Welcome to Five's Pulpit. It's really great to have you with us on this Sunday. I want to do two readings to start with and then explain to you my theme for the day. The first reading is from 1 John 3, just the first two verses, and hopefully we'll link this together with our other reading. See what great love the Father has given us, that we should be called God's children, and we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it didn't know Him. Dear friends, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. And my second reading is from the High Priestly Prayer of our Lord Jesus Christ, John chapter 17. This is a very sacred section of scripture, the prayer of Jesus. And I just want to read from chapter 17, verse 24, just to chapter 18. And this is Jesus speaking. He says, Father, I want those you have given me. to be with me where I am, so that they will see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the world's foundation. Righteous Father, the world has not known you, however I have known you, and they have known you, that you have sent me, and I made your name known to them, and will continue to make it known. so that the love you have loved me with will be in them, and I may be in them. Repeat that. That the love you have loved me with may be in them, and I I approach this subject today with a deep, deep sense of almost fear and reverence and devotion. And I want to be careful that my Lord Jesus is honoured and exalted. Otherwise, I have no right to speak of his excellency. If I speak in my own strength, then that is nothing. But it is an excellency after many years of being a Christian, many years of failure. I am only now beginning to, I think, touch the hem of the garment of some of these truths. So I begin by saying, will you please forgive me if you feel I do not honour him? For I am a sinful man trying to speak of excellent things that are beyond many men. For these reasons, I have turned again to a Puritan called Thomas Vincent. We've been with him before. And I love the Puritans because we can look at what they say and bring it up to our situation today. And much of what I want to say is an extension of some of his writings. The question is asked, How can Christ make himself known to the believer? As Thomas Vincent puts it, how does he, Christ, manifest himself to us? It's an important point, and it helps us understand. This is made by Vincent when he says this, and it's a quote, and I'll tell you when I finish the quote, so you'll not get me confused with Vincent. The quote is this, Christ manifests himself, but in part and darkly. The soul is not now capable of the fullest and clearest manifestation of Christ. It is in the hereafter that Christ's disciples shall be perfectly like Christ and shall have a perfect manifestation of Him, for they shall see Him as He is now." And that's what 1 John was saying. The luster and brightness of Christ is so great that should he now let forth the beams upon us, it would dazzle us and amaze us. It would strike us blind, yea, it would strike us dead. There is a need because of our weakness that Christ should keep a veil upon his face and his presence when he reveals himself. We cannot now bear the full manifestation of Christ. So he reveals himself, but in part." End of quote. Now a pastor can only minister a little of what is in Christ. His job, of course, is to minister Christ, not to be a social worker or something like that, but to minister Christ and all of his excellences. So every word spoken of him falls short and therefore every visitation of him personally can never be to reveal his excellent glory. As 1 Corinthians 13, 12 says, for now we see through a glass darkly, on earth that is, but then in heaven face to face. Throughout the Bible, Christ manifests himself veiled in types and visions. And sometimes in what we call Christophanies, that is the pre-incarnate appearance of Christ in a human form. For instance, it may have been Christ who was Melchizedek, to whom Abraham gave tithes. It may have been Christ who wrestled with Jacob. It may have been Christ who met with Abraham. It may have been Christ who was in the fiery furnace with the three. These things are glorious mysteries and best left as such. Many people believe this was Christ. Others are not so believing of that, but they're best left as mysteries. But let me now try to show you how these things work. So you may understand what follows. Our Lord Jesus Christ is fully glorious God. He existed from eternity, even before this world was created, as it says in our reading. To save us from condemnation, he clothed himself with humanity. He left the splendour of heaven, but remained as glorious as ever. But his glory was veiled by his humanity. This theologian's call is humiliation. The steps of his humiliation beginning at his birth, he's been made flesh in his birth. And then we have the steps of his exaltation in his resurrection and ascension. But his glory and divinity are veiled by his creation. On a couple of occasions, his glory was glimpsed at The obvious one, of course, was the Mount Transfiguration. when we read that Jesus was, literally in the original, metamorphosised. And that Greek word means he was changed from the inside to the outside. And he did this before them, a word meaning the change from the inside, as I say, to the outside. In short, his humanity at that point was overshadowed and overwhelmed by his divinity and his glory. It was then after that we read that after this glory had dissipated and Christ's humanity again was seen, we read these lovely words, and the disciples saw no one save Jesus only. In short, they once again saw the human Jesus. Again, it's possible that some of the glory of Christ was seen when he looked like a ghost and walking on the water. or by the shepherds in their fields, or at his baptism, or again at Gethsemane, when they came looking for him and he said, I am, and they fell back. It's possible that in a minor way that was the case. But of course, none of these things, with the exception possibly of the transfiguration, could be said to be true manifestations of his glory. within his humanity during his time on earth. Of course, then there is the ascension, which we'll come on to in a moment. So the eternal, all-glorious Christ took flesh. His glory was veiled, his humiliation complete. Then as he hung upon the cross, he could have at any one time allowed his glory to blaze through and blind everyone by his perfect divinity. But of course, that would not the will of the father and it certainly would not enable his meek death to save us. So he died, giving himself over to death and he suffered. and His desire to do the will of His Father and His love for you and for me kept Him there. He did not display His glory in a flash, but His glory was still wonderfully there in the suffering servant. Then we have the resurrection, where our Lord appeared again in His human, glorified form. But he was in a human form. And he told Mary not to hold on to him because he had not yet ascended. And this period was necessary, I think, for many, many reasons. But I think one of the reasons is to show his disciples that he had not deserted their humanity and that he had truly conquered death. And they too will do the same. It is me. Look, this happened to me and it will happen to you. It was when he had completed that final period amongst them that he took them to a very high mountain and the glory of God, maybe we might say the Shekinah glory, which is the presence of God, descended upon him. And he was then changed before them and his humanity shone in his divinity and they saw his brightness and his glory as he ascended into heaven. You see, the ascension is one of the most important biblical truths, for before our eyes the risen human Jesus reveals his essential glory and went up to heaven. But the important point is this, that for the first time a human body had gone into heaven. As Paul says, he is the first fruits of the many. Jesus took humanity into heaven, making way for us to follow. As I go, so will you follow me to heaven. Psalm 24 is one of my favourite psalms. I know you've heard me say that a number of times about the psalms. But it goes like this. It begins with a question. Who shall ascend to the hill of the Lord? Who shall stand in his holy place? He who has a clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false, and does not swear deceitfully. And then the cry comes out, lift up your heads, all you gates, the heavenly gates, and be lifted up, all ancient doors, that the King of Glory may come in. Who is this King of Glory? It is the Lord, strong and mighty. It is the Lord, mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O you gates, and lift them up, O ancient doors, that the King of Glory may come in. Who is this King of Glory? The Lord of hosts. He is the King of Glory, Selah. So, as Redeemer of God's elect, Christ, having done His work, having appeared to His disciples in the flesh, returns to heaven's glory as the triumphant King, bringing the trophy of humanity with Him. He has done it. It is finished. And now as Redeemer, he takes his place in heaven and hands over the kingdom as Redeemer to the Father, lays it at his feet. It is now that as risen, ascended, glorified Saviour, that his appearances in Scripture begin to change. For instance, there is a beginning of a change with Stephen, the first martyr. As Stephen looks up, he sees Jesus glorified in heaven. But he's still standing up. Almost on tiptoe, he hasn't even sat down upon his throne yet. But he is standing up to watch his first witness and then to greet him home. than when a man called Saul, who was an unbeliever at this point, was persecuting and killing those who love the glorious Christ. But the glorious Christ then blazed, not in his humanity, for this was after the ascension, but in his glory. He burst before Saul, brighter, it's said, than even the midday sun. So bright. that Saul fell off his horse and was made blind and had to be healed. There are many that say that Paul's, one of his afflictions in the flesh was that his eyesight after that was not very good. At one point he says, see what such a long letter I've written in my own hand, in large letters. So it may well have been that, but he was blinded blinded as the glory of God burst around about him. And the bright light that shone in glory when Saul then said, who are you? What is this bright light? And the voice replied, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. You see, this was the ascended Jesus. This was after the ascension. He's glorious in majesty. This was the Jesus as he is right now, full of glory and light, magnificent with the glory that he had with the Father before the worlds were formed. But then, of course, there is another appearance of Jesus in his ascended, wonderful glory. It is in the Isle of Patmos, where the last apostle, whom Jesus greatly loved, received the Apocalypse, that is the revealing of the victory of Jesus. It was given to him by Jesus himself, who appeared to the one who knew Jesus well, who had pictures of him in his mind and in his heart, whose words were still echoing in his heart as he said in his letter. And the one who had laid his head upon the Lord's chest He saw him in all of his glory. John, although unlike Saul, because John was already a believer, was not blinded, but saw Kim, glorious, falling down as dead. He fell at his feet as dead. Notice the two responses to this after ascension glory, blindness, for the unbeliever and falling as dead for the believer. How awful will it be when the non-believer passes from earth, and they will, into eternity, everybody will, and they will be blinded by the light and they will fall down as dead. But how wonderful it will be for the believer. who will have been made perfect, clothed in Christ's righteousness, imputed to Him. and he will be like Christ. We do not know what we'll be like, but we know we'll be like him, says our reading. And therefore, they will not fear that glory, but rejoice in its blessed, pure warmth and light. But again, for the non-believer to face such glory and brightness alone, alone, not with their pals, their mates, their relatives, their animals, their pets, their surroundings, but alone in their sins. It's beyond our imagination and should really, you know, fill us with a degree of horror. But now let me go back and ask the question that Vincent asked. After understanding some of these truths about Jesus' coming and his appearance and his ascension, Let's think of the question, how does the Lord manifest himself to us today? Well, as Vincent says, Christ manifests himself in part and darkly as the soul on earth is not capable of the fullest and clearest manifestation of Christ. And that is true for the way Christ is made known to us today. He's very, very personal and has to do with our inner life. Let me remind, or let us remind ourselves of some simple truths that I fear that we have a desire for the dramatic. We can easily forget the simple, basic Bible truths of Christ coming to us, of how he comes to us today. We want the dramatic. We love the dramatic. Sometimes we're like pagans who think the more dramatic their experience is, that the more real it is. This happened in the Temple of Aphrodite. We are like those in scripture who want to see the dramatic to see the miracles. And yet the generation who saw the most dramatic miracles in the wilderness were the most faithless generation and died in barren wilderness. It could be argued that occasionally the Christian has had dramatic experiences or even some claim to have met Christ. As I know in revivals, dramatic things happen. But generally speaking, for most of us, It is not the dramatic post-ascension revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, but it is the quiet inner assurance of his presence on a day-to-day basis, of his strength and his love and a day-to-day walk. You see, I've often described the Christian life, as it does in the scriptures, as walking with God. And walking with God is about that deeper inner relationship. A walk is a steady thing. We are, says Galatians 5.17, to keep in step with the Spirit. Our walk is mostly that of the inner relationship with a little need of the dramatic. We don't need great lights along the way or blinding flashes. All we need when we walk with God on a day-to-day basis is a sweet walk with Him, being reassured of His presence in the cool of the day as we walk and commune with Him. Let's remind ourselves of how this works on a more personal level. God is with all believers today. in that his Holy Spirit indwels us. It is the Spirit. This can only happen because if one is born again by the Spirit in John 3.3 and 1 John 5.11-12 tells us that it is Jesus who indwells us. I quote, this is the testimony. God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life. Whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. And as Jesus said, the Father comes to abide with us. I quote again from John 14, anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My father will love them and we will come to them and make our home with them. In Galatians 2.20, Paul speaks about Christ living in me. Then in chapter three, verse five, he says, that God has given us his spirit. Then in verses 26 and 27, he says that believers are baptised into Christ and are clothed with Christ. Jesus said he was going away, but would send another, one of the same, a comforter to be in them, to be with them and in them. Of course, he meant the spirit of God. that would be in every believer, and in that sense, he himself would come, for he was one of the same with the Spirit, to them and to be in them. With the Spirit's presence comes fruit, which really is the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ himself. Just look at the fruit and it will tell you of Christ's ministry in you. See what the Spirit of Christ brings to you. Let me think of those things. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, self-control. And all these graces are within the believer. And when Christ manifests himself to us, he, I believe, fills out these graces as they are needed in our lives. We do not need to see his ascending glory, for one day we shall see it. But we now have his presence in our hearts. Yes, He is heaven's darling and He dwells in heaven, but He dwells also by His Spirit in our hearts as to the Father, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This is a great mystery. It is a great mystery. But what a wonderful mystery. I love mysteries. I am content not to understand, but just to rejoice. that Christ in me is the hope of glory. Having not seen him, we still love him and rejoice with joy unspeakable. We do not need to see him in the flesh. We do not need to see his ascended glory because we have his presence in our hearts right now. Let me personally express how wonderful this is. Maybe next week, maybe we could look at how this is worked out in a general sense. We'll see. We'll see how my week goes and things go. We may do something entirely different. We may do the ancient art of Jewish saddlery or something like that. Long to preach a sermon on that, but I don't even think there is such a thing. For there is much to be said, of course, about this. But let me tell you of my own experiences of the manifesting of Christ in my soul. And many of you will have your own stories. Many, many times when things are hard or where that extra sense of his power is needed, you will fill our hearts with the fruit of his person and the fruit of his spirit. Another thing to mention is that as Christ dwells in our hearts by faith, how then can he ever leave us? The answer of course is he cannot. He dwells in our hearts. We are one with him, united by faith in Christ. He's not going to leave you, you know. He's never going to leave you. and he'll present you faultless before his throne with exceeding joy and you will see the ascended Christ in all of his blaze of glory and majesty. But right now, right now you have his presence, his spirit in your heart and in your life. So on to some practical examples. I will discount the many times of my conversion that the spirit has filled my heart and joy has overflowed. I will give an instance of it, and I think I've given this before, but it was for me, it was so dramatic, not in the flashing light sense, but it was so clear and dramatic in my own experience. I remember when I was in the Royal Navy, the British Navy, alone on a minesweeper in the North Sea, which generally was pretty rough. I was the ship's radio operator. I had my own little radio room from which I could send and receive signals by Morse code. We had a crew of around 35 men and I was convicted that I did not really love them as I should. So one night, after my midnight routine of receiving and sending signals, I closed the door to my office with me inside and I knelt and asked the Lord to come near to me, to manifest himself and fill me with his presence and love for the men. And at that moment my heart was wonderfully warmed. And I felt the manifestation of Christ's presence in that little room in my heart. And I felt the fruit of love fill me. Now opposite the radio office was the ship's galley where a large frying pan was left out by the chef. with eggs and bacon and bread so that during the night watches the men would come down and have a bacon and egg butty or something like that. And there were usually about three or four men just chatting, keeping warm away from the upper deck. They just had turns on the upper deck. And I went in just across the gangway and felt such a love for these men. I wanted to hug them. But you know this was the 70s and they put you away for that sort of thing. But Christ had filled my very soul with love. He had manifest Himself by His fruit, the fruit of His Spirit. With the first one is love, and love came pouring in. So much so that I had to go back literally to the radio office, close the door, kneel down and ask the Lord to bondify what He had done. But that sense of Christ and His love was overwhelming. He had filled my wretched soul with a touch of heaven. He had not come in his ascension glory. He'd not come in a physical way, but he had come in my heart and touched and used and filled out his spirit in my very soul. Sometimes he manifests his thrilling power. Again, once in Singapore, and I have some modern day references as well, but once in Singapore whilst visiting a warship, I was an evangelist. The warship was called HMS Fife, which is the area in which, of course, I live now in Scotland. And as an evangelist, I visited, I went to speak to the lads. We didn't have females on the ships in those days, they were all chaps. And I went into the electrician's mess, And on the door, there was a sign that was originally a Christian car sticker. It says, Jesus says, I am the way, the truth and the life. But the lads had changed it. They changed life to Fife because it was HMS Fife. So it read, Jesus says, I am the way, the truth and the Fife. And I thought as I went in, You know, if you grab a tiger by the tail, it's going to bite you. Sure enough, as I began speaking, the Spirit of God filled the place with power. Christ filled my heart with clarity and power. And Christ came near and five lads turned from their sins that night. And the sixth one ran out of the room. he couldn't take anymore. Christ did not have to appear like a burning fire, but to visit us with his convicting power. Again, this has happened to me, as when I was working as an evangelist, countless times. There has been, as no doubt you will also know, times of great conviction, of tears and of love. Sometimes listening to a sermon I have cried through many a sermon as I have listened to my fellow preachers preaching, or the singing of a wonderful psalm or a hymn. But he manifests himself within us and fills us with a heavenly sense. He fills our hearts when we're lonely, afraid and down, grieving, disappointed, persecuted, after a period of backsliding or failure. You see, he knows what's best for us. As I've often said, he knows what rock we hide under. He knows what's best. For greater is he that is within you than is in the world. Of course, I could go on about these things, about those inner moments of blessings. And I would also say that in one fellowship, There was a man who would approach me after a meeting and tell me all about his time in the Salvation Army as a prison visitor, some 20 or more years ago. But sadly, he had little to say about his experience today. And if this is like you, if you are living on the past experience, then you really do need to sort this one out. You need a true manifestation of Christ, filling your hearts by the power of his spirit and bringing to you all those fruits so that you might know his glorious presence again. But I'll say something in closing. One of my favourite texts, as I have grown older, is where Jesus said that he is not to break bruised reed or put out a smouldering flax. And that for me is very, very precious, for I am a bruised reed. My flax or my wick is so often smouldering. My spirit is delicate as I have grown older, and the wonder is that when I feel such a failure and lament my past efforts, feel my body is growing weaker, what can I do? I have lately found myself in prayer, wrestling and reasoning with the Lord. But then of course, that the fact that I'm doing this is a great evidence of His love for what non-believer does such a thing. But it is at those times, what do I need? as a smouldering flax, as a bruised reed? Do I need a burst of Christ's ascending glory that might break my bruised reed? Or might put out my smouldering flax? No, no. What I need is the warm, loving filling of His presence in my inner being. A place where the world cannot reach or touch. A place known only to be in Him. A holy place. within the city walls, waltzed outside is chaos like in Psalm 46. I need to be like that dove on a mountainous sea, tossed about, yet is asleep with its head tucked under its wing. I need to be in a place that is higher than I. And he takes me there, not by a blinding flash or a flash of ascending glory, but by His gentle inner presence, Christ in me, the hope of glory, in a place that no one can know. I fail Him. I have failed Him. I cannot promise much of better things this side of heaven, but He comes and His presence And I know that He will never fail me, ever. He cannot, for no one can snatch me out of His hand. He has said that, and I believe that. And He knows exactly how to reach you. He knows exactly how to reach me. and to give us his power for witness and preaching and putting his arms around our inner souls to comfort and assure us till we see him face to face. So as Vincent said, how does Christ manifest himself today? It is not physically, necessarily. It is not in his ascending glory, which would cause us to fall down as dead. but it is by the presence of his self in his spirit within our inner being. And we are strengthened, as Paul says in Ephesians chapter three, strengthened with dynamite or with great organizing working power in the inner being. That's where we need the strength. That is where Christ manifests himself to us today. Go away, go into your room. It's not very often a preacher will say to you, go away, but you know what I mean. Go away into your room and kneel down before God and say, Lord Jesus, manifest yourself to my inner soul, to my inner spirit. Give me love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Fill me, fill my soul out with all these glorious things that I may be a rejoicing believer until I see thee face to face. Now a prayer. Lord God, would you help us to understand the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, to understand that it is his sweet presence in the hearts of every believer. It is a mystery how that he can be in heaven and yet on earth and in our hearts. But we rest with that. Draw near to all your dear children now, Lord, and manifest yourself in quiet confidence and peace in their hearts. Amen. If this has been a help to you, then please just come and tell us and let us know. Thank you for listening.