Romans – The Play Part 9, Ep 1 – Why You Cannot Live the Christian Life: The Secret of Christ in You

What are you going to do? You can’t live the Christian life. And even as I approach this business of Christ in you, I have that feeling that that little guy in there who wants to do good is just waiting. And I have to confess, there are some things you can do. But saints, the first thing you’ve got to learn is that you can’t. And until you do that, you’re going to just run up into this deeper Christian life and just, “What do I do?” Single brothers write me letters. “What do I do?” “Gene, write us a book on how.” And those books are so very difficult to find, and they are usually preceded by ten books on “you can’t,” because people who have learned even the slightest things about the reality of Christ are so aware of their inabilities, they’re actually afraid to share almost anything, knowing that you are going to take it and turn it into something to do. Then you will discover you can’t do it, and you’ll get really frustrated: it didn’t work. And you’re going to forget that the night I said to you, it won’t work.

Then, what, Gene, is the handle? The answer is: there really isn’t a handle. You just grow into certain things; slowly, slowly grow. And all we can do is encourage our personal growth in the spirituals. That’s what we’re going to do from now on, but I’m going to show you how. I’m going to show you how it’s going to happen, not how you’re going to do it, but how it’s going to happen. Okay?

I’d like to illustrate this. Let me go over this really quickly to set the stage. And would someone please hand me a watch? Is that watch correct? Oh, boy. I don’t want to put that on. Okay, I’m going to play like it is.

It all comes back to some things that I know you’re all familiar with, but let me go over them really quickly. Before we ever came into existence, there were things – elements, not things, but elements – that later were given words. But they were reality. One of them was life. And there was only one. And spirit. And that’s what that life was made out of.

Alright, so we have life and spirit. We later came along, and, like reflections, we picked up words like “life,” but when we talked about life, it wasn’t “other realm” life; it had nothing to do with that life. It was, in fact, a picture of that life. And spirit became a common word that had nothing to do with God. But there is life, and there is a spirit, and all that He is existed before anything else existed. Now then, before anything we can see, feel, touch, or understand existed, God created another form of life. It was the first form of life created; it was the second-highest form of life. The difference between it and the highest form of life was – it started. You got that? It started. That’s the biggest thing. The other one never started; it was eternal, eternal in both directions. This life started. And the other outstanding thing about it was that this life was created. It started, and it was created. It also belonged to that realm.

Well then, you know, when the Lord began creating this earth, He started at the bottom and worked up. He started at the top and worked down to a point, then He started at the bottom and worked up. And it’s right here where the two jobs met. God, then the creation of angelic life, then creating material physical life, He came to His crowning achievement: the highest life in the physical universe. You. Third-highest form of life. Second-highest created life.

Did you know that, according to my understanding, there is no creature—no land animal in the world—that will, under normal conditions, attack a human being? Do you know that? They’ll attack almost anything else. They won’t attack a human being. Isn’t that incredible? We really were made to rule the physical domain. But do you remember the little song, “Never smile at a crocodile? Never smile…” Well, let me give you a tip: as great as man is, and as feared as he is, fella, never wrestle an angel. Never wrestle an angel. Why, Joe, should you never wrestle an angel? “I get hurt?” Worse than that.” You’re going to lose because you’re outclassed. He has a higher form of life. That’s why. And I’ll tell you, and I’ll tell an angel: never wrestle with the form of life higher than you are. That’s right. You’re going to lose. Right. And this is the problem with life forms.

Now then, saints, let’s get down to it. Would you please come here again? This is the law of God. I want you to look at this and I want you to see every rule and regulation that’s on the law books in Portland—all of them—and all the laws in all the cities and all the states in America, and over the communist countries in South America and in Africa, and all of the Bible and all the rules and regulations of the Bible and all of universal laws—and here they stand. But most of all, here’s the law of God. You got it? Are you with me? Okay, now I need somebody—No, I don’t need a Gentile. I need a human being. I need a human being. Who do I need here, huh? What? I’m a human being. You are a human being.

Hmm, alright, sister, I’ve got you. Come up here, I need you. Alright. This is my human being. Are you with me? My human being loves to do the law of God. Alright. This is the man. Boy, there are no chauvinists here, folks. This is the man. This is you. This is me. This is the human soul. This is human life. Now, Joni is drawn this way. Are you with me? Drawn to the law of God out there, but, alright, Karen, come here. You’re about Joni’s size. Now, you’re a villain. You’re a villain. I want you. Okay? Okay. No, no, no, no. Alright. No, no, no. Alright. Now then, you go that way. No letter. Alright. Okay. Alright. Okay.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Okay, alright. Okay. What do we have here? What do we have here? We’ve got a struggle going on! This is human life, and this is, we’ll come to in a moment, to what this is, but this is something pulling Joni away from something she wants to do good.