IT'S JUST HIM! by James Tatum God has been so wonderful in His dealings with His Body, that we are not involved in a bunch of spiritual things, but in the activity of the Spirit. It is important that we look at what it means to be in the Spirit, and that's quite involved. I don't know that you can ever say all of it, but I do know that the Lord is dealing with His Church, and bringing His Church into a place at this point in time when we hear HIM! HEAR HIM! And I thank God for that. We read books, listen to tapes - and that's all good. But folks, God is dealing with His Church to hear Him - individually and corporately. He's still dealing with His Church - to hear HIM! There are many wonderful things taking place, and such devastating times that are taking place also at the same time. As we begin to hear His voice, and begin to see Him - to know Him - I've come to this conclusion - IT'S JUST HIM! Nothing else - it's just Him! It can't be "me and the Lord". That's where most of the Church operates at this point in time. 'Just me and the Lord, we've got our own thing going' or 'The Lord and I are doing this'. I guess when that begins to be our speech, we've just lost out completely in the understanding of it being - just HIM! I'm coming to understand as the Lord deals with me that the revelation of Jesus Christ is the revealing of the Father, and I believe this is what we are coming into. I believe the Son must be revealed first, then He'll reveal the Father to whom He will. It's the revealing of the Son to reveal the Father - to bring forth the ministry of the Father. But unfortunately many will make a doctrine out of it and a teaching out of it, and apply it to themselves. But it's just the Son revealing the Father. The Lord is also dealing with me concerning "The Crucified One", and I'm glad it's HIM! We've related the crucifixion surely to the old man for such a long time, but I've come into an understanding that it's not the old man who stands up and says,"I am crucified with Christ!", but it's the New Man! It's the New Man - the one who walks in newness of life and serves in newness of Spirit. It's not the dead man - he's passed away, he's gone. So how can a dead man stand up and say anything? Paul said, "I am crucified with Christ..." I am. Surely the old man was, but now the New Man stands and says "I'm forgiven" because it's all in Christ. He stands and says "I'm washed in the blood." The old man can't make claims to that because the old man is dead. But we as the Church try to deal in those areas about 95% of the time. Let's look at this in the scripture. We know that our Lord was crucified. What we don't fully understand is that we were crucified jointly with Him. We've heard teachings, but the reality has to come, because we've still got our own thing going. It's still me and my three or four. But this understanding gives us new life! Matthew 26:2, "You know that after two days is the Feast of the Passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified." Now Matthew 27:35, "And they crucified him, and parted his garments, casting lots; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots." We don't really have a problem in understanding that the Lord was crucified, even though most of the Church still looks at a picture framed of the Lord hanging on a cross and that's about the mentality of it. And we get a feeling, and get humble, but the reality has to be worked in us. And we need to come to that realization. Now go to Romans 6 - we've got a lot of scriptures to look at. And when we get through, it's just going to be HIM! We're not going to be able to stand - not me and the Lord. No - it's just HIM! Just Him - at the end it's just HIM! Our gatherings are not just a gathering of people coming together; our gatherings are unto HIM! Just Him! We're going to hear that word HIM - H-I-M - HIM! The reality of this thing is when we have an encounter with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and there's such devastation - it's just HIM! I've often wondered, when people come to an altar and "get saved", and jump up and shout and run around the church - that's a little different from what I see in the scriptures. In the scriptures when people had an encounter with the Lord, they were left devastated! Their whole focus was upon Him, and it was just Him! Romans 6:6, "Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him. Knowing this...that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin." Now I don't know about you, but I just don't worry about sin. Sin is not an issue with me any more, because I've been brought out of that, by knowing this - that I am crucified with Him! Now I don't have to serve sin. Sin doesn't have any hold over me, so I don't need to hear a "sin" message. But I do want an understanding of what has taken place when I was crucified with Him; when He gathered me up and bound me with the cords of His love, carried me there with Him, and there crucified me jointly with Him. That's the understanding I ask the Father to being me to. Did you know that under the old Roman law, when someone committed murder, they bound them face to face with that corpse. The only thing that freed them was death - the only separation was death. You and I come to an understanding of a union in the resurrection through the understanding "I am crucified with Christ." That's where the true union starts. Now in Galatians 2:20, Paul says, "I am crucified with Christ." Now how could the old man say that? He can't. But the New Man, who was jointly crucified, who was in company with Christ can say, 'I am crucified with Christ.' Surely the old man was crucified, but now it's where you are living at. "Nevertheless I live, yet NOT I..." It's just Him, folks! I have been done away with! "...yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." That may sound so elementary - Christ liveth in me, but many today are not ready to receive the declaration of this Christ living in us - it is as foreign to them as Greek. You talk about "in Christ", instead of "in a denomination" and it is as foreign as Greek. You see, if anything is happening, it's happening "IN CHRIST" - it's not happening any where else! I can tell you that folks who are running around looking for a blessing, need to understand that the only blessing there is, is IN HIM! That's the only place of all spiritual blessings - in heavenly places, in Christ! So all things are taking place in Christ. "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..." The life that we now live in the flesh is only possible because you and I were jointly crucified with Him. That's the truth! God will not commit Himself to something that is not crucified. God deals with that which is crucified with Christ, not a bunch of people running around just trying to crucify themselves - but that one that was crucified with Christ. That's who God is dealing with. Those who were crucified with Christ; those are the ones who are in Christ - and they can say "I died." And yet they are brought forth in the Resurrection that He is. HE IS THE LIVING, CRUCIFIED ONE! He bears the marks of death! He is the Living, Crucified One! Now you and I can walk in that Life. The life that I now live in the flesh - that life - because He is the Living, Crucified One. IT'S JUST HIM! Paul was saying, " I am crucified with Christ." He was speaking a great truth, and that lets us know that this is where our union begins. This is where true union begins, because we must experience that death. We must experience that death to be brought forth in His Resurrection. In order to have life we've got to be joined unto Christ. We're still running around trying to get the Lord involved in "our" life, but we don't get Him involved in "our" life. "Our" life is done away with! That's taken care of - jointly crucified with Him. We're crucified with the Crucified One! This is not a teaching - this is a LIFE! You and I must begin to see that it is the New Man who can stand and say, "I am crucified with Christ," not the old man; he's been done away. When we begin to come to that understanding, we'll begin to realize that HE IS THE ONE! This New Life is only for those who have been crucified with Him, and brought forth in His Resurrection; not a people who are expecting to come out of a grave one day. No wonder Paul said, "That I may know him in the power of his resurrection..." Certainly he was not talking about a people coming out of a grave or a cave. "...and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable to his death." When all this takes place, we begin to walk in the reality of it. Then it will not be "me and the Lord", it will be just HIM! Turn now to Galatians 1. In Galatians 4:6 it says, "And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying Abba, Father." The Spirit of His Son - Abba, Father! This is the dealing of the Lord through out His Body. Galatians 1:15, "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!" What a wonderful thing it is when we come to this reality - that I must preach HIM! Just Him! I had preached for years - things. These things were actually Him, but I never related them to being Him. To preach Him! Lord, what do I say? Not to preach sanctification, but to preach HIM as sanctification. Not to preach a message on wisdom, but preach HIM who is wisdom. It's preaching Him - not things - just HIM! Not issues - just HIM! Not preaching me - just HIM! The preaching and declaring is not that of a ministry or a fellowship - it's the preaching of HIM! Just HIM! Now Matthew 17:5, " While he yet spake, behold a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him." It's just Him! It's the hearing of Him! Whatever God speaks, delivered by the Spirit, will be spoken by Him! And we still have the mentality of running around to hear preachers. We still think they are "good" services depending on who's speaking, who is delivering the message that night. I know a young man who travels around from place to place, hoping to hear someone speak something about Christ, and he has to admit that most places he goes, they preach nothing about Him! John 1. I want us to look at the word "HIM". Verse 3, " All things were made by HIM; and without HIM was not anything made that was made. In HIM was life; and the life was the light of men." You see - it's just Him! The source of life is just Him! Verse 10, "He was in the world, and the world was made by HIM, and the world knew HIM not." And I dare say that most of Christianity does not know Him - coming together in buildings in what we call "church" and then going home - but we don't know Him. And it is just Him! It used to be "me and Jesus", but now it's just Him! Ephesians 1:22, " 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..." But this needs to be a reality with us. Because "us" is the Church! That's clear in Ephesians 1. "...which is his body, the fulness of HIM..." So what is His Church, what is His Body? THE FULNESS OF HIM. And those that can stand and say 'I am crucified with Him' can surely understand that company of people - the Church, the Body is the fulness of HIM! And it's no longer I; it's not you and I just coming together, having some kind of a meeting. FOR HIS BODY IS THE FULNESS OF THE VERY PERSON OF HIM! Just Him! "...which is his body, the fulness of HIM that filleth all in all." So, if my view is right, I'm looking at the fulness of Him; I'm looking at the 'all in all' I'm looking at that which is filled with Him. It's just Him! I'm glad that we lose our identity, and then we don't see a Brother this or Brother that, but what we see is the fulness of Him - just the fulness of Him. The old is done away with and that which comes forth is just the fulness of Him. So many times I've thought,'Lord, I'd like to get in my old pick up truck and drive around town and just tear all the signs of the churches down and burn them. And go in each building and take down anything that resembles what we call the Church, take it out and burn it - get rid of it. And just let it be the fulness of Him! I often wonder what would happen if on a Sunday morning we wake up and every building that we call a Church was destroyed. What would take place would be utter chaos! But those that are in Christ - the fulness of Him - would gather together unto HIM, and it wouldn't matter where they gather. It would just be the fulness of Him! I've known fellowships that when something happens, they just discontinue everything because it was all based on some building. We must come to the realization that it's the fulness of Him, and this gathering is not a people gathering just in some building - thank God for the building - but that has nothing to do with God. It doesn't! I notice that when folks come into the door, they get all fixed up when they come in the door, and they talk different. My God! Just let it be Him! The fulness of Him! Now, it's either Him or it's me - it can't be the two. It's just one - in HIM! And that's what is so great about the crucifixion, about being crucified. When Paul is saying "I am crucified with Christ", he is just simply saying "I am one, I am one in union and resurrection. It's just One! It's not Paul and Jesus - it's just HIM!" I love the Body of Christ - but it's just Him! And I love the fellowship with the Body of Christ because it's just Him! I'm not claiming to be Christ, but when I see His Body, I just see Him! I just see the fulness of Him. It's just Him! It's not me walking around grumpy and hateful, and just being holy whenever I feel like it - it's just Him! It's His Body - the fulness of Him! My God, what a reality - if we ever come to a comprehension of that. The Body - the Church is the fulness of HIM! It's no longer I, it's just Him. Turn now to the book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ. The Lord is beginning to take us there more and more, because it's the revealing of Christ. It's about Him! A young man called me at one o'clock in the morning to ask me about the end-time beast. I said I don't know anything about it, but I'll tell you about Him! He said he had just come from a "Revelation Seminar". And I said, brother, did they talk about the revelation of Christ? He said no, they talked about frogs and all that kind of stuff. He said it's wonderful - you ought to go with me. I said, no - what you ought to do is stay away from it! I spoke to him just that way. I think it's time the Body of Christ speaks just that way in love to people. Be nice, but be firm with this Word. It's time to quit patting each other on the back, and time to speak the Truth as it is in Christ Jesus! Amen. If you turn to the first chapter, it's the Revelation of Jesus Christ - it's not about some monsters coming out of the sea or airplanes flying or nuclear bombs. It's the revelation of Jesus Christ! John saw this and look at what happened when John say Him. Chapter 1, verse 17, " And when I saw him..." Now we know about the voice. He turned to see the voice. "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..." HE IS THE LIVING, CRUCIFIED ONE! "...Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death." But what happened when John had an encounter with Him? I don't see him shouting over the portals of glory. I don't see him running the aisles in the church, but I see him as he fell as he were dead at his feet, because John came in contact with Him! It was no longer John, but it was John that saw Him. And thank God for the seeing of Him - everything takes on a new viewpoint. Everything else loses its value - and it's just HIM! No longer a man or a woman - when you see Him - you and I will no longer be concerned with ourselves. I'm telling you the truth. No longer will you get lost in your circumstances or in your problems - those things become so minuscule. It's just Him! It's just the seeing of Him! Circumstances are just things that happen, but this is LIFE! It's just Him! Sometimes I wonder, in His presence... I know in His presence is the fulness of joy, but it's not the fulness of showing off; it's not an emotional thing. It's not any of that. It's just Him! Go to Ezekiel with me. Ezekiel 1:28, " And the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it I fell upon my face, and I heard a voice of one that spake." There again - it's no longer me. It's not me trying to seek a reputation - it's just Him! I don't want to be referred to as anything. 'He's a "Word" man'. No - there's just One - it's Him! I don't pin titles - it's just Him! 'There's a "faith" man'. No - it's just Him! Our encounter with Him leaves us face down and we realize it's just Christ! It's just Him! Not James and Jesus - it's just Him! The Living, Crucified One - and you and I in Him! Isn't it a beautiful thing when we realize that when we see Him, we don't see each other, and we don't see ourselves? One Body, which is many, but you don't see the many, you just see the ONE! Just HIM! Isaiah 6. We're talking about recognizing just One, just recognizing Him. " In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord, sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims; each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke. 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." That doesn't sound like a shouting man to me. It's a man that's had an encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ. No wonder when we begin to search through the scripture we see that each time someone had an encounter with Him; each time one saw Him - they just come to an end of themselves. They come to an end of themselves, and now the cry can be - IT'S JUST HIM! It's not me running around out here trying to finish His work - He's already finished that! He said, "It is finished." All I have to do is manifest it. It is finished! Throughout the Church world as we call it, people are out here and they've got to just do this or do that, because the Lord depends upon them so heavily to finish this or that. Folks, you don't have to finish anything! He's already finished it! You and I are just involved in the manifestation of it. It's just Him! And as the Lord is working that understanding in you and I, it's for the purpose of ministry - for the purpose of ministering just Him! Thank God He's not raising up ministers - so if we have in our minds to be a great minister - just forget it! He's bringing forth ministry. Thank God for the Apostles and the Prophets, and the Evangelists and the Pastors and Teachers, but what about the ministry? Not you and I; the Church ministering its own self - but the ministry is a ministry of just HIM! Not the ministering of the Church - it's just Him! With me the days have come to an end when you go around as a great Prophet or a great Apostle. That ought to have come to an end with you and I. It's just the ministry of Him! I believe in the healing of the Lord, don't you? Why are we so afraid in the Body of Christ to pray for one another? I don't understand that in people who say they are Christ-like people, or in people who say they are just "Word" people. I understand the balance of all of this, but I understand that if a Brother or Sister is in my presence and there is something wrong with them, that I should have the compassion to pray for them. I'm not so high and mighty in the Word that I'm going to skip over that. No - we're supposed to take care of one another, to love one another - not shut up the mercy of God to one another. There's nothing wrong with a people coming together and seeking the Lord. And when we get to a point where we're above that, then we're no good for the Lord anyway. This sounds hard, but I mean it. There's nothing wrong with you and I praying one for another. There's nothing wrong with you and I coming together in the presence of Him, and letting Him come forth in our midst. I was thinking as we were worshiping the Lord - all I could see was a people who were on their face before the Lord. And I thought that it was a beautiful thing to come together and just seek the Lord; instead of just having a service and going home. But it is coming to that, because it's just Him! There are many things to say, but the Lord wants us to come to the comprehension - it's just Him! If we're gathered together just for a teaching, we're there for the wrong reason. If we come together just to get something to say, we're there for the wrong reason. The gathering is unto HIM, that He might be revealed - that He might be made manifest in our midst. Just Him! It's not coming to get something to say to your congregation for the next few months. No, it's just Him, and in the presence of Him, you'll forget all of that anyway, and it will be just Him! You see, that's who the Father is occupied with. The Father is occupied with just HIM! The Son is occupied with the Father. You and I are included in that, but the Father is not occupied with those that run around saying, 'I'm crucified', but He's occupied with the Living, Crucified One - just HIM! Aren't you glad we are losing our identity? Now the identification is just Him - not me, just Him! We can have a good time, call a singing group together and say we had "Church" - and miss Him. It's just Him, folks. I'm glad I've come to that understanding. Years ago I was ministering in a fellowship, and I didn't even realize what I was saying, but I said to the folks, "God does not want us to gather together to have church. We are gathered together unto Him as the Church." Now I'm understanding what that means. He never calls us to have Church - you and I are to be the Church - for the purpose of the expression of Him. What purpose could the Church possibly have other than the revealing of Him? We've made a mess out of it - look around. We're having "Church" on Sunday morning and we're having "Church" on Sunday night and Wednesday night. Now that's "having Church". And that's the mentality of it, but the Lord wants a people with a new mentality. And the one that says "I am crucified with Christ" walks in a new mentality; he walks in a new understanding. That understanding is - it is not I, it is not my life, it is HIM WHO IS LIFE - it's just HIM! The Lord is dealing with the Crucified One. We must take our minds out of the old and put it on Him - just Him! Not seeing ourselves or any organization getting larger and larger - it's just Him. It's just the declaring of Him, just the preaching of Him. That's what we are to do - just preach Him! I know that sounds elementary, but it's not elementary because the Church has not come to that yet. To many, they have not come to that - just the preaching of Him, just Him, just the revealing of Him. Why is this not so? The Church is looking for Him to come, to come, to come, and we have missed the coming of the Holy Spirit - to reveal, to testify, to guide us into all Truth, which is HIM. The coming of the Holy Spirit to bring forth HIM! As a young man I used to look around and say we had a good service because everybody shouted. Oh my God - none of us knew Him. It's the truth. When I was sixteen years old I competed in what they called "The Bible Contest"; people out of every state in the United States gathered. And it was how fast you could find a scripture and read it, and all the questions you could answer. And I won it, I beat everybody out. I was so proud, but I didn't know Him! I didn't know anything about Him. I was not even born again, but they had trained me at that local fellowship to be very versed in finding the scriptures and reading them, but I had no understanding of them whatsoever. And out of the best of people out of fifty states, I was shining like a bright light, but I didn't know Him. Oh my God, that we know HIM! That we just know HIM! How can I know you if I don't know Him? How can I fellowship with you if I don't know Him? We walk in the light as He is in the light - then we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of His Son cleanses us from all sin. There's a lot to be said about that. But what I'm saying is this - I appreciate you - but it's just HIM! It's just the declaring of Him! For what purpose do we gather? For larger crowds and more people? No - just the declaring of the One - HIM! Without that we could close the door. Without that there would be nothing. So I say to us, if the mentality is still "me and Jesus", then as far as I'm concerned we've just lost it all. It may be me and Him, but I'm telling you, it better be one heartbeat! Father, I thank you for Jesus. I thank you for the gathering unto Him. For Father, it's just Him! It is Him that you are revealing, that He might reveal you. Lord, that we may know Him; not about Him. God - that we might know Him! That we might preach Him! So that we may declare Him, for it is Him that must fill this earth. His Body - the Church - just the fulness of Him! Holy Spirit, that we just might know Him! Glory to God! Lord, I thank you. I thank you for your very own personal Body - it's just you! Deal with us, that we might know; that we might comprehend, come to the understanding it's just HIM! And these little trivial things will be cast aside, and we would know it's just HIM! Thy will be done, in Jesus' name. AMEN.