In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of unity among believers in the body of Christ. While acknowledging the significance of local churches and fellowships for nurturing and protection, the speaker cautions against making these institutions ultimate in our thinking. The speaker also discusses the ministry of Jesus, highlighting that his ultimate purpose was to do the will of the Father. Jesus came to earth to fulfill the Father's will, which included healing the sick, raising the dead, and preaching glad tidings to the poor. The speaker emphasizes that the fullness of God's expression is found in Jesus, and that the old creation also reflects God's power and beauty.

I believe truth is very simple, you know. We should never think that truth is so complicated. You got to be deep, you got to be intellectual, got to be a student. Truth is very simple. But nevertheless, it's difficult for us because of our spiritual lack of understanding. Apart from the illumination of the Spirit, we don't see truth. But with the illumination of the Spirit, truth becomes very simple. It used to bother me because people say, oh, he's too deep, he's too complicated. And then I'd see young people come along, saved a year or two, and drink it in, no problem whatever. Old timers in the church, oh, it's far beyond me. And I come to realize it wasn't a case of I being too deep or too far out. It's a case that there's people who just have eyes but they do not see. They have ears and they do not hear. Because truth is very simple. And if there's truly a hunger and a thirst after God, the Bible says, He shall be filled. He shall be filled. But if there's no hunger, what can you do? And I use an illustration of the fish. He's not considered highly intellectual, I don't think. But somehow he longs for depth. He just somehow longs for depth. And this last fall, I was able, I was up near Adams River and we dropped in there. Just before the main return of the salmon this season, but there was quite a few who had come. And they'd been out there in the oceans for four years. And up to the Aleutians, Alaska, all over the Pacific. And then something in them said, you've got to go back home. Nobody knows why. But they come out of the Adams River and they had to go back to the Adams River. They come out of their little thing so long, you know, a few inches long, but go all over the Pacific, grow up and come back and up the Adams River. They've got to go there because that's where they come from. And so we come out from the heart of God and we find ourselves flowing into the depths of God and then God brings us back to His heart again. And we just do that because we have a longing for depth, a longing for Him. It's not because we're wise or intelligent. It's a longing for God. So that longing, it's that longing that causes us to seek after Him. We might be lost in those oceans of Himself, oceans of His own love and truth and grace, infinite oceans that, you know, it bothers me. I remember ministering once a little in church. They'd asked me to minister and it was a young people's gathering and I was speaking about coming to know God. And after the meeting, the young people talking amongst themselves said, well, didn't they know we're saved? We know the Lord. They didn't hear hardly a word I said. They knew God. And Paul, after 20 or 25 years of a ministry, it took him throughout the Roman Empire where he saw signs and wonders and the manifestation of the resurrection life of Christ in him and in his ministry. Tremendous, mighty things that were accomplished. After it all, he says, oh, that I might know Him, the fellowship of His sufferings, the power of His resurrection. The more you come to know Him, the more you realize, I hardly know Him at all. So God grant that there might come forth in this hour such an impetus of the impact of the Spirit of God upon His people that they will begin to long for God. I was reading a little article by A.W. Tozer recently. A very famous Christian teacher passed away a few years ago. Had great depth of understanding, great love for God. And he questioned, why is it that somehow in this day and age where there are so many Bibles, so many books, so many tapes, so much understanding, that there is such a lack in the church? He made the statement that if Bible study, if reading the Bible, if having Bibles, if promoting the Bible, if having Bible teaching sessions, seminars, if that was synonymous with spirituality, this would be the most spiritual age that the church has known. Never have there been so many Bibles, books, tapes, seminars, teaching seminars as in this generation. But he said, it appears that history will record that this is the most corrupt, the most weak, the most worldly-minded era of the church in our history. He says, what is it? He says, it seems to me it's lack of vision or worse to that effect. I'm glad he said that because many fundamental Christians all over the world will read that and they'll believe it. They'll have to believe it because such a great man said it. But it's right there and the word is clear, as clear as it can be, but it seems that the church has come to that place where they cannot believe the word of God or receive it unless it comes forth through the lips of some great and mighty man. It's so clear here in the word of God that the last-day church is a Laodicean church. That's the last-day church. And the Bible tells us that the last-day church is going to be wretched and miserable and blind and poor and naked. And we all admit we're in the last days and I've yet to go down the street of any city or any town and see a church in the corner called the Laodicean church. I've yet to see that. I might. I remember driving through the streets of Chicago and the most beautiful titles they had. Church of the Good Shepherd, Church of the Lamb. I've never yet seen a church with a placard out in front. The first church of Laodicea. Because the Laodicean church doesn't know they're Laodicean. The church of Laodicea says, I am rich, I am increased with goods, and I have need of nothing. And the Lord Jesus looks down upon them and he gives a word to the apostle John to send to the churches of Asia. Laodicea was one of them. And these conditions existed then, but they exist today and that's why it's there in the word. If God has left us this word, it's because it's for us. He's declared some things that he's hidden. He told Daniel to seal the book because it was for the time of the end. He told John, don't write the seven thunders. It wasn't for the whole church age because at the end of the age there's going to be things performed by the mighty hand of God that God did not even see fit to write down in the word. And in the time of the revelation we'll see it and the time of the unfolding of that. Don't ask me what the seven thunders are. And if anybody tells you what they are, don't believe them. They're sealed until it happens. Jesus says, you say you're rich, you're increased with goods and you need nothing, but this is the way I see it. You're wretched, you're miserable, you're blind, you're naked. I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire that you might be rich. And so God does have gold for this day. God has gold for a remnant in the Laodicean church. People say, well, why do you speak about great things for the church in this hour? Don't you know about the church of Laodicea? I know all about it. And I know that God has every provision for the Laodicean church. Everything they need. Gold tried in the fire. White raiment that you might clothe yourselves that the shame of your nakedness doth not appear. An eye salve to anoint your eyes that you might see. God's got divine light for His people. Gold. He's got His own righteousness for His people. White raiment. He's got illumination and revelation for His people. People in vision who are blind. But as long as you say, I can see, what can God do? And so it is true. It's lack of vision. It's lack of discernment. It's lack of understanding that in the midst of all the Bibles and all the books and all the teachings and all the seminars, all the radio and all the TV and all the word that's going forth in this age, in this church age, in this last day of the church, the church is the most corrupt, the most unspiritual. Antichrist is rising up right in the temple. They're closing their eyes to it. They say, well, there can't be an Antichrist yet because the temple isn't built in Jerusalem. And we are the temple of the living God and Antichrist is rising right up in the midst. God's people don't even know it. Taking the place of the glory of God in our midst. Taking the place of God's glory. That's Antichrist. You know what Antichrist means? It has two meanings. Opposed to Christ or instead of Christ. Don't look over there and read about old Addis Ababa Baha or some such name that somebody sent me a pamphlet recently. Is he the Antichrist? He's not the Antichrist. The Antichrist is that spirit that opposes the anointing of Jesus Christ in the midst of His people. Antichrist, anti-the anointing. You and I have to deal with Him in our own hearts and lives, in our assemblies, and eventually in the church. It will be so manifested in the midst of the true church of Jesus Christ there's going to be the false. Opposing the anointing. Everything else is there. Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, working of miracles and everything else, but opposing the Lordship of the Holy Spirit in the midst of His people whom the Lord Jesus will slay by the breath of His mouth and the manifestation of His appearing. I was so thankful when God gave me a different kind of spectacle to read the Word of God. You can read the Word of God and all you can see is apostasy. All you can see is falling away. All you can see is nothing but desolation for the last-day church. And that's true as far as it goes. As far as this human structure that is concerned that we call the church. There's been a falling away and it will get worse and worse. But in the midst of it all, there's a glorious church that God is making. And unto Him may glory in the church throughout all ages, world without end, said Paul. God is preparing a glorious church. Not having spot or wrinkle or blemish or any such thing. He's doing it in the midst of all that. That's what bothers us because we look around and you mean to say that God is going to make that Presbyterian church a glorious church? Is He going to revive that Catholic church? Is He going to make a glorious church out of that? That Anglican church, you say, that takes so long that God couldn't do it. God doesn't even have that in His mind. God didn't give that title there. Man put that there. God's church is a people who are called out unto relationship with Himself. Just simply called out into relationship with Himself to walk with Him. And there's a structure for it. But don't get caught away with the structure. There's a structure for everything God does. But don't think for one minute that if you get the structure all there nicely set up and organized, all you've got to say is, Now come, Holy Spirit, we've got everything ready for you. Because the structure that God has for His church grows out of the law of the Spirit of life. Can you tell how the bones form in the womb of her that is with child? It grows along with the body. Whatever God is doing, if the Spirit of life is there bringing forth something for His honor and glory, God will bring out the structure it needs. So don't worry about that. Don't try to make a structure so that God can come along and you can say, Now, Lord, we've got our apostles and prophets and our evangelists and our pastors and our teachers. We've got our deacons and our elders. We've got our choir leaders and orchestra leaders. We've got everything arranged. We've got a building. We've got a tabernacle. Come now, Lord, fill it with Your glory. And God dwelleth not in temples made with hands, for ye are the temple of the living God. As God said, I will dwell in them and walk in them and they shall be My people and I will be their God. God gives us certain structures. You need it. And that robin realizes she must prepare a home. She goes out and she gathers some little twigs and grass and maybe she'll find an old piece of rag and put it together and form a little nest. It's sort of a structure there. It's only temporary. Just temporary. And it changes. And then she lays the four little blue eggs. And because there's something, there's something alive that's to come forth. No life in a structure. There's something alive that God sees fit to protect that life with for a season. And so the eggs have life in it, but there's a structure on that too. It's needful, but it's only temporary. And so after proper incubation, the little bird inside begins to peck and peck and work its way out of the shell and the shell is broken. You say, well, what caused this division anyway? You can't have this kind of division. Quote all the Scriptures on it. Mark those which cause division. Don't bother with the latter part according to the doctrine that you received from us. Oh, this horrible division. What are we going to do to mend the divisions in the body of Christ? So there's a big conference I mentioned last night in New Orleans in July where we're going to have Catholics, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Baptists, Pentecosts, oh, I couldn't name them all. And they're going to rejoice in the great movement towards unity. 80,000 people are expected and they're rejoicing in that. Oh, the wonderful movement towards unity. Some of God's precious ones will be there. I'm not denying that. But that's not what God is doing to bring together the body of Christ. And so here's four little birds in the nest and they need the nest. They need the nest for a season, for a season only. And so God gives you a certain protection in a local church, a fellowship or something. You need that nurturing. But don't let any of these things be ultimates in our thinking because that Mother Robin wants those little birds one day to be on their own. This discipleship thing that swept the land a few years ago sprang out of a desire on the part of ministry to keep things under control. I'm not saying that those who started had that thought in mind. God forbid that I should judge. But I know inherently behind that was this desire we've got to keep control of God's people. And actually, that's behind the whole Babylonian system, to keep control of the people. When God, after the flood, God told them to be scattered above God didn't replenish the earth. They started to move out a little and they moved on to the plains of Shinar. And then they were getting a little fearful. We're going to lose contact here. If we get away too far, we'll lose contact. What do you say we build a tower? A city? A tower that will reach into the heavens? And don't think from that that they were demented. We want to find God. I mean, that seems to be the impression I got hearing about it in Sunday school days. These people are going to try and find God. No, their hearts weren't out to find God. They said, we want to build this tower that will reach into heaven, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the earth. So like that great space needle in Seattle or the Husky Tower there in Calgary or the one down in Toronto. They could go 15, 20, 30 miles maybe and they wouldn't be separated because there's the tower. We've got a point of contact. We can always come back to the tower. We'll always find our way. And they said, we'll build this lest we be scattered abroad. And God told them to scatter. And they started to do it. Brother Simmons mentioned it the other night. And God said, if I don't stop them, nothing will prevent them. And God is going to stop the ecumenical movement somewhere down the line. I don't know where. Because it's Babylon. But God has that in His own timing. And so God came down and He confounded their language. He just sent confusion. And Babylon means confusion. Something that God does. God sends confusion whenever there's an attempt to build cities and kingdoms. And Babylon's. God sends confusion. Confounds their language so they don't communicate properly anymore. But I want you to notice the building materials of the tower. They use brick for stone and slime they had for mortar. They have slime pits there, sort of an asphalt stuff that's very sticky. It will hold things together, but there's nothing substantial to it. They use brick for stone and slime for mortar. So they make a mold and they pour in the mud and stuff and turn it out to dry. Get the mold and pour in some more mud and set it out to dry. And so you've got all these bricks that are conformed to the image of the Maker. That's what He wants. He wants them all the same. You can handle it better. Stone does too much work. And they're too difficult to work with stone. But this is simple. Just make the brick and pour it out to dry. Now in the body of Christ, every member is different. You're not a brick. You might have been turned out as a brick when you were with some organization. And you sit there in the congregation, one of the bricks. And you'll notice, I've noticed, certain denominations you go to, pretty well all the same. Go to another denomination, they've got a different mold, brick mold. But it's all the same. You hear a prayer. Oh, I know, that guy's such and such a church. Conformity to some way of man. But you see, God is building a temple out of stone. Stones that are chiseled and prepared to fit together, to be compacted together. Jerusalem is built as a city that is compacted together whether the tribes go up. God's people are made of living stone. But chiseled, shaped by the hand of God. No pastor can do that. No apostle can do that. No prophet can do that. All you can do, all we can do, if we fit into one of those categories, is to so minister the word of truth that when that word of truth, you take hold of it and cling to it and say, well, not let it go because you love it. You don't want to let it go. You don't know at the time because you love the word that's going forth and you don't understand at the time that you're holding fire in your bosom, that you're hanging on to a hammer there that's going to crush you. It's not my word is a fire and there's a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces. But you're still hanging on to it for some reason. I love that word. I'm going to hang on to it. You don't know all the while you're doing it. You're hanging on to something that's going to cut you. For the word of the Lord is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword and piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, with joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Let the word of God abide in you and cling to it. But even as you do, know this, it's going to start to cut and the cut asunder is going to separate soul from spirit. Be prepared for it. Are you still going to say, Lord, I want to hide thy word in my heart? Still ready to say that? It's going to cut. It's going to separate soul and spirit. See, you and I can't say, well, that's soul, that's spirit. I mean, maybe we sit back and discern a little along that line, but I don't want to be judgmental about God's people. Sometimes I think maybe that's soul and maybe it's spirit. So I don't get in the seat of a judge in the matter. The word of God is quick. The word of God will make that difference. The living word, not just the Bible, but the living word. I don't... I say things like that about the Bible sometimes. People think I don't honor the Bible. I honor it as much as any man on the face of the earth. I've got a Bible at home I typed out in my own typewriter and I've memorized large portions of it. But I know that God's plan is not to just give Bible studies and memorize the Scriptures and give good teachings. God's plan is to take that word that's in here in the covers of this book and write it on the fleshly tables of your heart. Only then will it become a living word that's going to go forth as a sharp two-edged sword and piercing and dividing and cutting asunder. Only then. So read the word and believe it and embrace it and cherish it and memorize it. Don't despise it by calling it the letter of the word and say the letter killeth. I know it killeth. God's planned to kill before He can give life. I love the letter of the word. You say it killeth. I know! God wants to kill before He brings life. I thank the Lord for the times I spent memorizing the Scripture. One summer I memorized a quarter of the New Testament. I memorized most of Paul's epistles. It didn't mean hardly anything to me. I just felt I was supposed to do it. It didn't really seem to mean anything. But I found later when the time came for me to receive certain gifts of the Spirit, that gifts of the Spirit would take that word that I had memorized and didn't know what it meant and bring it out and go forth as a sharp sword. Memorize God's word. Believe it. Get into it. Stay close to God in the matter. Don't try and find the interpretation by getting all the commentaries of men. I write books. I don't promote them especially. I believe God has given me certain things to write. If any of you want them, just give me your name and address and I'll send you some. I don't peddle them around too much. But don't put your confidence in that. Your confidence in Him and in His ability to lead you into all truth. If you are a partaker of His Holy Spirit, it is the office, ministry of the Holy Spirit to lead His people into all truth. So the little birdlings in the nest grow and finally they're uncomfortable. Getting too many for the nest. And so Mother Robin goes out and builds a bigger nest. These poor little things, you know, feel uncomfortable there. Got to build a bigger nest. What are you laughing at? The preachers are doing it. God wants His people to walk in liberty. Any ministry that does not so give forth the Word of the Lord and present Christ that the end result of it will be a people who are individually walking in contact with God is a Babylonian ministry. The desire of a minister, the heart of a minister should be to so minister Christ that you know Christ. You walk with Him unfettered by any of the shackles of religion or denominationalism. God only wants one thing on the earth and He's going to have it. A people filled with the Spirit, walking in the Spirit, living in the Spirit. That's all God wants. It's the purpose of ministry to so project Christ that that will come to pass in the congregation. And when that comes to pass, that Christ is formed in you. And if He hasn't been formed in me to that extent, then I want to sit down and hear from one who is so matured before the Lord that Christ is formed in him. And I don't care what your ministry is. Certainly we still need teachers. We still need apostles and prophets and evangelists and pastors. But those are not ultimates in the church. What are they for? The perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry, for the edifying, the building up of the body of Christ till we come unto the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man. And there's all kinds of teachings now on perfection that are so scared of that word. They point out that perfection just means mature. And I know it does mean mature. Not that I know Greek that much, but having studied it a little, it means mature. But according to what standard? According to what standard? For the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry unto the edifying of the body of Christ till we all come unto the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man. Unto what stature? Unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. I haven't gotten very far in John 17, but actually I have without reading it. This ministry is to so minister Christ that the saints of God come unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. And if that happens in my lifetime, I'll be glad to sit back and listen to some of those who have attained to far more of the stature of Christ than I have. Is he going to be out of a job? I remember one man saying, well, George will be out of a job when we come to this. Well, I didn't tell him. I didn't want to embarrass him. But I don't have a job in the ministry. I'm just doing what God wants me to do. And if in that day He says, you've done enough teaching now, fine. What will I do now, Lord? Just come and walk with me. That's all He'd ever ask me to do at any time. God never asked me to do anything more than to walk with Him. So as long as I can go on walking with Him, that's all right. That's all I want. What's your vision? What's your desire? What are you looking for? Ministry? Fulfillment? Do something great for God? So our Lord Jesus Christ came to earth in the fullness of time. What did He come for? I suppose if I was asked this as a little test, got you all to write it down, I'd have as many answers as there are people here. And perhaps they'd all be right. But I want to just mention briefly in a word that would sum up the total ministry of Christ on the earth. I think I mentioned it the other night. He came to do the will of the Father. He came to do the will of the Father. And because He came to do the will of the Father, if the Father would tell Him to do things that seem contrary to the fulfillment of His ministry, that didn't matter. The Father said this, so I must do that. I think I've touched on this a little too. He healed the sick. He raised the dead. He preached glad tidings to the poor. He said, after standing up in the synagogue at Nazareth and opening the scroll of the prophet Isaiah, just after his baptism, the Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. Many, many things He mentioned that He was going to do. But it's all summed up in that pre-incarnate word where He said, Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God. Sacrifice and offering Thou wouldst not, but a body hast Thou prepared for me, and burnt offerings and sacrifice for sin. Thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God. So that's really what He came to do. Therefore, if something happened to the setting up of the kingdom, God said, no, don't go this direction, go this. He might think, well, but you see, the kingdom is my goal. Then He'd miss it. But He didn't miss it because it was doing the will of God. That's all that mattered. We can't go into the temptation of Christ in the wilderness extensively this morning. But in the temptation of Christ, you'll discover that the temptation was to get the Son of God out there working independently of the Heavenly Father. Turn the stone into bread. He could do that as a miracle worker, as the Son of God. And Satan knew he could. Fall down off the temple. The angels will look after you. I dare say if he'd have cast himself down, the angels would have spread their wings and protected. I don't know. Here's the kingdoms of the world. And you've been promised the kingdoms of the world. And here they are. Just honor me. And so the temptation really, without going into any detail there, was simply, you're the Son of God. Do this because you're the Son of God. But Jesus came with a commitment. I do nothing because I'm the Son of God. I only do what the Father shows me to do. I used to think... I knew, of course, that Jesus was God and man. And so I'd sort of read the Scripture. Well, here He was God. Here He was man. Here He was God. He slept on the boat. He was man. He multiplied loaves and fishes. He was God. He was weary and went away for a rest. He was man. He walked on the Sea of Galilee. He was God. Suddenly I realized, no, that our Lord Jesus Christ in the earth, though God, veiled deity behind flesh, and that fleshly body that He bore was the Son of the Father, the Son of the Spirit, conceived of the Holy Ghost, so that that man was the Son of God. And that as the Son of God, His commitment was to do nothing because He was Son of God, simply by way of His office, but because He was hearing the Father's voice. That's why He would heal people on the Sabbath. It wasn't that He, I'm going to antagonize those guys, you know, they're so strict on the Sabbath, I'll just heal this man on the Sabbath. But when He healed the man on the Sabbath and they accused Jesus for doing something on the Sabbath day, He says, My Father worketh here that you and I work. In other words, I didn't plan to heal them on the Sabbath. I saw the Father healing them, so I healed them. What Jesus did was doing what He saw the Father do. Speaking the words that the Father was speaking through Him. Living the life that the Father was living in Him. Deliberately placing Himself in a place of total weakness. Now this might shock you, but Jesus, the Son of God, says, I can of mine own self do nothing. Not for lack of power, but because of commitment I'm only doing what the Father wants me to do. I'm only going where the Father wants me to go. I'm only saying the words of the Father. And that's why He's called the Word of God, like we mentioned, I think, the first night. The Word, the expression, the express image of the Father. He was God's thought in the earth. He was God's expression in the earth. He was the very fullness of God in the earth. Though veiling His deity as a man, He was expressing the fullness of Godhead in the flesh as a man. So that in Him dwelt all the fullness, all the pleroma is a great word. I tried to get to the depths of that word pleroma. Fullness means full, filled full, complete, nothing lacking. And you and I know very well that as we consider the life of the Lord Jesus that as far as the revelation of God went in His ministry, there was nothing lacking. In Him there was the fullness of wisdom, the fullness of knowledge, the fullness of love, the fullness of mercy, the fullness of understanding. It was all there. The fullness of God. It didn't mean that the totality of God dwelt in that one man. Because like Solomon said, the heaven of heavens cannot contain Him. How much less this house that I built. Not that the totality of God was there. There was love everywhere. You see it in the birds. You see it in animal life and plant life. You see a little measure of it. But the fullness of it was in Jesus. Power. Oh, you see it in the galaxies and the stars. You see it in the blade of grass. Those dandelions, how could they bring forth that beauty without it? But the fullness is in Jesus. There was all that out there in the old creation leaves something lacking as far as the expression of God is concerned. There is a great expression of God there. Let's not forget that. For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power in Godhead. So the man is without excuse because whether they know Jesus or not, God has revealed the fact that He's one God, that He's a God of love, that He's a God of judgment, and that He's a God of power and a God of wisdom. He's revealed all that out there. But you see, God was not satisfied to leave the human race in that state where they just had that little partial glimpse of what He was really like. And so Jesus came to earth in the fullness of time to fully express the heart and the mind of God. And He faithfully did it over a period of three years or so, always talking about the Father. The Father. Why? Because He was revealing the Father when He healed the sick, when He raised the dead, when He multiplied the loaves and fishes, when He gathered His disciples about them and taught them the gospel of the kingdom. When He forgave the sinner, when He showed compassion to those who were sick and infirm, when He wept over those who were sorrowing over their loved one. He was revealing the Father. Finally, the time came when the disciples said, Lord, show us the Father. And that's enough. You're talking about the Father. Show us the Father. He said, Philip, have I been so long time with you and yet hast thou not known Me? He that has seen Me has seen the Father. Not to say that the Son was the Father, but that through the Son, the Father was speaking and moving and working and manifesting His life, His power, His glory, His fullness. We could go through that, John 14, and prove it a little more conclusively perhaps, but you read it for yourself. All through John 14, he's talking about going and coming, going and coming, going and coming. Not going and coming 2,000 years down the road, but going away in the flesh and coming in the Spirit. I will not leave you comfortless. We'll just read a verse or two about it. I will pray the Father, He shall give you another comforter, that He may abide with you forever. There's the word abide. Same as a boat. Same as a mansion. Even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him, but ye know Him, for He dwelleth with you and shall be in you. I will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you. I will not leave you comfortless. I'll send another comforter. I will come to you. And so the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus. The Spirit of the Father. He's the Spirit of the Father and the Son. I'm glad I'm not a theologian because they get you so mixed up. As far as I'm concerned, the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ in the midst of His people. And that He went away in order that He who had dwelling, resident within Him, the Spirit of truth, might be able to release that which was in Him to His people in the earth. And He said at that day, ye shall know that I am in my Father and ye in me and I in you. If any man love me, he will keep my words and my Father will love him and we will come unto Him. We will come unto Him and make our abode, our abiding place, the same word as mansion, in Him. God wants to dwell in His people. That's all God ever wanted to dwell in at any time in the history of the Old Testament or the New. That's all God ever wanted was a people in whom He might dwell. Because He builds a tabernacle, it goes into ruin. He begins to restore it. It goes into ruin. We have seven temples mentioned in the Scripture as God progressively moved from one tent to another. The tabernacle of Moses to the tabernacle of David to the temple of Solomon. Then we have the temple of Ezekiel which never was built. It speaks of this temple not made with hands. The temple of Zerubbabel which was built after a fashion. Their hearts were so discouraged as they built it and realized they weren't getting anywhere close to what Solomon had. God would encourage them through the prophets. He raised up Haggai and Zechariah in the time of the building of the tabernacle of Zerubbabel, the temple of Zerubbabel to encourage them. Go on and build. I'm with you, saith the Lord of hosts. You say you lack gold. You say you lack silver. You say you don't have the ingredients for the temple. They were discouraged and there was much frustration as they tried to rebuild the temple that Solomon had built. Ended up disillusioned a little bit because that Shekinah glory wasn't there. The Urim and Thummim wasn't there. They didn't have the extravagance that they had in Solomon's temple that God would encourage them through Haggai and Zechariah. When you read Haggai and Zechariah, realize what they're talking about. They're talking about the restoration of God's house. Through Haggai, he said, the silver is mine. The gold is mine. You say you don't have enough. It's mine. I've got it. I've got all kinds of it. Go ahead and build a house. And the glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord. But when they finished it, I'm sure they shook their heads and said, how can this compare to Solomon's temple? But God wasn't speaking of Solomon's. He was speaking of that temple that He would build in the fullness of time, not made with hands. It's the only temple God ever wanted at any time. And the others were stepping stones to it. And in each one of these temples, there's little pictures of God's dealings with men until one time our Lord Jesus Christ stands there with the temple in view. And the Jews ask Him for a sign and He says, destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up. That became one thing that the accusers brought against Him at His trial. He said He was going to destroy this temple and raise it up in three days. And others came in and contradicted it a little. They couldn't agree on it. Because He wasn't speaking of Herod's temple. He speaks of the temple of His body. So that in our Lord Jesus Christ, when He walked in here on earth, He was the fullness of God. He was God manifest in the flesh. In Him dwelt the glory, the same Shekinah glory that rested upon the tabernacle in the wilderness. The same Shekinah glory that dwelt in the tent of David. The same Shekinah glory that in measure at least perhaps was upon Solomon's temple, but which gradually faded away from all the temples until there was nothing left but an empty shell. Until this day, Jerusalem is in bondage with her children weeping at the wailing wall, longing for the restoration of God's house. God's going to meet some of them. God's going to meet her holy remnant there too. He's going to call them unto Himself when the day of their hardening has passed. But let me tell you, the glory that they're going to see is not the glory of another temple like Solomon's. It's going to be the glory of God resting upon a people in the earth who come to them in the name of the Lord. And they will not see their Messiah until they see Christ revealed in a people who come to them in the name of the Lord Jesus. Perhaps from Africa. Perhaps from India. Perhaps from this country. Gentiles. Gentiles in the flesh. Ignorant of Israel's covenants. Ignorant of the glory of the Old Testament. But a people in whom God has found an abiding place and they go to them in the name of the Lord Jesus. And their eyes are opened and they see the Christ revealed in a people. They won't see Him until that happens. Jesus said so. And they'll see Him, the Lord of glory revealed in a people whom God is raising up in the earth. Why not in Jesus? They rejected Him who came of the seed of Abraham of the tribe of David. They rejected Him. And Jesus said, you're not going to see Me until you say, blessed is this one who comes in the name of the Lord. And so Jesus, must needs go away. And it seems such devastation to the disciples that having ministered three years and getting the groundwork ready for the kingdom of God, you mean you're going to die? You're going to leave it all? He said, don't be troubled. I'm going to send the Spirit of truth. He will continue that work that I've started. The Spirit of truth. He dwells with you now. He shall be in you. I go away and I come back to you. I will not leave you bereft. I will not leave you as orphans. The Greek word is orphanos from which we get the word orphan. I won't leave you orphanos. I'll come to you. And if you love me, he said, keep my words. My Father will love you and we will come unto you and make our abiding place in you. Jesus said, because I've said these things unto you, sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. When Jesus says, nevertheless, I tell you the truth, I think he's just saying, now listen to me carefully. Because you know the Lord Jesus doesn't lie. But he's trying to emphasize this is divine truth. There's no make-believe here. It is expedient for you that I go away. It is for your benefit that I go away. For if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you, but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he has come, he will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment, of sin because they believe not in me, of righteousness because I go to my Father and you see me no more, of judgment because the Prince of this world is judged. If you'll read John 14, 15, 16, 17, read it much, I'm sure you'll discover that the Lord Jesus promised that in the coming of the Holy Spirit to abide in His temple on the earth, there would be absolutely nothing missing that was in the ministry of Jesus. Nothing missing. Everything would be there. But because this new body, I don't like to call it a new body, I call it rather an enlargement of that body that He had when He was here. He had a body that God prepared, carefully prepared. You know the story of the Incarnation. No human being could meddle with that beautiful thing that God was going to bring forth. A body has Thou prepared for me. There was a body prepared for the Lord Jesus that in that sinless, totally sinless body, He might fully reveal the heart and the mind and the nature of God the Father. He did it. And God had a Son in whom He found total delight. In Him is all my delight. God found a resting place in His Son. God found a temple in His Son. He dwelled in Him and walked in Him and moved in Him and spoke through Him and lived in Him. And then Jesus said, I'm going away. But He says, don't get discouraged. It's going to be better if I go. Because if I go, then this same Spirit that's in me will be in you. I emphasize that. Because somehow we've got the notion that if somehow Jesus would just come back in that one body that He went away with, then He'd fix up the church. Then He'd suddenly translate us, suddenly glorify us, suddenly take away our sins. God ordained that because Jesus was faithful to the commission that God laid upon Him to be as a corn of wheat that would fall into the ground and die, because He was obedient in that, God ordained that out from that death there would come forth a harvest like the one that was planted in the earth. The fact that Jesus was obedient unto death is God's guarantee to creation, to the church, to you and I, that in the fullness of God's working in His people, there will come out a people in the image and likeness of Jesus Christ. People call it blasphemy. They say, Jesus, you're a blaspheme. You're taking too much into yourself. When Jesus says I'm nothing, I can do nothing of myself. I'm not talking about people coming up like a little Jesus here and another little Jesus there and another little Jesus over there. We're talking about a body so knit together that every member will have a particular manifestation of the Christ, and together there will be the full manifestation of the Christ in the earth. You've had no problem, I don't think, as I pointed out, that the fullness of God was in Jesus to such an extent that everything Jesus did and said and every work He performed, every miracle, He was revealing the Heavenly Father. I don't think you have any problem with that. But when we come into the writing of the Apostle Paul, he shows us that just as the Lord Jesus Christ was the full expression and display of the Heavenly Father, so the church of Jesus Christ is the full, total expression of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this takes the spirit of wisdom and revelation. And that's why when the Apostle Paul talks about it, writing to the Ephesians, he starts out praying that the Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, might give unto them the spirit of wisdom and revelation and the knowledge of Him, the eyes of their understanding, being enlightened. Because if God does not enlighten your understanding and my understanding, we're not going to see what God wants. It is true that the reason of the total corruption and worldliness of the church is because God's leaders don't see. I know that. But John told us that. But they can see if they'll come to the place where they say, we're blind, Lord help us. They said, are we blind, Jesus? He said, if you just admit you were blind, you'd have no sin. But because you say we see, your sin remaineth. God has no problem giving to His people illumination if we can come to that place where we say, Lord, I don't see as I ought to see. I see through a glass darkly. I'm blind, Lord. God has no problem giving you illumination when you say I went through Bible school, I went through seminary, I studied Greek and Hebrew, I studied the Fathers, I've studied the theologians. You're way off base. God can't help you. So he prayed for them that the eyes of their understanding might be enlightened, that they might know what is the hope of His calling and what is the richness of the glory of His inheritance in the saints. We talk about perfection and coming into the stature of Christ. I've heard people say, leave me out, of course. You guys go ahead and get perfection, you know. You think you can get it. Leave me out. They think they're very humble. I'm not talking about what you and I are going to attain to. I'm talking about the new creation of God in His people. I'm talking what God the Creator is able to do in a people who are nothing. I'm talking about a God who way back in eons past spoke out of utter darkness and said let there be light and because God said it, it came into being. You say, what's that got to do with the new creation? Just this, that the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness is the God who is shining in our hearts for the shining forth of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. The same God that commanded light to come out of darkness back there eons ago is the God who arises as the light upon His people in this hour to call forth out of the darkness of the human family of people who will walk in His light. We're talking about new creation. We're not talking about human attainment. We're talking about what God is doing. Praying that He will quicken our understandings that we might say, Lord, do it. For that's all you can do relative to the new covenant. You say, Lord, I accept what You say. You do it. Do, Lord, as You have said, like David said, when God said, I'm going to build You a house. You want to build me one? I'm going to build You one. David just threw up his hands. Lord, do as You said. And that's all God wants from His people. He wants that faith and that confidence. Lord, You said it. I believe it. I'll embrace the Word. Let it cut. Let it burn. Let it strike as a hammer this stony heart. Do what You have said that you might know what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us who do believe according to the working of His mighty power which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and set Him in His own right hand in heavenly places. Far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named. Why do people think if Jesus had only stayed there in Jerusalem and set up a throne and driven out the Romans, we'd have a kingdom of peace in the earth? God says, I'm not going to give you an earthly throne over Caesar because God knew that the real problem with the human race was not Caesar or Nebuchadnezzar or King Cyrus or any of these other leaders of world empires. That was not the problem. The problem was principalities and powers in heavenly places. So God says, I'm going to give you a throne above that. So when Jesus rose from the dead, He wouldn't permit them to go and take a throne there in Jerusalem. I'll implant you at My right hand in the heavens and from there you'll rule and reign not only over the world, but over the church and over principalities and powers. Jesus Christ is on the throne this morning. And I don't mean figuratively speaking. I don't mean He's just waiting for that time when He can come down and sit in Jerusalem. I mean God has 2,000 years given Him the highest throne in God's universe. That there's no greater throne. There never will be that He's got it now. He rules them free and reigns upon the throne of David from God's right hand. And He'll continue to do so till all enemies are subdued under His feet. You say, well, there's so many enemies. I can't hardly believe that Jesus is reigning because you haven't heard what the Bible said. God says rule in the midst of your enemies until they're all subdued. And oh, how quickly we're approaching the day when God has caused the serpent's head to be pierced under His feet. But having been enthroned in the heavens, He's taken on an enlargement of His body and the earth so that we now become the feet of the Lord Jesus. So that the Apostle Paul said writing to the Romans that God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. How beautiful in the mountain are the feet of them that bring glad tidings, that preach the gospel of peace. Know ye not that ye are the body of Christ? Some of the hands, some of the feet, some of the arms, some of the eyes. Know ye not that you're the body? But I want you to see that this body that God is raising up will not be inferior in any respect to that body, that one body that the Lord Jesus had when He was here on earth. But He went away to be the head of an extended body. He was the whole body here on earth. He was the temple. But God took Him at His right hand that there might be an extension, a further expression of that body in the earth. So that instead of Jesus being confined to Palestine as He was when He was here for three and a half years, He didn't travel the world. He came to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. He scarcely had a word for the Greeks that came down to the feast. No doubt much to their disappointment when they came to see this One of whom they had heard so much. He realized that His ministry was about finished on earth. It was about finished on earth. And He said in reply to the Greeks who wanted to see Him, Accept the corn of wheat, Paul, into the ground and die. It abideth alone, but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. God's answer to the longing of the world for reality, for life, for peace is to be found in the harvest of this corn of wheat that fell into the ground and died. And this body that God is preparing is to be a full expression of Christ as Christ was a full expression of the Father. So I have to read on. That God didn't give Him an earthly throne. He set Him at His own right hand in heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come, and hath put all things under His feet, though we don't see it yet manifest, and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness, the pleroma, the full expression of Him that filleth all and in all. Don't you talk about coming into the fullness of the Spirit. You don't. Only in union with the body of Christ do you come into this fullness. You and I are just individual members. We're just a little toe, a finger, an eye. Don't think that you're going to walk around like Jesus as King of kings walking through the earth. You're going to be a member of that body that's going to do it. And in yourself, you'll be totally weak because the finger won't be able to say to the eye, I don't need you. The foot won't be able to say to the hands, I don't need you. Together we'll be the total expression of Christ in the earth, but individually nothing. Individually nothing. For ye are the body of Christ and members in particular. There's been a lot of teaching on the body of Christ the last 30 years or so. Ye are the body of Christ. And so they build their big Babylonish temples and fill it with 2, 3, 4, 5, 8,000 people and say, ye are the body of Christ. Keep on coming and bring your tithes and keep this program going. You're the body of Christ and there's no manifestation of the body of Christ in their midst. Because the next phrase says you are a member in particular. You're a chisel stone. You're not just a brick sitting there warming up you. You're a chisel stone. And God has shown us in closing, and I say closing, perhaps no more than 10 minutes. God has shown us so clearly His way of bringing union, unity and harmony amongst the body of Christ. Very clear. And very practical. And very workable. But the reason we don't accept it is because we say it's impossible. God wants us to know that what He's doing is impossible with man, but He's doing it. So because we say God's way doesn't work and we've tried to make it work and it doesn't work, we have all kinds of ways and all kinds of ecumenical ideas as to how God is going to bring together the body of Christ. And we're thinking of those church structures and the Presbyterians, the Baptists, the Pentecostals, and how is God going to bring them all together and God doesn't even see that. There's people there He sees. There's chosen ones there that He sees that He's preparing to mingle together in the body of Christ, but He doesn't recognize a Presbyterian church, a Catholic church, Pentecostal church. People say, well, God started that. No, not really. God sends forth His Spirit in the earth and there's a great and mighty move of the Spirit. And God does a great work. And then that impact of the revival, Peter's away and the leaders get panicky and say we've got to do something now to hold this thing steady. And they get together and they form a denomination to hold the thing steady when the glory's almost gone anyway. So what's left is what we call the Pentecostal church. We call that the Presbyterian church. We call that the Catholic church that Peter started. Actually, there's a move of God that God moved upon the hearts of His people and they were scattered everywhere. God doesn't hesitate to scatter. That's how God increases His kingdom. Babylon says build a tower and a city. Modern words, aren't they? A tower and a city to keep control. God scattered. Because when God scatters seed, it springs forth after His kind. For a season, He gathers us together in a fellowship at church or something and we learn His ways and get a set on our teaching. So forth. Then God scatters. Jerusalem church carried on a few years. I don't know how long and suddenly God scattered them. Wherever they were scattered, there was seed that grew up. It sprang forth and another church started. They didn't send out to try and start a church here and one there. God scattered them. God's in the scattering process. He scatters the seed and He also scatters the bricks of Babylon. When He scatters the bricks of Babylon, it's brought to naught and desolation. When He scatters the seed of the Word of God, it brings forth fruit for His glory. God has a very simple way for bringing forth this beautiful body in the earth. And so Jesus said, I pray for them. He prayed from the throne room. I know He was still on earth, but the reason He prayed on earth was that the people would listen and understand what His priestly ministry was going to be like in the heavens. For He says, beginning John 17, Thou hast given Him, the Son, power over all flesh that He should give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given Him. Would God, the church of Jesus Christ, would realize that tonight, today, this afternoon, Jesus Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords, that He rules upon the throne of David with all power in heaven and on earth? The highest name in the universe, He'll never have a greater throne than He's got today and He's ruling there until all enemies are subdued. He's got power over all flesh. That He might give life to this people. God's got power to give life to you and I that we might be this vital living member in the body of Christ. He's got power to do it. Power over your flesh. You say, I'm so weak. He's got power over all flesh. Coming down now to verse 20, Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe in me through their word. Shall we get in on it? That they all may be one. Many of these big charismatic ecumenical conventions, you'll see that big scroll stretched across the top that they all may be one. And that's not what God wants. Don't read a half a Scripture and sometimes you miss the whole point of it. That they all may be one as Thou, Father, art in me and I in Thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that Thou hast sent me. What Jesus prayed for was that you and I might come into union with Him as He is in union with the Father. Any other kind of union is Babylonish and God is going to crush it. But that prayer is going to be answered. I remember the days of the big healing revivals when people would press upon one another to get to the man of God because they had confidence in his prayers. Many times they were disappointed, but many times, yes, God heard their prayers. They had confidence in the man of God's prayers. I've got total confidence in the prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ that when He says, Father, I'm praying not only for these, but for those who are going to believe in Me through their word, that they might be one with Me as I am one with You, that the world might believe that Thou hast loved them and has sent them. Love them as You have loved Me. I have confidence that prayer is going to be answered. Don't you think the prayer of Jesus will be answered? Don't you have confidence in this prayer that they all may be one? As Thou fathered in Me and I in Thee that they may also be one in Us, that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me? How is this going to come about? The glory which Thou gavest Me, I have given them that they may be one. There's only one means by which you and I are going to be made one, and that's not by setting up structures and saying, let's get together, let's have the same doctrine, the same teaching. Let's just love one another. We need to love one another. But I want you to know that love isn't something you can manufacture until you come to know the heart of God. You can't have love. That's why Jesus said, I've declared unto them Thy name, Father. I've revealed You, Father. I've made You known. I've shown You to My people. And I will continue to do so in order that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in them and I in them. Don't despair that you lack love and try to love. You can't do it. Hear what He's saying. Hear His Word. Hear what He's saying about His name, about His purposes, about His revelation of the Father in the earth, and believe it, because He's made known unto us the Father's name that the same love that's in Him might be in us. You don't just grab that love out of thin air. He makes the Father known to us and He makes the Father known to us. We love with His love. We show mercy with His mercy. We speak words of wisdom with His wisdom. We show compassion with His compassion. You can't create that. It's new creation life. It comes from the new Creator. It comes from the Creator. A new creation life that comes from the hands of the Creator as we come to know God. That's why our burden is that God's people come to know God. Come to know God and you partake of His love, partake of His truth. It's not difficult for God. It's impossible with men. God's shown us in His Word the way whereby this body is going to be joined into one body by the glory of God in our midst, the presence of Christ, the Lordship of the Holy Spirit in our midst. Make room for Him in your own life, in your assemblings together. Coax Him. Encourage Him to come. You want the birds to come around your garden? Put out some good seed. Take away the garbage. Invite the birds. Invite the Holy Spirit to come as a dove in our midst. He's easily frightened away and don't forget that. The Holy Spirit is easily frightened away. Don't forget that. Don't come brashly into God's presence thinking the Holy Spirit is something God gave you to use. The Holy Spirit is the Divine Person of the Lord Jesus Christ who comes to abide in His temple in spirit form to be Lord in the midst of His people. Jesus walked in that door and you knew it was Jesus. I mean, the man that went away 2,000 years ago. He said, here I am. What would your reaction be? An awesomeness. Lord Jesus, Your church is in such confusion. We're glad You're here. Let all the earth keep silence before Thee. We want to hear a word from Your mouth. Jesus could have done that. He could have lingered in the earth 2,000 years visiting the assembly here in the 2nd century, going to another few assemblies, maybe in the 3rd century, another few assemblies. He could have made the rounds in these 2,000 years. He could have done it. He stayed 40 days. He could have stayed 40 years or 2,000 years. But God said, there's a better plan. My Spirit will come to abide in this temple and My Spirit will lead you into all the truth. Tell me that the body of Christ is not going to come into all truth. You'll call God a liar. The Spirit of God is in the earth with a commission to lead His people into all the truth. Why? Because He shall not speak up from Himself. Whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak. That's a tremendous thing to me that preachers and apostles and prophets feel that they can get their Bible studies together and their discourses and stand and minister from the Word of God anything they feel like because they're an apostle or prophet. And the Holy Spirit will not speak out from Himself. He'll only speak what He hears from the throne room. That's all He'll speak. You say, why all the division? Because man is speaking and then perchance if we can yield to the Spirit a little, the Spirit of God will speak. There's confusion. God hastens the day and it's coming. And there'll be a people gathered together in the name of the Lord and unto Him. And the Lord is Lord in their midst. And there'll be an awesomeness of His presence in their midst. God, the Holy Spirit will begin to speak. Perhaps through apostles and prophets, yes, but through you and you and you and you. You don't have to think you've got to make a sermon just because you're standing to give a word of the Lord. Speak that word that God gives by the Holy Spirit. For ye are the body of Christ but members in particular. You say, I'm nothing, of course. The time is at hand when the nothings and the no-goods in the church are going to receive abundant honor from the hand of the Lord that when they stand to speak or minister or sing, people will know this is the Spirit of God moving on their lives. Why? Because God is going to give them abundant honor because they're lacking. Don't say, I don't have much, I'm lacking. You're eligible if you're lacking. If you're a Laodicean, you're left out. But if you're lacking, you're eligible because God giveth more abundant honor to those parts which lack that there be no schism in the body. Oh, the Methodists used to try to do away with the schism and it's so simple. But if every member in the body of Christ is giving something because of the presence of the glory of God upon them, it's going to do away with the schism. As long as you've got some strong leader keeping the people under control, not allowing that ministry to come forth lest they encroach upon their authority, there's going to be division and God will send it. And don't mourn over the fact when you see the big kingdoms coming down. Don't rejoice over it either. But recognize that God rises up in the earth to complete the work, finish the work that He started in the heavens. He finished the work in the earth. I finished the work which You gave me to do, but He started a new work in the heavens as King of kings and Lord of lords and as priest upon His throne, as a kingly priest. And as our brother said last night, I think it was, the totality of the holy anointing oil was poured upon His head. And it runs down the garments. And so as that oil runs down upon the garments, we partake of it. I don't have the totality of the anointing, nor will any other man except the head. He'll always have the preeminence in all things. He'll always be the exalted Lord of lords and King of kings. But we partake of the same anointing. That little portion I need for that work God's given me to do, that little portion you need for the work God's given you to do. But together, the whole body, the garments of Christ, saturated with the holy oil. So when that high priest went into the sanctuary to minister, he didn't just go in and say, I'm the high priest, I'm Aaron. I've been chosen to be the high priest and my sons are here and they're priests who work with me. Let's get going now. Let's start things. If the Spirit of God isn't moving, we'll move the Spirit. Not on that day! You'll wait before God, before the Spirit of God indicates His will. Those priests were taken in behind the door of the sanctuary and stripped of their garments, totally exposed, but covered from the eyes of the people because they were inside the gate. Don't expose another's error or his sin. Deal with them in a priestly fashion. Moses stripped them and washed them and clothed them with garments which were for glory and for beauty, anointed them with holy oil, sprinkled the blood upon their garments and thus they were able to minister in the holy things of God. Don't puzzle because you see so much rottenness in the midst of an anointing. There's an anointing there, but there's a lot of dead flies. Solomon said, dead flies caused the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking saver. But when God cleanses His people, washes them at the labor of His Word and Spirit, clothes them with holy garments, garments of meekness, garments of humility, garments of love, garments of a contrite and a broken heart, anoints them with holy oil, and they minister before God's people. They're going to minister with Urim and with Thummim. They're going to give a clear word from the Lord. It will not be mixture. It will not be half truth, half error. And you and I sit back and say, well, I'll try and get a little bit of good out of this garbage pile and a little good out of that garbage pile like the Christians are doing today. It will come forth a pure word from the mouth of God's anointed ones. I'm talking about this holy priesthood that God is dealing with and raising up in the earth of which you're members. Not confined to the so-called ministry. It's for God's people. For you are a chosen generation, a holy nation, a royal priesthood. You should show forth the excellency of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. May the Lord bless us. Word to your hearts this morning.