10250 North Freeway @ West Road
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10250 North Freeway @ West
Road
Houston, Texas 77037
Tel: (281) 447-8484
What
We Believe and Why - Vol. II
Written by Dr.
Lester Hutson
Copyright
- Lester Hutson - 1982
This material is copyrighted and may not be copied or reproduced
without the express written permission of Dr. Lester Hutson.
Chapter Thirty Eight
God Working in You
Part II
"Walking by Faith, Not by Sight"
INTRODUCTION: TEXT: II Corinthians 5:7
Already we have discovered an ironic truth. We are incapable of performing good works; yet as Christians, the performance of good works in us that glorify and honor God is our very purpose in being. It might at first seem that God wants from us that which is impossible, but such is not the case. Though we in our strength cannot do the works that honor God, He has placed His Holy Spirit in us, and this blessed Spirit can work through us a bountiful variety of good works that satisfy the good pleasure of our God. So, not because of what we are, but because of the power of the God who lives within us, we become vessels or tools especially fitted for the performance of the multitude of good works that please and honor God.
Now the question arises, "If every Christian is a vessel fitted for good works, then why isn't every Christian doing the works that honor God?" As we shall see, though the Spirit of God is there, many believers do not let Him operate in their lives, and without His operation, a believer's life is destitute of conduct which honors or pleases God. God is only pleased with a Christian's life when that life is operating under the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit of God.
I. THE HOLY SPIRIT, WHO IS IN EVERY BELIEVER, ONLY OPERATES TO MAKE THAT BELIEVER FRUITFUL, ONCE THE LIFE OF THAT BELIEVER IS SUBMITTED OR YIELDED TO THE SPIRIT.
A. Repeatedly the Word of God calls on us to bring our old fleshly selves into subjection to the Spirit of God.
1. Colossians 3:3 says, "For ye are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, (notice that it is Christ in us, not exalted human strength) shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. MORTIFY THEREFORE YOUR MEMBERS WHICH ARE UPON THE EARTH." The word "mortify" comes from the Greek nekroo which translates "to deaden; to subdue; to be dead." It is not too difficult to see that God wants, through the Spirit, to dominate or rule our lives. He wants us in subjection to Him.
2. Romans 8:13 says, "If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die; but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live." The word "mortify" is here translated from the Greek word Than'-At-os, and means "to kill; to put to death." Again note well that the plea is for the Spirit to be given control of the life.
3. Paul the Apostle wrote, "They that are in the flesh cannot please God." (Romans 8:8) thus, of his own fleshly will he said, "I am crucified with Christ...." (Galatians 2:20)
4. God challenges us to get self out of the way, to quit trying to do God's work ourselves, but instead to yield ourselves to Him so that He might work in us "both to will and to do of his good pleasure." (Philippians 2:13) His command to us is, "Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin; but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God." (Romans 6:13)
5. Consider I Peter 4:1-2, "Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God." Again the idea of God's will trumping self will shines through like a beacon.
6. The same truth is unmistakable in Romans 12:1-2, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God."
7. The idea of yielding self to the will and control of God is set forth in II Timothy 2:19-21, "Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his, and , let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honor and some to dishonor. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work."
B. If you live after the flesh, and let self-will overrule the Spirit and will of God in you, the Holy Spirit who lives in you will not operate in you, and the result will be a wasted, useless life, void of honor and glory to God.
1. Remember that Romans 8:8 says, "So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God."
2. Jesus addressed Himself to this issue and told His disciples in John 15:4, "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye except ye abide in me." Then He said in verse 5, "Without me, ye can do nothing." How could anything be clearer? That Spirit of God is in you, but if you don't abide in Him or yield or submit yourself to Him, then you are powerless to produce anything of value to God.
3. Everything that is done in you, however sparkling it may look to world, except that which is motivated and performed in you by the Spirit of God, will prove in the day of judgment to be nothing more than "wood hay and stubble." (I Corinthians 3:12,15)
C. Failure to allow the Spirit of God in you to dominate and control your life is to exercise self-will or self-control, and that is highly grievous and offensive to God.
1. It is as simple as this: either you will control your life or somebody else will, and God wants to be that somebody else. he doesn't want you to do it. He wants to do it. He knows you can't successfully run your life, (Jeremiah 10:23), but He can. (Job 23:10)
2. He wants to work in you to make you fruitful by His grace, but when your will is hard, stubborn, and selfish, you are guilty of frustrating the grace of God. (Galatians 2:21)
3. As later lessons will prove, our stubbornness and self-will robs us of fruitfulness and frustrates our very purpose for existence. When we thus fail to serve our purpose, the indignation of God is kindled against us, and chastening is sure to result.
II. SO THE KEY TO BEING USEFUL TO GOD IS IN YIELDING TO HIM.
A. It is not in how much money, good looks or talent you have.
1. It is not your ability that counts; it is His ability that counts.
2. You may be wealthy and give piles of it to God's work. You may have talent that impresses everybody. You may be wrapped up in religious activity. You may be a dud in God's sight! If what you are doing is in the energy of your flesh, rather than by God's working in you, then it is all in vain so far as God views it. So, don't get to thinking you're really somebody special because you have outstanding talent, because you're all involved in Christian activities, or because of what you give. If what you are doing does not result from God working His will out in you, thus having its origin in heaven and not in you, then it is valueless.
3. God once said, "Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts." (Zechariah 4:6) The sooner we can learn that, the sooner we can get pride and vain glory out of our lives, for we will realize that it is God, not us, who is worthy of praise and glory. We will not exalt our talents and abilities, which in God's sight are "filthy rags." (Isaiah 64:6) Rather we will praise and exalt the God who lives and works within us. Thus you can understand what Paul meant when he said, "But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord." (II Corinthians 10:17)
4. Listen to these words in Jeremiah 9:23-24, "Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth." Not good looks, talent, wealth, etc., but the Lord in a life makes the difference. Your real value depends on whether or not you are letting Him control and dominate your life. Just as the sheep, goats, etc., of old were made holy only because they touched the altar, likewise, you are only made holy and useful to God by being yielded to or laid upon Him, who is now our altar, even Christ. (Matthew 23:19)
B. But, since this is true, there is not one believer who cannot be of great value and use to the Lord.
1. You may be ugly, poor and without talents, and yet be great in God's esteem. Your greatness is established by your yielding to His control, and an ugly, poor and untalented Christian yielded to God is just as great as a pretty, rich and talented one. In fact the former one is far greater than the latter if he is yielded to God and the other is not.
2. Many Christians write themselves off God's list of useful servants because they can't give or do what others can, but how wasteful this is.
a. God took Moses' ordinary shepherd's rod (Exodus 4:2-3) and converted it into "the rod of God." That rod then became a mighty tool to turn water into blood, dust to lice, part the waters of the Red Sea, and many other things. (Exodus 4-14)
b. God took a widow woman's meal barrel with but a handful of meal, and He fed that woman, her son and the Lord's prophet for nearly three years. (I Kings 17:12-16)
c. God took a little boy's lunch of five loaves and two fish and fed 5,000 men with it. (John 6:5-14)
3. Surely the God who can do these things can use you, too. It matters not how lacking in talent you feel you are. What matters is whether or not you yield yourself and let the Spirit who lives in you dominate, control and operate within your life. If you yield yourself to God, you can be just as mightily used of God as the most flashy, talented Christian of all ages.
C. The principle being set forth here is the principle of trusting God and depending on His leadership and control of your life moment by moment, day by day.
1. To be saved from sin's penalty in the first place, and thus be born into God's family, we believed in Him. (John 3:16; 5:24; Acts 16:31) That is trust or faith. (Ephesians 1:13; 2:8)
2. Now God's Word tells us , "As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him." (Colossians 2:6) In other words, as you had faith in Him or trusted Him to the saving of your spirit to begin with, likewise should you have faith in Him or trust Him daily to direct and control your life. Don't trust Him to the saving of your spirit, then turn right around and take your life into your own hands to run as you see fit. As you received Him by faith, so walk by faith.
3. That is exactly what the scripture commands you to do. Romans 1:17 says, "The just shall live by faith," and II Corinthians 5:7 says, "We walk by faith, and not by sight."
4. The same grace that was necessary to save us is also necessary to sustain us. We are no more capable of running our lives day by day than we were of saving them from the penalty of sin in the first place. God wants the same faith or dependence upon Him after we are saved that we had to be saved in the first place.
D. When you yield your life to the control of God, who lives with in you, He performs a continuing substitutionary work in you.
1. Just as He became your substitute on the cross, He becomes your substitute in the daily performance of the good work that honors Him.
2. You can see then what Paul spoke about when He said, "Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." (Philippians 1:6) When Christ saved you, He finished one work in you and started another one. He was just beginning His daily work of working in and through you day by day.
3. Thus Paul wrote in I Corinthians 15:10, "I labored more abundantly than they all; yet not I, but the grace of God, which was with me." He is simply confessing that God's Spirit was working in him. This principle was operating in him. He again confessed, "I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase." (I Corinthians 3:6-7)
4. Listen to these words of Hebrews 1:20-21, "Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen." Notice well the underlined words, "God working in you." That is how it is done. We yield to Him, and He takes over and does the work in and through us.
5. Thus Paul could again confess, "Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God." (I Corinthians 3:5)
6. Let us indeed walk by faith and not by sight. Let us yield all to Him and take nothing in self-will. Let us not underestimate His power to work in us, even though we are nothing, to accomplish the very things that will exalt, honor and magnify Him most. The key is in yielding our will to His. Let us say in truth when we pray, "Not my will, but thine be done." (Luke 22:42)
"It Does Make a Difference What You Believe"