A Spiritual Product

Are you in conjunction with them? Or not, but they're there. So I have a question along the line of spiritual realities, and that is this. At the time of the resurrection, when the resurrection comes, are you? Or will you be a spiritual product? Will you have become, by that time, a spiritual product?

Well, I say by the time of the resurrection, obviously, for those alive, it would be a present tense type thing of, okay, you're standing alive, and the resurrection is about to occur with the seventh trumpet sounding. For those in the grave, it might have been 20 years before, or 2,000 years before, or 4,000 years before, when their fight was finished and they went to sleep in the grave awaiting. So it's one and the same, because for them, there's no consciousness and time passes, and they don't know it, and they come out of the grave. To go back to the way that I worded the question, at the time of the resurrection, will we be a spiritual product?

Will we have become a spiritual product? That's a very important question, because if we haven't, what is there to resurrect? Think about that for a moment. If we haven't become a spiritual product by the time our fight is finished, by the time the resurrection comes, then what is there to resurrect? See the idea that is to extend around us in society, in the greater Christian community, that basically all a person has to do is give their heart to the Lord.

If you're watching me right now on your TV screen, just say, I give my heart to you, Jesus, and that takes care of it, and then call this number. The idea that all a person has to do is confess their sins and accept Jesus. Invite Jesus into their heart. If you have invited Jesus into your heart, you are now saved and call this number. Well, why do I need to call that number if I'm saved?

And any number of other ways to express it, and of course that takes care of everything, and that, of course, totally ignores and bypasses the whole issue of a spiritual product. In a factory or manufacturing plant, there's an assembly line. For the sole purpose of producing or turning out a specific product, that that factory or manufacturing plant is therefore with its assembly line. And that product that it is designed to turn out is the specific goal of the whole operation. And any item that comes down the line that becomes a casualty of malfunction, something happened to it on the line to where it is not going to be that specific product that that assembly line is designed for, it doesn't meet the specs, it's rejected.

And that comes under what's called quality control. And there's, you know, quality control to make sure that what is released to the public is what the product is supposed to be. Because the inspectors, they know what the product is supposed to be. And that's the way it works. Now, if you saw somebody building a factory, if a plant manager was given authorization to build another plant, or an owner says, I'm going to invest and build a plant, I'm going to build this manufacturing plant, and a reporter said, well, what are you going to be producing? Well, we don't know. But then why are you building it?

Well, it'd be good to have it. Well, how do you know it'd be good to have it? What's your product? Well, we'll figure something out later, you know. We're just going to build a plant. No, there's a specific reason having to do with a specific product. God created us. God created humanity with a very specific spiritual product in mind.

He is the inspector. He is the inspector general. He is the quality control. If anyone knows what the product is supposed to be, if anyone knows that the product has been produced, he would be God. He is the quality control. He knows the specs that must be met. He's the architect. He is the engineer. He is the designer. He knows what the product must be.

So, along that assembly line, he knows if it is becoming the product it should be. He knows at the end of the assembly line if the product is what it was designed to be. When the physical product is not produced at the end of the line, again, it's not released to the public. It's defective. It's not released to the marketplace.

It's rejected. When the spiritual product is not there, not produced, at the end of the line, at the end of the fight, that could be the grave for some, and more first fruits lie right now in the grave than there are first fruits alive on their feet at this point in time. When the spiritual product is not there, not produced at the end of the line, at the time of the resurrection, guess why?

It's not released. We're not talking about the public here. In one sense, we are. But it's not released into eternity. It's not placed into eternity. It's not put in the universe because it's a malfunctioning part and it will not fit. It will be rejected. Again, these are spiritual realities. So God has designed an assembly line. He truly has.

And that's what this life is about in a very true sense. It's a very accurate way of expressing it. God has designed an assembly line. It involves this mortal life. It involves His truth. It involves His word. It involves His Spirit. It involves time. Can't do it without time. It involves relationships. Can't do it without relationships. It involves thinking. We are distinct intelligences. We are able to self-think. We are freemoral agents. It involves our thinking. It involves our actions. We have energy. We have a mind. We have opportunities. We have actions. We have doings. It involves our activities. It involves learning. It involves what becomes a part of us.

Part of our fiber. Part of our thinking. Part of our make-up. It involves choices. It involves consequences. It involves cause and effect and all of that. Time and relationships, thinking and actions, activities and learning, choices and consequences. And as one man said, and this man wasn't even called to the truth.

It wasn't his time. He lived and he died without this being his time of salvation. His time will come in the last great day. But even he looked around at this world and was given to understand at least on a very basic level, a very basic reality. And he said this, he said, this old world ain't nothing but a training ground. And it really is exactly that, a training ground. And out of all of this, God is looking for a specific product.

So if you like a title, the title and the subject again is one and the same, a spiritual product. A spiritual product. That's what's got to come out of this life. Whether we're male or female, whether we're tall or short, skinny or fat, doesn't matter.

Whether we're black or white or red or yellow or brown, whether we live now or as those who lived 2,000 years ago or 4,000, whether our time of salvation is in this age, our time of salvation is in the world tomorrow, specifically the millennium, of course, obviously, and the last great day. It doesn't matter.

At the end of the assembly line, the product has got to be the same. It's got to be a spiritual product, a product that is spiritual. This is what God resurrects. That's what He resurrects. And if that is not there, if we have not become such, then there is no resurrection for us because there's nothing to resurrect.

The human being, who by the time of the resurrection, and, you know, we talk about the first resurrection for the first roots, but the people during the millennium, we don't know at what point God will change them to spirit. We don't know if He'll do it as He goes or at the end of the millennium. Of course, we do know there will be a physical resurrection of the last great day to bring everybody up that never had an opportunity from this age. And that at the end of that hundred years, there will be those that are changed, you know, into spirit. Whenever the time comes, whenever the time of salvation is for the person, of course, for us, it's during this age.

The human being, who by the time of the resurrection has become a spiritual product, they will be resurrected. Quality control guide, the Inspector General, God, will pass the product into eternity.

Would a plant manager, again, or owner build a plant or manufacturing company without knowing? Not knowing the product He wanted to produce. Absolutely not. It would make a lick of sense on the most basic level. Such would not make a lick of sense, and neither is it. Such with God, He knows. When God created mankind, when He created Adam and Eve, it wasn't like, oh, let's play around here. Let's have a little fun. Let's just, let's create a human being. We'll work with him just for a little bit of time, then we'll put him to sleep, and then, huh, we'll be kind of funny about this. We'll take a rib, and we'll make a counterpart.

And after we create man and woman, while they're busy in the garden and checking things out, we'll just go kind of over on the side, you know, the father and the son, as we know them. We'll just kind of go over on the side, and we'll talk about it and think, okay, we've got a nice product here. What do we want to do with it? They knew what they wanted to do with it before they ever created it.

They knew exactly what the spiritual product had to be that had to be produced. You know, Adam and Eve, at their creation, were physical products. I can tell you something. Adam did not look like Arnold Schwarzenegger. He did not look like Ronnie Coleman. He did not look like Sylvester Stallone. I could go on down the line. And Eve did not look like these, quote, bodybuilder women. Adam was well-muscled in balance and proportion. He was a perfect physical specimen.

Eve was the right size, all the way around. She was a perfect physical specimen. When Adam was created, when Eve was created, God could look at them. He could say, this is very good. And they were prime and perfect, with no blemishes, no physical weaknesses, no problems. They were perfect individuals. Now, maybe Adam's side, and I don't know if his left side or right side, but maybe on his side he could look, and there was a dimpled area where a rib had used to be that was no longer there, which also was a constant reminder, as well as the woman who was there with him, his wife, Eve, of what God had done in his miraculous creative powers.

But they were physical products, and they were perfect physical products. They were clay containers. They were made as vessels for something. They were made as clay containers. They were made of the dust of the ground.

They were not spiritual. They were created with spiritual capacity for a potential there, yes. But there was no spiritual product or production there yet. God could not create Adam, then create Eve, back off and look at him and say, wow, they are perfect physical specimens. Now I'm just going to make them eternal. Now, did he have the power to do that? Yes. He also had the power to make the super angel Lucifer.

He had the power to make the super angel Michael and Gabriel. He had the power to create beings eternal from their beginning, which is what the angels are. They are eternal beings from their very beginning of creation. They went through no process of temporary time, no. So could he actually do it? Well, yeah. But the very fact that he made them physical meant that he was not going to do it that way. He wanted to make them as clay containers, make them in such a way that he could work with human beings and produce a spiritual product.

They were made with capacity, the potential, the purpose, and the goal of becoming such. Notice Genesis 1, verses 26 and 27. Folks, it's really a wonderful thing to simply know our Bible. People say, well, what's the purpose of human life? I mean, even theologians sometimes will get off into that, and they should at least have a basic understanding of why we exist as far as purpose is concerned. And many times we'll use this at a funeral service, especially when I'm talking preaching the funeral of a first fruit and what God's purpose is.

But they'll say, well, why did God create human beings, or what purpose did He have in mind? Well, it's actually stated right up front in the first chapter of Genesis, in verses 26 and 27. And God said, let us, that's plural, Elohim, because there are two God beings, the ones who became, we know them as the Father and the Son. And they work by the power of, the energy of, their spirit, which is their composition. God is spirit, and He is holy.

He is composed of Holy Spirit, and He's able actually to exude that Holy Spirit. He's actually able to send forth His Spirit and power, whether it's to create a star, or to create Adam, or have whatever He wants to do, have whatever He wants to use that power. Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. There is so much entailed in this that is not realized by people.

Now, let them have dominion. We're going to give them an opportunity to rule, dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth. We're going to give them dominion, rulership, over the earth.

So God created man in His own image, and there is the initial basic likeness of similitude, as well as potential for creativity, and choices, and reasoning, and all of that.

So God created man in His own image, and the image of God created He Him, male and female, two counterparts. Male and female created He them. And entailed in this very first and fundamental statement of man is the most basic and fundamental description of the spiritual product God is looking for. And it's caught up and tied up in those words, image and likeness.

Because God wasn't just saying, okay, let's create human beings right now in our image and likeness, and in their physical composition, and their physical makeup, and their physical being, they will really be the fullness of our image and likeness. It can't be, because they're not spiritual. They're a clay container. But they're made in the similitude of God, and they also reflect God as far as what human beings can do, again, with reasoning. And thinking, and planning, and in a sense, creating things, yes. But in our image, after our likeness, a clay product, a clay design, a clay mold, a clay container designed to eventually come to the fullness of a spiritual product to become.

Because if God could have created Adam and Eve, or you, or me, or any human being from the get-go as a spiritual product, guess what? That's how He would have done it. Do you think God has enjoyed seeing what man has done to man for 6,000 years? Do you think that God enjoys seeing, like over in China right now, where Christians are, genocide is going on, concentration camps with Christians, and all.

Do you think God enjoys seeing humans literally tear other humans apart? Do you think He likes seeing starving kids, and all the wars, and the crushed dreams, and lives turned ashes? Uh-uh. None of that. He could have bypassed all of that if it were possible to create from the very beginning a spiritual product. He would have done it. But see, what He learned from the angels, a third turned against Him. He could keep creating angels. He could keep creating beings, spirit beings from the beginning, but He wouldn't have any...

Okay, He makes a thousand new ones. What guarantees He got that all thousands stay loyal to Him? He doesn't. God had to think all this out and figure what was going to be required. So He makes a clay container, and over the course of time, and through the steps and stages of the plan of salvation, He produces spiritual products while they are temporary that can then be released fully, completely, in power and glory into eternity, and always be, and never cease to be, a wonderful spiritual product. So to become the image and likeness of God in a very important and sufficient way, you and I have to come to a certain sufficiency, we could say, but a certain sufficient measure of God's image and His likeness.

Christianity is not an easy thing. True Christianity is not an easy thing. So what is that spiritual product? How do we define it? How do we express it? And most importantly, how do we know if we're becoming it? How do we know if we're moving down the assembly line in a quality, productive way? Well, in defining this spiritual product that we're to become, in defining this spiritual product God is looking for, let's begin with the word image.

Because we've got that word right up front at the beginning there in Genesis 1, but let's just deal with the word image for a moment. Hebrews 1.3 It starts with being made in the basic image, the similitude of God, but if it stops there, no spiritual product is ever developed.

There's a lot more to that word than meets the eye in Genesis. Hebrews 1 and verse 3. Speaking of Jesus Christ, verse 3 here, chapter 1, Who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, highlights, so to speak, that phrase, the express image of His person, of God's the Father's person or personage. It's saying that Christ is the express image of the Father, is what it is saying. Now, take that phrase, the express image.

The word express could be rendered exact, the exact image of the Father. But the word image there, image in the King James, if you look at the Greek, the word image there is character, and it's spelled in the Greek almost like we spell it in English. C-H-A-R-A-K-T-E-R, a little bit different spelling, obviously, means the same thing, character.

And that's found in Strong's exhaustive concordance, 5481. 5481, and it means an exact copy. It means an exact copy, the word character here, an exact copy. So, it is saying Christ being the brightness of His glory and the exact character of the Father. That word image has to do with character. Remember what Philip in John 14, verse 8, what Philip said to him? In John 14, in verse 8, Philip said to him, Lord, show us the Father. We've been with you three and a half years, and it's wonderful, and we've learned so much, and you've taught us about the Father, and you've prayed to the Father, and taught us how to pray to the Father, but could you show Him to us?

It's interesting when he said, show us the Father, and that satisfies us. It's interesting what Christ said to him in light of Hebrews 1.3. In John 14.9, when Jesus answered him, Jesus said to him, Have I been so long time with you?

And yet, you have not known me, Philip? He that has seen me has seen the Father. And how do you say then, show us the Father? See, what he says there is in exact keeping with Hebrews 1.3, that though Jesus is a separate intelligence from the Father, Jesus and the Father, Jesus sits at His right hand. They can converse. They can look at each other. They can talk. They can plan. They can...you know, they're two separate, distinct intelligences. Yet, he says, Philip, you want to see the Father? Well, if you want to know the Father, then look at me. Size me up, and the more you size me up, the more you'll see the Father.

See, Christ had said back in John 10.30, in verse 30, He said, I and my Father are one. He didn't mean that they're one being as far as just one mind, one intelligence. No, what He meant, it's a unity statement. I and my Father are one. They are so together. They are so unified. They are so harmonious. If you could hang out with Jesus and see the way He thinks and operates and does, and what His hopes and dreams and plans and values and standards are, and then you could go hang out with the Father, you would say, oh, it's identical. It's identical.

They are identical. And that's what He is saying. And so He is the exact character of the Father. See, Christ is the supreme spiritual product. He is the exact copy of the Father.

And again, this is how they are two separate beings, yet one in the most crucial and important way. Their oneness is a unity statement.

Christ as a human set the example. He set the pattern, the definition for us, and since He is an exact copy of the Father, I want you to think about this, then the more we take on Christ into our makeup, the more we become like Christ in our makeup. Our perspectives, our attitudes, our approaches, our actions, our thinking, the more like the Father we automatically become, and we are, because you can't become more and more Christ-like without becoming more and more Father-like as well.

The more we become the spiritual product that God wants us to be, and again, spiritual reality that we must be for a resurrection someday. I want the resurrection! This is why Paul makes this statement in Galatians 4.19. Paul makes this statement in Galatians 4.19 a very famous statement that he thoroughly understood. He says, I labor. I really work at it as far as what my role in the matter is, Galatians 4.19, my little children of whom I travail and birth again.

I sweat and I struggle, and I try to contribute in whatever way I can, he's saying to them, for something to help facilitate something to occur until Christ be formed in you. In one sense, that says it all. Till Christ be formed in you. At the resurrection, God looks at somebody and says, Christ is not formed in that person. No resurrection, sorry. Christ is formed in that person. A sufficiency of Christ is formed in that person. Good! Have the resurrection.

Here they can be in the resurrection. They can be changed. Until Christ be formed in you. See, until Christ be formed in you, that's the most basic definition of us as a spiritual product. The more Christ is truly formed in us, the more a spiritual product we truly are.

And again, that's the most basic definition of us as a spiritual product. That's what makes us a spiritual product. That's what determines whether or not we are a spiritual product. That is what determines whether or not we can be resurrected or not. That is what determines if we're resurrectable. It's not just saying, I give my heart to the Lord. Someone in recent times ran into somebody who used to be in the church. And the person that they ran into said, oh, oh, I still believe.

I still believe. So, even the demons believe. You ever read that Scripture? They believe. They know. They know. Yeah, I still believe. Yeah. What's that going to get you? Where's that going to take you? Is that going to put you in the resurrection? No. You've got to do. You've got to grow. You've got to have Christ formed in you.

That's what makes us resurrectable. And we want to be resurrectable. So, again, this is why Paul speaks of an ongoing, continuously maturing process in Ephesians 4.15. Ephesians 4, when he speaks what he does here in Ephesians 4 and verse 15, he is speaking to and of an ongoing, continuously maturing process. But speaking the truth in love may grow up. We've got kids in here. They're growing up. They've got a couple right back there. They won't be grown next year. They won't be grown a year after that.

They won't be grown two years after that. They won't be grown five years after that. Let's see. They won't be grown ten years after that. But they'll be a lot closer. But like my wife said, oh, you all have grown when she saw them out there. You all have grown since I saw you. But they grow. They're growing. Every year, they're growing. And they'll get grown. They'll become truly grown-ups in due time, spiritually, as a spiritual product.

Christ has got to be formed in us. We've got to truly grow up. And growing up is a process. And Paul speaks of it as an ongoing, continuously maturing process. And again, he says, may grow up into Him in all things. Well, I'm sure a whole lot more like Christ now in this area right there than I used to be. But this area over here, I've still got a lot more to do there to be like Christ. You know, I'm a very kind-hearted person on the one hand, but on the other hand, I'm a very impatient person.

On the one hand, I'm properly tolerant, but on the other hand, I push things till I break them practically. I mean, you know, this mix, this mix, must grow up, must keep growing. I've got to grow up into Him in all things. I'm a great brother, not such a good husband. I'm a great son, not the best father, whatever. Responsibilities, all. Ongoing, continuously, maturing process. Grow up into Him in all things, which is Christ. See, we have to stay on the spiritual production line, the assembly line, the product coming down the line that's being worked on.

If it pops off the line, the work on it stops, in a sense. They've got to get it back on the line, you know, coming down that line. Why don't we talk about perseverance and keeping on, keeping on, keeping on? Don't give up, don't quit. You've got to drag yourself to the doing of what you've got to do, you do it. You keep on keeping on. You've got to stay on the spiritual production line. We have to stay involved with the spiritual assembly process. And by doing so, by doing so, we're formed more and more as the spiritual product God is looking for, and that He is helping us to be, to be able to be.

You know, the beginning of that assembly line, the beginning of that assembly line for us, or let's say we're placed on that assembly line when we're placed in Christ. Notice 2 Corinthians 5, 17. 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 17. Therefore, if any man or woman be in Christ, be in Christ, he or she is a new creature or new creation. Old things are passed away.

There are certain issues where everything is washed away, but then there are other issues where old things are passing away. And behold, some things are brand new for you, but things are also becoming new. There's a process that's going on.

That's the beginning of the assembly line. That's more replaced on the assembly line, more replaced in Christ. And the process of becoming a spiritual product begins when? Number one, we repent. And number two, we're baptized into Christ. And number three, we receive God's Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands. When we're forgiven, when we're cleansed, when we receive God's Spirit, when we have the opportunity to live and walk under the guidance and the leadership of God, the Father and Jesus Christ, through their Spirit, the process of becoming a spiritual product begins in earnest when we are seated with the basic genetics of God's makeup.

Galatians 5, back in Galatians again, when we are seated. You have a child. You have a grandchild. And you wonder what genetics are going to dominate. Who's the baby going to look like? Who's the baby going to grow up to look like? There are a number of family lines that obviously, and I guess only God knows how many different family lines could come into play.

Of course, you've got your primary family lines and your secondary and your very distant family lines, yes. But it's interesting to see how genetics come out and what dominates which ones dominate. Well, when we are baptized into Christ, we receive God's Spirit, which is a portion of His own being that is placed in us, made possible through Jesus Christ.

We are seated with the basic genetics of God's makeup. Jesus is the exact character of the Father. And we're told that of the Spirit that they give us, it transfers genetics from God to us.

But the fruit of the Spirit, verse 22, is love. That's part of God's genetic makeup, joy. God is a very joyous being. He laughs. He has fun. He's ecstatically happy. We may not understand all these things, but He is. Can He be sad? Can He be sorrowful? Can He be down? Yeah, because He is a being of feeling. He's a being of emotions.

He's soft-hearted. He's not soft-headed, but He's soft-hearted. But love, agape, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, reading in the King James here, meekness, temperance. I can't such there is no law. Those are the genetics that are seated in us. Those are the fruits. And it does say it's interesting. In verse 23, against these things, there is no law against them. In other words, well, I've got to be careful not to come to where I've got too much agape. I've got to be careful where I don't come to have too much joy. I've got to be careful. I could wind up with too much peace. I've got to be careful. I could go overboard and have too much long suffering. I could have too much gentleness, goodness. Well, I could wind up with too much faith. And I've got to be careful that I don't have too much faith. That wouldn't be good for me. My point I'm making is there is no restriction or prohibition against these things. You can have and grow in these to the degree that you possibly can. And that's what He's saying when He says against such there is no law. In other words, what Paul is saying, translated to saying, grow fully in these things. A person could sit down and say, okay, I have these genetics, but boy, I'm weak in the love part. I've got these genetics, but that spiritual genetic of long suffering, I am really, really short on that. I think most of us could look at these fruits, and we would be able to isolate at least one of them that we have more difficulty with than we do the others. We probably could look at these and at least isolate one of them that we are very happy with. But the point being, Paul is saying, these are the things that genetically are transferred to us, yes, but we have to grow fully in these things. Let me reference back again to Hebrews 1.3, image, character, 54.81 in Strong's.

It can mean also a graver, not someone who digs a grave, a graver, one who engraves. A graver, the tool or the person that is bamplication and engraving.

The word character can have to do with engraving, somebody who engraves, like the characters on a page. You'll hear the phrase, well, look at the characters on the page and read them. We're talking about the letters. Now, in the old days when they used to do newspapers and they set the lead, and of course you had to be careful with your Ps and Qs, that's where that came from, they would set what had been engraved, the print, the type, had been engraved, and they'd get it all set properly, and then they'd press the pages and duplicate and crank out these newspapers, and of course they don't do that type of thing anymore.

The meaning can also mean the figure stamped, that is, an exact copy, express image. So when Paul says, "'Till Christ be formed in you," it can also be rendered, and it can mean engraved, "'Till Christ be engraved upon you, till Christ be engraved upon you.'" We talk about second nature, people learning to do things by just like second nature, to where they don't have to think about it.

It's instinctive. In such and such situation, they automatically respond this way. Such and such situation, they've learned to automatically respond this way. It becomes like instinct or second nature, "'Till Christ be engraved upon you.'" That's what it's talking about. And again, that process starts when you are in Christ, as 2 Corinthians 5.17 says, and we read, "'And when Christ is in you, therefore if any man be in Christ, he is, she is, a new creation.'" I want to turn back there to what I just quoted, because there's something important there that... and this is crucial in the spiritual product. Well, I don't have to do anything. If God is a quality control... Again, folks, let's go back to something that's very basic.

If God could have made us a spiritual product completely and totally, like we needed to be, to begin with, He wouldn't be putting up with 6,000 years worth of pain, suffering, blood, sweat, and tears of this old world and this old planet... in all the horrible things that humans do to humans. He divided past all of it. He can't do it without our cooperation. See, where it says, therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. Your Bible might give you a margin and show you what the Greek also is and what it had been rendered.

I'll read it the way that it also could have been. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, let him be a new creation. Let him be. Key word, let. L-E-T. Little word. Big one. What does that word show? Let him be. Well, it shows a personal responsibility in the matter.

It's not automatically given. It's not automatically forced or mandated in that sense. It shows a personal responsibility in the matter. Let shows that we have a personal role to play. We kind of stand at the door, so to speak, whether to yield or not. Let shows that we have a certain accountability. I'm not through with the word let. We'll take it a little bit further. Let shows that we have a certain exercise to carry out in this matter.

God, get me to church today. Okay. Well, it's bad weather. Well, get me to church today. Well, because it's bad weather. Of course, in some parts of the country, it's even nastier. We have it liquidier. Get me there.

Well, yeah, I'll help you to get there. Yeah. Well, get me there. Well, get up out of your seat. Well, get me there, God. We'll walk out to your vehicle. Well, okay, God, I'm sitting in the vehicle. Now, get me there. Well, you got a key? Yeah, we'll stick it in the ignition and crank it. Okay, I cranked it.

Get me there. Well, put it in gear. Okay. Now, drive it. Stare it. There is no way that God can produce the spiritual product that we've got to be if we don't work with Him. We have got to work with Him. That simply shows that if we fail, this is very key. I stand at the edge of the lake of fire and about to be thrown in, and I look at God and say, God, it's Your fault.

It's Your fault I'm not in the resurrection. It's Your fault that I'm going in the lake of fire. Would that be an accurate statement or not? Do you think I'd be accurate? What do you think God would say? He would say, no, it's not my fault. I'm sorry. I am really sorry. This is the saddest moment in time for me.

Those of you I'm having to put in the lake of fire because that's not where I wanted you to be. And that's not where you had to be. That's what you've chosen. By failure, by default, by not taking me at my word, not trusting in me, not working with me.

See, the word lit simply shows that if I fail to develop as a spiritual product, it's my fault. It's not God's fault because God has been willing to forgive me when I repent it. God's been willing to put me under the covering blood of Jesus Christ. God has been willing to continually cleanse me as long as I will stay the course and stay on the assembly line. God has been willing to share His Spirit with me. So the failure is not going to be with God. See, God will help us in every way possible.

He will not fail us. He will not abandon us. He tells us that. That's in Scripture. Where there's ever abandonment, it's not God who abandons us. We abandon God. We don't live by faith. We don't exercise ourselves like we should. It's not God that fails us. We fail God if there's any failure. Now, He will not fail us. He will not abandon us.

And there's Scripture after Scripture. And you can string Him out and make a whole sermon just out of the fact that He will not forsake us. He will not abandon us. He will not be unfaithful to us. There is what I call the PI formula. And when I say PI, I'm not talking about private eye. I'm not talking about private investigator.

I'm talking about perspiration and inspiration. Perspiration and inspiration. If we are willing to perspire, God is willing to inspire. If we are willing to perspire, God is willing to inspire. Because, again, becoming like Him is a joint cooperative effort.

How hard that has been in Christianity, period, to get people to really realize and to understand the balance between the person and God working together. There are those who want to say, well, God will do it all and you don't have to do anything, brother. And then there are those who will say, well, you've got to fast twice a week and you've got to just go trembling in abject fear before God when you go to Him. The road has two ditches. It has the left ditch and it has the right ditch. And some people just love the ditch. And they might come out of the right ditch only for the purpose of crossing the road and going into the ditch on the other side. They're what I call ditches. They're not comfortable and don't seem to realize when the proper road going down the road, they've got to clean out the ditches. And that's not what we're talking about.

Becoming like God is a joint cooperative effort. If we're willing to put forth effort, God will support it. One of the hardest things, biggest challenges I've had over the years in many cases and situations with brethren, with some brethren sometimes, is getting them. Make a move. Make a move. Do something. Give God something to bless. Give God something to bless. God doesn't just say, oh, I'll bless thin air. Could He? Yeah, He's God. Does He? No. Give God something to bless. If we're willing to put forth effort, T.I., perspiration and inspiration, if we're willing to put forth effort, God will support it. He supports and backs positive effort. I don't know how many times over the years I have had to tackle something that I didn't know how it was going to work out.

I didn't know what I was going to do for sure, but I knew the steps to start taking and I started taking them. And as I took certain steps, other steps became very clear. And pretty soon I realized, God is leading me. I could have stopped in my tracks again, but I kept moving, kept doing, and He led me to where I needed to be. He led me to whatever solution it was. He led me to the point that I needed to be at. He led me to resolution.

Every positive effort one makes will have God's blessing and support. And that's something to realize. Every positive effort that you ever make will have God's support. Even times and cases in this world with people who are not called right now, because of God's built-in laws so many times, positive efforts bring good results. With that said, along with all the others that have been said regarding a spiritual product, let's look now at Philippians 2.5. And again, at a crucial word, a very crucial, significant word. It gets overlooked. Too many times it gets overlooked. Philippians 2.5.

What is the very first word in the verse? Now, I've got a King James. The very first word is let.

It doesn't say, this mind will be in you. Well, I'm going to call somebody and I'm just going to slam my mind into them. They don't take over their mind, push their mind out of the way, and just stick my mind in there. It doesn't work like that. God will never take our minds away from us, not in this life or the life to come. It's very crucial that we develop, that we have formed in us, in our mind that encases the mind of Christ. That's why it says, let, again, we stand in the position of yielding and of seeking and of pursuing and of desiring and of wanting the mind of Christ. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.

Question. Can Christ be formed in us if His mind... If you think about Col. 4.19, can Christ be formed in us if His mind, His way of thinking, His way of seeing, doesn't become our way of seeing and thinking? If the way we see and think doesn't come to be the way He sees and thinks, then how can it be that we have His mind in us? And if we don't have His mind in us, then how can it be formed in us? See, our operational behavior, the way we do things, is generated by how we see and think. Our mind is the originator. Our mind is the generator. Our mind is the control center. Thus, to the degree that Christ's mind can be planted in us, to that degree that His thinking becomes our thinking, to that degree that we come and see and operate as He does, then to that degree we are spiritual. To that degree we're a spiritual product. And again, how do we know, how do we measure, how much of the mind of Christ is in us, how much we have sought it, how much we've allowed it to be, how much we've yielded to it, how much we've allowed it to be our way of thinking and seeing and doing. In the time remaining, in the few moments remaining, I want to illustrate how we can know, how we can measure. How we can measure, how we can accurately assess ourselves as a spiritual product. Now, this is not a totally exhaustive way. It will be more brief, but it will serve sufficiently to illustrate. So Philippians 2, if you're still open there, Philippians 2 verse 5, when it says, "'Let' Paul is admonishing the Philippians who were called of God here. They are firstfruits, they are part of the church. He's admonishing them to let." Please allow, please let, please yield to, please seek the mind of Christ. Let that His mind, His way of seeing and thinking and doing be your mind. Let that become you. Okay? Let this mind. What is that mind? The verses that follow tell you one of the most significant things about that mind. Front and center stage, heart and core. Let's read verses 6 through 8. Here's what that mind did as far as seeing and thinking and doing. "'Who being in the form of God, he was God with the Father, and the powers of Godhead, all that went with that, thought it not robbery to be equal with God. He was God,' John 1, 1 says. He was also God, but made Himself, it was willing on His part. It wasn't forced on Him, but made Himself of no reputation, gave the Godhead the powers of Godhead of Him." He was still God in the flesh, but He didn't have the powers of Godhead with Him. He stood at the tomb of Lazarus. It wasn't Jesus that resurrected the power that resurrected Lazarus, came from the Father through Christ. That's why He prayed to the Father. And the resurrection, Christ is the resurrection because there is no eternal resurrection for us aside from Christ. It has to be with Christ and Christ through Christ. But He gave that up for a time to be a flesh and blood human being with His human life, the human life flowing in the blood in His veins and arteries. But made Himself of no reputation, took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, who got hungry and thirsty and tired and had to sleep and had to deal with the things we had to deal with. He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

What is that mind? Here's what that mind is. It's a mind of sacrificial love.

I will do for you if you can do something back for me. I will serve you if you can serve me. I will give you something if you can give me something, favor for favor. That's not sacrificial love. That's not even love, for that matter. Well, I'll give you love if you give me love. No, this is sacrificial love. I will love you. I will do for you whether you do for me or not. I will serve you whether you serve me or not. I will help you whether you have me or not. I will do this favor for you and not expect a favor in return. I will put myself out for you. That is sacrificial love. And that's what agape is. See, agape is not just love. Agape is sacrificial love. John 13. John 13. In John 13, verses 34 and 35, when Jesus told them in verse 34 of John 13, a new commandment I give to you, he said that you love one another. And he put this qualifier on it, as I have loved you. His love was sacrificial. Love each other sacrificially, is what he's saying. That's agape. That you also love one another. As I have loved you, that's how I want you to love one another. And by this shall all men know that you are my disciples. If you have seen that kind of love, one to another, it's a sacrificial love. Romans 15. Romans 15. Sacrificial love. Romans 15, verse 1. We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak. That's sacrificial love. And not to please ourselves. That's putting ourselves second. Let every one of us please his neighbor for his good, to edification, to building up, for even Christ pleased not himself. But as it is written, the report report is of them that reproached you, fellow me. We which are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak. Romans 12. This is sacrificial love. Romans 12, verse 1. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice. A sacrifice, walking around alive, breathing, blood flowing.

Acceptable, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. That's sacrificial love. Check another one here. It's a mind of sacrificial love. That's what agape is. And that is 1 Corinthians 13. And we actually have this section in our marriage ceremony. 1 Corinthians 13. Now, I won't read it as the King James. I use the word charity, but that is actually agape there. Love suffers long and is kind. It doesn't envy. It doesn't want itself. It's not all puffed up, prideful, arrogant. It doesn't behave itself unseemly. Sakes not her own. It's not easily provoked. Thinks no evil. Rejoices not in iniquity, wrongdoing, sin, but rejoices in the truth. Bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. That's a tall order to live up to. A very tall order to live up to. But it's the mind of Christ. It's the mind of God. And it's sacrificial. And it is a mind of loyalty to God, of putting God first. One-third of the angels put Lucifer first. There came a point in time where it was Lucifer, we're with you. They literally pushed God out of their hearts, their minds, their emotions, and they gave that to Lucifer. This is one reason why the greatest commandment that Christ mentioned there in Matthew 22, 37, was to love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and might and being. It's a mind of sacrificial love. That's what agape is. It's a mind of loyalty to God, of putting God first and keeping God first. And God will allow us many opportunities to show Him and to prove to Him that we want sacrificial love, agape, that we're wanting it, and that we're wanting to put and keep Him first in our lives. You know, agape, sacrificial love, putting God first, to the degree that we do that, to the degree that we continue to do that, to the degree that we learn to do that, to the degree that that is literally becoming a part of our fiber, of our being, like spiritual instinct, spiritual second nature, so to speak. To that degree, Christ is being formed in us, and to that degree, we are a spiritual product. And to that degree, we're developing as a spiritual product. And to that degree, the resurrection is waiting at the end of the line for us. Whether our death comes in this age, or we're alive on our feet when Jesus Christ returns, it won't matter. The seventh trumpet sounds. God looks. He's a spiritual product. I'm ushering Him into eternity with me. What a wonderful and glorious and joyful time that will be. And it is dependent on us becoming a spiritual product, working with God, and letting Him develop us to be His image, just like Christ is His image. And to be the image of Christ is to be the image of the Father. To be the image of the Father is to be the image of Christ. And it's all doable. Let that be done with us.