I GOTTA SPLIT!--PART 2            GP 29             12/70

         1. WHOEVER HEARD OF ALEXANDER SELKIRK?--A poor British sailor marooned on a remote island--but there he had time to sit down & write of his experiences, which inspired a book which circled the World & which many of you have read--& in which he lives on: Robinson Crusoe. He was nothing but an insignificant sailor of the System--nobody ever heard of him--until he dropped out & wrote, & that revolutionary book has influenced the World ever since.
         2. EVEN JESUS SAID, "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 Her unto you."--Jn.16:7. He literally meant He could communicate with them all better, after He had gone away.
         3. HE SAID HE HAD TO GO AWAY IN ORDER THAT HE COULD REALLY GET THROUGH TO THEM with what they really needed the most. Peter even said, "And we saw Him, we heard Him & we heard the Voice," but that there was something better, something even more sure, more lasting, more convincing, more effective--the "more sure word of prophecy."--2Peter 1:19
         4. WE HAVE THE "MORE SURE WORD OF PROPHECY." The truth of His Words was more important than His bodily physical presence--the truth in His Word was better proof than seeing Him or hearing Him. The Spirit of Prophecy was more real than touching Him. The very SPIRIT & ESSENCE of His TRUTH--the genuine reality of the unseen, rather than the seen. "For the things which are seen are temporal."--2Cor.4:18.
         5. IT WAS SAID OF PAUL: "HIS LETTERS ARE WEIGHTY & POWERFUL: but his bodily presence is weak & his speech contemptible."--2Cor.10:10. The Apostle Paul was powerful how?--In what way? What was his greatest power & his greatest ministry?--Healing a few sick folks with his immediate physical bodily presence & the power of his spirit on direct contact?--The encouragement of the sight of him?--The inspiration of the fire of him?--Even the physical words of man's wisdom? These were not his greatest power! But rather, the demonstration of the power of the Spirit!
         6. HOW WAS THIS POWER MOST GREATLY DEMONSTRATED?--Through his physical presence only? Today we don't even know what he looked like! We've never felt the power of his physical presence! But across the centuries, we've felt the dynamism of the power of his spirit in his WORDS!
         7. HOW DO WE HAVE THESE WORDS TODAY? BECAUSE HE HAD TO GO AWAY & WRITE THEM in his Epistles in his absence or we might not have the record at all & the millions who have benefited by them would be left in darkness & only the pitiful few who profited from his physical presence would have enjoyed them & lived by them!
         8. HALF THE NEW TESTAMENT IS THE EPISTLES OF THE MEN WHO HAD TO GO AWAY--who had to be absent from them in body, that they might be present with them in SPIRIT and that their WORDS might be recorded for generations of followers yet to come.
         9. WHY DO WE HAVE JESUS' WORDS WITH US TODAY? Because AFTER He went away they wrote them down--recalled them through the communication of the Holy Spirit. "MY SPIRIT shall bring all things to your remembrance--even the Spirit of TRUTH!" They weren't even as conscious of His Truth & His Spirit & the real meaning of it all when He was still with them physically. They just knew that they loved Him--He loved them-& enjoyed being in His presence. They were pleased in the flesh by the sight of Him. It soothed their fears. They were comforted by the touch of Him. They didn't really know Him yet, as they were to later know Him in the Spirit--by His Spirit--by His living Words, the eternal Spirit of Prophecy, the immortal TRUTH that He represented!
         10. THEY WERE NOT AS STRONG IN THE SPIRIT WHEN THEY HAD HIS ACTUAL PHYSICAL BODILY PRESENCE WITH THEM--could see & hear & touch Him. They were dull clods of clay, crude blobs of flesh, insensitive to the Spirit--always misunderstanding, often misinterpreting, thick-witted! "O fools & slow of heart to perceive!"--Because their flesh, even HIS flesh, was in the way. They couldn't really get into the Spirit of it all! They didn't need His Spirit. They had Him! Why should they worry about what He meant? He was there! Like the little babe in the cradle, they didn't know why, but it just felt good to have Him there! They were not truly mature & come to full manhood spiritually until after His bodily presence was gone from them.
         11. HE HAD TO GO AWAY, SO THEY COULD REALLY GET TO KNOW HIM! He had to leave them PHYSICALLY, so they could truly understand Him SPIRITUALLY! He had to take His BODY away, so they could feel His SPIRIT.--Get their minds off the FLESH--get their hearts in His SPIRIT!
         12. YOU KNOW JESUS BETTER NOW THAN THEY DID THEN! You understand His Truth better now than they did when He was with them physically! You comprehend the power of His Spirit more now than they did merely watching the miracles, because you now have His power! You have His Spirit! "Ye are My witnesses!" You know Him better than they did!
         13. "SET NOT YOUR AFFECTIONS ON THE THINGS WHICH ARE ON THE EARTH" but rather set your affections on the things which are in Heavenly places--the realm of the spiritual--for the things which are seen are temporal & almost disgusting, sickening, compared to the beauties & wonders & ecstasies & the purities of the things which are eternal--the UNSEEN--the realm of the SPIRIT--the Kingdom of Heaven! Only after I'm gone can you truly appreciate my spirit & the meaning of it all. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are ETERNAL!
         14. THE FLESH IS TOO MUCH WITH US! It gets in the way. We'll never know full reality until we are fully in the realm of the Spirit!
         15. NOW I KNOW IF YOU REALLY MEANT BUSINESS, or whether you were just in love with me--whether you were merely a member of the cult of the personality of Man or the spiritual body of Christ! Whether you were part of my body--or His Body! With me gone, we find out who you really love the most! Those who follow the man, go back when the man is gone. But those who follow the Spirit, will go on forever!
         16. AS JESUS SAID: "FOR THE WORKS THAT I DO, SHALL YE DO & GREATER WORKS ALSO, BECAUSE I GO UNTO THE FATHER." And we could never do the greater works if He hadn't gone! Because we would have continued to lean on His physical bodily presence. We would continue to expect Him to do it.
         17. NOW WE ARE HIS PHYSICAL PRESENCE! Now WE are His Body--His hands--His feet--His eyes--His mouth! WE have to do it--& He does it through US! Otherwise, we would have continued to let Him do it & rest in His labours & sleep on His prayers & coast on His greatness & ride on His coattails. Now we have to grow up & do it by His power & show if we are really His & if He is truly ours, in Spirit & in Truth. For the Father seeketh such to worship Him!
         18. WHEN HE WAS HERE, HE WAS WITH THEM; BUT HE SAID WHEN HE WAS GONE, HIS SPIRIT WOULD BE IN THEM! When I was there, I was only with you in the flesh. Now all you have is my SPIRIT--but it's within you--in the Words that I say, in the thoughts I reveal, in the truths I teach, the Letters I write! Now you know the REAL me. You can have me with you all the time--everywhere--in your heart. We can have instant, continual intercourse in the Spirit!--The blissful ecstasies of Eternal Love that shall never fade away!
         19. NOW YOU REALLY KNOW ME FOR THE WORDS THAT I SPEAK UNTO YOU--THEY ARE MY SPIRIT & MY LIFE--& if you take them to heart, we can have sweet fellowship together & work together--not merely side by side in the flesh, but ONE in the SPIRIT--even the SPIRIT OF TRUTH, Who shall bring all things to your remembrance!
         20. THIS IS THE COMFORTER WHEREOF HE SPAKE! Would you rather have Him beside you--or in you? Would you rather have your lover merely by your side--or within the very heart of you--feel his spirit pressing within, feel the ecstasy of the mounting joy as his spirit bubbles up & overflows within you? When we're the closest in the flesh, we're more conscious of the flesh than of the spirit!
         21. ARE YOU WITH ME IN SPIRIT OR WOULD YOU RATHER BE WITH ME IN THE FLESH? The Words that I speak unto you, they are more powerful than my flesh will ever be--more comforting than my physical presence could possibly be & will do you more good, as you read them, study them, understand them, absorb them, live by them & practice them--more good than my bodily presence could ever do you--& my words will ever live in the Spirit--for it is the SPIRIT that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing!--Jn.6:63.
         22. "FOR THOUGH I BE ABSENT IN THE FLESH, YET AM I WITH YOU IN THE SPIRIT, joying & beholding your order & the steadfastness of your faith in Christ. Now I am living IN you & the World knows me not; but it shall know me. For lo, I am with you in Spirit, even unto the end of the World!"