Please turn to the letter to the Ephesians, chapter 1. We will read from verses 15 through 23. This is the first prayer of Paul in this letter.
Wherefore I also, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which is among you, and the love which ye show toward all the saints,
cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers;
that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him;
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,
and what the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe, according to that working of the strength of His might
which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and made Him to sit at His right hand in the heavenly places,
far above all rule, and authority, and power, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in that which is to come:
and He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him to be head over all things to the church,
which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all.
Please turn now to Ephesians, chapter 3, the second prayer of Paul. We begin with verse 14 and read through verse 21.
For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father,
from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,
that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, that ye may be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inward man;
that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; to the end that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
may be strong to apprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,
and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that ye may be filled unto all the fulness of God.
Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,
unto Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus unto all generations for ever and ever. Amen.
Please turn also to the book of Joshua, chapter 1. We will read the first three verses.
Now it came to pass after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, that the Lord spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ minister, saying,
Moses My servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel.
Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, to you have I given it, as I spake unto Moses.
Finally, Matthew chapter 11, verses 29 and 30.
Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.
Dear Lord, we are gathered here with hearts of gratitude. How can we thank Thee enough for what Thou hast done for us? Thou hast shown Thy love to us to the uttermost.
And Lord, what can we say? Thou hast redeemed us. Thou hast bought us with such a price. We no longer belong to ourselves; we are Thine.
Our only prayer is, “Thy will be done in us, as it is in heaven.” We give ourselves over to Thee for this time, praying that Thou wilt not only give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of Thee, but also, Lord, strengthen us by Thy Spirit in our inner man, that we may apprehend with all the saints the love of God that is beyond description.
Oh, dear Lord, lay Thy hands upon each and every one of us. We are forever Thine. We ask You now, in the precious name of the Lord Jesus. Amen.
During the prayer time this morning, a thought came to my mind. We have been talking about spiritual inheritance, and we have tried to describe before you, dear brothers and sisters, what that inheritance is.
We discovered that this inheritance is a double, mutual inheritance. It is true that by His grace we are to inherit Him, our Lord Jesus Christ. There is no greater inheritance than having our Lord Jesus as our portion.
But at the same time, we have to remember that there is something even more than that. That is to say, God Himself wants to have us as His inheritance.
When we think of how He is our inheritance, we cannot fathom the glory of that inheritance. It is far beyond our understanding.
But even more, it is hard for us to take in that even God considers us as the riches of the glory of His inheritance. This is the wonder of wonders.
And I wonder, brothers and sisters, if you really see what that inheritance is, do you really long for it?
So, the thought that came to me during the prayer time was this: think of Moses.
Moses had not seen the promised land with his eyes; that came later. He only heard from God that it was a land flowing with milk and honey. This was reinforced by the spies, telling him how good that land was and showing him the produce, how abundant that land was.
So that created within Moses such a longing to enter into the promised land. You remember, because at one time he misrepresented God, he was not allowed to enter into the promised land.
But you read how he pleaded with God: “Oh, God, if only You would allow me to go in. I cannot stand outside of the blessed land.” He had such a longing to enter in and possess it. Finally, God allowed him to see that blessed land.
So what impresses me is this: if you have seen a glimpse of the spiritual inheritance in view before us, does it create within you a longing? Or do you not care? After all, you are saved. But do you want more?
Brothers and sisters, may the Lord create within each and every one of us a deep longing: “Oh, Lord, I want to enter.”
If this is what You have in Your heart, not only for my sake, Lord, but for Your sake, I must go in. Whatever the cost, whatever the way, Lord, lead us into it.
So I do hope that within all the hearts of our brothers and sisters here, there is such a deep longing: “You have shown me what it is. Now show me the way. We want to enter in. We want to possess our possession.”
You know, when the Apostle Paul shared with the Ephesian believers the vision, the heavenly vision that God had given him, I wonder if it was that vision which he saw when he was caught up to the third heaven.
You remember, he said, “Fourteen years ago there was a man in Christ. He was caught up to the third heaven. Whether in the body or out of the body, I do not know; but that is what happened.”
Then he was caught away to paradise and heard things that could not be said. But he did not say that what he caught up to heaven was something forbidden to be shared. So I wonder if the letter to the Ephesians tells us of what he saw in the third heaven when he was caught up there. Most likely it does.
But when he was sharing with the believers in Ephesus about it, he realized that this is not something merely to talk about. He may talk and talk and talk; people may hear and hear and hear. But unless the Lord is gracious to us and reveals something to us, it is beyond our understanding and beyond our reach.
So that is the reason why, in this letter to the Ephesians, you find that as he was sharing with the Ephesian believers, twice he bowed his knees before God and prayed.
In other words, it is only by God that we will be able to really know it, and it is only through God that we are able to apprehend it.
So you find in Ephesians chapter 1, where he prayed this first prayer, he asked God to grant us the spirit of wisdom and revelation. Why? Because this is something beyond human understanding. We need revelation from above. We need God to reveal such things to us, that we may really know—not just know it in our mind, but know it in our heart.
That we may really know in our heart what God had purposed eternally in Christ Jesus for us.
So he prayed that the spirit of wisdom and revelation might be given, and that the eyes of our heart—that is, our understanding—might be enlightened, in order to know three things.
Number one, he said, to know the hope of His calling. You know, brothers and sisters, God has called us. Every one of us has been called. He called us with a holy calling. He called us with a high calling. He called us with a heavenly calling.
And what is that calling? The calling is to all those who are the Lord’s.
If you read Ephesians, you know that calling is that we are called—think of that—we who were the chief of sinners, dead in sins and transgressions, enemies of God; yet God has called us to be His Son’s life companion.
And the relationship is closer and dearer than husband and wife, even to be His very body. He is saying Christ is to be the Head, and we, the unworthy, are to be the body of Christ.
Now, what a calling that is. It is really one, because the Head and the body are one. You cannot separate them. If you separate the body from the head, it is no longer a living body.
But, dear brothers and sisters, what is the hope of His calling? We are called to be the body of Christ. We are called to be members, severally one of another. We are called to be one with the Head. We are called to be the fulness of Him who filleth all in all. That is our calling.
But what is the hope of our calling? Well, the hope is that when the body is fully grown, it will become the bride of the Lamb. That is our hope.
So it is no small thing to think that being saved is good enough for me. You have to grow in life. You have to grow in Christ. You have to be transformed and conformed to the image of Christ. You have to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace. You have to minister to one another and build up one another until that body is fully grown.
And thank God, the Bridegroom is coming to take the church as His bride. That is our hope. That is our blessed hope.
And what is the second thing? The second thing is: what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints?
As we have said before, we are to be God’s inheritance. And that inheritance has to be full of glory. It is the riches of that glory of the inheritance in the saints. That is what God is going to have.
Brothers and sisters, I confess that it is beyond my understanding. I just cannot understand the glory of it, the riches of it, that God can take us to be His inheritance and make a boast of it: “Look what an inheritance I have in these saints.” Brothers and sisters, amazing!
Comparatively speaking, it is not amazing if we find in Christ the riches of the glory of our inheritance in Christ. There is nothing to be amazed about, because that is what it is. Think of the unsearchable riches of Christ. Think of the immense love of Christ. Think of the marvelous work of salvation He has accomplished.
So, brothers and sisters, we would say there is nothing strange about that. It is normal. It is what it should be.
But to think that we poor, common earth-material, desert land—and God says, “You are My inheritance. I boast of it. I take pride over it. I see such glory, such riches”—it overwhelms me.
I can only ask one question: “Lord, how can it be? What is the way? Where is the way that leads to such spiritual inheritance? I want to know the way. I am willing to walk in that way. I am ready to pay any cost for it. Lord, I want it for You.”
Brothers and sisters, do you have this longing in your heart? Nothing can prevent you from pressing on, because so much is at issue.
So the question before us, brothers and sisters, is very simple: “I have heard it. I have seen it. Now show me the way. Thereby, by Thy grace, I will walk in it.”
May the Lord really create within each one of us such a love, such a desire for it, that nothing can prevent us from pursuing after that goal.
And because of that, our question is: where is the way? We have no power to possess our possession. We have no power to transform ourselves. We have no power to be such an inheritance to You. Lord, where is the power?
That is the reason why you find in that revelation the third thing. It says, “What the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.”
In other words, God opens the understanding of our heart to see that the power for such great transformation is not in us. It is in Him.
He said, “There is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe.” In other words, the power is there. It is a surpassing power. Why? Because it is the power that overcomes death.
You know, death is the greatest power on earth. But there is a power that surpasses death. This power alone can really change us, can really bring us into our possession, and really enable us to be the bride of the blessed Lamb.
Now, what kind of power is that? It says, it is the exceeding, surpassing greatness of His power toward us. It is there, but one thing: we need to believe.
You know, oftentimes our own power limits our understanding of God’s power. We think that what we cannot do, nobody can do—even God cannot. But, brothers and sisters, we have to be delivered out of our littleness. We have to believe that the power is not in us, but that power is in God. God who has purposed it has the power to perform it.
So he said, this is a power toward us who believe. And what kind of power is that?
According to the working of the strength of His might which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and made Him to sit at His right hand in the heavenly places.
It is a power that has already been demonstrated to us. It is not a theory; it is a fact. It has been proven. That very power of God which is going to transform us from dirt to precious stones has been demonstrated in the life of His beloved Son.
He sent His Son into this world to be a man. And in that Man He has demonstrated His power.
Here was a Man who was sinlessly perfect. He was the Man of God’s heart. When God created man, that was the man God had in His heart. And Christ Jesus is that Man.
He had His own will, but He never did anything according to His own will. He submitted His will to the will of His Father. He had His own mind, but He submitted His mind totally to the mind of God. He had His own emotion, but His emotion was completely under the control of His heavenly Father.
He walked on this earth as a perfect Man. We who are imperfect—so imperfect—and we meet so many problems, encounters, and oppositions. Think of our Lord Jesus, the perfect Man.
How He suffered throughout His life. How He was misunderstood. No one could understand Him. How He walked on earth as He was in heaven. He brought heaven upon earth. Everything was different. He met opposition, denial, and crucifixion.
But, brothers and sisters, He did it all for our sake. Because only the One who knew no sin could become sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God. He died.
But He was raised from the dead. He went into death, robbed death of its power, and came out victoriously.
And not only that, He was taken to heaven. He is at the right hand of God. Everything is put under His feet.
Now, that is the surpassing greatness of power toward us who believe. You know, brothers and sisters, we are surrounded by death. Not only are we surrounded by death; death works in us.
But He is able to deliver us out of all kinds of death, raise us up in new life, in an ascended life above every principality, authority, and everything—seated with Christ in the heavenlies.
Brothers and sisters, this is the power that God has prepared for those who believe. Now, do you believe?
Our problem is that our own weakness somehow circumscribes God. That is why we have to be delivered out of ourselves in order to be delivered unto God.
So the power is there. But how does this power come upon us? Now, that is where you find the Apostle Paul’s second prayer.
So here in chapter 3, he began to pray. His prayer was, “I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom every family in the heavens and the earth is named, in order that He may give you according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power by His Spirit in the inner man.”
In other words, Paul not only prayed for the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of God, that we may know—not just know mentally, but know in our heart that this is true.
Now, seeing that this is true, how can I get into it? How can I possess it, apprehend it, as I have been apprehended by God? Ah, we discover how weak we are.
Brothers and sisters, you know it is very important for us to know how weak we are. Because unless we know how weak we are, we do not know how strong we really are. Do you know how weak you are?
Not until God puts you in the wilderness, and there you begin to realize how impossible, how weak, you are.
You know, in the Christian walk, after we are saved, I believe in each and every one of us we have the desire to do the will of God, to please Him. We all try our best. We have such confidence in ourselves that He has saved us; now we ought to glorify Him.
God lets us wander in the wilderness and tries us out, until one day we are like the Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 7: “Oh, wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from this body of death?”
“I want to do the will of God, but I cannot. I do not want to rebel against God, but I do. This is what I am. In me, that is, in my flesh, there is no good.” Now, have you come to that point yet?
When we really come to despair of ourselves, realizing that there is no strength in us, that we simply cannot, it is only at that time that we will look up and say, “Thank God, through Jesus Christ.”
So, brothers and sisters, that is the reason why we have to wander in the wilderness: just to prove to ourselves. God knows it already. You cannot fool God. But we fool ourselves and fool other people.
Until one day we say, “Well, I feel finished. Lord, if You want to do it, You have to do it by Yourself. I am open.” Are you open to the Lord?
You need to be strengthened with power by His Spirit in the inner man.
Now, what is the inner man? Do you know, “inner man” is just another term for our new spirit. When we believe in the Lord Jesus, our dead spirit was quickened into life, cleansed by the precious blood. It becomes a new spirit.
And with a new spirit, we can have our spiritual life. We can commune with God, and we can go on with the Lord. But we discover that our spirit is weak.
Because there in our soul, the whole Adamic self-life is still in charge. So we have that civil war within ourselves. In our spirit there is Christ; there is the Spirit of God. But in our soul there is still that old Adamic self-life.
These two conflict with each other. That is why I say, “What I will, I cannot; what I will not, I do.” In other words, our spirit is too weak, and our soul is too strong.
Or, to put it more clearly, the spirit-life is still in its infancy, while the soul-life is the old Adam, who has already lived for how many centuries. So how can you compare these two powers?
So our spirit, our inner man, needs to be strengthened. And who can strengthen our inner man but the power of the Holy Spirit?
That power overcomes death. That power overcomes the earth and lifts us to the third heaven, in the heavenlies. Brothers and sisters, God’s power is there, waiting for you.
But it needs to find a place where it can come in. That place is when we confess, “We are finished. Our end is God’s beginning.”
God will never work against our will. If you do not let Him, even though He is all willing to do it, He has to wait until you are willing. Then, like a floodgate opening, He will strengthen your inner man with the power of God.
And the result is this: “That Christ may dwell through faith in your hearts.” In other words, Christ dwells in your spirit, but He must dwell in your soul.
Now your spirit is so strengthened that it overpowers the soul. It drives out, as it were; it dethrones, as it were, your soul-life and replaces it with Christ. So now Christ comes out of your spirit into your soul. He becomes the life of your soul.
And what will be the result? Every expression out of your soul expresses Christ and not you anymore. His mind is your mind. His emotion is your emotion. His will is your will. Everything will express Christ.
And, brothers and sisters, it is at that point that we begin to be filled with the love of Christ, and then to apprehend what is the immeasurable love of God in Christ Jesus with all the saints.
In other words, this is the way into the promised land.
Now, may I use another illustration? We remember that Israel, after they wandered in the wilderness for forty years and the first generation who did not believe had all perished, was a new generation.
God led them to the east side of Jordan, in the plains of Moab. Then Moses died, and Joshua continued. God spoke to Joshua and said, “Now it is time that you should lead the people into the land that I have promised to give to them.”
Then you find what God told them in Joshua chapter 1, verse 3: “Every place whereon the sole of your foot shall tread, have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses.”
First, the land was promised to them. And to God, what He promised was already given. But for the children of Israel to really possess the land, what did they need? They needed to put the sole of their foot upon every piece of the land. When they did that, the land was theirs.
But before that, there was something as a preparation. Why? Because there was a Jordan River separating the promised land from the land of Moab. So they had to cross the Jordan River.
And how were they to cross the Jordan River? The ark of God would go before them, and they would follow at a distance—two thousand cubits, I believe. They had to follow at a distance.
Now, why? It was because they had to have a clear view of that ark. If you want to follow the ark, you cannot crowd it. You have to follow with a clear view of it, and then you know how to follow.
So the ark went forward, and when the ark entered into the Jordan River, the waters separated, and the children of Israel passed over. After they passed over, the first thing they did was that they had to be circumcised.
Now, what does it mean? Dear brothers and sisters, if we want to possess our possession, we need to cross the Jordan River. The Jordan River is a type of baptism, but it is a deeper type.
The Red Sea is also a type of baptism, but the Red Sea is a type of our leaving Egypt behind and being baptized unto Christ. For them, they were baptized unto Moses.
But here you find that it is not leaving Egypt behind; it is leaving the wilderness behind. The wilderness speaks of our experience of the flesh.
So you find that the Jordan River means co-death with Christ. We are buried with Christ, because when Christ died on the cross, He not only bore our sins in His body, but He died on the cross as our representative.
When He died, Adam died in Him and with Him. So, in other words, we come to a point of seeing that we have been crucified with Christ: “No longer live I; it is Christ who liveth in me.”
“And the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith which is in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself up for me.”
So, brothers and sisters, here you find a transaction, something we have to experience: knowing that we have been crucified with Christ. Then there is the circumcision of the flesh. In other words, no longer living in the flesh, but living by the life of Christ in us.
Now, if we have taken that stand by faith, then you also find another thing. Joshua, while he was surveying the city of Jericho, trying to figure out a strategy for taking that city, saw a Man appear to him with a sword drawn.
Joshua said, “Are You for us, or for our adversaries?” And He said, “No; but as Captain of the host of the Lord am I now come.”
Brothers and sisters, that is something we have to recognize. Not only do we stand by faith on the ground that our old self has been crucified with Christ—no longer live I—and that our heart has been circumcised, but also, on the positive side, we have put ourselves under the leadership, the headship, of Christ.
Now, having done that, it is time to be led by the Lord, to put our feet down on every piece of land. In other words, you will find in your life all that promised land, piece by piece.
You will fight through. You will fight against all the enemies that occupy the land, whether it is Satan, whether it is the world, whether it is your old flesh trying to regain its control. You will find that you have to fight through every inch of the land and possess it.
Now, that is possessing our possession.
Do you think it is too hard? If it is by yourself, you will be driven back to the wilderness. But if it is the Lord leading you: onward, Christian march.
Let me give another illustration. You find that the Lord Jesus said, “All ye that labor and are heavy laden, come unto Me, and I will give you rest.”
Now, we have all experienced that. We are heavily laden. We are burdened with sin, and yet when we come to the Lord Jesus, our burden is gone. We have rest in our spirit.
Then the Lord said, “Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.”
Brothers and sisters, in the first case, you find that all you need to do is come, and He will give you rest. But in the second case, you find the Lord saying, “Come and yoke with Me.”
We know what a yoke is. When a farmer is planting the land, he puts a yoke upon an ox, a horse, or a mule. Why? Because without that yoke he cannot control that animal.
The animal has its own will, and the only way is to put it under the yoke so he can control it. Unfortunately, you know, the animals sometimes will not listen. So that is where the goad is used, a sharp instrument in the hand of the farmer.
But he does not want to hurt the animal. He just wants to remind the animal who is the master. So he will lightly touch the leg of the animal. But if the animal is stubborn, it kicks back, and if it kicks back, it hurts. After a number of times, it learns the lesson.
So, brothers and sisters, you will find that our Lord Jesus has never been yoked with the yoke of sin. On the contrary, He has taken off the yoke of sin from us. He has freed us.
But it does not mean that while our Lord was on earth He had no yoke. He was under a yoke of another kind. It was the yoke of the Father’s will.
So He put Himself under that yoke. He did not come to do His own work. He came to do His Father’s business. And you find that He is meek and lowly in heart.
Now, meek—you do not want to be meek because you think that if you are meek, everybody will step on you. But meek does not mean weak. Actually, meek is a sign of strength. Why? Because you are meek before God, and God is on your side.
Lowly is an attitude. You do not think of yourself more than you should, or even more so, you do not think of yourself anymore. That is lowly. That is the opposite of pride.
And our Lord Jesus has such a character. He is meek and lowly. He is not weak. He is not useless. Actually, He is the strongest Person in the world. He is the mightiest One in the world. But His spirit before God is meek and lowly.
And, brothers and sisters, He asks us to yoke with Him. He knows that you cannot put yourself under the yoke that He bore by yourself. But He wants you to yoke with Him.
You need an example. You need His life within you to be able to do the work of God.
So when we really are willing to yoke with Him—now, that is another thing—God will never force you to yoke with Christ. If you want to be without yoke and live your own life, you can do it. But think of the end.
But if you want God’s end to be accomplished in your life, that is the only way. You have to learn. You have to be willing to be yoked with Christ. And that is an act of faith.
Have you done that? “Lord, I am impossible, but I am willing to be yoked with You and learn of You.”
It is not something outward; it is something inward. God’s power will enable your spirit to rise up within you, to respond to the voice of the Spirit, to deny yourself, to take up your cross and follow Him.
Oh, brothers and sisters, you cannot do it, but you can if only you are yoked with Him. When your own nature begins trying to exert itself, He will pull you back. Then you begin to be tamed.
It is transformation. It is character-building. It is Christ being transformed and conformed in us.
And this is the way to possess our possession. Or, to put it another way, this is the way that God will possess you.
The only way. In Hebrews chapter 10, the Bible says that He has opened a new and living way for us to enter in. It is through the veil.
Brothers and sisters, are you willing to follow Him?
One day, you will find the one hundred forty-four thousand, which is just a whole number. They follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. And they can sing the new song that nobody on earth can learn, because they learned it by experience.
Brothers and sisters, thank God. He has promised. He has finished the work. He has prepared the power. All that awaits is that you say, “Yes, Lord.”
Are you willing to do that?
May the Lord bring each and every one of us into that inheritance prepared for us even before the foundation of the world.
And He is faithful. He who has promised, He will perform it. Thank God. Shall we pray?
Dear Lord, we praise and thank Thee because Thou hast done it all. There is nothing left for us but to trust and obey. Here we are. Will You please take us and work in us?
Encourage us, exhort us, warn us, fill us with Thy Spirit. Oh, we depend on Thee to lead us, that we may be to the praise of Thy glory.
In Thy precious name. Amen.