In this sermon, the speaker emphasizes the importance of not hiding the light of Christ but letting it shine for all to see. He uses the analogy of a lamp that is not covered but placed on a lampstand to illuminate a room. The speaker also shares a personal experience of encountering Jesus and being transformed by faith in Him. He highlights the need for believers to have a zeal for justice and to see Christ formed in their lives. The sermon concludes with a discussion on the significance of learning obedience and the role of the Word of God in overcoming the evil one.

I just want to greet everyone in the name of the Lord Jesus. You have some real brothers and sisters. Southeast Missouri, we live about 80 miles southeast of St. Louis, south of St. Louis, in the pretty rural area of Missouri. And we've been aware, Brother Randy and some of the brothers here, for some time, and so you've been in our prayers. And we had some pretty lovingly envious saints there when we were coming to spend some time with you. And I appreciate, Brother Randy, this opportunity. Let's pray that we can just... Our Father will guide us in this time, protect all of us, protect me from me, and you from me, and from the other elements that would seek to hinder what He would want to do in our midst. Father, we acknowledge that Your desire is to reveal Yourself. It's what everything You have done. You've made a provision for life in godliness. But it's through the knowledge of You. This is the new covenant. Your covenant that everyone from the least to the greatest would know You. And You provided Your Spirit to guide us into all truth. And we acknowledge it is only Your Spirit who never speaks from Himself. And we desire to know how to walk in Your Spirit and to keep in step with Your Spirit to that degree. That we might grow up into this fullness of the salvation, into the fullness of the stature of Christ, into the full knowledge of You, both You and Your Son. So that as we know You in the way You desire to be known, others will have the chance to do the same. According to Your will. Grant us Your Spirit tonight. Grant me Your Spirit. Bring to remembrance. I invite You. Father, I ask for Your Holy Spirit. And I ask it not just for me, I ask it for those here. That Your Spirit would minister Your Word in truth. And reveal Yourself like You long to do. And for Your own glory's sake, in the name of the Lord Jesus, we ask this. You know, Proverbs, we learn that the path of the righteous is as the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter to the full light of day. So you would think that as we walk in the path of righteousness that light would make things more clear. I don't know if you've been a deer hunter, you know that when you're sitting out there, or if you get out there early enough in the dark, you hear lots of things. But in the very faint light, you can mistake them for other things. And as light comes, clarity comes, and the ability to see. Jesus said, He who follows after Me will have the light of life, and he will not stumble. Because the way of the wicked is like deep darkness. They do not know what makes them stumble. And I would hope, it's my hope, that just as our Lord Jesus has said, that He that continues in My Word, He is my disciple indeed. And that He shall know the truth, and the truth shall set Him free. And I do believe, by the grace of God, that for a number of years, I've just been able to continue in the Word. And I just feel like I'm becoming a disciple. And I feel like as I'm becoming a disciple, my heart's desire is to be like my Master. It's really not about ministry. It's not about activity. I believe that the latter part of my salvation is becoming far greater than the first. And what do I mean by that? That means I'm being saved to the uttermost. I was saved. But I am being saved to the uttermost. I'm being saved from things that I did not know, or even sin. And as I'm becoming to see who Jesus is far more clearly, I come to see what God's righteousness is, who our Father is. And I'm coming to understand what Jesus meant when He said, when you've seen Me, you've seen the Father. Because it said, God who said, let there be light, calls the light of the knowledge of God to be shown into our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God. Where? In the face of Jesus. So by the grace of God, I do believe I'm coming to understand who our Father is to the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's just a natural desire to produce a natural desire in me. To bring others into the fellowship of that life that I'm experiencing with the Father. Just like 1 John said, let's look there, just so you can see one of the desires of my heart would be 1 John chapter 1. John is just expressing his own joy and purpose pretty early in this book. Right from verse 1 of chapter 1, that which was from the beginning which we have heard and which we've seen with our eyes, which we've looked upon and our hands have handled concerning the Word of Life. The life was manifested and we have seen and bear witness and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us. And that which we have seen and heard we declare to you that you also may have fellowship with us. And truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. And then he says, these things we write to you that your joy may be full. And that's become my desire. To see other saints strengthened in the joy of the Lord. To see their souls strengthened in the joy of the Lord. Because light is shed upon the righteous and joy upon the upright in heart. And Jesus says, these things have I spoken unto you that my joy may be in you and your joy may be full. I believe that when we are fully understanding the revelation of God the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ, what it produces in us is the Kingdom of God which is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. To where the God of all hope is filling us with all joy and peace in believing. So that we are abounding in hope by the power of God. And this is something I'm discovering. That hope is that which we're able to see and anticipate with full expectation so that we can be honest about where we are. Forget what lies behind and straining forward toward what lies ahead with full confidence that it's going to become a reality. Christ in us, the hope of glory is going to finish. Christ, the author of our faith is going to become the finisher of our faith. And He's going to bring us into the measure of the stature of His fullness. And He's going to bring us into His liberty, His righteousness, His knowledge of the Father because the Holy Spirit whom He sent, His very Spirit, the Spirit whom He received from the Father is going to take from what is Jesus and He's going to make that known to us. Everything that Jesus has, the Father gave Him. Jesus says all the Father has is Mine and when the Spirit of Truth comes He will take that which is Mine and make it known to you. So the righteousness of the Father, the wisdom of the Father, the love of the Father, the peace of the Father, all the power of the Father, the very nature of God Himself is going to be made known to us as the Holy Spirit brings us into the full awareness of Who? Jesus Christ. And John described Him this way in 1 John. He said, The life appeared. And we proclaim to you the eternal life which was with the Father and was made manifest to us. You remember what it says in the Gospel of John where it says, In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. It goes on to say, just turn here. I don't want to misquote it or leave a part out that's important. My memory is still being perfected. God manifests His power through our weakness. I'm grateful that He's left us with the record of the Scripture. Verse 2 says, He was in the beginning with God and all things were made through Him and without Him was nothing made that was made. In Him was light and the light was the light of men and the light shined in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. This man came to bear witness of the light that through Him all might believe. He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of the light that was the true light which gives light to every man coming into the world. The One that gives light to every man is Jesus Christ. In Him was light and the light was the light of men. Have you ever noticed that? The light was the light of men. And where does that light shine? In the darkness. What does he mean? What does it mean, In Him was light? What did Jesus Christ say eternal life was? Actually, He didn't say, He prayed it. We have a record of His prayer. What is eternal life? Eternal life is this, To know the Father and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. This is eternal life. To know the Father. Why does it say that in Jesus Christ, in Him was life then? Because the only person on the earth who knew the Father was Jesus Christ. No one else had ever seen the Father. Jesus looked at those who had memorized Genesis through Deuteronomy and could quote the scriptures probably better than any of us here and said, I know you that you have not the life of God in you. So you can know the scripture and not have life. Life is knowing the Father. That's what the new covenant is. They shall all know Me from the least to the greatest. That's what the new covenant is. And the reason men are going to be cast away eternally and separated from the life of God and some that even are now separated from the life of God. If you're separated from the life of God now, that's death one. Separated from the life of God permanently is the second death. Forever. The life of God is to know Him. And the reason that that group will be separated eternally is because He's going to say to them what? I never knew you. You never experienced eternal life. You never came into the relationship with the Father. That's what Jesus Christ came. No one else on the earth knew the Father. And Jesus Christ came. In Him was that life. That life was the light of man. And the light shone in the darkness. What darkness is He talking about? The darkness of what the Bible calls the rulers of this age. You know it says in Ephesians 6 that we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers and against the rulers of the dark forces of this age. The darkness that Jesus Christ the light of Jesus Christ shines into is the darkness that had completely engulfed the world. The ignorance of God. Like Paul mentions that we're not to live as the rest of the Gentiles do in the vanity of their mind because they are being darkened where? In their understanding. They're separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their heart. So what Jesus Christ came to do is to bring the true light of the knowledge of the glory of God into the earth. And the darkness could not stop it. Every other man may have had their ideas of ignorance of who God was but Jesus Christ and no one will know the Father except through Jesus Christ. And what you and I have to make sure is happening in our life is that we are being brought through faith in Jesus Christ into this knowledge of the Father. Because this is what he came to do. In Ephesians it says that it was God who gave some to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry for the building up of the body of Christ so that we would no longer be what? Infants. He wanted to bring every one of us into a mature, a perfect, a finished man. Not infants. What is the characteristic of the infants that Paul describes there? They're blown to and fro. And what blows them to and fro? Every wind of darkness. This emphasis here, this emphasis here, we're not to be that way. We are to grow up into all things into Christ. Into the knowledge of Christ. And you can see this if you will just continue to devote yourself to know Jesus Christ and to know His Father through the knowledge of Him. This was Paul's greatest burden for other believers. He mentions it in the book of Colossians where he says, my purpose is that their hearts would be knit together in love unto all the riches of a complete understanding. Because if your understanding of who God is incomplete, then you are as a child. And the thing about being a child and incomplete in your knowledge of Jesus Christ, the effect that that has is what Paul explained in Galatians is that as long as the heir is a child, he's no different than his father. But he's subject to guardians and tutors until the time set for by the father. In the Roman world, fathers were very busy. Often times they were merchants and might be gone from their families for a season. Or they were soldiers serving on a campaign. They may not have seen their sons for long periods of time. So the father, in order to protect the sons, subjected them to tutors and guardians for the development of their son. So they would have physical protection and they would have the things necessary to grow and mature and the things that they needed help in doing. But that was only to the time set by the father. When the Roman father saw that his son had reached a certain stage of development, he set him free from the tutors and the guardians. And he declared him to be a son of adoption. We don't use the word like they use it at all. The son of adoption there was a natural born son who had reached a certain stage of maturity that the father declared him. In the Greek, it's wiosthesis. A son stated. A stated son. The father declared the son to now be mature and a full heir of the estate. And Paul said, this is how God did it. This is how God did it for us in the fullness of time. God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law to redeem those under the law that we might receive the spirit of adoption. When God says, now, I don't want you under the tutors anymore. I don't want you under the principles of the law. I want you to receive the very spirit of the Father. The spirit that cries out, Abba. I want to know my Father. And it brings us from a place where we are just trying to do what's right, even by the law, into a place where we are brought into the fullness of the love of God. Where we begin to live in love like 1 John says, He who abides in love abides in God and God in Him. By this is love perfected among us. That's how the only way love is going to be perfected among us is that we abide in God. God abides in us. And this is how love is perfected among us. And what happens then? This produces confidence on the day of judgment. How can love being perfected among us produce confidence on the day of judgment? Do you know how? Because that's how Christ... Christ did not come doing sacrifice. Christ delighted to do His Father's will. In this world we are as He is. You know what it says of Him? It says in Psalms 46, it says, Sacrifice an offering you did not desire. With burnt offerings and fat offerings, you were not pleased even though the law required them to be made. But it says of Me, For lo, it is written of Me in the volume of the book, what? I delight to do Thy will. You see, I, for many years, I have made the mistake of creating obligation upon saints rather than bringing them into the love of Christ. Because love is more powerful than death. Its jealousy is more unyielding than the grave. It is a most vehement flame. Many waters cannot quench love. And were one to offer all the goods of this house for love, they would be utterly scorned. And when we begin to be perfected, matured, made complete into full understanding of the love of God, you will begin to see in the relationship formed as you begin to know your Father through the love of Jesus Christ working in you, you will suddenly begin to see a man walking in all that God desires. Because what the law could not do in that it was weak to the flesh, God did in sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and He condemned sin in the flesh. What happened when God condemned Sodom and Gomorrah? He rained down brimstone and ashes. What grows what God has condemned? Thought about that? Does anything grow there? Nothing grows there. When God has condemned something, nothing will prosper. When God condemns sin in the flesh, you know what? It begins to cease. It begins to die. It begins to wither away. He condemns sin in order that the righteousness of God might be fulfilled in us who no longer walk after the flesh but after the Spirit. And this is just the thing He's beginning to help me understand how He's done this. How He has taken us from a life of under the law, brought us into the knowledge of Jesus Christ so that the love of God could be shed and brought in our hearts by the Holy Spirit and we begin to live a life of love. And here's what a life of love will look like. John said it. Do you see a man who obeys God's commandments? In him, verily, is the love of God perfected. Do you catch how he put that? Do you see a man obeying the Scripture? Do you see a man walking in obedience? What's it evidence of? This man is mature in love. This man is living in the love of the Father. This man has the heart that the Father longed for in the people of Israel that He never got. Why did God want to do away with the first covenant in the first place? He found fault with the covenant, right? What fault did He find? You can answer. What fault did He find? They went astray with their hearts. Here's how He describes it. Right. Here's what He says. If you'll read it in Jeremiah chapter 31, He says He found fault with the people. He says, The days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and it will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them out of the hand and led them forth out of Egypt. It says, Because they were unfaithful to Me, although I was a husband to them. Now, what does a husband consider a wife unfaithful for? What does a husband long for from his wife? They long for love. They want a relationship. I can go to Arby's and get a meal. I can go to a laundromat and get clean clothes. But what I want most from my wife is I long to be loved. And what Israel never came to do is they never came to love God. And He says, I don't want a relationship of obligation. I'm going to make a way where you're going to relate to Me and understand Me and know Me and love Me. And in this relationship, you know what this relationship is called? Eternal life. Where you enter into life. Where you know Me from the least of the greatest. It begins, you're born into it and you grow up into the fullness of it. This is what God's wanting to do in our hearts. And this is what I've seen in my own life. I started in simplicity of devotion to Jesus Christ. And like many of you, maybe some of you. I shouldn't say many because I don't know you. But like many others that I have met, after having begun by the Spirit, simply hearing that Christ loved me, by faith receiving this and receiving the Holy Spirit, I suddenly began to strive to perfect in the natural man, in my own flesh, what I had begun simply by the hearing of faith. And it led me down many distracted ways. I began to seek to be almost like the Jew. Zealous after righteousness. I was zealous. And I sought to establish righteousness, but without knowledge. And I began to seek to establish the righteousness of the Law. Because after all, the Law is holy, righteous, and good. And I erred greatly. What happened to me, is Christ became to me of none effect. I was not receiving the love of Christ. I was not receiving the righteousness of Christ. And I withered. I chose to live in the country. I left the city. I kicked out my television. With that kind of attitude, we piped the sewer out. Not into our home. And my wife began to dress modestly. And gone went the makeup, and long went the hair, and on went the covering. And I began to identify with those like-minded saints. Not like Christ. No, like what I just described. And of course, this is the way I began to walk, and this is the Gospel I began to preach, and this is what I began to glory in. And I didn't understand it to be pride at the time. And so, in this new Gospel I was preaching, it produced much contention. What is the source of all contention, the Scripture says? What causes it? Pride. And I was glorying in these things, and not in Jesus Christ. Now, for those of you who don't know me, look at my wife, you'll see there's a lot of things I still believe the same way, but it's so different when I just do these things by faith. And I still live in the country. I still don't have a television. Don't think that I'm saying I've made these great changes. What I stopped doing is I took my eyes off those things. Because what happened to me in that life, when the enemy came to me, when Satan deceived me and led me away from the simplicity of devotion to Jesus Christ, I began to wither spiritually. And though my tomato plants grew big, my spirit grew weaker and weaker. And what happened to me is how it began to manifest in my life by the grace of God. Even though I was zealous about all these things, I was having no power. I was receiving no power. I was not gentle with my wife. I was not gentle with my children. I was not long-suffering with brothers. It was not manifesting peace. It was not producing gentleness or lowliness. And by the mercy of God, I was bound over to disobedience. Because you know what the strength of the law is? I mean, you know what the strength of sin is? The law. Why was the law added, the Bible says, that trespass might increase? Exactly what happened in my own life. I became conscious by the grace of God. Even with this life I was living, and His mercy revealed to me that I was not sharing in the nature of Christ. And so, this was about ten years ago, nine to ten years ago, on a trip near Minot, North Dakota, on a road trip I had driven from Missouri there, and just by the grace of God, I was granted a repentance and a godly sorrow. Non-emotional. I love emotions, and my eyes will flow with tears at times, but this particular time was not emotional. It was light. It was revelation. And I suddenly saw myself, and I saw the Lord Jesus Christ, and I was given a glimpse of who I was made to be in Jesus Christ. And reborn in my heart was a resolve, a zeal to see all justice done, what longing to see Christ form in my life. And when I began once again to put my faith in Christ, the Person, the Son of God, I began to receive power. My whole life began to be transformed. And this is where my journey really began as a disciple again. I was renewed. Didn't Paul say this even about the Jews? It says in Romans 11, they were broken off because of unbelief. And you stand by faith, therefore do not boast, because if God does not spare the natural rank, He will not spare you either. But he went on to say about them, and they are able to be grafted in again. It's just like suddenly from this day, I was just grafted into Christ again. And Christ became my life. And this is where I began once again to be a disciple, and humble myself, and started learning Christ. And just began to see what I was missing. And from that place, as I just began to learn, I just began to share with others the testimony of the things I was learning, and suddenly doors of ministry opened. And my ashes became beauty as I began to share all the things that I had received mercy from. And just young men, some of them your age, some a little older, were brought into my life, led by the Lord, just so that I could share with them the things that I was now learning in Christ. And so, it's been a journey for me. I'm still on a journey. And I'm going from glory to glory. It is becoming clear to me what Paul meant when he said, for the righteousness of God is revealed in the Gospel, the righteousness that is from faith to faith. Beginning with faith that Jesus Christ has forgiven me of all my sins, that the blood of Jesus Christ was set forth as a propitiation or as atonement for our sins. I believe that and receive forgiveness of sins. But then there's more. There's more faith than that. And I began to understand that for it is by grace you've been saved through faith. It's not of yourselves. It is a gift of God so that no man would boast. That by the grace of God, Jesus Christ tasted death for every man. And what death did He taste? What death did Jesus Christ die? The death He died, He died to? Sin. Singular. Please note that. In the book of Romans, if you read the book of Romans carefully, the word sins is only used in the plural. Every other time it's sin talking about the inner corrupt nature that makes everyone prisoners and slaves. And that's what He died to. Yes, His blood forgives us for our many acts of sins, but we needed more than forgiveness because the first covenant offered forgiveness, didn't it? Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless His holy name and forget not one of His benefits. Benefit number one, the one who forgives all my sins. That's in the first covenant. The blood of Jesus Christ and the death of Jesus Christ goes beyond forgiveness for sins. It brings us into freedom from sin. Freedom from that old corrupt human nature that entered the world. Sin, not sins. Sin entered the world through one man. And death through sin. And death came to all men because all sin. Why did all sin? Why is every one of us sin? Because sin was passed to us. And you and I found at some point in our life that the good we would do, we did not do. And that which we did not want to do was the very thing we ended up doing. And how did we discover this? We discovered this through law. The only purpose law was given was that this condition would be manifest. The law was not given that we would know what a particular act was wrong. The law was given that this condition would be manifested. That's what Paul discovered in Romans chapter 7. That this sin. This is the sin that Christ became. He who knew no sin became sin. You don't become something you do. You become a thing. You become an entity. He became this. The death He died. He died to sin. And this is the new faith. My first faith. My first step of faith was I believe in the forgiveness of my sins. Just like John said to the little children. I write to you little children because your sins are forgiven. And you've known the Father. That's how it begins. I rejoiced in Christ for the forgiveness of my sins. But in this process of really coming to know Jesus Christ and growing up in Him, I came by the help of the law to understand what sin in me was producing the other sins. Sin singular. That law of corrupt nature in a person is what produces the other. That's when I saw. For we were crucified with Him. Romans chapter 6 verse 6. So that the body of sin might be rendered so that we may no longer be... Now I'm trusting Jesus Christ for freedom. And I've been set free from the law of sin as I'm brought into the life of grace by faith. By faith we have gained access into this grace where we stand. And so now I'm looking to Jesus and by faith I become united with Him in the likeness of His death. The death He died, He died to sin. The life He lives, He lives to God. And now, now I receive by faith the ministry of the Spirit. I hear I can be free from sin. Sin no longer has to be my master anymore because now I'm not under law, but I'm under grace. And Jesus Christ is the grace of God. The grace of God is Jesus Christ. In Him this grace was given. There is no grace of God outside of Jesus Christ. He is the grace of God to us. So as I receive Jesus Christ, this grace of God, now I'm under grace. And now I'm given freedom. I'm tempted everyday like you are. And you know what happens when I'm tempted? I suffer being tempted. Now I have the chance to be just like Jesus. For it was fitting for God through Whom all things were made and for Whom all things were made to make the author of their salvation perfect. And how did God make the author of our salvation perfect? Through suffering. And what caused Jesus Christ to suffer? Was it talking about only suffering on the cross? No, the Scripture says He suffered being tempted. So now, even the process of temptation, no longer a slave, but still subject to weakness as we are in this world. No longer a slave, but vulnerable still. I have the chance, just exactly like Jesus, to learn obedience to the things we suffer. That's why the writer James was able to say, Paul was able to say, Paul said it this way, For we know that tribulation works with what? Endurance. Endurance, experience, experience, hope. And hope make it not a shame because God shed abroad the love of God in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. James puts it this way, Consider it pure joy whenever you face trials of various kinds, knowing this, that the trying of your faith produces endurance. And endurance must have her perfect work that we would be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. So now I'm in a win-win situation. I am in a win-win situation. Do you realize you are too? If you're in Christ, you're in a win-win situation. Here's how. Not only are the sufferings of your present life and the groanings you're experiencing right now, even as your freed state is God's Son, this state of groaning, it's light and momentary. It's not eternal. It's not going to be forever. Not only is it light and momentary, and not even worth comparing to the far surpassing weight of glory, not only is it light and momentary, it's more than that. It's even perfecting you and I right now. Giving us the opportunity to learn obedience to the things we suffer. And so it's even helping me learn to learn what Jesus Christ learned. If you want to see what He learned, turn to Hebrews 5. It's one of the very rudimentary principles that men are in such need of receiving again. Hebrews 5 speaks of this. And the writer of Hebrews was groaning over the condition of the believers he was writing to, trying to help them understand this. In Hebrews 5, starting in verse 7, who in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplication with behemoth cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, was heard because of His godly tears. This is talking about Jesus. And it talks about in the days of His flesh. Not the day of His flesh. What does that mean? What's the significance? This is not simply the cross. The cross was six hours. The days of His flesh were far longer than six hours. What were the days of His flesh? He suffered in the days of His flesh. And during the days of His flesh, He cried out with loud cries and tears to the One who could save Him from death. What's He talking about? What death? The death of separation from His Father. What would have caused separation from His Father? One's sin. So that sin shall die. To the One who could save Him from death. How was He saved? He was saved by offering up loud cries and tears to the One who could save Him from death. It says, and He was heard because of... Now, the New King James here says because of His godly fear. The King James says in that He feared. What's some of your versions say? Because of His godly fear? Because of His piety. You know what? The literal words in the Greek, and I don't understand why translators don't translate things a little bit more literally. Literally in the Greek it says this, He was heard because He laid hold of well. Lambano means to seize in the hand. And you, the prefix in front of it, means He laid hold of well. And there's a secret here. A very rudimentary principle about the righteousness of God, which is through the hearing of faith. Okay, He's being tempted. Just like when you and I are tempted. When you and I are tempted, we are made conscious of a thought or a desire, aren't we? You can't be tempted if you're not conscious of a thought or a desire entering your consciousness. And it's causing you to struggle because you're sensing a drawing away. Or there's a thought that if you allow to conceive, when desire is conceived, it brings forth sin. Well, desire is there. What's going to keep you from... You see, if you yield to it and it conceives, it's going to bring forth sin. So when Christ is suffering, He's being tempted, He's aware of another thought, and He resists. And instead, He lays hold of... Well, what does He lay hold of? He lays hold of what His Father tells Him. He overcomes simply by the hearing. Rather than respond to the temptation, He lays hold of what His Father says. And He finds the way of escape. And see, follow this, and see if you don't see it right here. This is how He was perfected. In verse 8, For though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things He suffered. What is obedience? In the Greek, it's hupo. In English, it's hippo. When I say the word hippo, what do you think of? Hmm? Well, hippopotamus is a Greek word for an underwater horse. So the word hupo is under. And the word obedience literally is to hear under. Now what did I just say? I just said He had cried out during the days of His flesh when He was being tempted. He cried out with loud cries and tears and was heard because He laid hold of well. What did He lay hold of well? He laid hold of what He heard and everything His Father said, He placed Himself under it. He heard it. And He placed Himself under it. He heard under. You know how significant this word is? It says that through one man's hearing aside, sin entered the world. That's literally where it says through one man's disobedience there in Romans chapter 5 verse 19. It's through one man's hearing aside, sin enters the world. But it's through one man's hearing under is the righteousness of God. That's how many are made righteous. And Christ Jesus Himself through suffering was made perfect as He learned to hear under. Do you realize? It says He was made at all points like we are. And if He was made at all points like we are, He had to start as an infant and grow. Didn't He? He had to grow in the grace. Didn't He grow in wisdom and understanding? Didn't He? Do you see what God has for us? Shown in this. How was Christ perfected Himself? He was perfected through a process of being tempted and learning. And every time He was tempted, He laid hold of what His Father said and He heard under it. And that's how He acted. And then read verse 9. And having become perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who do what? All who hear under Him. Do you see how it works? How would He Himself become this author of salvation? He learned to hear under while He was suffering through the things He suffered. We become saved. We partake of His salvation as we learn to hear under Him. See that? That's how we learn. This is how faith cometh. Faith cometh by hearing. And what do the righteous live by? Faith. How do you receive the Holy Spirit? Do you receive the Holy Spirit by the works of the law? Or the hearing of faith? This is what Christ comes to reestablish in us. He takes away this heart of stone. This is by the grace of Christ. He breaks the power of sin. Restores us to the place where we can be under grace. And then we learn. We learn of Him. We begin this process of growing up into the salvation. And what His desire for us to do is to learn to hear Him. To learn to hear under. To learn to obey. And we do this out of love. We do this out of love. So that this is where the righteousness of God is reestablished on the earth. When out of love and not fear, our Father speaks. And we lay hold of it. And we hear under it. And the writer, he goes on to say, almost like a little interview, I'll read verse 9 again. Having become perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him. Called by God as High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek, the King of Righteousness. And then he says, of whom we have much to say and it's hard to explain since you have become what? You see how serious a problem this is? If obedience is really hearing under. If Christ became the source of eternal salvation and He would save Himself as He laid hold of everything the Father told Him. And He Himself heard under even when He was tempted. And He becomes the source of eternal salvation to all of us who learn to hear under Him. What a problem it becomes if we ourselves become dulled hearing. We had better be very careful how we hear. Do you remember the parable of the sower? Most of us do. We can quote it all the time. But have you really understood it? Because Jesus said, if you do not understand this parable, how shall you understand any? The sower goes forth. He sows the Word of God. The Word that falls on the first soil is the Word, even before it's had a chance to be believed, the enemy snatches it and it's gone. It's not really even heard. It's gone. The second soil receives the Word with eagerness and immediately, he believes for a while. It springeth up immediately. And he believes for a while. For a while. He says, but because he has no root in himself, when trouble or persecution arises, Luke says, because of the Word, he quickly falls away. When it comes to a place, and here's the truth in any of our lives, when it comes to a place where you cannot hear something God is saying to you, it's going to cause you to fall. You're not going to step. None of our progress in God is going to go any further in everything we hear. You can be here ten years, and if you've only heard one year's worth, that's how old you are. Progress in God is a progress of hearing. For understanding Proverbs, words of insight, the things and insights of the wise, here's what, let the wise listen and add to their learning. Let the discerning get guidance. This is about hearing. When a person comes to a place where he will not hear, he quickly falls away. He has not learned that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word. That's how man lives. Every time God speaks, and you hear, that's what Christ came to be and enabled us to do. He's given us His Spirit to help us do this. I'll share a little bit more of that in a little bit, but the second soil, or no, the third soil, is a person who hears the Word, and this is a person that evidently there is some root, didn't say he doesn't have root himself, but what happens to this person is the cares of this life, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desire of other things, what do they do? They choke what? The Word. They interfere with the person's hearing. Now they're hearing other things. Now other thoughts occupy their mind. Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. That man shall be like a tree, planted by the streams of water, which brings forth his fruit in season, and whose leaf does not wither, whatever he does prospers. Why? He delights in the law of God, and he meditates in the law. I always do what I delight to do. And if you're struggling in your area in your life, and you've lost the delight in God, and the delight in His Word, don't fear. Ask God to create in you again a new heart, and a right spirit. God will recreate what He intended. If you're supposed to be like Jesus Christ, for lo, it is written of Me in the volume of the book, I delight to do Thy will. No struggle, no obligation. The Lord loveth a cheerful giver. If the willingness is there, the gift is accepted. But this person whose heart has become choked away, because now his interests are divided, he's no longer hearing clearly. He never bears fruit to maturity. He's choked out. If the Word is choked out, what's really being choked out? Hearing. And that's dangerous. If faith cometh by hearing, when hearing is interfered with, what are you going to be hindered in? Faith. You're going to be hindered in your faith. You're not going to be built up or established in the faith. You're going to stay weak in the faith. The last soil. If you want to look at this real quick in Luke. So you can see this, Luke chapter 8. See if you can catch this. I think you can. Starting in Luke chapter 8 verse 15. But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who having heard the Word... Do you see how I put that first? First you have to hear it. But if you hear it correctly, what else needs to happen? You hear the Word with a good and noble heart, and then you do what? You keep it. You must retain it. Again, not one of us will make a single step beyond the things that we have heard and kept. You know really that is the measure of where you are in the Lord. The things that you have heard with a good and noble heart and you have still kept. You know how you know when you really kept them? They have become your life. Have you heard, let no unwholesome talk proceed out of your mouth? But only that which is good for the building of others according to their need and ministers grace of the hearer. When I finally heard that, nothing unwholesome came out of my mouth. I put away perversity from my mouth. I keep corrupt talk far from my lips. I wanted to see life, to love life and see good days. I heard that if a man does not keep a tight rein on his tongue and he still considers himself religious, he is what? He deceives himself and his religion is worthless. I do not want a worthless religion. Yeah, no man can tame the tongue, but I am not a man. I am born again. I am a new creature. I have the spirit of the living God in me. And what I cannot do, I have got a new mouth, a new heart, and a new mind. I speak new words. And they are wholesome in their life. No more uncorrupt speech. Put it away. I heard it. You see, until the things that God has said become things we hear and keep, we make no progress. You stay right there. Because it is from faith to faith. And faith cometh by hearing. And finishing up this verse, not only does he have a good noble heart, he is hearing the word, he is holding on to it, but what does he do? He bears fruit with endurance. He endures. He continues in what he has heard. And this is what the writer of Hebrews is now battling with these people who ought to be teachers by now. But what do they need when someone ought to be a teacher by now, but they are not? They have actually gone backwards and they have come to need milk and not solid food? Do you realize what he is really saying in that? You need to go back to the beginning. Because I never bore children, but I watched six come into the world. And all six of them, even though they squeezed through this narrow ten centimeter opening after being pressed, and every single one of them when they came forth from there did something spontaneously. They craved. And if something has happened to us that we are not craving the pure spiritual milk of the word, if we are not craving to hear our Father, something is wrong. Something has happened. And we need to go back. Because solid food is for the mature who by reason of use have trained their senses to discern good and evil. But those who are still infants, they are unskilled in what? The Word of Righteousness. They are not hearing the Word of Righteousness. They are missing this. And it is a problem of hearing because if you are still in Luke 8.16, if he is talking about this parable and it is all about hearing, think with me. Why would he say this? Why would he talk about a parable about hearing and then say, no one lights a lamp and sticks it under a bushel. No. That is nonsensical. If you do not want light to shine, you do not light it. What is he saying then? What is he saying? If he is talking about hearing, and the way Mark puts it, Mark puts it like a question. Do you light a lamp? Is that what you would do, Paul? Would you turn your flashlight on and then stick it under your coat? No, just do not turn it on. Why is he saying this? He is saying, I am not hiding anything from anyone. I have come as a light. He goes on to say, that is what he says, verse 16, No one, when he has lit a lamp, covers it with a vessel or puts it under a bed, but he sets it on a lampstand that those who enter may see the light. For nothing is secret that will not be revealed nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to light. Verse 18 of Luke 8 says, Therefore take heed how you hear. That is what the parable is about. And if you do not understand this parable, how will you understand any parable? Do you realize it is so important how you hear, because here is the truth of it, to him who has, more shall be given. And he will have an abundance the way he is hearing. One person is hearing and he is just laying hold of it. He is laying hold of it. And it is becoming a part of his life. And the other person is sitting there, sitting in the same meeting, under the same ministry, in the same congregation, having sung the same song for the same number of years, and one person is far more mature. You know why? It is the way the person heard. He heard, he kept, and by endurance, it is being brought forth to fruit. But it says, he goes on to say, be very careful how you hear, for him who has, more shall be given, and he shall have an abundance, but to him who has not, even that which he thinks he has. Why would a person think he has something? It is because he has been in the same amount of meetings as the next guy sitting next to him. And he says in his mind, I know just as much as you have, I have been 10 years in the Lord just like you are. And when a person thinks they already know something, like that scripture, you know, that the Lord gave me, that is when they are in trouble. All the kings of Israel, if you want to read a good lesson and all that, just go back and read the book of 1 Kings and 2 Kings and 1 Chronicles and 2 Chronicles and you will see that when these kings were in trouble and weak and new, they cried out to God, they needed a word, God spoke to them, they did what they were told, and they had victory. And then they got strong, God subdued their enemies, they began to cure, and you know what they started to do then? I think I will do this. And that thought right there, led them astray. He that thinketh he stand firm, take he lest he fall. If you do not think you stand firm, you actually have a broken and a contrite heart. The word for contrite actually means to tremble, to tremble. Why does God use that expression? What is a constantly trembling heart? There is one organ, I do not know if it is called an organ, there is one thing on your physical body that does nothing but tremble. And what makes it tremble? Sound. God wants us extremely sensitive to what He has to say. He does not want us to be dull of hearing because the righteousness of faith comes from the hearing of faith. And our Lord, who He was, was He came, the only one who ever knew His Father, and what He demonstrated, the eternal life that John saw, was not just Jesus. John had greater revelation than that. It says, in Him was life. What John saw was, it says, the eternal life which was with the Father appeared to us. Eternal life is such a knowledge of God the Father, being brought to know God the Father in such a way, you are in a relationship, a fellowship. I call eternal life this. The original eternal life was something that already existed before the world began. And you know what it was? It was the Son's relationship with the Father. That's what eternal life is. And so you know how you and I know we have eternal life? When you are one with the Father. When you're brought into that fellowship. And your life is a life of fellowship with the Father and the Son. This is what John says, we write this to make your joy complete. And we want you to have fellowship with us. And then he had the boldness to say, our fellowship is with the Father. That's how John lived. John came to the place where he lived to become one. This is what Jesus prayed. This is what Jesus prayed, that we would become one even as He and the Father. And the way this is brought about in us is the Holy Spirit is sent. When the sinful nature is undone and rendered powerless so that we're no longer slaves to sin, it doesn't cease to exist in its flesh. And we'll talk about that. I don't have time to talk about that right now. But if you have questions about that, get with me. We'll talk about how it exists. We know it still exists because it says the flesh lusts against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh. And they're at war with one another so that you do not do what you will. But you're not under any obligation to the flesh. It's there. You're not under any obligation to it to obey its lust. Because it says, if you'll read Romans 8, Paul clearly makes this statement. It says, you are not in the flesh if Christ is in you. It may exist. That's not where you live. You're living in Christ. You're living in the Spirit. And now, you're led by the Spirit. You don't fulfill the lust of the flesh. And here's how it works. Here's what I'm discovering. This way of life in the Spirit, being led by the Spirit, is expressed only another way called the hearing of faith. And this has just been so revolutionary in my own life. For example, I'm going to just give a practical example. In my human weakness, I can become tired. And I can become tired so I'm weak in my natural self. And the enemy seeking to exploit weakness in my natural self may stir my wife and suggest something to her. Maybe cause her day to become difficult. So I walk in the door and my loving help me maybe she's received a suggestion from the enemy. And she offers me that same suggestion from her lips. So suddenly, I'm now tempted. I have this thought that came from another person. I'm already weak in my natural self. And I even have a suggestion from the evil one. It may come from within my natural self. One of my old practices of the body. That's the thing. When you sin for a long time, your body gets into certain practices that Paul talks about. You must put to death by the Spirit the practices of the body. So I can revert to one of the things I've practiced many times. I can answer her like I had many times in my past. I'm being tempted. I'm aware of a thought. All I have to do is to yield to sin. But we know that God is faithful. He will never let us be tempted above what we're able. But along with every temptation, what else has He provided? A way of escape so that we might be able to bear up under it. So what is this way of escape? We know that only one person is the way. Right? Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. So what is this way of escape? I'm being tempted. I'm actually having these other suggestions coming to me. I'm weak in my natural self. But I'm resisting. I'm feeling lust. I'm sensing it. I have another thought. I'm battling. But I'm listening. I'm listening. And I hear the Holy Spirit take from Jesus what Jesus would say. And simply by the hearing of faith, I place myself under what the Spirit says to me. And I overcome my faith. Was it my own idea? I hear the voice in the way. It says if you walk by the Spirit, you don't fulfill the lust. I feel it. I am not going to fulfill it when I choose not to yield to that. But to lay hold of what the Spirit says to me. And allow it, Him, the Spirit, to lead me into truth. And what does the truth do? It sets me free. Usually it sets her free too. Peace comes. Righteousness comes. The lowliness of Christ comes. The long suffering of Christ comes. In every single situation, every temptation, the Holy Spirit is revealing Jesus to me. And suddenly I see and hear what Jesus would have me. Led by that, I do not fulfill the lust of the flesh. And slowly but surely, in learning to live by faith, be led by the Spirit, I stop making provision for the flesh. And when you stop making provision for your body, what will it do? You want to experiment? Just stop making any provision for food for a day and a half. And I'll tell you what you'll feel in a day and a half. What will you feel? Weak. Weak. Stop making provision for your flesh. And you know what it will feel? Weak. Weak. And you'll become weaker and weaker in the flesh. And mightier and mightier in the Spirit. And you'll grow up from being an infant, just a mere babe in Christ. And babies are carnal. It's all about them. They are cute, but they are the most selfish things. I mean, it's like, hold me or I'll cry, feed me or I'll cry, change me or I'll cry. It's all about them. But you grow, you begin to grow in Christ and it's no longer about you. It's finding the life of pleasing the Father, living by the Spirit. And you suddenly stop making provision for your flesh and you experience a transformation from carnal to spiritual. Become a spiritual man. Paul says we have a message of wisdom among the mature, speaking spiritual things to spiritual men. Men that have grown in wisdom and understanding. Grown up into the salvation until the epigenosko, the full knowledge of Christ. They've learned to live by the Spirit. They've learned how God's righteousness is established in our life by the hearing of faith. It could have never been done without the work of the cross. Atoning for our past sins and breaking the power of the sinful nature so that we should no longer be slaves to sin. And the Spirit comes and He circumcises our heart. He takes away the heart of flesh and puts in it the heart of stone. Suddenly a heart that wants to know our Father. And so we begin to seek to know our Father. And then we begin to be transformed by the renewing of our mind as we begin to receive the knowledge of the truth. You see what happens as you begin to hear Christ and you begin to be very sensitive in the things you hear. Suddenly you begin to be set free. You enter into that young man stage where John talks about. You remember what he says? I write to you, young man. What did he characterize him as? You're strong and you've overcome the evil one. And what else? The Word of God lives in you. You see how key that would be to overcoming the evil one? How does the evil one rule the world? By lies. As simply. By lies and deception. But when the Word of God is living in you you should know the truth and the truth shall set you free. Suddenly the evil one can't deceive you because you're not living by his old deceptive suggestions. He can still fire all the fiery darts at you every day. Right? Every day. And how many of those fiery darts are we able to extinguish? Do you really believe that? That's what it says. If according to the Scripture you can extinguish every fiery dart at the enemy how do you do so? How is it possible for you to extinguish every fiery dart at the enemy? Huh? What weapon are you supposed to use? Shield of faith. Well what's faith come out of? Do you see what the shield of faith is? Suddenly here comes a fiery dart a suggestion, a desire, a temptation. All the shield of faith is Christ speaks to you by the Holy Spirit living within you. And you simply say, No. I believe Christ. And it goes And you are not harmed. You found the way of escape. In simply learning to live this way you go from faith to faith. From victory to victory. You begin to be transformed by the renewing of your mind. You grow from carnal to spiritual. You become strong. The Word of God lives in you. And you overcome the evil one. Because now you're led by God's Spirit who leads you into all truth by speaking to you in the way. You will hear a voice in the way. And you learn to live by the Spirit and not your physical desires or impulses anymore. And you begin to know Christ. And you begin to know the Father. And the love of God begins to be shed abroad in your heart by the Holy Spirit. I mentioned this to Randy. This is even part of the way God sheds abroad His love in my heart. It's still fresh to me when I saw that. Wow. You know, it says that God disciplines those He loves. Have you ever thought that the way that God sheds abroad His love into your heart is by saying, Don't do that, Darren. You shouldn't say that, Paul. And if you receive that Word, what actually are you receiving? The love of God. He's treating you as a son. You're getting to know His very nature. You're getting to know your Father. You're getting to know what He would say, what He would do, how He would respond to life. You're receiving the implanted Word and it's able to save your soul. Because God is disciplining you as a son. He's training you. He's correcting you. He's sending forth His Word. And you know what it's doing to you? Healing you. Suddenly, you're beginning to live by every word that proceeds forth out of the mouth of God. And you suddenly enter into this eternal life. And you know your Father. And your life is about going from faith to faith and glory to glory. You are no longer trying to do touch not, taste not, handle not. You've already, everyone here has already proven that those are powerless to restrain the flesh. How many of you have really ever seen knowing what you ought not to do stop it? Like for a father, if any of you wrestle with anger, knowing you shouldn't get angry is not much help. Or a mom wrestling with long suffering, it doesn't help. You know what helps? Being filled. Receiving power from Christ. You see, it says for what the law was powerless to do, it was weak because of the flesh. You see, it was weak. Because the law was not a living thing. The law is a principle. What do I mean by that? It's a good principle. Amino acids and proteins are building blocks of life. But are they life? Men have been trying to produce life with amino acids and proteins since the early 40s. Have they ever? No. And neither could the law produce life. Paul said it this way, if a law had been given that could impart life, righteousness would have come from the law. But now, a righteousness of God, apart from the law, what is this righteousness of God? It is the life of God. And when we receive the very life of God Himself by the Holy Spirit, we become partakers of the divine nature. And through receiving the very divine nature of God, His life, His character, His righteousness, we escape the corruption that is in the world through lust. And we begin to discover, and this is what I'm trying to help others discover, that God has already made every provision necessary for life and godliness. But it's through the knowledge of Him. So we must grow in the knowledge of Him. Y'all have a lot of water up here. I've seen that, my travel up here. There's a big lake in the United States, I think, well, it comes into Canada too, Lake Michigan. Is there enough water in Lake Michigan to irrigate all the farmland in Michigan? Easily. Easily. Could you do it if you only had a garden hose to draw it from the lake? So do you see what happens if you're stunted in your hearing? And faith cometh by hearing? And you're not careful in how you hear? You're limiting your own capacity to receive what God has provided. God has provided everything we need. He has made all grace to abound to us in Christ. All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Christ. But what good is that to you or I if we're limited in our knowledge of Christ? Be very careful how you hear. To him who has, more shall be given, and he will have an abundance. But to him who does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken from him. This is something that I'm learning. And so, it just revolutionized my life. I want to hear. I want to hear. And when a brother preaches, or when a brother's sharing, or when I'm reading the Scripture, I'm wanting to hear. I'm not wanting to sit there and go through a dead ritual. Jesus laid hold of well, and I want to lay hold of well what the Father says. I know He's given me new ears. He's given me new eyes. He's given me a new heart. He's put His Spirit to live inside me. The very reason Jesus ascended to heaven, the very reason He ascended to heaven and even told His disciples that it would be better for them, for Him to go back to the Father than to stay, was so that every one of us could have all of Jesus to ourselves every moment of the day. Here on the earth, He could only be with one place at one time. But now, every step I take, I take with the Lord Jesus Christ. Better than even being outside me. He has made His abode in me. I've become one with the Father and one with the Son. And basically what's happening is I'm just growing in my full comprehension of what He's done. And the more I understand what incredible things He has done and how to walk in the Holy Spirit, the freer and freer I become. Joy is fuller. Peace is more solid and steadfast. And it's begun that life of glory to glory and faith to faith. And that up and down cycle. The backslider in heart shall have his fill of his ways. And the double-minded man being unstable in all of his ways. That's just the gold desire of my heart. Paul had said my message in my preaching. He was so far further along than I am. But he said, we're not with wise and persuasive words. So the man would not put their faith in the wisdom of God's power. But he said, but in demonstration of the Spirit. Paul told Timothy, become a pattern to the believers in life. Isn't that the way it is? I do not want to be a living contradiction. I want to be a living confirmation. I'm not trying to earn my salvation. But this grace is teaching me to deny indolence and worldly lusts. I'm being trained to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present age. That's how I become like a star in the universe. I tell you, you and I are going to become a star in the universe. Do you know the difference between a star and a dead planet? As a planet, it's simply caught in the power of another star and it's kept in orbit. It circles around. It doesn't have any light of its own. It's only bouncing off the light of the star. We're not supposed to be that way. You can be in church and be in the orbit of some other brother's power. You're kept there, you're circling, and you get some light bouncing off you and it's pretty. We call it the moon. You know, it's nice. But the moon is no star. It's a dead planet. A star is filled with power. And it radiates life. And it can be surrounded by darkness. I just want to be a... I want to hold forth the word of life. Just glorify the Father in this life. And to help other brothers do that, too. You know, I know it's going to be rare. What does that have to do with it? How many virgin birds did you know of? How many were there in the universe? What if Mary said, it's not possible to have a baby without a man? What's she going to do? Go ask her neighbors if they've ever had one? Job's are rare. Samuel's are rare. David's are rare. That doesn't mean they're not rare. True believers that overcome sin and walk uprightly and godly to a degree that will stun most people are going to be rare. And encourage one another. I mean, this is what we're supposed to do. You know, that's why you're gathering together to provoke one another on to love and good deeds and spur one another on in this way. So that you can have a fellowship. You know. I mean, there weren't many Job's on the earth. But remember what the Lord said? Was able to say and save him? If you consider my servant Job. There weren't very many Noah's on the earth either, were there? He found favor in the eyes of the Lord. The eyes of the Lord still run to and fro. We have a better salvation than those. We have the Spirit of God living in us. I know it's like it's possible. And I'm glad my wife is here. You can ask. I'm grateful. Thank you, Randy, for even opening. Because that makes you vulnerable. I mean, a person can stand up and share. In the past, because...