Good morning.
It wasn’t very exuberant. Is there anybody here this morning? All right, I just wanted to know that there was somebody out there. There you go. There you go. I know we had a feast, and you get sleepy after a feast, right?
Let’s just begin with prayer this morning.
Lord, we come to Thee. Lord, what greater joy could there be in our hearts than to have You resident there? And Lord, as our brothers shared, You are our continual feast. Lord, You are what it is all about. You are God’s purpose. You are the center of all of God’s doings and ways.
And Lord, it is only when we become connected to Christ that we are connected to reality, that we are connected to purpose, that we are connected to the heart of God, that we are connected to what He is doing in this hour. We are connected to eternity, Lord.
And we thank You, Lord. What a great privilege, because, Lord, we are sinners saved by the grace of God, and we worship Thee this morning. Lord, we honor Thee, and we honor Your word.
And we pray, Lord, that You will use Your word to enlighten our hearts this morning, increase the understanding of our minds, and give unto us spiritual discernment, wisdom, and revelation in the knowledge of Jesus Christ. And Lord, that You will anoint both the speaking and the hearing, Lord, that it might be of God and not of man.
We look to Thee, Lord. Touch our hearts once again as we are before Thee together. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Well, I am continuing on and sharing on this matter of spiritual warfare, which is something that, in a sense, I do not like to really focus on. But it is something that is necessary.
We do need to know Christ in His fullness. We need to know Christ as our Savior. That is our beginning. And thank God, He is sufficient to save us—able to save anyone who will open their heart to Him and realize that indeed we are sinners, that we are hopeless and lost, and have no real purpose in this life outside of Jesus Christ.
We are created beings by God Himself to serve God’s purposes and not our own. We really never come into the reality of life until we have Jesus Christ in our hearts. But we have to recognize that we are outside of God’s purpose, outside of God’s covenant, and outside of God’s heart when we do not have Jesus.
We are a fallen people, and by nature are born in a fallen condition. The judgment of God is already upon us, but that judgment can be waived because Jesus Christ decided to be the substitute for our punishment, for the condemnation of sin that is upon us.
But thank God, He shed His blood for us. That is the price that God has accepted—an acceptable sacrifice on our behalf. So that now, when God the Father looks down, He can look at us, as the song we sang today said, because of the blood of Jesus. He sees that blood upon our heart, and He says, “I see Christ there,” and that is all His eyes see.
Oh, what a salvation. We need to know Him as Savior.
We need to know Him as Lord. We have to come to the place in our lives as Christians where we are no longer satisfied with just knowing Christ as Savior. There is so much greater more in Christ—and that is not even good English, is it? But it is tremendous. I mean, you really cannot put into words how great and tremendous the Lord Jesus Christ is.
He is Lord—Lord of lords and King of kings. We know that this Lord, this King who sits upon a throne at the right hand of God the Father, is also the Lamb of God. Therefore, we can know this King because we first know the Lamb.
We need also to know Him as the Captain of the host. There is a tremendous spiritual warfare that has been going on through the ages ever since Lucifer fell and decided that he wanted Christ’s place. He wanted control of his life. He wanted to have the place that Christ had—to make decisions for himself, on his own.
Brothers and sisters, we all fell into that same trap, because we want to live our lives the way we want to live them. We want to be the head of our life. We want to make decisions for ourselves. We do not want a Lord, as Lucifer did.
That same poison of self and selfishness that infected Lucifer has now infected the whole fallen race that has come from Adam.
So, we need to know Him as Lord, and we need to know Him as Captain of the host, because ever since the fall of Lucifer there has been a great warfare going on.
Thank the Lord Jesus Christ: at the cross of Calvary, He stripped off the principalities and powers and put them to open shame. There was a tremendous victory over all the powers of darkness. A third of the angels fell with Lucifer. They took up that selfish way of life and rebelled against God, just as we have. There has been a warfare going on ever since, and Christ had the victory.
But we as Christians, when we come to know the Lord Jesus Christ, find out that the Lord has not removed this enemy yet, even though He has given him a mortal wound on Calvary’s cross. Now He wants us, for our own spiritual growth, to be challenged by our adversary. That is the way we grow spiritually.
You know, the house that David built, and Solomon—the Lord’s house—it was built with the spoils of war. So, in a sense, the Lord Jesus Christ uses our adversary in our own lives for our spiritual growth.
We should not count it strange when we fall into temptations and various trials and tribulations. In fact, the Word says we should count it all joy. Now, I have to say, I have fallen greatly in this area of counting my trials and tribulations as all joy.
But when we get the proper perspective on who the Lord Jesus Christ is and what He is after, then we begin to understand that God is doing something tremendous in our lives. He is trying to bring us and transform our lives into the image of Jesus Christ, that His life might become our life, that we might know this fellowship with the Father and the Son which They have had throughout eternity, and that we might enter into that in fullness.
This is what we were designed for. God has made man body, soul, and spirit. That is why people all over this world try to find God. Many are misguided and misled, we know that, but there is something in man that knows there is a God. Even the atheist, I believe, in the depths of his heart knows that there is something higher that he is struggling against.
So, we have to come into a proper relationship with God and with His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We do that through the Lord’s sacrifice on Calvary’s cross.
Oh, we need to know Him as the Captain of the host, because if we do not, we will not make it through the spiritual warfare. Instead of increasing spiritually, we will find ourselves crushed and out of the race. That is what my concern is this morning.
I have been sharing on spiritual warfare in Ephesians 6. Do not turn there yet. We have gone through all of the spiritual armor, and we are down to this matter: pray and watch, watch and pray. It is this matter of prayer.
Last time, we shared on speaking to the mountain—executive prayer—taking the authority of God and dealing with our adversary. Actually, that is prayer.
Now, we know prayer in many forms. We supplicate the Lord. We say, “Lord, what is Your will?” That is a perfectly good prayer. I mean, that is what we should do. We have needs in our lives, and the Lord wants us to ask. He says, “You do not have because you do not ask.”
The Lord wants to give you what you need. Our problem is that we do not know what we need; we only know what we think we need. Usually, that gets down to what I want rather than what I need. But the Lord knows our need, and He is ready to provide exactly as we need it and when we need it.
But when we talked about the church—when He said, “Upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it,” in Matthew 16, and in Matthew 18 He says, “Bind and loose”—the church has been given the responsibility of binding and loosing. That is prayer, and it is done through prayer. It is the responsibility of the church.
Now, let us read a few Scriptures. Acts chapter 26. I had the opportunity to mark my Bible so I can get there a little quicker. Acts chapter 26, verses 12 through 19.
Whereupon as I journeyed to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests,
at midday, O king, I saw on the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun,
shining round about me and them that journeyed with me.
And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice saying unto me in the Hebrew tongue,
Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?
it is hard for thee to kick against the goad.
And I said, Who art Thou, Lord?
And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.
But arise, and stand upon thy feet:
for to this end have I appeared unto thee,
to appoint thee a minister and a witness both of the things wherein thou hast seen Me,
and of the things wherein I will appear unto thee;
delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom I send thee,
to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light
and from the power of Satan unto God,
that they may receive remission of sins and an inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith in Me.
Wherefore, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision.
Paul says, “I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.”
Second Timothy is written during Paul’s last imprisonment before his death. He writes this letter to Timothy to encourage him.
For God gave us not a spirit of fearfulness;
but of power and love and discipline.2 Timothy 1:7
This thou knowest, that all that are in Asia turned away from me;
of whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes.2 Timothy 1:15
Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.
2 Timothy 2:3
For I am already being offered,
and the time of my departure is come.
I have fought the good fight,
I have finished the course,
I have kept the faith.2 Timothy 4:6-7
Here we see the Apostle Paul in his last imprisonment, one of many. He writes Timothy, encouraging him and giving him his last words, so to speak, before he departs to be with the Lord.
We see him encouraging Timothy to be a good soldier and to be willing to endure hardness. I think it is very interesting: when he sums up his life, he begins by saying, “I have fought the good fight.”
“I have fought the good fight. I have finished my course. The Lord had a purpose for me, and I finished it.” What a testimony to be able to say that. “I have kept the faith.” All the words that God had given to Paul—that is the faith he is talking about here. “I have kept it. I have been faithful to it. I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.”
Ephesians 6, starting with verse 11.
Put on the whole armor of God,
that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood,
but against the principalities,
against the powers,
against the world-rulers of this darkness,
against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Wherefore take up the whole armor of God,
that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day,
and, having done all, to stand.
Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth,
and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace;
withal taking up the shield of faith,
wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the evil one.
And take the helmet of salvation,
and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
with all prayer and supplication praying at all seasons in the Spirit,
and watching thereunto in all perseverance and supplication for all the saints.Ephesians 6:11-18
Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, watching with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. Put on the whole armor of God.
On the Damascus road, Paul’s spiritual life began with a great revelation—a heavenly vision. His testimony was, “I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.”
But brothers and sisters, this heavenly vision plunged Paul into the greatest warfare that has ever been upon this earth. In fact, it is the warfare of the ages which I spoke of earlier. It is Satan wanting to take the place of Christ.
He could not get at Christ on the cross of Calvary; he was overthrown there. But today he is able to attack His church. He is able to attack the people of God.
There is a tremendous spiritual battle in which Paul experienced warfare his entire life. We see him experience it right up to the end, because he is in prison.
Oh, what Paul had gone through. Brothers and sisters, remember his own words. He said he was beaten with rods, three times with forty stripes. He was shipwrecked, in the deep, in prison many times, having to escape for his life.
All the time there was this group that would follow Paul, accuse him, and condemn him. In the end, he says, “All the churches in Asia have left me.” Demas, his good friend, had left him.
But you know what is so encouraging about this? Paul was undaunted. Paul was not dismayed by his circumstances. Rather, he encourages Timothy to be a good soldier, and he says, “I have fought the good fight.”
In other words, the fire and the passion that Paul had received from that heavenly vision were with him right to the end. It never left him. That vision so gripped Paul that he went through all of these trials and tribulations, prison, and many forsaking him.
That heavenly vision still gripped Paul, and he had the passion and the fight of a warrior still left deep in his bosom and in his heart. He was not disobedient to the heavenly vision. He entered the battle of the ages and stood fast.
He had seen the Captain of the host.
For Paul, that vision he saw of Christ on the Damascus road so gripped him that he would say, “It is worth all the work. It is worth all the hardships that I have suffered. It is worth all the loss of all things, and I count them but dung.”
He was a Hebrew of Hebrews. He was of the sect of the Pharisees, the highest order. He had the lineage of Benjamin. He would have said, “It is worth it all. I have lost all of that, but I have gained Christ.”
It is worth all the rigors of this battle—all the beatings, all the sufferings, all the pain, all the tribulations, constantly under attack. He was a warrior to his last breath.
What did he see that so gripped Paul? I want to say to you today: he saw the same thing that Abraham saw.
Abraham looked for a city that had foundations. That foundation is Jesus Christ, whose builder is Christ. He saw that same vision. Abraham saw it, brothers and sisters.
Abraham was in the land of promise, lived there all of his life, and stood for the promise of God all of his life. You know what Abraham ended up with? A gravesite in the promised land—that is all.
But Abraham had it in his heart. In his spirit, he had hold of this same vision.
It is the same vision that Peter had, which we shared on in Matthew 16. When the Lord says, “But who do men say that I am?” they came back to our Lord and said, “Well, some say You are a great prophet. Some say You are Elijah risen from the dead.”
Then He turned to His disciples, and the question He asked them—the question He would ask you today—is, “Whom say ye that I am?” What about you, Peter? What about you, My disciples? Who am I to you?
Peter responded, “Thou art the Christ, the Anointed One, the Sent One of God; and Thou art the Son of the living God.”
I do not know if you have seen that or not. He is the Christ. He is God’s everything. He is the Anointed One sent for our redemption. He is the Anointed One sent to lead His people. He is the One sent that He will be King throughout eternity and reign over the kingdom of life.
He is God’s Sent One, the Anointed One.
God’s people knew that they were to receive the Messiah, but what they did not have any idea about was that this Messiah would be the Son of God. This was something Peter saw. He said, “Thou art the Christ. You are the Sent One, and You are the Son of the living God.”
If you have ever been confronted by the Son of the living God, it is the same Christ who died for you. He is the Son of God, down on this earth, born of a virgin, who lived life as we lived it, was tempted in every way that we were, yet without sin, and became the perfect sacrifice on our behalf that we might be reconciled unto God.
The perfect Savior. This Christ—that is who Paul saw on the Damascus road: the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
It is the same vision that John had on the Isle of Patmos, which we see in the book of Revelation. You remember, he sees this vision, and he hears this voice behind him. Have you ever heard a voice behind you?
It is interesting. We as brothers and sisters, our eyes are supposed to be on the Lord. Here we see our dear brother John. He is greatly concerned about the churches in Asia, to which he had been ministering. He knew and understood the conditions of those churches, and he had preached his heart out on the love of Christ—that it was the solution to all their problems.
The Lord spoke to John, and John turned around. Oh, how we need to turn around, brothers and sisters. How we need to turn around and see this vision.
John saw the King of kings: the One with white hair, speaking of the wisdom of God; the gold about His breast, speaking of the love of God; the feet of brass, the judgment of God; and the tongue that was a two-edged sword. He saw the King.
This is the same vision that Paul saw. Brothers and sisters, this is not an exclusive vision for a few. God intends that all of His children come into a full revelation of Jesus Christ.
I think it is interesting that when the Lord spoke to Peter and asked him who He was, Peter responded, and the Lord said, “Flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee.” Men have not revealed this to you. It did not come from books that you have read. “My Father who is in heaven revealed this to you.”
Revelation is far more than knowledge. Many people know about Jesus Christ today, and I have to say they do not know Him.
I think some confess that they are Christians, yet they have never encountered Jesus Christ. They know about Him because their parents have told them about Him, or they have read the Bible some, and they accept the fact that there was a Jesus upon this earth. But no, that is not enough. There needs to be a revelation of Jesus Christ in your heart.
That first revelation is usually Him as our Savior. But we need this vision. It gripped Paul’s heart, and he was a warrior. That is what kept him all through the warfare: what he had seen of the exalted Christ.
When the Lord speaks to Paul, He says, “Paul, why are you persecuting Me?” Paul says, “Lord, who art Thou?” He did not know what he was saying. There was this great light, and it was the Lord, the King.
One thing Paul did know: this One was Lord. He was the King. He was One who had all authority. Paul recognized immediately that the glory of God was upon this One.
Then the Lord responds to him, “I am Jesus whom you persecute.” I cannot help but think back to when Stephen was martyred.
Stephen was relating to the people the history of his people, all the way from Abraham through to Jesus Christ. It says that his face shone like an angel. At the end, those who were persecuting Stephen and killed him laid down their coats at the feet of Saul, who later became Paul.
Paul observed this one with this glow of glory upon his face. He observed Stephen, who at the end looked up and saw Christ, the Lamb, standing at the throne, concerned about Stephen and his testimony upon this earth.
Paul witnessed that. He did not see the Lord at that time, but he had to see the expression on Stephen’s face. Stephen was fixing to go into glory and to the King of kings, and he was not depressed. He was not in agony. He was not in fear. He was in joy.
It had to impress Paul. I have to say this: it took Stephen’s martyrdom to bring Paul to the place where he could see the heavenly vision himself. Paul has a lot he owes to Stephen.
“Who art Thou, Lord?” It was the Lord, the exalted One. “Who art Thou, Lord? I am Jesus, whom you persecuted.”
Now, Paul most likely had heard of Jesus and knew about Him because of all His disciples. We do not know if Paul actually saw Christ. He was alive at the time of Christ, of course. But he certainly knew who His disciples said Jesus was.
With all of his heart, Paul was trying to serve God and destroy all the Christians that he could. That is why he was there. He had brought letters and said, “I can throw these people into prison.” He had Stephen stoned to death. He was responsible. The responsibility lay at Paul’s feet for Stephen’s death.
And what does the Lord say? “I am Jesus. I am the ascended One. You thought I was crucified on the cross and put in that tomb forever, but indeed I rose from the dead, Paul, and I am facing you right now. It is the same Jesus that you have been hearing about, and I am meeting you face to face today.”
The Lord did not say, “You persecuted one of My saints.” He did not say, “You have persecuted the church.” He did not say, “You have persecuted My body.” He says, “You have persecuted Me.”
What am I trying to say? This vision that Paul saw was the Christ, and it included the fullness of Christ: Christ the Head and the church, His body. They are one.
“You persecute the church, you have persecuted Me, because they have My life in them. We are one. We cannot be separated. Any time, Paul, you persecute any of the saints of My church, you have persecuted Me directly. I feel it personally. It is personal, Paul.”
He saw the same thing Peter was saying. The Lord spoke to Peter and said, “Peter, who am I?” “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Immediately Jesus moves on and says, “Upon this rock I will build My church.”
In other words, you have had a revelation of Christ. That is the primary thing. There is Christ. Christ is God’s full purpose. That is what God purposed for everything: it is Christ. “I have created all things that He might inherit all things. They are all to be returned to Him. Everything is for Christ, My Son.”
“I have created everything for Him, and He is the heir of all things.”
“This is My body, and it is real. The church is not like a body; the church is My body.” He saw the full revelation. You know, it says in Ephesians that Christ is the Head of the church, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all.
Paul was so humbled. Here is this great Pharisee of Pharisees, down on his knees, on his face. Actually, it says in other Scriptures that he was blinded for three days.
The Lord had another brother come and touch Paul’s eyes so that he would receive his sight again. Think of that. Paul was used to being the top gun. He was the big man. He was the leader. He was the head.
Now, here is a young, unknown brother from the church in Jerusalem, and the Lord has him come and touch Paul. In other words, Paul, there is something tremendous involved here. You need a relationship with Me, but you also have to have a living, real relationship with the rest of the body of Christ—with My brothers and sisters.
If you want to know Me in fullness, you will have to learn. You will have to grow with your brothers and sisters. You will have to become attached to them as you are attached to Me. You will not know Me in any other way.
“I am not going to give My touch directly to you. It will be indirectly through a brother—just an insignificant brother in the church in Jerusalem.” Oh, how Paul must have been humbled.
What Paul saw, I am going to tell you what Paul saw: Paul saw the second man.
The Word of God says that Christ was the last Adam and the second man. This is tremendously significant to us as Christians. When Christ came and took on all the sins of the world, including yours and mine, He took them on as Adam.
He said, “I am going to end this race that I have created on the cross.” It says that we have been crucified with Christ on the cross. In God’s eyes, when Christ was crucified, Adam and that whole race disappeared.
But He said, “I now have a second Man that I sent, and it is Jesus Christ.” If you see the fullness of the second Man, you will see that it is Jesus Christ the Head and Jesus Christ the body.
Because only what is of Christ in us is a true part of the body of Jesus Christ.
Paul saw God’s second Man. He knew the first man very closely, and he grew up with that first man, but it ended at Calvary’s cross.
Brothers and sisters, our lineage to Adam ended at the cross. When you accept Jesus Christ, you are no longer of Adam; you are of Jesus Christ. That is why Christ said, “You must be born again.”
Because in His eyes, until we are born again, we are dead people. That whole race has been crucified on the cross. God says it is futile to try to change it.
Most of us think we come to the Lord and say, “Lord, I am a pretty good person, and all I need for You to do is get rid of this one sin in my life, and I will be ready.” Or you might have two or three.
God says, “No. It has all got to go. It has been so defiled, it is not salvageable, and I will not salvage it. I am going to end it at the cross.”
But you can have a part in this new creation, in the second Man—a lineage to the second Man, to Jesus Christ. A lineage to Him by the Spirit.
Oh, brothers and sisters, have you been born again? Born into Christ? You have a new lineage. You are no longer obligated to serve the old man, to act like the old man, or to be the old man.
You have been born again. It says you are a new creation in Christ. I think we often dwell so much upon the old man that we forget, by faith, to take up what we are in Jesus Christ.
The Bible speaks of a mystery that had been hidden down through the ages—something precious in God’s sight. It speaks of the mystery of God, and it speaks of the mystery of Christ.
The mystery of God that was hidden until Christ came was Christ. Even though the Bible had all the types, it was still kind of a hidden thing. Yes, there would be a Messiah, but Christ, the Son of the living God, was not fully revealed until Jesus came to this earth.
The revelation of that was not fully given until He died on the cross and rose again.
Then there is a mystery of Christ spoken of in the Bible. What is that? It is the church—Christ referred to as His mystical body.
This is what gripped Paul, and this is what threw Paul into the warfare of the ages.
Brothers and sisters, anyone who accepts Jesus Christ and is born again immediately comes into a battle. Usually, we are not too aware of that, particularly in our younger years. The Lord puts that shield around us and protects us from so much.
We are so consumed about our self-growth and our spiritual growth—which we should be concerned about—in a kind of selfish way, you know. It is just me and the Lord and my spiritual growth.
But then the Lord touches us and opens our eyes to see the Christ. Oh, how little we know of Him.
Brothers and sisters, we all can know Jesus Christ individually. We can come to the Lord, and He will shed as much as He wants to us. It is by grace.
But if you want to know His fullness, it is impossible to know that apart from the body of Jesus Christ. If you want to grow spiritually, you are going to have to be an active part of His body.
It is not just good enough to say, “Yeah, I know what the body of Christ is. Sure, I know. Yeah, we are all in the body of Christ.” Oh, brothers and sisters, you do not know how significant that is.
We are so related to one another, joined to one another. There can be no real separation in Christ.
That is what Paul talked to the Corinthians about. He said, “Christ is not divided.” Some of you want to hang on to Paul, some to Apollos, and some to their teachings. You want to divide over these teachings. He said, “No. Christ is not divided.”
“My body is Me. You are related to one another, always joined to one another, always will be.”
Your actual condition may contradict that, but the reality is there is a oneness that can never be broken in Christ.
This great vision that Paul saw on the Damascus road, and that Peter saw when the Lord said, “Upon this rock I will build My church”—what does He say? “The gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”
He says, “Whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” The gates of Hades shall not prevail.
Do we understand that from the very beginning the Lord let Peter and His disciples know that this vision was going to result in a great warfare?
This revelation given to Peter is a threefold revelation. It is a revelation of God’s purpose, and that is Christ. We should never forget that. The church’s only purpose is to lift up the light of Christ and reveal the fullness of Christ. It is just a vessel.
He gives a revelation of Christ as God’s purpose. This is God’s purpose. Then He gives a revelation of the church, which is God’s means.
Then, at the end, what does He do? He gives a revelation of the cross. He starts talking to them about the cross and says, “This is God’s way.” This is God’s way.
Without the cross, there is no salvation. You and I come, and we are saved because of the cross of Calvary.
And how does the church grow? Is it not the work of the cross in our lives to eliminate that which is of self, of the flesh, and that which is not of Christ?
The Apostle John was apparently the only apostle who observed the crucifixion. The rest of them scattered. They were so dismayed, understandably so, by what had happened. They did not understand. But John was there.
When the centurion came and pierced the Lord’s side, John said, “I saw water and blood come out of His side, and I testify to this, and my testimony is true. I want you to know what I have seen is true.”
Why did John emphasize this so much? Christ had already said, “It is finished.” He had cried out, “It is finished.”
Brothers and sisters, that “It is finished” was the completion of the work of redemption. God had made the way that every man could be saved. He had made the way of redemption and provided it on the cross. That is why Christ said, “It is finished. The work that the Father has sent Me to do has been finished.”
But brothers and sisters, that was not the end of the work of Calvary.
They were going to come and break His legs. They did that so the ones hanging on the cross would go ahead and die and would not hang there for days and days. They wanted to do it before the sun set because they did not want them up there on the Sabbath day.
But a Roman centurion, to make sure He was dead, pierced a spear through His side, and out came blood and water. Now, what is important about that, brothers and sisters? That is the conception of the church.
The church was always conceived in the Father’s mind in eternity past, when He decided to create man. It is foretold in the story of Adam and Eve, where Adam receives a bride from the Lord.
We know that the church is to become the bride of Christ and one day will be presented back to the Lord Jesus Christ as His bride. What did the Lord do to Adam? He took something out of Adam’s side. We say it is the rib, but it really says something was taken out of Adam’s side, and He built the woman.
The church is something built, brothers and sisters. It comes out of the side of our Lord Jesus Christ. The blood is for our sins.
We have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ, but we need the blood daily, do we not? It says, “If you ask Me forgiveness of your sins, I am faithful and just to forgive them,” because I have shed My blood for that sin.
And the water represents life. The life of the church is Christ. He is the life of the church.
Remember in Ephesians, it says, “I died for the church and gave My life for her.” Now, we always say, “Well, Lord, You died for me,” and He did. Thank God, He died for you as an individual. He died for you because you are a sinner, and He loves you.
Thank God, His love is eternal and not dependent on our response. His love is always reaching out.
But on Calvary, provision was made for the church. In Ephesians, He says, “I died for her.” We see the birth of the church at Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came down. He says they were baptized into one body. It was Christ.
Thank the Lord for our brother Paul. I want us to be reminded of one thing: we think of Paul in terms of how we see him as a Christian, and that is the way we should see our brother Paul. But you need to know he did not start out that great.
He was opposed to God, totally opposed to God. He was having the saints thrown into prison and, as we saw, even had Stephen martyred.
The Lord Jesus Christ appeared to Paul, and Paul’s life was changed forever. For the first time in Paul’s life, he really knew this God that he had been seeking all of his life.
Isn’t it amazing what God can do?
Brothers and sisters, we need to see Christ. Christ is God’s everything. Christ is God’s purpose, and I want to make that very clear.
Actually, where I was headed was to explain more of that statement I made last week about standing on the ground of the church. I do not want us to get confused at all. Christ and God’s ground in the work of Calvary is God’s ground.
But we, as the church, have been given a responsibility to pray and to stand for the Lord’s will. What I am trying to say today is this: if we do not see Christ, we will never stand up in this warfare.
Next time I share, I want to get more into this matter of the church’s responsibility of prayer and how we need to be standing in prayer. It says, “Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst.”
To the church, He has commissioned it to bind and loose. Brothers and sisters, we live in the last hours and the last days. Much is going on in this world that needs to be handled in prayer.
I shared last time out of Isaiah 45:11. The Lord says:
Thus saith the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker:
Ask Me of the things that are to come concerning My sons,
and concerning the work of My hands command ye Me.Isaiah 45:11
What does that mean? It means that we are in partnership with our Lord and Savior; that He wants us to know what His will is concerning His sons—that is us—concerning His church—that is us—and concerning the work of His hands, what He is doing in this earth.
He wants us to be a part of all of that. He wants us to be aware of that. He wants us to obtain His will, and that can only be obtained through prayer. He wants us to execute His will on this earth with Him, and that is only done through prayer.
Brothers and sisters, it is as if God has said, “Okay, you are a part of Me. For your own sakes, I am not just going to do things. I could. I could handle everything Myself. All you would have to do is sit.”
But He wants us to be a part—to exercise this life that He has given to us, to grow spiritually, and to be transformed into the image of Jesus Christ.
Brothers and sisters, He is doing a great work. He is preparing His bride. Amazingly, this bride will not have one spot or wrinkle.
Now, spots are sins and things that are disparaging. Wrinkles just come from, I think, getting worn out and dropping out of the race. We get old and wrinkly and drop out of God’s purpose, do we not?
It is not a time that we can afford to be passive, brothers and sisters. The Lord has called us to work with Him.
I think it is amazing. The Lord says, “Concerning My sons and the work of My hands, command ye Me.” So we have got to get in touch with Him, and that is what prayer is about. That is particularly what the prayer of the church is about: corporate prayer.
There is prayer to the Lord for our needs, which I shared earlier. We need to do that daily, all the time, and all these other things. But when it comes to the church, there are some things that the Lord says, “I have relegated to the church, and they need to stand with Me.”
May the Lord raise us up. May the Lord give us this heavenly vision. The warfare is indeed intense, and we need to see Christ. It is all about Christ.
It is not really about the church. It is all about Christ. I want to be clear about that. It is Him.
The candlestick—Stephen shared recently about the candlestick. Because we are a part of the church, we think that the candlestick ought to be wood overlaid with gold. But it is not. It is all gold. It is Christ.
It is the life of Christ in you. It is a part of the church, and it is a beaten work.
You would think that if you had the life of Christ, why would it need to go through trials and tribulations? Because that life has to be perfected. That life has to be matured.
It is not a matter of getting rid of sins. That is not why He beats the gold. It is the life of Christ in you—that is the gold—but it has to be malleable. It has to be worked.
Oh, brothers, we do have so many imperfections that He has to get out of us. But that is the self-life, and He is working on that.
But the gold itself, to come into what God wants, has to be manipulated. It is one candlestick. We are all a part of that candlestick. It is an amazing vision.
Lord, we have come to Thee today. I pray that in this last hour, You will have a praying church.
Lord, we want to be a people who will stand with You. We want to be a people who know Your mind, know Your will, and are willing to obey and stand for it at all costs.
Because, Lord, You are worthy. Lord, show us Your worthiness. Then the cost will not matter.
Lord, we look to Thee today in the name of Jesus. Amen.