Well, dear brothers and sisters, we hope this morning is not a mental exercise, but that God would turn it into a spiritual exercise. By the grace of God, we hope that these intellectual questions will become our spiritual experience. Christ is the answer, and that we may come into a more intimate, living, real fellowship with Him is the purpose of this time.
I was given three questions. Two are related to our theme, but one is a general one. I will try to answer them briefly by the grace of God.
The first question is: What is the distinction between a slave, son, and steward?
We are not referring to three different classes of people. When we are talking about a slave, or bondservant, a son, and a steward, we are talking about one and the same person. These are descriptions of different aspects of our relationship with our Lord.
Our Lord gave Himself for us. He bought us with a price. Salvation is more than just getting saved out of hell and into heaven. Salvation is such that we are saved to be no longer our own, but His. We are all bought with a price. We are all slaves, as it were—in a good sense—bondservants of Christ Jesus.
We have no liberty of ourselves, no right to our lives. We are His, and our whole life is supposed to be the life of a bondslave. We love Him. We love His household. We will not go out free, but we want to be with Him and serve Him with all our hearts. That is our relationship with Him so far as redemption is concerned.
Thank God, we are not only slaves, but we are sons, because by the grace of God we are born from above. We have His very life within us, and this life is supposed to grow from children into sons.
For all who are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
—Romans 8:14
In our lives, we need to be led by the Spirit of God. If we are not led by the Spirit of God in our daily life, we remain babes in Christ. As babes in Christ, we can never be stewards of the mysteries of God.
Thank God, this life grows within us. It grows from childhood into manhood. A son means that the life God has given to us has matured. This speaks of our life relationship with the Lord.
As His life matures in us, in that measure comes the measure of our responsibility—our stewardship. That is when we are able to fulfill responsibility as stewards of the grace of God, as well as the mysteries of God.
So, brothers and sisters, these three are closely related. They can be distinguished, but they cannot be separated. You are not just a bondslave, not just a son, but also a steward. That is what we all are. Thank God for that.
The next question is: How does this relate to eternal security? Please provide Scriptures.
I think a number of people are concerned with this matter of eternal security. We want to be secure, not only for this life but also for eternity. Thank God, eternal security is something God has promised us.
Eternal security is not in us. If it were in us, we would never be secure. But thank God, eternal security is God’s eternal purpose for us.
You remember Romans 8:29–30:
For whom He foreknew, He also foreordained to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren:
and whom He foreordained, them He also called:
and whom He called, them He also justified:
and whom He justified, them He also glorified.
And then, in Romans 11:29:
For the gifts and the calling of God are not repented of.
Our eternal security is rooted in the eternal purpose of God. Can you have anything more secure than that?
It is God’s good pleasure. It is according to His foreknowledge that He has predestinated us to be conformed to the image of His beloved Son. Whom He has called, He has justified; and whom He has justified, He has glorified. It is His gift, and it is His calling. His gift and calling have no repentance.
God is not like a child who gives his toys to a friend when he feels friendly, then wants everything back when he feels unfriendly. This is not our God. Once He gives a gift, it is forever. When He has called us, He will keep us. So thank God, eternal security is in God, not in you or me.
Furthermore, eternal security is the grace of God. Ephesians 2:8 says:
For by grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.
If it is the grace of God, it does not depend upon our behavior. If we behave well, He saves us; if we do not behave well, He takes away salvation—that is man, not God. We are secure in the grace of God.
Finally, we are secure in God’s almighty power. John 10:28–29 says:
And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of My hand.
My Father, who hath given them unto Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.
With God the Son and God the Father holding us, we are secure. So, dear brothers and sisters, thank God for eternal security.
You also have this matter of inheritance. Inheritance is one of the biggest subjects in the Bible. We could spend a whole week on this matter, so we are not able to deal with it fully this morning.
Let me quote Acts 26:18. This is the Lord Jesus’ commission to Saul on the road to Damascus:
To open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive remission of sins and an inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith in Me.
Here we find that we not only receive remission of sins; we have our sins forgiven. Thank God for that. So far as we as persons are concerned, we are redeemed. But also, we are given an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Him.
We are like Ruth. Our Kinsman-Redeemer comes not only to redeem our inheritance, but even to redeem our fallen man. Thank God for that. This matter of inheritance is wonderful.
Ephesians 1:13–14 says:
In whom ye also, having heard the word of the truth, the glad tidings of your salvation,—in whom, having also believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,
which is an earnest of our inheritance, unto the redemption of God’s own possession, unto the praise of His glory.
And Ephesians 1:18 says:
Having the eyes of your heart enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.
Christ is our inheritance, and our portion falls in a good place. Wonderful.
But the Bible also says that we are the inheritance of Christ. Christ, our inheritance, is glorious; and we have Him as our inheritance. But think of this: we become His inheritance, and also the glory of His inheritance. His glory transforms us. So wonderful.
This matter of stewardship and inheritance is closely related. If we are faithful and prudent stewards, we will inherit with our Lord Jesus during the coming kingdom, the millennial age, to reign and rule with Christ for a thousand years.
If we are unfaithful and foolish—if we think we can have a good time in our lives, refuse to be disciplined, and refuse to suffer for Christ’s sake—will we lose our inheritance? Yes and no.
We will lose our inheritance in the age to come, that is, the millennial age. Instead of coming into the banquet of the marriage feast of the Lamb, we may be shut out into darkness, gnashing our teeth and regretting what we have done foolishly.
But thank God, this is not punishment; this is discipline. And discipline is unto maturity. Somehow, what God has purposed for us, in spite of us, grace will finish the work. In eternity, we shall all inherit the heavenly Jerusalem. Wonderful.
On the one hand, we need to be comforted; on the other hand, we need to be warned. For the sake of a few years, can you forfeit the glory of a thousand years? Is it worth it?
The next question is: Is sonship related to stewardship? Is one necessary before the other?
Sonship and stewardship go together. When you are a mature son, that means you are in stewardship. If we are faithful in that which is not ours, He will give us that which is our own to keep. If we are faithful in the little, He will give us much.
These two things are very closely related. In the measure of sonship is the measure of stewardship.
The third question is a general one: How can I spend more time with God? I try to do it, but I always fail. How do you remember to spend time with God?
When you read this question, on the one hand you think that this brother or sister wants to have some time with God. But the last part says, “How do you remember to spend time with God?” If something can be forgotten so quickly, it means that you do not really want it very eagerly.
I think the whole question is deeper than that. It is not merely a matter of spending time with the Lord. It is a matter of your consecration. It is a matter of your priority.
Have you really given yourself totally, without reserve, according to all that you know?
Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.
—Romans 12:1
Have you done that? Are you doing it?
If that is the case, then all your time is the Lord’s. He is the priority. He has the first of your time. If He is first in your time, it is very easy to find time to be with Him.
Here is a deeper question. May the Lord help us, that we may be those who are totally committed to Him.
On behalf of my other two brothers, I would like to thank those brothers and sisters who thought about and took the time to ask questions. Some of you know that this is not my favorite time, because I have so many questions that I need answers to. I would rather be on the asking end than the answering end.
I have taken the questions given to me and put them together in such a way that we have three matters to fellowship about.
The first question is: How do you forgive unlovable, impossible people? How do you love them?
I feel like I have to take some responsibility for this question, because many times I have made the statement about God putting impossible people in our lives. So how do we love them? How do we forgive them?
Well, brothers and sisters, our God has provided a completely adequate salvation, and He wants to conform us to His own character. Maybe whoever wrote this question should ask another question before asking this one: How could God love me?
I think that may be the real question that needs an answer. In this matter of forgiving and loving one another, when we point our finger at other people, we need to notice that there are three fingers pointing right back at us.
Many times, the difficulties we are having with other people are the same difficulties people are having with us. The Lord uses these situations, in His mercy, to draw attention to things in our lives that we are unwilling to face.
The only way I know that we can faithfully forgive and manifest this laying-down-of-our-lives love—this selfless, sacrificing concern and burden and love for other people—is that we have to find our source someplace other than ourselves.
In Romans 5, Paul says:
The love of God hath been shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy Spirit which was given unto us.
—Romans 5:5
This resource for forgiving and loving others has to be the resource poured into us.
One evening, we shared about the water tanks that people in Brazil use to supply water for their houses. Our hearts need to be that water tank. If we allow the Holy Spirit to continue His work, He will keep the level of that love at such a measure that there will be abundant supply for everybody the Lord brings into our lives.
The issue is whether we, by faith, are going to begin to put this into practice. There are many Scriptures that address this matter of forgiving.
Our Lord Jesus teaches us in Matthew 6 to pray:
Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
—Matthew 6:12
Many times the problem rests in us because we are not experiencing God’s forgiveness—not because it is not available, but because the door has been locked by our unwillingness to forgive those who have sinned against us.
Even among us as the Lord’s people, would it not be wonderful if we never sinned against one another? But I have to say to you, my dear brothers and sisters, the deepest hurt I have ever experienced from another human being came from my brothers and sisters.
Why? Because we open up our lives to one another. We make ourselves vulnerable. Sometimes people take advantage of that vulnerability, and we get deeply hurt. Here is an opportunity for us to practice, in practical ways, loving others in the same way that He has loved us.
John 13 says:
A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; even as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
—John 13:34
If we allow a blockage where we do not extend forgiveness to our brothers and sisters, and even to people who are not believers, we imprison ourselves. My little bit of experience has taught me that many of God’s dear people are imprisoned by an unwillingness to forgive—especially their mothers and fathers.
Even if they are no longer living, you need to forgive them. You will discover a freedom of being set free that you did not realize you were imprisoned by.
There is grace. There is an abundant supply. It is by faith. Sometimes it can be helpful, in a very practical way, to take a piece of paper, write the person’s name at the top, and make a list of all the ways they have sinned against you.
Then, when you are finished, write over the top of it: “In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I forgive.” Tear it up and throw it away. I think this sends a signal that we are serious about this matter.
But we need to maintain this forgiveness even after taking that first step. Please, my brothers and sisters, let us remember and remind each other that this is the one thing that characterizes us as disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ: we love one another.
One of the main ways we manifest this love is in forgiving in the same way that He forgives. In essence, we can say with Galatians 2:20:
I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me.
—Galatians 2:20
I love, but not I—Christ loves through me. I forgive, but not I—it is His forgiveness, His life, enabling us to forgive. Let us all be encouraged. His grace is sufficient.
The second matter has to do with sin. Two people wrote questions, and I am trying to put them together. One question asks: If sin is washed away by the blood and remembered no more, what about standing before the Lord in judgment for every idle word?
The other asks: Is it possible to live a sin-free life while still physically alive? If the old self is dead, why do we still sin?
My heart rejoices when, by the help of the Holy Spirit, I come to some understanding of this great salvation God has provided for us. When His Son on the cross said, “It is finished,” the Greek word is tetelestai. It is completed. Nothing else needs to be added to it.
Everything that needs to be done, everything that you and I need to experience in order to become the people God desires us to be—conformed to the image of His Son—has been richly and abundantly supplied through the death of our Lord Jesus Christ.
When our Lord Jesus shed His blood on that cross, the writer of Hebrews tells us that He took the blood He shed into the very holy place of God and sprinkled it upon the mercy seat.
For God to forgive any of us, regardless of what kind of sin, there is only one way that a righteous God can righteously forgive our unrighteousness: He has to look at that blood. When He does, He makes a decision to forgive, to forget, and to have our sins removed from us as far as the east is from the west.
That is one wonderful aspect of salvation. But Hebrews calls it a great salvation. It would be an inadequate salvation if God did not provide a way for us to stop sinning. It is true that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sins, but it is not God’s heart that we, as His children, go on sinning.
This is the problem Paul addresses at the end of Romans 5 and into Romans 6. Where sin abounded, grace superabounded. God’s grace overwhelms and overcomes sin.
But Paul goes on to say in Romans 6:
What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid.
—Romans 6:1–2
How can those who have died to sin continue to live in it?
God has provided a way. What kind of sinner does not sin? A dead one. But you cannot crucify yourself. God’s salvation was to put you and me as sinners in Christ. He became sin for us, and He put us in Himself. When He was crucified, we were crucified with Him.
This is how we need not be victimized by sin. First John tells us:
Whosoever is begotten of God doeth no sin, because His seed abideth in him; and he cannot sin, because he is begotten of God.
—1 John 3:9
Our Lord Jesus did not sin because He did not have a sinful nature. He had the very nature of God. That life dwelt in Jesus of Nazareth and enabled Him to live an absolutely sinless life. Otherwise, there would be no atonement.
It is not only a negative matter—that the old man is crucified—but, hallelujah, on the positive side, the same life that enabled our Lord Jesus to live a sinless life has now been placed in you and in me. We have been born of God.
God has taken His own life—eternal life, resurrection life, overcoming-sin life—and put it in us. Now we have the opportunity and responsibility to learn to live in the reality of this.
In regard to sin, we need to be educated. Paul says in Romans 6, “Knowing this.” But what if you do not know it? You have not been educated about it.
Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away.
—Romans 6:6
I can tell you for myself: I went for thirteen years totally ignorant. I worked hard to stop sinning. But then, by God’s mercy, He began to show me Romans 6.
We need to learn how to put our foot on the throat of that old Adamic nature and keep him in that death position. Some of us have strongholds in our lives. But we need to see by revelation, and then put into practice, the reality that the old Adamic nature is a sin factory. The only thing it can produce is sin.
But hallelujah, the salvation of God has provided a way. By putting us in Christ, when He was crucified, we were crucified with Him. Now we need to make it a reality by reckoning that old man to be dead—considering him to be dead.
None of us were there when our Lord Jesus was crucified. How do you know He died for your sins? Because Romans 3 tells you. But three chapters later, in the same book, it tells us that we died with Him. It is the gospel. It is the same message of salvation.
If we do not enter into that fullness, we do not experience overcoming sin. The only way possible is to discover the indwelling Christ as our life: Christ, who is my life. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. What a marvelous salvation, brothers and sisters, to be set free from this.
Now, what about standing in judgment if our sins are forgiven and covered by the blood of Jesus?
Revelation 20 tells us about the great white throne judgment. At this judgment, God will bring every human being before Him, and each one must give an account for the sins he has committed.
But I have wonderful news for us this morning: when you and I believed in the Lord Jesus, our appointment for that judgment was cancelled. Hallelujah! We do not have to go to that one.
But there is still a judgment: the judgment seat of Christ. Second Corinthians 5 says:
For we must all be made manifest before the judgment-seat of Christ; that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he hath done, whether it be good or bad.
—2 Corinthians 5:10
This has nothing to do with our eternity, forgiveness, or justification. It has to do with stewardship. We are going to be judged as stewards: How did you do with what you were given?
Our Lord Jesus is going to return and establish His kingdom on this earth. He is going to reign for a thousand years. It is in His heart for every one of us to join Him in ruling and reigning for that thousand years, but it is conditional.
Before you can be placed in a position of responsibility in the millennial kingdom, you must stand before His judgment seat and be examined: Have you been faithful?
Think of the responsibility of reigning with Him and governing this world for a thousand years. What kind of people does He want? What kind of people do we need to be to be placed in such a position? We need to be trustworthy. He needs to be able to trust us with responsibility.
Suppose a pilot said, “I learned very well how to get this airplane off the ground. I studied diligently. But the day they taught us how to land it, I was tired and decided not to go to class.” How many of you would stay on that plane? He knows how to get it in the air, but he does not know how to bring it down.
Think about the responsibility that will be given to us: to reign with our Lord Jesus and share in His government of this world for a thousand years. If you have not learned how to land the plane, He is not going to give you that responsibility.
But I want to underline this again: by the grace of God, I am what I am. Our heavenly Father has supplied adequately all that we will ever need in order for us to be placed in that position of responsibility when our Lord comes back.
Let us put ourselves in a place where we become good receivers of that grace. Receive grace upon grace—grace for everything. Know that it is only in our Lord Jesus Christ, by the Holy Spirit, that you and I can ever be faithful stewards.
We have to learn to know the indwelling Christ. This is what I understand to be the grace of God.
I want to go back to something where I think I created a problem. Surprised? No. I am the troubler of Israel. I do not mean to be, but that is the way it works out sometimes.
The question is: You mentioned that God’s work of building us together into a marvelous masterpiece is greater than the work of salvation or creation. Can you expound on that?
Let us turn to three Scriptures. Ephesians 2:10:
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God afore prepared that we should walk in them.
Ephesians 3:10:
To the intent that now unto the principalities and the powers in the heavenly places might be made known through the church the manifold wisdom of God.
And Ephesians 5:26–27:
That He might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the washing of water with the word,
that He might present the church to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing;
but that it should be holy and without blemish.
I mentioned that, in my estimation, this work Paul is talking about in Ephesians 2—the masterpiece of God—is the church of our Lord Jesus Christ. In Ephesians 5, we see that the body of Christ becomes the bride of Christ.
But, my dear brothers and sisters, she has to be very special before the marriage can be consummated. He has to be able to look at her and only see Himself.
This is much bigger than our own personal experience of salvation. It is much bigger than you and me being conformed individually to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is greater even than creation.
The psalmist says that the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows His handiwork. It is beautiful handiwork, but it is not God’s masterpiece, as wonderful as it is. Even our own personal salvation is not God’s masterpiece, although it required something unbelievable.
The only way we could ever experience God’s salvation was that God took His own precious Son and crushed Him. When our Lord Jesus was on the cross dying, this was God’s Lamb. He was doing the sacrificing, and it was His own Son.
You and I will never know what both of Them suffered when He said, “It is finished,” and remained obedient unto death. We will never be able to understand it, but that does not mean we cannot appreciate and experience what is ours because of it.
In Ephesians, Paul is talking about God’s masterpiece. The word “workmanship” is poiēma, from which we get the word “poem.” A person may have great gifts to do wonderful things, but at some point produces something beyond anything previously imagined. This is his masterpiece.
The church, as I understand it, is God’s masterpiece: taking us as we are, conforming us to the image of Christ, building us together, and presenting us to the Son as His bride.
Think about our inheritance and His inheritance. God gave us the best He had—the absolute best. What is He going to give to His Son? The absolute best.
She has to be without spot, wrinkle, blemish, or any such thing. Can we even begin to imagine what has to happen for the Lord to take us and build us together into a unit, so that the Lord Jesus can look at her and only see Himself?
He can repeat what Adam said when he saw Eve:
This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh.
—Genesis 2:23
He can look at her and see Himself.
I do not know what word we would use to describe that, but I think Paul found the right word: a masterpiece of God.
Think that we are the material. He took us in a hopeless state, put the life of His Son in us, put us through experiences to produce the character of His Son, gave us responsibility, gifts, and grace as members of the body of Christ—and we are His coworkers.
This is much more than being forgiven of your sins. It is even more than being conformed to the image of His Son. It is being built together with others who are in the same process.
To me, this is the eternal purpose of God: taking the most unlikely people on the face of the earth, apprehending them by His love, putting the life of His Son in them, sending the Holy Spirit to produce the character of Christ, and then building them together.
Do you see why body life is so important? It is not optional. We postpone this wedding by our failure to be the functioning members we have been called to be.
I want to encourage us. When you go back, ask the Lord to show you your place of function. Take the grace to be faithful in it. Then you will be a coworker with God in getting the bride ready. God bless us.
Three questions as well. The first comes from 1 Peter 4, where I shared on being stewards of the manifold grace of God.
We looked at 1 Peter 4:1–13, but stopped short of verse 17. The question is: In view of 1 Peter 4:7 and the following context, what is the relevance of verse 17 in these last days for the church?
First Peter 4:7 says:
But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore of sound mind, and be sober unto prayer.
And 1 Peter 4:17 says:
For the time is come for judgment to begin at the house of God: and if it begin first at us, what shall be the end of them that obey not the gospel of God?
Peter, as an apostle with stewardship and oversight over the church as a whole, realizes that much going on in the church is drawing the judgment of God. It is a very sober assessment.
Peter may have been the most outgoing of the apostles, perhaps with the best smile of the group, and a winsome evangelist. But the Lord worked a depth into his life where he became very sober. He tells us to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt us in due time.
As Peter looks at the church, raised up in the life of Christ, he sees some losing their light, testimony, and faithfulness. He sees that judgment has already begun to move in the house of God.
There are many ways of looking at the church. We can say, “How good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity,” and we would not be far off the mark. I enjoy being together with the saints. It is refreshing, especially when the saints are alive and love the Lord.
But there is a much larger context involved. May I be honest with you and say that the church, as a whole, is under the judgment of God. We are part of every brother and sister who is born again.
The church has fallen into great disrepair. This disrepair affects not only those involved in churches that have abandoned moral foundations or do not believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It affects us as well. We are members of all brothers and sisters in Christ, and we feel the effect of it.
Some of our own traditions are part of the darkness of the church’s history. For example, when people hear “stewardship Sunday,” they may think, “Uh-oh, the pastor is trying to get something out of me. Ten percent is Yours, but ninety percent is mine.”
But stewardship should immediately make us think, “Everything is the Lord’s. Lord, what do You want?” The Lord, in His judgment, is not judging because He is fed up. Quite to the contrary, He is judging us in order to discipline us and perfect us.
Consider 1 Corinthians 11:28–32, in the context of breaking bread together:
But let a man prove himself, and so let him eat of the bread, and drink of the cup.
For he that eateth and drinketh, eateth and drinketh judgment unto himself, if he discern not the body.
For this cause many among you are weak and sickly, and not a few sleep.
But if we discerned ourselves, we should not be judged.
But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world.
The Lord disciplines us when we begin to move from the mark. We have to admit that the Lord is reclaiming much. We may come together as the Lord’s people and think that because we know the Word, we are there and God must be pleased with us. He is pleased with us because we are the bride of the Lord, but there is much reclamation still to be done.
Thank God, the Lord disciplines us so that we do not enter into the judgment that would imply total dismissal. That is not the Lord’s heart. He is working.
I studied Isaiah over the last two years. One thing I saw was that, if you set your heart to be all the Lord wants you to be, even in the midst of discipline, you can see the end. In the midst of judgment statements in Isaiah, there was a remnant standing for God’s purpose.
They would say, “O Lord, rend the heavens, come down, do Your work, because we see that You will make Zion a glory in the earth.” They saw the end. So they said, “Lord, if You have to discipline us, go ahead, because we see the end.”
Brothers and sisters, see the end of all the discipline. When we feel death in our assembly because of independence, carnality, or whatever else, hold on to the end product.
Isaiah had Shear-jashub, whose name means, “A remnant shall return.” There he was, along with Maher-shalal-hash-baz, and I picture them praying together, believing that Zion would be a glory in the earth if they held on.
We are in a church under judgment. But part of the reason for that is so that those who are approved may be revealed—the overcomer who sees the end, who holds on to the Lord and will not let Him go until He blesses us.
In Revelation, when Jesus speaks to the seven churches, some are already in the midst of judgment. He warns them of lampstands being removed and sickness falling upon them. Why do we tremble at the mercy of the Lord?
God says, “I am not letting go of Israel. I am taking them through the mill, and when I am through with them, they will be part of all that I am doing. I never let My children go.”
How great are both the mercy and severity of the Lord. He means business. In this matter of judgment in the church, He means business. But if you are one who wants to overcome, if you are willing to go upstream in the midst of a downstream church, I want to give you a wonderful encouragement.
It is in the midst of judgment that you discover mercy. We always ask God for His mercy, but it is in the midst of judgment that you discover how merciful He really is.
He says, “I am caring for you like the apple of My eye. I have taken people through rivers, through waters, and through fires. Do not worry. You are Mine. I am with you. Stand in there.”
Judgment has begun in the house of God. Judgment has begun in our assemblies. Let us not be ignorant of that. The church is not getting higher and higher and better and better, but the Lord’s people are becoming more and more glorious as He disciplines us in hidden places.
Remember the end in view: a glorious church without spot or wrinkle. This is what the Lord has in view.
Another question concerns making mistakes and getting up to go on. What is the key to continuing after we stumble, fail, or disobey the Lord?
I want to mention three different reactions when we sin, stumble, or disobey.
The first reaction is found in the deconstituting stage of the self-life. That means we are Christians, but still quite reliant on ourselves. One reason it is hard to get back up when we stumble is that we are so surprised we made a mistake.
We are self-righteous at heart and self-confident because mommy and daddy trained us well: “Be good.” Then, even when we are out on our own, we continue being good. It really throws us when we find out that we are nasty and bad.
“How could this happen? I am almost perfect and ready to be raptured.” All I can say is that the Lord was not surprised at all. We have to go through that deconstituting stage, or we will always be dependent on ourselves.
Here is the bad news: you are going down. You are going to realize there is nothing good in you—that is, in your flesh. That truth will be writ large in the bathroom of your house.
The second kind of person who has a hard time getting back up is very sensitive to sin—perhaps oversensitive to sin. We have different temperaments. Some people have what I call “conscience-itis.” They always think they are doing wrong, even when they are not.
Their conscience is overloaded with, “How bad I am, how unworthy I am.” Of course, we have people on the other end of the scale—hardhearted people who do not even know when they sin and may even think their sin is right. God help us.
For the sin-conscious person, there is only one remedy: stay close to the Lord. Some people cannot even brush their teeth with ordinary toothpaste; they have to use Sensodyne. There are people whose consciences are very tender. Thank God for that.
The Lord has to strengthen your conscience so that you are not always guilty. But you need to stay close to the Lord. Confess your sins. Ask the Lord to forgive you. Hang in there with Him.
First John 1:9 says:
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Faith is believing that on the millionth application, that verse is still good.
If your sin seems worse than a simple verse and claim can handle, then lay hold of the High Priest Himself at the throne of grace. Grab His leg and say, “I will not let You go, Jesus. Please help me. Give me grace and mercy. I feel so bad about this. I feel like I have disqualified myself.”
Lay hold of Him. He is there. He does not want us to wallow in our sin, but to march on—even if through discipline—to march on.
The third person is someone who really loves the Lord and has a hard time getting back up because they are devastated that they did something displeasing to Him. God bless you if you are that way.
You love the Lord so much, and you fell. You cannot get up because you are devastated. “How could I have done that? How could I have dropped my charge? How could I have been a poor steward?”
If that is your condition, the Lord is dealing deeply in your life. There is a wonderful Scripture in 2 Corinthians 7 that is a consolation.
Sometimes a little remorse is good for us. I am not talking about some little sin, such as lying to your parents or dropping the ball when you were supposed to witness to someone. But when you have really done something wrong, there is regret.
If you have wasted years, it is true that the Lord can do something about it, but there may always be regret. Paul surely regretted what he did to those Christian brothers and sisters. Yet though the enemy tried to use that against him, he kept coming back to the grace of God.
He said, in effect, “I do not know why You chose me, Lord. I am the worst sinner there is, but I know You have chosen me. I take the application of Your blood and march forward. Satan is not going to stop me, despite anything I have done.”
Second Corinthians 7:9–10 says:
I now rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye were made sorry unto repentance; for ye were made sorry after a godly sort, that ye might suffer loss by us in nothing.
For godly sorrow worketh repentance unto salvation, a repentance which bringeth no regret: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.
There are many people in the world, as well as in the church, who are full of remorse and sorrow for what they have done. That is not the point the Lord is after. He wants you to repent. Get past the regret, go on, and be faithful to Him.
Get back up. Well, it is just as easy as that. Do not take yourself so seriously. Take the Lord really seriously, and be faithful to Him now.
The final question is: Is there a way that I can know that I will be ready for God when He comes back?
My brother Stephen already touched on it. The Bible says, “Watch and pray.” But people want that listed out: How long should I pray? Exactly how do I watch? Do I go to prophetic conferences?
How about this: when you see the signs around you, look up, because your redemption draws near. But no sign can make you confident that now is the time you have to be ready. You cannot know by looking at signs.
How about this: Do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together, especially as you see the day drawing near. But all ten virgins were in the same fellowship. Five were ready and five were not. We cannot go by that alone.
Perhaps we think we should just keep working for the Lord. But then we have Matthew 7: not everyone who says, “Lord, Lord,” nor everyone who prophesies and does many works, is necessarily approved. You cannot know you are ready merely because you are busy, busy, busy.
You cannot know how to get ready for the Lord, but you can know the Lord. Ah, and then you are ready.
Dear brothers and sisters, if you are wrestling with the Lord, following after the Lord, and even racing after the Lord like Paul, trying to lay hold of Him—if that is your heart—you gain the Lord.
You also gain the same assurance Paul had when he said that he was ready for the crown, that he had run the race and kept the faith. How could someone know that? Because he knows the Lord. He knows the Lord so well.
In the end, it is not about him. He knows that he has gained the Lord. Dear brothers and sisters, young and old, there is a discovery of the Lord just ahead around the bend for you. Keep following after Him.
The pursuit of Jesus never gets wearisome. There is always some new dimension to find. Be a pursuer after the Lord, and let all the other “How can I know?” matters take care of themselves. When He comes, you will be ready because you know Him.
We thank our brothers for sharing from those questions, and of course we thank the Lord for speaking through them. Let us join our hearts in a word of thanks and prayer.
Words are not sufficient. I do not know how to begin to thank You and thank the Lord for this weekend. Amazing love. Amazing grace. Amazing calling. What a call we have.
On behalf of the conference, I want to thank our three brothers for their willingness to be with us, to be before the Lord, and to receive His word for His people. We are not hearing man’s word. God is speaking to us.
These are serious times that we can spend together. I want to conclude with the same word I shared Friday afternoon, when we had that prayer at seven o’clock. I think we can all easily identify with Jacob. We are all Jacobs.
We know we are chosen. We are called. We kick all along the way. We are going to do it the whole way. But Jacob had one thing in his heart: he was determined to pursue God to the end, no matter what.
In spite of his many downfalls and his flesh, he was determined to gain God for himself. I pray that we all have prayed that prayer Jacob prayed that evening when he struggled with that Person:
I will not let Thee go, except Thou bless me.
—Genesis 32:26
And You change me. We are living in serious times. Time is short. We are blessed—very blessed—to hear timely words to prepare us for these last days.
It is not merely speaking words, but a timely word that the Lord wants us to hear for this time, so that He can get us through to the end. May the Lord help us all to be diligent and faithful to the end.
He is not asking for our talents or our gifts. He is asking for our heart. That is all He asks for, and He will do the rest.
Please pray with us as we seek the Lord’s direction for next year. Every year we struggle to come up with a theme. It is getting harder and harder. We wonder, “How high can we go? How much more? Where can we go?”
But the amazing thing is that there is always something more. We are so glad that we can be together. This question-and-answer time is a very unique feature of our conference, because our three brothers can share their hearts and clarify matters before us.
Let us press on. Do not let Him go until we are blessed. The blessing we ask for is the kind of blessing that conforms us to His beloved Son.
Our reward is that He can look at us and say, “You are faithful.” That is our reward. I do not want to hear anything else. I want to hear that word: “You have been found faithful.” That is everything.
That faithfulness is nothing other than Christ’s life lived out. To God be the glory. Let us pray.
Father, we cannot thank You enough. We are indeed blessed. What we are is all because of who You are.
We thank You that Your calling of us in Christ Jesus is irrevocable and that You are faithful to the end. Now You are calling us to have complete faith in You. What You have begun, You will surely finish.
Raise up many faithful stewards in many local assemblies, so that Your house may be built, Your people may be fed, and Your people may be prepared for that day. We can hardly wait. May we be ready.
We thank You again for this weekend, for the many brothers and sisters here, including those who are here for the first time and those who have come from far away. We thank You that we have found oneness in You.
What a testimony: You have one people. You have one work, which is to conform us to Your beloved Son. As we go our separate ways, we pray that we will go back with a further increase of Christ and challenged further to press on with You.
In the end, we want to give You all the praise and all the glory. In Christ’s name we pray. Amen.
Just two final announcements before we dismiss. Lunch begins early, at 11:30, so that you can eat before you leave. We will meet there at 11:30 for lunch.
There are still lost-and-found items at the hotel. I have one cell phone here with a picture of a couple of children wearing sunglasses. If that is familiar to you, please see me.
An important announcement about the recordings: after this meeting, our brothers are preparing MP3s that include the whole weekend and this session. They will be ready in about ten or fifteen minutes, and copies will also be made while we are eating lunch.
In the registration room, copies of the MP3 recordings of the full messages will be available without charge. Please remember to drop off your keys as you pass through the registration room, because there is a charge for every lost key.
If you need to leave before the meal, the recordings should be available in the back in about fifteen minutes. The Lord bless you. It is so good to see all of you together.