Perfectly efficient.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ;
according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blemish before Him in love;
having marked us out beforehand for adoption through Jesus Christ unto Himself,
according to the good pleasure of His will,
to the praise of the glory of His grace,
wherein He hath taken us into favour in the Beloved.In Whom we have redemption through His blood,
the forgiveness of offences, according to the riches of His grace,
which He hath caused to abound toward us in all wisdom and intelligence,
having made known unto us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure,
which He purposed in Himself for the administration of the fulness of the times,
to head up all things in the Christ,
the things in the heavens and the things upon the earth.In Him, in Whom we have also obtained an inheritance,
being marked out beforehand according to the purpose of Him Who worketh all things according to the counsel of His own will,
that we should be to the praise of His glory,
we who have pre-trusted in the Christ.In Whom ye also, having heard the word of the truth, the glad tidings of your salvation—in Whom also, having believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,
Who is the earnest of our inheritance,
unto the redemption of the acquired possession,
unto the praise of His glory.
But when the fulness of the time was come,
God sent forth His Son,
come of woman, come under law,
that He might redeem those under law,
that we might receive sonship.But because ye are sons,
God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God,
these are sons of God.
For ye have not received a spirit of bondage again for fear,
but ye have received a spirit of adoption, or sonship,
whereby we cry, Abba, Father.The Spirit Himself beareth witness with our spirit,
that we are children of God;
and if children, heirs also—heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ—
if indeed we suffer with Him,
that we may also be glorified with Him.
Dear heavenly Father, we do worship Thee this evening because Thou art our God and our Father. We do thank Thee for Thy beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. It is all in Him and through Him that this marvellous grace has come upon us: that we are called the children of God, and we are truly Thy children.
So, our Father, as we gather here this evening, we do look to Thee to send forth Thy Spirit to illumine us, that we may see through Thy Word Thy eternal purpose in Thy Son concerning us, that Thou mayest get all the praise, the glory, and the worship of our hearts. We ask in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
The apostle Peter, in his letter, says:
But the end of all things is drawing nigh: be sober therefore, and watchful unto prayers: but before all things having fervent love among yourselves.
Then, in 1 Peter 4:11, he says:
That God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, Whose is the glory and the might unto the ages of the ages. Amen.
The end of all things has drawn nigh. Now, if Peter in the first century could write, saying that the end of all things had drawn nigh, then certainly we who are in the twentieth century can say that the end of all things has indeed drawn very nigh. We are at the very end of the end of all things.
Usually, when we think of the end, we always have a kind of negative sense. That means when the end comes, all things are finished—done with, forever gone, destroyed. And it is true, because when the end shall come, then the world and the things of the world—everything that is not of God—will surely be finished, done with, gone forever. Thank God for that.
But to us believers, the end has a positive sense. Why? Because the end tells us that the very purpose of God, which He purposed in the very beginning, is now being realised. It has come to pass.
So, dear brothers and sisters, we look forward to the end, knowing that it spells to us not gloom, but glory. Whatever God purposed, even before the foundation of the world, will all be realised. We will all come into final realisation and possession, to the praise and glory of God.
We find, on the one hand, eternity past. In eternity past, God purposed. Then, on the other hand, we see eternity to come; and in eternity to come, we see the final realisation of God’s purpose and the possession of it.
Between these two, we have time. And you know, time is very precious. Time is very important to God, because it is in time that God uses time to bring His purpose into possession. Time is also very important to us, because it is in time that God does His work in us to bring us into that which He has purposed for us in Christ Jesus.
Therefore, you find the apostle Paul says, “Redeem the time,” or, as some versions say, “Redeeming opportunity.” Make the best of your opportunity.
Now, dear brothers and sisters, how are we going to make the best of our opportunity? Since we still have time with us, even though we know that this time will not be long, as long as there is time, there is opportunity. How are we going to make the best use of the opportunity that God has given to us?
I think, in order that we may use the opportunity in the best way, we have to know, first of all, what is the purpose of God. If we do not know what His purpose is—what His ultimate purpose is—then we do not know how to cooperate with His Spirit.
So, we feel it is of vital importance to God’s people, especially we who live at the end of the day, that we should have a clear understanding, a vision, a revelation, of what the eternal purpose of God is.
What is His eternal purpose?
When we think of the eternal purpose of God, there are three Scriptures that come very quickly to us.
The first is Hebrews 1:2:
At the end of these days He hath spoken unto us in the person of His Son,
Whom He hath established heir of all things.
God has established His Son heir of all things.
Then, in Colossians 1:18:
And He, that is Christ, is the head of the body, the church;
Who is the beginning, firstborn from among the dead,
that He might have the first place in all things.
Christ may have the preeminence, the first place, in all things.
Then another passage is Ephesians 1:10:
For the administration, or the economy, of the fulness of the times,
to head up all things in the Christ,
the things in the heavens and the things upon the earth.
To head up all things in Christ, or, as some versions say, to sum up all things in Christ.
Now, from these three passages we may very clearly see that God’s purpose is centred upon His beloved Son. God has a beloved Son, the only begotten Son, one with the Father. In this Son, God has purposed His purpose, and His purpose is purposed for His Son.
God so loved His Son. The Father loved His Son so much that He wanted to express His love toward His Son. How would He express His love to His Son? He wanted to give His Son all things.
In other words, His Son is the reason for all things. If it were not because of the Father’s love for the Son, there would not be anything. There would not be a universe. There would not be the heavens or the earth. There would not be you or me. There would be nothing.
But we find that it is because of the Father’s love for His only begotten Son that He has created all things, that His Son may be the heir of all things, that His Son may inherit all things.
It is the Father’s will that His Son shall have the first place in all things.
Now, the first place in Scripture does not mean that He has the first place, and you have the second place, and somebody else the third place, and so on. In Scripture, the first place—preeminence—actually means He has all place in all things. He has everything in everyone. That is the first place.
Again, you find Ephesians says that in the fulness of time, God is going to head up all things in Christ, or to sum up, to gather up, all things in Christ. All things include things in the heavens and things upon the earth. All things are summed up in Him.
Now, that is the Father’s will. That is the eternal purpose of God. Dear brothers and sisters, every time we think of the eternal purpose of God, do not think right away of yourself. Think of the Son, because He is the centre of God’s eternal purpose.
Well, thank God, when God gives all things to His Son, there is one thing that is His special gift to His Son. This one thing gives His Son great pleasure, great delight, and it also gives the Father great glory. What is this thing? This thing is man.
Man is a special gift of the Father to His Son.
It is not the angels. It is not the heaven. It is not the earth. It is not the living creatures. It is not the massive mountains or the oceans. No. The special gift of God to His Son is man.
Why is it so? It is because God created man in His image and according to His likeness. Of all the things that God has created, only man is created with the capacity of receiving God’s very life.
Man is created with the purpose that he may be a companion of Christ, that the beloved Son, the only begotten Son of the Father, may be the firstborn among many brethren. That is the reason why man is a very special gift of the Father to the beloved Son.
Here you find Ephesians 1:
According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world.
Now, dear brothers and sisters, we need to remember that even before the foundation of the world—that is to say, even before the world was created—that brings us back to eternity past. God has chosen us.
Of course, we cannot fully understand how God chose us even before the foundation of the world. We do not know when the foundation of the world was laid. But we do know that when the foundation of the world was laid, no man was there yet. And yet God has chosen us before the world’s foundation in His beloved Son.
He chose us that we should be holy and blameless before Him in love.
You know, He has chosen us before the foundation of the world not merely that we may fill up the open spaces in heaven. He has chosen us before the foundation of the world that we might be holy and blameless before Him in love.
This matter of being holy and blameless is repeated again in Ephesians 5. Let us read a little more from Ephesians 5:25:
Husbands, love your own wives, even as the Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself up for it;
that He might sanctify it, having purified it by the washing of water by the word,
that He might present the church to Himself glorious,
not having spot or wrinkle or any of such things,
but that it might be holy and blameless.
Speaking individually, God has chosen each one of us in Christ Jesus before the foundation of the world, that we might be holy and blameless before Him in love.
Now think of that. Oftentimes, we think that we are so common. You know, the opposite of holy is common. Sometimes we think the opposite of holy is sin, but actually the opposite of sin is righteousness.
What God has for us is not only that we may not be contaminated or defiled with sin, but that we may even be holy—that is, uncommon, completely separated, wholly devoted—and blameless. There is nothing to blame. Of course, it has to be in love.
That is the will of God for us in Christ Jesus. Corporately speaking, of course, He refers to the church. The church is the body of Christ today. Our Lord, through the Holy Spirit, is purifying the church, sanctifying it by the washing of water with the Word, that one day He may present the church to Himself—a glorious church, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but holy and blameless. Why? Because this church is to be His bride. Think of that.
Having marked us out beforehand for adoption through Jesus Christ unto Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.
He has predestinated us. Now, oftentimes when you hear this doctrine of predestination, you may hear people say, “Now, you are predestinated to be saved, or you are predestinated to be lost.” If this is the case, then there is no need to preach the gospel, because if one is predestinated to be lost, no matter how the gospel is preached, he will be lost.
But we find this is not the truth in the Bible. In the Bible, we find what we are really predestinated for is sonship. We are predestinated for adoption—that is, for sonship—through Jesus Christ.
It is only through Jesus Christ the Son that we become many sons of God. It is unto God that we become sons, according to the good pleasure of His will. It is the good pleasure of God’s will.
I think it is so comforting, knowing that this predestination for sonship is the good pleasure of God’s will. If it depends upon us, we will never reach it. But it is God’s good pleasure, and it is through Jesus Christ that we may enter into sonship. This is the will of God for His people.
Then, in Galatians, we find it is said, “When the fulness of the time was come.”
Brother T. Austin-Sparks said sonship is the greatest mystery in the Old Testament. Why? Because it had been hidden through the ages. It was not revealed until the coming of the Lord Jesus.
In the fulness of time, God sent His Son into this world, come of woman, come under law, that He might deliver us from the bondage of the law, that we might receive sonship.
Sonship is something that our Lord Jesus came to this world to give. Oftentimes we think, “If only we can have our sins forgiven.” Thank God for that. If you were under the conviction of your sins, under the terribleness of a guilty feeling within you, and one day your sins are forgiven and you are free—how glorious that is!
You may think that is good enough, good enough for you. But it is not good enough for God, because God wants to give us sonship—not just to have our sins forgiven, or just to go to heaven, but to receive sonship. That is the very centre of the gospel and Christ’s salvation. He comes to give us sonship.
Sonship is something that we receive. It is grace.
Again, you find in Romans 8:
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
If you are led by the Spirit of God, then you are a son of God.
For ye have not received a spirit of bondage again for fear.
Once we received a spirit of bondage. Once we were under law, and that gave us fear. But now you find that you have not received a spirit of bondage again for fear. Why? Because you have received a spirit of sonship, whereby we cry, “Abba, Father.”
Do you know that the Spirit that you receive is the Spirit of sonship? Because it is the Spirit of sonship, it is so natural, so spontaneous, for you to cry out, “Abba, Father.”
The Spirit of God bears witness with our new spirit that we are children of God. If we are children of God, then we are heirs. There is an inheritance waiting for us—joint-heirs with Christ.
Christ is the heir of all things, and it is the pleasure of Christ to share His inheritance with us. So we become joint-heirs with Christ. But in order to be joint-heirs with Christ, there is a condition:
If indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified with Him.
Now, this is the eternal purpose of God. Let us sum it up again. What is the eternal purpose of God? The eternal purpose of God is His Son—that His Son may have all things.
In that eternal purpose, among all things, we are being chosen to be the companions of the Son, that He may be the firstborn among many brethren. Because of this, we are to share all that He has to share with us. It is His joy; it is His glory. He wants to share what the Father has given to Him with us, that we may be joint-heirs with Christ and may receive sonship, as He is the Son.
Now, this is the purpose of God. Let us step over time and go to eternity to come. What do we find in eternity to come?
In eternity past, we see God’s purpose. Then, in eternity to come, we see realisation or possession. Whatever God has purposed, He will do it.
You remember Isaiah 46:11, the last part:
Yea, I have spoken, I will also bring it to pass;
I have purposed it, I will also do it.
God said, “I have spoken; I will also bring it to pass.” Never is there a word of God that has been spoken without being brought to pass. In other words, every word of God will be fulfilled. “I have purposed it,” God says, “and I will also do it.” There is nothing that can stand in the way of God’s purpose. Thank God for that. He will perform it. He will do it.
You find the same thing in the New Testament, in 1 Thessalonians 5:24:
Faithful is He Who calleth you, Who will also perform it.
God is faithful. He has called you, and He will perform it. Remember, you are called to sonship, and He will perform it. That is to say, He will bring you into sonship. Thank God for that.
Now, concerning the Son, the only begotten, the beloved of the Father, what will happen in the future when the end shall come and eternity shall be ushered in? What will happen to Him?
Of course, we know in the Psalms there are two psalms that prophesy, in a sense, what will happen to the Son. When you read Psalm 2, we will not read the whole psalm, but only a few verses.
Yet I have anointed My King upon Zion, the hill of My holiness.
Ask of Me, and I will give Thee the nations for Thine inheritance,
and for Thy possession the ends of the earth.
In other words, you find that in the days to come, at the end, God will anoint—and God has already anointed—His Son to be the King of kings and the Lord of lords. He is to receive the whole earth as His inheritance.
Then again, in Psalm 110:
The Lord shall send forth the rod of Thy strength out of Zion:
rule Thou in the midst of Thine enemies.
The Lord hath sworn, and will not repent:
Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.
We find that our Lord Jesus will not only be the King, the King of kings, but He will also be the Priest, the Priest of priests. He will be the High Priest after the order of Melchizedek.
Kingship and priesthood are included in sonship. Sonship includes priesthood and kingship.
Can you go to Revelation? When you go to Revelation, the last scene that is revealed to us is eternity to come. You find that in that holy city, the New Jerusalem, there is no temple, for God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple.
Again, you find that the throne of God and of the Lamb will be set in the midst of that city. You see the temple there; you see the throne there. In other words, the Son is the temple, and the Son is the throne. The throne belongs to Him; the temple belongs to Him. He is the King and He is the Priest. He has inherited everything. He has entered into the fulness of sonship that God has ordained for Him.
Now, that is for our Lord Jesus. How about us? In Hebrews 2:10:
For it became Him, for Whom are all things, and by Whom are all things,
in bringing many sons unto glory,
to make perfect the Author of their salvation through sufferings.
Here you find it is God’s will that His beloved Son will lead many sons into glory.
In Revelation 19, we find that the marriage feast of the Lamb has come, and blessed are those who are invited. Then you find that he who overcomes shall inherit these things. They shall be sons to God. They shall have the name of God upon their foreheads, they shall serve Him forever, and they shall reign forever.
So, in other words, you find that in eternity to come, as the Son enters into the full realisation of His sonship, that is the time that we also shall receive the fulness of sonship in Christ Jesus.
Now, having laid this foundation, we would like to illustrate it from some illustrations in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament there are many, many illustrations that illustrate this sonship to us. Again, we say that in Old Testament times it was a mystery. People did not know it, but the principles were already there. It was not until Christ had come that the mystery was revealed.
First of all, we will take Jacob: Jacob and sonship.
When you read the story of Jacob, you find there is one thing that is central to his life, and that is the birthright. Birthright is sonship.
There is one thing that you find Jacob desired more than anything else. His brother, the firstborn, Esau, despised his birthright. He thought nothing of the birthright. He was willing to give up his birthright for just a bowl of soup.
But Jacob, you find, even in the mother’s womb, was fighting for that birthright. He wanted to come out first. Jacob loved the birthright, or loved sonship. I believe this is the reason why God said, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
Usually, I think everyone who reads the story of these two brothers always sympathises with Esau. We always think that Esau is a better man, but Jacob is a twister. Yet God said, “I love Jacob; I hate Esau.” There must be a reason.
I believe the reason is here: because Jacob loved sonship, and that is the will of God, the eternal purpose of God. He was in line with God’s eternal purpose. That is the reason why God said, “I love Jacob.”
Esau, on the other hand, despised the birthright. He thought nothing of it. He was willing to give it up. God hated Esau because he despised the birthright.
What is the birthright? According to Deuteronomy 21:17, we find that the firstborn among the children of Israel was to have a double portion of all the inheritance.
Suppose a man has three sons. When he divides his inheritance among his sons, every one of his sons will get a portion of the inheritance, but the firstborn will have two portions—a double portion.
That is not all. According to tradition, the firstborn is the priest of the family. He is to perform all the priestly functions in the family. He is also given a large degree of rule, if I may use that term, over his younger brothers.
This is the reason why you find David, at one time, because Saul was hostile to him, did not appear at a festival table. David was Saul’s son-in-law and was supposed to be there, but he was afraid to be present. So he spoke with Jonathan, his friend, Saul’s son, and said, “Just try to tell your father that my elder brother commanded me to go home, because we have a festival in our home and I must go.”
That shows that the firstborn had certain authority over the younger brothers. David could use that as an excuse, and it was an acceptable excuse. So the firstborn in a family is not only heading the priesthood, but he also has some measure of kingship.
In the blessing that Jacob received from his father Isaac, you find that it was a blessing not only physical, but also spiritual; not only earthly, but also heavenly. When Jacob, by deception, got the blessing from his father, you remember his father said that he might have the dew of the heavens and the fatness of the earth, that he might rule over the peoples, and that his brothers would bow before him. He had dominion. That is kingship.
So sonship, or the right of the firstborn—the birthright—is what the Bible means by the birthright. Jacob, in getting the birthright, would not only receive a double portion of his father’s property, but he would continue in the covenant that God had covenanted with Abraham and with Isaac. He would be the receiver of the covenant of God with his fathers.
That is what the birthright, or sonship, really means. No wonder Jacob, having an idea of what that was, longed for it.
Now, it is true that he got the birthright by deception, and he got the blessing by deception. God was not happy with the deception. God was pleased with his love for sonship, with his love for the blessing of the firstborn, but God was very displeased with the method that he used.
For this reason, we find that Jacob had to flee from his home. He was a fugitive, a stranger, a sojourner, a wanderer, in a sense, for twenty long years.
During those twenty long years, you find how God dealt with him by putting him together with his uncle and father-in-law, Laban. Laban was a mirror to him. Jacob did not know himself, so God put Laban before him. In Laban, he began to see what he was.
It took twenty long years for him to gradually realise who he was. Even at the very last, you find that at Peniel he was face to face with God. The Angel of the Lord came and wrestled with him, and he would not give in. He was so strong until finally the Angel had to touch his thigh, and he was crippled.
So he just wrapped himself around the Angel and said, “Bless me. I will not let You go until You bless me.” Before that, he could bless himself, but now he knew that he could no longer bless himself. He asked the Angel of the Lord to bless him.
The Angel said, “What is your name?” Jacob. As our brother already mentioned, he began to fully realise who he was: Jacob, the twister, the deceiver. He was willing to give up himself, and God changed his name to Israel, a prince with God.
We know discipline continued on in his life. God was perfecting him. God was bringing him into sonship. God was making him a son.
Finally, in his old age, you find he was brought into such spiritual stature that he was able to bless even Pharaoh, the first one in the world. Egypt at that time was the first nation in the world, and Jacob was able to bless even Pharaoh.
The Bible says it is the greater who blesses the lesser. Jacob was greater than Pharaoh. He had reached spiritual stature. He became a prophet. He prophesied of the future of his sons. He became a worshipper of God. He leaned upon his staff and worshipped God.
Dear brothers and sisters, there you find in Jacob the love for sonship, and how God used discipline to bring him into sonship, and how finally he arrived at such stature.
Of course, the principles apply to us today too. Dear brothers and sisters, unless we have a love for sonship, we will be passed over. Oh, that God will give us such a love for sonship.
Do not try to get there by your carnal, fleshly ways, because if you do, you will only be disciplined more. Thank God, even discipline is for sonship.
There is no son whom the Father will not chasten, will not discipline. If you are not disciplined, you are a bastard; you are not a real son. He disciplines us that we may be partakers of His divine nature.
This is the principle: first, a love for sonship. With the love for sonship, the Father will treat you as a son, and you will be disciplined. The word “discipline,” of course, really is child-training. He will train you that you may grow into stature, into maturity. Thank God, by His grace, you will arrive there.
The second illustration we would like to use is a corporate one: Israel as a nation.
You remember, in Exodus 4, when God sent Moses to Pharaoh, God had Moses tell Pharaoh, in Exodus 4:22:
Thus saith the Lord, Israel is My son, My firstborn:
and I have said unto thee, Let My son go, that he may serve Me;
and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, thy firstborn.
Of all the nations upon the earth, God in His sovereignty chose Israel to be His son, the firstborn.
In a sense, no wonder Pharaoh would not accept this statement. Why? Because Pharaoh thought he was the son, the firstborn, of all the nations. Egypt was the first of all nations, and he was the head of that nation. In a sense, he considered himself the son and the firstborn. Suddenly, he was challenged. He was told that Israel was God’s son and the firstborn. He would not accept it.
Satan will never accept that statement, whether you apply it to the nation Israel or whether you apply it to the church. Satan will never accept that thing. He is jealous over this subject.
Because of this, you find how he fought against this sonship. First, all the male children born to the Israelites were to be thrown into the River Nile and drowned.
When that was not successful, then he put all the men to hard labour, to build cities for him, to serve him, that they would not even have the strength to think about God, to think about God’s covenant, to think about God’s promise, or to think about this matter of God’s election.
Satan tried every means to kill the nation of Israel as the firstborn among the nations.
Because of this, you remember God said, “I will kill all the firstborn of Egypt, and all the firstborn of the nation of Israel belong to Me.” God delivered them out of Egypt.
Now, when God delivered them out of Egypt, it was not God’s purpose that they should merely come out of Egypt. God’s purpose in delivering them out of Egypt was to bring them into Canaan.
Canaan represents possession. Canaan represents sonship. It was God’s purpose that Israel should be the firstborn of all the nations. When they entered into Canaan, it was God’s will that they should be the first of the nations.
They should be a nation of priests. They should serve God as a nation, and they should go out to teach the nations the ways of God. That was sonship. That was God’s purpose.
But unfortunately, we find that they spent forty years in the wilderness. They should have been able to get into Canaan within two years, but they spent forty years wandering in the wilderness. Why? Because they did not believe God.
They did not believe in sonship. They despised sonship. They despised the land. They were afraid of the enemies that occupied the land. They did not believe in God.
God said, “I have given to you the land of Canaan as your possession.” God had already given it to them, but through unbelief they were not able to take it. The first generation died in the wilderness.
Thank God, through the second generation, that generation which did not depend upon themselves, God led them through Joshua into the promised land.
In Romans 9, Paul mentions all the privileges that the children of Israel had. Among them, in Romans 9:4, is the adoption. God had adopted Israel as His firstborn, and it means that they were to be the first of the nations.
Now, because the full fulfilment is yet to come, according to the Word of God we believe that when our Lord Jesus comes back again, so far as this earth is concerned, Israel shall become the firstborn of the nations.
If you read the prophecies in the Old Testament, you find how every vessel in Jerusalem—the earthly Jerusalem—will be holy, and how they will go out to teach the nations the way of God. Sonship.
The principles that we can learn from that are these. First of all, sonship is the one issue that the enemy, Satan, fights against throughout the ages.
One reason why you find the enemy is out to get the church, is out to destroy the church, is out to destroy us, is not because you are so important. It is because of sonship. He knows that God has given sonship to us, and he will try every means to hinder us from arriving at the placing of sons.
He will try to destroy us. If he cannot destroy us, he will try to put us to hard labour.
Many, when they hear the gospel, Satan will snatch away the seed. Their hearts are hard. He will not allow even the seed to fall into their hearts and grow and bear fruit.
Those who have received the Lord—you remember how he will allow the thorns and thistles to grow together, so that you may be so squeezed that you are not able to bear fruit.
Especially in our days, you find the pressure of the world upon believers, trying to take away your time, trying to take away your energy, trying to take away your heart from the Lord.
You will be so occupied with so many things that you have no time, no heart, no strength for the Lord. That is his effort to keep you from sonship.
Oftentimes, we find that our flesh is an ally to the enemy. We find how our flesh longs for the things that perish.
We find how we do not believe in God, even though God has shown us in such clear ways that He is the living God, that He is with us. He has supplied us with heavenly food. He has supplied us with heavenly drink. The pillar of fire and the cloud go all the way with us. That is to say, the Holy Spirit dwells in us, and He is leading us through our wilderness journey. He is here with us.
But oftentimes we find we do not believe. We begin to say, “Is God with us? Where is God?”
Because of unbelief, many may just fall in the wilderness. They are not able to arrive at sonship as they should. Time is the opportunity. But thank God, eventually He will get us there by His grace.
Finally, we would like to use another illustration: David.
David was not the firstborn of Jesse. Jesse had eight sons, and David actually was the last one. But God chose David among his brothers, making him the first of the family.
God said:
I have found David, a man after Mine own heart, and he shall do all My will.
Think of David. Why was David chosen among his brethren? Because God said David had a heart. David had a heart toward Him.
Even though David was actually neglected by his father and despised by his brethren, he was sent to tend a few sheep in the wilderness. Yet he had a heart for God.
When Samuel came to anoint one among the sons of Jesse to be king, his father did not even bother to get David back from the field, because his father thought David would never be chosen. He did not have the appearance. Men look at appearance, but God looks upon the heart.
God chose David, and he was anointed.
After he was anointed, I believe that when he mentioned later on how, when he was tending the sheep, a lion came and a bear came and snatched a sheep, and David said, “I rose and smote it, and delivered it,” it was under the anointing of God that David did this.
But nobody knew about it, and David never advertised it. Not only did his brethren not know about it; nobody knew it.
Finally, when the time came, that anointing was manifested in the killing of Goliath. He said, “In the name of the Lord, the God of hosts”—not in his own might, but in the name of God.
We would think that when he was manifested, surely he would be sent to the throne. But unfortunately, a wrong person was on the throne. David was hunted as a partridge. He was a fugitive, fleeing for his life for many years.
Until finally, God removed his enemy and put him on the throne. It was through David that God’s will was to be brought upon this earth. The glory of Israel is the glory we see in David, and, of course, in Solomon.
Now, brothers and sisters, what are the principles concerning sonship that we can learn from this? First of all, God does not look upon appearance. God looks upon the heart.
Dear brothers and sisters, men look at appearance, and because of this, we are careful about our appearance. In a sense, of course, we should not be too careless about it. But, on the other hand, God looks upon the heart. It is the heart that God really looks at.
What about our heart? Is our heart divided? Is our heart pure toward God?
David had a perfect heart toward God. By “perfect” here, it does not mean that David was perfect. We find in Scripture that David was not perfect. But he had a perfect heart toward God.
It is possible to have a perfect heart toward God, and yet you are not sinlessly perfect. No one is sinlessly perfect. But thank God, you may have a perfect heart. A perfect heart simply means that your heart is all toward God.
It is true that sometimes David may have been tempted and fallen, but his heart was all toward God. That is what God is looking for. Is our heart toward Him, as our brother mentioned last night? Do we love what God loves? Is our heart set upon that which God’s heart is set upon?
David knew God’s heart. So far as David’s relationship with God was concerned, it was a heart-to-heart relationship. He knew God’s heart. He knew how God wanted to dwell among His people. That is the reason why you find he wanted to build God a house.
That touched God’s heart very deeply, very deeply. God even revealed to him the pattern of the temple, even though he was not allowed to build it because he was a man of war and had shed too much blood.
But anyway, you find that first of all, in this matter of sonship, it is a matter of heart.
Dear brothers and sisters, how true it is. Jeremiah 17 says that our heart is deceitful above all things. It is so deceitful that it may not only deceive other people, but first of all it deceives ourselves. In other words, we do not know our own heart.
How are we to know our heart? The only way to know our heart is to let the Lord examine it. You remember in Psalm 139, it says:
Search me, O God, and know my heart:
try me, and know my thoughts:
and see if there be any wicked way in me,
and lead me in the way everlasting.
Oh, brothers and sisters, how we need to cry to the Lord to examine our heart. Do not try to examine your heart yourself, because if you try to examine your own heart, you will be deceived.
Either you think you are better than you really are, or you think you are worse than you really are. Either it will lift you up beyond what you are, or it will put you down into depression. So do not try to analyse yourself. You cannot do it.
Just present your heart before the Lord and say, “Lord, here is my heart. I want to give my heart to You. Examine it and keep it for Your sake.”
Secondly, David was anointed. In other words, without the power of the Holy Spirit, we will never be able to enter into sonship.
Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord.
This is true in the matter of sonship. It is by the power of the Holy Spirit that we are able to enter into what sonship involves and really means.
But do not think that because you have the anointing, therefore you will be on the throne. Because you have the anointing, you will be persecuted. You will suffer.
As we find in Romans 8, if we suffer with Him, then we shall reign with Him too. So, brothers and sisters, here in King David we can learn these principles of sonship.
Finally, just one word: what God has for us in Christ Jesus is far greater beyond what we ever think or know. It is sonship.
May the Lord create in us a desire for sonship. May we not just sit back and say, “Well, thank God I am saved. I will go to heaven anyway.”
But may we have that desire for sonship. We want to press on toward sonship. We want God, by His grace, through the power of the Holy Spirit, to lead us into that sonship.
If that means discipline, chastening, child-training—if it may involve suffering—when we think of the sufferings, they are so temporary, so short, so light an affliction, when compared with the eternal glory that is to be our inheritance. These things do not really matter.
So may the Lord have mercy upon us. Shall we pray?