I want to follow the Master's plan, and ask you to take a good look at His
"Follow Me" road. You remember that we have had one talk together about
the characteristics of our Lord Jesus' life. Now we want to talk a little
about _the experiences_ of His life. And I do not mean that we are to try
to imitate these experiences, or any of them. The meaning goes much deeper
than this, and yet it marks out a simpler road for our feet. I mean that
as we actually go along with this Master of ours, these experiences will
work out in our lives.

As we let Him in as actual Lord, and get our ears trained for His quiet
voice, there will come to us some of the same things that come to Him.

The same Spirit at work within us, and the same sort of a world at work
without, will so work against each other as to produce certain other
results, now as then. It is not to be an attempt at imitation; it's far
more. It is to be _obedience_ on our part, a real Presence within on His
part, and a bitter antagonism without on the world's part; rhythmic full
glad obedience, a sympathetic powerful real Presence, a tense and
intensifying subtle, relentless, but continually-being-thwarted
opposition. The key-note for us is simple, full obedience.

There were certain great outstanding experiences in our Lord Jesus' life.
Let us briefly notice what these were and group them together. There was
_the Bethlehem Birth_. That was a thing altogether distinctive in itself.
It was a supernatural birth, the Spirit of God working along purely human
lines, in a new special way, for a special purpose. It was a rare blending
of God and man in the action of life. It was followed by _the Nazareth
Life_; that was a commonplace life, lived in a commonplace village, but
hallowed by the presence of the Father, and sweetened by the salt of
everything being done under that Father's loving eye. The Father's