FOR a person to live Christ, he must have Him. How can a person live Christ if he has not got Him? You cannot express more of Christ than is in you. That is the truth. You can never go beyond what you know. You may use all the adjectives in the dictionary, but you cannot get beyond it. Some people abound in the use of adjectives, but it is of no use, for they only qualify their nouns, and the noun is the idea.
And you never bring a person beyond where you are yourself. You may give them the desire to go further. You may awaken the desire, and if you are a minister, then they will leave you. That is the way people leave off going to churches. Their ministers awaken desires which they cannot meet, then they go somewhere else. And that is the right principle.
The point is, to be where the Lord is, and it is important to get hold of it simply. The Apostle’s desire, as expressed in Philippians, was, “Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether by life, or by death. For to me to live is Christ.” But then he had acquired Him. I will explain this a little, and then pass on.
I will give you one passage to keep simply before you in the 14th Matt. It is Peter walking on the water, and what he wants is power to do that. Christ’s rejection is come in―He goes to the wilderness―the multitude follows Him there, and He goes on in his marvelous manner feeding people in spite of the power, and by the power of death, He feeds them on the earth. But there is another thing; He walks on the water. What is the answer to that? Why, he is above it. He allows things to go on as they are, but He is calm. He walks on it. Wars and rumors of wars now, but where is Christ? Above all. “Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come.” Well, then, I say what will I do now? What says Peter when he sees the Lord? “If it be Thou, bid me come to thee on the water.” And he came down from the ship. You have the waters now―the waves are here―the whole thing acted upon, and Christ above it all. If I say, I will leave the ship, where am I to go to? I will go on the waters with Jesus. What is the secret of this power? The inclination for it? The courage for it? No, the faith. “Bid me come to thee.” Now the secret of the power comes out. Jesus said “Come,” and Peter went down and walked on the water to go to Jesus. And here he found out what this power was. While walking on the crest of the wave to go to Jesus, where was his eye? How did he get the power? In the same way as Elisha. He saw the Lord above the waters, the figure of his resurrection, “far above all principality and power.” He is the exalted Jesus. My eyes are upon the exalted man. Where is your eye If my eye is upon Him, I am equal to anything, and everything. To walk upon the water? Yes.
What is the cause of the declension of the Church is visible means―that is the hindrance. Where there is the most visible means, there God is showing that there is no power. Nebuchadnezzar and Darius had visible means, but neither the one nor the other had the power. The poor children of the captivity had the power. The one king had the fire, the most powerful of material forces, and the other the lions, the strongest of beasts, but neither the one nor the other could get the mastery of these poor captives.
People talk so much of “means.” There are plenty of means, but they have not power. The secret of Peter’s power is that his eye is upon Jesus. But now he misses the power. How is this? He sees the wind boisterous, and the power is gone. Is not that the case with you sometimes in your domestic circumstances? Do not you look at the things that trouble you? And do you get great help by doing so? Do you not get more confounded? But you turn your eye from circumstances to the Lord, do not you get a wonderful sense of support and strength to get above it?
Let me tell you, beloved friends, the mistake that souls make, and I have made it too. You think if you get into any difficulty or trouble, God will change the circumstances. No, God will make you superior to the circumstances. And which is the better? Would you be superior to them, or inferior? If the latter, God must come in. He says, “I am not going to take away that thorn from you, but I will bring you up to it. My grace is sufficient for thee?” That is the wonderful position I see Paul in. A prisoner, and yet able to say what all the emperors of the world would not say, “I have strength for all things in Him who gives me power.” Beloved friends, it is a most magnificent thing to be a true saint here! Peter turned to look at the things around him, and it was all over with him. Listen to people―listen to myself―listen to rumors― think about the things around you―and what do you get by it? Do you get out of it? I look at the Lord—the Lord who is above everything, and what is the result? I am above everything too. You have to come to this real comfort. I have known it for myself.
But suppose everything does go wrong, and the crash comes, Well, the Lord will come. What an immense comfort that is! You are walking on the water now. Now you have brought Christ in, you see perfectly.