Personal experience of the power of God (Quality: Very good)

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[0:21] Praying for the help of the Lord, I direct you again to the chapter we've read this morning, John chapter 6, part of verse 27.

[0:44] Labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give unto you, for him hath God the Father sealed.

[1:15] As I told you this morning, the first part of the text, labor not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, was what I hope I receive from the Lord.

[1:39] Now, I feel that we ought to make a distinction here. Jesus, as I read the word of God, and what little understanding I have, and I have no understanding, no real vital understanding, in the word of truth, unless he shines within my heart, and opens it to me.

[2:15] That doesn't mean to say that naturally I'm ignorant of the scriptures. I'm not on that at all. I am on that which the Holy Spirit reveals unto us.

[2:32] Now, you see, these people, we don't read that they had any desire for Christ.

[2:54] Let that sink in. They had no desire to know him, and they had no ear for his preaching.

[3:18] All they were interested in was to receive from him that which I would, I want to say it rightfully, that which would satisfy them in their flesh.

[3:44] be it healing of the body, we read here that at that meeting on the hillside, they followed him, they saw his miracles, which he did on them that were diseased.

[4:19] Everything, you see, everything for the flesh. Now, it's a wonderful thing. Don't misunderstand me. It's a wonderful thing.

[4:31] And it surpasses anything which you can receive from the medical profession if Jesus healed your body.

[4:45] Wonderful thing. It's a wonderful thing beyond human comprehension, beyond human understanding, to receive that healing virtue of his in your body.

[5:13] I'm not speaking of faith healing, I'm not speaking of anything like that. I'm speaking real vital truths. Once in my life, and I don't know whether I've ever spoken of this publicly before, but it's come to me.

[5:46] And for many years, I've kept silent upon him. Why? People wouldn't receive him.

[5:57] Wouldn't receive him. but now I've told you half the story, I might as well tell you all of it. Our pastor, an old man, was dying.

[6:23] And I didn't want him to die. I loved him, for the truth's sake. He preached to me, you see, and I could not bear the thought of him dying.

[6:47] Oh yes, there comes a time with us all, but you know, everyone was walking around with long faces, everyone was talking whispers, you know, preparing for the funeral, and so on, and so forth.

[7:06] And I went up to stay at his house. Most of the members, I would say, of the congregation, there were those, we took it in turns, to sleep at his house, and to help his wife, and so on, and I laid on that bed, in this room, in prayer, earnest prayer, before the Lord.

[7:46] Now, some of you, if you've experienced this, you will receive it. it's not the only time I've had in it, but in this particular case, suddenly, I became aware of a power, a heavenly virtue, which was completely indescribable, if I was to say love, it doesn't reach to it, and I can't explain it.

[8:32] I can only state, as in the scriptures, virtue. I felt that virtue come down from heaven, and went to my pastor, a healing virtue.

[9:05] From that day, our pastor recovered, and he went on, I suppose, another ten years.

[9:23] I've never understood it. I've pleaded with the Lord. I've got cases now, in my heart.

[9:38] If only I could touch the hem of thy garment, Lord, if only I could touch thee with that prayer, that earnest prayer, within my heart, I believe, and that virtue came down to that person, that child, it would be done.

[10:02] I haven't the power, I haven't the power of prayer, I cannot control it.

[10:19] I've told you something now, you've probably never even heard of. But there is virtue within beyond everything that we can comprehend on this earth.

[10:41] Yes, there is. That heavenly virtue, but you know, there are times when I watch, I pray to the Lord in the night season.

[10:59] Oh, and I wait, and I watch for it, but he doesn't come. You see, the Lord is a sovereign.

[11:15] Yes, he is. But you see, he gives you enough he gives you enough to make you thirsty for more.

[11:31] Now, that thirst for Christ, desire for Christ, for what he is, is what they didn't have.

[11:50] And vitally it's this, as I touched this morning, the expression of Peter's faith, he said, we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the son of the living God.

[12:21] Do you want him? Do you seek him? Now, God's people, they have the same trials, have the same difficulties, they have the same worries, they have the same afflictions as the people of the world.

[12:57] But there's a difference. Now, that is the difference between a child of grace and one who is only seeking the Lord for the loaves and fishes of this life.

[13:19] The difference is this, and I touched it this morning, where I told you the Lord said to me, seek ye first.

[13:38] And we use the scriptural reference, seek ye first the kingdom of God. Now, I told you, that is what I didn't want.

[13:54] What did I want? I wanted this. Therefore, no man can serve two masters.

[14:09] That's what I was seeking. I was seeking my personal ambitions to satisfy the desires of my heart and also to follow Christ.

[14:31] That's what I wanted. But the desires of the flesh were uppermost. my natural desires were uppermost.

[14:44] And I was seeking him to give me that which I wanted in this life. They're fleshly things, but not a spiritual.

[15:03] That's an impossibility. Now, you see, I didn't take any notice, didn't register with me the second part of the promise or the second part of that truth which Jesus stated.

[15:27] And what is that? it says here, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.

[15:40] And what then? And all, not part, not a little, not too much, all these things shall be added unto you.

[16:04] Seek ye first. Now, those of you who have gone out on this pilgrimage, constrained by the love of Christ within your heart moving you and directing you in the way in which you should go and you follow him despite of the flesh, your fleshly heart pulling you back.

[16:48] You come into something, a conflict which the world knows nothing of. Now, they have ordinary worries, ordinary concerns, and all those things that I've told you about, which we are prone to naturally, but they have not this.

[17:14] They don't know anything about that conflict. And what is that conflict? conflict, the conflict between the new man of grace and the old man of flesh or the old man of sin.

[17:30] They know nothing about that. And some of us know what it's like to be almost torn apart by that conflict, one pulling one way and the other pulling the other way.

[17:54] And some of us have known what it is when the Lord has told us to give up. Give up.

[18:13] Give up what for? The love of Christ. The love of Christ within your heart.

[18:29] You've heard, you've read in the word of God weeping and supplication. If any of you hear, know a little of that struggle, of that trial, and it's a struggle, it's a struggle, you can't do it yourself.

[18:57] If I was to come into that, spend hours, but you see, it's the love, the love of Christ, drawing you and following you.

[19:18] Now, that's what Peter saw, thou art the Christ. To whom can we go? He said. Once you have tasted of that heavenly food from heaven and drink and drink of that pure crystal stream, oh, you may backslide.

[19:47] I don't say you will not backslide. I don't say that at all. You may kick, you may fret, you may rebel, you may do all of these things, but once you've tasted the love of Christ within your heart, in reality, poor soul, in reality, its drawing power within your soul will bring you to reach out after him.

[20:22] I know you will feel your sins, I know that, but you see, I'm on something I hesitate to use the word, but it goes deeper than your sense of sinnership.

[20:52] not separated from, deeper. And how do I describe this?

[21:03] I see from far thy yonder light, and in least I for thy repose.

[21:17] That's it. you read Paul in the Philippians.

[21:29] I follow after that I may obtain. it is that inward light, that inward love of Christ that draws the soul after him and brings him first in their lives.

[21:53] and it will bring you to surrender those things which you desire naturally within your heart.

[22:11] The love of Christ. Oh, you won't live there. Oh, there'll be a battle. I can assure you of that. There'll be a battle, right? Satan will come in.

[22:28] Your own natural heart will come into it. I called myself in this path. If you're a pardon the expression, I called myself a thousand fools.

[22:48] Perhaps I shouldn't have told you that. The Lord brought me to give up everything through his love.

[23:05] And he told me, I'm not going into the experience of it, he told me that he would provide for me and that he had the case.

[23:21] That's the thing. He had the case in his hand and he would manage everything in it. And I believed by living faith, not my faith, faith that grows on your soul, natural faith, that will fail.

[23:38] I'm speaking about a faith indicted from heaven above. Launch out into the deep, into the unknown.

[23:56] Oh, I've had since that day in those paths, I've had a little insight into the path of Abraham. He went out, not knowing whither he went.

[24:14] He left the safety, a life of ease in hour of the cold ease to launch out into the deep and so did I in my path.

[24:33] when I had severed all links with the past under the fear of God, the love of Christ moving within my heart in complete faith, believing that what he had promised he was able to perform, believing that he was going before me, believing that he was the author of my hope, which he had laid in my heart.

[25:14] I ought to explain the ins and outs of this, but I haven't, there isn't time. Oh, I say there isn't time. But you see, the Lord laid a promise in my heart, as he laid a promise in Abraham's heart.

[25:35] And I ventured forth, believing the promise. Now, when it was done, I want you to watch this point, when it was done, when all links, as in Abraham, with the past, was cut, there was only one way, there was no way back, there was only one way forward.

[26:09] You might have heard me, I've mentioned it several times, and I might have mentioned it here, I don't know, but it bears repetition.

[26:25] Hardly had the Lord, I say he left me, now I always want to be careful here, because he never leaves the soul, but it is as if he hides his face, he withdraws the power under the influence of his divine love within your soul.

[26:49] you lose sight of everything on the earth, and you see only him, only Jesus.

[27:02] That's all you see. Living faith within the heart, but you take the step in the path, I don't know why I'm on this, in that path, you know, I had something I hadn't had before, I believed, I believed with all my heart that this would be done, and that the Lord was going before me.

[27:37] A little voice, do you realize what you've done? Do you realize what you've done? You've given up everything, you've given up natural happiness on this earth, what for?

[27:57] There's nothing in it. At that point, I believed it, and I called myself, as I said, a thousand fools.

[28:11] Now that gives you an idea did the Lord leave me? No.

[28:23] Still went on, still went on, with this, with this word, you see, you're proving the end that there's nothing in it, it's all a myth.

[28:36] Venture in spite of all that. You see, the promises of the Lord are yea and amen.

[28:50] What he has promised, he will perform, but it's the treading out of it. you told me you don't believe you're a child of grace and experienced these things.

[29:17] There is prayer. All this prayer, all this prayer, I can tell you there is prayer. And that prayer goes deeper than your lips.

[29:30] It comes out of the very harm. There be on each stage of the journey, there be a standing at the well.

[29:47] Behold, I stand at the well. each stage of the journey, poor soul.

[30:00] Oh, hear, and hear, hear you. He's already heard you. He's already laid the promise in your heart, and he's already gone before you.

[30:15] But you don't know that. You don't know that. You see, whatever path you may be walking in, under the influence, under the guidance of the Lord himself, he goes before you.

[30:41] Now, this is what a child of grace wants. this is what they seek for. This is what they desire to know.

[30:52] That he's with them in the journey which they are taking. You know, Moses, and this is where the scriptures have come alive to you.

[31:04] When you're in these very trials they have come alive, poor soul. If thy presence go not, what did he say, with me, carry us not up hands.

[31:22] The very exercise that the Lord had laid within his heart, he was pleading that.

[31:37] Now, those that were with him, they weren't pleading that. He was. If thy presence go not with me, carry us not up hence.

[31:50] you see, a child of grace, whatever trial they're in, and a child of grace is made a child of grace by the Lord himself.

[32:07] Whatever trial you may be in, and I'll tell you this, whatever is of the Lord, whatever you may be carrying before him, there'll be a conflict in it.

[32:24] It's a word. There'll be a trial in it. There'll be the trial of your faith. What you see is his presence, what you want in the trial.

[32:41] Now, these people didn't have that. No. They didn't have that. Now, no person outside of the secret, those whom the Lord has chosen, they know nothing about this.

[33:06] No, they don't. There's a conflict conflict and the trial, but there will be times in the trial when he will grant you something which you will come to prize.

[33:31] Now, you may be taken up, completely taken up, or completely immersed under the trial, under the weight of the trial within your heart.

[33:48] And what will you find? He will come, no words, no words, but you will feel something which you can't describe.

[34:05] And what is that? Peace. peace in your heart. And in that peace within your heart, you will smile at the storm.

[34:22] Yes, you will. Before then, you know, you may be looking for the conflict, for the trial, for the persecution, whatever it may be, to be taken away.

[34:36] But no, within the trial, within the conflict, he granted you peace. I believe I didn't read it, you see, and, but in the previous part of this chapter, we read how they, they went across the water, where?

[35:01] in obedience, in obedience, how I should say, in obedience to his command. But then, you see, now this explains exactly what I've been saying to you, the sea rose by reason of a great wind that blew.

[35:21] You see, the conflict, the trial, and they cried out. You see, when he came, you know how they were afraid.

[35:32] But, you see, then they willingly received him into the ship, and immediately the ship was at the land whither they went.

[35:46] In the storms, with Christ in the vessel, we start, smile at the storm, but there's another scripture which I would refer you to beside this one, and that was another occasion where he was asleep.

[36:05] Cares thou not that we perish? And he said, peace, be still. Peace, be still.

[36:17] All that peace, all that peace within your heart. Do you know it? Do you know you'll come to prize it? And you'll believe.

[36:29] Now, I said to you, that whatever you do in obedience to him, and he is with you, he will go before you, and he will manifest that he himself has done it.

[36:56] And when he does this, when he does it, you will know it's him. And where will the praises come?

[37:07] The praises will go out of your heart to him. The Lord has done it. You rejoice a joyous in him.

[37:21] Oh, that rejoicing. But there's another side of this that I must touch before I sit down, and it is this. I read it to you, the other second part of that promise, where it said in Matthew 6, where it says, and all these things shall be added unto you.

[37:52] I am a living witness that in my case, the promise has been performed in a far greater degree than ever I could have achieved myself.

[38:19] But you've got to go through the trial, poor soul. I think I mentioned somewhere today, where you just don't sit down, but you've got to fight.

[38:34] he's richly provided for me. You say, then you must be sitting on the fountain top.

[38:48] No. No. There's a conflict. There's a trial, poor soul. He's been with me.

[39:00] He's provided for me to this very present time. How will it be tomorrow? You say, well, you shouldn't talk like that.

[39:17] Do you know that hymn of Calplus, 320? Blind unbelief is sure to her, and scan his works in vain.

[39:31] God is his own interpreter, and he will make it plain. You'll prove this, poor soul.

[39:45] You'll scan his works in vain. But you see, the promises of God are yea and amen.

[39:55] the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. You see the Lord in the trial at the beginning.

[40:08] The Lord is in the work of grace from the beginning to the end. Oh, ye of little faith, why do ye doubt?

[40:21] why do ye doubt his power? He does and he can appear in a thousand ways beyond our limited vision.

[40:40] All we can see is through our own limited vision. but I've proved he's won as always ways are past finding out.

[40:56] Yes, it is. But you have to follow him, poor soul. You won't get these blessings if you go back.

[41:07] You won't get these blessings. My soul has no pleasure in him and turn his back.

[41:20] He hasn't. You see, you've got to go forward and I say you will go forward. You will go forward in standing still.

[41:35] Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. the Egyptians which you have seen today, you will see them no more.

[41:55] Red Sea in front of them and the Egyptians behind. What a state to be in. Bid the children of Israel that they go forward.

[42:10] that's how it is. That is the past. But you see, here we find labor not for the meat which perisheth, but that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give unto you.

[42:35] you see, it all proceeds from Jesus.

[42:46] Having loved his own, he will love them to the end. Yes, he will. The love of Christ leading you, teaching you, and he will not lay upon you any more than you can bear.

[43:09] No, he won't. You may think, you may think, your lot is hard, but the Lord he sanctifies him.

[43:22] And this is the sanctifying. He's with you in the trial. There's a purpose in it. There's a purpose in the trial. You can't see it.

[43:36] The Lord is with you in the trial. But I fear I must close now. Amen. your love.

[44:04] You have to Terk through you are probably here.

[44:18] Thank you.