And we just look to You, and we so thank You again for Your great love for us.
Before I share, I like to share a couple of little things.
You know, sometimes, as we’re walking with the Lord, we sort of get ourselves casting our thoughts backwards, rather than forwards, you know? And sometimes when we do that, it can really hinder our walk with the Lord from going on, because we’re always thinking back to how we used to be, you know? And we look at the mistakes we’ve made. We think of the times that we just blundered, you know, and we look back and see the times that we recognize that our life, our testimony, was mixed, you know? And it can be very difficult.
If we’re sort of harboring those thoughts, what the Lord is looking for in each one of us is a distinctiveness, and we’re not going to have that distinctiveness if we’re still living back in the way we were in the world before we came to the Lord.
But the Lord wants to work with us in such a way that it becomes clear to those around us whom we serve, and what kingdom we’re a part of. Are we a part of the kingdom of darkness? If you’re in Christ, then you’re not, because it says He has translated us from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of the Son of His love. But that needs to be recognized. It should be recognized in our lives. No matter where we are, whether we’re at work or at school, you know, different social gatherings, whatever, there should be something about our life that stands out uniquely in comparison to the way of the world.
That’s something of the work that Christ is doing in us, and wants to do with us.
And then the other thing that can hinder us in going ahead in Christ is that we become satisfied when we look over the years. Some of us, fifty-some years; some of us twenty years; some of us ten years; some of us, maybe, weeks in the Lord. But when we look back over that period of time, sometimes what we’re looking at is this accumulation of spiritual knowledge, but without the spiritual reality. And we pack, you know, one teaching atop another teaching, atop another teaching, and we have this stack of teachings, and we become sort of satisfied with that, because we’re able to talk about them. We’re able to speak about them. We’re able to have Bible studies about them. But there’s no reality.
And sometimes what has to happen, what the Lord permits or orders to happen, is a trial to come into our life and really shake us up in such a way that we reflect and say, “All those things that I know up here, they’re of no value right now in this trial.”
And sometimes—and I’ve known people like this—they’ve come into these difficult, hard times, and this whole stack of teaching, which actually the Holy Spirit could take and make real in your life and in my life, but because that hasn’t happened, the Lord will allow, at times, these trials to come in, for us to realize that just teaching is not enough.
And that He would get us to a place of calling on the very Spirit of God, this indwelling Spirit, to bring us into the truth of what we know up here, for this situation that we find ourselves in, this trial, this difficulty.
And surprisingly, in all of our weakness, in all of our stumblings, when we get a hold of the Holy Spirit like that, in desperation, as it were, and call upon Him, miraculously the Lord brings us through. He can bring us through to the other side of the trial, to the other side of the difficulty, and we find, once again, He has proved Himself.
And as we start to share here, one of the things that I find to be very important in faith—about faith—is that faith is built up, and can be our life, our life of faith, because we’re supposed to walk by faith.
And so how does that happen? It happens because we are witnesses of the faithfulness of Christ, from one situation to the next situation, from one day to the next day. We see His faithfulness over and over again. And as we witness His faithfulness, Him proving Himself to us—that yes, He is the God who can give insight; He is the God who can heal; He is the God who can teach—our faith is built up.
There are some things, you know. Our Lord Jesus, we hear Him say on numerous occasions, He uses this word except. In John 3:3 it says:
Except a man be born again, he shall not see the kingdom of God.
It’s so exclusive. It eliminates everything else. He just says, except—you will not see the kingdom of God.
He says, in John 6:53:
Assuredly, I say to you, except you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you will not enter into the kingdom of God.
He narrows it down to this, you know?
And so, when we read these scriptures, where the Scripture says that we’ve been placed in Christ Jesus, that we are in Him, and He is in us, then we can make this statement. In this world, there are only two kinds of people. You are either in Christ, or you’re not. And if you’re not, you are walking in darkness.
You think you may be in the light, but you’re walking in darkness.
The Lord Jesus says, in Luke 11:35, be careful:
Be careful that your light isn’t really darkness.
Sometimes we can go for years thinking that we’re in the light, that we know. We might have all kinds of religious experiences, but they haven’t been orchestrated by God. And so we begin to think that we’re walking in the light, but actually we’re in darkness.
Now, I’ve used this example in the past, but if you were born blind, and you lived in a house, after a while, as a child, you could crawl around and find your way in a portion of this house. You become familiar with it. And then, as you grow older, you can explore even more. You become familiar with the pattern within the house. And you can’t see, but you’re able to walk through the pattern of the house, the pattern of the world. And you think you’re in the light, but actually you’re in darkness. But your darkness, to you, is light. Very, very deceptive.
And so the Lord wants to bring us into the light. And actually, when it says that He wants to bring us into the light, it’s really bringing us into Himself, because He is the light of the world, and bringing us into a deeper, intimate relationship with Him. That is what He is after.
If we turn to 1 Corinthians 1:30, it says:
But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.
This is the work of God. And when you read many of these scriptures where it says that we are in Christ, it then goes on to show you, what does that mean? What is He saying? In this scripture here, it says, “But of Him”—meaning of God the Father—“you and I are in Christ Jesus.” When we receive the Lord Jesus, our Savior and Lord, God the Father placed us in His Son. We read about that in Romans, that we are in Christ in His death. We are partakers of His death, but also of His resurrection. But we’re in Christ. And when God the Father put us in Christ, He put us into Him, and all that He is belongs to us. We become a part of Him.
We could read that scripture like this: but of God the Father, you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us—He became for us wisdom. It’s not, as I’ve referred to these things in the past, a heavenly commodity, wisdom. Wisdom is Christ Himself. God the Father has placed us in Christ, who has become to us wisdom.
He has become to us. Jesus has become to us righteousness. Jesus has become our sanctification. Jesus has become our redemption. That’s who we are of. We are in Christ Jesus. This is the gift of God to us, His Son.
But interestingly enough, if you read 1 Corinthians 1:26-29, very interesting, I find this. For you see your calling, brethren—your calling, my calling—it says here:
For you see your calling, brethren, that not many were wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.
Now He describes us.
But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world, and the things which are despised, God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in the presence of God.
I can raise my hand about that. I was one of these.
And then He says, but of God the Father, you are in Christ. Isn’t that something? He says, you are foolish. You lack wisdom, as I do, you know? He’s pointing out all of these things, but God has chosen you. He has chosen me. Matter of fact, it says that He chose us before the foundation of the world. Amazing. Amazing.
I have said to the Lord on occasion, “Oh, Lord, You are a foolish lover. How could You love me? How could You love me, Lord?” But what a gracious God.
Now, I would ask you the question: do you know that you are in Christ? Absolutely, positively. Do you know—do you have an assurance in your heart—that you are in Christ Jesus? Now, I can say, if you have given your heart to the Lord, then you are in Christ Jesus.
And if you read Romans 8:15-16, it says this:
For you did not receive a spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.
Now, this is not something theoretical. The Holy Spirit who dwells in you and dwells in me witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God. There is something that we should be spiritually aware of, that the Holy Spirit is testifying to the fact that you are a child of God. It registers in your spirit. This is not just a matter of conscience, where our conscience can point out things that are right, or things that are wrong. It’s deeper even than that.
There is just a recognizing within your spirit that, yes, I am a child of God, with all my faults, with all my stupidity, as it were, you know? But yet, I’m a child of God. And as a child of God, He will never leave us or forsake us. He says that. But as a child of God, everything in our life, everything in your life, is to work to this one thing, and that one thing is this, a scripture that we’re so very familiar with, Romans 8:28:
And we know that all things work together for good to those who are called according to His purpose.
And then the next verse, which I find to be explanatory of the twenty-eighth verse, Romans 8:29:
For whom He knew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
This is the explanation of verse 28. All things work together for the good. And the good is this: that you and I would be conformed to the image and the likeness of Christ Himself. That’s the work of the Holy Spirit. That’s the work of God.
So you can know that scripture that says, by Him, He has placed you in Christ Jesus. You can know that scripture. But that has to become reality in your life and in my life. We have to know that we are indwelt, that we have been put into Christ, and Christ has been put into us. And there should be that spiritual recognition of that, deep within our spirits. We need to know that.
If we turn to Colossians 2:9-10. For in Him—here’s that verse again, in Christ, in Him:
For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principalities and power.
Now, when you look at yourself, do you see yourself as being complete? Well, the truth of the matter is, you are. Whether you believe it or not, the truth of the matter is you are complete in Him. Because if I’ve been put into Christ, and Christ is perfect and complete, there’s nothing you can add to that situation. There’s nothing you can add to it. It’s complete. You are complete in Christ.
And so sometimes what we find ourselves doing is trying to become more complete. But no, if you’re complete, you’re complete. You know? But we find ourselves doing that, because we really don’t believe that we’re complete. And so there needs, again, to be that same recognition within our spirit that we are complete in Christ.
And so, if we’re complete, I want to read Colossians 2:13-14 too, in that chapter:
And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against you, which was contrary to us, and has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.
Now, sometimes what we do is that we say we’ll believe the Scriptures, but in actuality, we’re not experiencing it. And so what happens sometimes, as we have somewhat mentioned here, is that we try to improve on the situation. And what happens is the evil one comes along, and he goes over to that cross, and he takes, as it were, that written indictment against you and says, “Look, this is who you are. You can’t do this. You can’t follow Christ. Who do you think you are? You know what you’ve done in the past. You know how many times you’ve fallen, no matter how many times you’ve made a fool of yourself, and even marred the testimony of this Jesus that you say you follow.” And he’s wiping that right in your face.
And now our answer to that needs to be, “No, I’m a child of the living God. Yes, I know how foolish I can be, you know? But I belong to Him. He is my Lord, and I am His servant.” And when you get a hold of that, and you grab, as it were, the hand of the Holy Spirit, you know, He will bring us along. He will bring you along.
Don’t fall. Don’t fall into that trap. You know, no, don’t do that.
Many years ago—some of us know, maybe a lot don’t, or don’t know—but DeVern Fromke, what a good brother. I love DeVern. A great, great Bible teacher, and a great man. Matter of fact, when he was living in Florida, and I was a police officer at the time, when I was working that area where he lived, I used to drop in at his house just to say hello and, you know, pick his brain a little bit, or whatever. But I remember he was speaking one time, and he was just saying about going on with the Lord, and we’re turning back, and we’re looking at this stuff that we’re dragging behind us, stuff that had happened in the past, things that we have done that are foolish, you know? And I remember him saying, “You know what? Even though you’ve got that stuff dragging in the past, you keep going, even if you have to drag it behind you. But don’t let that stop you from going on with the Lord.”
Don’t let the evil one turn your thoughts to what was, but rather get a hold of His hand and go forward with Him, you know? And He’s able to bring us through all of these situations and actually bring us into a life of holiness, of holiness.
Sometimes we don’t talk about that in our relationship with Him and with one another. But He’s calling us into a life of holiness, distinctiveness, a clarity as to who we are in God. And the Spirit of God is able to do that and bring clarity, so that we hold on to the truth and not lies.
We’re complete in Him, and we live out of His fullness. Now, we live out of His fullness. I don’t care how much studying you do, how many Bible studies you go to. If we’re not living out of His fullness, if we haven’t come to see and actually experience the things that we have heard and have been taught, then what good is it?
He wants to bring us into the experience of all of these things. We live out of His fullness, and His fullness is never depleted. It is never depleted.
Turn to Ephesians 1. I’m going to read from the opening verses. I’ll start with verse 2, actually. Ephesians 1:2-5:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.
And so I ask you the question. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. Now, I could ask the question of us: do you believe that you’ve been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus? Is that your experience?
Well, we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus. And it says that He selected us. He chose us before the foundation of the world. In the heart and mind of God, you were there before the creation of the world, before creation began, before He created Adam and Eve. You were in the heart and mind of God.
And so, if we have a God who knows us that well—if we have a God who knows us that well—then, as I ask the question, do you believe that you’ve been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus? Your answer needs to be, “Yes, I do believe that.” I’ve experienced it too, a matter of fact.
Because if we say, “I’m not sure about that,” are we saying that God made a mistake in choosing you? In choosing me? Did God make a mistake? No. We were in His heart and mind from the very beginning, and He had purpose. For you He has purpose; for me. And I need to be faithful to the purpose that He created me for, because it adds to the purpose of God. And we need to discover that. And He’s more than willing to work in such a way that you discover that.
And so sometimes when we’re going through these times that are difficult—and you’ve heard me say this before—but I have discovered that whatever is in my life is for my good and for His glory, whatever it is. It can be sickness. It could be when I hardly had two nickels to rub together, or anything of that nature. Any of those difficulties, they’ve been either ordered or permitted by Him for our good and for His glory.
In Ephesians, we read in this second chapter. We’re very familiar with this. Ephesians 2:4-6:
But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace we have been saved).
This is the writing of the Holy Spirit. Even when we were dead in trespasses.
I love to read that little passage, coming to realize how greatly we are loved. But that is also a key, because we see it in Paul’s life. He came to realize how greatly he was loved by Christ. And because he came to the realization of how greatly he was loved, as he went through all of those difficulties—and he had a few, I would think, huh? Beaten how many times, stoned, left for dead, imprisoned, all kinds of things—but he said, in 2 Corinthians 5:
I am constrained by the love of Christ.
What else can I do but love Him? I see how He has loved me.
And when He found me, I was dead. I was in major difficulties. And He took me out of the gutter. Even, you know, when I was in that condition, He loved me.
And He raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
Sometimes I’ve had some people ask, “Well, you know, what is this? You know, I’m seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. You know, I don’t understand that exactly.” Well, the way, and the little bit that I understand of it, I will say this: that we are seated in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. And how do we know that? Because God has this view of things that is full and complete. He knows from beginning to end. This is His vision. My vision is something like this, and maybe even smaller, you know?
But what I have noticed is, because I am in Christ and Christ is in me, my perspective in life is different. It’s much bigger than it had been at one time. I have a much larger perspective now. I would even have to say that in some respects I have a heavenly perspective, which I didn’t have in the past. I had a worldly perspective. I didn’t understand the things of God.
But He has given me—has given you, I am sure, to one degree or another—a heavenly perspective. We see it in a larger frame than what we had in the past, or even could understand that we could have such a different perspective. But all of a sudden, God opens up our eyes, and now we see differently, in a greater perspective, a heavenly perspective. Where does it come from? It comes from the throne. And because I’m in Christ Jesus, I’m seated on the throne in Him. And you are too.
And it goes on to say, once again, all of this is the working of God. Ephesians 2:8:
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.
It’s Him. It’s Him from beginning to end. It’s Christ. It’s Christ. It’s Christ.
That’s why people get tired of hearing me say this one thing. There is nothing more important than an intimate relationship with Christ. Nothing more important.
In 2 Peter 1:2-4:
Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these we may be partakers of the divine nature.
And so here, again, is one of these times where we’re being told that, by His divine power, He has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue. This little passage here, where we’ve been given all things pertaining to life and godliness: He has equipped us. As we’ve been hearing in this, we’re complete. There’s nothing more that we need. He has equipped us to live godly lives.
When we read in that first chapter of 1 Corinthians that He has given to us Jesus, who is our wisdom, who is our sanctification, He has given us the equipment to live our lives. And this portion—life and godliness—every day is what He’s talking about there. And every day, in the situations of life, He has given us equipment by His Spirit to deal with every situation. There is always grace to deal with whatever your situation is. Grace abundant. The first chapter of John’s Gospel speaks of it. He has given us the equipment for every situation in our lives, and that’s on a daily basis.
So He has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness. And so He’s not only equipped us to get through the daily, mundane routine of life, but He’s given us the ability to live and deal with the situations of daily life in a godly way, in a way, again, that distinguishes us from the ways of the world, and shows the way of God.
He’s given us a godly way of interacting with people. He’s given us a godly way that, when we’re on the job, we’re doing our job in such a way that we become distinctive, that we stand out—not for the sake of just standing out, but just because of who we are. The Spirit of God is working with us, and in us, and through us, and there is something distinctly different from the way of the world. And people recognize that. People recognize that, and it gives us then that opportunity to share the love of Christ with people.
But sometimes, all too often, you can’t distinguish a Christian from a worldly person. You can’t. Everything basically looks the same. But I will tell you one thing. If you’re walking in the Spirit, you will be distinctive. You will be distinctive.
Philippians—and we’re going to be ending up here soon, so I’ll be in time for lunch. These are scriptures, again, that are so familiar, and that’s why I say that, and we’ve got all this, say, up here too. There’s a danger that they become too familiar. We just put another teaching on top of the stack, another teaching on top of the stack now.
Philippians 2:12-13:
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.
It’s God who is at work in you. Why does He say, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling? Well, the truth of the matter is, if you recognize that it’s God, by His Spirit, working in you, you better have fear and trembling, because you’re actually a witness to what God is doing. You’re not doing it. He’s doing it.
And so we need to recognize that. Work out your own salvation in fear and trembling, because you’ve come to realize that God is at work in you with a specific purpose in mind. And by His Spirit He wants to lead and guide you, so again you can fulfill the purpose He intends for you, as well as you being a part of His purpose. You work out your salvation in fear and in trembling because you recognize God—the Almighty, the everlasting, the all-knowing God—is at work in you. And we need to recognize that.
And Philippians 4:12-13, Paul speaking:
I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
It could also be written as, “I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me.”
So Paul wasn’t saying that he could do all things. I think he recognized quite well that he couldn’t do all things, because he even confesses there were times that he was at the point of death, of despair, you know? He had his difficulties, to say the least, and misgivings, to say the least. He says, “But I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me.” He knew where his strength came from. He understood how weak he was. But as the Lord Jesus pointed out to him, when the Lord says, in 2 Corinthians 12:9:
In your weakness, My strength is perfected.
In your weakness, you can recognize. You can recognize Me at work. I prove Myself to you, that I am able to do all things.
And this is what He wants us to come and realize: that we can do all things that God calls us to by His strength, His enabling. We can’t. We can’t. And sometimes He has to prove it to us just by allowing us to fall and to stumble, you know? He allows that to happen so that we come to a place where we say, “I can’t. I just can’t.”
This issue of faith, which we mentioned earlier—the opportunity that God takes, again, we mention this, but He takes with us to demonstrate His faithfulness and prove Himself to us—is that very thing that causes faith to grow. And when faith grows, then God can bring us into more and more of what He wants for you and me to do and to accomplish by His strength, by His doing.
And then finally, in Colossians 1, and I’ll read from verse 24, Colossians 1:24-27:
I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God, the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints.
See, in that little thing, Paul says he was aware of the stewardship of God. God was placing something in his hands, a purpose for Paul. But He does that for each one of us, wherever you are, in the circumstances you’re living in, in your home, at the job. There’s purpose behind it all.
So he says, “I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God, the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints.” To them God willed to make known. To you. To me. He willed to make known. God willed to make known a mystery.
To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among you, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Isn’t it wonderful that God has selected you and has selected me to reveal in our hearts this mystery: Christ indwelling. Christ indwelling. He’s not a far-off God. He’s not someone I have to cry out to, or shout to. He’s saying, He is in you. And He wants to bring us into that intimacy of relationship with Himself. Nothing more important.
Christ in you, the hope of glory. When Christ comes in glory, you and I will be accompanying Him in glory. He wants to glorify Himself in your life and in my life. He’s a wonderful Master to serve.
Lord, just again, we bow our hearts before You again. You are a wonderful Master to serve. There is none like You, Lord. So, Lord, I pray that we would all fall more deeply in love with You, and appreciate how greatly You love us. And, Lord, help these words, by Your Spirit, to become our life, that they would become a part of our lives, that You, Lord, would be our life. Yes. And we thank You.