POWERFUL SERMON FROM SMITH WIGGLESWORTH!

POWERFUL SERMON FROM SMITH WIGGLESWORTH!

(modernized)

Abiding In Christ

An address given in Adelaide by Evang. S. Wigglesworth

Luke 9:27 But I tell you of a truth, there be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the kingdom of God.

If you had any idea how God seems to fascinate me with His Word. I read and read and read, and yet there is always something so new, remarkable and blessed that I find it is true what the Scriptures say. As I get deeper into the knowledge of the Bridegroom, I hear the voice of Jesus saying,

"The Bride rejoices to hear the Bridegroom's voice."

The Word is "His Voice," and, as we get nearer to Jesus, we understand the principles of His mission; that He came to take out for Himself a people that they might be called "His Bride." He came to find "a Body." God's message to us tonight is that He is going to take out of His body a Bride unto Himself, and so I believe that while we talk about salvation there are deeper truths that God wants to show us.

It is not only to be saved, my brother, but that there is an eternal destiny awaiting us of wonderment that God has for us in the glory. I pray that we may be so interested in this evening's service that we may see, that God in His mercy has given to us this blessed revelation of how He lived, loved and had the power to say to those disciples,

"Some of you shall not see death till ye have seen the kingdom of God coming in power."

Oh our blessed Christ!—Who could pray till the completeness of His countenance was transformed and became glorious; till His raiment and all about Him was wonderfully changed" and become glistening! Praise the Lord for a Savior, Who so lived in heart and fellowship with God that He had the power to say these things.

Also He said, "I have power to lay down My life, and I have power to take it again." It is truly said that by wicked hands He was taken and crucified; but He had to be willing, for He had all power, and could have called on legions of angels to help Him and deliver Him from death; but O that blessed Christ, our wonderful Savior, had purposed in his heart to save us, and to bring us into fellowship and oneness with God the Father in order to give to us the divine principles of life, and life more abundantly.

Our blessed Savior of God never looked back; never withheld. He went right through to death in order that He might impart to us this blessed reconciliation between God and man. So it was the man, Christ Jesus, Who is the atonement for the whole world; the Christ of God; the Son of God; Who is the sinner's friend. He was wounded for our transgressions. This Jesus meant all He said while He lived.

He lived to manifest and bring forth the glory of God to earth. This blessed Christ gave His disciples the glory which He had with the Father before the world was. He said, "I have given them the glory which Thou gavest Me." O, He is lovely, and I believe that God wants us to know that while God is giving grace and glory; no good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly; health and peace; joy in the Holy Ghost; a life in 'Christ Jesus.

O, how wonderful He is! How lovely! Shall we go back into Egypt? Never! Shall we look back? Never! What shall we do? "O, you will never find me in Egypt's sand, for I have pitched my tent far up in Beulah Land." O brother, O sister, God wants you to know that He has a redemption for you through the Blood of Jesus Christ, which is heaven on earth; which is joy and peace in the Holy Ghost; which is a new birth unto righteousness; which is a change from darkness to light; from the power of Satan unto God.

This: blessed salvation that God hath made for us through the Blood of His Son was designed to free you from all the powers of Satan and make you heirs and joint heirs with Christ. O this blessed salvation; O this glorious inheritance that we have in Jesus Christ. It is a lovely thought to me. Three times God rent the heavens with the words, "This is My Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."

It is true that He was born in Bethlehem. It is true He worked with His father as a carpenter; it is true that there was evidence of a human order about Him; it is true, my brother, He was flesh like you and me, But it is also true that God dwelt in that flesh, and manifested His glory so that He overcame every temptation and trial of the devil!

1 Timothy 3:16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.

He kept the law and fulfilled His commission so that He redeemed us by laying down His life. Glory to God! Jesus was "manifested in the flesh"; "manifested to destroy the power of the devil." What does that mean? It means this: that He was God's perfect will in the flesh. O it is lovely! I do not know anything more beautiful in the Bible than this example of God's life and power. What He did for and in Jesus, He wants to do for, and in us. He can make us overcomers; destroying the power and the passion of the sinful nature; dwelling in us by His mighty power; to so transform our lives until we love righteousness and hated iniquity, and till we become holy as he is holy.because, as He (God) dwelt in His Son Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit, so God can dwell in us. "In His Son."

O this blessed Jesus, the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me. This blessed, blessed Son of God. I want you to see that we receive sonship because of His obedience; because of His loyalty; and do not forget what the Scripture says: "He learned obedience through the things he suffered."

If you turn to the Scripture you will discover (as incredible as this may sound) that His whole kindred, His mother, brothers, sisters, and the rest of his kindred came and said, "He is possessed by Beelzebub the devil, and is doing his works."

See how Jesus suffered. They reviled Him and they tried to kill Him by throwing Him over the cliff, but Jesus passed through the midst of the whole crowd, and as soon as He was escaped He saw a blind man and healed him as He was going on his Fathers way.

O it is lovely. He is God's example of what can be, and I want to tell you all the attributes and the divine positions and the beatitudes that Jesus had. He was in the world, but not of it. O it is lovely; it is divinely glorious; and this power of the new creation, this birth unto righteousness by faith in the atonement, can so transform and change you that you can be just like Jesus Christ. You can know without a shadow of a doubt that it is Gods power dominating, controlling and filling you and making you like Jesus! Understand that though you are still in the body you can be governed by the Spirit.

What a holy life! What a zeal! What a passion! 0, to live in all the beauties of all the glory and magnificence of the Holy Ghost! Jesus was truly the first fruits for us. O, the fascination of the Christ of God makes me realize there is nothing in this world worth grasping, worth having compared to him. O Lord, reveal Yourself unto your people. I could never believe it was possible for any man to stand here and preach as I have preached if it was not real to me. I would be ashamed of myself if I did so. But it is not possible.

Beloved, it is the reality of Christ that constrains us. There is a constraining power in this blessed Jesus Christ of God which makes us know that there is something in it that is different from anything in the whole world. It is called in the Scriptures an "unfeigned love." It is a tremendously deep word: "unfeigned love and faith." Whatever is it?

O beloved, He will tell you what it is. It is a complete denunciation of yourself as the power of Christ takes a hold of you, and you feel it would be death to grieve the heart of God. You love God so deeply that You could stand fire, water or anything in the way of persecution. He loved you when you were yet sinners, and He seeks your love in return. It is an unfeigned love, a love that can stand ridicule, persecution, and slander because it is a love that is in you by the power of the Holy Ghost. He is making you know that God is changing you by His Spirit from one state of glory to another state of Glory in the Holy Ghost.

I am not at all surprised at His face shining; It is no wonder at the presence of God appearing on the Mount, It is no wonder of anything which glorifies the Christ of God, Who would deny Himself of life to save those of us that were lost in our sins and iniquity. O what a Christ! When we were enemies to Him He died for us! See this very moment that Jesus had opportunities which were offered to no other human soul in the world. It was not only the glory of God that was offered Him but the manifestation of a human glory, the offer of which reached Him in the world, for they longed in certain circles to make Him a King.

O, if there was anybody in the world, out of all the countries and nations who was longing to make you a King, you would lose your head and your common sense and everything you have to be that king; but our blessed Christ of God walked away from them, and went to secluded prayer. He was the greatest King that ever the world will know. He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. 0 yes, and of His kingdom, there shall be no end, and He shall see His seed; He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hands.

I wonder if there is any of the seed of the Lord Jesus in this place? 0 you that believe you are the seed of the Son of God through faith in Gods promise. The seed of the Son of God, by faith in Christ. The seed of the Son of God because His seed is in you, which is the Word of God, and you are saved by His power. All the seed in this place, let us see your hands. He shall see His seed; He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hands. O Hallelujah!

Tongues and Interpretation of Same. "Glory to God! The living shall praise Him, for out of the dust He has brought forth a living harvest of souls to praise Him for eternity. He is seeing His seed, and the pleasure of the Lord is already prospering in His hands."

O beloved, this is the day of the visitation of the Lord. O what a Christ we have tonight! I want you all to see there is nothing like Him. If you see Him to-night, you needy ones, you sinners, as you gaze at Him you will be changed; as you look at Him you will find that your natural body will change; a strength will come to you; there is life in every look that you put on the Son of God: a perfect transformation in looking at Him. They saw Him transfigured. What a wonderful transfiguring it was. O my dear friends, I want you tonight to see that there was something else in it besides.

It was certainly a wonderful place of transfiguration, for the disciples to see the Kingdom of God. But what was it to Jesus? Our God is the God of the living! Hallelujah! And they that begin to live will never die; that is, in truth; and I do thank God; because He is the God of Abraham, and Isaac and Jacob, and I love the fact of Him calling Himself the God of Jacob more than anything.

I know that if He was only the God of Abraham and Isaac, who was the seed of all future and eternal seed, we might have looked and said, "Who can reach Abraham's standard?" And we might have looked at Isaac, for there does not seem to be a flaw in Isaac; but when He says He is the God of Jacob, then there is room for everybody. O it is so lovely! There is not a man in the world, and there is not a man at any time in human history, millionaires who could beat Jacob in his manipulation of gaining wealth—I tell you Jacob was equal to any of them?

There was not a thing that Jacob could not manipulate. It didn't matter how Laban came and made bargains with Jacob, Jacob was always the master. Hallelujah!

Is He your God? He is the God of the sinner. O, there is something wonderful about these realities. He is the God of the helpless. He is full of mercy. I tell you He is your God and He is prepared to meet you exactly as He met Jacob. For Jacob had deceived in every way. He had deceived to get his birth-right; to get his cattle. He was a deceiver. Truly, the devil had a big part with Jacobs life, but, praise God, there was one thing that Jacob knew, and that was this: He knew that God had fulfilled His promise.

Therein Bethel God let him see the ladder, and it was a wonderful ladder, for it reached from earth to heaven and he saw angels ascending, and descending. I am glad that they began at the bottom of the ladder and went to the top. It was a lovely ladder I tell you if they could begin at the bottom and go to the top. Bethel—the place of prayer; the place of changing conditions; earthy entering into the heavenly. God brought Jacob right back to this same place. It did not matter how he had wandered; it didn't matter to God; it made no difference. God swore to him, and He brought him back; but he says, "O, my cattle are no good, my children are no good, my wives are no good, and the commandments are no good because if Esau doesn't forgive me he will cut off my head.

The first thing, Jacob did, is he let his cattle go over. What were cattle? Nothing—to him. Then he sent his servants, and then he let Leah go. But it was difficult to let Rachel go. But he had to let her go, and then he was alone in that holy place. Then the same old Jacob was left, and as long as God would let him wrestle with Him he wrestled. That is a type of holding on to this world—we never let go till we are obliged to. And God touched him, and as soon as he was touched (and God has a way to touch us) he found out he was no good to himself or anyone for that matter; then he cried out and said, "Let me go," the angel said. But Jacob said, "Don't go till you have blessed me."

O brother, God will bless you if you get to this place of surrender. But you are no good as long as you are still wrestling for the things of this world; but when you come to a place of helplessness, a real cry of brokenness, then God will meet you. O, it is lovely—it is marvelous how God meets us in our distresses; when the cry comes from our broken hearts, then God comes. Have you been there yet?

How many times have you tried and failed? O my brother, let God come and bring your life to this glorious end, so the new man can come forth!

Let God come! Will you? O, it is so lovely to me to know that God in His mercy never fails. And when Jesus was there on the Mount in the glory, there came Moses and Elias speaking to Jesus about our salvation, talking to Him about His decease and His death at Jerusalem. And when He came down from the Mount of Transfiguration, He set His face like a flint to fulfill his commission of pain and suffering for you and me. From the glory right to the Cross. Is this not a strange and wonderful thing?

What a wonderful Jesus we have! Hear what the Scripture says: "He came down from the mountain into the valley, and there was a man there which had a son, whom a devil had taken and thrown down and tormented." Did you ever read the tenth chapter of John? What does it say? "The devil—the thief— cometh to steal, to kill and to destroy; but I have come to give life and life more abundant." O Hallelujah! The thief cometh; but don't you see the thief cometh to destroy you; but Jesus came to give you life and life more abundantly.

And when Jesus came down amongst the crowd this man cried out and said, "Help me, Lord, help me. Here is my son; the devil taketh him and teareth him till he foams at the mouth, and there he lies prostrate. I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not help me."

O brothers, God strengthen our hands, take away our unbelief and doubts. Jesus said, "O faithless generation—how long must I suffer you? Bring him unto Me." And they brought him to Jesus, and Jesus cast out the evil spirit. Do you know that even in the presence of Jesus Christ these evil spirits tore the boy and left him as one dead? Just think about Satanic powers. He goeth about to kill; seeking whom he may devour. May God save us and keep us in the place where the devil shall have no power and no victory over us. He has come; but our Lord has come.

Bless the Name of Jesus; has He come to you? He wants to come to you. He wants to be involved in your whole life. Nay, verily He wants to transform your life through His power this very day, and I pray God that the demon powers which come out of everyone to-night shall never get back in again. Oh, if I could only speak so as to show you what it means to be delivered by the power of Jesus Christ, and what it means when you lose your deliverance through your own stupidity and folly.

There was a case like this; a man, possessed with demon power and sickness and every weakness came to Jesus and Jesus cast the evil spirits out, and the man was made whole.

Then, instead of the man seeking the Holy Spirit and the light of God he began to walk the same old ways. We need to be like blind Bartimaeus who walked with Jesus after he was healed. But instead of that, he went afterward to the first race meeting there was. God save us. The healing power is for the glory of God, and it appears that this man was swept and garnished, and the evil spirit had nowhere to go, and went to the Savior to see if they could gain an entrance once again into him, and they went back and found the man was not inhabited with a love for the truth!

He had not been filled with Christ and the power of the Spirit, and so they entered into that man and his case was worse than before. If you want healing by the power of God it means your lives have to be filled with God. Will it last? Get Jesus on board and it lasts forever. You cannot keep yourself. No man is capable of standing against the wiles of the devil by himself, but when you get Jesus in you will be equal to a million devils. We must not only be swept and garnished but must see that the power and truth of God comes to inhabit us. What are you going to do with this position? None is safe without Christ. The weak man is capable if he is in Christ Jesus. Are you willing to so surrender yourself to God this moment that Satan shall have no dominion over you? In the name of Jesus, I pray you are?

The power of God is just the same today.

It doesn't matter what the people say,

Whatever God has promised He is able to perform,

For the power of God is just the same today.