WALKING IN THE SPIRIT #17 ROSS SMITH
I want to continue again along the line of what we have been studying in these past weeks and that is WALKING AND LIVING IN THE SPIRIT, and as I thought about it this week, I found that there were some practical aspects to it that we need to come to grips with. As I contemplated, I found that we have been very well acquainted with the spiritual demands but then there are practical aspects which I think, we also need to understand.
I don’t know if you heard the news this morning of that which is taking place in the USSR. (May 1990) The Soviet president determined that the nation will revert to a free market economy, which means to say that people will be able to buy and sell their produce at the markets without the restrictions of what has previously been a Socialist ideal. But coupled with that, he has announced that unless a person can prove that they are a resident, a naturalized resident of the nation, they will not be able to buy and sell.
My mind immediately began to do gymnastics because that is the very contingent that will attend the arising of the antichrist; that those without the mark of the beast will not be able to buy or sell, and already, we see the conditioning taking place just this weekend in Russia. Unless you can produce evidence that you are a recognized citizen of the Soviet nation, then you cannot buy or sell. We live in perilous times.
Much of our concentration over the past weeks has been on LIVING AND WALKING IN THE SPIRIT to look at the potential that is inherent within us, installed there by God Almighty. However, I think it is pertinent this morning that we consider our current situation so that we are conversant with what is taking place and how it should affect and develop us. We often know how it affects us but we sometimes fail to see how it should develop us.
There are several aspects that are particularly relevant and we will attempt to navigate a route through the Word of God which will enable us safely to come to that destination of LIVING AND WALKING IN THE SPIRIT despite all those dangerous shoals of daily exigencies which would seek to make shipwreck of our profession. Each day we face them, and we know what they consist of.
The first area that I would like to look at is that area of the PROBATIONARY LIFE.
Not only are we on probation, but so is the whole of creation. In,
1 John 3:1 See what [an incredible] quality of love the Father has given (shown, bestowed on) us, that we should [be permitted to] be named and called and counted the children of God! And so we are! The reason that the world does not know (recognize, acknowledge) us is that it does not know (recognize, acknowledge) Him.
1 John 3:2 Beloved, we are [even here and] now God’s children; it is not yet disclosed (made clear) what we shall be [hereafter], but we know that when He comes and is manifested, we shall [as God’s children] resemble and be like Him, for we shall see Him just as He [really] is.
John says, at the present time we are called children of God, and we don’t understand what we will be, but when we see him we will be like Him. But when we go to:-
Romans 8:19 For [even the whole] creation (all nature) waits expectantly and longs earnestly for God’s sons to be made known [waits for the revealing, the disclosing of their sonship].
John says we are children of God; Paul says to the Roman church, Creation waits to see the revelation of the SONS OF GOD – the maturity of the children.
Romans 8:20 For the creation (nature) was subjected to frailty (to futility, condemned to frustration), not because of some intentional fault on its part, but by the will of Him Who so subjected it—
IT IS ON PROBATION.
[yet] with the hope
Romans 8:21 That nature (creation) itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and corruption [and gain an entrance] into the glorious freedom of God’s children.
Romans 8:22 We know that the whole creation [of irrational creatures] has been moaning together in the pains of labour until now.
There is a glorious event awaiting each and every one of us. Just recently, my nephew in New South Wales was promoted from being a Probationary Constable to a Constable. To qualify or to be eligible to be called a probationary Constable, he underwent a training programme at the Police Academy in New South Wales, which took him through not only the more obvious aspects of a policeman’s life, that is how to conduct traffic, how to write a ticket, and how to walk, look and talk like a policeman, he underwent training in many, many areas BEFORE he was called a Probationary Constable. At that time he was called a CADET.
Probation is a period or a procedure designed to test qualifications or character, it is the act of proving. Today, many competent men are sitting in the pews of churches, being proven so that they can be thrust into areas of ministry. Unfortunately, there are also men that are
sitting in pews today that have failed their probation and have to go through some part of the course again before God can reassign them. We are on probation, but there has to be a reason for that probation.
In Genesis 2:15-17, we go back and find that probation is a foundational principle of the nature and creation of God.
Genesis 2:15 And the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to tend and guard and keep it.
That’s important. We’ll come to that in a moment.
Genesis 2:16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, You may freely eat of every tree of the garden;
Genesis 2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and blessing and calamity you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.
Firstly, Eden was a paradise, but even though it was paradise, although idyllic, its tenants were not permitted to be idle, they were to work and to take care of it. Incidentally, they didn’t have to weed it because at that point in time, weeds weren’t a problem.
Reliability in our work habits happens to be a part of our probation. When God placed Adam and Eve in the Garden, he said I want you to work it and take care of it and this is part of the probation that Adam was placed on.
You see, none of us have been sent into the world to be idle, it is a part of our probation to see if we will be reliable in the requirements
of God’s Word and therefore be suitable for heaven. If we can’t qualify in this dimension, then we certainly can’t qualify in the eternal dimension. We have bodies and souls to work with, we have this earth for habitation to work on and the Bible tells me in Philippians 2:12 that we have to WORK OUT OUR OWN SALVATION.
Philippians 2:12 Therefore, my dear ones, as you have always obeyed [my suggestions], so now, not only [with the enthusiasm you would show] in my presence but much more because I am absent, work out (cultivate, carry out to the goal, and fully complete) your own salvation with reverence and awe and trembling (self-distrust, with serious caution, tenderness of conscience, watchfulness against temptation, timidly shrinking from whatever might offend God and discredit the name of Christ).
When we come to Christ, when we accept Jesus as our Lord, we don’t just sit back and say, O well, this is my utopia, now I can relax.
The Bible says WORK OUT OUR SALVATION…
If we do not look well to our business, we are then unworthy of this being that God has given us and also of God’s maintenance of us.
Adam’s work was in addition to the pleasures of Eden, he could not be happy and be idle, and the principle still holds. Today, that is why our nation in so many areas is in turmoil and distress, because too much of the populace is idle, and all it creates is dissent and discontent and problems. Adam was busy in paradise and he had to be busy to be happy.
2 Thessalonians 3:10 (a verse we are well acquainted with) For while we were yet with you, we gave you this rule and charge: If anyone will not work, neither let him eat.
I wonder how the government would go today, if they were confronted with some authority in God, a prophetic ministry who stands before the government and says, “The rule of the law of God is THOSE WHO WON’T WORK, DON’T EAT.” There would be anarchy in our nation. Why? Because we have reverted from that which God intended. God has got good work for every person in the Body of
Christ. There is no need for anyone within the confines of God’s economy to be out of work.
Proverbs 27:23 Be diligent to know the state of your flocks, and look well to your herds;
You see, this is part of the proving that God is putting us through, to see whether we are faithful and reliable in the things that fall to us to do day in and day out. When we become reliable stewards in the natural, then we can be elevated in the spiritual.
The book says that “promotion doesn’t come from the east or west or the south, promotion comes from the Lord, He puts down one and sets up another.” That’s God’s work, as we prove ourselves, even in the workplace, God will promote us, not just in the area of our work but in every dimension.
Adam’s probation was a test of his obedience, and if he failed his probation, he forfeited all the happiness of Eden. Now that in itself was bad, but the implications of it are far worse.
- He loses his happiness.
- He loses his Maker’s favour.
- He incurs the displeasure of Almighty God, and the Bible says that it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of an angry God.
- He becomes liable to pain and to disease.
- He experiences all the torment of temptation.
- (This rule still applies today). He becomes the object or the subject of God’s vengeance.
He could have eaten of the tree of life and he would have lived forever, and as a consequence, he would have qualified to become like His God, but he failed his probation.
I found a second example which is quite interesting, of God placing men on probation. The story of Abraham’s confrontation with God is a record of a unique relationship which God instigated (with Abraham) and then he perpetuated it down through Abraham’s descendants.
Genesis 15:13 And [God] said to Abram, Know positively that your descendants will be strangers dwelling as temporary residents in a land that is not theirs [Egypt], and they will be slaves there and will be afflicted and oppressed for 400 years.
As I thought about that, I thought 400+ years isn’t very temporary to me, but in God’s economy, 400 years is but a vapour. As we are familiar with the details of the fulfilment of Genesis 15: 14, where the Hebrews had been prisoners in Egypt and then they were released in the subsequent deliverance in Exodus.
Just as an interesting sideline, all this was taking place in fulfilment of Noah’s prophetic foresight. You remember when Noah was getting old and he had this unfortunate incident where his younger son came in and he saw Noah naked in his tent. He obviously went outside and made a big joke of it because his other two sons Shem and Japheth came in backwards with a rug and covered Noah. As a result, Noah placed a curse on Ham, and through that curse, came the Canaanites, but on the line of Shem he placed a blessing, which was the line of the Hebrews.
We see that Abraham was taken from his home country and placed in Canaan as an alien or stranger. The Bible says when God called Abraham out, “he went out not knowing where he was going,” but he went in faith. This was before Jacob went down into Egypt and the nation became a prisoner and they served their probation in Egypt for 430 long painful years. But then, we come into the Book of Joshua in
Joshua 24:8 I brought you into the land of the Amorites who lived on the other side of the Jordan; they fought with you, and I gave them into your hand, and you possessed their land, and I destroyed them before you.
And we see that God restores the nation into its rightful position. He brings them into the land of the Amorites which was prophesied in
Gen 15:16 And in the fourth generation they [your descendants] shall come back here [to Canaan] again, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full and complete.
Joshua now shows the fulfilment of it, but it is still not complete, the reason that God left this situation was to test the nation, to prove the nation, THEY WERE STILL ON PROBATION. God was using the conditions of the Amorites to prove or test or put the probationary period on the Israelites. And today, God is using the condition of some people who are still under the curse, people who are unsaved,
whether they be spouses, whether they be bosses or government authorities – God is using the condition of people who are still under the curse as a proving or a probation for us.
Deuteronomy 8:2 And you shall [earnestly] remember all the way which the Lord your God led you these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and to prove you, to know what was in your [mind and] heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.
Deuteronomy 8:3 And He humbled you and allowed you to hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you recognize and personally know that man does not live by bread only, but man lives by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord.
When you go through experiences, when you go through those vicissitudes of the day that seem to bring you down to the very earth, when you feel so humbled, when you feel so wretched, understand that God allows these things many times to test your heart.
You see the period of probation for the Israelites was to see what was in their hearts. When we go to
Judges 3:1 Now these are the nations which the Lord left to prove Israel by them, that is, all in Israel who had not previously experienced war in Canaan;
Judges 3:2 It was only that the generations of the Israelites might know and be taught war, at least those who previously knew nothing of it.
Judges 3:3 The remaining nations are: the five lords of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who dwelt on Mount Lebanon from Mount Baal-hermon to the entrance of Hamath.
Judges 3:4 They were for the testing and proving of Israel to know whether Israel would listen and obey the commandments of the Lord, which He commanded their fathers by Moses.
And so all those things that have overtaken you and me in the last week and months and years, if I can but look with the eyes of the Spirit and see what God is doing – proving my heart – then I will handle those situations much more comfortably.
But the probationary experiences of our lives are not all tests, tests, tests, that gets boring, for if we meet the particular criteria of the event that’s nominated – we all know and we face these events on a daily basis, don’t we, we know what those tests are and we know how often we muff it. If we can face these tests and meet the criteria then God will honour our progress.
Solomon was an object of God’s promise in this respect. You will recall in 1 Kings, Solomon was promised that he could have anything he wanted because he had evidenced and demonstrated a love for God even in the midst of an idolatrous people. Solomon was very wise in his request and you will remember that he asked for wisdom and understanding. And so the Lord said to him after he had made his request (paraphrased) Okay Solomon, now you are on probation. If you qualify, then I will reciprocate. You say, “How do you get that Ross?”
1 Kings 3:14 And if you will go My way, keep My statutes and My commandments as your father David did, then I will lengthen your days.
God deals in the “IF” and “THEN” manner frequently, so see if we are genuine in our commitment.
Solomon was on probation! God said, Fine, you can have the wisdom and understanding above what any man ever had or will have but along with that, if you will obey my commands, I will lengthen your days.
The condition: “If you walk, I will give.” The same applies to us today, He didn’t offer Solomon an extended duration of his lifespan there and then without any conditions, Solomon was placed on probation.
Now we might say, Yes that’s fine. They’re good examples but they are all Old Testament, but do the same conditions exist for us today?
When we go to the book of Luke, we see that Jesus shared a very interesting parable, He talks about a man who has a fig tree planted in his vineyard. How long the fig tree had been there has not been stated, and whether or not it was there when he bought it we cannot determine. However the tree was obviously old enough to bear fruit but maybe it was not mature enough. The owner of the vineyard said to the vinedresser, I’ve come here three years running now and that fig tree hasn’t had any fruit on it. So he expected fruit! Dare I say this morning, I wonder how many times the Lord has come and looked at us, his vineyard and says “I have come to this vineyard now “x” times, and there’s not much fruit”. God forbid that that should be the expression of God about this people this morning.
The owner said to the vinedresser, “Look, get rid of it. Why should it take up valuable space and use up the nutrients of the soil when it is not producing any fruit. Get rid of it”. But the vinedresser said, “Let’s put it on probation. Let me dig around it and put some fertilizer around it”. Let me read it to you.
Luke 13:6 And He told them this parable: A certain man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it, but did not find [any].
Luke 13:7 So he said to the vinedresser, See here! For these three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree and I find none. Cut it down! Why should it continue also to use up the ground [to deplete the soil, intercept the sun, and take up room]?
Luke 13:8 But he replied to him, Leave it alone, sir, [just] this one more year, till I dig around it and put manure [on the soil].
Luke 13:9 Then perhaps it will bear fruit after this; but if not, you can cut it down and out.
You see, the tree got three year’s probation, but the sentence upon it would be revoked for good behaviour. The impact of this reached the core of my spirit as I reflected on that which the Lord said to us many, many years ago now, from
Joel 2:13 Rend your hearts and not your garments and return to the Lord, your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in loving-kindness; and He revokes His sentence of evil [WHEN HIS CONDITIONS ARE MET].
This morning, this nation no longer is called Christian, it has been cut off the list of nations that were identified as Christian because we don’t evidence the characteristics that would enable us to call Australia “Christian”, but the Lord says in the book, He will revoke the sentence if we meet the conditions. We are on probation.
Now the parable was very important, but I thought we needed to have something which is directed more precisely at our hearts. When I went into John 6v3-6, I found something beautiful, it says
John 6:3 And Jesus walked up the mountainside and sat down there with His disciples.
John 6:4 Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was approaching.
John 6:5 Jesus looked up then, and seeing that a vast multitude was coming toward Him, He said to Philip, Where are we to buy bread, so that all these people may eat?
We are speaking here of disciples. John said Jesus went up on the mountain side and sat down with His disciples, they were not some obscure “maybes”, they were true disciples – much like you and I. People keen to satisfy the heart and demand of their God, without regard to personal cost or comfort, prepared to step out in faith and in trust and do exploits for God, as long as it seems reasonable!!!!
Now Jesus’ question in verse 5 of John 6 was “where do we buy bread to feed this crowd?” He didn’t say, “How much bread do we need Philip, or how much will it cost?” His question was “WHERE WILL WE GET IT?” Now Philip does something that we would never do. Having been confronted with the question, Philip quickly does some mental arithmetic. There are 5,000 men and most of them have got their wives and kids with them.
John 6:7 Philip answered Him, Two hundred pennies’ (forty dollars) worth of bread is not enough that everyone may receive even a little.
Philip had done the calculation, but that was not the question that he had been asked? The question was “WHERE are we going to get it?” not “how much is it going to cost?”
John 6:6 But He said this to prove (test) him, for He well knew what He was about to do.
The word means to pierce through, across or beyond to the other side, and it is used in its used form to mean objectively test or to scrutinize, to assay, examine, prove or try.
What Jesus was doing here was not trying to find the local hot bread kitchen, He was testing the heart of Philip, Philip was on probation, Philip was the evangelist to be.
Let me find out where his heart is? Jesus’ question was not intended so much to receive an answer, but he wanted to provoke a response to pierce through, to see the condition of Philip’s heart. Jesus already knew what he was going to do, and it is comforting to note here.
That little word DO used in this context is a special word, that word DO means “that which is done repeatedly and habitually”, and as such it differs from other DO words, the other words basically mean a single act. Here we see the character, the nature, the personality, the love of God coming through in a little word like DO. This was His nature. He repeatedly and habitually did this. He knew what He was going to DO. Why? Because that was the character of our God! God
knows what He is trying to do with us, and He repeatedly and habitually draws us into His presence because He wants to test our heart. He wants to pierce through the mentality we exhibit and see what the condition of our heart is and see whether we are passing the test of probation.
I know you’ve been sitting there wondering if I’m going to use that Scripture in 1 Timothy 3v10. You know it talks about the deacons.
1 Timothy 3:10 And let them also be tried and investigated and proved first; then, if they turn out to be above reproach, let them serve [as deacons].
It would have been much easier to say first, “Look, put those guys on probation, and if they pass then make deacons out of them”. The book says Let them be TRIED AND INVESTIGATED AND PROVED FIRST.
So often that Scripture in 1 Corinthians 4v2
1 Corinthians 4:2 Moreover, it is [essentially] required of stewards that a man should be found faithful [PROVING HIMSELF WORTHY OF TRUST].
That’s the probation that we are going through. And so the deacons are put on probation, but again, that is probation only for earthly service, earthly but in the confines of the church. The life that we now lead is on probation for heavenly service. A far greater and more glorious dimension awaits us but in the process we have to pass through the proving. Part of that proving is how we can walk and live in the Spirit. Do we qualify or do we fail? If we fail, we forfeit.
James 1:2 Consider it wholly joyful, my brethren,
What do I consider pure joy? Let me tell you what it is.
“whenever you are enveloped in or encounter trials of any sort or fall into various temptations”.
James 1:3 Be assured and understand that the trial and proving of your faith bring out endurance and steadfastness and patience.
Whenever you face trials of many kinds, you know that it is for the testing of your faith, and develops perseverance. How much pure joy have you had this week? Every time, whatever it was confronted you and the gastric juices started stirring and you reacted instead of responding – the book says DON’T DO THAT – you fail your probation. It says, Let it be pure joy, when that thing which annoys you so badly and gets right up your nostrils, then you’re to stand and say “This is glorious”. You’re thinking “You’re a mug. I want to get my two bobs worth at the same time”. No beloved, we can’t do that.
There is a saying that says, “Don’t get made, get even”, but that is a worldly expression and it cuts right across the principle of the Word of God. The book says “Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord, I will repay”.
So when you encounter trials of many kinds…. You say, “Well some of them I can handle!” It didn’t say the little ones or those of a particular kind. We’re to count it pure joy when we encounter many trials. You say, ‘well, that’s alright for the days when I’m feeling okay, but some days, I just don’t have the resilience that is necessary to handle it…YOU’RE ON PROBATION!
Galatians 6:9 And let us not lose heart and grow weary and faint in acting nobly and doing right, for in
due time and at the appointed season we shall reap, if we do not loosen and relax our courage and faint.
So many times we go part way, so many times we go half way, so many times we almost get there, and we give up. The book says we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
Proverbs 24:10 If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small.
We need to expect that things will come against us. When we went back earlier in 1 John 3:2
1 John 3:2 Beloved, we are [even here and] now God’s children; it is not yet disclosed (made clear) what we shall be [hereafter], but we know that when He comes and is manifested, we shall [as God’s children] resemble and be like Him, for we shall see Him just as He [really] is.
How great is the love that Father has lavished upon us that we should be called children of God, and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. If Jesus was persecuted and crucified and suffered immeasurably, if we are to be his disciples, we then can be expected to encounter trials.
Some people have painted the Christian life as a bed of roses. Get saved and all your problems are solved. Not so. The problems are still there but God gives us the ability to go through them. There is no temptation that has overtaken you which is beyond your endurance. The Bible says that with the temptation God will make a way of escape whereby you may be able to bear it, not escape it but to bear it.
But we are on probation – not that we might be elevated from Probationary Constable to some dimension of earthly recognition, we are on probation to see whether we can rule and reign with Christ. We’ve only got a short span in which to do it.
The Bible says our lives are but a vapour, a wisp of smoke. That span that we have to live out our lives is just infinitesimal in the economy of God and eternity, but it is used to prove us so that we can rule and reign.
Are you going to pass your probation or are you going to forfeit all that which God has for you. We can live and walk in the Spirit, and exhibit that characteristic of Christ which develops the patience endurance which brings to us the satisfaction and indeed the success that God intends.
oOo
Ross Smith 