Rich Love

Transcript

Alright thank you very much. And hello again radio friends. How in the world are you? You’re doin’ Alright? Oh I’m fine thank you, nice of you to ask, everything is great, praise the Lord, no complaints. As a matter of fact it doesn’t do any good to complain anyway, does it? My father used to say to me, “Boy, it doesn’t take any brains to complain, so stop it.” (Laughs) He didn’t have enough a lot of formal schooling but he was a wise bird, I’ll tell you. He knew a lot of practical psychology and knew how to — to apply it.

Well, anyhow, you and I are in the book of Ephesians and we’ve been going down the results of Verse 7, in Chapter 2, “The riches of His grace”. What God wants to do is to use you as exhibit A to show off the riches of His grace. What are they? He saves you by His grace, Verse 8, “He gives you a life that results in good works and makes you God’s masterpiece, God’s masterpiece.” In verse 10, He makes you to belong to His family and makes you one with those from whom you were separated by the Mosaic Law of Jew and Gentile, now, made both one, broke down the middle wall of partition between us, abolished the enmity and He made one new man, that’s the church, the members of the body of Christ.

Now, then in Verse 18, that’s where we left of, he said, “Through Him we both have access by one spirit unto the Father”. Paul says, “Through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ,” Romans 5 “we have access into this grace wherein we stand.” Many a Christian doesn’t realize the privileges that he or she has. See, what you are is declared by God the moment you trust the Lord Jesus Christ as your Lord and savior; you don’t have any choice. When you trust the Lord Jesus Christ, that’s your choice. You do the choosing to open the doors of your heart house to the Lord Jesus. But when that is done and you become a new creature in Christ then God declares you righteous, and God declares that the doors of heaven are open to you. And God declares that the throne of grace is accessible to you.

Now, many a Christian stands outside of all of this and never really does enjoy it. I know some people who undoubtedly be in heaven because they’ve placed their faith in Christ but they don’t rejoice in Christ. You never hear them say, “Praise the Lord,” you never hear them talk about things eternal. Their lives are entirely secular except for small portions that are — that are religiously structured, as we say it, when they are in Church for example. But otherwise you know, they don’t really enjoy moment by moment belonging to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, this is not a matter of emotional set either, some people obviously are more outgoing and more expressive than others. Some people are more warm-hearted, as we say, and show their emotions. I know that there’s a difference there, of course, and, and we make allowances for that, don’t we? But this matter of access, many a person is still standing outside the door.

I think of that story that someone told me years ago and I use it from time to time to illustrate this very point. Here’s this little boy that’s been adopted by a rich man, and he’s, he’s been a bad boy. He actually was caught throwing stones at the rich man’s Rolls Royce. But the rich man somehow, his heart went out to him and he took him home, he made the arrangements for him to be cleaned up, gave him his own room and new clothes and all of that, here in this mansion. And then he says to him, “Now here’s a bankbook and I have deposited $10,000 in your name. When you need some money you can go to the bank and you can draw it out.”

Well, the little boy looks at him with widened eyes and he just doesn’t quite take it all in. The next morning however he’s thinking about something and he decides to try out to see if all of this is real. And so he asks whether the chauffer could take him downtown to the first national bank. He goes down there, gets out of the Cadillac and goes in and — and says to someone “I, I want to withdraw some money from my account.” So they, they gave him a withdrawal slip and he fills it out, signs his name, and takes up to the window. The teller takes a look at it and smiles a little but dishes out the money; the little boy goes out again.

Now what was it that he withdrew 10 cents? He had 10,000 bucks there in the bank but he wanted to be sure that that was real and all that he could think of in terms of access was a dime because that had been the extent of his little world before. Many of Christians are still there at the bank of heaven drawing it out in nickels and dimes.

Access, “Through Him,” it says, “Through Him the Lord Jesus, we both have access by one spirit.” Now how do you begin then over in Chapter 3 verse 12 that says, “In Christ we have boldness in access, with confidence by the faith of Him?” How do you begin to go from the nickel and dime level of access to God into something that’s rich and constantly pouring out His riches into your life? You want to think about that? Well, I think first of all you have to want to. The Lord Jesus said, “If any man thirst let him come unto me and drink. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled.”

I think first of all you have to want to; give enough thought of this to decide whether or not you really want the presence and richness of God in your life, and if you do then start seeking. I think the second thing is to talk to God about it. “Ask and you shall receive; seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you.” Remember those verbs are not only an imperative but they’re in the linear sense which means ask and keep on asking; seek and keep on seeking; and knock and keep on knocking. You just don’t come and make a casual visit to the deity and then runaway again and forget. But it’s something that’s constantly on your mind, and you continue then to be reminded of your need of God’s presence and the richness of His grace.

Access depends, number one, upon whether or not you want it. Number two, whether or not you go after it in earnest and continued prayer. Day by day you request, made known unto God. Now, His presence becomes real through the Word. God speaks to us these days through His written Word, The Bible. Inerrant, infallible, without error in the originals, in original documents, and implemented to — to your heart and to mine by the indwelling Holy Spirit who takes the things of Christ and shows them unto us. Our Lord Jesus said, “When He, the spirit of truth, has come he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you.” So the Holy Spirit teaches us and He teaches us on the basis of God’s Word. So if you want access into the very presence of God, number one, you have to want to; number two, you have to ask God for it through the Lord Jesus; number three, you have to go to the place where God speaks to you, and that’s in His Word.

Now, I know that God speaks directly to the heart of the conscience. I’ve been the recipient of such divine impact from time to time in my own life. But I know also that the basic, the basic revelation of God, His truth and an awareness of His presence comes from His Word. And so everyday, everyday make a habit of being with God in His Word.

Someone told of me of a, an eager young Christian who was, who was visiting a Bible Conference in England some years ago and they saw one of the speakers, I don’t know who it was Leland Wang or somebody, sitting on a bench there in that beautiful conference center and reading his Bible and went by and greeted the person; he didn’t even look up. Greeted and didn’t even look up, and so the young person went on and somewhat crestfallen.

Later on at breakfast, the great Christian leader came up to the same young person and said, “I’m sorry that I didn’t give you a greeting when you went by but you see God was talking to me from His Word and I just didn’t want to interrupt Him.” Ahh, you see there is the point of view that pays off. Let God speak to you from His Word and don’t interrupt Him. Let Him reveal His presence, His truth, His love, His power to you.

So how do you, how do you implement this matter of access into God’s presence? Number one, you have to want to; number two, you have to talk to God about it and continue asking; and number three, you need to let Him talk to you in the Word of God, implemented to your life by the Holy Spirit of God who indwells the believer, alright?

Now then, what else? You’ll find that obeying God, when God speaks to your heart through His Word and gives you something solid upon which you need to act. Obeying God enhances and makes real and vivid your awareness of God’s presence.

Now, let me give you a simple illustration of that from what we call the great commission. Our Jesus said, “Go, ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature,” and He said “Lo, I am with you.” Now the “Lo, I am with you,” follows the, “Go into all the world”. And as you obey His command to go, you experience the fulfillment of His promise, “Lo, I am with you.”

Obedience results in an awareness of God’s work in your life. Take another illustration from John Chapter 9, “the blind man was given a command by our Lord who put this home-made clay upon his eyelids, upon the man’s eyelids, and said, “Go wash this off in the pool of Siloam”, it said, “He went therefore and washed and came back seeing.” He went–there’s an act of the will, and that involved finding his way through the traffic of people shoving him, and probably cursing at him because he got in their way–blind man. Finally got to the place, washed off the home-made clay from his eyelids and then, for the first time, being able to see.

The — the essence of God’s working in your life will become real to you as you obey Him. Simon Peter said, “We are His witnesses and so is also the Holy Ghost whom God hath given to them that obey Him.” Jesus said, “Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you.” James said, “Whosoever looketh in to the perfect law liberty and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.” You want the blessing of the Lord; you want the presence of the Lord; you want an awareness of His grace in your life, start obeying God after you’ve met Him in prayer and in the Word.

Now, all of this is so simple, isn’t it? My faculty at the college used to accuse me of being too simplistic. (Laughs) What I had to say was too simple to appeal to a PhD mind. But it seems to me that the great truths that change people’s lives are not all that complex. They’re profound but they’re not complex.

Here it is, do you want God? See, “If any man thirst let him come unto Thee and drink”, Jesus said, “Out of His innermost being will flow rivers of living water.” “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled.” Do you really want God in your life, if so, tell Him. “Call unto me”, the Bible says, “and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not”. Tell Him so and then listen to Him in the Word. God will speak to you by His Word and through the Holy Spirit and then obey Him, because in the obeying comes the realization that God is real in your life. Will you put that to work in your life today, beloved? Do it and may God bless you richly.

Dear Father today, oh, may we do Thy will and in doing it, find Thy presence. Amen.

Till I meet you once again by way of radio, walk with the King today and be a blessing!