In this sermon, the speaker reflects on the recent General Election and the impact it had on the defeated candidate. He emphasizes that in the church, power and authority should not be sought after like in the political realm. The speaker then references the third letter of John in the Bible, highlighting the importance of serving God and living a clean life. He discusses the corruptible nature of human desires and emphasizes the need for a transformation through Jesus Christ. The sermon concludes with a call to discover Christ and allow Him to change and manifest in one's spirit.

What I feel at this moment, I shan't, this is a quote that we just heard, it's how wonderful. Awesome is one of the words, awesome God. Would you join with me to Ephesians chapter 1 again please. When you, as I said, when you read these verses, it's sometimes hard to see through them. You know the scripture is a barrel, if I can put it that way, you know what I mean. You see through it, the glass darkly, and you see God on the other side. You know there's a monument in Washington, I've never been to Washington DC, but there's a monument there. I've forgotten who's on it, George Washington I think. And there's a, something about the constitution is written out, have you seen it? There's a constitution written out. And as you read it, you might, if you're close enough, you read it. But as you stand further back, you see that the writing actually is the silhouette of a figure. And it's George Washington I think. And that's how the scripture is. When you read it, you look at it, but then as you go on, you realise that whilst you're reading, what you see through it is a person whose form slowly comes out. And sometimes you have to read a lot before you actually begin to see the form and the shape of God. We often go and we impose upon it. I know a man who's preached many, many years, but he never read the whole Bible. To this day he hasn't. Not someone I don't think anybody here would know. Preached for many years, never read the whole Bible, only taken sermons from it. Only used the Bible as a means to preach. Only to use it as a means to enter in, beyond the pages, into the knowledge of God. In this first chapter, we can read from verse 16. I cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayer. You might pop up sometimes the number of times he says that, and the people he says it to. You'll find that he had a lot of praying. He mentioned a lot of people. He longed for a lot of people in prayer. His sanctimacy he mentioned without ceasing in prayer. I cease not to give thanks for you, not just a phrase. Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. The eyes of your heart being enlightened. That you may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. And what is the exceeding greatness of his power, to Edward, who believed, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the 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 has put all things under his feet. And does cling to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that fills all in all. And there is a description of the fact that when Jesus Christ was raised from the dead, he was raised to the throne, to the right hand of the father. And he is sat down on that throne, and he is expecting to his enemies, to be made his footstool. And you know, one of the amazing things we just saw only very late, very late I suppose, is how much we were his enemies. How much we resisted him. How much we were against him. And you see, this event of this morning is the key to the church, that the church has in the midst of us a throne. And that throne is sacrosanct, if I can use that word. That means very holy. Because the throne of God in the midst is not a theoretical thing. You know that Jesus Christ is not sitting up there somewhere, and he's not sitting on the front row. He's not seated amongst us in that way at all. Jesus Christ, his authority and throne and power are only made known because there are people here who have bowed the knee entirely to Jesus Christ. You know, if you took a gathering of people, that gathering of people will in the end reveal a throne. Every gathering of people will in the end reveal a throne. There might be a fight in a gathering of people. There might end up being one man supreme. There might be, and there are no doubt, gatherings of people all over the place. There was a gathering of the nation recently called the general election. There was a great fight, and it was a war fight. They were not crying. Maybe you didn't realize how serious that fight was until you heard a certain man speak about his defeat and acknowledge his defeat. And you must have heard the pain in his voice. And you realize that in some ways his life was destroyed, just as much as if he'd been taken out by a firing squad and shot. You know what I mean? At least he's got the chance now to pick his life up again. He loved it. The other man won a throne of power. And so it is. You see, the church is not to be like that. Let me show you a verse in scripture, this time in 3 John. Third letter of John. It's right at the back of the Bible. This is New Testament Christianity in this little book. Look at this third letter of John. Verse 9 of chapter 1. I won't enter the church, but theocracies, who love to have the preeminent among them, that's the church, receives us not. Can you imagine somebody saying to the Deputy Paul, you don't come to us. Or this time the Deputy John, you can't come in here. We don't receive your thoughts. That's New Testament Christianity for you. And it's there, isn't it? It's as much New Testament Christianity as is Acts chapter 2. It's all there. Men have not changed, have they? There was no golden age without human, humanity. It all is there, and it all had to be worked out. Therefore if I come, I will remember his deeds which he does, facing against us, with malicious words. And not content therewith, neither doth he himself retrieve the brethren, and forbid those that would, and cast them out of the church. What a church. He casts them out of the church. So you've got an understanding there in that particular group of men, that in that grouping of men there came a man to the fore, who himself loved the pre-eminence. He loved to be the centre. He loved to be the one of attention. He wanted to be the highest position in the church. And because of that, well, it was a disaster, wasn't it? Remember this, the thing that marks it out as the church of Jesus is that he held the pre-eminence. The mark about a church is in the hierarchy of a church, there shouldn't actually be a hierarchy, except this, that the men in the church honour Jesus Christ and jealously guard that position and presence and word of Jesus Christ to them and to the whole church more than everything else. It is the most precious thing of all. It is the direct exercise of authority from God. In the midst of it, it marks it out as a church. And it is that which marks you out as a member of the church, that you have bowed a knee to Jesus Christ. That you have somehow in your personality, you have bowed to him. Let me show you a verse now in Revelation, this time in chapter 12. And in verse 7, there was war in heaven. There was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. And the dragon fought his angels and prevailed not, neither was their face found anymore in heaven. Warfare, you see. And the great dragon was cast out. That old serpent called the devil, and Satan, who deceives the whole world, he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ for the accused of our dead and his cast down who accused them before our God day and night. You notice, Now is come salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ where because the devil is cast out. You notice this, warfare in heaven. You know that the world is marked all over at this very hour with warfare. You know that, don't you? That war is going on in different parts of the earth now. You know why it's going on? It's because men are fighting to get into position. They want to have power. And that warfare is going on, it's costing people lives. If you heard the news the other day about these famines, they said that one of the reasons that these famines are going to be so bad is because men are fighting in those countries for power. They're not fighting for the good of people. They haven't put people's welfare first, they have put their own position and power. And you see, this warfare that goes on all over the earth. And it's going on in heaven. This fight over power, that's what the devil wants, he wants power. This warfare goes on in human hearts. It goes on in human hearts and it's a question of power. It's a question of power. It's a question of authority. It's a question of a very small thing in you and yet it's the most important thing of all. It's power. It's the last word in things. And the question is this, will Jesus Christ be given the place of preeminence in you? Or will you persist in that position in your own life? Will you bow to him yourself and give to him the position of supreme authority over all that you can? With you only yourself, you can't give him power over anything else. You can't give him power over anything else except yourself. Fundamentally. And that's what he wants. Power. Authority. How will he take his power? Will he come to you, grab you by the throat and say, you give me your power, I'll cut you into half? No he won't. Because he knows that he can't get anybody to submit to him for long like that. No one will give up their throne to Jesus Christ because of threat. No one will yield to him anything because he shouts at them. Of course he wouldn't. He must shout at people occasionally to wake them up. He did. But that's not how he wins people's hearts. He knows that the only way he can get you to yield to his authority is by his love. And this is why Jesus Christ is so marvellous. He is incorruptible in his dealings with you. He is incorruptible. Jesus Christ, if I could use a word about him, Jesus Christ is great. I'm using a word though, you might think, oh, he's using a modern word. No, no, I'm not using a modern word. I'm using an old word. He's great. He is great. Do you know why he's great? He's incorruptible. He is uncompromising. He will never vary. He will never do anything wrong. He will never violate you. He will never harm you. He will never rob you. He will never deceive you. He will always be true. He will always be faithful. And that is the mark about him, that because he is so with you, in the end, you will be forced either to believe him or consciously to refuse to believe in him. Because he will never use any deceptive means with you. Because he will never go against you. Because he will never mistreat you, never mishandle you. Because he's able to be perfectly faithful throughout all your life. In the end, you will be forced to choose to either believe him or to consciously to refuse to believe in him. The same with all of us. Anger leads to the end of the choice. And Jesus Christ is so worthy of our faith. War in human hearts. And that war goes on. Sometimes it's forfeited, and there's a great battle going on. Let me show you another verse, this time, right in the Old Testament, this time in the book of Jonah. If you want to know where Jonah is, it's just after the book of Obadiah. Alright? Which is in the Old Testament. You can learn a lot from Jonah. You learn a lot about the way that God prepared a well. You know what? God prepared a well for Jonah. You also learn a lot about the way God prepared a room for Jonah. You know what God prepared a room as well as a well? God prepared a little mosquito that buzzed around his ears. He didn't actually, but you know what I mean. He prepared a tiny little thing that that upset him. And made him realize how selfish he was. But anyway, that's not really what it's saying to Jonah. So let's go to chapter 3. And it says that he went through the city and proclaimed repentance to them. So it's written in verse 5, So the people of Nineveh believed God and proclaimed fast and put on sackcloth from the grossest of them even to the least of them. Their word came unto the king of Nineveh and he arose from his throne. And he laid his robes on him and covered him with sackcloth and sat in ashes. And he called it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed nor drink water but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth and cry mightily unto God. Lo, let them turn every one from his evil ways and from the violence that is in their hands. Who can tell if God will turn and repent and turn away from his spurious anger that we perish not? You know, this man didn't know anything about God really. If he would be a Jew if he would be one of the people of Israel he would have known from the history of Israel he would have been comforted to know that every wicked man in Israel who is repented and turned back from his evil way and called upon God had received mercy. Without fail. Do you know one of the worst kings of Israel or of Judah was a man called Manasseh? You can read about his evil works. Fifty years he reigned and he was a wicked king for nearly all that time. He practiced wickedness. It tells you that he put up idols in the holy place. It tells you the great wickedness he did. It tells of everything he did against God. And in the end he was taken into captivity to a foreign land right over into Babylon. And he was put into a kind of prison there a kind of house arrest or whatever. But when he was in Babylon he repented. God had mercy on him forgave him brought him back from Babylon all those miles and brought him back to Jerusalem and restored him. And God deals like that with every man who speaks sin, hundering himself in repentance. Without exception. God's dealings are not so that he will deal with one like this and the other like that. It's consistent throughout all the Old Testament God has mercy on repenting sinners. Doesn't matter what they've done. Doesn't matter how long they've persisted in it. He didn't know that. But this is what he did. So verse 7. Verse 4. Word came... So verse 6. Chapter 3, verse 6. Word came to the king of Nineveh and he arose from his throne. That's the point. He got up from his throne. Now at that particular point you could have thought there was going to be a great... Ah! He got up his throne. You notice when he says he got up his throne what that means. That means physically he got up off that seat. But he wasn't sitting there all day. You know that, don't you? He wasn't stuck there. He didn't have to even go somewhere else. You know that our queen had a throne, don't you? I don't know how often she sits on it. Not very often I think. Most of the time she isn't seated on the throne. And later on, the fact that he got up his throne was not remarkable. He might have been going to go and visit somebody. He might have been going out for a ride in his chariot for all I know. Getting up his throne is not an important thing. It was the man in which he got up his throne. He was getting off that throne in a symbolic way. He was saying, look, look. God is on this throne. This throne is no longer mine. It's God's. And at that point the warfare between this man and God ended. God sat on that throne and that man in a picture entered into the kingdom of God because God sat on his throne. It happens. When a man actually gets off his throne and enters into the kingdom of God, how? By a simple, something that happens in the depth of a man's heart, well not in the depth. I'm not talking about something obscure. It happens in a man. He resigns his insistence on his own way. He resigns his insistence on doing what he is insisting on doing. He resigns from the persistence of his worries. It is the smallest act and yet it is the greatest. And not only is it the point at which that man entered the kingdom of God, it's also the point at which Satan was cast out of him in a picture. He left in a picture the kingdom of darkness and entered in a picture into the kingdom of light. That can only happen because Jesus Christ has made that actually possible. So he actually entered from darkness into light. He received light when he did it. When a man bows his knees to Jesus Christ he leaves the kingdom of Satan and actually enters into the kingdom of God because he realizes the fact that we sit on the throne of our own life and persistently rule actually maintains the kingdom of darkness. As I said the other day, one of the revelations is the kingdom of God. Another revelation is the kingdom of Satan. It's a revelation. You don't understand, we don't understand that the kingdom of darkness is not something that you can actually see. It exists as much in the nice little lady down the road who has nothing to do with God as in the drug addict up the road. It exists in exactly the same way. It doesn't mean that one is not less bound, one may be more bound by demons. But you realize that there is a bondage that is greater than a demon and that bondage is common to us all. You do realize that demonic bondages are not the great bondage of human hearts. The great bondage of human hearts is satanic and that bondage is subtle. It makes a man believe, it persuades him that I have the right to be what I am in the ordering of my life. He persuades me and calms me and saves me in believing that my persisting in my own way is legitimate. And it isn't. It's maintaining his kingdom and holding back the kingdom of God. And the first thing is that you found a man will go to God and he will say to God, I want this from you Lord. Don't say it as simply as that, he may say it humbly. He will say to God, I want this from you. And a man will take it, God will give it to him and that man will take it away and put it in his own kingdom. Put it into his own kingdom. A good man could say, I want healing Lord and God gives him healing and grace and says, thank you Lord. But the healing hasn't changed the authority of his life. Lord I want peace. There you are, there's peace. I want peace in my kingdom Lord. I want love in my kingdom Lord. I want blessing in my kingdom. I want abundance in my kingdom. I want everything you've got to give Lord. Give me everything Lord. Isn't it a generous prayer? I want everything you've got to give Lord in my kingdom. I'll even let you come in Lord in my kingdom. Give me salvation Lord because I don't want to be sadded. I want to stop then. I don't want that. I don't want this. I don't want that. I don't want this. I want you Lord. You come and do this. You can do this and this and this in my kingdom. I shall prosper in it. And the amazing thing about Jesus Christ is that he gives us so much. He's faithful. But he will not give you peace. There's one thing he cannot give you in your kingdom. There's one thing you can't take from that perspective. There's one thing that you really need you. No matter how much you want it for yourself you could put it in different ways. One way you could put this you couldn't pray this and have it in your kingdom Lord crucify me. You couldn't pray it because you couldn't put that in your kingdom. It would be ruined of your kingdom. And it would be the beginning of another. Of course you could say it. You could say oh Lord has none to me. You could say I prayed this and Lord has none to me. You could say I asked for this. You know the Bible says if you ask and you receive not because you ask and receive but you may consume it upon your lust. Do you know that? Put it in any way you like. James was very bold wasn't he when he said that. You may consume it upon your lust. How many blessings from God have we consumed? And they've gone. They've disappeared. You see when a man is coming to God what he finds in Jesus Christ is that Jesus Christ is the Lord. He is now adopted to that throne. He will not share that throne with anybody. You don't say I'm not going to share that throne with him. Oh well you've got to give me understanding of that. If I share that throne with him I know we shall. That's true. But the sharing of the throne of God is not an equal partnership. It's only on the basis that I am entirely yielded unto him. Sometimes we sing about I'm going to sit on that throne. Well you know the devil wanted to do that. God has opened it to us but the grace that abounds to us to sit on that throne is on this basis alone that I am entirely yielded to the Lord Jesus Christ. He is king over me. I have given him that place to me and he's taken it. And when he took it he cast Satan out. He stopped the lying of my own mind. He calls the persistent nagging lying of my own personality to thief. He calls the abstract of everything that recurred and returned to thief. He bore the priest of the dominion of the Lord Jesus Christ. He cast Satan out. Did Satan go out with a scream like a demon? Oh no. He didn't do that. He struggles. He stouts. He hides. He stutters. But when a man bows to Jesus Christ he leaves. He is defeated. Let me tell you very plainly Jesus Christ has defeated him. Satan is defeated. Satan has been cast out. He is defeated. He knows it. He hears it. He knows that there's nothing, no power on earth that can stop a man from bowing to the Lord Jesus Christ. He knows it. He knows that he cannot stop you bowing in and there flooding through you immediately the authority and power and presence of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. This is what the church is. It's the authority of heaven. It's the glory of heaven. It's the rule of heaven. There's no one else besides the Lord who said in chapter 1 of Ephesians a name which is above every name. There's no name not one that even approaches to his name. He's above every name. Don't think there are names that approach him. Abraham, Moses. Don't think any man should ever have his name up there. It's one name that is far above all whether in heaven or on earth. It's Jesus. The lordship of him. Until you see you have to give it to him. You have to give it to him. It's a lordship that is absolute and clear on the grounds that not a human power and dominion and authority is on the grounds of his own being and person. He is God. He doesn't need anything to make it happen. He doesn't need anything. He stands before us with nothing but himself. How shall we stand before him? Well we know that in your kingdom you have many things under your power and you may suspect that he would want them. Until you have served him with those things. You have served him with your time. Served him with your power. Served him with your money. Served him with different things you have at your disposal. But you see all the service I bring to God is nothing unless I bow down to him. I can give to him everything. I can say lord with all my money he can say thank you. I'll take it. He could say that. You could say lord I'll give you time to thank you. I'll take it. He's ever so gracious. Lord I'll give you this. Lord I'll give you that. And you can serve him. And within your service you aren't in the kingdom of God. You're in the kingdom of darkness. Do you believe that? Do you believe a man can serve God and not be in his kingdom? A man can serve him and never die to him? A man can serve him and give everything to him and accept himself? It's not surprising in one sense because you realize that Jesus Christ didn't expect you to do it for any of the notions you let him. That's how his lordship is. His lordship is only with love. There's no one there's no one but anything in his kingdom because Jesus has commanded them. Do you realize this? Jesus Christ is not going to come and grab you and tell you what to do. I'll tell you how he'll do it. He'll suggest to you what to do. And if you love him you'll do it. Do you realize that's how love works isn't it? You know in love, if I you know I'm in a home now if I suggest, if I just suggest that I were unfaithful I wouldn't have to say the truth. You? Go and get me a cup of tea. I might have to. Tell the king of Britain. Hey, because he loves me because there's love in my life I'd have to suggest to him can I get you a cup of tea? Or something, I'm hungry. Tell him and he'll get it for you. It's wonderful to be in a home where there's love isn't it? You can suggest what you might need and he'll get it for you. That's how the kingdom of God is. There's no arguing about you do this or else. Don't do it. You haven't done it. It's the voluntary willingness of love. It's thy people shall be willing it says in the scripture. They shall be willing. Are you willing? Are you willing? You know when there's a call for volunteers in the church and they say please do this, please let us help. I know I think you're different people now you say something and they'll go up there straight away. You know I can tell them to sit down sometimes. They'll sit down and let somebody else do it. But are they willing? I know people like that. I know one man and I'm still with him sometimes and it's embarrassing everything he's a gentleman to it. He's willing to serve you. He will do everything you want to do That's how you want to talk about it. You just have to mention it. You just don't mention anything. It's wonderful to be with someone like that. That's what the kingdom of God is like. That's how people serve Jesus. He doesn't want anybody to bow to him being forced to do it. That's how they'll do it at the end of time. Whenever he needs to bow. He's wondering. But he wants to be able to say Lord I want to bow to you. Lord I want you to have everything. And I want you to have me. I want to be at thy feet. And if you get rich for something I'll do it. You see that's how it works. Do you remember this in the Old Testament you go back to Isaiah and you go back to that chapter 6 when he's in the temple. The king has died. The you or the king. The king died. The king never died. He died. And he was there in the temple. Worshipping. And suddenly God was there. And he worshipped. It was wonderful. He was caught up with all that the angels said. And then as it went on he heard a voice. Then he heard the voice that spoke. Remember this is how God speaks to people. He speaks to people always in a different way. But before he gives you his command remember that he stood justice to you many many times and you preferred yourself. God can't give a command to somebody like the blue who's never been obedient before. God doesn't waste his breath. And there's God and he says with a great longing whom should I send? Whom should I send? Whom should go first? Now you could imagine Isaiah was the only one who heard it. Well he probably was. But why was he the only one who heard it? It's a new inscription now. So all may hear it. Whom should I send? Whom will go first? And you notice the action. You can almost see him leaping up. Here am I. Send me. Send me. Make me willing. You know the church flourishes when people have bowed to him and they're serving him and they're doing it gladly. There's this verse in Nehemiah that speaks of the people they did it because they were willing. And the world went on fast because the people were willing. And things happened quickly because the people were willing. You notice in the tabernacle when they were told what they needed for the tabernacle. And it says that the people were willing and they gave freely. And eventually they had to give an announcement saying please stop giving. We've got too much. They were willing. They wanted to give. You've got to get off your throne. You've got to get off that bench of your own doing. You've got to cease to die as your own life. You've got to throw yourself at the feet of Jesus Christ. If you know the things you serve him with, I've got to stop for a greater thing. You mustn't serve him with things. You mustn't think you're doing God's favours by serving him with what you have to give him. You must serve him with yourself. Remember that call to humanity called the Apostle Paul. What did he have to serve God with? Nothing but himself. When he went to a town, what did he count within? He may have taken a few scrolls. He may have taken a few books. He may have done that. But all that he had was himself. Here I am, a servant of Jesus Christ. What do you need to be a servant of Jesus Christ? Just help yourself. That's all you need. That's all you need. Jesus Christ is out looking for a great thing. He comes to the church. Do you realise that when you approach him you're closed. I'm struck by this prophecy. You're closed with many things. You're closed sometimes with problems and you bring them to him. Maybe you bring to him your wealth and that and all of those things, but you see you bring them to him and you give them to him. And this is how it happens in the gospels. You feel that people follow him and serve him and give him tribute. Until they eventually gave themselves. Do you see what you've got to do is you've got to take off you've got to strip yourself. What do you wear at his feet? Not wear at his feet even. You take it off and call it bare and then you give yourself. You take off your money, your wealth, your riches, you call it. Some people's might be very big, some people's might be very small, it doesn't matter. It might be your financial ambitions. It may not be your actual wealth. It might just be your financial ambitions. You pile it up there and lay it down and give it to him. There it is Lord, I give you that. You look at your career, your plans for your future. You sum it all up. There it is Lord, all this. I take it off. Lay it at thy feet. Lord I want to do this with my life. I want to do that. I want to do this. I want to do that. Lay it low to his feet. All of it. In my heart this is the most important thing Lord. What could it be? There's so many things it could be and they've clouded into my mind maybe they've clouded into your mind. What is it for you? I don't just want to give you this thing. What is it for you? What is that priority? But you say Lord I want this. Lay it at his feet. Just lay it at his feet. Lay it at his feet. Give it up. Maybe it's something you're trying to carve out for yourself. And you're trying to minisculate things to get your go your way. Lay it at his feet. All of the forces of you. All your potential. Give it down. Lay it at his feet. And you say I want this. Lay it at his feet. Lay yourself at the feet of Jesus. Strip yourself completely naked until you've only got your spirit left. Only your spirit. Then that's his throne. That's his throne. That's his throne room. That's the centre of his reign. It's the place from which the church has life. It's the place from which you have life. And you know because a man does that when a man does it there is a change in his personality. It is somehow subtle. As I said it's a subtle thing in the human heart. It's a subtle change. It may not be the most dramatic thing that happens in a man. It would be dramatic with the passage of time. But it is not dramatic in the sense that when you actually do that, it may be in the most calm, just a few words, O Lord I bow everything to Thee. I give Thee my spirit. I bow in my heart to Thee. When a man does it, it may not just be a it may not be with a consciousness of the most awesome thing he's ever done but he just does it. And instantly there's a change in his personality. As Jesus Christ assumes his authority. It's wonderful that change of personality. But a man before should be a little bit uh he's not unclean but he's not clean. You know he's not filthy unclean but you know he's not clean. Maybe nobody does know but you know. You know that the mark of your life isn't incorruptible holiness. It's corruptible according to the pressures. It's corruptible according to what you can turn to your own benefit. It's corruptible according to what you can benefit from yourself. It's not incorruptible to the purposes to serve the purposes of one and one alone. Only the Lord Jesus Christ. A man's life must serve one. God knows that when he wins the heart of God. He knows. Don't think that what I'm saying is that a man only dies once. Oh a man must die. And sometimes he has to die again. You know this because sometimes his success has got in his way. You know sometimes his failure has got in his way. Sometimes everything seems to flood in and like it's all outflown. Sometimes it's the pressure of his friends. Sometimes it's the pressure of his age. His growth. It's the pressure of those around him that they want to dominate over him and maul him according to their purposes. Maybe it's something that a man has to do a job. But you must bow and yield everything to Jesus Christ and you must maintain it. Through success and failure you refuse to mount that throne ever again. And if you do, you know it. You know you've got to go down again. Humility. What a strange elusive thing it is. You know nothing. No man can have it except it's given to him by Jesus. He's the only one who knows humility. There are no virtues in man. There are none. And if I were to look at you and say what do you want to be the mark of your life? What do you want to be that note that comes across to everyone? You see, it's a war on cleanliness. What do you want to be clean? And to be clean, not just to be a good person, but to be clean for Jesus. To be clean for him. To be pure for Jesus. You know, in a sense it's like saying people tell you these things and say well when you're the third age you can do that. Oh look, I don't think it's good to have everything whatever age you are, whether you're six, sixteen, whatever age, sixty-six, and over three, whatever age you are, the mark of your life has got to be holiness for Jesus. That's it. Holiness for Jesus. Faith for Jesus. Love for Jesus. Prayer for Jesus. I'm delighted, I'm so delighted when I meet a young person whose life has got this mark of holiness. I'm talking about someone really young. I'm delighted when I meet of any age, because it's sometimes age, it brings in a beauty, it brings in the glory, it brings in the loveliness, it brings in Christ. It makes the person be clothed not with themselves, but with the wonder of the person of Jesus Christ, and that is right to behold. And I tell you you can be clothed with Christ at any age, and I'll tell you this also, that being clothed with Christ is not a question of process, it's a question of the disposition of your heart. A person can have loveliness all over them at any age. A person can be clothed with perfect holiness at any age. A person can have shining things in the beauty of Christ at any age. It's the wonder of when you've seen him, what are you going to do with him? Are you standing there on the far back looking at what showed, what showed when he saw Jesus? The fight that was in his heart, the fight, the battle, the fatalic struggle, the treachery of his own service for God, ended there, as he fell in the depths before Jesus. It ended, and he was clothed with Christ. He wasn't clothed with Christ until he was baptized in the Holy Spirit, but he was clothed with Christ already on that Damascus road when he died, because he was slain by what he saw. The love in his heart that came there, the love that was there to him, the love to Christ that was there to him, it took to death the other loves, the selfish loves, the other things. He became a servant of Christ on that Damascus road before he was baptized in the Spirit. The baptism in the Spirit is a crowning for a man who is bound to Christ. Don't think that you can have the baptism in the Spirit. You can't hope. It's given to you because of Christ. Because you bow to Christ. It's given because the things in the Bible you want to relate to Christ more than anything else. It just won't come. Let's look again in this Ephesian letter. And we'll finish here. We're doing a close. Let's look in this chapter one again where we started. And I want you to see it again. But this jewel in this chapter is the truth. That Christ had exhibited great power when he was raised from the dead. It's the power to change a man's inward constitution to be utterly yielded to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, not outwardly but inwardly. The fact that he can raise me up to sit with him in heaven with totals is all a matter of going down to go up. The matter of receiving revelation from Christ in heaven with totals is all a matter of going down unto him. And you see when you're in that position you can't control the revelation. You can't have it. When you're in this position there's nothing you can have. And yet you can have all things. It's all yours and yet it's not yours. It's his. It's a mystery of the apocryphal that this man possessed everything and yet he had nothing. You read that. That's what he said. Possessed all things yet having nothing. He attained everything yet he lost everything. It's the position where you are in his control. And in his control he's made that you don't always need a bed to sleep in. You can sleep on the floor sometimes if you're his. He knows that you don't always need a meal to eat if you're his. He knows that it's your right to have a meal to eat but you don't have any rights anymore. They're all his. Do you know that you have a right to be steeled? Are you not going to start ranting and loathing about it? Do you know that you have right upon right upon right because you have an inheritance in Christ but you don't want it? Unless it's from him. You don't want to attain something by persistent asking and find like the children of Israel that he granted you seed that sends leanness to your soul. You don't want anything except his authority in you. It's the wonder of it. This is the truth in this verse 18. The eyes of your heart being enlightened. Enlightened to see Christ. Enlightened to see him. To see the exceeding greatness of his power that's what I'm saying. To see what we believe according to the work of his mighty power which he wrought in Christ. When he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right upon the mountain of Moses. Isn't it amazing that that power can be in a man? And it is never in a man in his own control. It's always in Christ in a man. No man better powerful. There's no powerful man in the kingdom of God. Do you understand what I'm saying? There's nobody powerful in the kingdom of God except Christ. No one has any power. No one has any authority except to be his. No one can say I can do this. No one can. Everybody in this kingdom says I can do nothing. Nothing. No. I can't. I can stretch out my hand but I can't do it. I can't reach it. Unless he. Oh you can stretch out. You can be frustrated. You can do all kinds of things. All you find in the end is the frustration of trying to build yourself another corner. It flows from Christ. The mystery of it all is that when Christ is discovered when we discover the reality of Christ something flows into your being that transforms you deeper than you know. Something changes the whole note of your being that is deeper than you know. It changes you consciously. It changes words you didn't plan to speak. It changes words you can't plan to speak. It changes actions you can't plan to do. It changes the unconscious person that you are. It changes you. Christ is going to be manifest in your spirit. In you. Look at this verse 20. Christ when he raised him from the dead and set him up his own right hand in the heavenly Father of all. Father of all demonic principalities and powers and might and dominion. If he wouldn't be there you see no one who ever threw themselves at the feet of Christ before the Pentecost ever found any difficulty in getting what they wanted. Do you understand what I'm saying? When they threw themselves there they found everything was possible. Certain things weren't possible. The rich young ruler found it wasn't possible. Do you know why he wanted to serve Christ as a rich man? You can't. You may serve him as a rich man if it's his will. You can't serve him as a rich man in your will. It won't go wrong. And there are men who will try and serve Christ on their own terms and they won't hear that clear word no from Christ. They'll hear it but they won't hear it as clear as that. They'll explain it away. They'll explain away the barrier that lies across their path because you can go nowhere unless Christ really has given you the yes. You can't. You can do nothing. It must be under his authority. Everyone who throws himself there above every principality, the demonic powers cannot hinder a man of might and dominion and every name that is named. It's nothing to do with the names of men. It's to do with you getting through to Christ. How many have trusted in a man and thought if I can talk to this man, if I can ask something from this man, my bad debts go through a man who can help more than others. That's true, isn't it? But in the end you must bow to Christ. And if a man would press through to Christ he would find he wouldn't need to see a man. Whoever he is. Every name that is named, not only in this world but also in that which is to come. One name above every name. I've put all things under his feet. What about you being there? And goes him to be the head of all things to the church which is his body. The fullness of him that fills all and all. There we are. That's where we've arrived. Him the head of all things to the church. Amen. That's very tough.