I'd like to read an excerpt from Corrie
Ten Boom's book, Amazing Love, as we're quiet
before the Lord in our spirits.
I want to pray that the Lord will
speak to us tonight and minister to us
in the depths of our heart and enable
us to catch a greater glimpse of his
glory, a greater glimpse of his majesty, a
greater glimpse of his person, a greater glimpse
of his desires, what he's after, what he's
longing to realize in us.
If we could only get from the Lord
this vision of how the Lord has a
need.
Now, this need does not indicate that there's
a lack in his person, in his character.
God is all-sufficient.
He's completely and entirely adequate in himself, but
this need that he has springs out of
his own design.
It's not a need that indicates a lack
in his character.
It's a need that indicates a purpose of
his own design.
He has intentioned, he has purposed to have
a need, and in having a need, he
has done the necessary thing in order for
that need to be met.
And of course, that thing that he has
done is send his lovely son, the Lord
Jesus Christ, and the full ramifications and the
full implications of the Lord Jesus Christ and
his coming and the fulfillment of all that
the Lord Jesus wants to do in the
church is in fact that which the Lord
longs to realize.
That's the Lord's need.
The Lord himself has caused his own heart
to long for a place where the fullness
of his Son in all of his splendor,
in all of his eternal perfections, in all
of his glory might be expressed.
How emancipating and liberating it is when we
are aware by the Holy Spirit working in
our life and through the Word of God
working in our hearts.
How wonderful it is when we become aware
more so of what the Lord is after
rather than what we're always after.
There's such a man-centered, such an eye
-centered inclination in Christianity today, where the believer
is in pursuit after God based upon something
the believer wants for himself, something the believer
feels to be in need in his life.
Perhaps there is a place for this in
our Christian life.
Immaturity is characterized by always perceiving our world
as it relates to us, always perceiving everything
as it affects us.
And we know that the Word of God
makes place for Christians in the earlier stages
of their life as being babes, children.
And the Lord is understanding and compassionate in
regard to the mentality and mindset that children
have.
But beloved, the Bible clearly teaches in Hebrews
chapter 6 that the Lord's thought is not
that we would remain children, that we would
remain in infancy, but that we would go
on unto perfection.
And in Hebrews, we'll read very quickly before
we read this section from Corrie Ten Boone's
book, because this section that I'm going to
read relates to some of the kinds of
dealings that the Lord will bring in our
life when we are progressing on in our
Christian life and are advancing to the maturer
stages of our walk with the Lord, where
we are so desirous to be free from
anything that is not pleasing to the Lord,
anything that is not like the Lord Jesus
Christ, which brings us to a threshold where
we can lose sight of ourself and lose
sight of our struggles and lose sight of
that I, that wanting, that coming to God
with only me in mind, and be emancipated
from that and come into a place where
we are aware of the Lord's need, we're
aware of the Lord's desires, we're aware of
what the Lord is longing for, and our
life gets lost in His desires, and in
His interests, and in His passions, and we
pass out of the stage where everything revolves
around us, and we bear a heart that
wants the Lord's glory.
And the Lord so longs to be able
to bring a people to this place.
And in Hebrews chapter 6, the writer, or
Hebrews 5 verse number 11, the writer is
speaking of the Melchizedek ministry in verse number
11, it says, Of whom we have many
things to say and are hard to be
uttered, seeing you are dull of hearing.
For when, for the time you ought to
be teachers, you have need that one teach
you again, which be the first principles of
the oracles of God, and are become such
as have need of milk, and not of
strong meat.
For everyone that useth milk is unskillful in
the word of righteousness, for he is a
babe.
But strong meat belongs to them that are
of full age, even those who by reason
of use have their senses exercised to discern
both good and evil.
So here, the scriptures speak very, very clearly
that these believers were to be more advanced
than they were.
So therefore, it wasn't God's will for them
to be in the condition that they were
in spiritually.
God would have had them to be more
advanced, even to the point where the writer
says they should have been by that time
teachers.
That is, they should have had such an
inward, in-wrought work of the Lord in
their lives, so deeply that they were so
dealt with inwardly by the Lord, and had
such an inward knowledge of the Lord that
had been wrought through experiences, and through pressures,
and testings, and trials, insofar that they were
able and capable by the grace of God
and by the Spirit of God to actually
be teachers.
The scripture says for the time you ought
to be teachers, they should have been instructing
and teaching others.
Now, this idea here of being teachers is
not at all simply the ability to communicate
facts, or theory, or to educate people.
But when the scriptures speak of being teachers
in the New Covenant, it's talking about the
ability to communicate the life of the Lord
Jesus Christ that has been in-wrought inwardly
in the vessel through the power and spirit
of the living God.
This idea of being a teacher is not
to be understood as teachers in secular society
or in the world are, just simply communicating
facts.
There's something gathered up in this thought of
being teachers that far exceeds the ability to
communicate facts.
But to have this inward knowledge wrought in
us, to have this inward knowing of the
Lord so deeply in us that enables us
to be teachers, it necessitates being willing, it
necessitates desiring with passion and intensity to the
point where it becomes that which means more
to us than anything else, and that being
to pass out of the stage of babyhood
and infancy in the Lord Jesus Christ and
go into the stages of adulthood and spiritual
maturity where, in fact, we are able to
digest strong meat which belongs to them who
are of full age, those who by reason
of use have their senses exercised to discern
both good and evil.
So this issue of spiritual maturity is one
that is far more, I don't want to
use the word complicating, but it has far
more implication than simply maturity as being defined
as, well, many years serving the Lord.
You can serve the Lord many years, you
can acquire a whole lot of Bible doctrine,
you could possibly even hold a position in
the church as an elder or a leader
or a pastor or a teacher.
You may have read many, many, many Christian
books, but may still be an infant spiritually.
So the Lord longs for a people, the
Lord longs for a people who will respond
and yield to the working of the Holy
Spirit in their life to the point where
they begin to long for spiritual maturity so
that they can be emancipated from the self
-centered, self-relating, man-centered perception of God
and basically the whole Christian life.
They can get out of that realm and
come into a realm where their life and
their mind and their heart and everything that
they are spiritually is revolving around the Lord
and a passion for the Lord to get
what He's after.
Not, I want to get what I want.
No.
Oh how I long for the Lord to
get what He's after.
And such a place necessitates, as I mentioned
a little earlier, a dealing of the Holy
Spirit in our life, a strong dealing, a
very powerful dealing, at which time we come
to grips with the sovereignty of His Lordship,
the sovereignty of what His Word says, and
we bow before it and it becomes that
which we live by.
The Word of God, the Holy Spirit, quickening
the Word of God to us becomes the
absolutely final authority in our life.
We cast down human reason, we cast down
human understanding, we cast down human preference, we
cast down our own desires, we cast down
the things that we think are right and
wrong, and we bow down to the Lordship
of Jesus Christ and His will becomes our
will.
The testimony of Jesus Christ, not my will,
but Thy will be done.
The crisis that must come as a means
to which we enter into the beginning stages
of adulthood in Christianity is a crisis where
we come to where we realize the Lord
has got to conquer me.
The Lord has got to triumph over me.
The Lord has got to overcome me.
The Lord has got to be the chief.
The Lord has got to be the boss
of my life.
The Lord has got to be the master
of my life.
The Lord has got to be everything to
me.
I can no longer bargain with the Lord.
I can no longer make deals with the
Lord.
I can no longer continue to do what
I know is wrong, knowing that the Lord
will forgive me.
The crisis that must come that brings us
only to the beginning stages of Christian maturity
is that very thing.
Recognizing in a very real way, in a
very life-changing way, in a very devastating
way, that is devastating to our own will,
that Christ must be headed.
He can't be number one as we mentioned
several weeks ago, because oftentimes when Christians make
Jesus number one, well, they have number two,
number three, and number four for themselves.
And the Lord has nothing to do in
those areas of their life.
So we profess Jesus is number one, and
then when I fulfill those obligations that relate
to the number one Jesus that's in my
life and to those things that pertain to
it, then I do my own thing.
Of course, we confess that the things we're
doing aren't as important to us as the
Lord, but there are things, and the Lord
doesn't have any say most of the time
in those areas of our life.
So Jesus can no longer be number one
in our life if we want to come
to spiritual maturity.
Jesus has to be everything.
Jesus has to have a say.
He has to have the place of lordship
and preeminence in everything that we do and
everything that we say, in all the plans
that we make.
And it's as we come to this crisis
and see that this is why we've been
saved.
The Lord saved us not to make us
forgiven sinners, shouting that we're going to heaven,
although that is true.
The Lord didn't save us just to rescue
us from hell and get us to heaven.
The Lord saved us so He can realize
something in us.
The Lord saved us because He has a
need.
Not a need indicating a lack in His
character, but a need that He Himself has
subjected Himself to.
A need to be satisfied in a people
who perfectly demonstrate and express the eternal perfections
that are found in His Son.
That's the need that God has.
That's the longing that God has.
Know how emancipating it is when we come
to this revelation.
God has saved us not just to rescue
us from hell, not just to have us
say, praise God, there's a place for me
in heaven.
No, God has saved us because He wants
us to become something.
And becoming something is God's ultimate intention.
Not through striving or through self-effort, but
through the transforming power of the Holy Spirit
reproducing in those who are yielded and cooperating
with the Holy Spirit, reproducing in them the
very stature, the very spiritual manhood that Christ
Himself in glory possesses.
That's the magnificence of what God is doing.
And beloved, we can never let the heaviness
and the urgency of what the Lord is
doing and what He's after slip from us.
We can never do that.
Now, in light of all that, I'd like
to read a section from the book Amazing
Love, Corrie ten Boone.
And this particular section that I'm going to
read indicates the kind of dealings that the
Lord will bring to our life when we
are prepared to come into the first stages
of adulthood.
And I read, I once heard a sermon
by the Reverend Oswald Smith at a conference
in Switzerland.
The following made a deep impression on me.
He held four books in his hands and
asked, Is everything on the altar?
Have you lost your life for Christ's sake,
your money, your time, your family, your home?
He placed the four books on the table.
This is my money, this is my time,
this is my family, this is my home.
Yes, my money, all of it, except a
small savings account, which I've laid aside for
my vacation.
So not all of my money.
And he took one book from the table.
My home, yes, except that I cannot take
the children of my sister who is ill.
They are so unruly that I just can't
have them as guests in my home.
So not my home.
And he removed the second book from the
table.
My time, yes, it all belongs to the
Lord, but my two weeks vacation.
I have a right to that and I've
already reserved a room at the hotel.
So not my time.
A third book disappeared.
My family, yes, but I have not allowed
my daughter to become what she so eagerly
wishes to be, a missionary.
We have a large family and she must
stay at home to help her mother.
So not my family.
He picked up the fourth book.
The altar was empty.
I left the conference room and went out
to walk alone and I searched my heart.
Was everything in my life on the altar?
I was deeply touched.
Now I believe that that little section from
this book is a very telling, very searching
that would do us all very good to
respond accordingly as Corrie Ten Boom did.
This is what the Lord is after.
You could see how this perfectly illustrates the
idea that Jesus can't be number one.
He has to be everything.
Initially there were four books at the altar
representing those four areas that so often we
want to believe are on the altar.
That is, we want to believe that the
Lord has full say in all those areas.
Our money, our time, our family, and our
home.
We want to believe that the Holy Spirit
would ask us to take each one of
these items and place them on the altar
and give the Lord preeminence in each and
every one of them.
And perhaps in some ways much of those
areas of our life have been handed over
to the Lord.
But the Holy Spirit is after those things
that we are yet holding on to for
our own self.
Those things that we are yet wanting to
rule and govern by our own wishes, our
own desires, our own reasonings.
And it's the possessing of those areas in
our life that really annuls the whole sacrifice
and renders it not on the altar.
If he's not everything, he doesn't consider to
be anything.
And see, that's what the Lord is after.
A work in such a way that would
be characterized by believers longing for spiritual maturity,
believers longing for spiritual adulthood, that would indeed
resolve in seeing the Lord Jesus Christ as
all and all.
So I think those things are thoughts that
we can consider and ponder.
And it would be very helpful if we
would ask the Lord, have a dealing with
the Lord, have a transaction with the Lord,
insofar that we would say, Lord, I want
the Holy Spirit.
I want the Word of God.
To become the final authority in my life.
I want things to be subject to You.
I don't want to take anything into my
own hands.
And I pray, Lord, that You will do
such a severe dealing, such a severe dealing
in my life, so that You can have
Your way in everything.
Now, a few weeks ago, we had been
discussing the subtlety of how the enemy gets
a place in our prayer life.
And it seems appropriate tonight to touch on
that for a short time.
Because this entrance that the enemy has in
our prayer life is directly related to our
immaturities, to our tendencies to yet be governed
by our own desires, our own wants.
In 1 Corinthians chapter 3, we read that
the Apostle Paul, having loved the Corinthians deeply,
considering them to be his spiritual children, had
some very, very firm, very frank, very curt
words for them.
And it was essential for them to understand
these things, and that's why Paul had to
write them, because it was only in apprehending
these things, and understanding these things, and seeing
things the way they really were, that there
was any hope for them to advance spiritually.
Now, Paul mentioned in chapter 3 of 1
Corinthians, beginning in verse 1, And I, brethren,
could not speak unto you as unto spiritual,
but as unto carnal.
That word carnal means fleshly.
Even as unto babes.
That word babe means an infant.
So they were fleshly, and therefore they were
infants.
So being fleshly is something that Paul called
being an infant in Christ.
I have fed you with milk, verse 2,
and not with meat.
For hitherto you were not able to bear
it, neither were you now able.
For you are yet carnal.
For whereas there is among you envying, and
strife, and divisions, are you not carnal, and
walk as men?
Verse number 4 is a very, very eye
-opening verse.
For while one saith, I am of Paul,
and another, I am of Paulus, are you
not carnal?
Notice in verse 4, one says, I am
of Paul, and another says, I am of
Paulus.
The very problem of these Corinthians was that
eye.
There was too much of the eye in
their life.
Too much of the eye, and all the
desires, the self-related desires that come with
eye.
So, just briefly, one could conclude from chapter
3 here, that the Lord is trying to
teach us that to be a spiritual infant
is one who is governed by carnality, or
one who is governed by their fleshly nature.
Their fleshly carnal nature.
And in such a condition, Paul said that
they were not able to be fed with
meat, but could only drink milk.
Now, that's the same condition that plagued the
Christians that were being addressed in the book
of Hebrews.
They were babes.
They were infants.
They should have been.
They should have been able to teach, which
meant they should have been spiritually mature, or
spiritual, but instead they were only babes.
Now, here Paul said that these believers were
babes, and they were carnal.
So, to be governed by our fleshly nature
is to be carnal, is to be an
infant.
And this is directly related to the foothold
that the enemy has in our prayer life.
The foothold that the enemy has in our
prayer life, that so many times renders our
prayers very weak spiritually, is that carnal fleshly
tendency that we have when we go into
prayer with the Lord.
And that is expressed in our praying prayers,
when in reality we're praying things to the
Lord that we want to do.
That we would desire.
So, we're bringing into our prayer life our
own desires, and bringing them to the Lord,
and in a way talking a lot of
prayers, and saying a lot of prayers, but
really, in fact, we're determined inwardly to do
what we want to do anyway.
And that's how the enemy gets a foothold
in our prayer.
Now, oftentimes, as we mentioned before, this is
seen by a particular pattern that is evidenced
in our prayer life.
And that pattern is this, that so often
we go to the Lord, and in going
to the Lord regarding His will for our
life, we oftentimes find ourselves mentioning I, I,
I, so many times.
We say, Lord, I am willing to do
this.
I am willing to do that.
Lord, what is it that you want me
to do?
Lord, what is it that you want me
to say?
Where do you want me to go?
And oftentimes, such a condition is very telling.
It's an indication of something that's deeper.
The scripture says that, out of the heart,
the mouth speaks.
And oftentimes, our words indicate a state in
our heart.
And the very fact that we are so
inclined to go to the Lord, and the
word I is so much in our mind,
and so much in our words as we're
praying to the Lord, indicates that our hearts
are preoccupied with ourself and our own desires,
even though we're in the presence of God,
praying to God.
And consequently, we pray prayers, Lord, what is
it you want me to do?
Lord, I'm willing to do this, or I'm
willing to do that.
And in reality, what we're doing is we're
expressing to the Lord things that we really
want to do.
I hope I'm making it understandable.
It's, it's, it's a, it's a, it's a
subtle, subtle condition that I believe the Lord
wants to really deliver us from.
Now, if you'll turn your Bibles to the
book of John, I just want to show
you something about the Lord Jesus Christ.
John chapter 19, or John chapter 5, verse
number 19.
Jesus said, Then, then, then answered Jesus and
said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto
you, the Son can do nothing of himself.
Now notice this, but what he seeth the
Father do for whatsoever things he doeth, these
also doeth the Son likewise.
Now, I want you to see the difference
between the Lord Jesus Christ and the way
that he prayed and the way that he
quote unquote was directed, because we're all so
desirous to be directed of God.
We all want the Lord to, to show
us his will for our life.
But notice here the Bible says that Jesus
of himself did nothing, but whatever he seeth
the Father do.
So, by this scripture, we can see something
of the prayers of Jesus, something of the
prayer life of Jesus.
That when he came to the Father, it
wasn't so much Jesus telling the Father what
he was willing to do, or what he
wasn't willing to do, and what he could
do.
Father, I, I'm willing to do this.
I'm willing to do that.
Would you want me to do this?
Do you want me to do that?
He wasn't going to the Father in that
posture.
But he was going to the Father with
all of his attention focused on his Father,
seeking to discern the movement of his Father.
And in that direction, he simply was prepared
to move.
He didn't come with a preconceived I, I,
I, I.
He came quietly before the Lord.
His soul was still before the Lord.
And he simply saw the Father.
He simply discerned the movement of the Father.
Father, which way are you moving today?
Father, which way are you moving?
Where are you going?
See, it's so important that we make this
transition by God's grace.
You don't see Jesus saying, God, I'm willing
to do this today if you want me
to.
I'm willing to do that, Lord, if you
want me to.
He's simply coming and saying, Father, what is
your movement?
The I is not even coming into picture.
It's just the Son looking to the Father,
seeking the Father's movements and then following those
movements.
That indicates a deep spiritual principle working within
the Son.
And that also indicates something that the Lord
wants to work deeply within us.
He wants to deliver us from the many,
many wants and desires even regarding his work
and regarding his will for our life.
We have so many things that we want
to do.
And basically we come to God and are
looking for God to place his blessing upon
what we want to do.
And that's the snare of a prayer life
that is filled with predominantly, I will this,
I will that.
Lord, do you want me to do this?
Do you want me to do that?
And you get so caught up in that,
so caught up in that mentality, you don't
realize that really what's happening is your own
desires are very much alive.
Your own desires are very much being inflamed
and you're just simply bringing them to God,
hoping that God's going to place his blessing
upon what you want to do.
But we see in the Son a completely
different picture.
We see the Son who says the things
I speak unto you, the Father has given
me.
The things I teach you, the Father has
taught me.
The Son can do nothing of himself, but
whatsoever he seeth, the Father do.
We see something where the I and the
desires of Christ are out of the picture,
out of the picture.
And he comes to Father seeking to know
the Father's heart, the Father's will, the Father's
movements, the Father's pleasure, the Father's plan for
the day.
And oftentimes when we begin to pray this
way, we might not have a certainty about
Father's will.
He might not clearly show us specifically what
his movement is in a particular area, but
one thing we know, that we will go
about our day walking very softly.
We will not begin to demand, we will
not begin to say, well, I'm going to
do this, and I'm going to do that,
and I've determined that this is the way
that I'm going to go.
We walk very softly so that at any
time the Holy Spirit can make us to
know Father's moving in this direction, not this
direction, and we simply are able to turn
about with the movement of the Spirit of
God in our conscience, in our spirit, and
we're able to follow Him then and go
along the path that He's moving in.
This is what happens when the Lord works
the cross in our prayer life.
We find that the very qualities that we're
working in the blessed Son of God begin
to work in us.
And beloved, a predominant feature of this quality
is my desires, my will, my preferences don't
come to God in prayer.
I learn by the power of God, I
place them at the cross.
I place them at the altar.
I come to Father not preoccupied with my
desires, hoping He will bless them, but I
come to Father not considering my own desires,
not communicating my own desires, but I come
to Father seeking to know what His heart
is, what His thoughts are, what His mind
is, what His movements are, and as I
discern them, I willfully, lovingly, and joyfully submit
to them and move by the power of
the Spirit in that direction.
What emancipation comes?
What liberty comes when God can work this
in our prayer life?
The I-motivated prayer life must be crucified
and in its place must come a prayer
life where we are predominantly looking to know
what the Lord's thought is.
Do you know how dangerous it is to
go to prayer with an agenda?
You go to prayer with an agenda.
You go to prayer already wanting something and
looking for a way to convince yourself that
God is giving you permission to do what
you want.
And how the Lord would rather us learn
to go to prayer not with an agenda,
but to go to prayer seeking only to
know what Father wants.
Now, the question I want to ask is
what's behind the I-me-motivated prayer?
What's behind it?
What is really going on when our prayers
are, generally speaking, filled with the I-
me- my- mindset when we go
to God with these words coming from our
lips so often?
Well, I'd like to, if I may, show
you in the scriptures what's behind these things.
First John, chapter 2.
Now, remember when we initially began this little
talk tonight, we were speaking about the need
for what?
The need for the Lord to get a
people who become willing and desirous, passionately longing
to come into spiritual maturity.
Beloved, this is one of the dealings of
the Lord that will occur when spiritual maturity
and winning Christ becomes the passionate longing of
our heart.
This is the way to spiritual maturity.
The Holy Spirit will have to deal with
this prayer life that is essentially earthly, carnal,
fleshly, and I-me-motivated and bring it
through the cross and out the other side
will come a prayer life that's really effective
for God, that really brings glory to God.
All right.
So what's behind the I-me-my motivated
prayer life?
First John, chapter 2, beginning in verse number
15 through 17.
Love not the world, neither the things that
are in the world.
If any man loved the world, the love
of the Father is not in him.
For all that is in the world, the
lust of the flesh and the lust of
the eyes and the pride of life is
not of the Father, but is of the
world.
And the world passes away and the lust
thereof.
But he that doeth the will of God
abideth forever.
Beloved, that which is behind the I-me
-my motivated prayer is nothing more, nothing less
than the lust of the flesh, the lust
of the eyes, and the pride of life.
The lust of the flesh are those desires
that are in the flesh.
The lust of the eyes are those things
that we see and then desire.
And the pride of life consists of the
word pride means to be puffed up and
to brag.
So the pride of life is the tendency
we have to glory and be proud of
something that we have in this life, the
pride of life.
To take security in something that we have,
to take confidence in something that we have,
to brag in something that we have, to
glory in something that we have.
When the I-me-my principle is behind
our prayer life, what's behind that is one
or all of these three things.
And when that is present, there is great
limitation and spiritual weakness in our praying.
Now, mind you, beloved, the Lord is very
sympathetic.
He's very loving.
He's very compassionate.
He understands that babes are babes.
He understands that infants are infants.
He understands that immature Christians are immature Christians.
And the Lord doesn't really expect anything differently.
But the point of issue tonight is this,
is the Holy Spirit speaking to me saying,
Beloved, it's time to begin to set your
mind and your heart and your affections and
your desires on spiritual maturity.
It's time to go to the Lord and
make a transaction with Him.
Lord, I'm ready.
I'm longing.
I'm desiring more than anything for you to
do a deeper work in me so that
I can get on the way to spiritual
immaturity.
And Lord, I realize that in going down
this path, you're going to put the axe
to the root of this I, me, my
self-centered prayer life.
And you're going to put your finger on
these things in my life that are nothing
more than the lust of the flesh, the
lust of the eyes, and the pride of
life.
And you're going to sever me from being
controlled by them.
You're going to sever me from bringing these
desires in prayer to you.
And you're going to bring me into a
selfless prayer life where my prayers focus around
you and what you desire and what you're
worthy of and spending my time praying that
your will, your kingdom, your righteousness would be
fulfilled.
Now, the lust of the flesh, the lust
of the eyes, and the pride of life,
and the power of these things working in
us all spring out of a condition which
also is an indication of spiritual immaturity.
Guess what that condition is?
I'll tell you.
This condition is the lack of contentment.
Spiritual infancy, spiritual immaturity is characterized by a
constant lack of contentment.
So, when the Lord begins, listen closely, beloved,
when the sovereign Holy Spirit begins to shine
brightly into your heart and enabling you to
see the reality of these things that we're
sharing tonight, and you begin to see the
Lord in a moment's time will bring before
you your prayer life.
And you'll see how so many times your
prayer life is revolving around the I and
the me and the my desires.
You're going to find that as the Holy
Spirit shows you that, He's going to show
you that these I, me, and my desires
are directly rooted and connected to the desires
of the flesh, the desires of the I,
and the pride of life.
And then you're going to see by the
Holy Spirit revelation that that in itself has
power over you because there has not been
wrought in you a grace empowered and spirit
wrought contentment.
The lack of contentment with such things as
you have is the foothold through which the
lust of the flesh, the lust of the
eyes, and the pride of life are fanned
into an uncontrollable flame that leads your soul
down a road that is characterized by lusts
and that drown men into perdition, the scripture
says.
One example of a lack of contentment is
found in First Timothy.
This is just one example, beloved.
First Timothy, chapter 6, talking
about men who do not consent to the
wholesome words of our Lord Jesus Christ and
to the doctrine which is according to godliness.
This person is proud, verse 4, chapter 6,
First Timothy, knowing nothing but doubting about questions
and strides of words whereof cometh envy, strife,
railings, evil surmisings, perverse disputings of men of
corrupt minds, destitute of the truth, supposing that
gain is godliness from such withdraw thyself.
In First Timothy, chapter 6, verse 6, the
Holy Spirit is saying that gain, great gain,
is seen by possessing an ever-increasing measure
godliness and living in the state of contentment
with such things as we have.
Now, you've got to admit, beloved, that such
a mindset is alien from most people, but
that is what the Lord is after.
Listen to verse number 7.
We brought nothing into this world and it
is certain we can carry nothing out.
I don't ever recall seeing a U-Haul
behind a hearse.
We brought nothing into the world and it
is certain we carry nothing out.
And having food and raiment, let us be
therewith content.
You see here the need for contentment?
But they that will be rich, that is,
they that are desiring to be rich, fall
into temptation and a snare and into many
foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in
destruction and perdition.
So this contentment, listen, beloved, contentment is directly
connected with spiritual maturity and the absence of
contentment is directly connected to spiritual immaturity which
is characterized by being governed by the fleshly
nature, by the lusts of the flesh, lusts
of the eyes and the pride of life
and carrying these desires over into our prayer
life.
So the Holy Spirit would want to do
a real deep, real thorough and real complete
work in our life.
The absence of contentment breeds greed and covetousness.
Why does the spirit of greed and covetousness
have such a stronghold in the church today?
Because there is a gross lack of contentment
among God's people.
The lack of contentment breeds covetousness and greed.
How much prayer inspired by these lusts would
completely cease if believers awoke to the need
of a deep work of grace in us,
making us fully content with the things we
have and not seeing those things as necessary
to pray about any longer?
How much prayer would cease?
Well, remember the words of Jesus Christ in
Matthew chapter 6, verse 19.
Very powerful words, very piercing words that would
do us well to meditate on and ask
the Holy Spirit to shine light.
Remember, beloved, earlier we said that the crisis
must come where we no longer go to
the Word of God and reason it away.
Do you know how you can reason the
Word of God away?
You can reason it away.
You can talk the power of the Word
of God right out of your life by
not believing what it says wholeheartedly.
Now notice what it says as we read
it.
May the Lord cause these scriptures to become
life to us and help us see how
the working of these scriptures in our life
by the power of the Holy Spirit can
free us from discontentment, can free us from
greed and covetousness, and can really, really set
us on the path to spiritual maturity.
Verse 19, Lay not up for yourselves treasures
upon earth where moth and rust doth corrupt
and where thieves break through and steal.
But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven
where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt and
where thieves do not break through nor steal.
For where your treasure is, there your heart
be also.
The light of the body is the eye.
If therefore thine eye be single, thy whole
body shall be full of light.
If your eye is single, that word single
means the absence of duplicity, no folds.
So if your eye, that is the thing
you're focusing on, be single, your whole body
will be full of light.
But if thine eye be evil, thy whole
body shall be full of darkness.
If therefore the light that is in thee
be darkness, how great is that darkness?
All of these scriptures go together.
No man can serve two masters for either
he will hate the one and love the
other or else he will hold to the
one and despise the other.
He cannot serve God and mammon.
And then Jesus goes on, therefore I say
unto you, take no thought for your life.
Jesus says take no thought in verses 25
through 34 five times.
Take no thought, take no thought, take no
thought, take no thought, take no thought.
He's referring to the basic necessities of life.
He's not referring to extravagant excesses.
Indeed, we're not to take thought for them,
but he's referring to the basic necessities of
life.
So Jesus is getting to a root here
that goes so deeply that we can even
have desires for lawful things, things that we
need such as food and raiment and shelter.
We can even have a desire for them
that hinders our prayer life.
And Jesus is telling us take no thought
five times.
And then we get all the way down
to verse number 32 for after all these
things do the Gentiles seek.
Your heavenly father knows that you have need
of all these things, but seek ye first
the kingdom of God and his righteousness.
Do you see the transition that Jesus is
trying to make here?
He's trying to get us from going to
God and praying about things that relate to
us.
Even if they're lawful things.
Not to mention how terrible it is when
we are going to God praying about things
that we ought not even to be praying
about.
Things that are excessive.
Things that are indicative of real lusts and
real indications of greed and covetousness.
But you know, most believers feel justified in
praying about those things that they need.
But Jesus here five times says don't even
take thought for those things that you need.
See, he's trying to get a people to
make this transition from infancy to adulthood where
they realize father knows what I have need
of.
I'm going to seek first the kingdom of
God.
See, Jesus wants a people to make the
transition from thinking about themselves and what they
need to thinking about God and what he
longs for and what he desires.
But seek first the kingdom of God in
his righteousness and all these things shall be
added unto you.
Oh, what power.
What power if the Lord can get this
in our life.
Just that we might be able to have
opportunity by the Holy Spirit to truly be
confronted by the by the terribleness of this
lack of contentment.
I want to just give you some information
that I believe the Holy Spirit can use.
First of all, I want to give you
the definition of what covetousness means.
The word covetousness actually means the desire for
having more or for what one does not
have.
The desire for having more or for what
one does not have.
Now, here's a perfect example of how the
word of God has been made of no
effect in a lot of Christians lives.
How many Christians do you know that really
have a deep conviction that it is wrong
for them to desire to have more or
to want something they don't have?
How many Christians do you know really have
a deep conviction that the presence of that
in their heart would be wrong?
Very few.
But according to the Bible, such a condition
is covetousness.
And you know what the Bible says about
covetousness?
Ephesians chapter 5 verse number 3.
Now see, beloved, this is an example of
what happens when the Holy Spirit gets us
to where we accept the finality of His
authority in our life.
The finality of what God says.
If you govern your life by what people
say, by what the church is saying, by
what the neighbor thinks, by what your Christian
friend thinks, and you let their principles govern
your life, you're going to miss the prize.
You're going to miss what God's after.
I have never...
God, help me if I'm exaggerating.
I don't think I am.
If I am, God, forgive me.
I've never met a Christian that I really
know that has sat down personally.
This doesn't mean that they're not there, but
usually Christians talk about things that really mean
something to them.
I've never met a Christian that has sat
down and looked at me right in my
eyes and said, you know what, Phil?
The Holy Spirit has showed me that my
desire for having more or what I don't
have is sinful in His eyes.
I don't think I've ever experienced a Christian
doing that.
Now, I've had Christians come down and say
the Lord showed me that I have a
terrible attitude and He wants me to repent
or I'm engaging in this activity and I
know it's wrong or you know, something more
obvious.
But to come right down and say, brother
Phil, the Lord has shown me that I
have a desire to have what I don't
have.
And it's covetousness and it's wrong.
Now, why isn't that happening?
I think predominantly, for the most part, it's
not happening because the Holy Spirit is no
longer being given in the church the place
of absolute Lord, absolute sovereign, the final authority.
And it's only the Holy Spirit that can
make this word living to us.
I believe that's why it's not happening.
We have disregarded the word of God and
we have made it of no effect through
our own traditions.
We've made it of no effect.
Now, look what it says in Ephesians chapter
5 verse number 3.
Beginning in verse 1.
Be ye therefore followers of God as dear
children.
I tell you, we can start right there
and go on for an hour, beloved.
Be followers of God.
You know what that means?
Follow God.
That is, make it your goal to act
like God would act.
Make it your goal to be like God
would be.
You say, well, who would know that?
Well, that's what Jesus did.
Jesus showed us what God would do if
he had a place 100% in a
man.
Jesus showed us what God is like.
And now we're to follow God as he
was exemplified in his son, the Lord Jesus
Christ.
Now watch this.
Walk in love as Christ also has loved
us and has given himself for us an
offering, a sacrifice to God for a sweet
smelling savor.
Now, but fornication and all uncleanness or what?
Covetousness.
Now, you know what most Christians do when
they read that?
Yeah, covetousness.
Yeah.
But how many Christians get on their knees
and begin to pray, oh, Holy Spirit of
God, I beg you to show me the
areas of covetousness in my life.
Now, you might say, well, how do I
know that I'm guilty of covetousness?
Well, what does it mean?
Covetousness.
The desire for having more or for what
one does not have.
Yeah.
Now, if language means anything, that's a good
start to pray.
Lord, is there any covetousness in my life?
Now, the word of God says fornication, uncleanness
or covetousness.
So covetousness is right along in the same
list as fornication or uncleanness.
Let it not be once named among you
as becometh saints.
Now, do we really, really have a measure
of the Holy Spirit working in us in
so much that we can read these words
and we can sense a need to pray
and go to our head, go to the
final authority and let him be the one,
not me, not your neighbor, but let him
be the one to to finalize this issue
in your life.
Let him show you, is there covetousness in
your life?
See, this is one example of how the
word of God becomes quick and powerful and
sharper than any two-edged sword when the
Holy Spirit gets a place in our life.
Greediness.
Basically, the word greedy or greed and covetous
or covetousness are used interchangeably in the New
Testament.
The word greed comes from two words, comes
from two words.
The first word is pleon in the Greek
language and that means more.
The second part of the word is echo,
e-c-h-o, and that means to
have.
So, greedy is what?
You want to have more than what is
what, nifo.
The root from which all the lusts of
the flesh, the lusts of the eyes, and
the pride of life grows is greediness and
covetousness, which springs out of a lack of
contentment.
How many times, beloved, do we pray, oh,
I want to be like you, Lord Jesus.
Okay.
This little talk tonight is a very super
down-to-earth practical example of the implications
that will come to us by the Holy
Spirit if we really mean what we're saying.
It's so easy to pray that prayer in
heavenly platitudes.
Oh, I want to be like you, Lord
Jesus.
Oh, make me like you.
It's so easy to pray that prayer and
be untouched in our practical life.
And when we do such a thing, the
Lord is very sad.
But when we pray that kind of prayer
and the end resolved are these kind of
dealings in our life where we're really broken
over these issues and we really have strong
dealings with God in these areas and we
get devastated and we can't sleep at night
until these things are settled, then we know
that God has heard our prayers and that
he's putting us on the road of spiritual
maturity.
This is what the cross means, practically speaking.
This is the cross.
The cross brings to an end that which
is in us that's not of Christ.
And let me tell you something, beloved.
A life governed by greed and covetousness is
not Christ-like.
And we can't continue in such a lifestyle
if we intend to be like Jesus Christ.
Now, we're going to close.
All right.
Let's all turn to Hebrews chapter 13.
This is a beautiful place to close.
This will sum up the spirit of this
message tonight in a beautiful way.
Hebrews chapter 13, verses 5 and 6.
I will read verses 5 and 6 and
then I have chosen three key words in
verse 5 that I want to talk about
for a very short time that will very,
very clearly sum up the whole matter of
what the Holy Spirit is wanting us to
see tonight.
Beginning in chapter 13, verse 5.
Let your conversation be without covetousness.
There's that word again.
And be content.
There's that word again.
Be content with such things as you have.
For he hath said I will never leave
thee nor forsake thee so that we may
boldly say the Lord is my helper and
I will not fear what man shall do
unto me.
Might I say before we go into verse
5 that being able to say the Lord
is my helper and I will not fear
is directly related to verse number 5.
Is it possible that there is very little
ability for Christians to say boldly the Lord
is my helper?
I will not fear what man shall do
unto me.
Is it possible that we are not able
to say that boldly with a confident heart
because verse number 5 and the truth of
verse number 5 has not been worked in
us?
It is possible.
It's probable.
You see, beloved?
Verse number 5.
Let your conversation.
The word conversation is translated in other translations
such as let your way of life.
That word conversation does not entail simply the
words that you speak.
It's a bit misleading, the King James Version.
And other translations are good, your way of
life.
But the literal meaning of the Greek word
conversation means the style or mode
of a thing.
The style or mode of a thing.
The totality of one's life, character,
deeds, words, and actions.
The root word for this particular word conversation
has a meaning of revolution.
Now, we know what a revolution is.
Not a revolution in the fact of a
war, but a revolution meaning a complete circle.
So, that entails the complete, all comprehensive circle
of your whole life, which includes your life,
your character, your deeds, and your words, and
your actions.
That is what this word conversation is entailing.
So, now that the Holy Spirit has got
our attention in what He is wanting to
include, in this commandment, we read, let that
be without covetousness.
Now, we know what covetousness is.
We already defined it.
To want more or to have what we
don't have.
Be without covetousness and be content with such
things as you have.
Now, this word contentment is a very interesting
word.
Now, look what we're involving here.
The revolution of our life, that is the
totality of our life, is to be without
covetousness.
This is made possible through contentment.
The word content comes from the idea of
raising up a barrier toward something off.
To raise up a barrier toward something off.
So, in musing and thinking about this definition,
here's the translation that I came up with.
This is my translation, based on the root
meanings of what I found.
To be satisfied, to be content, to
be sufficient, and to keep things that way
by a raised barrier to prevent the entrance
of greed, covetousness, or inordinate lust.
So, the idea of possessing contentment has with
it a raised barrier toward off.
Toward off what?
Anything that contradicts the essential meaning of contentment,
which is to be satisfied.
To be enough, to be sufficient, and to
keep things that way by a raised barrier.
Now, how many Christians do you know practice
contentment in that way?
That is, they maintain, by the grace of
God, a posture of contentment by an invisible,
to the natural eyes, barrier that's raised up
in their life, warding off any tendency toward
covetousness, or greed, or striving for that which
the Holy Spirit is not permitting them to
strive for.
Wow.
Now, these are the things that the Holy
Spirit wants to do.
Lastly, firstly we saw that our conversation entails
everything about our life.
It is to be free of covetousness, wanting
more, or that which we do not have,
we are to have contentment, which is to
be satisfied, to have enough, and to maintain
that position through a raised barrier toward off.
And that raised barrier is the power of
the Holy Spirit guarding our hearts.
And now, lastly, be content with such things
as ye have.
Now, what does that word mean, such things
as ye have?
Those things which are near at hand, available
at this time.
Be content with such things as ye have,
or rather, be satisfied with those things which
are near at hand.
My definition, after looking through this, such things
as ye have is being, those things which
are near at hand, available at this time.
The now, and not what may be in
reach tomorrow.
Being content with such things as you have
is coming to grips with it is sufficient,
with what I have now, and I will
not begin to look toward and let my
heart reach after what may be in reach
tomorrow.
Now, beloved, these are some powerful words from
the Holy Spirit's heart that we have looked
at tonight.
And I believe that the Lord would want
us to see these things and be deeply
gripped by our own spiritual inability to produce
them.
Blessed are the poor in spirit.
Blessed are those who see they are spiritually
bankrupt.
But I don't believe the Holy Spirit wants
us to stay there and just wallow in
the fact that, oh my God, this is
so impossible, so out of reach for me.
I believe the Holy Spirit wants us to
make the next transition that cannot come until
we make the first.
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs
is the kingdom of heaven, or theirs is
the kingdom of heavens.
Once you see that you are utterly spiritually
impotent, the kingdom of heaven is yours.
That is the spiritual realm in which Christ
is all and all.
And you can understand that these things can
be wrought in us as we become willing
and ask God to do it by the
power of His Holy Spirit.
Now, this is one practical application.
Our prayer life and the implications of the
I-I-I that will occur in our
life, just one of many areas of practical
application that will come when we settle it
with the Lord and say, Lord, is it
time that I should be going on to
the road of spiritual maturity?
May the Holy Spirit stir our hearts tonight
as we bow our hearts and let's pray
together.
And then we'll spend time together praying one
for another.
But let's pray this prayer in closing.
Father, we are so aware tonight that these
words must be backed up.
These words, Lord, that are in your word
must be backed up by the quickening, energizing
power of the Holy Spirit.
And Lord, for this we pray that this
energizing power of the Spirit would make these
words real and write them on the depths
of our hearts.
Awaken something in us, Lord.
Stir something in us, Lord.
Quicken something in us, Lord, through this thy
word.
And help us, Lord, to cry out and
say, Lord, have your way.
Do these things in my life, Lord, whatever
it takes, Lord, I'll be willing to do.
Whatever inconvenience, whatever dealing, Lord, I want to
come as servant, acknowledging your Lordship, Lord, in
my life.
I want you to have these things take
place in my life.
I commit the entirety of my life into
your hands.
And the working of these things, I commit
to you.
And I bow before you and say, Lord,
do it for thine own sake and for
thine own glory.
And we give thee praise, Lord, in Jesus'
name, amen.