn't that real? no your Christian science won't save you there when I was a young Christian I was walking home from the city of London one evening after work a fellow joined up with me in Hyde Park and I was suffering in agony of toothache you know what toothache is? oh I had an awful absence and I had my hand up this fellow joined up asked me what was wrong and I told him oh there's no such thing as pain it's all imagination well I was in my teens and I was a boxer and I had been taught boxing by my brother who had excelled in amateur boxing and he had split panels of doors with the back of my head so I said to this fellow look here my friend let me give you a real lift right from the shoulder on the point of your jaw and then you say there's no such thing as pain will you stand by your philosophy? well he wasn't allowing the test I think his philosophy broke down at that point it never happened do you see what I mean? no, no, no, no this won't do this won't do at all things seen are very real the things felt are very real they are very real and the things unseen seem unseen seem to be abstract and unreal and yet the apostle says that the effect of what we are going through to bring an exceeding weight of glory depends upon our not being occupied with the seen but looking beyond beyond to the unseen I say testing I mentioned before one point in this is that you spend your life pour out your life costly suffering poor people the people of God come to the end of your life and as far as you can see there's very little for it and what you can see is a very large, great deal of discrediting of you and your ministry for the Lord in his kindness his great kindness does live the veil sometimes a little bit and someone comes along and says you know, you know thirty years ago I heard a message from you and I never forgot just a little bit like that little bit like that perhaps not enough to save you from seeing the things that are seen altogether but afterwards the great afterwards I believe dear friends we're going to see very much more in the afterwards of what the Lord's values were in our being here than we can see at present and it doesn't seem very comforting to these souls to say now when you are gone from this world and perhaps know nothing about it all the spiritual values of your life will come out not very comforting is it or is this our salvation looking not at the things seen things not seen but we do want to see and we do want to be occupied with the seen, don't we I say it's the most testing thing well, there we are the unseen the spiritual overshadowing the seen we must hurry on the next transition here is from existence to purpose existence to purpose it's quite a big changeover an enlargement of horizons have you ever wondered why on earth you were born why you came into this world perhaps you perhaps it never troubled you at all but you think it's all right it's quite a right thing that you were born God made no mistake at all when he brought you into the world but some of us, you know have been down in the depths after all well did the Lord make a mistake did he get hold of the wrong piece of material clay fire fire I tried to argue with an elder brother of mine once many years ago about this matter nobody's answer was did I absolutely repudiate any responsibility I was never asked whether I wanted to come into this world I was never given a chance to say yes or no I'm here without any option being given to me and I do not therefore take any responsibility for being here in this world what could you say to that oh that that what about God's eternal purpose in your being behind it all foreknown chosen in Christ called according to his purpose according to his eternal purpose is the great phrase in Ephesians existence mere existence painful existence or making the best of it saying let us eat and drink tomorrow we die doing the best you can because you're just here and you unless you commit suicide you've just got to go through it or encompassed by God's eternal purpose out of the eternal counsels of the Godhead all chosen in Christ that's the dimension isn't it that's not just making the best of life and the poor thing that's dead no it's emancipation from mere existence into great power and with one remark I'll pass from there dear friends don't you feel that there's a great lack in the preaching of the gospel the emphasis upon the emphasis of most gospel preaching today is well get your sins forgiven and go to heaven be happy ever after have a good time you're not surprised are you that you have little tiny Christians who never grow up immature no I do feel this that in presenting Christ and the gospel to the unsaved we ought to present the greatness of the eternal purpose concerning every life and if they grasp that my am I called to that is that the dimension of salvation they'll grow you'll have a different type of person conversion oh and then someone says that you can't bring the simple little children the great things of manhood and put that on their shoulders well that may be a natural argument but what I have seen is the best Christians that I know were converted in a ministry to the saints in great richness oh yes at the Lord's table and in the morning ministry when you were not thinking about unsaved people at all some of the best Christians were born again in that purpose as overshadowing existence I hope I'm not tiring you we have so many transitions here but let us look at another one Ephesus let us go into Ephesus great city and what would impress us what is it that these people are all so obsessed with dominated by talking about the great temple of Diana of the East one of the wonders of the world you know, you know how much that was to the Ephesians they tried to kill Paul on that issue great is Diana of the Ephesians they cried, they cried, they cried all other voices were quenched by their acclamation of Diana and her temple which shows down from heaven magnificent it was wonderful it was with all its sensuality so terrible too so magnificent so wonderful this is Ephesus Paul will present to you something far more magnificent and glorious than the temple of Diana the church that he may present to himself the church a glorious church not having spot Ephesian sensuality or any such the church may be a glorious church the transcendent oh Diana's temple with all its magnificence fades fades from the horizon when Paul brings into view this church oh the devil has defamed it has done so much to spoil it isn't it great need is of a recovery of the true conception of death and what an emancipation it is yes all those years with all the clerical attire and the churchy energy and the pulpits and the whole ministerialism and the hostess it was so much and then the cross and through the cross an opening up of the true heavenly nature of the church the body of Christ and it always what was holding and gripping so much the horizon just faded out as nonsense child's play playing at churches playing at chapels like that nonsense child's play in the presence of this unveiling it was emancipation my dear friends that Paul compared with the apostle Paul only a faithful reflection look at the absolute domination of Jerusalem and its temple and its system in the life of this man he had gone to the utmost limit of that earthly system in every way my words see him going out against those who won't have it who call it into question vehement fierce relentless men and women being cast into the pristine so later Paul standing by giving his confession young man glorious life the light of heaven on his face done to death this is the man the grip of this thing upon this man what will emancipate him what will get him out of that system and make it not only nonsense but abhorrent you'll never get him out by preaching by teaching by persuasion by coercion nor by persecution there is no force on this earth that would lift that man right out into this efficient position but what he's seen he has seen he has seen Christ and seen the implications and significance of Jesus Christ in God's universe and one of the great implications the church which is his body he has seen it out so out as you find him in Galatians my slaughtering hippens by the very thing that he once found his very life this is a large horizon this is emancipation the cross did it the cross did it and really I don't want to call anyone's Christian life into question cast any assertions but I believe that if the cross is known as it ought to be known you'll be out of your rhythms and everything that here as an earth receives self-limitation you won't have to ask questions ought I to believe this ought I to believe that ought I to give up this and that ought I oh no you won't go round consulting with flesh and blood the thing has been done to you and you'll have to say I'm out my spirit is out so much is left behind however great was Diana of the Ephesians and her temple by what a poor, poor thing it is that once you've said well there we are there is one more thing but it's all included in what I've been saying you notice as you come to this letter to the apostle when you begin to unburden his heart in the letter not long after he's started the whole thing almost overwhelms him feels the hopelessness of this getting this over you ever felt like that? why it's good ministry when you do feel like that you know your heart is so full you've got something so great my heart that's what ministry ought to be and he started out on this and it wasn't long before so to speak I don't think he was writing it himself he had an immanuensis writing at his dictation but so to speak it wasn't long for him and dropped on his knees in the presence of the overwhelmingness of this great dimension did I bow my knees unto the father's word that he would grant unto you Ephesians who've had so much know so much whom I've given so much yet to you with all that you have that he would grant unto you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him the eyes of your heart being enlightened Ephesus the seat of learning the seat of all the library of the books of pagan mysticism you know when they were converted when they came to the lord these believers they gathered all their books of the mysteries and the prices given of that and it's a tremendous price all the learning all the mysteries all there in Ephesus that he would grant unto you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him why he's speaking about the mysteries of Christ here other mysteries the knowledge the eyes of your heart being enlightened you Ephesians who've had all this in the books oh there is a horizon of knowledge of spiritual knowledge spiritual understanding which leaves that as mere ashes nothing all that you can have a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him which is beyond all human ability to comprehend that's what he said you know to the Corinthians I have not seen neither have ear heard nor has it entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for them that love him God God has revealed them by his spiritual men to receive spiritual things which the natural man can never never he's in the dark he's in the power by nature now Paul isn't isn't the game moving in abstract realms don't you know something of this you may say you know very little but don't you know something of this that the eyes of your heart have been enlightened that you have seen what you could never have grasped or understood until until you were born from a virgin you may not be able to explain it any more than that man born blind in John 9 when they try to put him through his faces on explaining his experience how did he do it to you so on explain it define it poor chap he's out of his depth as far as explanation and definition the only thing is to say well how he did it I don't know who he is I don't know but one thing I do know I was blind and I see now you may not comprehend all the truth but you know the principle there is a work of the Holy Spirit that is leading us beyond all our abilities intellectually or any other way beginning to see things see things and you know it's startling it's very startling that angels you think a lot of angels don't you angels don't know what is being revealed to the church which means angels desire to look into well I don't want to get you too much bewildered but what I'm saying is here's a horizon of understanding and knowledge which by all revelation of the Holy Spirit take us far outside of this poor capacity mental capacity into another realm that's how it ought to be it ought to be thank God for some of us that has happened through that great crisis of the cross it has happened a new dimension of spiritual knowledge and understanding has opened and although today we have to say we are only on the fringe the fringe all is so much beyond us nevertheless it represents a very big transition from what it was before well how all this well it's the place of the cross the cross planted in our natural mind in order to bring us the spiritual mind taking us through death onto resurrection ground where there's such an extent Lord Jesus lived and laboured under certain very real limitations to him not in himself but those in others his disciples his disciples how he tried to make them understand that no their horizon was just the natural one and he cried and I have a baptism to be baptized with and how I am cleansed up until it be accomplished all that it were already accomplished the groan of an imprisoned spirit imprisoned by the understanding the apprehension the grasp of these men around him who said I I long for that time when all that will break down give place to the greater dimension of spiritual understanding it will not be until I've gone through the baptism of passion the baptism of the cross all that that were already accomplished and now look how oh dear the change in their apprehension comprehension and understanding on the day of Pentecost is literally amazing literally amazing think of how they regarded the cross itself before an appalling prospect if ever that happens we lose everything far be it from thee Lord this shall never come to thee all our hopes and expectations will be blighted and devastated if that happens look to the other side of it blighted? no, never so the cross has done something to liberate him in them and isn't the Lord needing such a limitation such an emancipation in us? it will only be by the same process we die to ourselves to our own mind our own will this self-life die to this whole life as we have been speaking of it rise and come out onto the ground of resurrection the spiritual man in the seas we could never see before things on which we looked at one time as things we could not expect could not contemplate but we have God forbid that I should go say to the cross of our Lord Jesus you dear friends must take this to the Lord see I can't put you through this I can tell you about it tell you it's real I can't put you into it cannot do it for you you must go to the Lord and say now Lord I commit myself I touch your grace see me through the cross but I commit to myself you do the thing you do the thing and when the pinch is on and the cost is being applied I'm being myself put out by men Christian men and all that hold me hold me do the work only speak to it I come into this breaking Lord relieve of all burdens that is tension and stress whether it be mental or nervous or anything like that even physical and do bring us into something of the apprehension of the wonder the wonder of that cross and it's tremendous what it can do the wonder apprehended in a spiritual way oh we don't know how to pray but we're going to say now if what has been said here today and this week through thy servants is God's truth don't let it pass into forgetfulness or stored up in artificial reservoirs that do make it a river, a spring breaking up in us unto life eternal cover all all mistakes every defect in presentation and personality may be Christ and his truth divides with us nothing else may ourselves be in the name of the Lord Jesus Amen