THE REALITY AND GREATNESS OF OUR SALVATION by J W LUMAN It's a real treasure and privilege to be able to be with you - you are bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. It is one body. I mean that in a very literal way. I appreciate you giving me the opportunity to come here to this place and minister unto Christ. You have given us that opportunity because you have received that Word - which is Christ. And in receiving that Word which is Christ we have begun to grow into Him - who is Christ. We've begun to function as His very body - in the earth - which is the Church - the expression of Him. Because you have done that, you have given to me an opportunity to minister to Him in the earth. Blessed be the Lamb of God. I would be glad to walk around the world for the opportunity to minister to Him. I'd gladly walk around the world for the opportunity of bringing forth in the earth the increase of the Lord Jesus Christ. Hallelujah! I want to share with you as the Lord's Body an overview concerning the REALITY AND THE GREATNESS OF OUR SALVATION. Peter calls it a salvation waiting to be revealed. ( I Peter 1:5) The writer of the Hebrews says how shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation (Hebrews 2:3). Now he isn't talking to sinners there, he's talking to the Church. And the word "neglect" is 'fail to give our full attention to, let it just pass by, let it just go without notice, making something mundane, something usual, something religious and fail to understand what it is that God has actually done in the person of His Son.' The concern of my heart is for the church - we spend virtually 365 days a year ministering to the church - all over the world, and my concern is that the church understand the greatness of salvation. Now, everything that we have in Christ is set forth first in the scripture in a type, in God's dealing with Israel. Every way, every conceivable way that God ever dealt with Israel, everything that God ever said about Israel or to Israel is for our purpose, for our instruction, for our admonition. Because it is ALL FULFILLED IN HIS SON where you and I dwell through salvation. So if we want to understand God's dealing in Christ, we look at God's dealing with Israel. There's the type - there is where it is set forth in a pattern that the Holy Spirit is fulfilling in Christ. I GREAT SALVATION You remember when Moses was in the desert and the Lord appeared to him in a burning bush, in a very unusual way. Such an unusual way that it caused Moses to turn aside from his goings, and from the direction in which he was going - he turned aside and gave his full attention to this appearing of the Lord. And that was an appearing of the Lord - it was the Lord who appeared. Do you understand that? The Lord appeared as a burning bush. You and I have our minds so set on what He looks like that most of us miss Him when He appears. If he's not wearing a long robe with long hair, wearing sandals, looking like a Jew, we don't think it's Jesus. We miss His appearing - we miss that appearing of Him in Spirit and Truth - that appearing of Him wherein God is revealing Him IN US to the very transformation of our inner man. Because the eye can not see that and the ear cannot hear that, the natural mind cannot conceive that - but that was an appearing of Him to Moses nonetheless. And in all of his talking to Moses it was commissioning Moses to go forth to his people and declare Him. And Moses said, what name shall I declare? (Exodus 3:13-14) He said you shall tell them I AM has sent you. You shall declare me as I AM THAT I AM. You shall declare me as the I AM THAT I AM. That's who you shall say sent you. You shall say - the I AM sent me. Now, do you remember that? That's what he said. So Moses goes and he does all of the things that he does and the plagues come upon the earth, and all of this, and Israel is led out. Israel - God's people - not sinners - Israel - God's people are led out. And they are standing on the banks of the Red Sea and the Pharaoh is pursuing them with all of his armies and his intention is to kill everyone of them - not to take them back - to kill them. And there they stand on the banks of the Red Sea, and what does God tell Moses to tell them? First of all he tells them to "STAND STILL!" Honey, right at the time that you're ready to run, God is going to tell you, "STAND STILL!" Most of us haven't heard that yet. We're still running with all of our might. We're still looking for somebody to fight and God is saying, "STAND STILL". We're looking for someplace to go and God is saying, "STAND STILL". We want him to get us out of this situation - get us out of that situation - get us out of this world - get us out, get us out, and God's message is "STAND STILL", because I have something I want to show you. "STAND STILL". II HERE IS GREAT SALVATION - I AM THAT I AM Now what did he tell Moses to go to declare to them - to declare I AM THAT I AM - declare that I AM THAT I AM - that's who you declare. Do you know what that word means in the Hebrew - it means I AM WHO I AM, I AM WHAT I AM, I AM WHERE I AM, I AM BECAUSE I AM, I AM THAT I AM. That's a mystery that's unfolded in Jesus Christ. That's what I'm, just going to introduce to you - the mystery unfolded in Jesus Christ concerning this business of - what did he say - I AM THAT I AM. That's what I want you to tell them. That's the name in which you will go. You will declare me as the I AM WHO I AM. You will declare me as the I AM THAT I AM. You will not add to me, you will not take away from me - you will declare me - the I AM, and you will declare me AS I AM, and you will declare me as WHO I AM, WHEN I AM, WHERE I AM, WHAT I AM - you shall declare me. So now, what's the first thing he tells Moses to declare to the children of Israel? The very first thing after God has gotten them out - after all of that - now God's very first word comes to them and what is it? "STAND STILL AND BEHOLD - STAND STILL AND SEE - THE SALVATION OF THE LORD." (Exodus 14:13) Honey, this is God's declaration to you tonight. The thing he wants to do in you is to declare HIMSELF and in the person of Himself he wants you to behold the greatness of His Salvation. The greatness of salvation has nothing to do with you getting out of sin - if that's what you think salvation is, you haven't seen salvation yet. Salvation is not getting you out of something - SALVATION IS SOMETHING THE LORD WANTS YOU TO WALK IN THE FULLNESS OF. Salvation is not what you don't do - salvation is something the Lord wants to declare to you in the person of Himself, in the fullness of Himself. He wants to show you Himself as THE I AM TRULY IS. He wants to show you Himself as He truly is so that you will understand your BEING IN HIM. He wants to show you a salvation that is greater than running from Pharaoh. He wants to show you a salvation that is greater than getting out of Egypt. He wants to show you a salvation that is greater than getting out of problems and trials and tribulations and all of these little rinky-dink things. He wants to show you something of HIMSELF. He wants to declare a great salvation to you and this is the salvation that the writer of the Hebrews saw and said "Oh, my," and he's talking to the church, he's talking to those who are out from sin, he's talking to those that are spirit filled, he's talking to those and he's saying - "if we neglect so great salvation, how shall we escape" - not if we reject it, but we "neglect", and the word "neglect" means 'if we fail to comprehend the fullness of'. Honey, the Israel that God let out of Egypt never did comprehend, they never did see the salvation of the Lord. The crossing of the Red Sea was not the salvation of the Lord - they all died in the wilderness. The salvation of the Lord not only included crossing the Red Sea, it included crossing Jordan. It not only included crossing Jordan, it included possessing the land. It not only included possessing the land, it included the three-fold anointing of David the King - the one in whom God summed up all of Israel. It not only included that, it ended with the birth and the revelation of Solomon. It not only included that, it included the building of the house of God and it not only included that, it ended with the glory of God filling all of His house setting on Mt. Zion. Hallelujah! Now, the writer of that same Hebrew letter that says how shall you escape if you neglect, if you fail to comprehend full salvation takes them right on through the fullness of that letter and at the end of that letter he says, "But ye are come unto Mt. Zion, (Hebrews 12:22) - the city of the living God - the heavenly Jerusalem ..."- that isn't where you're going, that's where you have come. And the Lord desires to show that unto you - he desires to show you that in Him you have come to Mt. Zion - that in Him ye are the city of God - that in Him ye are the heavenly Jerusalem - that in Him you have come to the general assembly of the firstborn - to the place where Jesus is the mediator of the new understanding, the new covenant, the new testament - Hallelujah! He desires to declare unto you, you see the Father is still saying to you, "STAND STILL AND SEE WHAT I HAVE DONE, STAND STILL AND SEE THE SALVATION OF THE LORD." The word "see" in the Old Testament, is "ra-ah" - it's the same word that is used when God told Abraham - "I want to show you a land" (Genesis 12:1). That word "show" is the same as the word "see" - the same is used there. It's the same word in the Greek that Paul used when he said "It pleased God to "reveal" His Son in me" (Galatians 1:16). What God is telling them in the word "see" - what he's telling Abraham, in the land I will "show" unto thee - what he is declaring, the term "ra-ah" is it is something that God must reveal - you can only see it in the elevating of your eyes - "Lift up your eyes" some 350 times - "Lift up your eyes" - and it means to elevate your soul into a higher spiritual realm. It doesn't mean to look around at the tops of trees - that's not what it's talking about - it means the elevation of your soul. It means I've got something to show you that the eyes can't see, the ears can't hear, the natural mind cannot comprehend - but my Spirit is come, for my Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep, the hidden things of God, that he might reveal these unto you. STAND STILL AND BEHOLD THE SALVATION OF THE LORD. And if I have anything to tell you tonight it's just that - STAND STILL AND SEE THE SALVATION OF THE LORD. Stand still and see what God has done in Christ so that you might become a manifestation of it. Stand still and let the Lord show you how great His salvation is - that he hasn't just taken you out of sin, but that he has brought you into the fullness of HIMSELF! See - Israel couldn't comprehend that so they came short of entering in to what God had prepared. They came short of entering in. Honey, before Israel ever got there God had revealed it to Abraham and he used the same word that he used with Moses. He said "I'm going to take you to a land that I will show you". And the only way that Abraham understood when he got to the land in Genesis 12 verse 7 - the only way Abraham knew that he was in that land - because it had no signs saying 'This is the land God told you about" - it didn't have a church sign on it, it didn't have a denomination sign or fellowship sign, there weren't any signs there saying 'here's the land, you've arrived!' - the only way he knew he was in the land that God said I will show you in verse 7, the only way he knew was THE LORD APPEARED TO ABRAHAM! III HIS DESIRE IS TO SHOW HIMSELF Are you hearing what I am telling you? What he wants for his people, is to show Himself. What did he show Abraham? You say - he showed him the land - no, he didn't. He showed him HIMSELF and he called it a land. I can go through Genesis 12,13,14,15 to 21 with you and I can show you if you have eyes to see, every time God dealt with Abraham it is - and the Lord appeared, and the Lord appeared, and the Lord appeared. Hallelujah! Lift up your eyes, which means elevate your soul from the earthly to the heavenly. Honey, he didn't show Abraham real estate, he's showing him a promise that's fulfilled in HIMSELF! HE'S THE LAND - HE IS THE PLACE PREPARED. HE IS THE GREAT SALVATION! He is where we dwell. Raised up together, seated together in Christ in heavenly places. Hallelujah to the Lamb of the Living God! The great salvation has to do with our union with Him. Great salvation has to do with the realization that we live in Him, and He lives in us. He says in John 14, "In that day, you will understand..." - what are you going to understand? GREAT SALVATION! "In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you." Hallelujah! Most of the church hasn't seen that kind of salvation yet. Most of the church when you give them an opportunity to witness or to testify, the only thing they talk about is where they came from, what they used to do, what he got them out of. Very few have the understanding to stand up and begin to declare where they now are, who He now is, where they now dwell, begin to open the reality of heaven, begin to open the understanding of the saints and begin to declare Him as He now is, THE I AM THAT I AM. To begin to declare salvation as the realization of union with Him, in Him, through Him, as Him, for His body is one with Him. Now folks, this is great salvation - this is more than just not sinning. This is more than just getting out of the world. This is coming to the realization of BEING IN CHRIST. 137 times in the New Testament alone the believer is told he is IN CHRIST. You can listen to radio and television all day long and never even hear that term used - BEING IN CHRIST. You'll hear plenty of sin talked about - but very few times will anybody declare GREAT SALVATION. I want you to understand clearly what I'm telling you tonight. I know the Lord did get you out - got you out - but did he not bring you in? I know he got you out - but honey, it's not the getting out that I'm excited about, it's where He has brought me - He has brought me into Himself. Do you understand what I'm telling you? Israel got excited about getting out - from the Red Sea - they got excited about getting out! They didn't understand that was the door to ENTER IN. And so, four or five days later they were all cussing God, and they wanted to go back to Egypt. This is a bunch of saved people, folks - but they think salvation is just getting out. And the first trial that comes to them, they say - "It was better where I came from. I can't put up with this." The first time they have to deal with a believer they say, "My God, it's easier to deal with sinners, I can't put up with these kind of people." Because God's not rubbing sinners together to make them what he wants, but he takes two believers and rubs them together until they become smooth stones. AMEN. It's true. Why? Because he's fitly framing the house. Did you ever fitly frame something together? There's nothing sticking out. Carpenters take saws after stuff like that. Stone masons take their chisels after stuff like that. Potters take their hands and fingers and form it and get stuff like that out - that's what's taking place out there in the wilderness. And they all get mad and want to go back to Egypt. Why? Because all they know about salvation is they got out of something, and 99% of the church throughout the world today, all they know about salvation is they got out of something. Preachers stand up every Sunday enforcing that, preaching sermons on how they got out, what they came out of - very little is said about great salvation. I AM THAT I AM! God told Moses - I want you to declare - what are you going to declare? DECLARE ME! DECLARE ME! Abraham - I'm going to show you a land. And what did he show him? THE LORD APPEARED. Abraham saw the Lord and where Abraham saw the Lord he built an altar. And where he built an altar he pitched a tent. And where he pitched a tent he dug a well. Hallelujah to God! Honey, when you come to the realization of great salvation, when you understand that salvation is you being in Christ, when the Lord appears in you and says, "This is what salvation is - You are in me, I am in you." Hallelujah! I want to tell you something - you'll build an altar there. An altar means spiritual service; an altar means laying down your life; an altar means forsaking everything for Him; an altar means coming to understand that nobody lives here but Jesus; an altar brings me to understand - I AM CRUCIFIED, YET NOT I, CHRIST LIVETH IN ME. Hallelujah! That's what an altar means - where I died He lives; an altar means where my life stops - His begins. IV CHRIST OUR DWELLING PLACE There where you built your altar, you'll pitch your tent - that's where you'll dwell. You'll understand He's my dwelling place. I don't dwell in St. Croix, I dwell IN CHRIST. I don't dwell in Texas, I dwell IN CHRIST. You'll understand your dwelling place. You'll understand where you dwell. You will dwell in the New Covenant "understanding" that HE is your dwelling place and there you will stand. And where you dwell is where you're going to dig your well. Paul says, "If ye then be risen with Christ, if ye then be seated with Him in heavenly places, set your affection there..." do your digging there, do your looking there, do your searching there. You're not going to be running around the world, running around out here punching holes in the ground. If you're going to dig a well, you'll dig it in HIM until you hit the source of water - Hallelujah! Then you'll have wells IN YOU springing up unto eternal life. Then you'll have wells in you because you've dug down deep in Him and you've hit the source of your very life - HE IS DEEP IN YOU. HE LIVES IN YOU. Hallelujah! Oh, Blessed be the Lamb of God. Do you understand? In that day, he says, you'll understand, I'm in my Father, and you're in me and I am in you. In that day you'll understand that in this earth, as to this earth, as to the races, the kinds, creeds and colors, YE ARE DEAD, AND YOUR LIFE IS HIDDEN WITH CHRIST IN GOD. But when He who is your life shall appear then ye will appear in His glory. THAT'S GREAT SALVATION. You'll dig your well right there. You'll dig your well right there and then you'll become a well - you'll become a well, springing up within you. So what Abraham saw and God showed Abraham, for he used Abraham who was a forerunner, God saw all these people in there, so then he raises up a Moses. And he says, what am I going to tell them. You tell them I AM THAT I AM. What am I going to declare to them? You're going to declare to them ME - I AM THAT I AM. The I AM THAT I AM has to do with God's relationship to a people. See, here in the beginning (In the beginning, God), here he is the I AM. He is the everything, the eternal. He is the I AM. But he desires an increase of himself - he desires something that is to come forth in the earth that he can point to and say - "That's me. I made that. That's my image. That's mine. That's a manifestation of me." So, in dealing with his people he says, declare to them the I AM THAT I AM. What do you mean? Well, here's what I mean. I want them to see the salvation that I have prepared for them. So we read in Paul's writing that from the very beginning God chose us IN CHRIST JESUS - from before the foundation of the world he saw you and I in Christ. No, we were not there, but in God's understanding, in God's mind, in God's plan, that's where he has always planned to bring us. That's his plan for the ages, that's his plan for everyone whosoever will come. Who's the way there? Well, Christ is the way there. And Christ is the life there and Christ is the truth there. WHO IS THIS GREAT SALVATION? CHRIST IS THIS GREAT SALVATION! Who did Christ say that He is - I AM, I AM, I AM, I AM THE WAY, I AM THE TRUTH, I AM THE LIFE, I AM THE DOOR, I AM THE BREAD, I AM THE SHEPHERD. I AM ... I AM... But what is it that Christ brings forth in the earth? What does He bring forth? He brings forth HIS BODY, His Body, for the scriptures say that we are raised up, made to be seated together in Him in heavenly places, that here we might be conformed into His very image - transformed, you see, into His very fullness, that we may become the expression of Him. Now what is this? THIS IS GREAT SALVATION! This is what God said, I want to tell you something, I want to open the eyes of your understanding. I want you to see something. I'm not interested in you seeing where you came from, I am interested in you seeing where I have brought you. Because it is so - man fell, man fell in sin, the Adamic man fell, yes, he did. But it is so that Christ came. Christ came and brought man to the cross - the old man - and there crucified him. That he might bring forth what? GREAT SALVATION! Great salvation has to do with what he brought forth. It hasn't anything to do with what he crucified, it has to do with what he raised up! THAT'S GREAT SALVATION! There isn't any point in you and I who are in Christ continually looking back and calling that salvation, "I used to be this, I used to be that." Well, that's all right - and I'm glad God delivered you, but here's GREAT SALVATION - not what YOU used to be, but WHO HE NOW IS! Because the Bible lets us understand that we are joined together as one with Him. So, here's the name that this whole body bears - THE I AM THAT I AM. His name is written here. Here is THE I AM THAT HE IS - (in His Body, the new creation). Because He has brought a people into union with Himself and He has written His name upon that people and now he's trying to show that people the greatness of salvation - not that he's just got them out of sin, but that he has brought them into divine union with Himself. He has placed upon them His very own name. So that He can point to that and say - Do you want to know who I am? Here is who I am. Here is the I AM THAT I AM. I have brought you out of bondage into myself, and now I would have you to stand still and learn, see, behold, comprehend with all saints what is the length and the breadth, and the depth and the height, oh, I want to show you great salvation. I want you to comprehend, to understand here, that everything that is lost in Adam, is found IN ME. But it's not found in the same form in which he lost it. It is lost as an old man, an earthly creation, a dirt creation. You don't get back what you lost - you get something altogether better. THIS IS GREAT SALVATION. He hasn't just brought you out of Adam - he has united you IN AND WITH HIMSELF. This is great salvation. I want to declare to you great salvation. I want you to understand so that you can begin to become a manifestation in the earth - not to what he got you out of, but of the FULLNESS OF WHO HE IS! So that your gospel that you declare in the earth to these people, is more than just telling them what they should and shouldn't do, and declaring to them what sin is. Honey, the sinner knows what sin is - he's in bondage to it. But he knows nothing of great salvation. Most believers don't either, although they are partakers of it - they haven't got the slightest idea. V IN THE MOUNT OF THE LORD IT SHALL BE SEEN Israel was out of Egypt but they never saw the thing prepared of God. They never saw the land that God declared to Abraham. Now, I'm going to ask you again, what was the land God declared to Abraham? HIMSELF! Who appeared to Abraham? THE LORD appeared to Abraham. He declared Himself. You ought to take some time and search that out. It's a whole progression there of God bringing Abraham into a union with himself - right up on top of the mountain where he offered Isaac and he lifted up his eyes and beheld the ram. He offered and then lifted up his eyes and beheld the seed as the sand of the earth and the stars of the heaven - Hallelujah to God! All of that is fulfilled in Christ - the Lord showed Himself to Abraham and it was counted unto him for righteousness. (Genesis 22) "In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen" - what? GREAT SALVATION! Then in Canaan on Mt. Zion Solomon builds the temple on the very place where Isaac is offered and again " In the mount of the Lord it is seen!" What? GREAT SALVATION! (II Chronicles 3-5) So when he tried to show Israel great salvation, Israel was too busy looking behind them to look before them. Israel was too taken up with what they had come out of to ever set their eyes on the fullness of what he brought them into. And that whole bunch died. And the ones he finally brought in here had no remembrance of this at all - so they couldn't look back. They had no remembrance of it. To them salvation wasn't getting out of anything, to them salvation was passing over Jordan and possessing the land. Honey, that's what I want salvation to become to you; not something you've gotten out of, salvation is coming over Jordan, while looking at the great salvation of the Lord. One can only "enter in" by "looking". (II Corinthians 3:18, Hebrews 9:28) Do you know what was the type of God's great salvation there? Read your Bible. What were they "looking" at all the time they passed over? There was one thing that they fastened their eyes on - that was set out on the shoulders of the priesthood, who walked out into the river Jordan and stood in the midst of the river Jordan - they were the first ones in and the last ones out. They stood there on dry ground, the Bible says, until all of Israel was clean passed over. They stood there until all the work of God was finished. The ARK symbolized a finished work! A people, even, a creation UNITED AS ONE WITH HIM in His death, His burial, and His resurrection. This is the creation in the midst of which is the Throne, the Throne in the midst of which is the Lamb. THE LAMB ALIVE FOREVERMORE AS THOUGH HE WERE SLAIN. The Holy One of God dead to sin (in all of its forms) and alive to God. This is the vessel of God's own Glory and this is what the Ark of the Covenant typed. This is GREAT SALVATION! A creation made new by Him in His death, burial and resurrection. A creation "raised up" as one with Him to be transformed in His appearing and filled with the fullness of Him to the end that God alone be GLORIFIED! THIS IS GREAT SALVATION! And Israel passed over before the ARK OF THE COVENANT. That means that what Israel was looking at, what took them into Canaan was beholding the Ark of the Covenant. Do you know what the Ark of the Covenant was a type of? It's a type of the redeemed people in union with the Mercy Seat. It's a type of redeemed people in union with the Lord Jesus Christ. The Ark of the Covenant is the type of a people united through the blood of Jesus in the heavens (that's what those cherubim are - those heavenly beings). Ezekiel calls them a new creation - it is in their midst that the glory of the Lord is made manifest. That's what the Ark of the Covenant represents - GREAT SALVATION - the last piece of furniture in the tabernacle, and only the High Priest could come to it. Honey, Jesus our High Priest has not entered into something made by hands, but He has entered into the Holy of Holies, He has brought us there IN HIMSELF by a new and living way; we are united with HIM IN THE HOLY OF HOLIES, dwelling in heavenly places, raised up together. WE ARE SET FOR THE FULFILLMENT - IN CHRIST - of what the Ark of the Covenant was a type - THE GREAT SALVATION OF THE LORD!! Christ fully viewed in a people! A people who are raised up and gathered up and built up in HIM. When Israel finally crossed over Jordan and entered into Canaan they weren't looking at a land any more than Abraham was looking at a land. Abraham had been there 400 years before - right there in Canaan, but what he saw was not Canaan, what he saw was the LORD. You don't have to lift up your eyes to see real estate. And God told Abraham to lift up his eyes, he was going to show him something, something greater than DIRT! And so now with Israel the same thing - they are entering into Canaan but at what are they looking? The Ark of the Covenant of the God of all the earth. When Solomon built the temple, on top of Mt. Zion, what is that house called? In the book of Chronicles, it is called the house of the Ark of the Covenant of the God of all the earth. It is called the HOUSE OF GREAT SALVATION. Honey - who are you called? You are called the house of God - you are called the temple of the living God - you are called the Body of Christ because He has brought you into Great Salvation - He has taken you out of Adam and He has brought you into a living union with Himself. So much so that YOU are HIS very temple, HIS very dwelling place, HIS very Body! And you are to express in the earth nothing less than that salvation! What shall I tell your people, Lord? Tell them I AM THAT I AM. Paul says, what shall I tell the people, Lord? Declare to them the reality of their being in me, and my being in them. Tell them I AM THAT I AM. Tell them WHO I AM, WHERE I AM, WHEN I AM, that they may see themselves ONLY IN ME, that they may understand that here is the I AM; that from the beginning - I AM. Declare to them that my work, my finished work and my full work is nothing less THAN ME. Nothing less, nothing other than WHO I AM, WHERE I AM, WHEN I AM, cause them to know that I AM IN MY FATHER, THEY ARE IN ME, AND I AM IN THEM! I AM THAT I AM! So Paul says, let me tell you about this great salvation - let me tell you that in Christ there's neither Jew nor Greek, not bond nor free, not male nor female, not black not white, nor yellow nor red - in Christ there's just Christ... CHRIST ALL AND IN ALL. And now in Christ Jesus "Ye are come, as God's own temple, to Mount Zion" and in fullness. "In the mount of the Lord it shall be seen." What? GREAT SALVATION! Listen Church of God! - God hasn't just brought you out of Egypt - he has set you in the midst of his Son and has set His Throne in the midst of you for an appearing. Do you hear me? The writer of Hebrews in Hebrews 3 and 4 says don't be like Israel of old - they are set there for our admonition - "don't harden your hearts as in the day of provocation and God swore they shall not enter my rest. Therefore there remaineth a rest!" Could it be that there are a lot of Christians who, have come by way of New Birth, and yet though they be in Christ, called of God, out of sin, but in their own hearts have never comprehended Great Salvation. In their own hearts salvation is just not sinning. Every day they fight the devil. Honey, I'm going to have to tell you I don't fight the devil every day, not in that way - he's not chasing me. He's not where I am - I am RAISED UP TOGETHER, SEATED TOGETHER IN HEAVENLY PLACES IN CHRIST! - he (the devil) is not there. You can't find him in Christ. He can not come by death, burial and resurrection or he'd be the Body of Christ. But you are that Body! I didn't say there wasn't a devil. I said I don't fight him every day. He's not chasing me - that doesn't mean I don't see his works, but when I do I minister Christ. Do you understand folks? VI THE FINISHED WORK There's a reality that must come to the people of God - that the work of Jesus is not some half baked thing - it's not something I must finish - it's something He's FINISHED and I must come to the understanding of and begin to manifest it. So in that reality I can go into the dens of sin and set the captives free. I don't have to go in there and do hand-to-hand combat. I go in and declare the victory of the Lord. I don't have to go in and get a victory; I declare a victory. But for years we've been thinking the devil is right on my heels - but you must rise up in the understanding that you're in heavenly places and Satan has no place there. He may be roaming the earth seeking whom he may devour, but he's not walking about in Christ and that's where I'm walking. When I encounter his handiwork I destroy it; when I encounter his chains I break them, Hallelujah! I don't have to holler and scream and roll on the floor to do it either. Christ has already finished the work - why should I do physical work - you see that's not necessary. Let the devil holler and scream and roll on the floor - let him do that - that's what he did when Jesus showed up - let him do that. We don't have to do that - all we need do is to comprehend our place in Christ and manifest that reality in the earth. GREAT SALVATION IS THE FULLNESS OF GOD IN CHRIST. We are to manifest that on the earth so you're not just bringing somebody out of sin, but you're bringing them into a comprehension of salvation - you're bringing them into a place where they can begin to grow up. You're bringing them into a place where they can do something beside run from the devil every day. They can begin to declare the reality of Christ. You must awake each day in the understanding that " I AM IN CHRIST"; go to bed understanding, "I AM IN CHRIST"; go on the job understanding, "I AM IN CHRIST". You'll be surprised what a difference it will make in your life that wherever you go - your job, the store, wherever, you go in the understanding, "I AM IN CHRIST - I AM IN HIM." The purpose of me being wherever I am on earth is to declare the reality of being IN CHRIST. It's not only to bring people out - it's to bring them in - into GREAT SALVATION. You can't grow up in something that you've gotten out of. Growing up is in Christ. Growing up is in salvation. You can't grow up in salvation by getting out of something else. In salvation you are growing up IN THE LORD. The scriptures say that you may grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord. I would like to spend a week with you now just following through on this. In the first three chapters of Genesis there are 15 things that are lost and in the last three chapters of Revelation everyone of those 15 things are found again in Christ. The first three chapters of Genesis record a fall. The last three chapters of Revelation declares a GREAT SALVATION! Hallelujah - it is tremendous! And in between the first three chapters of Genesis and the last three chapters of Revelation, in between stands the work of THE CROSS, bringing us from the fall into the fullness of the Son. What a gospel folks, what a salvation and yet most believers are ignorant of it because they know a whole lot more about where they've been than they know about where they are. And I think that's because we've got a lot of preachers declaring more about where you've been than they know about where you are. So Paul says "God has revealed His Son in me, that I might preach him." (Galatians 1:16) And immediately he began to declare HIM as the dwelling place of the believer. He began to declare HIM as the life of the believer. He began to declare HIM as the fullness of the Body which the believer constitutes. He began to declare CHRIST and His union with those who are in HIM. He began to declare GREAT SALVATION! So, when God deals with Abraham he says I'm going to take you to a land that I will show you (Genesis 12). He established the whole pattern in Abraham. Then he starts working it out with Israel and then he fulfills it in Christ with you and I. GREAT SALVATION. Great Salvation is that salvation whereby we are united to Him in heavenly places as His very own Body, that we may begin to be and become entirely a manifestation of His fullness in the earth. This is the salvation into which He has brought you. This is the I AM THAT HE IS. He has brought us into nothing less than Himself. He has brought forth a new creation in which He is all and in all. That's the salvation He's given to you. That's what the Holy Spirit has come to reveal. You have experienced the work of the Holy Spirit in bringing you out from sin. You have experienced the work of the Holy Spirit in baptizing you into Christ. You have experienced and you know the work of the Holy Spirit in dwelling, in a baptism. Now you are to experience the ultimate work of the Holy Spirit - NOW WILL YOU LET HIM SHOW YOU GREAT SALVATION? Will you now let him lift up your eyes and begin to declare unto you who are in Christ the fullness of the Godhead bodily? Will you now let him lead you into all truth? - even the fullness of truth? Will you now let him begin to bring you into the understanding of the I AM THAT I AM? Because that's what he has come to do. That you may begin to manifest the reality - not religion, but CHRIST. A GREAT SALVATION. That's why the writer of the Hebrews is so burdened. He saw what Israel did and he said, O Church, O Church - don't do that - how shall we escape, but how shall we escape if we neglect, if we fail to give our total attention, if we fail to give our total comprehending to so great a salvation. Then he began to declare it, and it takes us right on to the very last chapter - declaring the GREAT SALVATION, declaring the mountain, declaring the great work, declaring the great tabernacle, declaring the great covenant, declaring the GREAT SALVATION OF THE LORD. VII WE HAVE FOUND UNION WITH CHRIST Well, may the Lord enlighten the eyes of our understanding. May He cause you and I to understand that everything that is lost in Adam, everything that is lost in Adam is taken to the cross and is done away and it's found again in Christ - IN A NEWNESS that only the Holy Spirit can reveal. You see, you know what you lost, but only the Holy Spirit can reveal what you found. Because what you lost does not compare, can't even be compared with what you've found. You lost an old man. You lost a man that was white or black or brown or yellow, you've come forth in a new man that is CHRIST ALL AND IN ALL - and He's neither Jew nor Greek nor black not - Oh, Hallelujah to God! You lost a heaven and earth, an old heaven, an old earth. You've come forth in a new heaven. And you are a new creation. An old creation fell. "If any man be in Christ he's a new creation, old things are passed away..." (II Corinthians 5:17) That's the reason Paul said, "If ye be risen with Christ, don't seek those things on the earth." (Colossians 3:1-4) Most believers are busy trying to save the old but you need to set your heart on attaining the understanding of the new creation so that in the midst of this earth you can begin to manifest this wonderful salvation. Wouldn't it be wonderful, wouldn't it be wonderful if in the midst of this earth the church would manifest a creation that is altogether new, altogether Christ. But do you know what we've done in the midst of this earth? We've manifested the old creation. We say we're all saved, but we think we're still white and black. That means He hasn't shown you the I AM THAT I AM because honey, He's not white and He's not black and He's not yellow. HE IS SPIRIT AND TRUTH. And I don't care what kind of a vessel or what color of vessel you dwell in - you are HIS BODY and HIS BODY is AS HE IS, and that's what you've got to come to understand. That's why I'm telling you - it's easy enough for you and me to say, "Ok, I lost a white man here at the cross, and a white man died, a black man died, a Jew died, a Gentile died. But I'm telling you, this is GREAT SALVATION. He did more at the cross than just get rid of my color. Honey, He totally destroyed the old so that He could bring forth the new, of which He is the fullness, the life, the source, and the ALLNESS. HE AND ONLY HE LIVES AND HE LIVES IN YOU AND ME. Only the Holy Spirit can cause you and me to know this salvation. But when He is revealed in us we begin to behold Him in His appearing. We begin to comprehend that He has not just brought me out of my kindred, my country, and my color and my race and my kind. But He has brought me into a new place. And all of a sudden in that place, that heavenly place - THE LORD APPEARS - God reveals His Son in you, and He says, I AM THAT I AM. Here's who I am, here's where I am, and here's when I am - I'm in you and you're in me. I'm in you NOW and NOW you are in me. Hallelujah to God! Behold GREAT SALVATION! Behold the salvation of the Lord and you begin to get excited about salvation. You begin to get excited about your union with Christ. And you begin to declare to other believers and to those who never heard it the reality of what it means to be IN CHRIST. All of a sudden the church is not just a bunch of people to you - but it's HIS BODY - ONE WITH HIM! Everything that was lost in Adam was done away with at the cross. But everything that is done away with at the cross comes forth in the newness of the Lord Jesus Christ HIMSELF. Blessed be the Lamb of the Living God! "STAND STILL AND SEE THE SALVATION OF THE LORD." Let the Holy Spirit show you, cause you to comprehend with all saints, the length, depth, the breadth, the height, the fullness of God in Christ that you may grow up into Him who is the Head in all things. That you may become the very manifestation of Him - in every place, every day, every hour - in all the earth, declaring the fullness of salvation, living as the Body of the person of the Lord Jesus. Let it be so with us. Father, let it be so with us. What can we ask? We can ask that you open the eyes of our understanding, we can ask that you give unto us the Spirit of wisdom and knowledge in the revelation of Jesus Christ. We can ask that the Holy Spirit reveal the Son in us - doing away with the veil, doing away with the veil, lifting the eyes of our understanding and in the very appearing of the Lord in us, the very revealing of Christ in us - we begin to behold HIM WHO IS OUR LIFE - our life in Him - and come to a realization of the true great salvation - Hallelujah! Not that we're just gotten out, but that we're brought in - that we may begin to declare in the earth the fullness of the Lord. Oh, Hallelujah! - THE GREAT SALVATION - that our gatherings be as those who are not just out from sin, but that our gatherings be as those who are gathered together in Him in heavenly places, and that our gatherings become a manifestation of that reality. Glory to the Lamb of God. And all those that are brought together with us in this place from this time on, are brought into a gathering that is a manifestation of a reality that we are gathered together in Him. Oh - that they become conscious that salvation is more than just getting out - SALVATION IS BEING FOUND IN HIM AND GROWING UP IN HIM. That our gathering be for such a purpose - even for declaring GREAT SALVATION in all of these islands. By your Spirit lead us, guide us, direct us into the fullness of that ONE in whom we live, move and have our being. We thank you for it. BLESSED BE THE LAMB OF THE LIVING GOD. AMEN. ====================================== This message was taped on St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands on June 8, 1992 . 1