Today I'm going to speak about living in the presence of God. It should not need any introduction in a congregation like this one that living in the presence of God gives us our whole meaning. Moses summed it up for us when he said, what are we if it is not your presence, if you are not with us? That's one thing to say, it's another thing to live in that particular manner. As one of the poets said, Wordsworth said, the world is too much with us, late and soon, getting and spending. We lay waste our powers and little we see, as he said, in nature that is ours. Although we'd say, little we see in our Father that is ours. And I trust this morning as we speak, that we'll all know what is ours in our Heavenly Father, what is ours in our Lord Jesus Christ, what is ours in the fact that the Spirit of God has come to dwell amongst us. And a fortnight ago when I was speaking we talked about the Lord's presence, our strength, and we saw there that Jesus called forth from Thomas the doubter, called forth from Thomas true worship, of him, this man who had been with them all these years, as true God. And he said, my Lord and my God. And in that way he was introduced to Jesus as the presence of God with him. And so for that reason, and also because later on Paul says the glory The God who said, let light shine out of darkness has shone in our hearts, not just his heart on the Damascus road, but has shone in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. We may say that along with Thomas, we also are blessed, as Jesus said we would be, blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe. We haven't seen, but we believe. So in what way are we blessed? We are blessed with understanding that Christ amongst us is the presence of God and we have, as it were, a face of God. And that face is shining, as it were, in our own very hearts. So real is the presence of God to us. So that when we think of God, when we think of his presence, we're actually thinking of Jesus and all his history We're thinking of Jesus and his wounds and what those wounds mean. We're thinking of his resurrection in the flesh. We're thinking of his promise to come again. And we kneel with Thomas and say, my Lord and my God. So we are quite right in understanding the presence of Jesus with us as the presence of God to us. And we talked about how that is our strength and how that is the intended strength that we should have, not anything else in our life. So today, living in the presence of God, it's like part B of last time really, living in the presence of God, it covers a lot, doesn't it? But by his coming, as we've said, Jesus has been God with us and his name right at the beginning was Emmanuel, which means God with us, what Thomas came to see. And so he is the face of God. We mean that forever, the history he had with us is the way he is and the way he is for us forever. I like to think, I've got no proof of this, but I'd like to think that the prayer that Jesus, for example, prayed in his John 17 prayer, where Jesus prayed and talked to his father about glorifying me with the glory which I had with you before the world was. Keep them in your name. This is just some of the prayers he prayed. Keep them in your name. And then the glory that you've given me, I pray that they may see me in my glory. And all these things that he prayed in John 17 and particularly that would be kept in the name of the father are the prayers that he's praying now. Do you see the connection between the here and the there? We know that he ever lives to make intercession. What does he pray? Some would like to think that that means intervenes. That's certainly true. I don't have any problem myself in understanding a prayer so long as we don't think of him trying to change the father's mind. He doesn't need to do that. But on the other hand, he's there, as it were, the guarantor of all that he prays in John 17. So there's that connection between what we have in Jesus in the flesh and what we see, what we know him now. And as we said last week, last time, if we were to see a vision right now of God, we saw his throne and we understood what that throne meant, we would see in the midst of the throne, the Lamb, central to our vision. of God is Jesus Christ. He is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is happy to be known as nothing other than what Jesus has revealed. He is not only the face of the Father, He is the word of the Father, or as that lovely word says in John 1 verse 18, no man has seen God at any time, but the only son who is in the bosom of the Father, he has made him known. And that word is a word from which we get our exegesis, you know, when we try and open up the scriptures and find out what they mean. Well, if you like, God has taken all that Jesus is, all that God is. and he's opened it up to us. It's a word that kind of reveal doesn't quite say, and made known doesn't quite say, and proclaimed doesn't quite say. Everything that God is, he's opened it up to us. What else is left? Once Jesus has finished his work on the cross and in his resurrection, here we have in Jesus the face and the word of God. So we very rightly think of him as though we've been told to as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. So he speaks. And what we want to know today is what he actually does speak to us. Chapter 14 of John, we've got to look at now, and you might like to have it open. John 14 verse 10. Jesus says just before the reading that we had, Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you, I do not speak on my own authority. But the Father who dwells in me does his works, which is interesting in itself. When Jesus speaks, the Father is working. See the difference in word there? When I speak, it's not me speaking, but the Father who dwells in me who does his works. So the Jesus speaking is the Father working. So let's put it this way. Jesus is speaking to us this morning. We're recounting some words that he spoke in the flesh. But can you appreciate this is what he's saying to us now. And this is not talking about how we may arrange a relationship with the historical Jesus. This is talking about how we may have a relationship and how we should understand the presence of Christ with us now. Who is the opening up of all that God is to us. So the first thing that Jesus says, and we're talking about living in the presence of God, and we're talking about living in the presence of God because while it may be taken as the basic confession of the church that God is amongst us and we are in God's presence, while we come to church to be together in his presence, while that may be so, from another point of view, would it not be also true that in the flesh we all find the whole matter of God's presence sometimes mysterious? Is he near? Is he far? Does he hear? Does he not hear? All those things come to our minds. So let the Lord himself take us this morning and teach us because he is the word of the Father to us. First thing he says is, I will ask the Father, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. And that comes up a couple of times and we'll come back to it in a moment. But first of all, he says, I will ask the Father and he will give you another Helper to be with you forever, even the Spirit of Truth whom the world can't receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him for he dwells with you and will be in you." Now a little later he also says, verse 26, but the Helper, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Now, when you have two references to the same thing, you get the impression that in between the writer is talking about, or in this case, the speaker is talking about what he's got on the other side of it. What's Jesus saying to them? I'm going away. The spirit is coming. And then he says something about his relationship with the Father and his coming to them. But then he says, the Spirit will come. He will take all I've said to you, just in this sandwich in between, but everything else as well, and bring it to you, bring it to your remembrance, but bring it to you. So you can see that the whole passage, if you like, is surrounded with reference to the coming of the Holy Spirit. So what's this coming? Well, obviously, the coming is the coming that happened on the day of Pentecost. We should never underestimate what took place on the day of Pentecost. Would it have not been an amazing day when the tabernacle was first put up and the glory of God descended upon the house? Would it not have been a glorious day when Solomon stood to pray at the building of the temple, the first temple, and the glory of the Lord descended upon the house? so that the priest can't even minister because of the very presence of God. And is it not a remarkable day when the Spirit of God comes upon his new and final temple, the people of God joined to Jesus Christ. The glory of the Lord has come upon us. And while the teaching of Jesus in this chapter, chapter 14, is just so homely, so warm, so inviting, so helpful, Don't be mistaken about what he's talking about. He's talking about the coming of God to dwell with his people. And it is the coming of glory upon his people. And it was glorious. I always find it astounding, just in social terms, in the times in which this all took place, that everybody held the church in high honour. That would be lovely if that day ever came again, wouldn't it? if the church was held in high honour, but nobody dared join them himself to them. Isn't that a remarkable concurrence of statements? On the one hand, everybody holds them in high regard, but nobody can join themselves to them. You have to be joined by the Holy Spirit. This is so much a work of God that you wouldn't dare get in there, you'd get burned up. You have to come in the only way that anybody can come, and that is by the coming of God to you personally, to join you to this company of people. It is a holy people. You remember what took place later on when somebody lied to the Holy Spirit? Well, they lied what they thought was to a group of people, but they weren't lying to a group of people at all. This was the temple of God. God was present. Ananias died, and then later on his wife died. It's holy ground. And the desecrating of temples in the first century world was a capital offence. You could be killed for doing so. That's why people wanted to kill Paul later on when they thought he'd done something wrong in regard to the temple. It was quite current law at the time. Well, you desecrate God's temple. It is God's temple. This is his dwelling place. So, well it may have been, when the Spirit of God came, tongues of fire appeared above those that were speaking. This was holy ground. It could not be otherwise, that in the introduction, in the coming of God amongst his people, there should be such signs to give witness to it. So, Jesus said that the Holy Spirit will come. Then Jesus immediately after that, in verse 16 and 17 he says, the Spirit of Truth whom the world can't receive, he will come, you will know him, he dwells with you and will be in you. He could be saying he is with you already in my presence here amongst you, because Christ did everything by the Spirit, so the presence of the Spirit is amongst them, as he was in all Old Testament times. He says the time is coming when he will be in you. I take it he's referring there to Pentecost. The next thing he says in verse 18 is, I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you, yet in a little while the world won't see me anymore, but you will see me, and because I live, you will also live. Here is a dynamic presence of Jesus. He's not in absentia. Not only will they see him, as he describes it to them, but he says you'll also live. because I live. That is, I live amongst you, not in distance. So, Jesus will come to us and he will manifest himself, but not to the world. Now, this was a problem to Judas, but not Judas Iscariot. And so he says, in that day you will know that I am, again referring to the future, you will know that I am in the Father and you in me and I in you. and he talks about the keeping of the commandments, which we'll come back to in a moment, but then he says, and he who loves me will be loved by my father and I will love him and manifest myself to him. Judas can't understand this and so Jesus says, if anyone loves me, he'll keep my word and my father will love him and we will come to him and make our home with him." Can you see what's happening? Spirit of God has come. If we may put it this way, what has come when the Spirit has come? It's an appropriate word to use, what, but who has come? Well, Father, Son, Spirit has come. Can there be a presence of the Spirit where Christ is not present? Can there be a presence of Christ where the Father is not present? Jesus has already sorted that out. Thomas, how long do I have to be with you? He that has seen me has seen the Father. In Christ, the Father is present. In the Spirit, Christ is present. In the Spirit, Christ is present. The Father is present. Trinity doesn't travel separately. They are one. God has come to dwell amongst his people, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. So this seems to be the latent teaching, not specifically spelled out, but it seems to be clear inasmuch as Jesus can make it clear at this point to his disciples that in the Spirit's coming. So when we think of the Spirit, what are we thinking of? We're thinking of the Holy Spirit. Does that mean the Father is not holy or Christ is not holy? Of course not. But perhaps he's saying Holy Spirit is so often designated as such because he is the holy coming of God's presence to us. So we think of Holy Spirit, we think of him coming to us and actually be present to him, but not to the exclusion of the Father or the Son. Jesus says you'll see him, see me, and you will live because I live. I'm living with you. You can't divide God up into the coming of the Spirit. We have all of God. Neither can you divide God into being partly in heaven and partly on earth, if I can just diverge for a little moment. And I take my point of departure there, you might just need to keep your finger in John for the moment, so I'll put a bit of paper there. But Ephesians 1.20, we're told about the heavenlies, very interesting designation given to us in Ephesians. And what we're saying is that we can't really divide up the God who is in heaven from the God who is present to us. Spatial references can be a bit of a problem, can't they? But let's just have a look at this and see if something will come clear. Ephesians 1.20 I want you to know, Paul's praying, what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe according to the working of his great might, which he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead. and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places." Where are the heavenly places? Where Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father. So we've all got that clear, it's the heavenlies, it's where Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father. Go to chapter 2 verse 6. The Lord has raised us up with Jesus Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. So where are we, in heaven or earth? We're in the heavenly places. Your mind is going to have to do a bit of a flip. You can't be locked into spatial reference. Is that right? We're having to think of things in terms of where people are, rather than in any other way of thinking about things. Christ is at the right hand of the Father. Yes, but we're there with him. But are we not? Are we so up there that we're not here? Well, no, we're very much here, as we'll see in a moment. Have a look at chapter 1 verse 3 of Ephesians. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. Are we being blessed? Yes. Where are we being blessed? We are being blessed in the spirits in the heavenly places. All that is true in the heavenlies is available to us now. You don't have to wait for glory. to have the full blessing of Christ. This is it. Is that clear? I'm not trying to con you, am I? No, you're with me? Christ is at the right hand of the Father, yes, but so are we. But right now we're being blessed with the full blessing of Christ in the heavenly places. And you say, well, this means I'm going to have a pretty easy life. It's all going to be heaven from now on. Well, have a look then at Ephesians in chapter 6 and verse 12. We don't wrestle against flesh and blood. It feels like it. The bruises on your arm would persuade you that it is. We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, however, but against the rulers, against authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. The battle's on in the heavenly places. There's that sort of figure. Well, when you're having a battle, where is the battle taking place? Are you somehow cast out of where you should be? No, battle is a normal part of what's going on in the heavenly places, where Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father. You can see he's given us a word, heavenlies, which doesn't fit our usual categories. He's saying this is where you are, brothers and sisters, the right hand of the Father, where Christ is seated. This is where you are, where you're being blessed with the full blessing of Christ. This is the place where you're feeling all the battles. But can you see somehow or another we've got to stop thinking about an up and a down and as though there are things, for example, that are not accessible to us because it's a long way away up there. It's not a long way away. God is present to us as we are present to him. And that, if you like, is the important thing we need to take away from that little excursus. I don't care if we can't understand it conceptually, I can't, but I'm trying to report what's being said here. and a word that Paul has given to us, heavenlies, not heaven, not earth, but heavenlies, in which we can actually think of ourselves as being in the presence of God, in the full dynamism of Christ being at the right hand of the Father, in the full dynamism of if I live, you live. We are blessed with the full blessing of Christ, all the blessing that Christ has and is, is ours in Christ and he rehearses them for us and central to all those blessings are in whom we have redemption and forgiveness of our sins. Holding together all the blessings that are around it in that earlier section of Ephesians. That was a little excursus and we can go back to John to try and help us to see that we really are in the full blessing of these things now. What I want us to see in this John chapter 14, because we're thinking about the subject not just that God is present to us and we are present to him right now, but we're talking about what it means to live in the presence of God. And Jesus, as we said, there's not a distinction between what he says on earth and what he's saying to us right now. What he's saying here in John 14 is addressed directly to us, right at this minute, to say this is how to live in the presence of God. So the background to this passage in John 14 is important for us to know. Without perhaps going backwards and forwards in your Bible, you remember that the public ministry of Jesus concluded, if you like, with the raising of Lazarus from the dead. What happened after the raising of Lazarus from the dead with the two sisters, Mary and Martha? Remember that Mary took her some ointment and she bathed Christ's feet and she anointed Jesus a head for his burial. And Jesus said, don't take away from her what she's done. She's done a very beautiful thing to me. An overflowing of love flowed out of meeting someone whom death could not hold. Very interesting. The whole end of Christ's ministry ends with a wonderful demonstration of love from somebody who understood what he was about. And then chapter 13, the beginning of the private ministry of Jesus. says Jesus having loved his own who are in the world he loved them to the end. These chapters are all about love. Chapter 14 verse 21 or if you like 13 Jesus and 34 Jesus gives a commandment to the disciples a new commandment I give to you Perhaps a new commandment over and above, if you like, the Ten Commandments. A new commandment I give to you, not new because it has never been said before, but new because of how it is presented. A new commandment I give you, that you love one another just as I have loved you. That you are to love one another, not just love one another. Love one another as I have loved you. Can you feel yourself being carried along by that? As I have loved you. He's not just saying, I've been this good, now you better be that good as well. He's actually saying, I have loved you, so love one another. It's all together different, isn't it? To be loved and told to come into that, So he says, come into that love. And then 1421 is very interesting. We glossed over it a moment ago. Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. So the Lord is not talking about a sentimental love, an aesthetic love. He's talking about a practical love that says, Lord, I don't know what's right. You do. I can't go anywhere with God. You know exactly the way to God. I'll do things exactly the way you want. I'll believe whatever you tell me, because you're the one that knows." That's keeping his commandments. Everything he says, we say, Amen. That's it. And he says, that's love for me. To know that you have met in me your Master, and like Thomas you kneel before me and say, My Lord, My God, whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he who loves me. Now, he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I'll love him and manifest myself to him. Everything there seems to depend, doesn't it? He who loves me will be loved by my father. What about those who do not love him? The end of Galatians says, a curse be on all who do not love our Lord Jesus Christ. Pretty important stuff, isn't it? To love Christ. That's what it's all about, isn't it? And the whole blessing that we've been talking about happens within this whole business of love. Now, the interesting thing is, if we go down a little bit further, verse 27 and 28, he says, Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. Don't let your hearts be troubled. You heard me say that I'm going away and I will come to you. Here we have exactly the reference to his presence amongst you. See, I will come to you if you love me. If you would have rejoiced, are they rejoicing? No. They're confused, worried. They don't love him. Is that a right conclusion? If we just read the text. Jesus is not talking to nice guys. Jesus is not talking to disciples who have been struggled over the university course of three years and finally they've made it. Love. Got there. If you love me, you keep my commandments, and we're keeping his commandments, but Jesus has already told Peter he won't. Oh, I'll follow you. Peter, before the cock crowed three times, you'll have denied twice, you'll have denied me three times. Jesus is not talking to lovers. He's talking to would-be lovers, but not to lovers. How can he make everything depend on love when he's not even got any up to date after three years? And the whole thing is that we need to see the objective nature of what Christ is doing. Christ is not sure of his disciples at all, and he's not sure of you at all. He's sure of himself and his purpose for you. That's why he can speak so firmly about, if you love me, you'll keep my commandments, and I'll manifest myself to you. Why do we not know the presence of God? The clear assumption from this is because our hearts have been taken over by his love. Presence isn't a matter of spooky experiences. Presence of God is a matter of love, because God is love, and we know Him in loving. You can't know God without loving, only you're on a different planet. True? So God is love, and He calls us into His own loving so that we'll be established by that. So Jesus, and the last thing about love that I want to point out here is verse 31. Come, let us go. It means go out to the cross, really. I do as the Father has commanded me. Why do I go out and do what the Father has commanded me? So the world may know that I love the Father. The bottom line in all of this is the relationship between the Father and the Son. Nothing's to be had if there isn't this relationship between the father and the son, because the father and the son and their love for one another is what it's all about. And if you like, the spirit is the spirit of the love of the father and the spirit of the love of the son for the father. And so when the spirit of God comes, what's come to us? The very central dynamic of the universe, the love of the Father for the Son and the Son for the Father. The important thing for the world to know, says Jesus, is that I love the Father. Why do we need to know that? Well, because we've sort of moved out of a direct relationship with God from the fall onwards. We've negotiated a whole lot of settlements, we think, whereby we've sort of got up far enough to sort of be able to say on a hello relationship and maybe get an odd request made, a mention or two. But basically, it's all nothing. And so we don't understand God because we don't understand love. And here is a man who understands his father and understands love and says, I want the world to know what love is. I want the world to know what love for the father is. So they may know that the father's presence to them as well. Can you see that the son must bring us into love in order that we may know the father? True. Of course it's true. Now the other thing, just going through this little passage, and I'm not just doing it verse by verse, but just pointing out a few things, and particularly noticing the things that are sort of the frameworks for it. Have a look at verse one. Don't let your heart be troubled. Don't let your heart be troubled. Who's he saying it to? Peter. What's Peter just said? I'm going to follow you everywhere. Jesus said, no, you're not. You're going to deny me. Let not your heart be troubled. Been through it numbers of times in this congregation. So many of you know this, but let's be very clear about it. The words, let not your heart be troubled, are spoken to a failure. They're spoken to a person whose love is going to be found to be wanting. They're spoken to you and to me. Isn't that lovely? Pardon me. Christ goes right through to the tremor that we have in our heart. What's our problem about the presence of God? It's our own guilt. It's our own failure. It's the sense that whatever goes wrong, we deserved. And so we live with all manner of threats, not just this one that Peter's facing, but so many of all different kinds. We have this trembling because of the different things that could go wrong. It could be the opinions of people. It could be the task that is set before us that causes our hearts to tremble. Why do we tremble so quickly? Because we are not sure of the presence of God. Why are we not sure of the presence of God? Because we are not sure that everything depends upon our Saviour. And our Saviour is standing amongst us, brothers and sisters, and he's commanding us, don't let your heart be troubled. It's interesting to follow that word troubling through and see that on three occasions Jesus' heart was troubled. He was troubled at the tomb of Lazarus. He was also indignant. He was troubled also when Judas left to do his dastardly work. He was troubled in between when he says, now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. No, for this hour I have come. Rather, Father, glorify yourself. What did Jesus do with his own trouble? He took it to the Father. But what did he do with our trouble? He took upon himself. And because he said, now is my soul troubled, and he took his trouble before the Father on the cross, and there he bought all the troubling of a guilty soul. He can look at Peter and he can look at you and he can say, don't let your heart be troubled. Mine was, so yours wouldn't be. And then at the end, verse 28, you heard me say to you, I'm going away and I will come to you if you love me. You would have rejoiced, but peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. Do you see the context for this reading? Love. Do you see the context for this reading? Don't be afraid. How can he call us to love when we don't? How can he call us to not be afraid when we are? because of the work that he's going to do. Now have a look at verse 30. I will no longer talk much with you for the ruler of this world is coming and he has no claim on me but I do as the father has commanded me. What's going to take place? I will no longer talk much with you for the ruler of this world is coming. What does he mean by the ruler of this world becoming? Well he's spoken about it earlier on. Verse 31 of chapter 12. Now is the judgment of this world and now will the ruler of this world be cast out and I when I'm lifted up from the earth will draw all people to myself. There we have it. Now is the judgment of this world. What does it mean? What could it possibly mean? Now is the judgment of this world when he's going to the cross. Well, it must mean that this is the time not only when the world is assessed and proven to be wanting, because that's certainly true, but it also must be the time of executive action, because now will the prince of this world be cast out? That's not just the judge saying guilty. That's the judge saying taken out in hand. True, it's the carrying out of the sentence. Now will the prince of this world be cast down? What's happening on the cross? Satan's been cast down. That's what it's about. It's not just about a demonstration of love for us, though it is that. It is not just, if we may put it this way, the bearing of the debt for our sins. It is actually head-on-head battle with Satan, who is the prince of this present world, and showing him, Nodder, that he's no match for Christ. Why is he no match for Christ? because Christ is not from this world. Satan is the prince of this world, but Christ is not of this world. He's from the Father. So he's not under his authority. He's not under his authority also because in this world he has never sinned. And so Satan can only work by lies and by accusation. And there's no lies that can come to the truth of the Father, the way, the truth and the life. And there's no accusation that can come to somebody who's never sinned. Satan's no match for Christ. This is the judgment of Satan and Satan is being cast down. Do we understand where we actually are? Do we understand what a dynamic thing it is to say that God is amongst us? Nothing to do with spiritual meetings, nice hymns, nice people to meet with. It's all to do with our God taking our real situation, taking us to the cross and declaring to us a peace in which we actually can know his presence and when we know his presence we know his love or when we know his love we can recognise his presence. Can you see it all coming together? Now we need to turn to Revelation because here again the whole matter of love is raised by Jesus Christ, who is present to the churches. Lovely, isn't it? There's a vision of this wonderful Christ standing amongst the golden lampstands. And what are the golden lampstands? Well, they're the churches. So where is Christ? Well, he's standing amongst the churches. And at the end of every church, he says, he who overcomes will receive this, this, that and the other. And he also says, he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. So Christ is standing amongst the churches, including Coromandel, including every other church right across the whole creation at the moment. And he is speaking to his church. In particular, he is speaking to all who have ears to hear. So, do you have ears to hear? So, we are being called to account here. We are actually called to listen, aren't we? So much to do with the presence of God has to do with listening. So, Christ is among the church and he is speaking. He is the word of the Father's presence. He's the Amen, he says, chapter 3, verse 14. The words of the Amen, what could that possibly mean? Amen means so be it, if you like. Jesus was sent by the Father. Jesus was sent to embrace humanity. Jesus is saying, let all your purpose for humanity be fulfilled in me. Here is the ultimate accomplisher. Here is the ultimate doer, so here is the Amen, all of God's purpose in judgement, all of God's purpose in grace, all of God's purpose in the end times, all of it. All of it, Jesus says, Amen. Like Mary said, let it be so to me according to your word. And she became pregnant with the Christ child. So Christ says to the Father, let it be so to me according to your word, every bit of your plan from Genesis to Malachi and right through to Revelation. Let it all be true. So there's the Amen. That's quite a person to meet, isn't it? The one in whom all the action of God is in vital action. He's the faithful and true witness. In other words, all that he is in himself, he tells us about as the true witness. And he's the beginning of God's creation, which can mean he's the fountainhead from which it all flows, or he is its authority, or both of those things. I know your works. Well, in either cold or hot. Whether you are either cold or hot. You know, if you're cold, then you just become a heretic and then you're sin of the obvious and it'd be all in the open. But as it is, it's all smarmy. It's all sort of covered away. It's not seen. Because you're lukewarm and neither cold, hot nor cold, I'll spit you out of my mouth. That's some of the most serious words I think Jesus has ever spoken. Unless it's, you know, the weeping and gnashing of teeth, which he spoke about in other places, but spew out of a mouth equally. abhorrent to our ears, isn't it? Christ's got no time for a lukewarm church. You say I'm rich, which is the problem. I'm rich, I've prospered, I need nothing, not realising you're wretched, pitiable, poor, blind and naked. This was a rich locality. Lots of the people who had the riches were probably sitting in the church, in many other ways, perhaps with their discipleship program, or whatever else that had made them rich. They thought they had prospered, they needed nothing, not realizing that they were wretched, pitiable, poor, blind and naked. Who should say that they are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind and naked? Well, every, every, every person in the presence of God. Our righteousness is not of us. I would say one of the greatest difficulties we'd ever have in knowing the presence of God is trying to be righteous enough to be there. And you get 999 out of the 1000 you think are important right, and one of them mucks it all up for you. The Lord has a vested interest in exposing your hypocrisy, and so everyone who is in the presence of God should be saying, I'm rich and miserable, poor, blind and naked, that's us. So how are we in the presence of God? We are in the presence of God because we have learned to come and buy from him gold refined by fire so that we may be rich, white garments so that we may clothe ourselves, and the shame of our nakedness not be seen, and salve to anoint our eyes. How many times does that have to happen? Or how often does he think of it? Our presence in God's presence is always on the basis of not having anything and of receiving everything. God says, I will be God to you. What's that mean? Sit on a pedestal to be sung to? I mean, God inhabits the praises of Israel. That's sometimes people like to sing a chorus that says that, inhabits the praises of Israel. That's true enough. But why are there praises of Israel? Because God is God to them. You look at all the times when there's joy mentioned in the Old Testament, it has to do with God doing something, not man. I will be God to you. That's what it's all about. And so we need to be what we are, confessed sinners. We need to be what we are, creatures who of themselves never had anything of good. But on the other hand, people who can receive constantly from him, that's the way in which we are in the presence of God. That's why Jesus said, if you love me, keep my commandments. And those who keep my commandments are those who love me, because if we somehow or another got our own commandments, then it means we think we've got some righteousness. But if you haven't got any righteousness of your own, you need to listen to someone else. You need to do what they say. They know we don't. And so we do it his way. So the Lord says that our works are not enough, but he says come to me and buy, if we could quote Isaiah 55, without money. We've got nothing to contribute, but we can come and buy, which is a contradiction in terms. We can get something that really is worth a lot, but get it without any money. Now the other thing is, those whom I love, I chasten. Christ loves a lukewarm church, the same church that he could spit out of his mouth. Where do you get a heart like that if you're not God? The love of God in our Lord Jesus Christ, the face of our Father is our Lord Jesus Christ, has love for lukewarm sinners. And what does he say? Behold, I stand at the door and knock. What's he standing at the door of and knocking? Well, he's standing at the door of a church, isn't he? Knocking at Coromandel's. I'm knocking. But who's going to receive this? Those who have ears. So it's addressed to us together. It's responded to personally. True. Each of us, each of us must answer this question. I'm standing at the door and knocking. And if anyone opens the door, I will come to him in and sup with him and he with me." If Christ is supping with you, where's the Father? If Christ is supping with you, how has that happened? By the Spirit. And can you see how we can move from just being lukewarm, the worst state if you like of any particular church, right through to intimate, wonderful fellowship with one door. You don't have to work for six months to get your discipleship levels up. This is God being God to us and bringing to us into his presence. And when we understand who God is, brothers and sisters, we love. And love keeps the commandments of God and love keeps us in the way of all of this. And what does he say as well? The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne as I also conquered and sat down with my father on his throne. We're not just here to eat, we're here to work. And it's the work we just love to do, to be about his kingdom, because we're in his presence. And as Jesus said, I'm with you always to the end of the age. Let's just pray together. Father, we bless you for our Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you that even now, if we could see as we ought to see, who you are as our God, we would see in the midst of the throne, the Lamb. And our Father, you are teaching us ever so gently, but all the same, so firmly, that we must live in your presence by your grace. But knowing your grace, Father, we are most surely in your presence, and you will never depart. So we bless you, Father, for these things. And if in some way our hearts have erred into self-sufficiency, and our love is all but gone, Father, may the love of our Saviour Christ win our hearts this day for a full-fledged love of our Lord Jesus Christ. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.