Life of Christ #5 – The Secret of the Christian Life: Living in Fellowship With God

Well, Gene, those twelve apostles, they really witnessed, didn’t they? They prayed, didn’t they? They studied the Bible and preached the Bible, didn’t they? Let’s go through that. I’m ahead of myself, but first of all, no, they did not preach the Bible; they preached what all preachers should preach: they preached the Lord Jesus Christ…and somebody wrote it down. It became our Gospels. But you and I need to remember that we don’t worship the Gospels. It’s not some deification of the Bible, but it is Jesus Christ who is the center of those four books. Those are the apostles’ messages, and the apostles’ message was Christ. Did they witness? You bet your life they witnessed, just like the Lord Jesus Christ went around Galilee witnessing. But they only witnessed after Pentecost, not before. I want you to be overwhelmed with the fact that they spent four years learning Him, and they did not serve. I’m going to tell you something else. By all records known, by all traditions established, the apostles spent virtually their entire ministry in Jerusalem and within 40 miles of it. Only in their old age did they begin to leave. Their witness was incredibly established, mostly in Judea and Galilee.

I want to come back. That was thrown in as a parenthesis. What did the Lord Jesus Christ have that He was about to give to 20 people? This is what He had. Please hear me. He had an unbroken habit, an unbroken mind of experience; established in eternity and brought into time. He had the fellowship with the Father. I am really awed. I am awed, sisters and brothers, as to what…When He talked about it – this relationship, what He said. I am also awed that we don’t ever dare talk about this. It is so daring; it is almost frightening to speak of. Now, if He talks about it, whatever He says must be the thing of utmost importance in His mind. We’re looking at John chapter 5. John 5 is the first clear time He ever spoke clearly of His relationship to the Father. It is mind-boggling what He says. Do you know what He says? This is what He is about to bring to the 20 disciples.

He says, I see the Father. I see the Father. I’m going to ask you all to repeat that. I want you to be impressed. This is incredible. I see the Father. Then I have to ask myself, did He see Him physically? I’m ambivalent. I think He may have physically seen Him at times. I don’t know. But I’m absolutely sure, and I think all theologians would agree, that when He speaks of seeing Him, He speaks of the eyes of His spirit literally beholding that which is invisible. He had the capacity, with His spirit, to see the invisible, and He saw His Father. His Father was always before His face. He saw the Father.

Now, Gene Edwards, are you standing there pretending to be a rational man? Alright, I’m 53 years old. I’m about to make the boldest statement I’ve ever made in my life, and it’s being recorded. Are you about to turn around and tell me that Jesus Christ, now 30 years old, all this you’ve been talking about behind Him, is about to say to 20 people, I am passing on to you this: they will see the Father? Or are you about to tell us to read the Bible? I believe in reading the Bible, but I’m trying to make room for something else. Do I really believe that He is saying to them, “You will see the Father as I see Him each day”? Is He going to pass this on to another generation?  Alright, please say it really clearly. Everybody who believes the answer is yes, say yes. Those of you who believe no, say no. Boy, I heard thousands of people out there in video land saying no.

Wait a minute, that’s a bold statement. Land it, put it on the ground. Make it practical in my life, would you? Put it in yours. Can you do it? Can you do that? If you can do that, tell me how. How can you and I see the Father? Alright, I want you to know I have never preached a gospel I couldn’t make practical. If you’re going to agree with me that they can see the Father as He saw the Father, you’ve got to tell me exactly how. One, two, three. I mean, when I say you’ve got to show me practically, you can’t give me this semi-practical word. No, I mean one, two, three, show me how. I’m not from Missouri, but I’ll move there for the sake of the point. Show me. Okay, I’m not going to ask you to do that, but He did.

Secondly, He said He heard the Father. He saw Him, and He heard Him. These sound like the ravings of a madman. Do they not? Be honest with me. Does this not sound like the ravings of a madman? Well, you wouldn’t say that. Well, that’s the way mad people, religious nuts, talk sometimes. Oh, I saw God; He told me to go out and kill that guy, and you know they go out and do it. That’s schizoids. They lock people like that up. If you ever have, if you ever take a test, if you ever get in trouble and they give you a little test and they’re trying to figure out about you, you go find some questions down there. Do you hear voices? Do you hear people telling you things who are not visible?

You know this is really, really tough. Recently, a well-known Christian minister was interviewed on a nationwide television program. Well, it was an hour before the meeting, and the MC, the master of ceremonies, came in, sat down with him, and he said, “Now, Reverend, we want to give you an opportunity to talk about what you want to talk about. So tell me the questions to ask you.” And he said, “Okay, well, ask me this question, and ask me this question, and ask me this: ‘What is God telling you these days?’ The minister, the MC, and everybody around them were like What? They thought they had someone loony.

What is God telling you these days? Well, to a Christian, you know that means something totally different from the world. But I want you to know I have a very definite feeling that it meant even more to your Lord. My Lord. He said He saw Him, and He said He heard Him, and an old man said, “That which we have seen and heard, declare we unto you, that you may have fellowship with us, and our fellowship is with the Father who none of us have seen, and with His Son Jesus Christ, who rose from the grave and ascended into the heavens nearly 60 years ago.” When he wrote that, that was true. Sixty years the Lord had not been seen on the earth, and yet here’s this old man saying, I’m declaring what I’ve seen, and I’m declaring what I’ve heard, that you might have fellowship with me, and my fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ.

Now the Lord makes a statement that generally is referred to as the resurrection. I don’t believe that. This is chapter 5 of John; this is not chapter 20 of John. He is talking to the Pharisees, and He says, “You cannot hear His voice, but the hour comes, and now is, when there will be those who will hear, and you cannot hear, because you do not…” How does the rest of that verse go? You do not have the Word abiding in you. And don’t tell me that that’s Bible verses. Those guys could quote more Bible than any of us in this room could.

You do not have the Word abiding in you. He was speaking of the speaking going on inside of Him. That abided in Him, abode, had a hold in Him. The hour comes, and now is when there will be those who are dead who will hear. That is not the resurrection; I mean, that’s not the resurrection from the dead when the Lord raises all the dead people in the world. That is His resurrection…When He will put His life in you, just as the Father’s life was put in Him in Mary’s womb; you are dead inside, but the hour comes, and now is when you will hear the voice of the Son of God.

Do you realize what He’s saying? He’s saying, it’s going to keep on happening. That which was in eternity in the Godhead, that which was in eternity in the Godhead, and that which came into Bethlehem and into Nazareth in me, the Father speaking in me, the Word abiding in me, I, the Son of God, now shall speak. You who are dead will rise, and that speaking will come to a new generation, and you will hear. You will hear, and you will see.

Alright, three things. The seeing that I see…watch it. The hearing that I hear…watch it and hear it. Come live with me for three and a half years and watch me hear, and watch me see. Just watch, and I will speak. The hour comes, and now is when I will speak and raise you from the dead. My Word will abide in you as my Father’s Word abides in me. Praise the Lord. It is better that you go to the seminary and have the Jerusalem experience. Or is it better that you have the Nazareth experience? Really, you shouldn’t have the Jerusalem experience, and the Nazareth experience isn’t for you, but I would recommend the Galilean experience.