OUR "I AM" SALVATION

By

J W Luman

Part 1 – Salvation is Christ Himself

Fulness and Completion in Christ

We are going to be looking at what I have called "The I AM Factor". That is not a scriptural term, but I’m talking about everything coming to find its fulness, its completion in The Person of Christ. This is not in the things that He did: not in anything that He did, or in anything that He does; but coming to find its fulness and completion IN HIM. And I know that just to hear that, many people cannot appreciate what is actually being said, because there are just a lot of believers who do not appreciate that Salvation is so totally integrated with Christ. So much so, that Salvation is Christ Himself. It is not something that He gives us or something that He does for us; not something that He has promised to do – but it is CHRIST HIMSELF!

Ephesians 1:10 – That in the dispensation of the fulness of time he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him.

Colossians 1:9 – For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding.

2 Peter 1:3 – According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue.

The Testimony is of HIM

We need to realize that everything in The Old Covenant is such an exact Testimony of Jesus Christ that nothing other than HE HIMSELF, in His Person could actually be the fulfillment of it. The Lord seemingly just breaks up a little piece of that great and glorious Testimony and brings it to us from time to time, almost like giving us a piece of bread. And of course the "piece of bread" that He has given us and is giving us is The Lord Himself! But He seems to just break it off from this great loaf of The Old Covenant, and breaks it off in fragments and pieces, and brings those to us, and reassembles those fragments and pieces in the Person of The Lord Jesus; and so the one loaf of The Old Covenant, that One Testimony becomes One Living Witness, One Living Word in us – no longer fragmented. If Christians, if Bible searchers could just get a hold of this: to never bring anything beyond The Lord; but just to stay there with it until Christ appears in that thing. Paul said something in Acts 26 regarding his confrontation with The Lord on the road to Damascus. We call this Paul’s conversion. In Acts 26 Paul gives his view of that. And in verse 16 he quotes the Lord saying, "..I have appeared unto thee..."

John 5:39,46 – Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.

Luke 24:27 – And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.

John 6:35,48,51 – And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst…I am that bread of life…I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.

Acts 26:13-18 – At midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them which journeyed with me. And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And I said, Who are thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee; Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee. To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.

I Have Appeared Unto Thee

Now, if we could just absorb this much. What is the qualification of Paul’s calling, of Paul’s ministry? What is the foundation and security of his Salvation? What is the certification of his gospel? What? Well, he was a scholar, a Pharisee… No, none of that. It’s there in "I have appeared unto thee." Now, anyone in whom Christ has been revealed understands the significance of that because until Christ does appear unto you (and we know that means He is revealed IN you); but until He appears, you and I have absolutely NOTHING to preach! We have NOTHING to declare! It’s all unfulfilled Old Covenant fragments! Even preaching Salvation – we don’t preach it right! We preach there is a Salvation, but then listen to our description of it, and it’s not right. New Birth – we bring that in, but listen to our description of it. It’s not right!

Galatians 1:6-8, 11,12, 15,16 – I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you in the grace of Christ unto another gospel: which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.

Old Covenant Fragments

What we do is preach Old Covenant fragments and we try to preach them as New Testament doctrines. But the centerpiece, the pivotal piece is missing! And that is HIM! The One Who fulfills all this; brings it all together in Himself, makes it a part of Him - is missing. He is missing in our understanding, missing in our heart. So we present Him… but go to The Old Covenant. You find Salvation there: the promise of Salvation is there, restoration is there, reconciliation is there, resurrection is there, Kingdom is there, Eternal Throne is there, Holy of Holies, The Throne of God is there. It’s all there. So we bring it over here and we preach it as New Testament principles and truths, and it all ends up as having NO substance. The Salvation we preach in the Church today has no substance. It is usually based on, ‘Come down and repent and confess your sins, and Jesus will save your soul.’ But that’s about it, and my point is we do not present the substance of that. It has no substance. And I just marvel at Paul and that his whole ministry started with I HAVE APPEARED UNTO THEE. Acts 26:16, " I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee…"

Psalm 53:6 – Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! When God bringeth back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.

Hosea 6:1-3 – Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord; his goings forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.

Joel 2:25 – And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.

Hosea 13:14 – I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction: repentance shall be hid from mine eyes.

Ezekiel 37:12,13 – Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves.

The Substance

It’s the same thing with John in his letter to the Churches: The Revelation of Jesus Christ. What gives that letter substance; what gives that letter Life; what gives that letter validity? The appearing of Christ! The whole thing centers around. "I turned to see the voice that spake with me." (Revelation 1:12) I turned… I saw… and Who did he see? Verse 13, " And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man…" He saw CHRIST! He saw Christ in a two-fold way. First he saw Christ as being representative of God’s ultimate intention for every man. He saw God’s idea of man. The Son of Man stands there. John saw God’s idea of every man. Sure, when God created man it was with this in view that He created him. What did man actually fall from? He fell from God’s view! God’s view never changed; God’s view was always secure in Christ. " Unto this man will I look…" (Isaiah 66:2) God’s view has always been centered upon this, and man fell from that view. Man fell from that intention, fell from that purpose.

Revelation 1;12-18 – And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars; and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore. Amen, and have the keys of hell and of death.

Ephesians 4:13 – Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.

Hebrews 2:6,9 – But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him?

Ephesians 3:11 – According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Colossians 1:28 – Whom we preach (Christ) warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.

Romans 3:23 – For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.

The Divine Intention of God

But we have people saying that Adam had something… and then he lost it. But Adam was never anything! What he lost; what he fell from, was the Divine Intention of God, The Divine Purpose of God. But God’s Intention didn’t fail; His Purpose didn’t fail because it was secured before the foundation of the world, wherein we too, who are in Christ were chosen. Now that doesn’t mean that Tom, Peter, Mary and Sue were chosen TO BE in Christ before the foundation of the world. It is that before the foundation of the world God saw us where we were chosen: chosen to be. Now that is His Purpose: to have man in Christ; to have A Man in Christ. But A Man in Christ is A Man that is in such union with Christ, that Christ is the Head of that Man even as we are The Body of that Man. Paul says that man is "Christ all and in all." (Colossians 3:11) And that’s what our souls have to come to realize: that I am NOTHING in this picture except what Christ is made unto me. Except Christ be the fulness, I am as empty as empty can possibly be – empty! Except Christ be the fulness; except Christ be the wisdom, the knowledge, the revelation, the righteousness, sanctification and redemption – CHRIST ALL AND IN YOU ALL. This is what God saw. This is God’s Man. This is God’s intention for humanity. This is what humanity lost, and as humanity it NEVER regained this.

Ephesians 1:4 – According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.

Colossians 1:26 – Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints.

1 Corinthians 12:12,27 – For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body; so also is Christ… Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.

Ephesians 1:22,23 – And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

1 Corinthians 1:30 – But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.

Colossians 3:10 – And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him.

Ephesians 3:19 – And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.

The Two Mirrors

But John saw this Man. And this Man stood there representatively: God’s representative Man. Paul said, " When I was a child, I spake as a child…" (1 Corinthians 13:11) And his childhood was his days in Israel, when he knew in part, saw in part. We need to see this is what he is talking about here: the mirror that is dark. That is a contrast to the mirror of God in 2 Corinthians 3:18, " But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." Then over into 2 Corinthians 4:6, " For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." These are the two mirrors. We look in the mirror of the Old Covenant and it is all a cloud; it is all darkness. But the glass of God, the mirror of God is not a mere reflection of God, but a manifestation of God in The Person of Jesus Christ! We see God made manifest! He is revealed where He is – in the midst of the golden candlesticks. He is revealed where He lives – in HIS House! The Lord Jesus is not homeless; He has a House! He is not a disembodied Spirit; He also has a Body that He indwells. Thank God!

John 1:18 – No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

2 Corinthians 6:16 – And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Revelation 21:3 – And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.

John 14:23 – Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

Promises to The Son

Don’t we see that the promises of God in the Old Covenant were NEVER to you and I? They are all to HIS SON. The City is a promise to His Son; The Kingdom is a promise to His Son; The House is a promise to His Son; the inheritance is to The Son. See, it’s NOT me centered, or you centered; it’s CHRIST centered! Well, did God fulfil the promise to His Son: This Son who fulfilled His part of the promise, His part of the Covenant – death, burial and resurrection? Did God give Him a House or not? Did God give Him a City or not? Did God give Him a Kingdom or not? Did God give Him a Body? God gave every seed a body – did He give His Own Seed a Body, or not? See, if we would just get ourselves out of the picture; we would see that it is all FOR HIM.

2 Corinthians 1:20 – For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.

Galatians 3:16 – Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.

Ephesians 1:18 – The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints.

Colossians 1:16,17- For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him, And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

Hebrews 1:2 – Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds.

Hebrews 3:5,6 – And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after; But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.

Hebrews 12:22 – But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels.

1 Corinthians 15:38 – But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body.

The Gospel

This is what I’m talking about. The Gospel doesn’t begin with me or you: my need or your need. No, no; the Gospel begins with seeing Jesus; the appearing of The Lord. That’s where it begins, because that’s where all of The Testimony of The Old Covenant comes to find its purpose in being; its purpose in existing. So we first see HIM. And this has to do with I AM. We can’t appreciate, ""I am the door...""(John 10:9) until we see THE I AM; until we see Him. It is so important that this Gospel begins with Christ being revealed in you. And until that happens, you will just preach YOURSELF. I have been so pressed upon of the Lord wherever I go not to condemn anybody; not to tell people they don’t have it yet. But we must understand that it is one thing to embrace this message: there is one thing to hear this message and accredit that this is The Voice of God. But there is another thing to have a heart turning: a turning of the heart. John uses that phrase. "I turned to see…"(Revelation 1:12) Paul uses that phrase. "Nevertheless, when (the heart) shall turn, the vail (that is done away in Christ) shall be taken away." (2 Corinthians 3:16)

Galatians 1:11,12 – But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 4:5 – For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.

A Turning

So there is a turning: we turn from one mirror, which is the mirror of ourselves. Now we said that is the Law, but the Law was given to man, and the Law exists as long as man lives. When a man dies, he is free from the Law. You can’t separate the Law and man. The Law – Thou shalt, thou shalt not… But here in the 20^th century most people don’t understand they need to turn from the mirror of the Law, so we say we need to turn from the mirror or yourself; of how you can be like Jesus, and what you can do for Jesus. There needs to be a turning, and there needs to be a complete turning from that mirror. And that comes by HEARING. And I really do believe that those who speak out from a revelation of Christ, that their words are Spirit and Truth. That’s the reason I can say, " … not I, but Christ…" (Galatians 2:20). That’s the reason Paul could say, " And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power." (2 Corinthians 2:1-4) Paul said that except by the power of The Spirit I couldn’t have said anything! My very speaking was a demonstration of the Spirit’s power!

Romans 7:1 – Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?

Exodus 20:3,4,13-15 – Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth…Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal.

John 6:63 – It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

Declaring The Word of God

See, we’re not here declaring A Word from God. We’re here declaring THE Word of God! We can say, "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches." (Revelation 3:13) We can say that if we have seen Christ, and if we are speaking out from Christ. Now that is the Truth, and we need to realize that about our preaching and our teaching. And that just brings me to such a point of NOTHINGNESS! I have to say, ‘God, except YOUR SON appear, I have NOTHING to say here!’ Listen, I’ve got notebooks full of notes… but I still have nothing to say except He appear. Those notebooks are just words… those words came out of His appearing, but His appearing is not some historical event. It has to be a present reality. And if we are speaking presently out from His appearing, to me it’s a humbling thing. There’s nothing self-edifying about this. To me it is an acknowledgement that except you reveal Your Son; I don’t have anything to say. That’s what it says to me. So we can say our words are Spirit and they are Truth, and that’s why we can also say, he that hath an ear… That’s why you can preach in a room of a thousand people, and 15 or 20 will hear what you are saying. It isn’t because you are speaking a foreign language: it is because you are speaking Spirit and Truth. And he that hath an ear to hear… will hear! And those who don’t … won’t! They will hear WORDS, but they will not hear what you are saying. There must be that HEARING.

Jeremiah 1:6 – Then said I, Ah, Lord God! Behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child.

Isaiah 6:5 – Then said I, Woe is me! For I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.

The Preaching of The Gospel

There must be in the first instance the preaching of The Gospel. Now, whether we do that from a pulpit or whether we do that from behind a candy counter is not important; but there must be the preaching of this Gospel. There must be the disclosing of this Truth – one to another, one to several others. Whatever the format: there must be that, because until there is hearing, there can be, there will be no seeing. And those in whom Christ has been revealed can testify that this is a fact. Except I heard… Now maybe I heard through that which I read, but except I heard I didn’t know there was something to see! And the Gospel we hear now… which is NOT a Gospel, doesn’t cause you to turn and see anything, because it declares nothing that needs to be seen! You know it doesn’t, so there is no seeing. And there is no hearing either, because the words of THAT gospel can be heard by the natural mind and by the carnal mind. That gospel tells the natural mind ‘how to be like Jesus’: what it needs to do, and how to do it. And we all know that comes to nothing, but my point is that there is that kind of preaching.

1 Corinthians 2:1,2,14 – And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified… But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

2 Peter 1:16 – For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

Galatians 1:6-8 – I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.

Romans 10:14 – How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?

A Turning of The Heart

But where there is a speaking of Christ: where His Voice is heard; where words are Spirit and Truth, hearts will turn. And there must be the turning of the heart. And those of you who have seen the Lord know it is a complete turning; it is an unqualified turning, because it is to see HIM, It’s to see Him and here’s why our preaching and teaching must never be "issue centered". One of the big issues these days is "end time events". But that will NOT produce a turning of the heart. There will never be a complete turning of the heart with that kind of preaching. There will never be a complete embracing with that. That’s the reason it’s not really important to me whether people agree with me on every little specific thing or not, and nobody probably ever will. That’s not important: but what is important is where there must be a complete acknowledgement, a complete, unqualified turning, and that is – TO SEEING CHRIST. We must all see the same Jesus, because that’s where we have our sameness. That’s where we have our Oneness, that’s where we have our fellowship. I don’t care if we ever agree who the rider of the first white horse is. I have my opinion, and others have their opinion. I’ve read at least eight good opinions, but that’s not the issue. The twelve stars on the woman’s head… that’s not the issue. This is The Revelation of JESUS CHRIST! There must be unqualified agreement in seeing HIM.

John 4:24 – God is Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

1 John 1:7 – But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

Revelation 6:2 – And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him; and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.

Revelation 12:1- And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.

One Fellowship

"God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord." (1 Corinthians 1:9) I don’t care what all of the segments of it are named. That’s incidental. There is but ONE fellowship, and that fellowship is by the seeing of HIM. And it doesn’t have any other name. We all have ministries that require some kind of ‘vehicle’, some kind of corporate standing, some kind of collectiveness for their function. But we all know that those things in and of themselves amount to nothing. They amount to NOTHING! They are simply vehicles and vessels. The content, the substance is what we are after here. What is the content, the substance of that vessel, of that vehicle through which I am serving the Lord? There’s just ONE fellowship and you are NOT part of that fellowship EXCEPT in seeing HIM. It is the fellowship of The Son.

1 John 1:3,4 – That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.

To See Him

So we preach to persuade hearts to turn – not to turn to see US; not to turn to see what we represent as ministry: but to turn and look far beyond us, so much so as to not even see us! Paul said we are counted like the scum off of a pond! And his critics said he writes good letters, but his presence kind of goes downhill. He never looks good; he’s been beat on, and spit at and left for dead! He’s a sorry old boy. And Paul finds that it is in that NOTHINGNESS that Christ abounds so much more. It is in that nothingness that CHRIST is able to abound. We’ve all found that to some degree, I am sure. I found that early on, and because I didn’t learn my lesson completely, The Lord has taught it to me several times since then. I have found that it is only in my nothingness that there is any measure of Him at all!

The measure of His fulness is in exact proportion to the measure of my nothingness: no more and no less! The measure of His fulness that is working in me is determined by, and it is in exact proportion to the measure of my nothingness. It is in my absence that He is present.

2 Corinthians 4:5 – For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.

1Corinthians 4:9,10,13 – For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honourable, but we are despised…Being defamed, we intreat: we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day.

2 Corinthians 10:10 – For his letters, say they, are weighty and powerful; but his bodily presence is weak, and his speech contemptible.

Galatians 6:17 – From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.

2 Corinthians 12:9 – And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

John 3:30 – He must increase, but I must decrease.

My Absence

To me this is the mystery that Paul was speaking of when he said, "… to be absent from the body…" (2 Corinthians 5:8) He’s talking about HIS absence. The body he is speaking about there is the Old Covenant regime. And this is where the Lord is present. You see, in order to properly interpret scripture, you need to have some understanding of what the scripture is about. So in talking about this "I AM Factor", it is the factor with which we are first faced if we really experience the dealings of the Lord in our lives. I think all the dealings of God in the life of every believer are towards this: towards bringing them to a revealing of The Son. I can look back at every ministry of "Pentecost"; every ministry that I attributed to The Holy Spirit that was real. I look back at those, and every one of those was preparational for the revealing of Christ. It was like ground preparation: like plowing up earth. I had no ground upon which He could appear. I offered Him nothing upon which to stand. I offered Him no ground upon which He could appear. I had no ground in me that a foundation could be laid upon. And so the Lord began to prepare it…. and prepare it…. and prepare it. The problem is that so many stop in that phase of preparation and call it finished.

1 Corinthians 3:11 – For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

Never Give Up

We’re talking about the turning of the heart. " I turned to see…" And we’ve said that it’s necessary Christ appear, but back up a little. What brings us to that first hearing? DON’T EVER GIVE UP ON SHARING THIS GOSPEL. Now I know there will be places where you are unable to share, and you will finally realize they are not going to hear you there. And at that time you will have nothing more to say; but don’t give up on speaking! So many get discouraged. We get in our own little vacuum, and we think it’s ‘nobody but me and you, Lord.’ Well, there are many others, and as we are knit together in an ever-growing fellowship, we see that. And that helps broaden our view. It takes our view away from ourselves. But I’m just saying don’t ever give up! This Gospel must be heard, and you’ll never know where there’s going to be a heart that is ready to hear. It must be heard, and may the Lord give us discernment for when we have said all we can say. We need to know in a certain place when nothing more is being heard, or is going to be heard than has been heard. And at that point in time we speak somewhere else, but don’t give up on that. There must be THAT VOICE. Jesus had to speak to His disciples, His disciples had to speak to others, and they had to speak to others. There must be that declaration – declaring THE GOSPEL, The Word of God, The Voice of The Lord, that a hungry, starving soul; one who is saved, can hear. There are those that are out there saying isn’t there something to this? Listening…. listening…. And then they hear.

John 17:20 – Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word.

2 Thessalonians 1:10 – When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.

Our Purpose in Sharing

My point is, let’s not stop there and say that’s it, they didn’t embrace the message. They must embrace the message, but you and I who present this message, this Gospel, must do it, not with the view to get somebody to "embrace it" and accept what I say and believe what I say, and let me come back and say it again and again. No, our purpose must be that there is a turning of the heart. They can’t embrace this along with everything else. They can’t "add this" to what they believe. We haven’t simply brought another part into their puzzle. We’ve presented the whole puzzle! We’ve presented the complete picture. We’ve said that now all of your parts have got to be summed up and swallowed up in this. We are presenting The Word, we are presenting The Gospel wherein all of these parts are summed up, and given purpose, and given identity. And all of these must be let loose, allowed to be swallowed up; and that which remains – will remain IN HIM. And that which doesn’t remain, will no longer remain IN HIM. Our Gospel has got to be toward that, and we’ve got to present it in such a way that the people who hear it understand what we are saying.

Colossians 1:25 – Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God.

Ephesians 1:10 – That in the dispensation of the fulness of time he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him.

Hebrews 10:9 – Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.

Hebrews 12:27 – And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.

2 Corinthians 11:3,4 – But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.

Father, Reveal Your Son In Me

They may not understand it the first time you speak to them, but we can’t go back too many times before we say, folks, there’s got to be a turning of the heart. I’ve recently actually begun to give altar calls. I’ve told people to bring your Bible, and let’s all come down here and find us a place to get before God. You’ve heard what I’ve had to say. Now open the book and say, "Father, reveal Your Son in me. I don’t want to leave this place until I see Jesus!" What am I saying? I’m saying - Turn your heart; let there be a turning of the heart. And obviously where there is a turning UNTO; obviously something is turned FROM. But the issue is not really what we’ve turned from, but what we’ve turned TO. And that’s why immediately when there has been a turning of someone’s heart – THE LORD APPEARS! He doesn’t wait 20 or 30 years to do it. He appears! But it takes a repentant heart, a heart that has turned.

Galatians 1:15,16 – But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother’s womb, and called me by his grace, To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen; immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood.

The Afflicting of The Soul

It’s like the last Feast of Israel. You’ve got the trumpets sounding, and you’ve got The Day of Atonement when they are afflicting their souls before The Lord. And then you’ve got the Feast of The Ingathering. You’ve got it there in the last Feast when Jesus stands on the last day. "In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." (John 7:37,38) It is there where there is the afflicting of our soul, the turning of the heart. It is what The Lord has been dealing with me about: there must be involved in this presentation of the Gospel to others the idea that this necessitates a genuine Work of The Spirit in you. It is not something that you just sit and give mind acquiescence to, though that certainly is necessary. You’re not going to see Jesus while you are calling the man who is preaching to you a false prophet. But it’s got to get beyond that. It’s not going to become "A John Doe" movement. Who wants that? Who wants a movement named after you? But there’s got to be that hearing, and then it’s got to get beyond that. And yet our idea is… fine, you’ve heard, you’ve believed. Now there’s got to be a turning of the heart. Come and let The Spirit of God do His Work. So there must be a hearing: this Gospel must be preached, this Truth must be preached – not as a doctrine, not as an issue, but as a reality of Christ. And then John turned to SEE what he heard.

Leviticus 16:30,31 – For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the Lord. It shall be a sabbath of rest unto you, and ye shall afflict your souls, by a statute for ever.

Exodus 23:16 – And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field.

Exodus 34:22 – And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year’s end.

A Work of The Spirit

So regarding The I AM Factor: until Christ is revealed, nothing of the New Covenant is actually in operation. We can bring fragments of the Old Covenant over and try to make them work under the name of New Covenant, but all of the fragments of the Old Covenant must finally be summed up IN CHRIST; because the New Covenant is NOT presenting us fragments. The New Covenant is presented in The Person of The Lord Himself. He is The Word. He is the revealing of The New Covenant. It’s revealed in Christ. The New Covenant is not something written on a page, but God revealing His Son in you. So until Christ is revealed in you, we are not really "New Covenant creatures", "New Covenant Christians" – not really. There must be then this turning of the heart, and there is a repentance in that, and there is a Work of The Spirit in that. We give an altar call to a sinner, and we should know that there has to be a Work of The Spirit there. But we just call people down to the altar and say "The Sinner’s Prayer" and then given them a pamphlet, and tell them to join and Church and pay their tithes. But what happened to a Work of The Spirit? What we do there is make converts to the Christian RELIGION, but it is questionable if anybody has been born of The Spirit or not. Well, the revealing of Christ is a Work of The Spirit. It’s not just something I agree to.

Matthew 5:17 – Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.

Luke 10:22 – All things are delivered to me of my Father: and no man knoweth who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him.

John 3:35 – The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand.

John 16:13-15 – Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

Spirit Reveals Christ

And our presentation has got to get people beyond just agreeing that this is true. It must get beyond that to a genuine Work of The Spirit whereby Christ is revealed in them. And this is part of the turning of the heart, because it is a Work of The Spirit; and there’s got to be that Work of The Spirit in our hearts. We are not just teaching "knowledge". The knowledge we are teaching is THE LORD, but The Lord is that Spirit! So what is Spiritual Knowledge? It is knowledge that can only be given by The Spirit. That’s something we can only know as The Spirit reveals. What knowledge does The Spirit reveal? He reveals CHRIST! Christ – the knowledge of God; Christ – The Word of God; Christ – The Living Word, The Living Witness, The Living Expression. He reveals CHRIST. "He will take of mine and shew it unto you. He will glorify Me." (John 16:13) And in my heart The Lord has been saying, ‘Son, if they are going to hear, then let them hear this. If we are going to come to this reality, we must hear this. "He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear what the Spirit saith." (Revelation 2:11) It is what THE SPIRIT saith. And we should be laying on our faces, crying out to God, allowing The Spirit of The Lord to deal with us. And there needs to be an actual turning of the heart to see The Lord. That turning – The Work of The Spirit is so absolutely essential!

1 Corinthians 2:10,11 – But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit; for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.

John 1:1 – In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

1 Corinthians 1:24 – But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.

Colossians 1:15 – Who (Christ) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature.

The End is Seeing Jesus

I know we have Bible conferences, but I think we need to incorporate in our presentation of The Truth the absolute NECESSITY that the Spirit have liberty in working in you. Let the Spirit deal with your heart because He is going to deal toward the revealing of Christ. And you may find yourself getting up and going to a brother and saying ‘Brother, forgive me.’ What’s that all about? We need to understand that’s not an end, but that was necessary to an end. The end is SEEING JESUS. The end is seeing HIM. But the Spirit must have the opportunity to work in our hearts. Here’s the point: a lot of times we’ve given the Spirit opportunity to work, but NOT with the end of seeing Jesus. It’s with the end of having an emotional breakdown! But there’s nothing wrong with an emotional breakdown if the end of it is seeing Jesus! There’s nothing wrong with the Spirit of God dealing with me concerning whatever He wants to deal with me about if the end of it is seeing Jesus. Because only the Spirit can reveal The Son, and as The Lord has been dealing with me about this, it is almost frightening to think that people sit and hear this, and accept this, and not really be dealt with in their hearts by the Spirit of God. They do believe what we’ve said is true: about Christ being in you and about you being in Christ; about you being seated in heavenly places. They see it in the scriptures, but it’s frightening to see that can happen and there not be a genuine dealing by the Spirit in their hearts.

Mark11: 25,26 – And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any: that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.

Ephesians 4:32 – And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.

John 14:20 – At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.

Ephesians 2:6 – And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

The Appearing of Our Salvation

And that can be unless you and I take it to that point in ministry, and then beyond that point to the seeing of The Lord. So that the end of repentance is not simply forgiveness of sins, but that the true end of repentance is the appearing of our Salvation: the revealing of Jesus Christ! And if you use an analogy of a river: before you get to the waters you can swim in, you’ve got to be ankle deep. But all of those places have an end; have a reason. And it is our responsibility I feel, to take the believer on to that. We can’t deny the need for the Work of the Spirit; maybe even a good strong convicting Work of the Spirit, and then a love fest! But see, we’ve made all those ends within themselves, and then it’s over with…. So what? We haven’t seen The Lord, and we are right back where we started – looking for another move of the Spirit. But the Spirit is always moving towards an end, and if we’ve cut it off, then the Spirit is still moving, and WE are left behind… trying to recapture… something.

Luke 2:30 – For mine eyes have seen thy salvation.

1 John 1:2,3 – (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.

Ezekiel 47:3-5 – And when the man that had the line in his hand went forth eastward, he measured a thousand cubits, and he brought me through the waters; the waters were to the ankles. Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through the waters; the waters were to the knees. Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through; the waters were to the loins. Afterward he measured a thousand; and it was a river that I could not pass over: for the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed over.

Hebrews 6:1 – Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God.

Spirit of God Knows The Heart

But I’ve seen the need in my own life for an awakening of that realization. No, it’s not just in coming and repenting and asking one another to forgive. But that is certainly necessary to seeing The Lord: that’s preparation of the heart. Now the seeing of Him is going to do more in our heart. It is going to bring in a new nature, bring in a new character. Oh yes, it will do that. But there is something that is necessary for this heart to be able to turn and see The Lord, and what I’m telling you is only The Spirit of God knows that heart. He knows the heart better than you do. Paul says I’m not going to start judging myself: I don’t see anything wrong with me! But the Spirit of God knows. He Who searches the deep things of God knows the heart of God and He knows your heart. And to me that is just part of this turning of the heart, because the turning of the heart is not merely glancing around in a different direction: it’s a true HEART TURNING. And that’s a Work of The Spirit. And if we as ministers are with people for some time, it should come to this. At some point you should be working toward these people hearing, these people accepting, and NOW there must be a turning of the heart. NOW there must be a Work of the Spirit; NOW there must be a brokenness; NOW the plough needs to be set deep by the Spirit of God and things need to be broken. And this brother that is not talking to this brother… this is all over. But NOW there must be a turning of the heart.

Hosea 10:12 – Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the Lord, till he come and rain righteousness upon you.

Jeremiah 4:3 – For thus saith the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.

Jeremiah 11:20 – But, O Lord of hosts, that judgest righteously, that triest the reins and the heart, let me see thy vengeance on them: for unto thee have I revealed my cause.

Proverbs 17:3 – The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold: but the Lord trieth the hearts.

1 Thessalonians 2:4 – But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak: not as pleasing men, but God, which trieth our hearts.

1 Corinthians 4:4,5 – For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord. Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.

1 Corinthians 2:11 – For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.

New Covenant Relationship

It had to be in Paul – that turning of the heart. And it has to be in everyone who has ever been dealt with of The Lord. But this is so specifically set forth by John in The Revelation of Jesus Christ. And all of this is leading us to …THE BEGINNING; because the end is the beginning! It’s all leading us to seeing Christ, and when we see Christ, that’s the beginning of New Covenant Relationship for you and I. But it’s also the end of it. And so the Spirit working towards an end is our beginning, for we see Jesus: where The I AM Factor; where Salvation becomes an I AM Factor, and where everything becomes an I AM Factor.

Revelation 1:12 – And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks.

Conformed/Transformed

So John turned and he saw, and he saw this MAN. He saw CHRIST, and there is a two point view of Christ that he saw; and when you see Christ, two things will come into your heart as well. You will see yourself as God intends you to be when you see Christ. You will see The Son that God intends you to be. And you will be that son by confirmation and transformation. You will be CONFORMED to HIS DEATH, and TRANSFORMED to HIS LIFE. It’s the Work of the Spirit. When you see Christ, you see God’s idea of the whole thing! "…But now we see not yet all things put under him. But we see Jesus…" (Hebrews 2:8,9) And you know this is what The Lord is after: this is what The Lord is after in me! This isn’t what I can become: it is THIS SON that The Lord is after in me. He has revealed Him in me that I may be conformed to His death; that I may be inwardly – in my soul, transformed in the newness of His Life. "Conforming" is always to His death: being made conformable to His death. It’s always that way. "Transform" is in His Life, in His resurrection; the power of His Life is the transformation of the soul. But there is first this work of being conformed to His death. My soul must come to agree: this is "my" death. When He died – I died. This is a conforming: "Not I, not I." The transformation is: " But Christ liveth in me." But those two words that are in the scripture are consistently with reference to His death or the power of His Resurrection, the power of His Life, by which we are transformed.

1 Corinthians 13:12 – For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

Romans 6:5 – For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.

Philippians 3;10 - That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death.

Ephesians 1:19,20 – And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places.

Colossians 1:27-29 – To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus: Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.

Galatians 2:20 – I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

Conformed to His Death

" And be not conformed to this world…" (Romans 12:2) No – not conformed to this world, because you are DEAD! "For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God."(Colossians 3:3) And when you see this word "conformed", you will see it either positively or negatively. We are NOT to be conformed to this world. No, Paul says we are made conformable to HIS DEATH. "…but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind…" (Romans 12:2) Look at Romans 8:29. For years I looked at that and said it was being made like Jesus, but then I saw that "conformed" and "transformed" are terms for our Spiritual Life: the one to His death, and the other to the power of His Life. " For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren." Now when I first looked at that in Romans 8:29 I thought it wasn’t going to work, but "firstborn" is from among the dead. Why did it say that He might be firstborn among many brethren? Why do I have to be conformed that He might be firstborn? Because it is conformed to His death that HE might be firstborn; because He is the firstborn from among the dead! It’s being conformed to HIS DEATH, and I really see He is the ONLY Son God has! He’s the ONLY Life there is! He’s the ONLY Life I have! HE is the firstborn. HE is the One that belongs unto God. That HE may be…

His Death/His Life

This is the whole story of Israel. " Israel is my son…" Yes, but "even my firstborn." (Exodus 4:22) That means that’s all got to come out of death. Whose death? Israel? No, the death of the lamb! Israel has to conform to the DEATH OF THE LAMB. Israel had to see that when the lamb died – I died! And the result of that is a Son coming out of Egypt. The result of that is a Son coming out of Egypt, but as a FIRSTBORN – firstborn from among the dead. So the whole thing that begins to work in us when we see Him there is God’s Man works in us. And you go on with that picture in Revelation 1:18 and He says, " I am he that liveth, and was dead: and, behold, I am alive for evermore. Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death." You see that the first workings of The Lord in your life are always conformative. You in whom Christ is revealed – did you not find that to be true? That you were much more occupied with His Death for a long time than you were really with His Life? Oh yes, He lives, but wasn't your heart more occupied with His Death? Wasn't what you saw in Christ more and more: ‘I am dead. I am dead; I have no life.’ Well you never cease to be that way, but after a while you begin to be occupied with The One Who Lives! Then you come to a "balanced Gospel", and you are as much occupied with His Death as you are with His Life. You are always being made conformable unto His Death, but you are always then knowing Him in the power of His Resurrection, and the balance levels out after a while. I don’t know how long it takes, but I just know they do; but I know you never get rid of one.

Matthew 2:15 – And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.

2 Corinthians 4:10-12 – Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. So then death worketh in us, but life in you.

Philippians 3:10 – That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death.

Death and Life

But it comes to a balance, and it is working in you. Yes, His death works in us, but life in you. But you are not occupied with just: ‘I’m dead, I’m dead.’ You are occupied with "…not I, but Christ liveth in me…"(Galatians 2:20) CHRIST liveth; because after a while our preaching is not that we are dead, but that HE IS LIFE. He is Life. Yes, that comes out of the reality, and upon the basis that I am dead, and He is my Life; but this balance is a Work of the Spirit in you, and it doesn’t happen over night. Now I know that for the first three years after I saw Christ, it didn’t matter where I opened my Bible, I stared DEATH in the face. Now not the death of sin: the death of Christ until it was made my death. I saw that when I first saw Him. When Christ is revealed in you… "I turned…" (Revelation 1:13) But Who did we see there? The One who represents man as God intends him to be. We see the Not I, but CHRIST standing there. I don’t know how many years this has to work, but I know it had to work in me a long, long time!

John 17:3 – And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

1 John 5:11,12 – And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.

Working Death In Me

And it is still working in me, because I know I was exceptionally egotistical. I was exceptionally so, and I had no reason to be. I wasn’t that great. Nobody thought I was that great, but I thought I was great! And it took a long time in those early years for me to identify with Him in the "nothingness" of His death. I had to see that He had to become NOTHING to die as me! That finally hit me like a slaughterhouse hammer! And that really knocked me down! And that realization filled my soul. Except for the transformation side of this, I would have just been totally and utterly destroyed! There was an intensity to the nothingness, but thank God, it will balance out. It never becomes not so, but it will balance out to where the reality that He lives is as great as the reality I don’t. The one always is before the other. It’s always that way, and you are always going to be finding new evidence of that in the scripture. And I remember praying and crying out: ‘My God, for 30 years you’ve been able to do nothing in me but tear down the first! Lord, I see nothing of you; I just see the nothingness of me.’ Now it doesn’t take that long in some people, but it took that long in me. There was this working: I saw a death… but how dead is dead? The Lord is going to show you how dead dead is, and He’s going to show you that by His death, because if you think Adam being dead to sin is dead – you haven’t seen dead yet! Christ on The Cross is dead! There’s a greater death than sin!

Philippians 2:6-8 – Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Hebrews 10:9 – Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.

His Death

That’s when The Lord takes it all into Himself and brings it into HIS DEATH. See, I can identify with being dead in sin, but it’s being dead with Him that I have to identify with. That’s the death that has a resurrection connected with it! That’s the death that makes room for an allness. Some people don’t understand this when we preach. They think we are just beating them down : dead, dead, dead. But they don’t understand what death we are talking about. We’re not talking about the Adamic creation – dead in sin. No, there’s a much greater death. There’s an all consuming death, and that is THAT CROSS. And it always works in us.

Romans 6:3-5 – Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.

Romans 5:12- Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.

The Revealing of God’s Perfect Man

Well, there He appears as both our death and our resurrection. He appears as God’s Perfect Man; what God desires – in me, in you, in every born again believer. It is the revealing of that Man. Paul says, " …that we may present every man perfect in Christ." (Colossians 1:28) That is – complete; that we bring them to see the completeness of their Salvation in Christ; the completeness of who and what they are in Christ; that they see it IN HIM, because it is only IN HIM that it is seen.

Ephesians 4:13 – Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.

Isaiah 66:1,2 – Thus saith the Lord, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest? For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the Lord: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.

His Union With His Church

Now I said there is a two-fold comprehension of that appearing. We are talking about "The I AM Factor". And the second part of this is that we see Christ in His unqualified union with His Church. In other words, we see that where the Church is – Christ is; and that where Christ is – the Church is. It is unqualified because there are no qualifications to this. It is the absoluteness of His union with His Church. That’s where the picture gets beyond me and gets beyond you, and we see the bigger picture. His Appearing – although it is in me and it is in you: HIS appearing in HIS Church. It is for the edification of His Body; it is for the perfection of His Body; it is that He may have His full working, His full expression in His Body, The Church. And He stands there in that Church as both their judgment and their glory: as both their death and their Life. He stands there as the measure, the standard of God. He stands there as the cleansing fire. He stands there to take away the first, and establish the second. He stands – He appears in His Church, that His Church may be the appearing of HIM in the earth. And this is the second part of that view that you and I come to see and realize.

John 14:3 – And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

John 17:24 – Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.

Malachi 3:1-4 – Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of hosts. But who may abide the day of his coming? And who shall stand when he appeareth? For he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap: And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in former years.

Ephesians 4:12,16- For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ…From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.

Ephesians 5:25-27 - Husbands love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

Matthew 3:11,12 – I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire: Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.

Hebrews 10:9 – Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.

Christ Must Appear

So, we began by saying Christ must appear, because until He appears, first of all we don’t have any idea who or what a believer is. We can’t define God’s idea of man. We can’t define ourselves, because we’ve been defining ourselves by ourselves. None of that can take place UNTIL Christ is revealed in us. Secondly, you can’t define The Church. We don’t know what The Church is… but we’re out there preaching to it! Preachers are out there preaching, but having no idea what the Church is, or where it is, or when it is. See, you can SAY it’s His Body, but you can’t KNOW it’s His Body until you see HIM appear in it; until you see the absolute, unqualified relationship He has with His Body, The Church. And at that point in time, nobody is ever going to make you believe that He is an "absentee husband" again! And you don’t even relate that to any doctrinal issue: you just know where He is! He is in this unqualified, absolute relationship with His Church. He is in The Church, and The Church is in Him! And all of a sudden you begin to deal with the Church that way, and you begin to present that reality to the Church. You begin to "show the house to the house…"(Ezekiel 43:10) You begin to declare The Church to The Church! And you will find some hearts that will hear and rejoice… and some won’t.

Hebrews 2:6 – But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him?

1 Corinthians 4:4,5 – For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord. Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.

Ephesians 1:22,23 - And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

John 14:20 – At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.

Wanting To See Christ

Some are happy being defined by their building, or their denomination, by their particular ministry. They don’t want to see Christ. Now, they want to see Christ in the ‘sweet by-and-by’, and live with Him forever, but they don’t want to see Christ now. And that is the Truth! And yet we so rejoice when we find those that do! And we’re not declaring to them anything new: we’re just declaring the reality of where they are NOW! I’m not trying to ‘get you there’: I’m telling you WHERE YOU ARE! I’m just declaring a reality to you, and they hear. But if they hear… then we’re back to where we were. Now there’s got to be a turning of the heart. Now there’s got to be an appearing of Him. And then they too will be. That’s the way it’s got to be. It’s all got to come to this "I AM Factor."

Ephesians 2:6 – And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

Colossians 3:1 – If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.

I Have Appeared Unto Thee

So to Paul, He said, " … I have appeared unto thee…" (Acts 26:16) And that just means volumes to me. That was pretty much His message to Paul: I have appeared unto thee. But then He goes on, "…I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen (well, he’s seen CHRIST!) and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee." Now here’s my thought: The Holy Spirit takes these fragments of The Old Covenant and brings them over, and Christ appears in them. The Spirit shows them to be fulfilled in Christ. And that’s what happened to Paul. I think for 3 ½ years Paul, in his desert experience of Christ being revealed in him, was for the absolute renovation of Paul himself. I think he spent another 13 years or so back in Tarsus, and I believe the Lord began to appear (and never stopped appearing) in all things to Paul. He began to appear in the Tabernacle, He began to appear in the Holy of Holies, etc. So that when Paul finally began to preach to The Church he could take the Old Covenant scriptures, and out of them debate with all the Jews and all the leadership, and show them the REALITY OF CHRIST HIMSELF!

John 16:14,15 – He (the Spirit of Truth) shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

Galatians 1:16-18; Galatians 2:1 – To reveal his Son in me, that I might preach him among the heathen: immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood: Neither went I up to Jerusalem to them which were apostles before me; but I went into Arabia and returned again unto Damascus. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days…. Then fourteen years after I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and took Titus with me also.

Acts 13:38,39 – Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins; And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.

Things Of Spiritual Life

So I think that’s what The Lord does to you and I. To Paul all of a sudden Old Covenant measurements became important to him. why? Because they come to their fulfillment in Christ. And we can see that also with time and times, and finally he brings it all to its fulfillment in Christ. " … the things in which I will appear unto thee…" Everything of Spiritual Life begins with THE APPEARING OF CHRIST. Until Christ appears in a thing; it’s just a thing! It has NO substance to it. It can be an Old Testament teaching, but it has no substance to it. We can diagram it and define it, but it still has no substance to it until THE LORD appears IN IT. And when The Lord appears in it, He brings it into Himself.

Colossians 2:16,17 – Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ.

Hebrews 3:5 – And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after.

The Door

In this study we are going to look at ‘THE DOOR’. That’s an Old Covenant teaching. It’s out of Exodus 12:7, " And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door posts of the houses, wherein they shall eat it." That’s the first any kind of a door has been dealt with. This is the door that BLOOD is put upon. It is to THIS door that Christ relates Himself. You could say, "He appears": He brings that door right into Himself, and He appears. But until Christ appears in that door, it is just a door with blood on it. We can look at it and say, ‘Oh yes..’ But when He appears, and brings that into The I AM Factor, when He says, " I AM… I am the door…" (John 10:9)… It’s ME! And He takes every part of that Old Covenant, and He appears in it, and says, I AM that – it’s ME! Oh, don’t we see? That is when The Old Covenant is FULFILLED for us! Paul said we have received this more sure word of prophecy. "We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts." (2 Peter 1:19) The better translation of that is: "We have received the prophets made more certain, made more sure." They already had the prophets: how could the prophets be made "more sure"? WE HAVE SEEN HIM!! It is in the seeing of HIM that all of these things are brought to their fulfillment and their fulness. So we are going to be talking about This Door into fulness, but it is part of "The I AM Factor".

1 John 1:1,2 – That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life: (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)

Fragments Brought To Him

How do you see all things fulfilled in Christ? By Christ appearing in all things in your heart. Paul says " But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ." (Ephesians 4:15) That’s Christ coming to appear. It’s like The Holy Spirit bringing another fragment, and The Lord appears, and you say, ‘My God, that’s The Lord! That’s another fragment that has come into fulness.’ And He has to bring everything from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant through The Cross, so it’s worked through His death, burial and resurrection: one coming to its end, and the other coming forth IN HIM. You know a lot of people look at the New Covenant as a sequel to the Old one. They think, ‘here’s the NEXT book.’ But the New Covenant is NOT a sequel. The Old one comes to its absolute END, because the New one is not simply a fulfillment of the Old: it is exceeding, abundantly, above all that the Old could ever be a Testimony of! We find fulness there. Fulness of all things that in the Old is in part – we find them in their fulness IN CHRIST!

Ephesians 3:20 – Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us.

Blessed be The Lamb of God! We’ve stressed in this lesson the necessity of His Appearing – that HE may appear! Amen.