Address—C. Hendricks
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
General Meetings, Wheaton, July 1982.
Addressed by Charles Hendricks.
We begin.
Our meeting with him #39.
On his father's throne is seated.
Christ the Lord, the Living One, All His toil on earth completed.
All his work for sinners done in the glory see him, God's eternal Son.
#39
on his father's throne is seated.
Christ the Lord, the Living.
One all his toil on earth completed all His.
Work for sinners done.
In the glory. In the glory.
Say him God's eternal song.
In the glory. In the glory.
See him gone?
Every knee shall bow before him.
Every tongue confess his name.
Learn some merit shall adore him who endured.
Thou Sinner shame.
From the glory, from the.
Glory.
God doesn't know his word proclaim.
From the glory. From the glory.
God don't know his word proclaim.
Man Lacrosse to him.
Awarded.
My savior crusade.
This world's judgment stands recorded. God's own justice.
Satisfied.
By the glory, by the glory.
Christ was clean on earth who died.
By the glory, by the glory.
Christ was claimed on earth.
Who die.
Son of man, His incoming.
Grace.
Some of mine do.
Create.
Chosen Race.
Well, make glory, well make glory.
From him in the water place.
Well may glory, well may glory.
From your name, he ordered.
Place.
Let's pray.
00:05:07
Turn with me to John's Gospel chapter 12 for a verse.
Verse 23.
And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of Man should be glorified.
Verily, verily, I say unto you.
Accept a corn of wheat fall into the ground.
And die it abideth alone.
But if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
In verse 31.
Now is the judgment of this world.
Now shall the Prince of this world be cast out?
And I if I be lifted up from the earth.
Will draw all men unto me.
This, he said, signifying what death he should die.
I have before me this afternoon 3.
Facts Three blessed facts.
That form the basis.
For Christianity.
The 1St and I'll name them at the outset.
The first.
Is a finished work.
The Lord Jesus did a work.
Cross.
On the ground of which God can bring the vilest Sinner.
Into his very presence.
And bless him.
A finished work.
I was reading.
In Second Chronicles Chapter one.
Solomon offered.
1000 Bullocks.
And at the dedication of the temple.
There were 22,000.
And then there was 120,000 sheep.
But not one of those, and are all of them combined and put together.
Could put away sin.
All the repeated sacrifices and offerings of the Old Testament economy.
Were but a foreshadowing, and had all their value in just that, that they pointed forward to the one who would do a work on the ground of which God could bring us into His very presence, and bless us out of the fullness of His heart of love.
A finished work.
The cross we sing sometimes center.
Of two eternities which look with rapt adoring eyes onward and back to thee the cross.
Indeed, the cross is the most important event.
That has ever occurred in the annals of time.
When God, God's beloved Son, become a man.
Undertook a work.
Of such magnitude.
As to settle once and for all the question of good and evil.
To glorify God in the very place of sin.
So that the floodgates of eternal love and grace could be opened up.
To the guiltiest Sinner.
The Cross.
The center.
Of two eternities.
He says in verse 31 of our chapter now is the judgment of this world and we sang.
Man the cross to Him awarded. Man the Savior crucified.
This world's judgment stands recorded. God's own justice satisfied.
Let us dwell just for a moment upon the meaning of the cross.
00:10:07
On the cross he bare our sins in his own body on the tree.
This is probably the most well known.
Fruit of the Cross. The well known results of the cross, That He bore our sins, that He bore the sins of each one of His children, Children of God.
But not only did he bear my sins in yours, beloved St. of God.
He stood there as the representative of all that we were.
In the flesh. And what happened to him?
Has happened to us.
Not only has he put my sins away, he's put me away.
Not only have my sins been forgiven, and not only am I justified before God from all the sins which I have committed.
But all that I am in Adam and in the flesh has been dealt with.
On a righteous basis. And God there at the cross condemned sin in the flesh.
So Paul could say, I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I live yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.
And then we have what the truth of verse 31, the judgment of this world.
You can learn.
Many many scriptures and commit them to memory.
And you can learn passages and never really.
Get a hold of what God is doing of the meaning of the cross.
Of the meaning of his resurrection and glorification.
And that's the second thing I want to bring before us.
And that is, the 1St is a finished work, the second a man in the glory in consequence of that finished work, and the third grade and tremendous truth that characterizes this present day of grace, is a divine person, the Holy Spirit on earth, forming an altogether new thing, one body united to that man in the glory.
But before we leave the subject of the cross.
The Cross.
That's where he died, for my sins. That's where he took my place. Each one of us can say that. Who believe?
In Him as our savior.
Now is the judgment of this world.
Man was on trial for 4000 years per.
To the cross.
The verdict has been pronounced.
Guilty.
This world's trial is ended. The cross is the end of the history of the first man.
The cross ends something. It culminates the world's trial and the verdict is passed down. Guilty.
So today for man to be striving to gain acceptance with God on the ground of his own works.
Is to totally ignore that man is no longer on trial. God is no longer looking for fruit from the first man, from man after the flesh. The judgment of God has been pronounced against the flesh. He condemned sin in the flesh.
When he was made a sacrifice for sin on the cross.
And all that's a wonderful thing to get ahold of.
To see that God is no longer looking for fruit from the first man.
That the world's trial is ending.
At the cross, so the cross is the consummation.
Of man's history after the flesh and man is now condemned.
The resurrection and glorification of the Lord Jesus.
00:15:00
Is the beginning of an altogether new thing.
He is called in Revelation 3.
These things saith the Amen, the faithful, and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God.
And this is an address to those at Laodicea, the final condition of the church in this world.
The Amen he is the confirmation of all God's promises.
The fulfiller of all God's thoughts.
He was the faithful and true witness. This is what the assembly ought to be for him in this world. But it is not. And he is the beginning of the creation of God, and that's referring to the new creation as the risen man glorified at the right hand of God.
Turn with me to the 7th chapter of John's Gospel.
For a verse.
Verse 37 In the last day, that great day of the feast.
Jesus stood and cried, saying this was the great feast day of the Jewish economy.
The Feast of Tabernacles, that great day. And here he stands up in the midst of all this religiousness, all this religiosity.
All this religious activity of the flesh. And he says, if any man thirst, if you have a thirst for something which these ordinances and ceremonies and the sasser doddle system cannot satisfy, if any man first let him come unto me and drink.
He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive. For the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified.
Before the Spirit of God could be sent down into this world as the Constitutor of Christianity. Notice that word given is an italics in the King James, which means it's not in the original. It's been supplied by the translators and if you leave it out, it reads for the Holy Ghost was not yet.
Because that Jesus was not yet glorified doesn't mean the Holy Ghost didn't exist because he is a Divine Person of the Trinity.
He's always been here and moving and working, but as a divine person in dwelling the church, forming an altogether new thing on earth that never existed before, uniting all believers together into one body. And to the man in the glory that never existed before the Holy Ghost was not yet as the constitutor of Christianity.
Until Jesus was glorified.
In Acts 19, let's turn to it for a verse.
Verse one. And it came to pass that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul, having passed through the upper coasts, came to Ephesus. And finding certain disciples, he said unto them, Have you received the Holy Ghost since you believed?
And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.
Now, they didn't mean that. They didn't know that the Holy Spirit existed.
But they hadn't heard that he had come. They hadn't heard that, this new thing, this new company, this new order of things of which we've been.
Enjoying which we've been enjoying in our souls in these days of conference.
In Ephesians, they didn't know anything about it.
And you know, there are many today.
Who call themselves Christians who don't know much about it either.
And I wondered, and I have to search my own heart.
00:20:00
How much do I know about it? And have I entered into it and enjoyed it, that which is mine? But going back to John 7 the Lord Jesus, in the midst of all this religious ceremony, he stands there, and he cries. If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.
The Spirit of God was not yet given because Jesus.
Was not yet glorified. Now turn to Acts 2.
In Acts 2.
Peter is speaking.
To the Jews.
In verse 22 he says ye men of Israel hear these words.
Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs.
Which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know, Him being delivered by the determinate counsel in foreknowledge of God ye have taken.
And by wicked hands have crucified and slain, whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death.
Because it was not possible that he should beholden of it.
Now let's go on down to the 29th verse, he says, Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried in his sepulchres with us under this day. Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne.
He's seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. Now notice this verse, this Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses, therefore being by the right hand of God exalted.
And having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this which he now see and hear. It was the day of Pentecost. The Spirit of God was poured forth.
They were baptized into one body by the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
That new company was formed, united to that glorified man. And how did the Spirit come? Well, when the Lord Jesus was a man on earth, as he went to the River Jordan to identify himself with that remnant among the Jews who were repentant and took their place as guilty before God and repented of their sins. It says the spirit of a dove descended upon him, and the Father's voice was heard from heaven.
This is my beloved Son, in whom I have found all my delight. And so he was sealed with the Spirit. The Spirit came upon him. He was anointed of the Spirit of God there at the river Jordan. But here we learn an added truth, that having died and accomplished that work which glorified God as to the question of sin, which opened the floodgates of eternal love and grace, for God to come out in foolish blessing, such as we've been considering at the conference here.
All that stood against us, the whole question of sin having been settled, God glorified in John 13. I'll quote it. The Lord Jesus says now, is the Son of man glorified, and if God be glorified in him, God shall also glorify him in himself, and shall straightway glorify him. At the cross God was glorified. As to the sin question all that was in God against sin.
Went out against our precious substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ. Stroke upon stroke fell upon him.
And eternity for us to spend in hell, He bore it in those three hours of darkness on the cross. And that cry which wrung from his blessed lips as it pierced the thick darkness, and shrouding Golgotha's hill. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me, beloved? He was forsaken that we might never be He took our place, that He might give us His place.
00:25:02
Of acceptance in the glory. He was there for me and for you.
That he might share those realms of light and bliss and joy above with our souls. And this is what He's brought us into, and in order for us to enjoy it when he enters that glory him hath.
Being by the right hand of God exalted, now he enters into the glory of a man. And if we could enter that glory tonight, we'd see a man there. Wondrous, stupendous truth, that blessed man, you know, when he came into this world and took humanity into union with his person, so that now the person of Christ is that he is God and man, and one inscrutable person.
He'll never give up that humanity. He didn't just take it for a time just to do a work on the cross and then laid that humanity aside and gone back into deity. Oh no, he's a man forever.
And we're going to gaze upon that blessed man when we enter the glory. We're going to be conformed to his image, just like him. And he wants us like him. Now and always, I look in my own heart. I have to hang my head and say how unlike him I often AM.
We're going to be like him and that moment for which all moments were made is soon to come.
When he shouts that shout and were brought home, he enters his man into the glory, and he receives a second time. First time was at the River Jordan, when the Spirit of God came upon him without blood, because he was that holy One.
No blood had to be shed for him to receive the Spirit. He received it by virtue of his own perfection and Excellency. But now he enters his man, having accomplished the work of redemption, having put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. When he offered himself by the eternal Spirit without spot to God, he enters his man, and he receives the spirit a second time, this time to pour that spirit forth upon his disciples.
Upon those that believed in him, that he might unite them to himself.
In that position of Excellency, in the glory.
You say that's overwhelming.
I was describing my reaction as we had Ephesians 3 before us.
And the way I described it to one was.
Just take your breath away. You can hardly describe the immensity of it as we think, as we go from one glory to another to another.
All the fullness of these blessings, the heart of God, has been told out.
So it says. Therefore, being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this which he now see and hear the Spirit of God sent down from the glorified risen head of the church, to form that new company, and to unite those disciples, those 120 believers.
On the day of Pentecost, to one another and to himself.
Brother made this remark so we were standing on the stairs waiting for lunch.
The higher the truth, the more elevated the truth, the more necessary for us in order to carry it out.
To be absolutely nothing. To realize that we are nothing. He's taken those who were worse than not and elevated us into such a place of glory.
And that's why we have Ephesians 4 following upon Ephesians 3, with all lowliness and meekness.
With all lowliness and meekness.
Let's turn.
To First Corinthians chapter 12.
00:30:13
Verse 12.
For as the body is 1.
And half many members.
And all the members of that one body.
Being many are one body, so also is the Christ the word. The article should be there.
Now I would expect that to read.
So also is the Church.
That's what he's talking about, the church.
As the body is 1 and hath many members.
And all the members of that one body, being many, are one body.
So also is the church. That's the way I would expect that to read.
But it reads, so also is the Christ.
Because the Church.
And the Lord Jesus, the glorified man are one. And we often sing. I think we sang that hymn yesterday.
Lord Jesus, are we one with thee, Oh height, oh depth of love.
So also is the Christ reminds us of Genesis, He called their name Adam.
After he created them.
He didn't call their names Adam and Eve, but he called their name Adam. She bears his name.
And so we the members down here bear the name of the head. So also is the Christ, for by 1 Spirit.
Are we all baptized? Should be in the past tense. Were we all baptized? Refers back to the day of Pentecost, when the Church was formed once and for all by the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
By one Spirit, where we all baptized into one body.
Whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, and have been all made to drink into one spirit, I think we have in that verse both the corporate truth of the baptism of the Spirit that is being united together.
By the power of 1 Spirit into one body, and also it speaks of we have all been made to drink.
Into one spirit.
If any man's thirst, let him come unto me and drink. And he says in John Seven that passage we read.
Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water, rivers of testimony, refreshment, and blessing to all in the power of the Holy Spirit.
In John 4 you have the subject of worship, and to that woman of Samaria the Lord Jesus says give me to drink.
He was a Jew, she a Samaritan.
And he says, How? She said, How is it that thou, being a Jew, ask us drink of me, which I'm a woman of Samaria, for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans?
There's nothing so great a barrier as religious.
Dealings.
And he didn't even answer her question.
Completely ignored it, he says. If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, give me to drink.
Thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.
He draws out her heart.
Sir, give me that water.
She wanted it and that he speaks to her conscience. Call thy husband.
And he lets her know that he knew all her life. He knew all that she'd ever done.
And he so attracted her heart, offering her that living water.
A picture of the Spirit of God dwelling within us as a fountain source of refreshment and blessing. The Spirit of God.
You go back to the third chapter of John's Gospel, and again you have the Spirit of God.
As the communicator of life.
Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God.
00:35:05
So the Spirit of God is.
Great theme of the present day economy, you might call it the dispensation of the Spirit. The Spirit is here now as the Constitutor of Christianity. He is the one that indwells us, that seals us, that gives us the power for worship and for testimony and for the enjoyment.
Of the Lord Jesus, and he's the one that is the uniter to that man and the glory.
The Spirit of God.
Now let's think of it for a little while. We have these three tremendous facts of scripture.
A finished work.
By one offering? He asked, perfected forever them that are sanctified?
We have a perfect conscience, A purged conscience. No more conscience of sins. Sins can never be imputed to us again. Not one sin can be imputed to the one that is purged by the blood of Christ. That perfect work has given us an acceptance before God, a peace.
The realization that we have a purge conscience.
Wonderful truth.
And then in answer to what Christ has done.
And let's for that just for a moment turn back to John 16.
Again, the Spirit of God before us.
Verse 7 Nevertheless, I tell you the truth.
It is expedient for you that I go away, for if I go not away, the comforter will not come.
Unto you But if I depart, I will send him unto you.
And when he has come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.
Of sin because they believe not on me. Of righteousness, because I go to my Father and you see me no more.
Of judgment, because the Prince of this world is judged.
Where do you see the greatest sin that was ever committed in the annals of time?
We want to know the heinousness of sin. Where do we see it?
Where do we see it in its worst possible form?
It's when the creature struck with deadly intent at his creator, when he cried out away with him. We will not have this man to reign over us. Crucify Him, Crucify him.
The presence in this world of the Spirit of God is a demonstration of that amazing fact of the world's sin. And we sang it. This world's judgment stands recorded, God's own justice satisfied, and then it goes on to say of righteousness, because I go to my Father, the righteousness of God raised him from the dead and exalted him to the right hand of the majesty on high.
This was God's only righteous answer to the work which Christ did on the cross.
It was the world's sin in its worst possible form when they nailed them to that cross of ignominy and shame. It was God's righteousness which exalted that man to his glory in heaven, and it proves that the judgment.
This world is under judgment of judgment because the Prince of this world is judged. The cross is the end of the history of the first man. The resurrection and glorification of Christ is an altogether new beginning.
2nd Corinthians 517 reads, If any man be in Christ.
He is a new creature.
All things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new, a new order of things, and we belong to it. All beloved Saints of God, if we could only realize.
In the power of that Spirit, as we were reading in Ephesians 3, that we might be strengthened in the inner man, that Christ might dwell in our hearts by faith, that Christ who's been rejected here.
00:40:16
I think of this.
This little poem and let me recite it.
And yet outside the camp.
Was there my Savior died. It was the world that cast him forth and saw him crucified.
Can I take part with those who nailed him to a tree?
And where his name is never praised, is there the place for me?
Nay, world, I turn away, though thou seem fair and good, that friendly outstretched hand of thine.
Is stained with Jesus blood if in thy least device I stoop to take apart.
All unawares, thy influence steals God's presence from my heart.
Oh, if we only realized.
How little?
Will satisfy the enemy of our souls.
How little will satisfy the enemy of our souls?
Young brother, young sister, for this is a young people's address.
You have your life before you. You can look back that you could not, that you had to look forward with a very dim view.
Very feebly apprehended. You have the immense privilege everyone of us here as a Bible.
Tremendous blessing. You can look back upon the finished work.
A work that was done.
No one has to add a thing to it. It's perfect. God is glorified. How do I know? He's glorified his Son. That's the only answer he could give. Raised by the glory of the Father. All the moral glory of the Father put forth in power to raise his Son and exalt him to his own right hand. And then when he got there, he receives the Spirit of God.
A divine person, and he sent him down.
And we're living in that dispensation of the Spirit. Almost 2000 years has gone by, and we're at the very end. You are, if you're a believer in dwelt of the Holy Spirit, we read at the end of Ephesians 3 now unto him, that is able to do far exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think. And what had Paul just asked?
Have we ever uttered a prayer of such elevation as Paul uttered in Ephesians 3?
Have we ever?
Dared.
To enter to utter such expressions.
But he did.
He did in the power of the Spirit, and at the end of that prayer he says unto him that is able to do far.
Exceedingly above all that we ask or think according to the power that worketh in US.
Young people, young brother, young sister, you have a power.
Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.
The world's glitter All its crinkling ornaments and glitter. It's trash. Don't let Satan deceive you.
He just wants to rob your soul of the true riches. He wants to rob our souls.
Of Christ.
Christ.
All that our hearts might be filled with Christ.
Don't let Satan.
Get an entrance into your life.
When you wake up in the morning.
Is it Christ who's your first thought when you go to sleep at night? Is it Christ who is your last thought? He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. He's God's first thought. He's God's last thought.
00:45:02
Is God's everything? Is he yours? Is he mine?
He is.
In his person as the glorified man.
Forming us by that Spirit that He sent down into this world.
Who has united us to himself up there? He's forming us.
To be like him.
Be a people for himself.
We're not here to get ahead in this world. We're not here to make progress down here.
We're here for one reason.
To witness for Christ.
To live for him, for me. To live as Christ, Paul could say.
Is that your one motive? Is that my one motive? Oh, may it be so, so little time remains.
Only one life will soon be passed. Only what's done.
For Christ will last.
You say I don't have the power, I'm so weak.
Unto him that is able to do far exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask, or think according to the power that worketh in US. Unto him be glory by the Church, throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.
There will never come a time in the countless ages of eternity when God will not receive glory through the assembly.
It will be the vessel of display of his eternal glory.
In Christ.
That's what we've been brought into.
That's what we're a part of, this heavenly company.
All that we might get a hold of these things.
That I might get ahold of these things.
That they might have power in my life, in your life.
That we might enter in to that which is really ours.
There are so few.
So few that call themselves Christians that really understand what a Christian is.
Christian is a man.
Who has delivered altogether from a condemned scene down here, and belongs to an altogether new scene up there and to the one who is there. And the Spirit of God is sent down here to form us according to that man to whom we've been united.
Who is our life? Who is our righteousness? Who is our all to form us According to him?
Oh, I know, these are feeble words.
This is the day of feebleness.
But oh, if I could only convey just a little.
Of the desire.
Just a little bit.
That one has to enter in to our portion young people.
Your life is in front of you.
But what is your life?
Just a vapor that appeareth for a moment and then it's gone.
What you're going to do with it?
What are you going to do with it?
Are you going to spend it for yourself?
Or are you going to live Christ?
That's up to you.
I'll tell you one thing.
Every.
Who has given himself?
To live for Christ.
Will be so thankful in that coming day.
May God help us.
To realize.
That he is everything.
But he is everything.
May he be everything to me and to you.
May the Spirit of God.
So control us, so fix our gaze upon that blessed one.
That we have power to walk above the flesh and the world.
00:50:01
And all the enticements of the enemy of our soul.
God has given us all that we need.
Has given us a new object.
A new life, a new power. The word of God. Young men, I earnestly beseech you.
When you're young, read the word.
Heal your soul with the word of God.
When your mind is able to take it in and to retain it, make it your own.
Make it your own study. Saturate your soul.
With the word of God.
You'll never regret it.
Never regretted get alone with the Lord.
Spend time with the Lord alone in the Word.
God will bless you.
Let's sing number.
153.
Whom have we Lord?
But thee.
Soul thirst to satisfy.
Exhaustless spring.
The waters free. All other streams are dry.
Our hearts by Thee are set.
On brighter things above.
Strange that we ever should forget.
Thine own most faithful love.
Yet OFT we credit not.
He freely gives his God, though well we know our happy lot and trusting to his blood.
None like the ransomed host that Precious Blood have known.
Redemption gives faith's holy boast to draw so near the throne.
Higher and higher yet.
Pleading that same lifeblood.
We taste the love that knows no lead.
Of ABBA as of God 153 Some brother raised the tomb.
Our hearts by the.
Right turn.
In joy strange.
Almost.
All.
Spray.