In this sermon, the speaker shares a story about a Christian man who encounters a group of boys from Sunday school. He quizzes one of the boys about what he has learned about Jesus, and the boy quickly recites the key facts of Jesus' life, including his crucifixion. The speaker then discusses the common belief that salvation comes from repentance and promising to be better, but argues that this approach often leads to failure and lack of peace. Instead, the speaker emphasizes the importance of resting in the fact that Jesus' blood provides perfect righteousness and that Jesus is the one who overcomes sin in our lives. The sermon concludes by highlighting the transformative power of encountering the risen Lord Jesus.

Will you turn to Hebrews chapter 13 verse 20. Hebrews 13 verse 20. Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead, our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen. And then will you turn back to John's gospel chapter 20. John's gospel chapter 20 verse 20. And when Jesus had so said, he showed unto them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord. Saying that they were glad is putting it mildly. They virtually leapt for joy. Darkness was turned to light for them. Defeat into victory when they saw the Lord Jesus risen from the dead. And so this morning we're continuing with our theme, when I saw him. And the effect that a new vision of the Lord has upon us. First of all, we thought about when Isaiah saw the Lord. And the effect upon him was to say, woe is me. Then we yesterday thought about when Saul of Tarsus saw the Lord. And the effect upon him was to bring him right down so that the things that he once counted gains, he counted dead loss in order that he might gain Christ. And this morning we're thinking about when the disciples saw the Lord. On this resurrection morning. And the effect that seeing Jesus risen from the dead had upon them was as I said to put it mildly to make them glad. Now you will notice I've linked this verse with that verse in Hebrews 13. And in particular I want to link with it that phrase in those two verses I read to you. That Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep was brought again from the dead through the blood of the everlasting covenant. And when a penitent sees Jesus risen from the dead and that for by his own blood and the whole thing all for him that penitent be he never so downcast before becomes glad and rejoices with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Now I'm not suggesting that the disciples recognize what I've indicated already that their Jesus was brought again from the dead through his own blood. Because that's what Hebrews 13 says, doesn't it? He was brought again from the dead through his own blood. Now I'm not suggesting the disciples understood that. That there is a hint of it. For he showed them his hands and his side. But I do say this is what we may see. This is revealed to us in a way it obviously wasn't as at that time revealed to them. And the effect on seeing Jesus risen for us and that by his blood is to make the penitent, the self-accusing, mournful soul glad indeed. Now this aspect of seeing the Lord Jesus is particularly for the man who's can be convicted of sin. And many of us have. And who have indeed acknowledged that God's right and we're wrong in these matters. And we've repented. But that sinner although he's been convicted, although he's repented, he's not yet glad. He's not yet full of praise to the Lord. And they are the ones, and there may be many of us in this condition this morning, who need to see Jesus risen from the Lord and that by his blood for them. Now it isn't merely, as I see it, it isn't merely us seeing Jesus risen from the dead. Of course there are various aspects of seeing a risen Lord that are calculated to bring gladness and comfort to the soul. I mean 1 Corinthians 15 is full of the blessed implications. Now is Christ risen. But I think there's something richer or more fundamental than those other results. It's not only seeing Jesus risen from the dead, but it's seeing the significance of Jesus risen from the dead. Now will you turn to Romans 4 verse 25. It talks about in verse 24 that we're to believe, Romans 4 24, that we're to believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, listen to these words, who was delivered for our offences and was raised for our justification. Two things are said about the Lord Jesus. First, he was delivered for our offences. Great word, important word, he was delivered. Judas delivered him. What will you give me and I will deliver him unto you. The chief priests delivered Jesus. When they had bound him, they delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor. And Pontius Pilate also delivered him. When he had scourged him, he delivered him to be crucified. But above all that, God delivered him up for us all. And that by his determinate foreknowledge and counsel, as it says in Acts chapter 22. Why did God deliver his son? For the simple reason, but by divine appointment and by his own agreed willingness. He had taken responsibility for all the sins of men. He had said, in effect, what Paul said in his letter to Philemon, as he returned the runaway slave, who'd now been converted, to his former master. If he hath wronged thee, or o'erth thee ought, put that on mine account. And by God's appointment and the son's surrender, Jesus in effect had said, if these, this world of men have wronged thee, or o'erth thee ought, put that on mine account. And the moment he took responsibility for human sin, God had no other option but to deliver him to the death of the cross for our sins. Because that's what our sins deserved. Do you know the terrible injustice, as it would seem, of Jesus the innocent one being put on the cross was actually the justest thing that's ever happened in this world? In Romans 5, Paul refers to it as one act of righteousness. It was just of God to condemn even his son, and hide even his face from his son, when he took responsibility for our sins. It shows you how serious sin must be. You might thought that his credit balance of righteousness with the Father was so great that he could accept our sins and swallow them up and still remain in unbroken relationship with his Father, but so great was our indebtedness that he'd even beggared the eternal Son of God, and he was delivered as the just act for our offences. But he goes on to say, he was raised again for our justification. Now how in the world was he raised? Don't take that as just one of these things bound to happen. It wasn't bound to happen. A gentleman came out, was walking along the road, he was a Christian man, and out from the mission hall there came a lot of little boys from Sunday school. And these boys didn't know him, and so he quizzed one of them in a rather teasing way, he said, what have you been doing in there? Oh, I've been learning about Jesus, sir. Well, what did you learn about Jesus? And the boy quickly ran through some of the salient facts of the life of the Lord Jesus, including of course, and ending with the cross. And the man was very interested to see how much the boy had learnt. And the boy ran off. A few minutes later, he ran back, all puffed. He said, please, sir, he didn't stay dead. But why didn't he stay dead? If the wages of our sin is death, eternal death, were they not enough to keep him in the grave forever? How then was Jesus our Lord brought again from the dead and set free from that which would have condemned him to the grave forever? Hebrews 13 tells us how. He was brought again from the dead. How? Through the blood of the everlasting covenant. The value of the blood of Jesus which he shed there on the cross was greater than all the sins for which he took responsibility. So great was its value because of the person who shed it, because of the deep judgment bearing that was borne there, that it was enough to exhaust that judgment. He said it's finished and that means that's a very deep word. And there was no further legal requirement for him to lie in the grave longer than those three days. And up from the grave he rose clear, utterly clear of all the sins for which he took responsibility. And how was he cleared? There is power, wonder-working power in the blood of the Lamb and its power was first shown on behalf of the very one who shed it. He's clear of sin. All the sins he took, the blood has set him free and up from the grave he's risen by the blood. But the sins of which he is clear are my sins, they're not his, they're mine. And if my surety is clear, I am too, raised not only for himself but for our justification. The sins of which Jesus has been cleared by his blood are mine. And if he's clear, I'm clear. And there need be nothing to nag me, there need nothing about which I need to take a stick to myself. I can bury all my self-reprimination when I see this that Jesus has done on my behalf and I see the mighty power of the Lord Jesus first on behalf of the Lord Jesus. If that blood was enough to bring him again from the dead, it's surely going to be enough for me and my need as a sinner. Because you see, Jesus had to his account infinitely more sins than any man, individual man has. One individual can only have his own sins laid to his account. But in the case of the Lord Jesus, he had the world. What can wash away his stain? That's a question. What can make him whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. It's all finished. It's all done. Now till we see Jesus and the mighty power of his blood first shown on his own behalf and therefore as much for you as for him, till you see that, you'll be sad. You'll be mourning over your lost righteousness. You know, I've been a Christian for so long I ought to have got better by now. And you'll be struggling and striving for a better righteousness. Perhaps if I could improve, perhaps after this conference I'll be different and that'll make things right with God. And in our struggles to get a better righteousness before God than we've had, there will be no rest because you will never make it. You will never make it even as a surrendered Christian and get an adequate righteousness that will put you at peace with God that way. But when we see Jesus made a little lower than the angels but crowned with glory and honor and in that place by his blood which is for me too, I'm just glad. I can bury my self-recrimination. I can step out into freedom because of the mighty power of the blood of Jesus which availed for him first and therefore certainly for me. And I have rest from all my struggles of getting a better righteousness before God to become that more victorious Christian that surely will have peace and who surely will be used of God. You won't become that better, more victorious Christian to the extent that it will give you peace. There's one work which is not a finished work. It's the work of the Spirit in you. Never till you get to glory will God be able to say of that progressive work of the Holy Spirit in you, it is finished. It's never finished. But there's another work of which God says it is finished. Not the work of God in you but the work of Christ for you. And you and I have got to learn to find our rest there, to see that's my righteousness, that's my ground of freedom and you can't have a better one, not even if you were some heavenly creature. Now all this, of course, implies repentance. If it is said in the scripture, God is the God who justifies the ungodly, it implies that the ungodly admit they're ungodly, otherwise you don't qualify. The emphasis is that when you admit you're wrong, God says you're right. But you've got to admit it. Yes, it implies repentance. But what I think God is trying to bring home to us, that repentance and self-judgement is not enough for peace. You do not get peace with God by repentance, absolutely essential as it is, but you get peace with God through Jesus and his blood. And not until we have a Spirit-revealed revelation of Jesus and his blood, risen from the dead, it's all finished. On my behalf, do we lose our burdens and step into freedom. Will you turn to Isaiah chapter 30, verse 15. Isaiah 30, verse 15. For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, in returning and rest shall ye be saved. In returning to the Lord, that is in repentance. And then what? Now I'll tell you how we mostly read it, very often. In returning and resolving shall we be saved. In repenting and coming back to the cross and promising to be better shall you be saved. But you never keep your promises, therefore you never get peace that way. In returning and having repented, then rest in the fact that the blood of Jesus is enough to give you the most perfect righteousness in the world. But how do I know I'm not going to do it again? You hand that over to Jesus. If anything should go wrong again, the blood that's availed for you today will avail for you then. And the heat's off you. You're no longer walking the knife edge. In returning, not in resolving, and resting. I often think you've got that bit of an error, if it's right to call it such, in the much-loved hymn, and I like it myself, but the last verse always bothers me a bit. Oh dearly, dearly, you know the hymn, There is a Green Hill. Oh dearly, dearly, has he loved, and we must love him too, and trust in his redeeming blood, and try his work to do. How discouraging, because I won't make it. And we have the feeling if I don't make it, then that spoils everything, and I can't expect to be happy, and glad, and free. In returning, and then resting in Jesus, by faith accepting the fact that now, because I've returned, I'm counted as right with God, as his blood can make me. When the disciples saw the Lord, when you see him like this, and see the power of his blood, by which he's been raised from the dead, and if it was enough for him, it's enough for you, you, there's no reason why you shouldn't be glad. But let's go a bit further. Not only is Jesus risen from the dead because of his blood, but Hebrews tells us he's entered into the holy place, the heavenly sanctuary of which the earthly tabernacle is a picture, with his own blood. Will you turn to Hebrews, chapter 9, verse 11. But Christ being come, and high priest of good things to come, Hebrews 9, 11, but Christ being come, and high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building, neither by the blood of goats and calves, as they did in the Old Testament, but by his own blood, he entered into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. How did he enter? How did he go back to glory? It says, by his own blood. Well, after all, it says, there shall no wise enter into it anything defileth, or worketh abomination, or maketh a lie, and whereas he hasn't done these things personally, he's been identified with these things, and accepted those things as his own. As the Old Hymn says, he took my sins and my sorrows, he made them his very own, and bore the consequent judgment. How can such a man go back into glory? It tells us how. The same way that Jesus entered into the holy of holies, it's the same way in which you have to. He went in by his own blood. And over in verse 24, For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for me. Before the throne of God above, I have a strong, a perfect plea, a great high priest, whose name is love, whoever lives and pleads for me, my name is written on his hands, my name is written on his heart, I know that while in heaven he stands, no town can bid me thence depart. When Satan tempts me to despair, and tells me of the guilt within, upward I look, and see him there, who made an end of all my sin. Five bleeding wounds he bears, received on Calvary, they pour effectual prayers, they strongly plead for me, forgive him, oh forgive, they cry, nor let that ransomed sinner die. And how did he get there? And how is it he's there for me? By his own blood. Will you turn over to Psalm 24? Back to Psalm 24. Verse 3. Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who shall stand in his holy place? That's not merely in heaven right now, an experience of utter proximity to God. It tells us those who can enter into the holy place and stand in his presence. He that has clean hands, clean hands, a thing that speaks of our doings, and a pure heart that speaks of our thoughts and motives, who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity. A man who's free from that pride that lifts up his soul in self-glory and hasn't sworn deceitfully. They're the ones who ascend into the hill of the Lord and stand in his holy place. Well if they're the ones, I'm excluded. I don't qualify. I cannot say my hands have always been clean or my heart always pure, that I haven't lifted up my soul unto vanity, nor that I've ever sworn deceitfully. It's as if, like these railway crossings, a great barrier has come down and we're outside. But that's not the end of the psalm. In verse 7, we hear these words, Lift up your heads, O ye gates, those railway-crossing barriers. Lift up your heads, O ye gates, that excluded all sinners from that holy place. And be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of Glory shall come in. Who is the King of Glory? Why, that one mighty in battle who fought and won our battle for us at Calvary. That great victory of sin and death and woe that needs no second fight, nor leaves a second foe. And there was a barrier down. But this King of Glory comes. How does he come? With his own blood. His garments dyed red. And the moment he comes by his own blood, the gates are lifted. And he goes into the holy place by his own blood. If it was enough to bring him in, it's enough for you. And in going into the holy place, to change the metaphor a little, he's left the door open for you and me. So that later in this epistle to the Hebrews, Paul says, Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, whither the forerunner is for us entered. Where the forerunners come, a whole host of others are coming. And when Jesus went back to glory by his own blood, he said, Father, I'm only the forerunner. The whole crowd of others coming in afterwards. And you're one of that crowd. And you're going in by the way that Jesus went, which he's consecrated for you too. Please turn the cassette over now. Do not fast wind it in either direction. And you're one of that crowd. And you're going in by the way that Jesus went, which he's consecrated for you too. And there he is, appearing in the presence of God for us. And dear one, you're so sad about your condition. I am sometimes. The flesh in you is so often active. It reacts in spite of promises. You know what you're like. I want to tell you there's a man in the glory on your side. And you're the object of the pity of God. A pity which is being made yours by his blood. We read about Jesus being in the holy place, making intercession for us. I suppose by the first thought is Jesus pleading, saying, oh Lord, please, please have mercy on that man. I don't think it means that. I may be wrong. The mere fact that he's there at all is his intercession for me. Had there not been in himself an adequate answer for sin, he wouldn't have been there. He's only got to be there. His very presence there is his intercession. He shows his hands. He spreads his wounds. And you can have boldness. You can shed yourself. Oh, I'm this and oh, I'm that. And be free. And I believe that you and I have got to believe it. You've got to dare to believe in the power of the blood. This is the way in which John Bunyan got free from that terrible two years during which he thought he'd committed the unforgivable sin. If you haven't read Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, try and get a copy. I don't know if it's still being produced. Pam and I read it in bed. And you know, chapter after chapter, we said, when's this man going to get out of the dark? It was terrible. Little bit of help and he dashed again. No man knew what it is to have a condemning heart like John Bunyan. No man wallowed. You haven't been as miserable as he was. And then at last God delivered him. And one of the things which he used was this, a word from heaven. Almost audible. He was in his garden, just getting right and then, oh no, I don't think I'm right with God. And there fell a voice almost audibly from heaven. Thy righteousness is in heaven. Am I right? Am I right? Thy righteousness is in heaven. He says, where's that come from? Is it in the Bible? He went through his Bible. The nearest he could find was, Christ Jesus is made unto us wisdom, righteousness and redemption. That he that glorieth might glory in the Lord. And he found himself the object of the pity of heaven. That there was one at God's right hand who'd answered every accusation. Thereby is blood for himself and for John Bunyan. And he discovered, though he was a miserable man, anything alike, he couldn't have a better or more unassailable righteousness before God. If he was the biggest saint in England, he wouldn't have had a better one. If you're a praying high, you don't have a better one than that of the blood of Jesus. His powerful blood did once a stone and now it speaks before the throne. Now if we are still mourning and not praising, it could be one of two reasons. One, we haven't truly repented. You're skirting, you're dodging repentance maybe. And not putting yourself wholly in the wrong. The other person's wrong too. It never works. One of the most painful experiences of my life when I say, I know I'm wrong but the other person's wrong. It was a very painful experience. The one big thing that hurt my first marriage, thank God he healed it. But oh, over a certain matter, I know I'm wrong, but she's wrong. No, you must be wrong. Dear man, if you can't take that, this is what God said to me, not over this, that situation but over many. If you can't take that, what can you take? Because there's plenty more like that coming in life. You've got to learn to take it, man. What's wrong is not the other person's actions but your reactions. Get that and truly repent it all. That could be the reason why we're not yet rejoicing. But more likely it may be that there's you've repented all right. You're mourning over your lost righteousness. You're still sad that your wings haven't grown yet. Man, you've got the most perfect righteousness before God you can have in all the world. The righteousness of the blood of Jesus. It's taken account of the worst and settled it. And there he is. Proof of the fact. If it wasn't enough, he wouldn't be there. The fact is there. That's your plea. At the blessed mercy seat pleading for me. My feeble faith looks up. Jesus to thee. And you can bury this self-reprimination if you acknowledge you're wrong and step into freedom. And I would say growth in grace doesn't mean growth in goodness. It's growth in the rapidity in which having gone to the cross you step into freedom. Some people take a long time having gone to the cross to get free. They're still licking their wounds. They haven't grown in grace enough. They haven't seen grace yet. They haven't seen the blood as much as they should. Growing in grace is the rapidity which the penitent soul steps into freedom again because he sees there's wonder-working power in the blood of the Lamb. Now we're touching really on the old question of the victorious life. And many people have said at first, and only at first, what is sometimes testified to in these conferences doesn't sound like victory. I couldn't agree more. It doesn't sound like victory but it is. Now I've thought as many of us have and for myself I thought now what is really God's intention of victory for the Christian. And as I see it, I make the suggestion to your thinking, there are three aspects of the victorious life. The first aspect is not my victory over sin but His victory over me. Absolutely foundational. Not me dominating sin but Him dominating me and breaking me whenever sin comes in and taking me to the cross and I'm going to be winning for that. This was put in this beautiful way for me when Dr. Joe Church and I were in Brazil years ago. We had a lovely conference for ministers and Christian workers at a certain camp and later in our tour we went to a seminary from which several young men had come to this conference and been helped. And we heard one of these young men telling the others his testimony. We didn't understand Portuguese but someone was whispering interpretation in our ears. And he told how he'd been struggling for long for victory and always failing. Certain things were getting him down every time. And he'd make a big effort or have a new experience and think he'd got victory. Then he said, you know, we used to have late night prayer meetings in our rooms, didn't we? He said to the other students. You know, one of those occasions, God came down at about midnight and filled us we were frustrated with the awe of his presence. He said, I think I got the victory at last. But when I went home for the vacation, I found it was the same old failures. Then he said, I went to this conference and then I learnt something new. That victory was not me dominating my sins, but Jesus dominating or overcoming me. Not me overcoming sin, but Jesus overcoming me and breaking me. When sin came in, to admit it and going to the cross. Now that's basic. Not you overcoming sin. Him overcoming you when it comes. Oh, you know, when it happens in a group, everybody knows it's victory. One of those conferences, a dear brother, a friend of mine, American missionary. I shall see him in the autumn in America soon. And he wasn't very happy about the conference and the leadership. He felt they brought in so many emphases and one thing or another that our message which he appreciated so much was getting obliterated. And he was saying this to the leaders. And of course they had something else to say. No, no, no, no, no. Yes, you see. And we were sitting there and I just whispered to Ernie, I said Ernie, I think you ought to repent. You're getting hard. So the conversation went on. He remained silent for a bit. And then at a break in the conversation, his brother wanted to tell him something. My attitude over this thing has been wrong. Will you please forgive me? I tell you, that was victory. It was the victory of Jesus over Ernie Gilmore. Of course the whole atmosphere changed. And the old hymn says, him exhorting, self-abasing, this is victory. Well, why don't we do it? There's the basis. That's the basis of a victorious life. Him overcoming me. The old picture of Jacob being wrestled with. God wasn't out to patch him up on his weak points but break him on his strong. At last he admitted he was a Jacob. He was a supporter. That's victory. And what a victory it is. Doesn't he have to wrestle? And maybe you don't always let him get the victory. And when it happens everybody starts singing and praising. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! That's victory. And you know that chorus we often sing, oh the cleansing blood has reached me. That's a chorus that's sung, especially in Africa and here too, to celebrate the victory of the Lamb over you. Over me. And when somebody gets up and gives a costly testimony, putting themselves completely in the wrong, that seems to be almost the only chorus we can sing. We are celebrating the victory of the Lamb over another brother, over ourselves. The second aspect of victory is I suppose I can call the first his victory over me. The second is his victory for me as a sinner. Let me give you another illustration to express it. Years ago here in England, we were on a conference and a small team of us were responsible for the ministry and so on. And we were praying together and seeking to be open with one another. And one of our brothers, he was in the ministry, said brethren, I've got something to tell you. You must know me as I am. I feel God wants me to share with you the truth. He said, I've got an illegitimate child in Germany and you don't know anything about it. He said, my bishop has been told. My wife, too, she's forgiven me and the bishop has permitted me to continue in the ministry. But you don't know. I want you to know. That's me. And he was very distressed. It was a tremendous thing to bring this out in our presence. And of course it touched us. In spirit, we all took our places alongside of him and said, that's us, too. But for the grace of God, in the realm of thought and desire, if not in action, we're every bit as guilty. I was thrilled. I thought it was a wonderful victory. And it says it was. It was a victory of Jesus over him. But one of the brothers afterwards said, you know, we must pray for him. He hasn't got the victory yet. I wondered what he meant. He hadn't got the victory yet. Did it mean that he was still playing with that sort of thing? That he was still likely to do it again? It didn't mean that at all. There wasn't any likelihood of that. All of us knew that. What did he mean then? He hadn't got the victory. He was still under the cloud of shame. He hadn't got through on shame. He was still saying, what in the world do people think? He hadn't seen the blood for that particular thing. He wasn't among the disciples who were glad. He was still full of self- recrimination. He isn't now. He's free! Got a sinner's testimony! Not the sort of thing he gives everywhere, but he was counseling somebody in Shear and saying, me too, brother, but I'm free. I've got victory. In that sense, that's another aspect of the victorious life. The degree in which you come into the victory of the blood. You can't have any other victory just to have that. There was a fellowship meeting in Uganda and a man they'd never seen came in and he tried to speak and share something, trembling, weeping, couldn't get it out. Tried, weeping, couldn't get it out and the African patient encouraged him and at last he brought out, very painfully, he'd murdered a man. No shock in the part of the brethren. You say, he's not broken yet. He's not broken. He wouldn't be all like this if he was broken. He would have come right through to the cross. I put myself in the wrong, hallelujah, I've got the best righteousness in all the world. And he would have been rejoicing in the sinner's righteousness. And they've been put, men hung in jail in Kampala. Men who in that jail were led to Christ and saw the blood because there's seems to be something the Spirit especially revealed in certain parts of the church, a new vision of the blood. And one went to visit. One of these men who'd been convicted of murder, who was due to be hung but who'd found the Lord. And he found him on his knees, praying aloud. He said, Lord, it's been long and I'm going to see this, that, the other. He mentioned all the saved of all the various tribes round there. He was praising! And when he went to his execution, he was singing, took a tender Yesu, hallelujah, I've got no shame, right through! And they put the, they put the hood over him, took a tender, it was still being sung by this new convert, and they put the noose round his neck and the song only ceased when he dropped down through the trap door. That's victory! Victory! And we ought to be enjoying this because there's power in the blood of Jesus. And then the last aspect of victory, not only his victory over me, his victory for me, putting me free from all the shame and self-recrimination. Glad in Jesus, as right with God as the blood can make me. But the third is his victory in me. This is something I'm not going to deal with at length here, it'll come in perhaps to tomorrow's message, I'm sure it will. It's the picture of the vine and the branch. What produces fruit in that branch, not the branch. Because severed from the vine, it's hopeless. It's the sap of the vine in the branch. And the branch is producing that which is characteristic of the vine. And that's the picture. He's mine because he's in my heart and never, never will be part. Just as the branch is to the vine, I'm joined to Christ. I know he's mine. He's mine. He himself mine. He himself my life. Oh, I know there's an old there's an old Adam there who intrudes. But there's another, the new Adam's there. And as I'm prepared to be broken and go to the cross and get into the victory through his blood, then that one who lives within by his spirit will begin to express himself for the fruit of the Spirit, his love for the other fellow and gentleness towards his ways. And there'll be something quite different than there ever was before. But he says, not me. That's not characteristic of me. No, it isn't. It's characteristic of another one who by his spirit you are allowing to live in you. No more let it be my wisdom. No more let it be my working. Nor my wisdom, love and power but the life of Jesus only flowing through me hour by hour. But that won't happen without many a visit to the cross. Many a glad acceptance of the power of his blood. It's by his death and endless life that he saves. But the life only comes as you partake of his death. And so when the disciples saw the Lord, saw him, at least we may see him if they didn't quite see it this way, risen from the dead by his blood and therefore for us and for all our things we can be glad indeed, rejoicing indeed and you can bury this mourning. All your mourning of what you are. Don't let it be a surprise you are like that. That's how you are. Judge it when it comes but that's it. And you are the object of divine solicitude and pity in your need. If you only can hear you sighing about yourself, that's enough. The object of a pity purchased by the blood of your high priest and help is sent down from the sanctuary in abundant measure and you are given peace with God through his precious blood. Let us pray. Lord we pray thee that this that thou has been showing us will linger with us today. As we go out today may we all be in a comforting assurance that we have a high priest appearing in the presence of God for us. He's there by his own blood and we in spirit can be there too. And Lord we pray thee that we shall really unload at his dear feet that are just where we are on earth all that which has been oppressing us and we may step into a glad and happy freedom. Go on interpreting these things to us for thy name's sake. And now may the grace of our Lord Jesus and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all evermore. Amen.