Christ’s Life Fully Expressed (Part 1) — The Total Experience of Jesus Christ

I will stand with Paul and Simon Peter, who could not read nor write, and John and Andrew and Philip and Nathaniel and all the rest of them who did not teach the Bible. Now, if you believe they did, then you’re going to have to imagine Paul of Tarsus walking into Derbe, Lystra, Iconium, Philippi, Thessalonica, Corinth, Rome, the city of Antioch, with one gigantic wheelbarrow. And when he got there with his one gigantic wheelbarrow, then the first thing you had to do was get everybody to go out and cut some papyrus and go into the business of copying, and this would have taken several years. Then there would have been five or six more copies of the scriptures to pass around.

I am not coming out against the Bible, but I am telling you that the first-century Christians were a lively bunch of folks. And they did not have Scripture at hand. They had the Word of God. And teaching the Bible and knowing the Scripture isn’t where it’s at. And it has been at the center of the stage for 200 years, and it has been tried and found wanting. It has primarily caused nothing but pride, legalism, and … Who is worthy to take the center of the stage, and that is Him. I know that many of you would say, well, sure, Gene, that’s true. Jesus Christ…alone…is the center of this stage.

There was a time when I came to California. I still remember this, and it haunts me. I got in the car with a brother, who probably knew two ounces more about the scripture than I did, but he really pulled a fast one on me. I was sitting in the front seat, and he was sitting in the back seat, and he did have a little fellowship with the Lord. He said, “Gene, say something about Jesus Christ.” Boy, there wasn’t anything inside. I stuttered, I stammered, I crossed my eyes, I thought, and I mentally scratched my head, and I said, He’s the Alpha, the Omega, the beginning, the end, wonderful counselor. He said, Gene, “Tell me something about Jesus Christ.” I said, “What in the world are you talking about?” I represented the Christian family that day. I could not have…I could not have conveyed Jesus Christ. I could have tied you up in knots with the Bible, but my Lord, my wonderful, loving, glorious, precious Lord, my incomparable, living, loving, passionate Lord…I hardly knew. And I was chasing all over the earth. To and fro…devouring…whatever came into my midst. I was preaching the Gospel everywhere.

Then, what, my brother, is important? Will you please tell me that? What is central? I cannot accept that answer tonight. I won’t accept it because it’s too easy. That’s the right answer, but I won’t accept it. Let’s call it the total experience of Jesus Christ, and let’s add one more. The total… Praise the Lord. That’s really good, Jim. It’s the total experience of Jesus Christ in the life of man…fully expressed. It is not just the experience, but also the full and total expression of that experience. There has to be an expression. That’s not what Ephesians 6 is talking about. What Ephesians 6 is talking about is…the new man. And what is the new man? This…Finally, be strong in the Lord and the power of His might and put on the full armor of God…what is that? I, Gene Edwards, put on the full armor of God. Right? Absolutely not. That was not written to an individual. It is not applicable to an individual. It cannot be applied to or accepted by the individual. It was written to a church, and that church is the new man. And that church puts on the full armor of God.

He puts on the full armor of God. He stands firm. He has all prayer and all petition for all saints with all perseverance. He is the new man. What then is this talking about? This is talking about the alter ego of Jesus Christ. What is the alter ego of Jesus Christ? The church of Jesus Christ is His counterpart. He’s the cookie-cutter, and she’s the cookie. She’s the counterpart. The church of Jesus Christ is the new man. All that is said is said for her to fully experience. I am entitled to nothing outside the body of Christ. Nothing is given to me as an individual…or very little is beyond salvation. In its totality, nothing is given to me. I find the fullness of all things in the body. Now we are met with a paradox wrapped up in an enigma, but nonetheless, the bloodcurdling fact.

We don’t have in the 20th century the practical expression, nor, surely we do not have, the total experience of Jesus Christ and His body. She ought to have it all. She ought to take that cup and drink from it fully. Say amen. We don’t even know. It’s a rich cup. Here stands a new man. He is a new species. He is not a dog. He is not a cat. He is not a pig. He is not a porpoise. Neither is he a man. He is a new man, and he does not have the parts that the man has. He is something totally new. If you please…God has introduced into the universe a new species, a different life form. And that species stands there…a new kind of creature. And around him lies armor, armor, armor, shoes, sword. What is the church of Jesus Christ? It’s a corporate body of people in union with Jesus Christ. That’s a new creature. There’s a new species that is not a man, and that species is exhorted to put on the full armor of God, which is the first step. And then comes the all, the all, the all, the all.

Now, Father, I ask You, in the name of Jesus Christ, to release it. What is the Lord after? It is not so easy to explain. And yet you have heard it stand around here, but if God’s spirit will allow it tonight, that you might have a deeper impression. That Jesus Christ is after a man for all seasons. One man for all seasons and in all seasons. I believe it is translated here at all times. In the Greek it is “in all seasons.” Forgive me for referring to the Greek. In all seasons at all times. With all prayer, and all perseverance, for all the saints. Take up the full armor of God, in all seasons.

Name the seasons, would you? The season of joy. Give me another one. Sorrow. Travail. Prayer. No. Too much. Dryness. Persecution. Victory. Neutral. Suffering. Infirmity. Revival. Resurrection. Waiting. Death. Salvation. Confusion. Consecration. Healing. Abandonment. Teaching. Revelation. Signs and wonders. Service. Prophecy. Humility. Hospitality. Humility.  Annihilation. Brother, prayer. Come back to prayer. Petition, supplication, intercession, declaration, travail, repentance, thanksgiving, surrender, and there is another, a big one, that you have left out. A man for all seasons…the hardest of all.

Fasting. Faith. Leaving all things. Crucifixion. The cross. I didn’t think you were so impressed with this. I never heard any reference to it except a note I got from a dear sister who said, “Gene, it happened to me, and I never knew what it was till you spoke on.” Then she said, “Do me a favor, please.” And that’s what her note was about. She said, “Gene, I beg you. Please tell the brothers to never ask for this and never seek it.” It was an implore. Season of being forsaken. Are you a man for such a season? Are you a man for such a season? I’m not talking about that season; I mean, are you a man for all those seasons? Tell me, are you? And what season, what season can you make?

What I am saying to you tonight could have been delivered ten, eleven months ago; as far as that goes, I considered delivering this message as the next message after that message was delivered. And I waited this long to deliver it. There is the total spectrum of the experience of Jesus Christ. There is the total personality of your Lord. There is the total experience and the total expression of Jesus Christ. And what does Jesus Christ want? Say it.

Oh, yes. Everything. What does He want? He wants…a woman. It’s nothing but a love story. An all-out passionate love story. He’s waiting to walk out in the midst of a myriad of angels and step out…with His bride…who is His counterpart—a woman who can look Him straight in the face.

Now, the only thing she does not do. She will not know what it was like to die from sin. That is His, and He carries the scar to prove it. He will walk out and say to her, “Come here”, and she will know. Now what will she know? She will know the experience of Jesus Christ, but what else will she know? She will know the expression. She will know the expression of the experience. Now, where do I get the expression of the experience? The Lord Jesus is the myriad, unlimited expression. When you see her, what will you see? You will see the image of her Lord…just as you see the Father. Just as you see…when you look at Him, you see the Father. When you look at her, you will see His image stamped so deeply.