Faith to Leave the Gas Station — Major Ian Thomas

Faith as God’s Activity in the Believer

So good to see you folks again tonight. We talked this morning about faith. Faith that lets. Doesn't let God be God, because God is God. Of this we reminded ourself this morning. Faith simply lets the God who is be God in your experience.

Faith doesn't let the Lord Jesus be the Redeemer. He's the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, but faith lets him move redemptively into your experience. And we saw this morning that faith isn't evidenced by your activity for God.

Faith is evidenced if it's genuine faith by God's activity in you and me. And our obedience to him, matching our faith toward him, makes our humanity available to him to clothe his divine activity. So faith and obedience are indivisible twins.

My faith allows God first to redeem me, and then the Lord Jesus, risen from the dead, comes to invade me. And by my continuing attitude of faith, a disposition toward the Lord Jesus, that allows him now as creator to inhabit me his creature, and become the one who motivates what I do and say and am in such a way that as I yield obedience to the instructions given by him through his Holy Spirit, my hands become the agency with which he works, my feet become the agency with which he walks, my lips become the agency with which he speaks.

And that's the Christian life. It's the most exciting thing that you could possibly imagine. It's a man, a creature, actually on earth sharing the life of his creator on the way to heaven. Faith. And without faith, without this disposition towards him, without this attitude that lets God be God in you and me in action, it is impossible.

Impossible to please God. And we saw at the conclusion of our morning service that this quality of faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. And that's where we'll begin tonight, in the 10th chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, and the 17th verse, a verse that I'm sure is very familiar to you, the one that I've just cited.

Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. That's why, of course, if it were my ambition that there be developed in your heart that faith toward the Lord Jesus, that actually allows him to clothe his divine activity with your humanity, the one thing I would want to do more than another would be to expose you to this book.

Because it's only through this amazing book that has been authored of the Holy Spirit can you and I come increasingly to be more intimately acquainted with the Lord Jesus. And it's only as we become more intimately acquainted with the Lord Jesus does our confidence in him grow in such a way that we become less and less and less conscious of the faith that we exercise in him.

We enter into the assumption of faith. We learn because we've known him now so well and come to trust him so implicitly to take him for granted. It's an attitude now. It's a way of life. It's as natural as breathing.

And that's the rest of faith. So here's the first principle that derives from this verse in the 17th of the 10th chapter of this epistle of Paul to the Romans. The Word of God itself, this divine revelation, God authored as holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit from Genesis to the last chapter and the last word of that last chapter of the revelation.

The Word of God itself produces faith in the truth which the Word of God declares. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. In other words, we have to give God time enough to talk to us long enough.

Then we know enough. If we don't give God time enough to talk to us long enough we don't know enough. And if you don't know enough, what's the consequence of not knowing enough? Ignorance. That's why unbelief in the Bible, we're told, derives from ignorance.

That's why in the fourth chapter of Paul's epistle to the Ephesians he speaks of those whose understandings are darkened through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart being alienated from the light of God.

Detached, severed from him. So you see, to be an unbeliever isn't to be smart. To be an unbeliever is to advertise your ignorance. Ignorance because you've never given God time enough to talk to you long enough and so you don't know enough.

But as we give God time enough to talk to us long enough and the Holy Spirit graciously ministers Christ to us. For, said the Lord Jesus, these scriptures are they which testified me? This is the place where we become intimately acquainted with the Lord Jesus.

This is where we get to know him. Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the Word of God. So the Word of God itself produces faith in the truth which the Word of God declares and that's the first principle.

Mixing the Word with Faith

But here's a second principle that is complementary to the first principle. At first sight it looks almost to be contradictory, but it isn't contradictory, it's complementary. And this you'll find in the fourth chapter of the epistle to the Hebrews.

Hebrews chapter 4 and in the second verse. And what it says is this. Hebrews chapter 4 verse 2. For unto us was the gospel preached as well as unto them, but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.

Did you notice what it said? Unto us was the gospel preached as well as unto them. In other words, it was as intelligibly declared to them as it was to us. They heard the Word expounded, the exegesis was given as lucidly and as intelligently to them as to us.

But the Word preached, the Word preached, the Word which in itself produces faith in the truth which that Word declares, the Word preached did not profit them. Why not? Not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.

So although the Word of God itself produces faith in the truth which the Word of God declares, the truth which the Word of God declares will not profit you unless you mix it with the faith which the Word of God produces.

Now those two principles are complementary. Let me say them again because I may have said it just a little bit too fast. And I recognize that I have a strange accent, and you'll have to sort of get accustomed to it.

Maybe you will after a bit. The Word of God itself produces faith in the truth which the Word of God declares, but the truth which the Word of God declares will not profit you unless you mix it with the faith which the Word of God produces.

The Gas Station Illustration

Now, let me illustrate that very simply for you. Because it's vital to any valid experience of the Lord Jesus. My home is in England, as all of you know, and it is at a place called Cape and Ray Hall in the northwest of England.

And that is a conference ground that it was my joint privilege to establish some 26 years ago where the Torchbearer operation began. And since then we've had tens of thousands of young people staying with us.

I think about 80 ,000 from all over the world. And many thousands of these came from Germany and still come. And this was a particular ministry that God laid upon our hearts immediately after the war.

And so we would invite these young folks to come over to England and integrate them into our Bible camps. And then it was my joy to visit them in their own homes, in their own country. And to this end I would travel thousands of miles by car across the continent of Europe, from one town to another, across unknown territory visiting this village or that town.

And then looking up the youngsters, getting to know their parents, visiting their schools, their churches, their youth groups, and proclaiming Christ and sharing Him with their friends. And this of course meant that on many occasions I'd come to a city that I had never visited before.

And all I had was the name and the address of the boy perhaps whom I wanted to visit and his family on a piece of paper. And I wouldn't have a clue how to get there. So what I would normally do is head for the center of the city and look on the sidewalk for the most intelligent looking face that I could find.

And when I saw that I'd stop, wind the window around, stick my neck out and say, excuse me, I wonder if you could help me. I'm trying to find this particular address and I haven't any idea in which direction to go.

And I don't know what your experience has been, but normally when you do that, that very intelligent looking face suddenly becomes totally unintelligent. And when you've done it about six times and they've all said, I'm sorry, I'm a stranger too, you're almost in despair.

So finally you go to a gas station anticipating maybe that the man there can help. And so you drive up and say, I'm sorry, I'm in trouble. I've asked about six people away to this particular address and nobody seems to know.

I'm beginning to wonder whether there is such a place. I wonder if you could help me. And I give him the piece of paper and as the man reads it, his face lights up with obvious recognition. And he says, yes, yes, I know exactly where that is.

As a matter of fact, I only live about a hundred and fifty yards from that very place, just around the corner. Well, that's encouraging. And then he takes me by the arm, leads me to the edge of the sidewalk and points down the road.

He says, do you see the traffic lights? I said, yes. Well, he said, don't take any notice of those traffic lights. Go on to the next, the second lot of traffic lights. And when you get to the second lot of traffic lights, turn right.

And when you've turned right, go as far as you can. It's a T-junction. He said, you can't make a mistake. You've got to turn either right or left, so turn right. And you'll come to a multiple crossing, about five roads all coming together.

Can't miss that either. And there's a big store on the corner with a big gold clock and there's usually a policeman in the middle. Now, he says, you go all the way around until you come to the fourth of those five crossings.

Don't come to the fifth or you'll be coming back again. So, the fourth, the last. Before the one you came down. Now, when you get to that fourth turning, go to the second turning on the left. And when you take the second turning on the left, just about a hundred yards on the right, you'll find that house.

Well, you know, the more he speaks, the more I'm convinced that what he says is true. He's speaking with such detail, such accuracy, such confidence, that every word he speaks produces in me faith in the truth that his word is declaring.

Now, he can see that I'm a little simple, so he starts all over again. And by the time he's been all over it again for the second time, I'm absolutely convinced that what he says is true. I'm a believer, an absolute believer.

Have I arrived? No. No. I'm still at the gas station. And at that stage, I took out a flask of coffee and put my feet on the steering wheel and read the newspaper. I'd still be at the gas station. I'd still be there now.

Because you see, although the word that he has spoken has created in me faith in the truth that his word is declared, the truth that his word is declared will not profit me unless now I mix it with the faith that his word is produced.

So I say, well, thank you very much. That's been most kind. You've been extremely courteous. I understand exactly what you said. I think I know exactly how to get there. And having bid my farewell, I get into the car, gauge the engine, and not the first lot of traffic light, second.

And when I'm sure enough, there's the T-junction. And I turn right, and I go as far as I can until I come to a multiple crossing. And there's the fat police. And I go all the way around very carefully until I come to the fourth turning, second turning on the left.

And sure enough, as I look across to the house a hundred yards on the right, the number matches the number on my piece of paper. I get out, I look at the name under the doorbell, and sure enough, it's the name of that family.

Knock on the door, and before long, I'm being greeted by the youngster who spent his holiday with us in England. And I'm sitting around the family table drinking beer coffee. I've arrived. Now, do you see the principle?

The word that he spoke created in me faith in the truth that his word declared. But the truth that his word declared didn't profit me until I mixed it with the faith that his word had produced. Now, that's the nature of faith.

Teaching, Preaching, and Obedience

From the Word of God, you see, we get intelligent instruction. And the man who declares that from the Word of God is teaching. But teaching isn't adequate in itself. Because, you see, we can teach folk the facts until they can memorize the facts and repeat the facts backwards.

And they may be absolutely convinced of the facts that you've taught them, never challenging one single thing about them. But that wouldn't be adequate. We have to do more than teach. We have to preach and teach.

Teach and preach. And preaching, you see, is an exhortation to mix the facts now with the faith that those facts have produced. So that by the obedience of faith, that does the truth. We look into God's face and say, I understand the facts.

And I understand that you are the only person who can translate those facts into the experience of my life and clothe them with the flesh and blood of my humanity. So now I obey the truth. And I ask upon what I know.

And I trust you to move into my life and redeem me. And having redeemed me now, Lord Jesus, knowing that you've risen again from the dead and you've come to indwell my humanity, I trust you. For every step I've taken, for every situation into which that step takes me, by your Holy Spirit, to instruct my mind, control my reactions, direct my will, and govern my behavior.

Now I've learned to exercise faith. Not just the one crisis of faith whereby we're reconciled to God, the day of our conversion. For that crisis of faith, you see, is designed to introduce us to a process of faith.

The act of faith is designed to precipitate an attitude of faith. It's designed to create in you and in me what I've described as this disposition that lets God be God in my experience. By yielding now my obedience to his instructions, instructions that I have invoked by my attitude that brings him into action.

The word spoken. The word spoken. Didn't profit them. Not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. Have you mixed the word with faith? Or are you still at the gas station? There are tens of thousands of boys and girls and men and women who've been brought up in an evangelical context, who go to Bible class every Sunday, who listen to good sound Bible preaching from the pulpit, and they wouldn't challenge any of the facts.

They believe that Jesus Christ was born on that first Christmas Day. They believe that he lived a sinless life that declared the perfection of his humanity. They believe that he died on the cross to redeem sinners.

They believe that he rose again from the dead, ascended to be with the Father. They believe that he promised the gift of the Holy Spirit. They believe that he's able and willing to save any boy, girl, man or woman who will come and receive him, and they remain unsaved.

And yet they believe it all. They believe it all. Because they never mixed with faith the facts that they have come to believe. Unsaved believers at the gas station. Now, what is the word preached? To what do we expose boys and girls and men and women that they might mix the truth that they've come to believe with the faith that allows the Holy Spirit to translate it into the experience of their lives?

Reconciliation as the First Word of the Gospel

And I thought by way of preface to the explorations in which we shall engage during these coming mornings and evenings, it would be a good thing for us to take a quick panoramic look at those redemptive measures, those restorative measures that God has introduced in the person of his Son, the Lord Jesus.

And if you'll turn with me to the second epistle of Paul to the Corinthians in the fifth chapter, we find the first word of the gospel. It's not the last word, as I tried to indicate to you this morning, it's just the first word of the gospel.

It's no less important because it's just the first word, it's imperative. But it is only the first word. And of course just to settle for this would be pathetically, abysmally inadequate. Imperative and essential as it is.

In the 19th verse of the fifth chapter of Paul's second epistle to Corinthians, 2 Corinthians 5, 19. And it's good to see so many Bibles. And I'm sure that morning and evening you'll be bringing your Bibles with you.

Because that's the only way of course to know God's mind and become intimately acquainted with the Lord Jesus. You see it's the word of God. It's not what I have to tell you. It's what he by his Holy Spirit has to communicate to you.

He witnesses to the person of the Lord Jesus. And so we need to turn over the pages and we shall do a whole lot of it. Not just one little verse as a sort of excuse for preaching. We shall take the Bible and open its pages and you'll have to keep your finger licked.

And if you don't have enough licked then bring a glass of water with you and dip it. In the 19th verse of the fifth chapter of this epistle, to wit that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us, here's the first word of the gospel, the word of reconciliation.

That's it. The word of reconciliation. That is the first word of the gospel. Not the last. Just the first word. In a sense it's the baby word of the gospel. Because that's where we begin. There is no other beginning.

Now then we are ambassadors, the apostle goes on to say, we're ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead. As though he himself was standing here. And of course, in point of fact he was.

It was the Lord Jesus continuing to do and to teach the things that he had begun to do and to teach, clothed with his own humanity, but now giving to Paul the apostle as to the other apostles and the other disciples, the fantastic privilege of being that flesh and blood with which he continued to make his word articulate, he continued to make his plans tangible, and he continued to make himself visible.

This was his privilege. I'm an ambassador. As though God did beseech you by us, we pray you in Christ's stead. Be ye reconciled to God. This was the reconciling word. A word of reconciliation. In other words, there is a basis upon which a holy God, in spite of our guilt and in spite of our sin, is prepared to receive us back to himself, peace having been restored between the guilty and the innocent party.

Peace having been restored between the offended God and the offending man. Now what is the basis upon which God is prepared to accept to himself a fallen creature, guilty, dirty, sinful? Well the answer, I know, is clear to you all.

It's in the 21st verse of this 5th chapter. He, God, hath made him, the Lord Jesus, to be sin for us, who knew no sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. The basis of reconciliation is that vicarious, substitutionary and atoning death that was accomplished by the Lord Jesus when he deliberately, in the sinlessness of his humanity, allowed the Father to credit to him our guilt and credit to us his righteousness.

And on the grounds of that atoning death, you and I may enjoy redemption, the forgiveness of our sin. And from redemption that demanded the death of Jesus Christ, justification. Justified. And you know the definition, you've heard this a thousand times I'm sure.

When I am justified, it is just as if I'd never sinned. Just as if I'd never sinned. God looks upon me as though I'd never sinned. Now he's not pretending I haven't sinned, that would be stupid. He simply looks upon me as though I had never sinned, knowing perfectly well I have, but having, out of infinite compassion and mercy, credited to another my guilt.

Just as if I'd never sinned. And God the Father can only look upon me just as if I'd never sinned, because on the cross he then looked upon the Lord Jesus just as if he'd committed all my sins. He knew how wicked man had been.

He knew that God must punish sin. So out of pity Jesus said, I'll bear the punishment instead. Now this we call the substitutionary, vicarious and atoning sacrifice of the Lord Jesus. God made him to be sin for us who knew no sin.

That we might become the righteousness of God in him. His righteousness becomes the wedding garment in which we are accepted at the wedding feast, that's all. At the King's invitation. He suffered the just for the unjust to bring us to God.

He was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities and the cost of our peace as guilty sinners with a holy God was laid upon him. And by his stripes we healed. Now I'm sure this is clear to you.

This is the first word of the gospel. That's why the Lord Jesus said, I am the way. I am the way. Behold my hands and my feet. These are the hallmarks of my saviourhood. That it is I myself. I am the way.

Jesus the word of reconciliation. For you see the written word found its consummation in the living word. The Bible's gospel was realized in the person of the Lord Jesus as gospel. So the Lord Jesus, the living word implements the written word.

He is himself the word of reconciliation. And God for his dear sake is prepared to say to you and to me, I will remember your sins. Isn't that a marvelous thing that God is prepared to remember all your sins?

I'm so glad God remembers all my sins. I'm so glad that he's going to remember every sin that I ever committed or ever yet will commit. I'm so glad that God remembers. But that having remembered, he's going to remember no more.

I'd always have an uneasy feeling if God didn't remember all my sins, that suddenly at the last moment he'd recall something that he hadn't known about, you know. Just as I was going to go through the pearly gates into the presence of my Lord and share heaven forever, God says, I'm sorry, there's something I forgot.

There's one of your sins I didn't remember. And I'm terribly sorry to disappoint you at the last moment. Now wouldn't that be awful? That isn't the salvation that was accomplished for us by the Lord Jesus on the cross.

When the Lord Jesus died upon the cross, there was sentenced in his person, God's just and holy and righteous judgment upon all my sins, every single sin that I ever have committed, every single sin that I ever will.

He says, I will remember your sins. No more. And that's how God forgives, because when God forgives, you see, he forgets. We don't forgive that way. We say we have forgiven, but we very seldom forget.

At least we find it terribly hard to forget. Like two boys, brothers, they'd been fighting all day, their mother had done everything in her power to reestablish peace between the two, but all to no avail.

She'd threatened and bribed, persuaded and pleaded, argued. Finally, as the day drew to an end and it was time for bed, and her nerves almost shattered, and the fight was still on, she thought she'd make one last attempt and appeal to the sentiment of the older boy.

And she said, son, supposing your little brother were to die in the night, how would you feel when you woke up in the morning and found him dead? Wouldn't you be sorry if you hadn't forgiven? Well, the boy thought about that for a little while and then he said, all right, I'll forgive him, I'll forgive him, but if he's alive in the morning.

Is that the way God forgives you and me? No, he never forgives that way. When God forgives, he forgets. Now, tell me this. I'm not asking you whether you believe that Jesus Christ is God's son. I'm not even asking you whether you believe that on the cross he died in your place.

What I'm asking is this. Did you ever mix that with faith? Or are you an unsaved believer at the gas station? Have you ever entered into the good of it? I don't mean, have you tried to justify yourself before God so that he may redeem you?

You can't. You're guilty, and so am I. We don't deserve a thing. I mean, have you adopted an attitude toward the Lord Jesus? Is your disposition now towards him such as says, I'm guilty, I'm lost, but Lord Jesus, thank you, I'm one of the sinners you died to save.

I never deserved it, you never said I did. But in your infinite compassion, you came precisely for this purpose, to take my place there upon the cross, and at your loving, gracious, kind invitation, I come to you to let you now redeem me.

And through faith, I trust you to move redemptively into my experience, introduce me to the Father, who for your dear sake, will acquit me. Bury my sins in the depths of the sea, put them as far away as the east is from the west, put them behind his back, and though they're red like crimson, make them white as snow, though scarlet, whiter than wool, blotting them out as beneath a thick cloud.

Have you ever done that? Then whatever you may know about the Lord Jesus, whatever you may yet believe about the Lord Jesus, if you've not mixed that truth with faith, you remain unredeemed. Not necessarily insincere, just unredeemed.

Not maliciously or willfully, or arrogantly, repudiating maybe what he did on the cross. But you are neglecting so great salvation. And so long as you continue to neglect, you're lost. Nothing, nothing can save you.

Save the Lord Jesus himself, in response to your faith that lets him. And he will not, under any circumstances, the reasons for which I trust we shall discover adequately throughout the week, he will not, and he cannot, under any circumstances, relieve you of the moral obligation of exercising that option, which has been vested in man, and which lifts man up and out of the animal kingdom, and makes man, man.

That option is your responsibility. And there is no other way. This isn't one way to get to heaven, it is the way. The Lord Jesus said, I am the way. No man cometh under the Father, but by me. How easily we try to come another way, to justify our acceptance.

We have only boldness of access through the blood of Jesus. There was another boy, you know, I don't know what he had done, but he had displeased his mother. And a cold war existed. Diplomatic relations had been severed.

Finally the boy felt under some pressure and thought he had taken certain steps in the direction of appeasement. So he came to his mother, slipped up to her side and said, Shall I mow the yard? No thank you.

Another smile of appreciation on his mother's face. So he went away for about 20 minutes and came back again. He said, Shall I wash the car? No thank you. And progress was not what you might describe as sensational.

So finally he came back in 20 minutes again and he said, Should I sweep the kitchen? No thank you. It was half an hour before he tried again. And this time there was just a tear in his eye. Slipped up to his mother's side.

And he said, I'm sorry. And for the first time, for the first time there was a smile on his mother's face. She said, Bill that's all I've been waiting for. Now you can mow the yard, you can wash the car and sweep the kitchen.

You see he had to begin at the right place. And you'll discover that you can come to God with your money, your checkbook, your activity, your talent, your gift, your verve, your good works and God will be utterly unimpressed.

Utterly unimpressed. Not because those things are wrong in themselves, they're not. But simply because they are utterly, pathetically, abysmally inadequate to reconcile you to God. Otherwise he'd have never sent his son to die in your place.

But I'll tell you something. In a moment like that, small boy, you've been intelligent enough to bow your head and say, I'm sorry. And claim the forgiveness that may be yours alone through Jesus who died in your place.

You'll find there are lots of yards to mow, lots of cars to wash and lots of kitchens to sweep. But life will become the most fantastic adventure, sharing that life on earth caught up into the timeless purpose of a timeless God.

The Second Word: Truth and Emancipation

Now that's the first word of the gospel, not the last, just the first. Just the threshold of our salvation. This is the baby language of the gospel. And I'm so thankful to God for the day when as a boy of twelve, quarter to nine, Saturday night, 13th of August, 1927, I obeyed the first word of the gospel.

I mixed it with faith. Nobody knew, I didn't tell anybody. There was no after-meeting, there was no instruction, there was no invitation. But in the silence of my heart, in a boy's camp, 150 other kids, I simply said, thank you Lord Jesus, you're in business.

And I've never had cause to doubt from that moment to this that my sins were blotted out. He remembers my sins now no more. I don't deserve that. But the Father has honoured his Son and written my name in the Lamb's book of life.

Now, the second word of the gospel, and we'll only pause very briefly upon this, it's in James, in chapter 1. The first general gist of James, and in the 17th verse, every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

Now this is the nature and character of God. This is the immutability of truth. That is totally timeless and changes. Truth never changes. You can never discover anything today that proves that something true wasn't true yesterday.

And if you know the truth today, nothing under any circumstances can happen tomorrow that will disprove the truth as you know it today, if it's the truth. The truth, if it's true, is true. That's the beautiful thing about truth.

That's what I like about the truth, it's true. And it's as true as God. If it isn't timeless, if it isn't immutable, it isn't true. The Father of lights, in whom there is no variableness, neither any shadow of turning.

Timelessly true. And of course the Lord Jesus is the one who came to this world to be that truth incarnate. That's why in that verse that I've already cited, from John 14, verse 6, the Lord Jesus went on to say, I am the way, I am the truth.

Truth. He didn't just come to tell the truth. He didn't come just to preach the truth. He didn't come just to explain the truth. He said, I am the truth I preach. I am the truth I explain. He is the truth.

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. And verse 18, you know that chapter, Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth.

That's the second word of the gospel. It's a word of truth. From the timeless ages of the past into the timeless ages of the future, what God says stands. He is the truth. It's a word of truth. And by this word Peter tells us in the first chapter of his next epistle, it's only over a page, turn right and you're there.

1 Peter chapter 1, and in the 23rd verse, being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible. By the word of God, which liveth, a living word, and abideth forever, an ever living and an everlasting word.

And last half of verse 25, this is the word, which by gospel is preached unto you. Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever. God never changed his theology. God never dies. He doesn't have to.

It's only man has to change his theology. He does that about every three months. That's why, if I were you, I'd never rest your timeless and eternal destiny upon the machinations of the human mind. When the Lord Jesus, as we shall see throughout the week, came into this world, he didn't come to establish a new religion.

Jesus Christ didn't come into this world to lay the foundations of Christianity. He came incarnate to bring the eternal, timeless, redemptive and regenerative truth of God into effect. He tells us in the 7th chapter of John's gospel, in the 16th verse, the words that I speak unto you, I speak not of myself.

My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. Because you see, when the Lord Jesus Christ came to this world, as we saw this morning, he came to be not man as men were, but man as man was. Man as man was, as he, as God created man.

So that God, the Creator, inhabiting man, the creature, by the Holy Spirit from within the human spirit, might invade and have absolute and challenged monopoly of the human soul, monopolizing every area of his personality, his mind, his emotion and his will, so that all his behavior might find its origin in the presence of God who made him.

And the Lord Jesus was the only man that ever walked this earth who was prepared to submit himself to that divine sovereignty, so that he could say, the Father that dwells in me, he does the work. Everything I say, my Father says.

Everything I do, my Father does. Everything I am, my Father is. My humanity, body, soul, spirit, mind, emotion and will, in the total being with which my Father provided me, when he gave me that little body born at Bethlehem, this I present to my Father through the eternal Spirit.

So that my doctrines are not mine. I simply make articulate in your hearing and make audible what my Father has to say. That's truth. And by this word of truth, Peter says, we have been begotten, not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible, the ever living and the everlasting word of God.