Transcript: Unlocking the Riches of Christ Within You - Colossians 1:26-27

I titled this message today and call it The Hidden World Within You. And it's my desire to provoke you to thought in where you presently stand in the depth of your relationship with your Savior, Jesus Christ. Faith, God's righteousness, and His wisdom are all key words as to the depth of any true and genuine relationship with God and His Son, Jesus Christ. The wisdom of God is for the spiritually minded person, not the naturally minded or the carnally minded person. The Word of God, or the Gospel as many call it, in all of its simplicity, is the only truth and wisdom that comes down from the very heart of God, the Creator of all things, including man. When the rulers of this world schemed and conspired to crucify Jesus Christ they rejected wisdom from the very heart of God when he had sent his son to this earth to be a mouthpiece and to speak concerning the truth about his righteousness and his kingdom that was to be set up in the hearts of men and women who would accept his testimony. The naturally or carnally minded person cannot understand God's truth because without the Spirit of God's help, they are totally unable to comprehend it. And because they cannot understand, they conclude that the truth is foolishness. They determine within their own mental process that people who speak about these are weird and overzealous. They are weak, extreme, or exaggerated. But the spiritually minded person, on the other hand, is able to comprehend and understand these things, and they hold them dear to their hearts because they are controlled and guided by the Spirit of God. Each and every true believer in Jesus Christ must have their own experience with the truth of God's wisdom. And Paul says in Philippians 2 verse 5, Let this same attitude and purpose and humble mind be in you, which was in Jesus Christ. Let him be your example in humility. You see, to experience the depth of this hidden world that lies within you, as you grow in the wisdom of God's word, you must have some basic understanding of where it must all begin. And we'll look at this today, and hopefully by the time we finish this short course in God's Word, you will grasp and understand your part and responsibility in a deeper way. Throughout several of the Gospels, we read where Jesus gave His followers the mandate to not worry about our lives. He said, don't worry about what you will eat and drink or about your body and what you will wear. And he gives the reader an insight into the depths, the secret depths of life, when he poses the question and says, isn't your life more important than about food and your body more important than about clothes? He uses an analogy of the birds of the air and the flowers of the field, and he shows how his heavenly Father cares for them all. And he says, who of you, by worrying about any one of these things, can add a single hour to your life? And he ends the controversy over the battles within the mind of those who spend great amounts of time worrying and concerning themselves with these things by saying, Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all of these things shall be added unto you. That is found in Matthew 6.33. You see, this is the only answer to anxiety. And this promise of Christ applies only to true believers. Jesus puts the ball in your court, dear one, and he tells you and me to seek first his kingdom, and then everything else will be added unto you regarding everything to live on this earth. In my study and cross-reference in the Greek-Hebrew dictionary for the word kingdom, I found that in Greek the word for kingdom is basilia, And the word kingdom in Greek then is Jesus basically saying to us, Seek my royalty first. Seek my palace. Seek my kingdom and my reign. Seek my righteousness. And righteousness is holiness of heart and purity of mind. Bottom line, dear ones, is that Jesus is saying, Seek me first. Seek my person and live in me, and I will add and give you everything that you need in the way of protection, of food, clothing, spiritual wisdom, and, of course, spiritual wisdom is the most important part of your journey on this earth. This overall says that since he feeds the birds of the air and clothes the flowers of the field, He loves and values you a whole lot more than all of these. Worry doesn't solve a thing for you or me. In fact, worry robs you in body, soul, and spirit. You can have poverty in each of these areas of your life because you are not trusting in your Lord and Savior. People who spend more time worrying and fretting over their circumstances and their lives are not demonstrating faith by seeking God and trusting Him to meet their needs. And this also demonstrates a lack of spiritual growth and maturity in one's life. Well, I would like to say, as a warning to those who live like a heathen and yet call themselves Christian, that you are walking on the broad way that Scripture says leads into the world below called hell. But for those of you who are aware and are on your face praying for yourself and preparing yourself for Christ's return and also praying for the lost and the sick in this dying world, then I say to you, have nothing to fear or be anxious about because your faith, your hope and love are wrapped up in the one who can and will save you. Your focus is on the author and the finisher of your faith. You see, we live in a day and a time when the world has never seen or heard of the things that are taking place on the earth right now. And this is a global issue and a problem. And we're truly living in the days that the Bible speaks about in Matthew 24, which says and tells of the beginning of a horse to come. Jesus gives us the warning to take heed that no one deceives you, and there will be wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not troubled, for these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. Jesus continues in verse 7 saying, for nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All of these are the beginning of sorrows. Verse 9 And they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for my sake. And then many will be offended and betray one another and will hate one another. Verse 11 Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will wax cold. But he who endures to the end will be saved. And the gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all nations. And then the end will come. You see, we are witnessing the first time in history where this nation is in the push for socialism. Yes, even against the voice of the people. Dear Church, if you did not know it before, socialism is the first step into communism or what is known as the one world government or one world order. In this place, you have no freedoms. You will not be free to believe in the truth of God's word because these ungodly people will force you to denounce your faith and if you won't, then they will kill you. If this present government does not change its direction very soon, we can fully expect to see this free nation as we know it today. will no longer be called a republic. Even if the presidency changes hands in 2012 and the candidate running for his office now has the same agenda as the presiding president, we will not make advancements in taking our country back, but can only expect more of the same until finally, just as I have stated, it will all come to pass and America will no longer be a free country. But it will be a socialistic nation with rights and freedoms being stripped away until the eventual and prophesied great rapture and the beginning of sorrows is unleashed upon the whole earth. How do you and I prepare ourselves to look at these days and times that are fast approaching us? As was stated from the onset of this message, there is a hidden world that exists within you if you truly live in Jesus Christ. There is a secret place for every true believer who lives in God's own Son and draws from the well and fountain of His everlasting life and truth on a daily basis through feeding on His Word, through prayer and intimate fellowship with Him. This will be the only place where you can find comfort and peace and solace in these trying and difficult times that are up on us right now. You can just look around and see the countless numbers of people in the United States of America and even her territories such as Puerto Rico, who will tell you these days are already horrible and that they are right now in the midst of the tribulation with the loss of jobs, loss of their homes and savings. Many of these people have no homes or family in which they can turn to for help. And many homeless shelters are bursting at the seams because the numbers are countless, and they can only accommodate a certain number. And the job outlook is not good. The world economy is faltering every day with more countries falling into bankruptcy and ruin, including the United States. Just as I had said, there's a hidden world that exists within you if you truly live in Jesus Christ. There's a secret place for every true believer who lives in God's own Son And draws from the well and the fountain of his everlasting life and truth On a daily basis as I said Feeding on His Word meditation through prayer and unending intimate fellowship with Him Apostle Paul declared something very profound in 1 Corinthians 2.6 when he said, Yet, when we are among the full-grown spiritually mature Christians who are ripe in understanding, we do impart a higher wisdom, the knowledge of the divine plan previously hidden. But it is indeed not a wisdom of this present age or of this world, nor the leaders and rulers of this age, who are being brought to nothing and are doomed to pass away. Verse 7. Listen. Verse 7, please. But rather, what we are setting forth is a wisdom of God, once hidden from human understanding and now revealed to us by God that wisdom which God devised and decreed before the ages for our glorification to lift us into the glory of His presence. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Dear ones, this awesome miracle will not happen by pondering on some common knowledge or mental assent, But this spiritual wisdom comes by revelation of God's Holy Spirit and lifts you into a higher realm, the hidden world of your soul, where you live and dwell in the presence of His glory. Ephesians 3.16 says May he grant you out of the rich treasury of his glory to be strengthened and reinforced with mighty power in the inner man by the Holy Spirit himself indwelling your inmost being and personality In the Hebrew dictionary inner man is called Leb and the inner man is defined as the mind the will and the heart and the understanding of the inmost part. This is speaking about the soul, dear one. The thinking, the conscience, the heart of where our moral character lies, the seat of our passions and appetites and emotions. You see, before we came to Christ, our Savior, Satan the devil owned our hearts. But for true Christians living in Jesus Christ, God takes over the ownership of your heart. Without the renewal of our old man, the inner world within is dark and unlovely and mean and vile. And Jeremiah 17 verse 9 confirms this in saying, The heart is deceitful above all things, desperately wicked, who could know it? I the Lord search the heart I test the mind even to give every man according to his ways according to the fruit of his doing you see man's only hope for his natural heart is in the promise of God when he says in Ezekiel 36 26 a new heart I'll also give you and I'll take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh so our prayer and song ought to be create in me a clean heart oh God and unite my heart give me an undivided heart to fear your name David says oh I know also my God that you try the heart and you have pleasure in uprightness dear church if God does not own your heart entirely there will be no mighty working power in your inner man by the power of the Holy Spirit himself to create the awesome and beautiful hidden world within your soul whereby you and your beloved king would have the greatest exchange of loving fellowship the work of the Holy Spirit is to infuse your inner man with spiritual strength He strengthens you with his might and power. He prepares the ground of your heart to make it a fit dwelling for Christ. Precious Holy Spirit's diligent labor is to magnify Jesus Christ so that this inner chamber or secret place in your heart is prepared to have communion with your beloved Savior. We can get a glimpse of this preparation in the Song of Songs, chapter 1, verse 2, which says, Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth, for your love is more delightful than wine. Pleasing is the fragrance of your perfumes, O, your name is like perfume poured out. No wonder the maidens love you. Take me away with you. Let us hurry. Let the king bring me into his chambers. O, we rejoice and delight in you. and we will praise your love more than wine. The kisses here represent agreement. Agreement with his word. Agreement with his precepts. Agreement with his will. And we, spoken of in these verses, are speaking of the spirit and the soul. It means your love for your Savior is to catch on fire in this place. Your love is to be strengthened and confirmed, and the chamber is a place where you learn to delight in Him, and you learn His love is better than the best of wines. The chamber is the innermost, the secret depths of your soul that was purposed for the development of this God kind of love. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 5.13, For if we are beside ourselves mad, as some say, it is for God and concerns for Him. If we are in our right mind, it is for your benefit. Verse 14 For the love of God controls and urges and impels us. This passionate, fiery, controlling love that Paul had come to know and was his driving force and motivation is defined in Song of Songs 8, verse 6. Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm For love is strong as death, and jealousy as cruel as the grave Its flames are fires of flames, oh, a most vehement fire Many waters cannot quench love, nor can floods drown it If a man would give for love all the wealth of his house, it would be utterly despised This kind of love cannot be bought or extinguished, and this kind of love should never be treated flippantly or irreverently. This kind of godly love is not sensual or sexual. I find it quite odious when teachers or pastors take the book of the Song of Solomon and make something physical or sensual and sexual out of it, missing the beauty and the heart's desire of the bridegroom who gave his life for his bride. The very heartbeat of this book speaks of the spiritual communion and the path of the believer who is actively pursuing the Lord and his work within them. Again, this is the precious work of the Holy Spirit, and this is why it is so important to yield your entire will and life to him as your teacher. your guide and your comforter. The choice is yours in this willful act of submission. This wonderful book symbolically expresses the process of sweet intimacy of communion with Christ in the fullness of his love. This love is sublime. It is contagious and it seems that it can never be satisfied. It is supernatural and it's unexplainable but yet it's more real than life itself. It has no gender preference. Men too are to come into this secret place spoken about in this book and throughout so many places in Scripture, which it is stated in many and various other ways. And this is where the hidden world within you becomes living and vibrant and joyful. It is spoken of by the man whom God says was a man after his own heart. David even shows in Scripture the responsibility that you and I have in rousing our inner self, our soul, to wake up and rejoice and praise the All-Worthy One. May I tell you, dear one, nothing delights the heart of your beloved more than this. David expresses it so well in Psalms 57, verse 7. O God, my heart is disquieted and confident. No wonder I can sing your praise. Arouse yourself, O my soul. Arise, O harp and lyre. Let us greet the dawn with song. and I thank you publicly throughout the land. I'll sing your praises among the nations and your kindness and your love are as vast as the heavens. Your faithfulness is higher than the skies. Oh yes, be exalted, oh God, above the heavens and may your glory shine throughout the whole earth. In another place, David expresses the hidden world within himself and exposes the beautiful work of God's Spirit in the grooming of a soul to articulate holy love back to a holy God as the major component or fundamental source of all of His joy. In Psalms 42, verse 1, As the deer for the heart pants and longs for the brook of water, O God, so I pant and long for you. My inner self thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and behold the face of God? My tears have been my food day and night. This love and joy is the power of all godliness within the depths of your soul. It is the very life and breath of your spiritual existence. And if you don't have this kind of godly love for your beloved Savior, you're stirring within your soul, then I say to you, dear ones, you are missing it. You are missing it. David's expression here is holy love, thirst and hunger, desiring to be satisfied. This comes as a holy desire for his Lord and his God. His description of his soul panting and thirsting for his God is, get this, get this, It is nothing for more than for God. David desires to know God more and more. The focal point or object of this inner desire and thirst in the hidden world within David is for his God. He pants after God. He thirsts after God. His passions for God are not the ordinances or requirements established by God. But dear ones, his desire is for the God of the requirements and law or precepts. David would never have had these desires for his God if he had not already met the requirements of his God. this hunger and thirst for God is initially grown out of deep respect for God by seeing and learning how great he is through his word and through his deeds and the experiences that he had incurred your soul as it yields itself to obey and submit to the precepts and ways commanded by God begins to be shaped and formed and to be prepared to be the garden or the chamber of delights where you and your beloved meet to exchange the gracious love that you have come to know him The maiden the bride in the song of Solomon said Oh that I know where I might find him that I might have more tokens of his favor Do you presently have this craving within the depths of the hidden world within your soul, dear believer? David's focus and gaze was on his God, and he knew him as the living God. I wonder how many people within the body of Christ ever have the experience of this deep exchange of love from the very fountain of life. So many people in the church today are wrapped up in worldly gains, worldly thoughts and concerns and desires to have the latest and the newest things which become their idols. They are so concerned with life and forget about the author of life. They forget the very one who can breathe new and fresh life into the hidden world within them and cause them to arise to eternal pleasures. Jesus Christ, through the precious work of the Holy Spirit, will make himself known and cause your soul to be conscious of himself and will turn your desires to him. He is not cheap. He cannot be had for a price. He will not be satisfied with partial attentions that you give him. He hates hypocrites, and David was one of these who really understood this fact. He knew that he could not come into the presence of God's court without exacting a penalty if his heart was not sincere in its motive for wanting God. God is not fooled or tricked by mere creatures of clay whom he has fashioned in his own likeness. And he will not be satisfied with man's invention of what we hear irreverently spoken by pastors or leaders in the church today by saying, oh, let's all just throw God a little kiss, or let's just give him a little hand clap today. If this doesn't hit your spirit as an irreverent or unholy depiction of an expression of our love to God as being cheap and trite, then something is drastically wrong in the hidden world within you. The degree or the desire that David was expressing was not trite or cheap or ordinary. This degree of desire within the hidden world of his soul was uncommon. It was supernatural, dear church. His soul pants and thirst for that which was not ordinary or common to mere man. It speaks of his sincerity to know God, but yet it is the strength of his desire. He speaks of this desire as a thirsty deer who is thirsting for water. I am originally from the state of Montana, and I grew up in a family of hunters. It was not uncommon for me to be out with my father or brother hunting in deer season when I was a young girl. I remember well seeing the deer run to the water and standing in it, taking long and deep drinks and would not move until they'd been satisfied. And this is figurative in type of the hunger and thirst in which David depicts in the kind of soul that desires communion with God. The hidden world within is not satisfied with anything less than this type of deep communion with Jesus Christ in the realm of his heavenly kingdom, which resides in the hidden or the secret world within you? David says, My tears have been my food all day and night, O God. When will you come and satisfy my hungry and thirsty soul? Nothing but the presence of God would satisfy him, dear church. Have you ever had moments like these? Has the depths of your inner being craved the presence and communion with your beloved bridegroom? Were your tears flowed like a fountain that refused to be shut off? Now, coming forth in the New Testament, Paul in Ephesians 3 verse 17 says, Oh, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, so that you may be rooted and established and grounded in love. And this is the only place where you'll ever truly experience this awesome secret and hidden world that exists within your soul. This is the beginning of a great awakening. A language used by Paul that speaks the same message of hunger that David spoke of in the Psalms. Paul in these verses is speaking about a comprehension of the love of Christ. This is his desire. This is the drive and paradox. Oh, he says to know the love of Christ, to know the unknowable, to be filled with the fullness of God. Heart in the Old Testament in Hebrew stands for the inner being of man. And this is the fountain and the place where all of your thoughts, your desires, words, and actions flow. and this is a place described as deep within you. And as we had said before, man does not know his own heart. He cannot unless the renewing work of the Holy Spirit is taking place in this hidden world of your soul. An unchanged or unregenerate man or woman who remains unrenewed goes on their way with their hearts becoming harder and harder. But once that individual experiences the touch or the love of God, he can cut away all the uncleanness of the heart so that they can love and obey him with their entire being. This is the beginning of the greatest love story ever told, dear church. The Spirit of God's work is mighty, and His power is defined as a great dunamis power, which is likened to that of a bulldozer. I'm sure that you've all seen a bulldozer at work sometime or another. That big machine can move tons of earth out of its way in no time. And this is a type of picture which we can visualize with the mighty working power of the Holy Spirit who moves sin out of our lives with seemingly effortless power when we cooperate with him in this process. He is actually removing the deeds or the works of the flesh. He removes him out of the way. But your cooperation, as I had just said, is so very important. Look at our responsibility in Colossians 3 verse 5. So kill, deaden, deprive of power, the evil desire lurking in your members, those animal impulses and all that is earthly in you, that is employed in sin, in sexual vice, impurity, sensual appetites, unholy desires, and all greed and covetousness. For that is idolatry, the deifying of self and other created things instead of God. It is on account of these very sins that the holy anger of God is ever coming upon the sons of disobedience, those who are obstinately opposed to the divine will. Verse 7, Among whom you also walked when you were living in and addicted to such practices, but now put away and rid yourselves completely of all these things such as anger, of rage, bad feeling towards others, curses and slander, foul mouth abuse, shameful utterances from your lips. Do not lie to one another, for you have stripped off the old, the unregenerate self with its evil practices, and have clothed yourself with the new spiritual self, which is ever in the process of being renewed and remolded into fuller and more perfect knowledge upon knowledge after the image, the likeness of Him who created it. How can you know for sure that you have God's Spirit working in the hidden world within your soul? You see, what God declares to be true, the true believer in Christ sees it to be true. And whatever God says in His Word, you believe His Word and you have no trouble conforming or obeying His Word. It is not a struggle for you to desire to please him in every aspect of your life. Well, one point you could know if the Spirit of God is working within the hidden world of your soul, you actually acquiesce or submit to believe all that God says in his word as truth. And you do not doubt him or his word. By this, you can know that the Spirit of Truth is working within the secret place to make it beautiful, a beautiful haven or a garden where you meet the lover of your soul. Number two, you submit to the judgment of God in the manner of sin, the method of his salvation, the method in ways that he chooses to discipline because he is God and he knows what he is doing. You do not fight against him, nor murmur or complain as he disciplines you. 3. You as a spiritual man or woman submit also to his doctrines and to the reality and the importance of eternal things and matters, and also in the manner and the matters of his judgment of all mankind and every nation. In other words, you will not question his mode of judgment or his reasons why he chooses to bring judgment in the way that he does. I remember a Christian man who was a co-host on a well-known syndicated talk show. The founder of the program's director has a degree in psychology. And when this great tsunami, I believe it was in around 2005, and I think it took place in Indonesia, we were listening to this program shortly after this great disaster when the co-host made an astounding statement as he was elaborating on this tragedy. He said in a blaming and accusing way, where was God in all of this? It was like he was accusing God of turning his head and taking a coffee and donut break and completely mishelping these people in this horrible moment of tragedy. I remember gasping and thinking what a frightening accusation to make against the God, the all-knowing and all-seeing God. I thought this man has never had a deep or revelatory experience with his creator nor has he had a deep drink of his presence and power at work in his life remember my point here is that you will not question God's method or his ways in which he brings judgment or justice to a people or nation this again is one of the points to know whether or not the Spirit of God is really working in the inner chamber or the hidden world of your soul. Another point to know the work of the Spirit within is that there is also a strong connection and correlation for the spiritual man or woman in feeling regarding the spiritual love between what and whom God loves and what and whom God hates. The friends of God are your friends too. And this is the reason why these friends have a common bond and experience, and why they truly love each other as brothers and sisters in Christ This is true and genuine love for the brethren It is not feigned or phony Number five, there's a conformity in the life of the spiritual man to the will of God. And there is evidence of the fruit of God's Spirit at work in your life. And this conformity bears evidence. It's not a matter of works, precious ones, but it is genuine and it's born out of the love for God and love for his people. Six, you will do what is in accordance with the mind, the will, and the heart of God's spirit. You see, when these simple but revealing points are at work, then you are able to judge your own heart motives and you can indeed know your own heart. And you will also have the discernment to be able to judge all things in relation to spiritual matters. Listen to Proverbs 4 verse 1. Hear, my sons, the instruction of a father and pay attention in order to gain and to know intelligent discernment, comprehension and interpretation of spiritual matters. For I give you good doctrine. Do not forsake my teaching. Dear Church, I say this next statement as a warning. It is imperative in this day and hour that those of you who have been neglecting this precious work of the Holy Spirit in the hidden world within you not be put off any longer. your comfort in the midst of the trouble to come depends upon this hidden place in your soul by not allowing him to do this awesome work and preparing your soul to receive his love is to actually just walk away from him you actually turn your back on him troubles are guaranteed to come your way Satan is busy in your soul instead distilling his venom and furthering his kingdom, and you will have no defense in the time of trouble. The Christian who has been seeking God diligently has been hungering and thirsting after his righteousness. Though he or she may walk through times of trouble, they will not walk alone. Though they be persecuted, dear church, they are not forsaken. Though they be cast down, they are not destroyed. Only God can enter into the hidden world of your soul and bring comfort there. Only God can spread a banquet within and open up paradise and spread a feast before you that you can delight in. What sweet communion he finds with his beloved in the midst of fiery trials and terrible persecution. Personally, I remember a time a few years ago when I was going through a terrible trial in my life. The experience I had showed the loving kindness of my Savior and faithfulness to His Word and promises. In a health struggle that I was going through, It was in the midst of the night that the Lord gave me a vision as clear as it could be as it unfolded right before my eyes. In the vision, I saw myself in the midst of around seven to eight holy warring angels. The angels had their backs to me and were completely surrounding me. Each one had a shield and a sword. The shields were all touching one another as they made a complete circle around me, and the swords were held up over the angel's head, forming like a tent over me since I was in the midst of them. The scripture in Proverbs 30 verse 5 immediately came to mind. Every word of God is pure. He is a shield to those who put their trust in him. and surely this one applies too in Psalms 5 verse 11 but let all who take refuge in you be glad let them ever sing for joy spread your protection over them that those who love your name may rejoice in you for surely O Lord you bless the righteous you surround them with your favor as with a shield hallelujah hallelujah the peace that Jesus gave to me that night was surely as the scripture in Isaiah 66, 12 promises. For this is what the Lord says, I will extend peace like a river to you. And not only has he extended his peace like a river to me, but he has healed me too of one of the infirmities that hit me over three years ago. How many of you know that waiting on God is the hardest part of your Christian journey. You see, only your beloved can equip you to meet the world without, just as he did when Jacob met Esau face to face, or when David met Goliath, or Elijah met the 400 priests of Baal. Only your beloved can subdue the evil world beneath and bruise Satan under your feet. Your bold and godly confidence arises out of this place and you know that you know that God is who he is and your secure trust rests in him. You know what he has done in your life in proving himself to you time after time. He's won your heart and this hidden world becomes your safe haven. Then you become very jealous over any interference or any attempts of disruption that arise to steal the joy and sweet comforts that abide here. We are reminded, 2 Corinthians chapter 4, that this inward life far exceeds that which is outward and visible. Our inward or a hidden world is being renewed every day. Paul says, 2 Corinthians 4.16, Therefore we do not become discouraged and wearied through fear, though our outer man is progressively decaying and wasting away, yet our inner self is progressively renewed day after day. For our light and momentary affliction, this slight distress of the passing hour, is ever more and more abundantly preparing and producing and achieving for us an everlasting weight of glory beyond all measure, excessively surpassing all comparisons and all calculations, a vast and transcendent glory and blessedness to never cease. Verse 18, and since we consider and look not to the things that are seen, but to the things that are unseen, for the things that are visible are temporal, brief and fleeting, but the things that are invisible are deathless and everlasting. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord. The real and true goal of this inward development, which takes place in the hidden world within your soul, is to know the love of Christ, is to know his love and to feel his touch, to hear him and to delight in the purity of his presence and company. And this is what David longed for. When his love overflows, you dear one, you are prepared for every emergency that comes your way. Come calamity or prosperity, whatever the shape of trial or temptation, the love of your precious Savior, Jesus Christ, has filled you with the fullness of God to meet it all. And when you are filled with this love, your paths are like God's paths. They drop with fatness. Psalm 65 verse 11 declares, You crown the year of thy goodness, and your paths drop fatness. And this is saying that he layers your path with his favor and grace. And he doesn't just sprinkle it on your path, But, dear one, he layers your path with his goodness. Hallelujah! I had said at the beginning of this word today that it was my desire to provoke you to thought today in where you presently stand in the depth of your relationship with your Savior. How many of you hearing this word are truly awake? Jesus told the people who were gathered around at Lazarus' tomb that day, that he was not dead, but he was asleep and that he would arise again. Resurrection Life himself called to Lazarus in a loud voice and said, Lazarus, come out. And how many of you have been acting as though you are dead in the truest sense of the word when it comes to the development of the hidden world within your soul? Some have been in the church for years and years, and have lived long enough but yet are still dull and dead in your spiritual concerns. God is not so real to you. You have acted like he does not mean much to you. And you are really not even ashamed of what you've been doing or even that you have been neglecting him. There's nothing worse than to see men and women, even boys and girls, walking around as though they are alive, but they are really dead. These have no shame for their way of life in what they do, what they think, or what they see. They have lost all sensibility or tenderness to the spiritual things and the love for God's goodness. This truth and love were no longer preferences because they are quite content with themselves so long as they have good food, nice clothes to wear, and plenty of money jingling in their pockets, and also as they have all the means and sources of entertainment to occupy their time. These are called idols. This is why I say they're dead. Some may not be quite dead, but we could say that they've fallen asleep. And we can be sure that when Lazarus came out of the tomb and he saw his beloved Christ face to face, that this man had a different perspective and love for his Savior from that day forth. I believe if you are like Lazarus, then you too can have your spiritual faculties and affections aroused and enlivened with the tender touch of the living God upon your soul. Satan is always present and ready to occupy your time and attention but you must see beyond this present world and desire not the outward things that you can see and feel and touch and taste you must desire this inner world which is truly the real world to those who desire to live in Jesus Christ are you really awake dear ones I pray today that the Holy Spirit would have touched your heart and your soul some unique way to say, I'm waiting for you to call on me. And when you do, I will hear and I will answer you. Dear ones, when you desire to know this hidden world and the delights that it brings, your appetite will be unquenchable. You will be hungering after God's righteousness and purity in your life. your spiritual senses will be discerning good and evil and your spiritual eyes will see your beloved seated high upon his throne your spiritual ears will hear his voice and your spiritual lips will sing forth his praise don't deprive yourselves or God from this hidden world within your soul pursue it pursue him until you find him .