ESTABLISHED THE FATHER has no pleasure in weak and feeble children. He loves them, will care for them, shield and protect them, but He has no joy in it. (Ephesians 6:10.) He never made anyone sick. He never has made one of His children sick or hurt him. He never oppresses them. He has provided strength and grace for all. (2 Cor. 9:8.) Every believer owes it to himself to be established in the Word, to be settled and fixed so that he will not be wafted about by every wind and storm. (Ephesians 4:14-16.) He should know what he is in Christ, know it so thoroughly that no matter what happens he stands unruffled, unaffected. (Ephesians 1:3-7.) He should know what Christ is to him, and what He has done for him, and what He is doing for him now. 1 Corinthians 1:30; Philippians 1:16; and Hebrews 7:25.) This threefold knowledge should be a part of his daily equipment. He should know what belongs to him, what is really his. (Philippians 1:9-11.) No matter what may happen, he stands quiet and restful in the consciousness that if God is for him, no one can successfully be his enemy. (Romans 8:31-33.) He should know about the indwelling Spirit. He should become God-indwelt conscious. (Philippians 2:13.) I know that He that is in me is going to breathe through my lips today the message that you need. You want to be God-inside conscious. (1 John 4:4.) The believer should know what the Word is to him, what it means to him, what the Father intended it should mean to him. (Psalm 119:105.) The Word is the food of the recreated spirit. (Matthew 4:4.) It is the mightiest thing in all the world. It slays and makes alive. The Word slew Ananias and Sapphira, and the same day made well hundreds of men and women. (Acts 5:1-11.) Every believer should know what the Name of Jesus can mean to him in his daily life, so that no matter what happens, he is a victor, a conqueror. (John 16:24.) “In my name ye shall cast out demons.” (Mark 16:17-20.) You can cast out all demons if you cast out a demon, and you can cast out the work of a demon. Every believer should be established in this truth. So many are established in weakness; they live under the shadow of it. Others are established in sickness and infirmities. (James 5:14-17.) Others are established in fear, in the sense of sin, the sense of lack and inability. (Isaiah 41:10.) We want to learn to be established in the Word. 2 Peter 1:12, “Wherefore I shall be ready always to put you in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and are established in the truth which is with you.” I like another translation, “Established in the present truth which has been given you.” Romans 8:31-38 is Gods photograph of the established believer. We havent room to quote it, but I want you to read it with great care. Here is the first sentence: “If God is for us, who is against us?” We should be established in that. You know that scripture is yours. You know that God is for you. You know that He is your Father and that He gave up His Son to die for us; and you know that He has given us His own Nature, His own life. (1 John 5:12-13.) You know the next verse, “He that spared not His own Son but gave Him up for us all; how shall He not also with Him freely give us all things?” You are established in that. You are settled, fixed. Revel in the next sentence, “Who shall lay anything to the charge of Gods elect? It is God that justifieth; who is he that condemneth?” No one can hinder you now. God has given you His own Son, His own Righteousness. (2 Corinthians 5:21.) You swing down on through the remainder of these wonderful verses. Dig into that wonderful thirty-fifth verse, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” Rest under the shadow of that great Rock in this weary land; and you hear someone saying, “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.” You know who you are, what you are. (1 John 3:2.) You know Who is backing you up, Who is protecting you. For it is God who is at work within you working and willing His own precious will. (Philippians 2:13.) John 15:5, “I am the vine and ye are the branches.” No one can touch a branch without hurting the vine. The vine and the branch are one. You are a part of Him, and He is a part of you. He is taking care of you. You are established in this truth. All hell knows it, too. (James 2:19.) Philippians 4:19, “And my God shall supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” You are so established in that truth that you never worry about your finances any more. Your Father is now meeting your obligations. You and He are laboring together. (Matthew 6:27-34.) 2 Corinthians 6:1 has become a reality to you. You are laboring together with Him. You are partners. You are fellowshipping each other. You are sharing with Him; He is sharing with you. What a wonderful life it is! Jeremiah 33:3 sings its song of confidence in your heart, “Call upon me and I will answer thee and show thee great and difficult things (fenced-in things, mighty things) which thou knowest not.” “You have sought Me and I will lead you in the realm of Omnipotence; and I will lead you in the place where only those whose feet are shod with the Gospel of Peace have trod, where none can breathe the rarified atmosphere but those who are partakers of My Grace and have received the abundance of My Life.” (John 1:16 and Colossians 2:9-10.) Why? He said, “You call unto Me and I will hear you. I listen to you all the time. You are my child. I am your Father, and this Jesus Who is seated at My Right Hand is your Intercessor and your Advocate. I want you to walk in now and take your place.” Cant you hear Him whisper (Isaiah 41:10), “Fear thou not, for I am with thee; be not dismayed, for I am thy God; I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee: yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.” What more do you want? “I am thy God. I am your Father. I am your Strength. I am your Wisdom and your Ability.” (2 Corinthians 3:4-6.) When you are established in that, fixed and settled in it, you become a world-ruler in the spiritual realm. Men can feel the effect of your prayer life in Europe, Asia and Africa. (John 14:13-14.) The demons that rule the warring elements of Europe and Africa are afraid of you, and they are afraid that you will turn the mighty influence of your lips and prayers against them. (John 15:7.) You are established at last in the very heart of God-established in Love. Have you ever realized what that means? For years I was afraid of my Father although I was a preacher. I was afraid to trust Him. I didnt dare abandon myself to His Son. Then one day 1 John 4:6 became unveiled to me. Let me give it to you: “And we know and have believed the love which God hath in us. God is love; and he that abideth in love abideth in God, and God abideth in Him.” “We know and have believed the love which God has in our case.” That little preposition “in” belongs there. Now see what it means: “I know and I have come to believe that my Father has Love in my case. Why, He is Love; and I abide in Love, so I am abiding in Him and with Him. He and I are laboring together. I have come to believe in His Love for me.” (1 John 4:7-8.) I was afraid once, but now I rest in it. I am established in His love. I know that I cannot fail. I know that He loved me enough to give His Son to die for me, and that He will freely give me all things. (John 3:16.) Ephesians 3:17 must ever stand out among the great sentences of revelation, “That Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; to the end that ye, being rooted and grounded in love may be strong to grasp the heights and depths and breadth and length; and to know the love of Christ which passeth (sense) knowledge; and that ye may be filled now with the fullness of God (this love-God).” I have sat by the side of this scripture as I sat in my boyhood days by the side of a little stream that used to flow down through the pasture, and dreamed the dreams of a little boy. I have sat by the side of this scripture and dreamed of what it could mean to me to be rooted and grounded in God until the taproot of my being was saturated with this abundant life of God, until the very fullness of His great Love Nature came pouring into my whole being, filling me with Himself. What it could mean to be rooted, grounded, established in Love! (Ephesians 3:20.) Established in Righteousness Isaiah 54:14, “In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppression, for thou shalt not fear; and from terror, for it shall not come near thee.” And while your heart meditates in that we will turn to Isaiah 32:17, “And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness, quietness and confidence forever.” You are going to be established in the consciousness of the absolute reality of your being the righteousness of God in Christ. (2 Corinthians 5:21.) There is Romans 3:26, “That He might Himself be the righteousness of him that hath faith in Jesus.” You have faith in Jesus as your Saviour and Lord. Now the Father has become your righteousness and by this New Birth, this New Creation, He has imparted unto you His very Life and Nature. 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Wherefore if any man is in Christ, there is a new creation; the old things are passed away, and behold all things are become new. And all these things are of God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ, and gave unto us the ministry of reconciliation.” You have the Nature and Life of God. You are a New Creation. John 6:47, “He that believeth on me hath Eternal Life.” Eternal Life is the Nature and Life of the Father. You have that now. You have become, by the New Creation, by the impartation of Gods very Nature, the righteousness of God in Christ. Few people are established in that. Few appreciate or understand it, or have ever entered into its fullness. It means that you can stand in the Fathers presence, just as Jesus, without the sense of inferiority, that you can stand in the presence of Satan and all his works with the same fearless grace that Jesus had. (2 Corinthians 2:14-15.) He didnt have any fear when He stood by the tomb of Lazarus and spoke. There wasnt any fear in His heart when He said, “Lazarus, come forth.” He was Master. (John 11:39-44.) There wasnt any fear in Peters heart when he said to Sapphira, “The men who bore your husbands dead body to the grave are at the door waiting for you,” and she gave up the ghost there. (Acts 5:1-11.) You see, it makes men masters of life and of death. When Peter said to the dead Dorcas in Acts 9:40-43, “Dorcas, come back; they need you,” she arose. Established in Grace Hebrews 13:9, “Be not carried away by divers and strange teachings: for it is good that the heart be established by grace; not by meats, wherein they that occupied themselves were not profited.” Think of it! We are being established in grace. What is grace? It is love pouring itself out upon the graceless and the unworthy. The Spirit gave to us a marvelous interpretation of grace in Romans 4:4, 5. “Now to him that worketh, the reward is not reckoned as of grace, but as of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is reckoned for righteousness.” Then in Romans 5:6-10 we read, “For while we were yet weak, in due season Christ died for the ungodly.” You see, Grace is Love in operation, Love in action. I never could get it clear in my heart how Jesus could love the man who was putting the lash upon His back, or how He could love the man, and die for him, who put the nails through the palms of His hands and feet; but I imagine that if you had been back there near the sepulchre when Jesus arose from the dead, you would have heard Him say, “Where is the man who plaited the crown of thorns and placed them upon my brow? I want to tell him that I died for him, that I suffered the torments of the damned for him.” Dont you remember that He said, “Go, tell my disciples and Peter”? That little conjunction there ties the heart of Peter with the Master in a way that moves my heart. “Go, tell Peter, who denied me; tell him that I love him.” That is Grace, indeed. You notice that God put His love beyond a doubt: “in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Then you notice the tenth verse: “While we were yet enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son.” You remember John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.” Jesus belongs to the world. He doesnt belong to you any more than He belongs to the despairing, wicked men who have murdered so many women and children in Europe. That is grace; and you are so established in grace that you dont criticize anyone. Dont you know that the man you are “knocking” is the man Jesus died for? Did you ever realize that you and I, before we can ever become soulwinners, before we can reach a lost world, have to be established in grace? We have to know the Master, and know the motives behind His Love Gift, His Sacrifice. We have to be established in it so that we will be like John G. Paton was in the New Hebrides. He stood and watched a chieftain shoot his companion; and then - would you believe it? - the day came when he baptized that chieftain and administered the Lords Supper to him. He so loved that he gave his life to those desperate heathen men and women. You who read this lesson, take God, by His grace, to establish you in love, to establish you in grace. Do you know what that will mean? That will be establishing you in the perfect Word of Grace. You will become a soulwinner when grace gains the ascendancy. God so loved that He gave. I so love that I give. I so love that I give my time; I give my money; I give my ability. I lay it all upon the altar of grace. He loves you now and He wants you to love Him as He loved you. He wants you to give as He gave. You cant give as much, but you can give with the same spirit of love that He gave, cant you? One of my students from Central America could not speak much English, yet was attending our evangelistic meetings. He watched Miss Ridge, a returned missionary, pleading with a high school girl to yield to Christ. He politely said, “Teacher, tell her that if I could, I give her my heart. It would believe on Jesus.” That is grace! QUESTIONS Give three descriptions of the daily life of one who is established in: Love; Righteousness; Grace. What is the importance of being established in the Word? What threefold knowledge of Christ should we know? Give the contrast of the established lives of a believer and an unbeliever. 7-10. Quote and explain four scriptures in this lesson that have been the greatest revelation to you. Advanced Bible Course Kindly share this post
Posted on: Mon, 22 Dec 2014 13:00:01 +0000
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