Good morning, brothers and sisters. Amen. Amen.
It is good to know that the Lord Jesus went through all that. The violence of the cross was put in that grave. We are so thankful that He did not remain there, but that the Father raised Him up in resurrection life and brought Him to the throne at His right hand.
And now today, our great desire is for Him to come back, as we ended in our time of worship this morning. We are thankful that the Lord Jesus is real. He is not a theory; He is not a philosopher. You know, He was not a politician. He was indeed the Lord of lords and King of kings.
And we are so fortunate that He has been made available to us through a simple act of faith. God could not have made the restoration of man any easier for our part. The Lord did it all.
This morning, actually, what is on my heart is that the Lord be lifted up. I pray that the Lord will bring us more and more to see Him, to really see Who He is.
Lord, I just come this morning. As is still on my heart, we would see Jesus. Lord, that You would open our eyes, Lord, to see something of Your glory, something of Your greatness.
I know John said, “We have seen Him. We have beheld His glory, full of grace and truth.” Lord, open our eyes like You did John’s. Lord, even at the end of John’s life, You lifted him up into the heavenlies to show him the glory of what God was doing in Christ Jesus, that heavenly city, the new Jerusalem.
Lord, we have a future that we know little about. And, Lord, we will live in eternity, Lord, in a glorious kingdom, Lord, where it will just be Christ. His beauty, His glory, will be reflected in everything.
So, Lord, we come this morning. We offer these words back to You, Lord, Your own words to us through the Word of God. Lord, we ask You to bless this time this morning. Bless our hearts, and Lord, do touch our eyes and ears. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Well, this morning, I want to begin by reading a few verses out of Joshua 1:1-3, then verse 9, and then verse 11.
Now after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord, it came to pass, 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, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses.
Now go to verse 9.
Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.
Verse 11:
Prepare you victuals; for within three days ye shall pass over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land, which the Lord your God giveth you to possess it.
Let me read that again:
Pass over this Jordan, and go in to possess the land, which the Lord your God giveth you to possess it.
As we come to this Scripture in Joshua, we know that the people of Israel are at the Jordan River, preparing to cross over.
You may remember a little bit of history here very quickly. Abraham was promised this land, and he was to go in. It was to be his. The Lord gave it to Abraham and his descendants—Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
And you remember, Abraham went to the land, and he was there. They had been there a while, and there were about seventy in the family. They had grown from just Abraham and his wife into a family of seventy.
And the Lord raised up Joseph. And you remember, they went into the land of Egypt, and Joseph got his father to bring that family of seventy down into the land of Egypt, to Goshen. It was not the promised land, but it was a land that was rich for them to grow in.
They grew into a multitude—some say between one and two million people—but they came under the oppression of Pharaoh for four hundred years. They cried out to the Lord, and the Lord raised up Moses to bring them out of that land. He delivered them through the Red Sea and brought them into the desert.
And after two years, He had brought them up to this Jordan River. You remember how He sent in the spies. They came back and said, “It is a great land. It is full of all the riches, just as God reported. But you know what? There are giants over there. We do not think we are ready to go in.”
So the Lord had them wander around in the desert for another thirty-eight years, until that original generation that came out passed away. And so He brings in a new generation in the Promised Land. So that brings us up to where we are now.
And I might say that in all this time, even Abraham—the Lord promised it to Abraham—but all Abraham ever actually possessed was a grave for him and his wife. But now, thirty-eight years later, they come back to this same place, and the Lord is encouraging them to go in.
He says, “This is the land that I have promised. It is a land full of honey and riches, and I give it to you.”
You know, it is interesting. In Leviticus 25:23, it says the land belongs to God.
The land shall not be sold for ever: for the land is Mine.
Now I want you to know that this morning: the Lord said, “This land is Mine.” Now, brothers and sisters, we know that all the heavens and earth belong to the Lord, do they not? But He said, “This land is Mine.”
It was a special place in God’s heart, a place that He had designed for His people to go into, to possess, to live in, and to prosper there—to come into His full thought for what He had for His people. And it could only be found in the Promised Land.
They had lived forty years in the desert. The Lord had taken care of them, but now the Lord says, “There is so much more that lies ahead of you, but you are going to have to cross this Jordan River. And I have given it to you. That is My word to you. It is yours.”
“It is Mine; it is yours,” as the Lord says later, “for an everlasting possession.” That is in Genesis 17:8. He tells them, “This land is for an everlasting possession”—something of eternal nature that we see in God’s promise: a land full of milk and honey and blessing, a land where they could possess all that God intended for them.
That is what the Promised Land was to them. It was God’s full thought for His people, this Promised Land.
Now, we know that all those promises were physical blessings to the nation of Israel, but you have got to remember the thought: this was God’s full thought for His people. He did not want them wandering back in the desert for forty years or four hundred years.
He wanted them to come out of the desert life into the land of promise, into something much fuller than they ever thought. You know, when they were in the desert, it said their sandals did not wear out, and God fed them with manna from heaven, and there was the water that followed them out of the rock.
Brothers and sisters, they were provided for. But the Lord was saying to them, “This is not the life that I want you to have. This is not the life that I have brought you out of Egypt for. I have a purpose for you, and it is the Promised Land. That is My full thought for you.”
“You will find all that you need in this Promised Land. It is a place where you can experience all My glory.”
Now today, brothers and sisters, do we have a Promised Land? We are thankful how faithful God was to His people. But do we have a Promised Land? Well, let us read a verse out of Ephesians 1:3, and then verse 11.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ.
He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ. Now verse 11:
In Whom also we have obtained an inheritance.
Brothers and sisters, Christ is our Promised Land. Christ Himself, the Person of Christ, is our Promised Land, full of every spiritual blessing. And it is for us, on our part, to go in and possess our possessions—to experience the riches in Christ.
This is God’s full thought for His people: to experience the fullness of His Son, Jesus Christ; to experience Him more and more.
Brothers and sisters, I believe this is an experience of possessing our possessions that will go on into eternity, because the riches of Christ are so full. They just cannot be grasped in one lifetime.
Brothers and sisters, we have been chosen from the foundation of the world. You have been foreordained in Christ Jesus for this very purpose. And you have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies, in Christ. It is our charge today to go in and to possess all of our possessions.
We must discover Christ, experience Christ in His fullness. That is God’s thought for you, brothers and sisters: that we be conformed to His image. Another simple way to say it.
And we hear these words quite often. But, brothers and sisters, what is important is that we experience possessing our possessions.
You know, it is all Christ. I wish I had been able to spiritually grasp this earlier in my Christian life. Christ. It is all about Christ.
Oh, I thought it was all about me in the beginning, but I have discovered it is not about me. It is about Christ. It is about Who He is.
I remember in our early days, I was with Kenny, and we were still working at the City of Richmond. We were looking into some of Brother Nee’s books together. I remember that day—I do not know if Kenny remembers it—but we got together in the park across from City Hall, and he said, “Jerry, it is not I; it is Christ. It is not me; it is Christ. It is all about Christ.”
You see, the Lord revealed that to Kenny at such an early age in the beginning of his spiritual walk, and I am so thankful for that. We have seen some of the results of that. I am not lifting my brother up. It is just the point I want to make: God has to reveal that to you.
It is not a doctrine: “Not I, but Christ.” It is not a doctrine. It has to be spiritually revealed until the point that you see all of this is not about me, Lord. It is about Christ. It is about Christ.
We sang that little song today about the robe of righteousness. You know, it says He does not see me as I used to be. He sees Jesus. It is all about Jesus. It is all about Christ.
Oh, it is not about us. He has never desired to try to improve this old man of ours, or try to strengthen it. No, not at all. He has done away with it in Christ Jesus, and He wants us to be completely obsessed with our Lord Jesus Christ.
It is not I, but Christ. Has God revealed this to you? Does it just remain a doctrine, “Not I, but Christ”? Or have you seen a glimpse of our Lord Jesus Christ that is so great that you even forget about yourself? Self is out of the picture.
Well, brothers and sisters, that is a process that does not just happen, usually, with one glimpse. But anyway, what the Father has given to us is His Son, Jesus Christ. In Him, He has given you everything.
Everything He could possibly grant to us is granted in His Son, Jesus Christ. And those possessions are yours because you are in union with Christ.
God has done an amazing thing, brothers and sisters, to us poor sinners. He has lifted us out of total darkness and brought us into the glorious light of His Son and His kingdom.
Brothers and sisters, I think in our lives growing up—I know I have been through this many times personally—I want wisdom. I say, “Lord, I need wisdom. I need discernment. I need help to do this. I need Your blessing. Lord, I need faith. Now, Lord, I want to overcome.” And it does not happen.
Now, sometimes the Lord does, particularly earlier in our Christian life. But what God wanted me to see was that I cannot have wisdom apart from His Son. I cannot get help apart from His Son. I cannot even have faith apart from His Son. And I certainly cannot overcome apart from Him.
Because, brothers and sisters, I hope we have discovered in this life that the Lord Jesus is our help. The Lord Jesus Himself is our wisdom. He is our blessing, and He is the overcomer.
We all want to overcome. I know I struggle with that at times, but the Lord keeps bringing me back to, “Jerry, you are going to keep on struggling. You keep on doing all of that. I am not going to strengthen that old man of yours. I am the overcomer. Keep your eyes on Me, not yourself.”
We never get any of our spiritual blessings outside of Christ. He does not just give them as a special little gift. Now, it speaks of the gifts of the Spirit; I know that. But they are not apart from Christ. You only have those because you have Christ.
And yet, we have not yet come into all of that fullness, have we? Into all of our spiritual blessings. What is the issue?
Well, we can continue to wander around in the desert, living hand to mouth, or we can go in and possess our possessions. The Lord does not want us to live our entire life in the desert.
He wants us to depend on Him, surely, for everything, like they did when they were in the desert. But He is saying, “Oh, that is not what I want for you. I want so much more. I want you to see more and more of My Son. I want you to possess more and more of Him.”
I think of the Apostle Paul—all the great things that happened to him: that great vision on the Damascus Road, him being lifted up into the third heaven, taken into paradise where he saw things that God would not let him tell. What a man. How much vision he had of our Lord.
And yet, towards the end of his life, what was his desire, brothers and sisters? “That I might know Him. That I might know Him.”
Brothers and sisters, what a passion our brother had for knowing more and more of the Lord. Oh, brothers and sisters, I know we have all tasted of Him, but let us not lose that taste. May it increase more and more by His grace.
We need to lay hold of God’s full thought for us, brothers and sisters. His thought for us is much greater than our thought for ourselves. God’s full thought for your life. Let us not be willing to settle for less, no matter how old we have gotten.
I am now eighty-two, and brothers and sisters, the Lord has to keep poking me about this thing: “Jerry, do not settle down. Do not be satisfied with where you are, or the blessings that I have already made available to you and given to you. You must possess more of the land. There is more to be possessed.”
Brothers and sisters, we should be full of great, great gratitude to our Lord that He wants us to have it all. We can become satisfied, but not Him. He wants us to have it all.
I remember, if you will remember this, just before they were to cross the Jordan River, two and a half tribes—the tribe of Gad, Reuben, and half the tribe of Manasseh—said, “Look, this land east of the river looks pretty good for our cattle and everything. I think this is what we want for our possession.”
They did not cross over. They did not enter into God’s full thought for them. They were pleased with where they were. They were satisfied, brothers and sisters, where they were in Christ.
And you know, this was a thought that was a bit scary to me because the Lord did not rebuke them. He did not say, “You are making a mistake here.” He did not rebuke them. He said, “Okay. That can be yours.” And He blessed them.
But it was not God’s full thought for them. He wanted them to go into the Promised Land and possess the fullness that He had for them. So they settled down.
Brothers and sisters, I guess that is what is on my heart this morning. It has been on my heart for the last number of years, actually: not settling down.
Remember Joshua 1:9:
Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee.
You remember the first time they came up to the river, and they sent in these spies, and they got a good and a bad report, so to speak. The other ten spies said, “Look, no, no, this is not for us.” Joshua and Caleb said, “Look, this is a good land, and if the Lord delights in us, He will bring us in.”
Brothers and sisters, all of them reported that the land was good, full of milk and honey and abundance. But they did not only get a glimpse of the riches of the Promised Land. They also saw the giants that were there.
And those giants made them, as they said, look like grasshoppers. They gave such a negative report that it brought fear and dismay upon God’s people—fear and dismay. And they did not enter.
And, as I have already said, thirty-eight more years lapping the desert. They never possessed their Promised Land. What a tragedy: fear and dismay.
And so, once again, as they had come to the river, the Lord encouraged Joshua and Caleb and the people: “Be strong and courageous. The Lord is well able to bring us in.” Of all of the original generation, only Joshua and Caleb came in.
So that is why the Lord is encouraging them not to be afraid nor dismayed. What was Joshua and Caleb’s secret? How do you ever overcome the fear and dismay of witnessing the opposing giants?
Their eyes, brothers and sisters, were not on themselves—not on their small stature and ability to fight these giants. Their eyes were upon the Lord. Joshua and Caleb trusted the Lord. The Lord had told them it was there, and they could go in.
They trusted His word that everywhere they would put their foot would be theirs. They simply trusted what God had said.
Joshua and Caleb’s eyes were not on the giants. They recognized them, and their eyes were not on themselves, but on the Lord.
Brothers and sisters, have we not found that true in our going on with the Lord, in this matter of possessing our possessions? In our own personal lives, we are confronted by giants.
Sometimes these giants are circumstances, tribulations, cares of life. They can be a mighty giant in these days, and we become dismayed. There are these giants, so to speak, on the outside of our lives. But look, there is a giant inside: it is our self, our flesh.
Brothers and sisters, self is always concerned about self—not God’s word, not God’s heart—just concerned about itself. So we have a giant on the outside and on the inside.
And sometimes when we look inward, brothers and sisters, the problem with looking inward is that we become dismayed. I think we have all experienced that—get really dismayed. Dismayed with who? With yourself. That is who you are dismayed with.
And the Lord says, “Look, I have done away with self. Keep your eyes back on Me, on the resurrected One, on the enthroned One.”
Brothers and sisters, when we get dismayed in our lives, faith vanishes. It puts a hole in the boat, so to speak, and our faith gradually vanishes. It renders us incapable of possessing Christ, of possessing our possessions. We lose sight of Christ.
So what is the answer? Second Corinthians 3:16-17.
But whenever one shall turn to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
Now the Lord is the Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
Brothers and sisters, we can find ourselves bound by dismay, by fear, by lack of faith, by becoming passive, settling down, not advancing, not really possessing our Promised Land.
Well, the answer is obvious. This verse tells us that all of this creates a veil in our life, right? I think dismay really veils your life. It puts a veil between you and the Lord because dismay is really a lack of faith.
But it says, if we turn to the Lord, the veil is taken away. He takes it away. It is simply because the veil disappears when we look at Christ, when we fix our eyes upon Him.
Sometimes we struggle with all of this, but the Lord’s answer to us is pretty simple. There is one simple, direct way to overcome, and it is to be occupied with Christ. Be occupied with the Lord. Turn to Him.
Let the Lord Jesus become the satisfaction in your life. You know, I think often we try, frankly, on our own, so to speak, to satisfy God. We struggle to be satisfying to Him; we want to do that.
But I remember Brother Sparks. He said, “Get the Lord Jesus as your satisfaction in view.” That is what we need to do, not ourselves.
Faith in Christ, brothers and sisters, is all that God requires of us. Think about that. That is the fundamental thing. Oh, there are other things we will have to do; there is no doubt about that. But the real fundamental requirement always in our life is simply to have faith in Him, to abide in Him.
The Lord Jesus said:
Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; so neither can ye, except ye abide in Me.
That is pretty simple. What does abiding in Him really mean? To be occupied with Him, to set your mind on Him, to dwell in Him, to rest in Him. Paul said to gaze on Him, to behold Him. Let Him be the object of your occupation.
And the Spirit will set you free. Remember, that is what 2 Corinthians 3 says: “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” So where are you going to find all this? Where is the veil going to be taken away? It is to be occupied with Christ.
To see Christ as your land of fullness, brothers and sisters—the place where God wants to bring you into His full thought for you. God has a full thought for you.
We do not want to disappoint our Lord, do we? Brothers and sisters, it is by grace. This life we live is by grace. But we need to purpose in our hearts. We need to lay hold of God’s full thought for our lives.
Have you thought about that? Say, “Lord, I need to lay hold of this thing. You have a full thought for me. Even at eighty-two years old, You still have a full thought for me that I have not arrived at yet.”
“But, Lord, I just do not want to sit on the curb and enjoy the blessings I already have, like the two and a half tribes that stayed east of the river. Let us not settle down. Let us follow the ark and cross that Jordan River.”
So, we need to gaze upon Him, look upon our Lord. We need to have a purpose in our hearts, just like Daniel. Remember, he purposed not to defile himself with the food of the king. He purposed in his heart to trust Him, to follow Him, to abide in Him, to believe what He says.
But now they had to cross the Jordan River. You remember, when we come to this place in Joshua, it says that the Jordan River was at its full flood stage—full flood stage—so that they could not cross.
So what does this Jordan River represent, brothers and sisters? Well, it is the full power of death. This river, being at its full flood stage, represents the full power of death resisting you to keep you from entering the Promised Land.
It is at full force. The enemy despises anyone who wants to possess their possessions. It represented the enemy’s full power against you—the full power of death.
But, brothers and sisters, the priests put the ark on their shoulders. And when they stepped in the water, the river backed up. The river backed up, and eventually, where they needed to cross, the riverbed dried up enough that they could cross over.
So what does this represent? This crossing of the Jordan River, the ark on their shoulders, stepping into the waters of death and seeing them recede—it represents Christ’s work on the cross.
Through His death on the cross, He overcame all the principalities and powers, even death itself. He overcame on the cross of Calvary. Yes, He physically died there, but, brothers and sisters, He was raised from the dead. He overcame death.
He took on death, that physical death that we all experience unless the Lord comes first. Brothers and sisters, it does not have the power to hold us or to keep us from resurrection life.
This represents the work that they had to trust in, in order to go in and possess their possessions: this fundamental work of God’s Son on the cross of Calvary.
But there was more. You have read the story. You remember, they had to take twelve stones out of the river, and they put them as a memorial on the other side. Then they put twelve stones in the river, and the water covered them over.
What does that represent, brothers and sisters? That is really saying death to the old man. The old man cannot make it in the Promised Land. He can never possess your possessions. Your self-life can never possess your possessions, brothers and sisters.
And the water, this action, represented once again our identification with Christ in death, burial, and resurrection—the foundation of being able to possess your possessions.
Brothers and sisters, we need to realize we have been put in union with Christ. He is in us, His Holy Spirit is in us, and we now can operate out of His life, His resurrection life. That is the life that is able to possess your possessions in Christ.
Not your natural strength, not your natural abilities, not even your natural desires. Brothers and sisters, it is resurrection life. The old man was crucified, and the Lord has nothing to do with him.
But there is still more. They set up those stones at Gilgal, and what did the Lord ask them to do? They had to circumcise all of the male children because the ones that had come out of Egypt were never circumcised. But now circumcision was required.
What does this circumcision represent? It is the cutting off of your flesh. Lord, brothers and sisters, the flesh is yourself.
The thing I have discovered about my flesh is that it does not have all bad desires. You know, we think of the flesh as so evil—and it is—but it is capable of wanting and trying to do good things, particularly in the Lord’s work.
The flesh wants to be recognized. The flesh wants to be successful. The flesh does not like to be defeated. But it is not capable of possessing our possessions in Christ.
Wherever the flesh is at work, it ends in spiritual death and has no place in the Promised Land. So we must not only accept the work of the cross—that fundamental work that Christ did—and experience it personally in our lives. We also have to walk the way of the cross.
Luke 9:23. It will read a little different because I am reading from the Phillips version in this case:
If anyone wants to follow in My footsteps, he must give up all right to himself, carry his cross every day, and keep close behind Me.
I like that translation. If anyone wants to follow in My footsteps, he must give up all right to himself, carry his cross every day, and keep close behind Me.
Brothers and sisters, in possessing our possessions, we must also walk the way of the cross. This is a challenge for us in our lives. This is our responsibility: to yield to the Holy Spirit in our lives.
As He points out things that need to be dealt with, brothers and sisters, we need to get to the place where we are adjustable to the Lord—perfectly adjustable. Say, “Lord, not my will, but Thine be done.”
I think we run across many things in our lives where we come to that point where the Lord says, “This is My will,” and you are saying, “Well, Lord, that is not mine. That is not my will. I have no desire. Lord, I cannot let loose of this thing.”
But, brothers and sisters, we have got to come to the point where our Lord Jesus said those words: “Nevertheless, Father, not My will be done, but Yours be done.”
When the Holy Spirit puts His finger on things in our lives, brothers and sisters, may, by His grace, we quickly yield to Him and say, “Lord, not my will, but Thine be done.”
This is a very personal and very specific part of our lives in possessing our possessions in Christ.
Brothers and sisters, when we come before our Lord, do we want Him to look at us and say, “You know, Jerry, I had so much more in mind for you. I had so much more in mind for you. You did not enter into My full thought. It could have been so much more.”
It is all a matter of being willing to take up the cross: “Not my will, but Thine be done.”
And this brings me to a point that my brother Kenny made in his last message. I want to repeat it because it is so important when we get to those places in our lives where we know we are supposed to be willing, but we are not. We find ourselves not willing.
Listen to this: Philippians 2:13.
For it is God Who worketh in you both to will and to work, for His good pleasure.
To will. It is His good pleasure. He is enabling you to do His will. He puts that enabling in you. It comes from Him, brothers and sisters.
Kenny told us the story of Corrie ten Boom when she was in those prison camps, you remember? She was in those places where they used the gas chambers, where they put all the Jews. Six million Jews were exterminated. She and her sister were in that prison camp, and her sister eventually died there.
And she was brought later on in life face to face with one of the guards of that prison camp. He had become a Christian. And the Lord told Corrie ten Boom, “You have got to forgive him.”
“You have got to forgive him.” And Corrie ten Boom said, “Lord, I cannot. I just cannot do it.” I cannot imagine, brothers and sisters, being faced by the Lord with such a request.
“You have to forgive him.” She said, “Lord, I just cannot do it.” But she did not give up there. She did not give up. She said, “But Lord, You can make me willing to be willing. I am willing to be willing. You can make me willing.”
Brothers and sisters, that is Philippians 2:13. He is the One that works in us to make us willing. It is upon us to at least be willing to be willing.
And brothers and sisters, as Kenny said last time, finally she reached her hand out to that guard. She said the love of God just filled her when she did that and shook his hand. She was fully released.
She came into that Promised Land that few come into, brothers and sisters. She gained something of Christ that day that could not have been gained any other way other than the way of the cross.
But it is Christ—that is God in you—that can make you willing, even if you do not feel like you are.
Lastly, I want to share—let us look at Scripture. Matthew 11:12.
And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and men of violence take it by force.
Now, those seem like strange words because we already talked about peace—the peace of God. But we already know that God can give us peace in the midst of the greatest tribulation, in the greatest storm.
But, brothers and sisters, it says the violent take it by force. You know, when they came into the Promised Land, they were immediately confronted by Jericho, this stronghold of the enemy.
The enemy—right away they were faced with an impenetrable fortress. We remember the story of how they walked around it seven times, and eventually they blew those horns of faith, faith crying out to God, and the walls came down.
They were faced with great opposition. These giants were not just fat and happy guys, brothers and sisters. These were warriors. They were giants, and they were warriors. We remember the story of David and Goliath. These were real warriors that they had to face—giants everywhere.
Brothers and sisters, if you remember the story of them going into the land and possessing that land, it was always resistance from the enemy, always warfare, fighting all the time.
In other words, violence characterized their possessing of the Promised Land—violence. Brothers and sisters, they had to be violent. They needed a warrior spirit, a militant determination to possess all of their inheritance because there was great resistance.
A warrior spirit. I know we are to be gentle as lambs. But, brothers and sisters, when it comes to possessing all your possessions in Christ, all that He has in His mind for you, we have to be diligent. We have to be warriors, saying, “Lord, I want this.”
You know, God has never intended for anyone to be satisfied with just being saved and having the promise of heaven. Unfortunately, I know there are many Christians out there that are saved, and they are satisfied with that.
Some have a closer relationship with the Lord, and they are satisfied with that relationship to a point that makes them feel good. But, brothers and sisters, God is not satisfied with us yet. That is what I want to say today.
I think my dear brother Sparks—I have referred to him a couple of times today—when he talks of violence, what it really means, this warrior spirit, is that you desperately mean business with the Lord. You desperately mean business.
“Lord, I am desperate about this. I will not fall short of what You want from me. Lord, I am determined that You have it.”
Now, brothers and sisters, yes, we may go on in our everyday lives and mostly seem routine, but it is just not true. Every day, if you really think about it, the Lord will put you in a place, or a situation, or something where you need to be saying, “Lord, I need to possess that.”
“I need to possess Your peace. You are my peace in this situation. Lord, I really need discernment.” And, Lord, we might first want to say, “Well, Lord, give me discernment,” but that is not what God is after.
He wants you to see that Christ is your discernment and that you have Him. You have Him. He is your discernment. He is your wisdom. He is your ability to overcome in all of these situations.
He says, “Every place you put your foot down, I give you.” You get that? Every place you put your foot down, I have already given it to you, but now it is yours.
That becomes practical in our everyday life. If you really think about it, it becomes practical. “Lord, I am desperate for Your full thought for me. I am desperate for Your full thought for me.”
The greatest giant, frankly, brothers and sisters, is ourselves. That is the real giant in our lives. But, brothers and sisters, we can miss what the Lord really wants for us because we are not desperate.
If you are desperate, you say, “I have got to have it. I cannot do without it. I will not do it without it. I am desperate, Lord. I am desperate to know more of You, Lord, in my life. I am desperate to see Christ.”
Oh, it was prayed this morning, “Christ, You are our peace.” You cannot have it apart from Him. Oh Lord, as we go through our everyday lives, brothers and sisters, there are just a lot of little things that come up. We keep our eyes on Him.
Brothers and sisters, we want to have God’s full thought for our lives. We have to be desperate. In a sense, we have to be men and women of violence, brothers and sisters, with a violent, militant attitude: “I am taking this. The Lord has given it to me.”
Right now, I do not have peace, but the Lord has given it to me because I have Christ. “Lord, You are my peace. Christ is my peace.”
When you see Him as your real wisdom, as your real peace, as your real ability to overcome, it is all the difference in the Christian life. Otherwise, you are going to be struggling with this self that can never succeed.
The resurrection life—we expect it to be like a bomb going off, or something, all these glorious things that we talk about—but it comes in simple activities in our daily life. We need to be desperate.
Well, that is in there. I do pray that, brothers and sisters, we do not settle down; that our hearts will keep our eyes upon the Lord, particularly in these days. “Lord, I want Your fullness for me. I want all that You desire for me.”
And, brothers and sisters, all of this that I have shared this morning is individual, but it so affects the church of God—this church that He is trying to build, this wonderful bride without spot or wrinkle.
It is all a part of this process of each one of us possessing our possessions in Christ. And, brothers and sisters, when we come to God’s full thought, we see that New Jerusalem is gleaming with gold. It says crystal; there is no flaw there. There is no wrinkle there. It is all Christ.
That is what He is after. One last thought, I guess, brothers and sisters: I do not know; I know there may be some exceptions, but I believe to come into the fullness of the Promised Land, you are going to have to be a living, functioning stone in the house of God.
You need your brothers and sisters. You will never come into that total, total fullness God intends for you without your brothers and sisters, without Him seeing a house built that He wants—the bride that He is looking for. We need each other. He has designed it that way, brothers and sisters.
That is why the body of Christ, knowing your part in the body, experiencing the body life, experiencing being a joint of supply—all of these things, brothers and sisters, are so necessary.
Is it not true that where the cross seems to do its deepest cut is within the church, within the body of Christ, from your own brothers and sisters? Sometimes they say things, not even knowing—you do not, they do not even know—and you have said something and it just touches their heart.
And I say, “Lord, I need to submit that to You.” We need each other.
Well, Lord, we just come to You today. Lord, the big thing on my heart is, Lord, let us not fall short of what You desire for all of us—not only individually, but for Your church corporately.
Lord Jesus, to have all that You want. Lord Jesus, to have that full place where not only are we satisfied, but You are satisfied, Lord.
Lord Jesus, we look to You. Lord Jesus, You work in us both to will and to do. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.