I do want you to know how privileged I feel to be with you again. Even though all these years have gone by, I feel as though we have been very much a part of you.
So thankful for those of you who have come from a distance to be here this week. I am really disappointed that I thought Hosea came to hear me. It is a real, real lesson.
The second part of that is, I am always intimidated when either Brother Kong or Jose are in the audience, because I know the richness of their life and ministry. And while I have been on the way a long time, I know that we are short.
I have not forgotten how we started with, “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.” I am fearful this morning that if I start explaining that, we will not get any further. And I do have another burden.
I need to say this: the main thing always has to be qualified. We are going to talk at the end. Mac has promised, after I am exhausted and through, to remind me that I still have not answered it.
The main thing in the universe is what we are going to get at. Last night, we were talking about the main thing in really finishing the race triumphantly: that we have been marked out, or predestined, for two things—to be conformed to the image of the Lord Jesus, and to be placed in position as mature sons who can share something of the reign with Him.
But this morning, my burden is to talk about another main thing. One of these days—it might not be too far away—we are all going to stand for the evaluation when we get to the end of the race. We realize that He is going to evaluate what we have done.
The fact that we are with Him means that we have been saved by grace. But I feel burdened because one of these days, when we all stand before the Bema, or the judgment seat of Christ, somebody is going to slip up to me and say, “Vern, did you know this? Did you know what was going to take place here, and you did not tell me?”
I am relieving myself this morning of that burden. I will be able to say to everyone here, “I told you so. I told you.”
Now, let me use the overhead again. I do not know how it comes through on the video. Some places it does not, but you know that I need it.
Let me begin what we are sharing this morning by suggesting that there are different judgments pictured in Scripture.
Very briefly, we can say that God’s great judging work that is past for us as His children is when, on the cross, He dealt a master blow against sin—the self, the old flesh, and all that that represents; the world; and the devil. In one master stroke, He took care of all of that and judged, once and for all, all that needed to be taken care of.
And the good news this morning is that if you have trusted the Lord Jesus—if you have entered the cross—you will never be at this judgment over here, the judgment of the great white throne.
People often confuse this, thinking that at the very end, at the great assize when all are gathered there to be judged, they will be there. No. Good news this morning: if you have been here, you will never come to this judgment. That ought to cause you to say, “Thank You, Lord.”
So I need to strip away this very quickly. There are many aspects to what we call the judgment at the cross. But the great white throne, after the thousand years, will be a time when the whole world will come to realize.
But the judgment that I want to talk about this morning—you can turn in your Bible to 1 Corinthians—is what is called the Bema judgment.
This particular judgment seat of Christ—we will read about it first in 2 Corinthians, shall we please? 2 Corinthians 5:10.
The Apostle Paul says:
For we must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ;
that each one may receive the things done in the body,
according to what he hath done,
whether it be good or bad.
I need to say to you this morning that once sin has been dealt with—the flesh, all that is contrary to God, the world, and the devil—once this has been dealt with in God’s working at the cross, there is still a further evaluation for every one of us.
The Greek word here is Bema. It literally means the judgment seat where we will be evaluated for what we have done—our work.
It is quite a thing to realize, in the running of the race and fulfilling the purpose and all that God had, that someday I am going to give account.
I would like to have you turn to 1 Corinthians, and we will read there in chapter 3. Paul says, beginning with verse 9:
For we are laborers together with God.
Then he says in 1 Corinthians 3:11-15:
For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
But if any man buildeth on the foundation gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, stubble;
each man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it is revealed in fire;
and the fire itself shall prove each man’s work of what sort it is.
If any man’s work shall abide which he built thereon, he shall receive a reward.
If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss:
but he himself shall be saved; yet so as through fire.
You see, this indicates to us that once we have come to really know the grace of God, and we have trusted Jesus Christ in the finished work, it is not a matter of our standing before Him to decide whether we can go into heaven. That is not the issue. We are saved by grace. We have the privilege of eternal life.
But this judgment we call the Bema is for the evaluation of the work.
Some, I believe, will stand in that day. They may have a lot, as it were, to offer Him, yet every bit of it will go up in smoke and flames. They will stand with ashes, head bowed, and enter into heaven saved, so as by fire. But that is all.
I need to tell you this. I have hesitated, but I think I will. I guess the reason this has become so very real to me through the years is that back in my early ministry, when we were still living in Missouri, God graciously gave a revival that moved through the area for weeks—actually, a couple of years.
I explained the other night that it had been some ladies who had been praying. God answered their prayer. Hundreds, probably thousands, were really touched in all the area.
In the process of this, with youthful zeal and desire to serve the Lord, we built a boot camp, a training place where we would not qualify folk after the flesh, but would qualify them to be witnesses—to go out to the world and really touch people’s lives.
In the midst of this, we built thirteen buildings, very rough, like a boot camp would be.
And, to shorten the story, I hate to tell you: you cannot move into a community, if you are doing something for God, without the enemy getting stirred up.
In the course of the years, there came much persecution, probably much misunderstanding because of our lack. And the day came: I was in the north in meetings. Everyone was gone from the camp. Some folks slipped in and set afire twelve of the buildings.
Only one remained: the meeting place at the center.
I will never forget. My mother sent a telegram to me and said, “Son, everything is in ashes except the main meeting place.”
I got home a few days afterward and drove out to all that was there. It was one of those times, as I was saying last night, when I got very close to being offended.
The fact is, there were folk who had put sweat, blood, labor, and all of this into the building. I am not sure they recovered. The question was, “God, it was Yours. Why did You not take care of Your property?”
Well, I said all of that to say: as I drove out there and looked over the ashes, I can never forget that day. God spoke to my heart in such a personal and real way that it has marked everything from that hour on.
I do not know whether it was a vision, or a dream, or what it was, but as I looked at the ashes, I saw myself standing before the Bema. There He was, the Lord Jesus, sitting on His exalted throne.
I looked, and I saw all of those, one by one, who were coming before Him for the evaluation.
I had been very active in Youth for Christ, traveling up and down the country, speaking to thousands, and in revival. I would honestly have said that I felt like I had something to offer the Lord.
I stood with my arms full. I looked at individuals—some I knew, whose names I could give you—and when they came, I saw that they had, like myself, arms full: a lot of activity. It was pretty much wood, hay, and stubble.
Each one, as they stood there, suddenly all went into flames. I saw their heads bow in ashes. They entered in, but it was not an abundant entrance—saved, so as by fire.
I remember, and I saw her. She had been the leader of this little prayer group for twenty-three years who had prayed. When I looked, her arms were not full, but her hands had some gold and silver and precious stones.
And when she stood before Him, there was such a smile of approval and the glittering of all of it. She entered into an abundant entrance.
And then it came my turn. I took my step forward, and He dropped the curtain and said, “Not yet.”
You better believe I sighed relief. You know why? Because I had my hands—my arms—full. When I looked at it, it was as though the Lord said, “Wood, hay, stubble.”
It did not mean that we had not been doing anything for God. But we had not been building according to God’s ways. We did not have a sense of vision of what He really wanted. And I suppose pretty much of it would have been the siphoning off of satisfaction, interest, and glory for myself.
But as the curtain dropped and I heard Him, as it were, say, “Not yet,” this is the word that came: “Let your building be in lives.”
Let your building be in lives.
And I can look over the ashes that were there, and I believe I can honestly say, “Lord, if this would be a hindrance, if this would be something that we are building just for our own work, not according to pattern, according to what You want, I say amen.”
Now, I give you this this morning on the basis of this: I have come to realize that there are two real gifts that we have to deal with, if you can talk about the main giving.
The first gift that we have to deal with is God’s gracious gift to us. How many of you know what it is? He wraps up all His giving—all that could ever be given, all that God the Father has ever given—He wraps it up in one package. There it is in His Son. What a gift!
The problem is, it is going to take a long time for us to discover what is in the package. How many have been discovering that already? Through all the tumbling ages, coming to a fuller appreciation of all that is in Jesus.
But I need to tell you this. Generally, evangelical people—and all of us—have been so involved with, “Thank God for what He has given.” But God has been turning our hearts through the years to an adjustment and a rectifying: What does God get?
What is the gift that I can give back to Him? Are you there? What would really satisfy God? What could satisfy the God of the universe, whose determined design—what would be the main thing that could satisfy His heart?
Only one thing. We were speaking of it last night in the predestining and the marking out. The only thing that could really satisfy God is His Son fully conformed in us—the image of Christ.
I mean, He only finds delight in Him. And so, if He is going to find further delight, it will be in what? Christ formed in us.
So I need to say to us this morning: it is not so much the things that we do that are important, but probably in the end, it will be what we become.
Now, do not miss the point. It is in our doing that we become, but in becoming, God gets the doing done. He does through the reality that there is.
So, with that in mind this morning, I would like for us to consider now: here is the gift that we have, all that has been given to us. What am I going to really give to Him when I stand before the Bema, before the Lord Jesus?
I need to take you to one more portion now. That is over in the book of Revelation. Turn there, please. I would like to build this frame of reference for our thinking. Revelation, chapter 3.
I guess you know that in the second and third chapters of Revelation, we have seven churches, and God is speaking to them. In each letter that He writes, He says the same thing.
He says to Ephesus, in Revelation 2:2, “I know thy works.” And He goes on to each—to Smyrna, to Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea—and to every one of them He says, “I know thy works.”
The reason for this is because we are all going to give an account. Whether as individuals or as the representation of the church, we are going to give account for what has been done.
And then He says that there is a special word that the Spirit would say to the church. I believe it is to each of us. But I want us to look in chapter 3 now, and we are going to look at verse 15. He is speaking to the Laodiceans, but He says this: “I know thy works.”
What I want us to see in this this morning is that it is possible, when individuals stand before the Bema, that some may stand naked in that day; some very poor; and some very blind.
You do not know what I am saying in this, but let me go on further to explain.
One of the things that is most critical in Scripture and in our understanding of God’s way is to know that there are certain things that are free, and there are certain things that you must buy.
I think the great emphasis in the church is what is free. How many can say, “Thank God”? All right, thank God for what is free. But so often we fail to recognize that there are some things that we must buy.
And I believe, as we unfold this this morning, you will see and recognize what He is saying when John writes. Look at it again.
Because thou art lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spew thee out of my mouth.
Because thou sayest, I am rich, and have gotten riches, and have need of nothing;
and knowest not that thou art the wretched one and miserable and poor and blind and naked:
I counsel thee to buy of me gold refined by fire, that thou mayest become rich;
and white garments, that thou mayest clothe thyself, and that the shame of thy nakedness be not made manifest;
and eyesalve to anoint thine eyes, that thou mayest see.
—Revelation 3:16-18
Let me illustrate this. When we first come to the cross and meet the Lord, one of the things that we receive freely is the robe of righteousness. It is the robe of our salvation.
How many of you know that God is perfect and He requires perfection? Now, that is wonderful, but it is also terrible for all of us. Righteous, holy, perfect—He can be satisfied with nothing less.
The good news is that when we come to the cross and we really trust what Jesus Christ has done, God gives to us the perfect righteousness of His Son.
Let me illustrate it this way. I used to know Dr. Walter Wilson back in Kansas City before he went to be with the Lord. He tells the story one day of going out in the countryside, a place where he was having ministry. He was one of the greatest soul winners I have ever known. He had a unique ability to turn every situation for the Lord.
One day, they were traveling along a country road. He saw a farmer standing by the fence with a flock of sheep in the background, and he said to the driver, “Let’s stop and visit with this man for a little bit.”
They stopped, and in the course of talking with him, Dr. Wilson—he was an M.D.—noticed out in the pasture a little lamb that looked so strange. He said to the farmer, “What is with that lamb? What is wrong with it? It looks so different.”
The farmer said, “Oh, that is very interesting. A couple of months ago, when that lamb was born, his mother died. I had an orphan, which I usually have to bottle-feed. And it was about the same time that I had another mother who, in lambing, her little lamb died.
“I thought I would try something. So I took this little orphan lamb and put it in with this mother whose lamb had died, and I thought maybe she would nurse it. Maybe she would care for it.”
He said, “The mother went up and took a couple of sniffs and said, ‘That is not mine,’ and began to butt it all over the pen. I rescued the little lamb out. And just as I was doing that, I thought, ‘She does not recognize this as her own.’ I remembered that her little lamb that had died was still in the pasture. I had not had time to dispose of it.
“I took my knife, skinned the fleece of that little lamb, brought it in, and tied it around this little lamb you see out here.”
He put the lamb back in the pen. And what do you think happened?
Now, you have been so quiet, I need your response. What do you think happened? How many can tell me what happened?
Well, that mother went up, she sniffed, and said, “That is mine.” And he said she had been nursing it for a couple of months.
Accepted into the family. Because?
Do I need to illustrate it anymore? How many have your fleece on this morning? Are you there?
I am going to say, “Thank God, I am accepted in the Beloved.” The gift of righteousness, the robe of my salvation. What did I do to get it? By grace—nothing. I trusted Him. What a privilege.
There may be somebody who slipped in this morning. It often happens on Sunday mornings. God has brought you here. I would like for the Holy Spirit to make this so clear to you.
The perfect God, who requires perfect righteousness, can never accept us apart from His lovely Son. The good news is that He never sees us apart from His lovely Son. If you do not have that robe this morning, if you have never been to the cross and fully trusted what He has done, I just say to you: you can.
Free. What did you pay for? Nothing. You trusted Him.
Well, it is one thing to have the robe and be accepted because it is freely given. I have the robe of righteousness. But I need to tell you that when you stand before the Bema, you are standing before whom? Jesus. And you do not put on Jesus to stand before Jesus. Are you following me?
Well, what does John mean when he says, in our context here, “I want you to buy something”? I believe, as we are going to see, that there is a white raiment that He wants us to buy.
“I counsel thee to buy of Me white raiment.” How many would like to buy some this morning? Would you like to really be sure that when you stand before the Bema, the evaluation, you will not be there naked?
Well, Scripture, I believe, always explains itself. You can turn, if you want, to Revelation 19. Let us look there for a moment. Speaking of those who are gathered before the Lamb, Revelation 19:7-8 says:
Let us rejoice and be exceeding glad, and let us give the glory unto Him:
for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready.
And it was given unto her that she should array herself in fine linen, bright and pure:
for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.
I guess what I want to say to you this morning is this: “Lord, I want my life poured out, my labor, my work—I want what I do to be Your way of developing white raiment.”
I can see the Holy Spirit working in lives. Here is the woof and the warp by the Spirit of grace that God works: white raiment, the righteous acts of the saints.
Oh, I can look back through the years. I did not understand it, but I know now that the lives that I have seen God working in, in a very special way, were lives in which there was the weaving of white raiment.
I do not think it frustrates the purpose of the grace of God if we are very clear on the fact that some things are free, and they are wholly by His grace. This that we are referring to this morning is the enabling grace that I spoke of last night—the desire and the power that God gives, the enabling grace, in order that my life might be poured out for others.
I am thinking of a sister this morning, of her testimony. About two blocks from her, a family had been in great difficulty. The husband was gone; the mother became sick. And so the sister decided that she would go in and do the ironing and the washing and clean up the house, and all the things that a sister could do for one who was indisposed.
A couple of days later, she heard by the grapevine that they had said in the home, “We could not find anything after she got through fixing up.”
You know what happened in her spirit. She said, “Well, if that is the way they appreciate it, I will not do it again.”
Until the Lord said, “Who did you do it for?” Are you there? Who did you do it for? For them? Well, yes—or for Me?
She said, “As I wept before the Lord, God said, ‘What a privilege to give and be poured out. What a privilege to share. Did you want your reward now or then? Make your choice.’”
Lots of times we get our reward in our now. There are a lot of God’s children who, I believe, in their poured-out life, their service, their love, and their giving, are having some white raiment developed. Only He really sees it.
I do not need to go on. Are you with me so far? I mean, say, “Lord, I am ready to buy. I do not want to stand naked.”
You do not need to. That is good news.
Well, it is also interesting that when we come to the cross and trust what He has done, God gives us a new nature. Peter says we become partakers of the divine nature.
And in that, you know, the divinity, or that which is divine, is always represented by gold. I believe there is a sense in which there is the imparting of the nature, the life, all that is put within as new creation believers. We receive this, something of the gold of divine nature.
But John goes on to say, “I counsel you to buy of Me gold tried in the fire.”
Here is faith—this imparted measure of faith that is given initially. Then, as God begins to take us through the racecourse, the tribulations, the trials, the circumstances of life, I believe He is working out something of His own character and nature in our lives.
How many have sensed God beating away on the gold?
You wonder why, in the tabernacle, it talks about beaten gold? I always wondered. Now I know. Are you there? How many know what beaten gold is?
I need to pick on somebody this morning. I will not do Mac this time. How many have sensed a beating out of your gold, sister? I have not seen you for a long time, but I sense God has been beating away. Why? Something of the glory of the Lord shows up.
You are going to go home and say, “Oh, God, thank You for the beating. Keep on. Thank You for putting me through the trials, the things that we go through, in order that in the midst of it faith can reach out. I can say, ‘Lord, this is Your way of developing more of the character and the qualities of the Lord Jesus.’”
I want to buy some gold tried in the fire.
What kind of a testimony do you think you are going to have as you finally pass the evaluation and start to talk about what you have been through down here? Then you meet Noah, and he does not say a word.
All those long years, he obeyed God—tested and tried. What kind of a testimony will you give when you stand with Noah? He probably does not say much. All he has is beaten gold. Are you following? Getting it?
I just believe that something in my own heart says, “Oh, God, I never cease to thank You for what You freely give. But more and more, I am beginning to realize the things that You counsel us to buy.”
Let me ask you a question. How many can remember when, on the first day of your new life, you had new eyes? Old things passed away. Everything looked different.
I am always amazed at the testimony of folks saying, “I just saw things so differently.” New eyes.
Jesus touched the blind man; he had new eyes. He saw men as trees. He touched him again, and he saw more clearly.
You remember your new eyes? I remember. God—and I remember this sister. I was speaking in a church. God had been working for days. I closed the meeting that night, and just as I was stepping down from the pulpit, she walked down the aisle.
I could see, as she came, she had war in her eyes. It had been a long day, and I said, “Oh, God, help.”
The closer she got, you could just see that she was under terrible conviction. God had been working all week. I knew it. When she got about three feet from me, she said, “I have got a thousand questions I want to ask you.”
And in just that way, I got my flag waving: “That will help, Lord.” You know, God gives a word of wisdom every now and then in your desperate need.
I felt led to say to her, “Good. But before we take up your questions, let me ask you a question.” And it was this: “When are you going to put up the white flag of surrender and say, ‘Yes, Lord Jesus,’ and let Him have your life?”
Very straightforward. She said, “Right now,” and she knelt at the front pew.
Guess who was surprised?
Never forget it. You know why? She weighed about three hundred pounds. Tremendous.
It did not take long. God met the need. She came with a face that was so changed. When she stood up, I will never forget: she reached out, and with those big eyes, she grabbed me. I knew she did not come down loving me, but she had new eyes.
How many can remember when you got some new eyes, and some people you did not love, you did not really care for—suddenly, they did not look so bad? That is right. New eyes. That is wonderful.
We had her funeral. Forty years have gone by. Not too long ago, she went on to be with the Lord. But all the change and transformation in that life!
We dropped in occasionally to see her, and she would open up her Bible and say, “I want to show you some new things I have been seeing.”
And I began to realize through the years that she not only had new eyes, but she had been buying eyesalve. She had been buying some eyesalve. And with this eyesalve, the Spirit of God was making things real and precious to her.
What am I going to become that will please God? What can I offer Him?
I do not know. Maybe Jose or Brother Kong will help me in this. I just wonder if I am going to be fixed for eternity with the garment I am weaving now. Do you think, during the thousand years, I will get to add more white raiment, or more beaten gold, or more eyesalve? Or am I going to be fixed once I am there?
Let us take a vote this morning. How many hope that you can go on buying? You think we will get to all during the thousand years? I hope so. I do not want to be fixed. I hope to have some white raiment, and I know I have got a little beaten gold, and I think I have had a little eyesalve. But I do not want to have it fixed and stop.
But I do not want to give you too much hope. I know one day we are going to stand before the Bema, and we are going to be evaluated. And I want to be ready when that time comes, right?
Now, it is interesting in Scripture that God is careful to always explain. You say, “I want to buy.” What is the principle of buying? What is the principle of buying?
Well, turn over to Matthew. Matthew chapter 13. Any time the Lord does something twice, it is real testimony. In chapter 13, we get the principle of buying.
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hidden in the field;
which a man found, and hid;
and in his joy he goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.
—Matthew 13:44
How many know that is not eternal life that you are buying? In spite of all the sermons you may have heard, you do not buy eternal life. This treasure is not eternal life. I am sorry. If I am wrong, I just need to be adjusted. But here is treasure that one buys.
What is the principle of buying? Do not miss it now. He sold all that he had.
Read on to verify it:
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is a merchant seeking goodly pearls:
and having found one pearl of great price,
he went and sold all that he had, and bought it.
—Matthew 13:45-46
What is the pearl? Is it eternal life? You cannot buy it. We keep the consistency of things. What is the treasure? What is the pearl?
What is the principle of buying? He found something that was far more valuable. He was ready to sell all, barter all, ready to give up all this for this.
I have been trying to figure out how I could simplify what we have to barter with. What do we have this morning, as a company of people, that every one of us—every one of us—can barter? What is an inclusive way?
Well, you may know what STP is, or you ought to. It is an oil additive, but that is not what I am talking about. But I want you to think of STP, because there are three things you can barter with.
I cannot think of anything that does not fall into those three things that I can barter with.
That little sister who went down to the neighbor gave her strength, some time, and even some food and groceries. It was bartering.
I need to be honest with you this morning. Affluent America—I wonder when we stand before the Bema, those from other nations, in a very simple way, have given themselves, lives that have been poured out. They bartered what they had—not what we had, but what they had.
God, on the basis of this, is going to see either naked or poor or blind, or clothed or rich or seeing.
Something in my heart says this morning, “Oh, God, give me a new kind of eyesalve. Give me a new kind of eyesalve that I can really see the things that are eternal, the things that really count.”
What is the main thing now, as we stand before the Bema? You talk back. What is the main thing when we get there?
The reward I am going to get? I have got a crown, and only something, somebody said this morning, I could lay at His feet?
The thing that I am concerned about, the main thing, is that He will be pleased. He will be satisfied.
If He sees anything that we have become—clothed, rich in the experiences, the reality, the character of the Lord, and an eye that sees; some eyesalve; somebody who has been willing—there is a cost. There is a cost.
I hate to tell you this, because the more you know this morning, the more accountable we are going to be. But I have to do it.
I am talking to some people whom God wants to move in with a new measure of consecration, a new measure of dedication in your life, a new measure of being poured out—not for what you can get, but for what He can get.
And in the process, what should become is for His pleasure, His delight, His glory.
Do I hear you say in the quiet of your heart, “Oh, God”? I hear John as he is speaking. The Spirit says to the church, and to each of us, “I counsel you to buy. I counsel you to buy. I counsel you to buy.”
I have got a runaway clock up there. I need to finish, do I not?
What is the main thing in the universe? Some of you were not here. You will have to forgive us. I do not usually just try to keep things, but never was able to get to it.
The first night, we started out by saying, “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.” You all know what the main thing is according to you. Now let me give you the main thing according to what the Bible says.
I would like to say this is open for all your evaluation, but if you are going to start with God and what is really relevant and important to Him, the main thing is the ultimacy of the Father—His purpose in Himself and for Himself.
I mean, if the One who starts it all begins it all—everything in the universe has been made and created and planned by Him—where do you start? So, Father, it is ultimacy. What did He purpose in Himself and for Himself?
Anybody agree so far? You are not very sure. Maybe we ought to go back and read Ephesians.
But this is where I am this morning: you start with the One who starts it all, and this is the main thing in the universe—the Father saying, “I have a plan and a purpose.”
Well, let us see what that also includes. The main thing then includes the centrality and the universality of the Lord Jesus Christ in fulfilling the Father’s purpose.
What do you mean? Oh, you can read this in Ephesians 1 and 3. Most of you know what I am talking about. This is not new to you.
This is why, as we were saying the first night, all the things that attract and diverge and bring us into the whirlpools and the eddies—they are not wrong in themselves. But unless they all come to fulfill what the Father is working out through His lovely Son, placing Him in the center of all things, then we have missed it.
And then, finally, we come to the Holy Spirit: the imminent and intimate place and ministry of the Holy Spirit in fulfilling this purpose of the Father.
I would like to talk about imminent as well as intimate, but I will not.
How personal, how real, always there. Everything He is doing is to lift up and exalt the Lord Jesus, who in turn turns us to the Father.
Have you ever been like I was for a while, wondering, when I pray, “I am not sure whether I am addressing the Father or the Son. I just want to make sure that when I come, everything is right.” Anybody ever ask that? How do you really pray?
One day, as I was looking through it, it was as though the Lord said, “If you are going to be preoccupied with the Holy Spirit, center in on Him. His whole objective in ministry is to point us to the Son.”
He did not come primarily to unveil or reveal Himself, but to exalt and uncover the Lord Jesus. So I go to the Lord Jesus. I say, “Lord, I am centering in on You. Spirit sent me.”
And then I get all preoccupied with the Lord Jesus. You know what He says? “Have you ever seen My Father? Look, I am here. I am the window. I am revealing the Father.” So He says, “I just want you to see My Father.”
So I go to the Father. I say, “I have been sent here, Father. I just want to worship, want to be focused and centered in You.” And you know what I hear Him say? “Have you ever seen My lovely Son the way I want you to?”
Really. What does He do? He turns us back to whom?
Everything I am doing, all I purpose, all that I am working on, is centered in Him.
Do you know why there is no trouble in heaven? There never will be, because none seek their own. None seek their own.
You know what He is doing in our lives? Same thing. Same thing. That is why the cross is the tool that He uses—to make very sure that none seek their own, but Him.
The ultimate thing in the universe, then: what the Father purposes in Himself, for Himself, through the Son, worked out by the Spirit.
What does the Father finally get? A vast family of sons that all look alike. Is that not good news?
Ephesians—Paul speaks of the vast family, all in heaven and in earth. That is the ultimate thing. That is what the Father— that is the main thing: bringing into being all that He is wanting.
What does the Son get? He is the Head; we are members of the body, a vehicle for expressing His purposes, authority, and all that He is doing. Are you a part of the body this morning? Sure.
What does the Son get? Not only does the Head get a body to function, but the Bridegroom gets a bride.
What does the Holy Spirit get? Now we are talking about what God gets. I mean, though He does not really have a body of His own, He does have one. We are the temple.
And these living stones that God is fitting together are to be a glorious temple that is growing up and developing, the Spirit dwelling within.
Did you know, when it says, “Ye are the temple,” I am not sure it is singular so much as the “ye” is plural. Ye are the temple.
Well, we need to quit. And I am not through, but we will have to. We have children downstairs.
Anyway, here we are. Can I ask you a question this morning? What is your heart set on? Are you buying anything, or just living it up?
Thank God for everything that comes to us free. Thank God. But there is another side of the story.
It is the only thing that makes the grace of God complete and full: grace, the enabling grace, by which we are able to buy. It is not in ourselves, but He gives the desire and the power by which my roots can take of the full supply.
Father, this morning, I thank You for my brothers and sisters. We have been together through the years at various times, and now we come to this morning, and I want to exhort once again, to just say thank You for those with such open hearts and the responsiveness that I see.
I believe You this morning. I believe You to plant some encouragement when they go through the circumstances and the beating of gold, tried in the fire, all of this. There will be, “Oh, Lord, this is what You are doing. I want to become something that will please You.”
When we walk a more lonely way because not everybody understands, but we have seen something—and each bit of new eyesalve requires new obedience—help us to be faithful.
Because we will never see any more, we will never buy any more, until we walk out and obey the light for what we have seen.
Here we are this morning. You know whom You brought. Do not let us take an easy way.
Do not let us come to that day—and it may not be very far away. Maybe sooner than we realize, we will be standing before You, Lord, and we want Your smile of approval.
All that we have wrought by the energy and work of our own flesh and for ourselves—wood, hay, stubble—help us to build on the foundation according to divine pattern, by the enablement of the Spirit.
And we will give You the praise, the honor, and the glory. For we ask it in Jesus’ name.
Amen.