In this sermon, the speaker focuses on the importance of staying grounded in the truth of God's Word amidst the various doctrines and beliefs that can easily sway us. He references Paul's words to Timothy in 1 Timothy, emphasizing the central role of Jesus Christ as the mediator between God and man. The speaker urges listeners to have a clear vision of the eternal ages and the purpose of their ministry. He also highlights the concept of regeneration, explaining that it involves a transformation and renewal through the destruction of the old and the emergence of the new. The sermon emphasizes the significance of doctrine and the need to remain steadfast in the apostles' teachings, as seen in Acts 2:42.

Let's turn to the word, shall we? You are all familiar enough, I suppose, with the things that we do here in these weeks, whether they'll change, I don't know as the years go on, but in these morning sessions we don't have any singing, well, at least we don't issue hymn books. We break out into song occasionally, but we do come together because it's a Bible week. I want to emphasize that. The Bible is a much despised book now, really. In fact, there are so many people who think, well, they're baptized in the Holy Ghost and they don't need the Bible. Well, may the Lord have mercy upon us all. I want to come to the Ephesian letter in a few moments, but first of all to remind you of that verse in Acts 2, let's refresh our minds with it, that we started on on Saturday night. It says in verse 42, but we'll take 41 as well, it says that in 42 they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine. Because nobody ever shook them away from the belief that doctrine was important, and very important. Steadfastly they continued in it. And I want to remind you again that doctrine and fellowship go together. Doctrine and fellowship. You only fellowship in the end with those with whom you hold similar beliefs. That's all. In the end, you can attempt to have fellowship here and there, and flip off to this meeting which is supposed to be very sort of ecumenical, and so on and so on. But in the end, because two can't not walk together unless they agree, that's what's at issue. Agreed. Amen. You only would think, if you're listening to somebody, it's always all bad guidance, but that's okay. It doesn't matter what you believe, or how you interpret this or that or the other, but it does. This is what this Bible shouts out. Therefore, that's the way it goes. Doctrine, fellowship, breaking of bread and prayers. Amen. How glorious that is. And then, the other verse, they gladly received the words that the man was preaching. We know it was Peter. We know he was one of the gigantic apostles of Christ. One of the originals. And how wonderful it is. So, just again, to catch up on this great theme, you will recall that Paul said to Timothy, these words, just let's glance at them a moment or two, shall we? And Paul is speaking in First Timothy to this young man who he left in Ephesus to sort out the situation in the church. You know, sometimes churches do need sorting out, don't they? Well, this is what he said. He said this. There's one God, verse 5, second chapter, first epistle. One mediator between God and man. The man, Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time, whereunto I am ordained a preacher and an apostle, I speak the truth in Christ and lie not, a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity. Hallelujah. What a tremendous thing. He was a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher. We know he was a lot of other things as well. But in ascertaining his authority, he states the next verse very plainly, I will, that's right. So it's God speaking. It's in the conflict of wills that difference lies. Did you know that? The set of your wills will determine what you believe. I will not believe it, or I will believe it. Very, very important in these matters. Hallelujah. For in the end, God is directing everything to the will. Everything. That's why we sing a hymn that says, The will I love, my strength. The will I love. It's a tremendous thing to know this. And there it is then, beloved. The apostle and a teacher. Now there were apostles that were not teachers. Not so greatly teachers. I know that we adduce a lot of our teaching, say, from the epistles of Peter and John. But if you read John, he hasn't got either that didactic manner of a Paul, he hasn't got that, neither has Peter. Peter was a great shepherd. The Lord turned him to that on the lake shore. John, well, I don't know what to call John, except a great lover, I guess. But Paul was raised up to be the teacher of the Gentiles, and that's what you'll find. His epistles are full of doctrine. And you can't read the New Testament without reading doctrine. He doesn't always set out the doctrine. As he does, I believe, as you must have heard me say before, I'm sure I don't want to wear you, as he does in the Ephesian letter, that I want to come to presently. And one other thing before I do that, is in Romans 6, I want to bring this point home to every heart. So that we're not on a wildcat thing, and we're not mavericks, as they say. And we know what we're aiming at, and we're understanding what Paul says. Listen to this. Verse 16 of chapter 6. Know ye not that to whom you yield yourselves servant to obey. His servant you are. It doesn't matter whether you claim to be God's servant, if you don't yield yourself to serve him, then you are not a servant of God, and there's no other alternative but to be a servant of Satan. None at all. Ultimately. You keep that very clear. So the old evangelical fear that you're saved to serve is right. The thing is, they should have taught us that the character were filled with the Holy Ghost, but that's a tragedy. In this great chapter, we're told this, that whether you serve sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness. What a tremendous sadist. Now here's the verse. Now, God be thanked that you were the servants of sin, but you have obeyed from the heart, and here's the better Greek of it, that form of doctrine to which you were delivered. You were, when you were born again, you were delivered unto a doctrine. You were delivered from wrong doctrine, based upon wrong thinking, listening perhaps to wrong teaching. Okay. But when you were the Lord, when you obeyed from the heart, and you came to this great truth, your mind was affected too. You were delivered unto a doctrine, and as we get delivered from wrong doctrines, we never get free, and we can never come to what God wants us to be. Doctrines in the end, and they are intended to be this, don't read too much into the word I use, they are bonds. Your mind is filled with, your mind is bound by us. And you be very careful and clear about that. It sets your whole soul on a certain line of thinking, and therefore you draw certain conclusions, and it's impossible not to do that. Hallelujah. No man is saved, ultimately if God wants him saved, until his mind is saved from wrong thinking. It is wrong thinking that in the end will bring to desolation any worth of grace that God's begun in your soul, if you don't think right. You are, you cannot be unless you think. You understand that, you've got to think. Now you're not saved by your thoughts. I rather like that little booklet, which has as a heading, you know, it was the great woman from Donover that wrote it, Amy Wilson Carmichael. His thoughts said, but God said, that's right. And here then is the great and wonderful truth of it all, beloved. And this is why I'm taking this line during these meetings. How far I continue specifically along it, I don't know. But here we are again this morning, on the foundation of doctrine. You were delivered unto a doctrine. I'm not only an apostle, but a teacher, says Paul. That's right. And what he was virtually saying, now I'm not saying this, I'm saying, what Paul was virtually saying, is you've got to believe what I say. That's why he came to me and said, I will. And that's what you're to do. Amen. There comes the rebellion. Talk about the pride of mind. Oh, yeah. That's right. But unless you have a disciplined mind, you'll never get through with God. You'll go off on any wild bull elephant. So, the Lord wants us to get down to thinking. I always remember Oswald Chambers says that when you go to your study, don't go wool gathering. Because he was lecturing to students. None of you are students. Well, no more than I am, I guess. No less, I trust. But here is the thing, that you and I are to see this great and wonderful truth. Don't be afraid to think. But don't presume to jump to conclusions because you've got several thoughts. That's the tragedy. Let the Lord lead us all on. Blessed are the meek. They inherit the earth. All right. They also inherit heaven. The meek spirit is always a teachable spirit. Amen. And so, good things have to come to a place in your life where you say, oh, I've been wrong. And then you look back and you say, well, I thought so and so and so. Yes, that's why you did certain things. That's why you said. You see, your mind is very important. I've been wrong. And what happens then? There has to be a complete revolution of the life. There has to be a free confession that you're wrong. I would like to say this to you as a brother to you all, that I have often said to God, don't know how long ago it was now, I said, Lord, if I'm wrong, I'm willing to stand up before all men and say I've been wrong. And I faced doing that, and that's not the easiest thing to face. Some people will say, well, you climbed up. Somebody will say, well, you've done this or you've done that or you've done the other. But you've got to be on this position, honestly, with God. I know no other ground upon which you can hope to get further revelation from God. You can pursue an idea you might have got forty years ago, but that's not new revelation. So, the Lord wants us to move on the ground of truth. And this is why I don't apologise for coming down onto basic things again. And I do so more because I have come to the tragic conclusion moving round that many who started off on the ground of truth have incorporated so much other stuff or moved off the ground of the original revelation that it needs restating again and again and again. No man need be ashamed of that. I remember how the Lord Jesus used to keep saying the same thing all over and over and over again. There never was a greater teaching than this. Hallelujah. And He didn't say it in the same words. He kept on the same theme. And that's the art of teaching. I believe, or it used to be taught, that the art of teaching is repetition. And so God wants us to move on. And when I, you know, you look round and you listen, you do listen. I hope you don't get a lot of time to listen to what all these would-be MPs are saying and all these would-be governors. They're only saying the same things they've been saying for years. They keep on saying it. Keep on saying it. Keep on saying it. Don't they? They do, don't they? Sure. Oh, we've heard all that before. All right. But the thing about the Gospel is that if you are alive in God the old truths we stated never fall on you. You know, tell me the story often. Try to get those truths. The early dew of morning has passed away at noon. Tell me the old, old story. That's what I want. Amen. All right. So then, I want to come into the season letter and chapter four where I believe that we have the clearest encapsulated if you like statement of apostolic doctrine in the whole of the Bible. Now I know I've said this before you can add youth doctrine from all the great letters. You can get it from parables of the Lord Jesus. There lie little windows into doctrine. They tell you it in a pictorial form and so on. And you love parables, don't you? If I said, hand up if you love parables. You know, earthly stories with heavenly meaning. Would you all put your hand up? Well, Jesus said you ought not to. He said they're for those that are without. You read your Gospels and see. He said they're not for you. You are to know the mysteries. You don't need to know the mysteries. You don't need illustrations of them. I confess that's true with me. Jesus' words are true. They're for those that are without. And supposing I spend a little time. How many more mornings have we got? Oh dear. It'll be Friday before and you know where we are. But you do know, beloved, don't you? And this is the way you are to read your New Testament. You must understand this, that the three synoptic Gospels, they are the Gospels that contain the stories. Is that right? There's only one story in John. That's the shepherd told in John 10. Now there's only one parable. Why? Because this is for the insight. The three Gospels are really only, write this down if you're taking notes, the three synoptic Gospels are really the story of revival in Israel. They're not the worldwide Gospels. That's why they start with Matthew, David and Abraham. You go to Mark and you know that starts with the prophets. And you go to Luke and you will find it starts like just there in Israel with Elizabeth and Husband, the Chariot. That's where it starts, but John doesn't start it. He's for the world. Now you must understand this. This is why you don't get the stories. It was the story of revival. They had their Messiah presented to them. They rejected him. But John starts off with him rejecting. He came unto his own. This is in the first chapter. He tells the story of the crucifixion. He must not. He came to his own. His own received him not. But all you people all over the world, as many as you will say, that's where he is. He's got the Gospel for the Gentiles. Now you must understand that. You say, can't we have the other thing? Oh yes, yes. Don't misinterpret me. Don't misunderstand. Yes. Yes. Amen. But you've got to understand when you read what it's all about. Understand that. And it'll answer a lot of them. Now the Lord wants us to come unto the things where we are put straight bang down on the doctrine. In the fourth chapter then notice that he ends the third with that word that is sought and the closing word, Amen. And you notice the Amen comes after, and you must get this if you're going to understand your epistles or anything you read in the scripture. You must understand that that comes after such things as being filled with all the fulness of God. Amen. He's arrived at the end. He's arrived at the peak but he hasn't quite finished yet. He's moving on. And he says, Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all we ask all things. Yes God. It doesn't depend upon our comprehension of doctrine. It's above all we ask all can think. Amen. According to the power that works within us. Unto him be glory in the church by Jesus Christ throughout ages, ages, ages, ages, ages. A marvelous mixture of words here in the Greek. To take us right through without end Amen. Glory be to God without end. Amen. Amen. Amen. Is that how you feel? You know you want to sit down when you've read that chapter. Amen Lord. Wonderful. Amen. Now he stops. I therefore now because of this because of what I've been teaching you. Get your doctrine right. That's what he really says. I'm a prisoner of the Lord. I beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called. The vocation Beloved I don't know what you may think of Paul walking according to his he was the apostle and the teacher. That's when you lower your sights. But he says, oh, and if I may use this term excuse me, he wouldn't use it for goodness sake get your eyes above yourself and what your ministry is or what you think you are or called to do. It's after the ages of the ages of the ages. Hallelujah. This is where you've got to get your vision fixed. About everything that's earthly about everything positions in the church and so on and so on they're necessary. But to see this thing that God has in you God even so you've got to get this understood that you'd better get the foundation of your thinking right or else you'll never get there. That is in the way you should in your apprehension and in the conformity of your life to that for as sure as you and I are in this room this morning you will be conformed to what you think. Yes you will. Unavoidable. That's what will happen. And God wants us to see this. You are worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called. Hallelujah. In other words, beloved, when you talk about being called what is it that's called you? Now you will say, now please excuse me, this must be oh, you've made a mistake. You put it in the news agenda. No, I haven't made a mistake. I put it in the news agenda. Purposely. The apostles of God used to do that occasionally. Here is one of the occasions. John did it when he opened his first epistle. He said, that which we have heard that which we have seen that which we have and all the time you perfectly well it was the eternal life in Jesus Christ. But he never called it Jesus. He put it in the news agenda. And you keep that very clear. So did Jesus. We know what we worship, not who we worship. You keep that very clear. This is because you've got a mind that can think and say, well, I worship who? But I worship him. But what am I worshiping in this man? Is he a vicious man? Is he a nice man? I'm sure he's nice. That's not the point. It's you've got to know what you're doing. Blind people lead blind people. That's what God says. The mission of the Spirit of God is to bring light to us. And if you don't walk in the light you'll never sustain your life. And this is very, very important for us to grasp. The vocation wherewith you are called. Not the person who called you. There are doctors in the room. All right, let me step on those then. Because they're supposed to be in calling. Whatever was it that attracted them to take up medicine? It wasn't that Lord Lister called them. It was something in that attraction. Couldn't track me. But is it some? What is in your calling? That's the thing for you to understand. What is it that attracts you? Don't take with him the magnetism of his presence. Call me, draw me. We will run after him. Yes, lovely Lord. That's wonderful. But what is it then? You've got something in your heart. You've got ambition there. You say, ambition? Of course you have. You'd be a clock without ambition. You must want to be something. Not over-ambition. That's wrong. Here then. So I don't want to be anything. Well, all right then. You want to be nothing. Go to the opposite. Get positive about it. You see, all this. It's awesome. It's high saluting. It sounds like a wonderful man. You don't want to be anything. And all this. I'm unmoored. I don't want to be anything. You see, stop the nonsense. You're a human being. You can think. You have hope. You have fears. You have all sorts of things. Who else? You're dead. All right. It's because of this that God comes. He didn't say there were a lot of old dead rotten stuff lying about on the earth we'd better regenerate from Jesus. He didn't say that. The fact of the matter is that you were actively engaged in sin. Thoughtfully engaged in sin. Imaginatively engaged in sin. You were in it. You were dead in it. Yet that is only to God. Dead? Do you know what sin is? Yes. We are vivid. Alive. Glory to God. All right. What is it that attracts you? There's a calling. A calling. A calling that involves so much that I can be in this Lord. I can speak right. I can speak right. I can act right. I can love right. I can hate right. There must be hatred as well as love. And so we can go on. And so God takes this and he quickens this being that I am. And my mind as well with it. Praise him. And he can take sin out of all these invisible things. We can't touch much except we engage in faith. And that's why when he begins the epistle he comes on a dissertation of faith. He doesn't do it expressly in those words or as a lecturer. But he includes it in his prayer. That you get your faith right. Amen. And if you get your faith right you'll get your love right. That's the second verse in the third chapter. What a marvelous thing it is. And it's impossible for people of no intelligence to have faith. God can take a stone and raise up a child of Abraham from it. He can take bread and turn it into this or that or the other. But they didn't respond to him. It was all him. There was no response in the stone. That's the thing for us to see. Oh what it is to be alive. Really alive. Quickened, that's how it says in this epistle. I remember taking three years on this epistle once in a Bible class. You go back, you have to be quickened. Amen. Oh, who were dead. Taken the desolation of death out of us. The seeds of the rottenness that constitute any intelligent dead. Give us life. Oh, hallelujah. Let's go on. It says. I can't get to the doctrine in this great time. It says, we're called and we're to do this thing with a walk worthy in all lowliness and meekness with long suffering. Sometimes you have to suffer fools and try to suffer them gladly. You just have to have it in the nature, I'm afraid. Certainly in your home and in your street perhaps. Or whatever it is. It says with all lowliness and meekness. With long suffering. Forbearing one another in love. Hallelujah. Don't stand up with a great big axe like Jack and the Beanstalk to cut somebody down, will you? You forbear. Forbearance is one of the great indications of the presence or absence of love. Endeavouring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. Notice the word bond. Doctrine is a bond. You keep that very clear in your mind. Before you start to believe anything, may a little voice tell you, be careful. You'll get bound by this if you think. If it's the right kind of bondage, hallelujah. It'll keep your feet walking on the right path. Here it is. There's one body and one spirit. Even as you are called in one hope of your calling. One Lord. One faith. One baptism. One God and Father of all. Who is above all. And through all. And in you all. What a marvelous thing. The God and Father is above all. Devil, man, sin, righteousness that came from him. He's above all politics. All. Whether they want him to be above them or whether they don't. And he's through all. He'll come through all to every one of his children. Hallelujah. But he's only in the children of God. You keep that very clear. He's only in his children. He's in you all. Who's shooting? Well, there it is. The Lord wants us to see this, beloved. He's in you all. Another wonderful thing. Now that's where you really are to start. Because, again, let me just say, some of you will know this is my habit, I very often start at the end and go through to the beginning. I start at the end. Without the Father there can't be a body. On any line. The human line as well. Without a Father there'll never be a baby born. There'll never be a body without a Father. You keep this very clear. He starts at the end because this man is wanting to give them teaching about body truths. He starts there. There's only one body. But he traces it back, if you like, upwards. The Father above all. Hallelujah. The Father above the body. You keep that clear. The Father above all doctrines. For you will know that body doctrine or teaching, it only follows from that. If there'd never been a Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, there wouldn't have been a body in Mary's womb. And the Lord wants us to understand this. Hallelujah. And he wants me to say to myself, Oh Lord, my God and my Father, You brought forth one body. Not two. He didn't bring forth a Gentile body and a Jew body. He didn't bring forth a Catholic body and a Protestant body. I'm not pumping for ecumenism. That's not what I'm after. But I want us to see this very clearly. Oh, my precious Lord, I know there's only one body. Do you know that? He says, well, I know. The Bible teaches it. I want to know whether you feel you're in this body or not. He says, does it depend on feelings? Not primarily, but it will do as you go on. If you don't feel a member of that body, then you may depend. You aren't. I'll repeat that in case you think I said it wrongly. I want this to bind your thinking. Not try and get loose from it. If you don't feel you're a member of the body of Christ, I do right now, standing here. I feel I'm in God. I feel it. That's right. I have become spiritually aware. Oh, he got marvellous gifts. No, no, no. Of course not. I'm not talking about gifts. Except, of course, if it is a gift. Everything's a gift from God. I feel I'm in Christ. I feel I'm in the body. I feel it. Sometimes more than others, I can feel the Lord. Was she psychic? Of course I'm not psychic. I'm a sticker to the plank. Here, then, is the whole sense of it. I am not an independent man any more. I'm in the body. I know I'm in the body. There are some people who have to endure this. Well, I know I'm in the body of Christ, but I don't feel a member of this body, say, Where are we? Exeter? Or, I'd better say Tibetan, and I'd better say where else you've come from. Manchester? Or, like, you know, all these things. Then there's something wrong with you. Or else there's a church. Of course, you're sure to say it's a church. It's not you. Here, then, is the whole thing. I know I've said this before in this room. The great gospel of Innet, though I don't mean capital G gospel. All of you can say it that way if you want. Is this a piece of letter. In. It's all about In. In. In. Have you ever done it? I think it comes about a nice lot of times in just six chapters. In. In. In. In. In. In. It's in the various conjugations. Here, then, is the thing. It is blessed In. You've got to talk to him about the body. So he uses this blessed preposition In. In. In. Preposition means to preposition your mind and your thinking. Related truth. And you say, oh, Lord. I don't know about you. I could shut you all out now, and just know I'm in the body by myself. I don't want you, that's not the point. But you'd better be able to do this. You see, is it a trick of the mind? Is it a feat of your soul? No, no, no. It's a fact. See, God does affect your soul, must affect your thinking and your feelings. How glorious it is. This disorientation of the human being is the result of sin. The great thing about the baptism of the Spirit, beloved, is its cohesive effect. It will bring you into oneness in yourself, in the Spirit of God. That's what it will do. We're so disorientated, we're so shattered, we're so scattered, we're so riven, we're so torn, but God makes us human beings. God is in me, and he's in us all, isn't he? Oh, a smile then. It's a grim business, this. No, no, no. I hope I'm not overtaxing your mind. I don't, you know, I've had no education at all. Here is the thing. Not formal education. Here is the great things of God. I shouldn't be above your mind. I was born in Bethnal Green. You must understand this, beloved. You've got to understand it. But how do you understand it? I don't know. I'll tell you one secret of it, though, it's absolutely clear. There isn't an educationist in the world, or in this room, anywhere, who can say, that's the trouble, the children won't apply. They've got it there, but only apply themselves. That must not be in the church. You've got to apply yourself. There's one body. Is that right? One body. Oh, I don't care what you call yourself. Fellowship, or what do you call it? Pentecostal, what do you call yourself? Limber, what do you call yourself? Baptistic, what do you call yourself? It hasn't got to do with that, beloved. It hasn't got to do. This is not what I mean when I say, well, we're all one body. I don't mean that. I don't think Paul means that. Because, you see, there weren't any Catholics. There weren't any. He wasn't talking on those lines. But we've got so split through the ages, that that's the way we naturally go. Oh, you're worse than this person. We're all one body. But Paul wasn't thinking along those lines. Come away out of it. We're at the back end of the age. Things have got wrong. We've got to come in to what was in the great heart of Philip. One. One. May I just tell you this? Or refer you to it? Do you remember when the Lord was crucified and buried and was put in a tomb, all right? And they went down on resurrection morning and they didn't know it was resurrection morning. Isn't it lovely to have surprises? May you have one this week. Glorious resurrection. Into knowledge of the life that I hope you already have. All right. They got there, stones rolled away, angels there. And do you know what they said? Come, see the place where the Lord lay. Where his body lay. That's right. That's right. Only one body. I'm ever so glad about that. And then think of Mary Magdalene. I always do. I always do. I think probably it's my favourite resurrection story. Where she says to the man she thought was her God, she's just given to him. Think of it. Think of it. A woman's pattering about with a dead body in her arms. Yes. I don't laugh at that. I think that's wonderful. I think she's got more guts than probably all the men in this room put together. That's what I think. Not to insult manhood. A woman born in the beginning and a woman was to bear him at the end when she had her way. You think of that. You just think of it. You hear me. Can you imagine her? She wanted to take that body. So sacred. So patterned. She treasured that body. I wish she was wrong. But she wasn't wrong. She was expressing her heart and that's never wrong. She got her ideas wrong. We go on there and get into fantasies of God. Well, she was wrong or he was alive. Superior. I love the woman's spirit. She did absolutely right. All the men were hiding away in an upper room. Supposed to be apostles. I don't know what. Yeah. Now listen to it in the end of chapter one of the feast. Jesus Christ. First place of truth. God who raised him from the dead. That is God and father of glory. Verse seventeen. There's the word. Just so you know where we are. All right. Raised him from the dead. Set him at his own right hand. We'll go into verse twenty. In the heavenlies. Far above all principality and power and life and dominion. Not only in this world but it all turns out which is to come. And hath put all things under his feet. And gave him to be the head over all things. Which is his body. Amen. Well, you say that's only logical. Of course it must be. The head must be the head over all things. So the body. Mustn't it? That's right, isn't it? Head over all things. Amen. But you see. This is not a body that would be inanimate. If the head was cut off from it. This is not the kind of body he's thinking of. He's thinking of a body composed of people like us. Intelligent. Alive. The head over all things. To the church. Which is his body. His pulpit. Amen. Now that's what you're to grasp. That's what you're to grasp. That we're this one body that he's speaking of. We're. We're his pulpit. His pulpit. Is that right? I'm not asking you whether the Bible says so. I'm asking you whether it's right. Do you? His thoughts. It's not my fault, is it? This is where I sacrifice my mind. And I say, Lord, I just want yours. I want your thoughts to be in my mind. I want to think your thoughts. Then I'll preach right. Then I'll teach right. Then I'll speak right. You remember in the first of it. For those of us who are not apostles and like that, speaking the truth. One to another. In love. That's in chapter five. For all of us. What a marvellous thing it is. You, beloved, I'm absolutely sure. That few range of each of us. When nothing is banal. This is the whole glorious truth, isn't it? His body. The fullness of healing. That fills all in all. Amen. That's a very sacred thing, isn't it? Amen. Just think of being, for a moment, picture a human body. Think of being in that body. Think of being in that body. You think of the effectiveness of being in that body. You think of it. You think of the loveliness. You think of, again, this word is conceitedness. You think of that. And let that come out now into the body of Christ. I am personally. Oh, Lord. Am I? Are you conscious of that? Amen. I don't mean you have to sit down and try and dream yourself into it. I don't mean that. But to know it. This is the only way, beloved, anyway in life, everything can become. This is the only way. Everything can become right in life. This is the only way. Think of yourself as this student Christ, which you should. At other times, it seems so strange, this paradox of faith. Here's Christ. Here am I. Oh, Lord, you're wonderful. And then, by the delights of the Spirit, and by the grace of God, come the other, come the whole circle. I need you. A thing that filleth all in awe. It's that that makes you want to lie back and say, Oh, Lord, fill me. It's that. To know you're in this glorious life. And this takes you out of the realm of striving. For everything in the body should function without strife. Oh, hallelujah. He says, keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of faith. No strife. No conflict. As soon as you've got a fault, beloved, then there's something wrong. Something basically wrong. This is why we sing such choruses. Love is flowing like a river. Not faulting like a river. It's not a ram flowing. That's what it's to be. And if you're consciously trying to make it flow, then there's something wrong. Amen. Sure, but you really have to struggle to love him or love her, don't you? You've got a long way to go yet. Yes, you do. You see, this is the Gospels of the world that come off the synoptics. God so loved the world. Isn't it marvellous? Somehow, these great writers who knew God, they instated in God, in the majesty, in the glory, in the vision, in the purpose, in the creation of God, in that which he meant in the beginning. And it's wonderful. Soon you will know that Christ is called the second man. It's either whether you're living in the first man, or the first Adam, or whether you're living in the second man, the last Adam. We're in the body. Let nothing be done. Let everything be done with weakness and loneliness. Let it be done like that. You say, well, it'll never be done. Well, then don't have anything to do with things that can't be done that way. It very needs to be done, doesn't it? I know. That's why he talked about four bearings. That's why he talked about loneliness. That's why he talked about long suffering. That's why he talked about endeavouring to keep the unity, not make great big splits. If you can help it. Well, how can you live alongside her, or him? Love? Does love exist? It's one word. Just one word. We need to take the interest for damage. I know. Look how they damaged Christ, they nailed him to a cross. Look how they damaged that. Oh, to be able to. Oh, to remember that great statement. Shall we go and root out the tares? He said, no, just let them grow together. You just let the tares grow with the wind. But one's going up into an ugly thing, and one's going up into the thing that God wants, and you're going to let them stay together. Look at the contrast between them. This can't go on. Let's root them out. And out goes some of the wheat. That takes years. Doesn't it? Hallelujah. What a glorious thing is the true church of Jesus Christ. There's only one body, that's all. And you're not to talk, well, he doesn't think my way, she doesn't talk my way. Look at her, look at that. Oh, they can't be in the same body. I know, I sometimes, I'm so glad I don't say that word. I say that word, I seem to be of a different spirit. I go as far as to say that. Here is the thing to understand about it. Everything is by the Spirit, and that's what he comes to me. There's one body, how much longer have I got, brother? Quarter, oh yes, I always stop to listen, don't I? He says, there's one body, and there's one, that's all. And I want to tell you this, that although lots of people say they're of the body, or say they're in the body, you will know, without saying you're in, you're out, you're in, you're out, without saying, you'll know, because there's only one spirit in one body, that's all, in God's body anyway. There's only one spirit, glory be to the name of the Lord. There cannot be two spirits, because once you start, you see, he starts arguing and says, well you said you're right, I'm the spirit, it's me that's right, it's you that's wrong, you see. That's the way it goes. You know it's pride, you know it's all kinds of things, but you cannot say that, ever. You know, so you're full of pride, you've got to vote for me, we're SDP or something. You don't say that, beloved. Let's leave that to the wranglers and janglers. You and I are in the body of Jesus Christ. There's only one spirit in the body, that's all there is. There are not two spirits, not. Now that's how you know. If you get a jangling spirit, now I know there are some people that have really been born of God, and they've got jangling doctrine taught them, and so they jangle, because they don't know. But nobody is to be left in that state of complete infancy, where they just believe any sort of that. Hip hip hooray, somebody said something. But, every man and woman is to grow up. And if you cast your eyes on this, this chapter, if you will, this is what you're told. That, strangely enough, or perhaps it's not strange, is it, if we start at verse 14. Because verse 14 really starts another section. The section from the beginning of the chapter finishes at verse 13, which says that we're all to come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man. We're all to come to the perfect man. Now, the trouble is, but this isn't quite my point at the moment, is that so many individuals are intent on their own perception, that they forget that the whole body is the perfect man. We're all to come. That's why you need a law forbearance. Amen. It's so great. I'll bear with you, my brother, my sister, while you grow. This is the secret. I'll bear with you, even though you say things that I know in here aren't right. But I'll bear with you. This is forbearance. Now, you don't talk like I do. No, you don't do that. You don't carry an axe around, you carry an oil bottle. And it's so wonderful. All right, let's go on. Now, that's the end of destruction. The measure of the statue of the foolishest Christ. That's everything. That's what it's for. All of it. Now then, that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine. There's the word again. We've got so many winds of doctrine blowing, beloved. So many. I have passed on. I say, have you heard of so and so? There's another American or something. Wouldn't you have been in his meetings? No, I haven't. Unfortunately, I don't get a chance to do this very often. That may be my loss. You see. And oh, they believe this, they believe that, they believe everybody goes on, and you go like this behind people, and this sort of thing always happens. A new power that comes. Yeah, I know. I've been in a lot of it. Most of it, tragic. I'm telling you. I'm telling you, the whole thing, beloved, is that you and I know that we're not to be carried about by doctrine. We're not to. It says this, and it says, the purpose of it is, very, very tragically, it's not the best translation here, but here it is, they're lying in wait to deceive. I don't think they are, but you know, there's a spirit behind all this, lying in wait to deceive. It translates as, I'm not far off basic proof. It's really the word, under the systematization of error, that's doctrine. Erroneous doctrine. A system of erroneous physics. The strange part of it is, they work. They work. Because you and I are capable of responding on psychic levels, and thinking that they're spiritual. You know that, don't you? You're capable of responding. And things can happen through psychic power, because you are a soul. And they can get at all sorts of things with a rock. They can do all kinds of things with a rock. Do them. Yeah? You're capable of responding to them. Bear this in mind, that the poor, poor spirit is died. What happens? And that's the only thing that counts. I've already pointed it out to you in the end of chapter three. All of it is unto this. Unto the ages of the ages of the ages. Oh God, when will all this practicise that's going on, when will all this fighting and squabbling, oh, when it all ends. Oh God, we want to be above that for ages. Don't you see what it's all about? Do you? If you haven't got your vision on that, you've got to lift your sights until you do see it. That's why at the end of the book you've got the vision, Gloria. You have to move through it all the time. That's what it's about. You say you have a ministry. It's for that. Oh, it must have a present effect. Of course it must have a present effect. You can't live in this world anyway, whether you're saved or unsaved without having some kind of effect. But it's this. Hallelujah. Changed by regeneration. You say, what do you mean by that? Well, that's how the Lord spoke about new creation. In the regeneration, he said, what do you mean by that? It's going to regenerate by destroying, by burning up, and then come forth the new. This is it. It's all for this. I'm in the regeneration. I'm going to be in the regeneration. You say, well, that's cautology. Call it what you like, but I'm going to be there. I know that it's from glory to glory, from regeneration to regeneration. You say, are you going to have another regeneration? No, I don't particularly think so, but what I know is that God's going to make another great regeneration. Amen. Can't it be regenerate? Then down here, and then we're going to be in a regeneration. Oh, that's marvelous. But that's what it's about. And you are to see it. Amen. Listen. And in this tremendous thing, watching your doctrine, that's what I'm pointing out to you. Watching your doctrine, you're to speak the truth in love and grow up into Him. And if your doctrine isn't having that effect in your life, and don't think that you're in truth just because you can sort of go like this in the middle of London, and therefore you're there. Don't you think that's intended? Don't you think that's intended? The indication is whether you and I are growing up into Him who or which is the Head. Now, here is where we go right away from the natural into the spiritual. Because in the natural, no body grows up into its Head. It sort of terminates in its Head upwards. But it doesn't grow up into it. The whole fact of the matter is that you will read, if you have an eye that's teared and a heart to understand, that it's Christ, if you like. Don't carry this too far, but I want to give you an indication that it's growing down into His body. Gave Him to be the Head over the Church, which is His body. He, if you like, has got to grow His fruit into us. I have put it this way. He's got to get, He's got to get in you. He's got to get into me by the Blessed Spirit. He's got to grow out into us. It's a sort of an inverted vine position. I'm the vine, you're the branches. He's rooted up there in the house of man and He's growing down into all His branches and bringing down all the fruit into being. Stupid idea, isn't it? But there it is. Because I'm so stupid, that's the way I see it. But here is the marvelous thing to understand what it's all about. Growing up into the Head. Growing up into the Head. Him which is the Head. Now when you grow up into the Head what do you think will, what do you think will happen if you grow up into Him in everything? I'll tell you what will happen. The world might just really increase. Come out of that world. Come out of that world. I think we'll increase the knowledge. Your understanding. This is why when Paul wanted to deal with the gifts of the Spirit in 1 Corinthians 12 he says, now concerning the spiritual I give you the gift of tongues. This is what he said, I give you to understand. That's his first word. That's his first gift to you. To understand. In understanding be grown up. Be men. Grow up into wisdom. Into knowledge. Into understanding. And the more understanding you get the more understanding you'll be. The more understanding you have the more you'll be able to handle situations. The more understanding you have the more you'll be able to handle this awkward woman or this brash man or whatever it is. You see this is the whole thing. You've got to grow up into him. Not into it. Hallelujah. The Lord wants us to be able to really live. There's only one Spirit in the body. Now I declare unto you that the Spirit that's in the body is the Spirit of the Christ. The Holy Spirit. You see that's where we go on. It's the Christ. It's by the Spirit. Hallelujah. It's by the Holy Spirit. But the Spirit in the body is Christ. Hallelujah. Have you got the Spirit of the Christ? Have you? Well one of the things about the Spirit of the Christ in the body of Jesus of Nazareth was this. To be growing with them. Growing with them. That's the great teaching. In fact I know a little about babyhood really don't know what I mean. Growing up into this. Amen. We get so frantic beloved. I suppose really it comes of the poverty of our natural conditions really. When God meets us and he does something in us boy we get this ability and we get this. Do we go down that line. We take up every opportunity to demonstrate we've got it. You see. That's what we do. But then if you don't have enthusiasm when you're young I don't know when you will get it. But we grow up into him in everything. Hallelujah. This will explain why you have so many things happen to you. Because you've got to grow up in these things. So many things will happen. And somebody will say it's the devil. Come and get prayed for. You see. There are times when we do this. But you've got to grow up in those things not out of them. The real purpose of growing up to get prayed for is to get out of them. He said you grow up in them. That's the tragedy. Everybody's getting rid of their best friends. Awkward circumstances. There are best things that can happen to you. Don't you know? It's true. It's absolutely true. The difficulties. What a marvellous thing. It's very good. Everybody wants it plain sailing. Everybody wants it smooth. Who doesn't? When I was down in Australia. I'm not going to get too reminiscent now. I'll put my Bible down because I'm nearly at the end of this stint. Alright. When I was down in Australia I got people down in there relatives got in lots and they'd go out on the sea went round Sydney Harbour smooth going round everything was happy nobody turned green went pale it was all fine it was going round nicely and I won't tell you all the stories in it but when we got out through the hedge if you know Sydney Harbour look out for the thermometer on the top there 30 odd 30 knots an hour the wind was blowing and somebody in the crew and it wasn't me it was lovely we got back through the hedge again right as rain that was smooth his system was lovely but when it was rough his system all went wrong see that's the trouble your system goes wrong what it is particularly that goes wrong will lead to the people that know I don't but that's what happens you've got to grow up into him in all things there's only one spin now tomorrow morning I propose to take that up with you by the Lord's grace so that we shall know how God through Paul is laying out this doctrine which I, God giving me the grace will never depart from till I go to be with him if I've been wrong in any degree he'll teach me I've got still a lot to learn that's the big thing to understand there's only one spirit in this body and I understand this and this is theologic for when Jesus was on the earth he said my father is in me that's right now this is what the statement ended up with he's in you all but he'll only be in you in that spirit in the Jesus spirit do you understand that that is the whole concept this is the way it works this is why the miracle was done this is what the birth and the life and the death and the resurrection it's all about this is why the Holy Ghost had to come it's all about this once you get your doctrine everything your mind will grow of course you'll run up against him you won't be able to fit everything in that's all a wonderful part of it why we need one another but beloved I will be able to grow on up into him in everything yeah except sin now let's pray father thank you this morning for loving us thank you for being wonderful to us thank you for this precious gospel it's all so logical it's all so profound it's all so simple we don't have to cut out parts of scripture in order to believe the things we believe we think we are saying one thing and it's the same for everyone now this is no compulsion let's not come to chop or to root out or to unite but we thank you for it lord that the unity of the spirit is in one we thank you for it lord god our father who art above all and through all and in all we thank you amen