Grace Fellowship Church - Friday Main Conference Session 1

Grace Fellowship Church

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:00

The following recording is from our Grace Fellowship Church Conference 2025. Please visit us at graceedmonton .ca

00:08

to learn more about us. You can also find us on Instagram, Grace Church, Y -E -G, all one word, or on Facebook.

00:16

You can also find us on YouTube, Spotify, or wherever else you listen to your favorite podcasts. Please enjoy the following recording.

00:24

Well, good evening, grace and peace to you in the

00:29

Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray.

00:45

Father, this is your time to work.

00:55

Thank you for allowing me the privilege of working beside you as a co -laborer.

01:04

But I know, I know that if anything is achieved here tonight, it will be by thy hand and not mine.

01:14

And I pray you would declare yourself here tonight. We've confessed, we've come to conferences and church services, morning worship and other, and we didn't see you.

01:31

We didn't see your activity. No manifestation of the glory, the glory we need to see.

01:38

And so tonight, Father, would you, in your mercy, remember us.

01:47

We desperately need you. No one here is satisfied with the status quo.

01:58

There is a holy discontentment in our hearts that you have more for us, and that the glory of Christ is far greater than we have beheld up to this point.

02:14

And so, Father, I pray that for our good and for his glory, for the furtherance of the renown of your name, that you would work here in Jesus' name.

02:30

Amen. The text I pray the Lord be pleased to speak to us from is

02:37

Paul's epistle to the Ephesians chapter 3 and verse 17,

02:44

Ephesians chapter 3 and verse 17.

02:49

I want to speak on the theme, the indwelling Christ, the indwelling

02:55

Christ. Paul writing to the church in which he planted in Ephesus, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you be enrooted and grounded in love.

03:18

I'm sure many of you know that this is just one request in a prayer that the apostle is praying for the

03:29

Ephesians. And oh, what a prayer, this prayer found in the third chapter.

03:36

It's not the first prayer that Paul prays while penning his letter to his spiritual children.

03:44

It's the second. The first is found in the first chapter and it too is a marvelous prayer.

03:52

But there's something about this third, this prayer in the third chapter that always warms my heart, that I seem to always go back to for my own self and praying for others.

04:08

It might be our, to our benefit if we read the whole prayer before I really dig into verse 17.

04:17

It's a prayer that I could literally spend multiple sermons covering to mine its wealth and try to bring it to the surface.

04:28

This is a prayer we should spend a lot of time and, and I'm only going to deal with just really one phrase, not even the whole verse that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.

04:41

So I shall take my own advice and starting in verse 14, let's read the entire prayer and see how verse 17 fits within its context.

04:54

For this reason, I bow my knees to the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you according to the riches of his glory to be strengthened with might through his spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, that you being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all the saints, what is the width and length and depth and height to know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

05:40

Now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think according to the power that works in us, to him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever.

05:56

Amen. And everyone said, well,

06:03

I feel like I'm fumbling around the edges of the Shekinah here. And why do

06:08

I say that? Well, when you read Paul's great statement in Romans 11, 33, oh, the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God, how unsearchable are his judgments at his ways past finding out.

06:26

We're dealing here with the heart of God for his people. And that my friend is a boundless ocean.

06:34

You will not discover its shores. This is something amazing when we look at this prayer, because Paul is praying the fullness of Christianity in the very ones that he led to the

06:51

Lord. Again, you must note that Paul is not praying for sinners here.

06:57

He's praying for Christians. And you must remember this. This is essential and very important to the understanding of the text.

07:06

He is praying for people who are saved. It is not even in the mind of the apostle.

07:13

Nothing in the context would say that he was thinking that there were some who are might be false professors.

07:20

They profess, but they didn't possess the reality of Christ. That's not in the text here. Not at all.

07:25

No, he's praying for people that he believes to be brethren, people of God, children of God, those in whom

07:34

God has done the miraculous work of the new birth. And so I say to you tonight, this prayer is for us.

07:43

And it does reflect the very heart of New Testament Christianity. We who, who boast in the doctrines of grace and God's sovereign grace and choosing us before the foundation of the world and all of those wonderful tenants of his saving work through Jesus Christ.

08:05

We have a motto that we want to adhere to, always reforming we say. And I, I fear that most of us don't even know what we mean when we say that, always reforming.

08:17

We say it and that we think we are progressing, that we're moving forward, that we're further along than the reformers and their children.

08:26

But I don't believe that that's what it really means. I don't think ever reforming means to ever progress, but rather to digress.

08:36

Now, what do I mean by that? I mean, if we're ever to get to the heart of true

08:42

Christianity, what that means, we have to go back, not progress forward, but go backwards, back to the early church.

08:50

We have to go back to this text and the New Testament. There's where we discover

08:57

Christianity at its purest form when it was birthed there, first in Israel and then to the known

09:06

Roman empire. If you want to know what Christianity is at its heart, you don't progress, you go back, you go back to the apostles, you go back to the word.

09:18

And whatever is not in alignment with this book, whatever is not the essence and the expression of the heart of the gospel, we must reject, no matter how reformed it might sound, no matter how systematized it might be.

09:37

I want this, what I read here in this prayer. This is the kind of Christianity that Jesus died for and there is no other.

09:48

Christianity, where Christ dwells in our hearts by faith, and you know it.

09:55

You don't suppose it. You just don't take it by faith that he does. No, you experience the reality of what

10:03

Paul here is praying for these dear saints. Well, you say, but doesn't

10:10

Christ already indwell me, a Christian? Doesn't he indwell his people? And the answer is, absolutely yes.

10:20

Christ already indwells. He indwells every believer. For example, in Colossians, another letter that Paul wrote, at the same time he wrote

10:29

Ephesus, or Ephesians, he says in Colossians 1, the last part of verse 27,

10:35

Christ in you, the hope of glory. What's your hope of glory?

10:42

What makes you certain that heaven is your home? Well, because Christ is in you.

10:48

That is the hope and the source of that hope. John the

10:54

Apostle in his first epistle, chapter 4 says, because he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

11:02

And then again, the Apostle Paul, Romans chapter 8 and verse 9, definitively makes it clear that every

11:08

Christian has the indwelling Christ by the Spirit in him or her. But you are not in the flesh, says

11:15

Paul, but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now, if anyone does not have the

11:22

Spirit of Christ, he is not his. So yes, if you're a

11:28

Christian tonight, well, Christ lives within, by the person of the

11:34

Holy Spirit. He is the Spirit of Christ. What is the Spirit like?

11:39

Who is the Holy Spirit? What is He like? Well, just look at Jesus. You will know what the Holy Spirit is like, for He is the other advocate, the parakletos.

11:49

I send you another helper, comforter, as the old King James says, which simply is the same word we find in 1

11:56

John 2, 2. If any man sins, he has an advocate, parakletos, a helper, an advocate,

12:03

Jesus Christ the righteous. So the Holy Spirit and Jesus, well, there they are.

12:09

Jesus shows us what the Holy Spirit is like. And He lives within you. As Christ was to the disciples those three and a half years, so now the

12:20

Holy Spirit is to us. He is our teacher. He is our guide. He is with us.

12:27

And He represents the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's not just true individually as believers, but corporately.

12:37

I don't know how many churches are represented here, but it is a truth statement that in every one of these local assemblies represented here,

12:47

Christ abides. Why? He's the most important member of your church. He's the head of your local church.

12:55

Have you ever thought of it like that? He's a part of your church. He's a member of your church because He's the head and you're the body.

13:06

So we are not here doubting. In fact, Paul has already established that fact in the second chapter, verses 21 and 22, in whom the whole building being fitted together grows into a holy temple in the

13:19

Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the

13:27

Spirit. So let us put away any notion that I'm trying to teach some novel thing and say that Christians may not have the

13:36

Spirit of God Christ in them and they need to believe by faith so that He would.

13:42

That's not what we are saying, because that's not what the Apostles say. This, my dear friend, is something beyond Christ coming and indwelling you by the

13:55

Spirit. It is beyond His work of inhabiting us at conversion.

14:01

This has nothing to do with the experience of salvation at all.

14:10

Paul is not praying for Christians who already have Christ that they might have Christ in a saving way.

14:18

No. The word dwell here means more than just to inhabit.

14:28

It means literally to settle down and be a, become a permanent resident.

14:35

I might be objected to by someone who said, are you insinuating that Christ can come and then

14:41

He can leave? No, not at all. I'm not of one of those who believe that a man who's truly been born again, justified by faith, shall ever lose his inheritance.

14:52

So no, that's not possible and that's not what Paul is insinuating either. A better way to say what this word dwell means is to become at home in one place and there abide.

15:06

It's what you would say to a guest who comes and visits, as my hosts have done to me.

15:12

Please make yourself at home. Have you ever said that to someone?

15:19

You have a guest, you tell them to make themselves at home? Well, do they?

15:25

Do they really feel at home? Well, of course not. They know they're not at home. You may allow them to enter into the refrigerator and eat what's there without permission.

15:34

You may even let them play with your games and your gadgetry and you're okay with that, but that's still not quite the same.

15:43

But what if you had said to your guest, here, here are the keys and here's the deed to my home.

15:51

I'm signing it over to you. Ah, now, pastor,

15:57

I'd feel at home. That is what this verse means.

16:08

When Karen and I moved to Texas, I tell people I was born a

16:13

Texan, but it took me a while to get there. I was actually born in the state of Missouri, which is probably nothing to you

16:20

Canadians, but I was born there and we pastored some in Kansas and then in Kentucky and now

16:28

Texas. But when we first moved there, we knew that we were not going to be permanently dwelling in the house that we were renting.

16:37

It was temporary. The Lord was so gracious to us. A long story

16:44

I won't get into, but just give you the ending. The Lord actually gave us a home and we knew that that was happening as we were moving, but it took about three years, almost four years for that to happen.

16:57

And so we rented a home in the meantime and we lived there. Nevertheless, we never felt quite at home because we knew that was not our permanent dwelling.

17:08

In fact, there were boxes unpacked those four years we never unpacked. We never put a portrait or a painting or pictures on the walls.

17:17

We didn't want to put holes in the wall. We didn't do any landscaping or gardening because we knew we didn't want to tear things up.

17:24

We wanted to leave it as the way we found it. But ah, when we finally in August of 2022 moved into our home, every box is unpacked.

17:37

All of my books are now on their, their shelves, almost 3000 volumes.

17:46

Yeah. I love to show you my study. It's a beautiful place. I spend most of my time there.

17:54

I'm at home there. It feels like home. Cause I moved in to stay.

18:02

This is what Paul is praying. Oh, that Christ would feel at home, that he would know that your heart is his and he can do with it, whatever he wants to do.

18:18

Now he's Lord and you're not. And of course he can do whatever he wants to do, but he's not that kind of occupant.

18:27

This is a partnership. This is a relationship between almighty

18:34

God and you. And therefore there is a love relationship that is to be practiced.

18:43

And this is what Paul is getting to here. It has nothing to do with the experience of being saved in Christ coming within.

18:51

This is something that he's talking about that's happening to happen to those who have already received

18:57

Christ, who've already been forgiven of their sins, who are already His.

19:03

Now listen carefully. It's here where we have a problem. It's here we have a struggle and it's here we need to continue our reformation.

19:18

For too long we have been taught that you get it all at salvation.

19:25

All there is to God, all of the experience of God comes at the moment of the new birth.

19:34

If that is true, then Paul's prayer is blasphemy. Did you hear me?

19:41

Paul's prayer is meaningless at best, blasphemy at worst. If that is the case, that there are no more depths, no more heights to climb until I get to heaven, no more experiences with God by the person of the

19:57

Holy Spirit, no more of His power to receive, then my friend, there is no reason for Paul to pray this prayer.

20:07

Our theological system has blinded us to the reality of the kind of Christianity that our forefathers, the first generation, experienced.

20:18

And it's time, if we are going to see a move of God in this generation, that we go back to this kind of gospel, a gospel that's ever increasing, a gospel that I'm ever learning, a gospel

20:32

I'm ever growing, a gospel where I'm ever experiencing the glory of the one who died for me.

20:42

And beloved, His glory is infinite. His power is without measure.

20:51

And there is more of this glory to experience. Why? If you turn to 2

20:59

Corinthians chapter 3, you hear the apostle talk about this very same thing to the

21:07

Corinthians. And he says in verse 17,

21:13

Now the Lord, talking about Jesus, is the Spirit. And where the

21:19

Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty, verse 18. But we all with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the

21:29

Lord. It's not clear because the mirrors of that day were not like ours.

21:35

They were polished metal. And so you could see yourself, but it wasn't clear.

21:42

And so Paul is using that metaphor here. You're looking in the mirror, the glory of the Lord, and what's happening to you?

21:49

Well, you're being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the

21:57

Spirit of the Lord. Paul is acknowledging there's more glory. There's more for me to experience of the

22:05

Lord Jesus. And thereby, that experience, I become more and more. I have what

22:12

God has promised to me, what He's covenanted Himself to me, that I shall be conformed to the image of His Son.

22:21

And this is what Paul is praying for. And he focuses in here on this phrase in the prayer, that Christ would dwell in your hearts by faith.

22:31

This is a spiritual experience. It's not a second blessing as our

22:38

Pentecostal and charismatic friends would have us to believe. No, no. It's not a second blessing. It's a third and fourth and a fifth and a sixth and a tenth and a hundredth and a thousand.

22:48

You get my meaning. It's an ever increasing experience. It's like drinking from the ocean, an ocean you cannot complete or dry.

23:02

Now, I cannot tell you how this occurs. I've spent my life trying to figure that out.

23:07

I don't know. It is spiritual, and it's beyond my comprehension, but that doesn't make it less real.

23:15

You see, faith doesn't need to understand in order to believe. But if your faith needs to understand, my friend, you don't have biblical faith.

23:26

There are many people who are not Christians tonight because they can't understand it all. They can't figure it out. They can't dot every

23:32

I and cross every T. Well, how could you? How do you explain the love of God?

23:38

As Paul says here in the prayer, it passes intellectual knowledge. It doesn't, this is an experience of the love of God that exceeds what you can learn, even from the scriptures.

23:53

I often use this illustration. So if you've heard it, I apologize, but it's a good one. I don't come up with many good ones.

24:00

So when I get one, I keep it and I hold on to it and use it. But I do a lot of international travel.

24:06

Let's say I leave Dallas -Fort Worth area and I get in my car and I'm going to fly to, let's say,

24:14

Europe somewhere and preach. Instead of flying from DFW to cross the

24:21

Atlantic, I get in my car and I get to the Eastern seaboard. Well, my car has gotten me that far.

24:27

It's helped on my way to Europe, hasn't it? Yes, you can do this, can't you? Yeah, it has done that.

24:36

But at that point, it can service me no more. It cannot help me. I'm going to have to get out of my car and I'm going to have to either board a boat or a plane and cross the

24:48

Atlantic and make it the rest of the way. Beloved, there are things that we have experienced in God by faith, and we can understand them to some degree.

25:03

The intellect by the Word of God gives us understanding. But there are some of things of God that are mysterious and beyond understanding, and only by faith can they be appropriated and they become real.

25:19

Can you see Him? Do you see Him tonight? And yet Peter says, having not seen you believe and having believed you rejoice with what?

25:29

Joy unspeakable and full of glory. How? I can't see

25:37

Him. I've never heard His voice. I've never looked into His eyes and saw the gleam of that love for me.

25:47

But oh, my dear friends, it's just as real as if I had. Why? Because somehow by the

25:53

Spirit, through faith, it becomes a living reality. This is what Paul is saying.

25:59

This is what he's praying for. It's not conversion. It's something beyond our initial salvation.

26:07

And I also know it's not the sealing of the Spirit. Now, how do I know this?

26:12

Because Paul has already told us in chapter 1 that these Ephesians have already been sealed. Look at Ephesians 1 .13.

26:22

In Him you also trusted after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also having believed you were sealed, past tense, with the

26:34

Holy Spirit of promise. Well, what is the sealing, quickly?

26:39

It is God's seal of approval. It is God testifying to you that you are

26:46

His indeed. For example, in 2 Corinthians 1 .22, Paul says also

26:53

He has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. And then

26:59

Paul tells to the Romans in the 8th chapter, verse 16, the Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.

27:06

This is part of that sealing where the Spirit of God testifies to you.

27:12

You remember Jesus was sealed, yes, at His baptism. The Bible says the

27:17

Spirit came upon Him and God spoke from heaven, this is my beloved

27:23

Son in whom I am well pleased. That was God's testimony of His Son.

27:28

And when the Spirit seals you at conversion, something is placed within your heart, this testimony of God that you can cry out,

27:38

Abba, Father, because you feel for the first time

27:43

God is really your Father. You feel that kinship. Where did that come from?

27:50

Your imagination? No. It was given to you by the Spirit, by the

27:55

Spirit. It's the sealing. But this is not that either because these dear souls had already been sealed.

28:02

And I can say also that it's not the infilling of the Holy Spirit. Now, I don't know if you're familiar with this term.

28:11

It's sad, I have to explain it sometimes to folks. The infilling is nothing more than the

28:17

Spirit coming and giving you what you need for a particular act of service or to give you the influence to live a

28:26

Spirit -filled life, a Spirit -controlled life and produce the fruit of the Spirit. That's all it means to be filled with the

28:33

Spirit. But Paul's not talking about that here either. It's not that. No, no. This is something experiential.

28:43

This is not theory. It's just not simply theology that you can check off and say, okay,

28:48

I've got that. I figured that out. I'll take that by faith. Beloved, that has been so harmful.

28:56

You never have to suppose you're believing something to be true. When you truly believe something to be true, you know you believe it.

29:09

Let me give you an example. I used this the other night. We were talking in the home. Faith.

29:14

What is faith? What is biblical faith? Well, some would say it is accepting the facts of Scripture, acquiescing, accepting, trusting that it is true.

29:28

Well, that's a part of what faith is. It's not in its totality. No, no.

29:33

It's more than that. And so often we use these words, believe and faith, and we talk past one each other because you think you know what it is.

29:44

The person talking to you thinks they know it is, and it may be two different things, and you're using the same word, and you don't even know you disagree.

29:51

So what is biblical faith? It carries the component of entrusting something to God, namely yourself.

30:02

Now, I illustrate it this way. Our youngest child, Victoria, she was born in 1999.

30:11

And when she was born, she wasn't breathing, and she was deprived of oxygen for quite a while.

30:19

She's Down syndrome, and she's also autistic. That's why my wife's not here with me tonight because the long distances, it's just very difficult to travel with Victoria.

30:30

And so she doesn't get to go with me everywhere I go. She's home taking care of our daughter.

30:38

But if there are times when she can go with me, we'll sit down in the living room, and we'll say, okay, who do we believe can take care of Victoria for us?

30:51

Notice my words. Who do we believe? In other words, who do we intellectually think has the wherewithal, the ability to take care of a girl that they're going to have to brush her teeth, dress her, take care of all of her bathroom needs, everything, because she can't communicate.

31:12

And we'll say, oh, I think brother so -and -so or Karen might say, yeah, and I think they could do it too.

31:18

And we may come up with another name or two. But my question to you is this, do

31:26

I, am I exercising faith in any one of those couples at that moment?

31:34

You can do this or this or this. I'm hearing, why am

31:41

I not exercising faith? Because I've committed nothing to them. But here's faith.

31:49

When I take Victoria to their home and turn around and walk away, that's biblical faith.

31:58

My friend, have you experienced that kind of faith? Have you entrusted yourself to Christ and said, here

32:06

I am, Lord. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter what tomorrow holds, what you do, how you treat me.

32:14

I trust in your heart that you're too good to be unkind, too wise to make a mistake.

32:22

I trust you. And I'm committed to you. That's biblical faith. Now, my friend, what

32:32

I'm talking about, what Paul is talking about only happens by faith that Christ may dwell in your heart through faith.

32:41

And that doesn't mean you have to understand it. All it requires is that you trust the person whom you've committed it to.

32:57

How much do you really trust him? Can you say that Christ dwells in your heart by faith and you experience him?

33:06

You know his intimacy. You know his fellowship. You know him. And it's real to you.

33:14

This is what he's talking about. This is experiential. It is a higher degree of communion or fellowship with Christ than you are now experiencing.

33:24

Not more than what they were experiencing when Paul prayed this for them. And so here

33:30

I go again. I have to challenge. This is what preaching is to do.

33:36

Preaching is not just giving you information, but preaching for a verdict. It's to persuade you something so that you are committed to it.

33:45

You by faith act upon it. And so I ask you, what kind of faith do you have tonight?

33:52

Do you believe there's more of his love to experience? That there's more? Or do you believe, well preacher

33:59

I believe that's true for you or my pastor. But you know I'm just an average Christian. I don't get to read.

34:05

I don't like reading that much. And I may read the Bible today, but I may not for the next two days. And my prayer life is not the best.

34:13

And I'm not as faithful as you are. Of course God would do that for you. But well, according to your faith, so be it.

34:21

To the degree that you trust, so be it. That will be the degree of your communion and fellowship with Christ.

34:30

Aren't you, aren't you moved tonight to want more of Christ? You see,

34:37

I can tell by some of your facial expressions, who's getting this and who's not. Who really desires this and who doesn't.

34:44

Even though you may be stone -faced Canadians. Though you may not show your emotions in this way, in this kind of setting.

34:53

I can see in the eye. I know there are some of you who are here tonight and you have said,

35:00

I'm completely satisfied. I'm a believer. I've given my life to Christ. That's all I need. I'm saved.

35:06

And when I die, I get to go to heaven. I'm not so sure for you about that for you.

35:13

In fact, I can say I'm the authority of scripture that those whom God saves,

35:20

He gives them a new heart. That new heart is the heart He occupies. And there's one distinctive characteristic about that new heart.

35:29

It desires Christ more of thee. I'm sorry,

35:35

I'm giving you feedback here tonight. I don't need these microphones, but they need it for the taping.

35:42

I'll try to be more respectful of that. And when it's not hungry for that, there is a sadness.

35:54

There's a grief. There is a mourning. It's one or the other.

36:01

Do you have that tonight? Is there a sadness in your soul that you're not further along than you ought to be?

36:09

A grief that by hearing this tonight, you're stirred up and faith is starting to arouse out of its slumber and say, oh, is it true,

36:19

Lord? Is there more for me? Are you satisfied having your sins forgiven?

36:27

And that's all you need to know. Oh, my dear friend, that's not saving faith. That's not the kind of faith that God gives.

36:35

Faith has a direct object and the object is Christ and Christ alone. It wants him.

36:42

It wants to see him, observe him, keep its gaze upon him. And when it's not doing so, it suffers.

36:53

Behold, I stand at the door of your and knock. If anyone hears my voice, opens the door,

36:59

I will come into him and dine with him and he with me. This is what Paul is talking about. Did these

37:04

Laodicean Christians, did they have Christ already within? Yes, they did. As every

37:10

Christian. They were terribly backslidden. They were terribly far from the mark.

37:16

But Jesus still calls them his own. Whom I love,

37:22

I rebuke. Therefore, repent. And then he says this, behold,

37:27

I stand. Well, how can he be in the heart and yet standing on the outside knocking? Well, he's talking about more than just being saved.

37:35

He's talking about this experiential communion because to come in and dine with him is the language of fellowship.

37:44

In the first century, fellowship and communion was always around a table. This is when you had your most intimate times of communion with people.

37:54

It was at the table. This is a beautiful statement that Christ is saying, I long for your fellowship.

38:00

I long for your intimacy. It's like the song of Solomon when the bridegroom says, come, my beloved, come.

38:09

He wants to be alone with her. He wants to know her in a way of deeper intimacy.

38:17

This is what Christ is saying. And this is what the apostle Paul is praying. I referred to this in the message in the pre -conference to the pastors.

38:27

And so I would like to refer you to the same text, John chapter 14, John chapter 14, verses 20 and 21.

38:39

Jesus is getting ready to go back to die and then eventually go back to heaven.

38:48

And He's trying to communicate to His disciples how they're going to be able to relate to Him, no longer bodily, but now spiritually.

38:58

And He says in that day, you will know that I am in my father and you in me and I in you.

39:07

So Christ is in us. That happens at conversion. And he who has my commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves me and he who loves me will be loved by my father.

39:26

And I will love him and manifest myself to him.

39:34

There it is. That's what Paul is praying. He's praying the promise of Jesus.

39:42

You love me. You will be pleased to obey me.

39:47

You see, love finds its greatest joy in the pleasure, in the pleasure of the person that's loved.

39:57

What does it mean to love? Love means that you so love that person, you so care about them, that their joy becomes your great pleasure.

40:08

And Jesus is saying, if you love me like that, where my joy is your greatest joy and pleasure, you obey me because that pleases me and therefore it pleases you.

40:22

And anybody loves me like that, my father and I, we're going to love on you. We're going to express our love to you and it will be manifest.

40:31

I will show myself. I will declare myself to you. Now, beloved, that's either true or not.

40:39

He's not talking about conversion here. He's already talking to people who've been converted, who will become his lead witnesses and apostles.

40:50

He's talking about how they're going to relate to him in the spiritual dimension.

40:58

They won't be able to see him or touch him or hear him anymore physically with their senses, but they can still know him and have intimacy with him in a spiritual level, in a deeper way than they had with him bodily.

41:15

And this is what the apostle is praying for.

41:21

And I pray it for you. That you would experience more and more of this great love for you, that you would go deeper into this, that Christ would dwell in your hearts by faith.

41:33

Look at verse 23, the same 14th chapter. He repeats it again. Jesus answered and said to him, if anyone loves me, he will keep my word and my father will love him.

41:44

We will come to him. And then what does it say? What does it say?

41:50

Somebody tell me. Make our home with him to be at home.

42:10

Please listen. You can know Christ, but not know this kind of communion.

42:21

You can be a Christian and not know this kind of communion.

42:27

And here's where we need to reform by going back to the gospel.

42:37

This is the only gospel I know that Christ not only is a savior from sin, but a one who communicates himself in a real intangible way to my soul.

42:52

I can experience him not in visions or even great emotional experiences, but by faith.

43:00

When I read the word of God and I know that this is the abundance of his heart talking to me, and when

43:06

I really believe it, when I act on it by faith, it becomes real.

43:13

And I experience him in joy, unspeakable and full of glory.

43:21

Oh, my friends, there are many of you, you believe upon him. You depend upon him for the forgiveness of sin, eternal life.

43:30

You pray, you do love him, but you don't have this kind of fellowship where you are consciously aware of his presence.

43:41

Maybe better said, you're not continually aware of his presence within.

43:49

And if you're not, then you've got room to grow. You need the answer to this prayer tonight, because that's what

43:55

Paul is praying for. And it's what you ought to be praying for, that you can continually be aware of his presence.

44:04

You remember what John the Baptist said, well, pointed to Jesus, there stands one among you whom you know not.

44:11

Well, beloved, I want to suggest to you that we know the Holy Spirit of Christ is a heavenly influence, but somehow we've not grasped the truth that he is a person, a person of the

44:26

Godhead. He is the spirit of Christ who's come down to this earth at a definite time.

44:32

And he's been in the church ever since, just as really as Jesus was here during the 33 years of his life.

44:41

He's here in this room right now. I'm not trying to be melodramatic or spooky.

44:46

I'm not trying to scare anybody, but Jesus is in this room, and you don't need to see him to believe that.

44:56

He's here. That ought to make us right now get on our face before God.

45:02

If we ever got the reality of that statement, that God is in his temple right now, maybe we might be like Isaiah who cried out, woe is me, for I am undone.

45:15

Maybe then our hearts would be realigned to his, oh, that we could see the glory by faith.

45:23

You know, many true Christians toil on bearing burdens, assuming responsibilities far too great and beyond them.

45:32

And they're weary, utterly wore out tonight. Who am I talking about?

45:37

Here in this room, you've exhausted yourself, utterly forgetful that the mighty burden bearer of the world is within you to do for you and through you that which you cannot do yourself.

45:59

Is this the common, constant reality of your Christian walk? This is the cry, the faith, the experience that Christ died for you to have.

46:14

How many of you have heard of Hudson Taylor? Just a few? Oh, yeah, more.

46:20

More brave souls are admitting it. You ought to admit it if you know anything.

46:26

This guy is amazing. He was. He is because he's still alive, isn't he?

46:36

He's in heaven with Christ, more alive than you and I. But when he labored on this earth as the director of the

46:43

Missionary Society of Inland China, there was success in the early years, but it came at a great cost, great weariness of soul to Taylor.

46:55

He confessed in a letter to his mother. May I read you the letter? It's a little, not too long, but it's a little longer than a quip or a quick quote, but it's worth your time.

47:08

He said to his mother, I have continually to mourn that I follow at such a distance and learn so slowly to imitate my precious master.

47:20

Let me pause there. Can you relate to that? Yeah. Continually mourn that I follow at such a distance and learn so slowly to imitate my precious master.

47:34

I cannot tell you how I am buffeted sometimes by temptation. I never knew how bad a heart

47:42

I have. This is a Christian who happens to be quite successful missionary.

47:50

And it's like he's finding out just how wicked his heart was. Yet I do know that I love

47:57

God and love His work and desire to serve Him only and in all things.

48:03

Ah, there it is. There's the new heart. There it is.

48:08

This is not an unsaved man, but a saved man who hasn't yet learned how

48:15

Christ can dwell in his heart by faith. That was a clue. And I value, he continues, above all else that precious savior in whom alone

48:26

I can be accepted. Often I am tempted to think that one so full of sin cannot be a child of God at all.

48:32

Oh, can anyone else relate to that? You sin, you go to the

48:37

Lord and ask Him to forgive you. Two days later, you do the same thing again. And you wonder, how is it possible that I am a

48:44

Christian? Well, Hudson Taylor would say, Amen. I understand. I know quite well that feeling. Instead of growing stronger,

48:53

I seem to be getting weaker and to have less power against sin. May God help me to love

48:58

Him more and serve Him better. On September the 4th, 1869, Taylor experienced what it meant for Christ to dwell in your heart by faith.

49:10

Ah, it was an incredible experience for him. But he once again wrote about that to a family member.

49:20

I believe it was his sister. And here's what he said. The Spirit of God revealed to me the truth of our oneness with Jesus.

49:29

Now, stop. Are you one with Christ? And everyone would say, yes, and amen.

49:35

Because the Bible says so, right? We know that intellectually. But do you know what most of our problems really boil down to?

49:43

We don't know what we know. Meaning we do not know by experience what we know in our heads.

49:52

And that was Taylor's problem. He said, I finally saw it. The truth of oneness with Jesus as I had never known it before.

50:01

Now I was altogether different. Mine is a peculiarly nervous disposition.

50:07

In other words, he's saying he's a nervous guy. He was kind of fidgety. And with a busy life,

50:13

I found myself in a tremor, shaking, literally tremor all day long. I did not enjoy the

50:19

Lord as I knew I ought. Nervous agitation possessed me as long as there was anything to be done.

50:26

The greatest loss of my life was the loss of the light of the Lord's presence and fellowship during writing hours.

50:32

The daily mail robbed me of his delightful society. You've got to understand that he would get lots of mail from the homeland and other places of the world that people were supporting them.

50:44

And so he would answer every one of those letters. It took hours out of his day and it was exasperating to him.

50:54

But now after he saw the truth of his union with Christ, he says, but now the weight and strain are all gone.

51:04

The last month or more has been perhaps the happiest of my life. And I long to tell you a little of what the

51:10

Lord has done for my soul. I do not know how far I may be able to make myself about it for there is nothing new or strange or wonderful.

51:23

And yet all is new in a word. Whereas once I was blind, now

51:30

I see. Well, that sounds like a lost man. No, it's a man whom

51:36

God has shown more of the glory and the glory is so profound.

51:44

It is as if he had never known it or saw it before. We're not here tonight to encourage you to seek experiences.

52:00

That's not wise nor biblical, not wise because the devil can give you any experience you want.

52:11

Not biblical because faith does not reside in the emotions.

52:18

But when biblical faith is alive and active, you will experience corresponding biblical emotions.

52:39

And that is what we have denied in our generation. And that's why we are like Hudson Taylor, miserable.

52:51

Oh, that Christ may dwell in our hearts. You sang it tonight, but you didn't mean it. You said that's,

52:59

I heard your Americans were crass, but you just, I never thought, well, that was just rude to say that.

53:06

No, I'm trying to help you see reality. And if sugarcoated words don't do it, then

53:13

I'd rather go to something else. Leonard Rabin here used to talk about smooth haired prophets and their nice suit of clothes.

53:23

We need a prophet that's dressed in camel hair and girdled with a leather belt.

53:29

And we need plain spokenness. You sang, be thou my vision.

53:35

What was you singing? You were singing my text, but you didn't even know it.

53:41

Did you? This is a song only a Christian can sing.

53:46

This is not an evangelistic. This is not a sinner song. You wouldn't sing this at an evangelistic crusade.

53:54

No, no. Only the saints can sing this kind of song. Be thou my vision, O Lord of my heart.

53:59

Not by all else to me, save that thou art. Thou my best thought by day or by night.

54:05

And then you say, waking or sleeping, thy presence, my light.

54:13

What did you mean it? Is the presence of God your light? You experience the presence.

54:20

You are aware of the presence of God and that's your light. And if you can't say that's true, then you aren't true when you, honest, when you were singing this.

54:28

Now, were you? Come on, were you? Be thou my wisdom and thou my true word.

54:39

I ever with thee and thou with me, Lord. Well, now we know that intellectually because he's omnipresent.

54:47

He's omnipresent. But what does Psalm 73 say?

54:54

Psalm 73 is, is Asaph praying, oh

54:59

God, I know that you are present with me. Because that's the doctrine of your omnipresence.

55:06

Is that what he means here? No, look at what he says in verse 28.

55:13

But it is good for me to draw near to God. I love the way the

55:18

Christian standard Bible translates that. But as for me, God's presence is my good.

55:28

What did David mean when he said in Psalm 16, eight, I have set the Lord always before me because he's at my right hand,

55:35

I shall not be moved. What does that mean? Well, that means this. He was conscious of the presence of God.

55:45

It wasn't a, it wasn't a testimony to the omnipresent. No, I have set the Lord before me because he's at my right hand.

55:52

It was an acknowledgement of God who was omnipresent and with him. It was a reality.

56:00

It was something experiential, something known. I ever with thee and thou with me,

56:08

Lord. And then listen to what you're saying tonight, thou in me dwelling and I with thee one.

56:15

Well, now that's theologically true, whether you experience it or not, but that's not what the hymn writer is singing.

56:20

Be thou my vision. It's a prayer request. It's a prayer. Lord, I want the reality of you in my heart that you're so at home in me and I in so intimate fellowship that I know that I experienced that.

56:36

My dear friend, I say again, that is true Christianity, a heart that pants after God.

56:44

And no matter how much you experience, you want more. The presence of God is addictively good.

56:53

You cannot just have a little bit of him. You want more. Your desires are increased by the experience of what

57:02

Paul is praying here. Oh, that Christ would dwell in my heart by faith.

57:09

And so what can I say to you tonight? What should be the response to this word?

57:15

That you fall on your face and say, Oh God, I've lived much of my

57:20

Christian life, not realizing what I was missing, that there was a fullness yet for me to experience and to have.

57:27

I've been so scared of all the abuses and excesses of all these different groups that I have thrown the baby out with the bathwater.

57:36

Oh, isn't it strategic of hell to convince millions of these wild abuses and these unbiblical experiences?

57:46

Yes, he can. He can deceive millions. Well, then I understand why he would do that. But that's not all he does with that.

57:54

The rest of Christendom who doesn't see the biblicalness of those things and reject them.

58:00

You know what we do? We go to the opposite ditch and we close the door to any moving of the spirit of God whatsoever.

58:07

We say, No, I got it all at salvation. I just need to grow in my knowledge of the word of God and everything is fine.

58:13

Now Satan has won another victory.

58:21

Oh, dear friends, I'm not preaching anything that Spurgeon didn't preach to you or would have preached to you if he was here tonight.

58:30

Nothing different than what Whitefield would have preached to you if he was here tonight. And I certainly am not preaching anything different if the

58:38

Apostle Paul was here preaching, because this is his word. I pray

58:44

I've sufficiently answered your objections that you've seen beyond a shadow of a doubt. This is not about lost people getting saved.

58:50

He's writing to Christians for an experience of Christ by faith that surpasses knowledge, but nonetheless real.

59:00

But there is those here among us who you're not a Christian. There's no yearning for this whatsoever.

59:10

All that you've heard tonight seems like mumbo -jumbo and it's not cohesive to you.

59:19

It's not cogent. It doesn't make sense. Oh, my friend, you may profess to be a

59:27

Christian, but I want you to hear me. I plead with you in Jesus name that if you are a

59:33

Christian, your heart would desire this. Every Christian in this room who may not be experiencing this, your heart's resonated with it.

59:45

You know I'm telling you the truth and you want it. You want it. You want

59:51

Christ to dwell in your heart by faith. You want to know deeper this intimacy that Christ would manifest

59:56

Himself to you. If all you're interested in is that your sins are forgiven, you escape hell when you die.

01:00:03

Oh, my dear friend, you know nothing of true Christianity. You know nothing of the gospel that saves.

01:00:10

No, no, it's not the gospel itself that saves. It's Christ that saves, a person.

01:00:16

And therefore a person meets with you and you encounter Him and that encounter changes your life.

01:00:23

And every encounter with Him in the Word by the Spirit will continually transform you from glory to glory.

01:00:34

And so I end by praying, oh, that Christ would dwell in your heart by faith.

01:00:41

Amen and amen. Let's pray. Thank you for listening to another sermon from Grace Fellowship Church.

01:00:50

If you would like to keep up with us, you can find us at Facebook at Grace Fellowship Church or our

01:00:57

Instagram at Grace Church, Y -E -G, all one word. Finally, you can visit us at our website, graceedmonton .ca.