Seated in the Heavenlies, Walking #2 — Leonard Ravenhill

Spiritual Death and Quickening by Grace

Here to the Ephesians and the second chapter, let's read from verse four, that God who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us even when we were dead in sins hath quickened us together with Christ.

By grace are ye saved and made us sit together, raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Jesus Christ.

God who is rich in mercy and who loved us. And just pausing to think for a moment of this that we were not only bad when he found us but we were dead. And things don't stay dead very long before they corrupt and when they corrupt they smell.

And I suppose the most unflattering thing you could say to a nice congregation is that when God found you, you were stinking. That's very rude but it's very right. Truth often hurts us but that's exactly where we were, there was nothing in us that commended us to God.

We were corrupt, we were without God, we were without hope, we were desolate. And yet in his great love wherewith he loved us, he is rich in mercy. If he wasn't, America and England would be roasting like Sodom and Gomorrah tonight.

We've had more privileges than all the other nations in history. And yet the only new record we have that I saw published this week was we've hit the highest rate of divorce in the world, higher even than Sweden and Norway.

God is rich in mercy but he found us when we were dead in trespasses and in sin and he has quickened us. The spirit raised up Jesus from the dead. The only reason you're alive, if you are alive tonight, is the same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead raised you from the dead when you're in trespasses and in sins.

Instant Birth and the Need for Spiritual Maturity

I've read two or three times lately you know little ideas go from one magazine to another to another and and somebody says well we've got instant coffee and we've got instant tea we've got instant houses you can order one they'll bring it to your house on a truck put it in your backyard.

We've got instant everything but somebody said there are no instant Christians. Now that's absolutely wrong. A thing can only be dead or alive can't it? Hmm? Some of you don't look too lively tonight but I think you are but it can't be halfway it's either dead or it's alive a person is either dead in sin or alive unto Jesus Christ.

Now I believe in instant birth I do not believe in instant maturity. In fact between here and eternity every one of us can well I don't know whether we sing it and believe it but it could be true I'm pressing on the upward way new heights I'm gaining every day still praying as I onward bound Lord plant my feet on higher ground.

The World’s Current and the Christian’s Former Walk

Now in the beginning of this chapter the apostle says you hath he quickened who were dead we were dead in trespasses and in sin wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world according to what the prince of the power of the air the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience the course of this world did you ever get out in a small boat and say well this is a good boat you know we'll make it to so-and-so and suddenly discover you got in a in a kind of what do you call it a current.

I've seen that often in the Bahamas somebody trying to go to a certain place and they didn't just have what it took and instead of getting across that current the current was taking them down like that I remember getting on the aid train that with Martha and I used to travel on from old New York there and why they call it New York it looks centuries old but it's New York and we went down on the aid train under the river there and came up the other side of course in Brooklyn and I happened to hit that subway one night when it was crowded people were rushing from the office and I was about four or five you know standing four deep from the edge of the track and and you could see the train coming through the tunnel with its lights and suddenly everybody surged forward.

Well I'm not too tall but oh there were so many tall and heavy people that you know what I did. I lifted my arms up like that they just carried me onto the train. No good struggling I said I'm never gonna make it.

So I lifted my arms up like that and literally they carried me off off off the platform onto the train. I was carried by a current. And the Apostle says that when we're unsaved it doesn't matter how intellectual you are it doesn't matter how rich you are it doesn't matter what social standing you are.

You're carried by the course of this world. You live according to this world which is governed right now by the Prince of the power of the air. And all the evil this good book says is by the Prince of the power of the air who works right now in the children of obedience.

His master you are. Whom ye serve. You see we all serve a master either Jesus Christ our Lord and Master. Or we're in subjection to Satan. We're under dominion of Satan all right. Let's leave that pretty miserable isn't it.

But he says in verse 2 of chapter 2 wherein in time past he walked now that's clear isn't it. It's in the past tense. Now notice will you now that in the fourth chapter and verse 1 he says. I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vacation vocation wherewith ye are called now this is a word he likes.

The Wealth, Walk, and Warfare of the Believer

The Christian life is a walk. Oh yes you know you can summarize the whole of this wonderful wonderful book not a big book. It's I get it as I said on Sunday it's packed with with spiritual jewels. This man has an urge in him.

He says listen I want to unfold you the mistress of God. I don't want you to live like spiritual bankrupts live in spiritual wealth he says. And so he talks over and over and over again about the riches that there are in Jesus Christ our Lord.

The book has been summarized in a little phrase. And it was a woman who did it. I think Ruth Paxson who said the epistle to the Ephesians is just this. It's the wealth and the walk and the warfare of the believer.

All the wealth. Again I remind you that we're going to be staggered one day when we get to eternity and God says now look you were always complaining about this. You see this. This is a rule. Here are all the riches that were yours in Jesus Christ.

Riches of wisdom riches of strength riches of courage riches of power. And while God says on one hand you're not to covet anything on the other hand he says covet earnestly the best gifts. He won't upbraid you.

If you covet them go ahead. Ask God for all you want. You won't steal anything from me any more than if you get out outside the door and start breathing heavy and I say hey hold it a minute. You could breathe all the atmosphere up.

Spurgeon said one day you know most of us are like a little mouse. We get under the door into a granary and we see millions of tons of grain. And we start eating. And then the mouse says wait a minute.

I better I better slow up. I could eat all this lot up if I'm not careful. Simple analogy. But how true. Or he says we're like a bird that goes up up up into the air. And then we hold in a minute hold it.

My I'm breathing too quickly. I could take all the oxygen out of the universe. You say you stupid bird a billion of you couldn't do it. And then it seems sometimes as though we're almost nervous to come to God.

Receiving the Inheritance in Christ

Remember when the prodigal went home and his elder brother wouldn't go to the banquet as a church member. And stuffy. And he didn't want to go. And he said no. And the father said well you won't come.

Well I'll go myself. They said hey Jack come on. John's come home. John's come home. Yeah. Well I want to tell you something. You know what kind of a brother I have. I've told you wouldn't believe it.

He spends his money with harlots. He's a drinker. He's a gambler. He's licentious. He's lousy. He's dragged the family name in the gutter. And you think I'm gonna come and shake hands with him. He's bad bad and bad again.

But the father never said that the son was bad. The father said he was dead in trespasses and in sins. And then the big boy pouted and said well I don't think it's fair. He's been away for years. He comes home and you bring the costliest robe you have.

And you put a precious ring on his finger and you put costly sandals on his feet. And I've been a good boy. You never shed any tears over me. You never got out of bed at night and said I wonder if he's coming home.

I've been so good. Oh I'm just the nicest boy on earth. And you never made a banquet for me. Hey the father says hold it a minute. What do you mean. Never made a banquet for you. You say I never killed a calf.

You own the whole herd. Then you remember four years ago when your brother left I divided up the inheritance. He took his half and wasted it. The other half is yours. All the land all the cattle. What have you done with it.

Yeah. It's nice to sing freely freely. You have received freely freely give. But listen you've got to receive before you can give. Have we taken our inheritance in Jesus Christ. The apostle I say uses this word over and over again.

The Armor of God and the Call to Press Forward

And I'm concerned but to think about this tonight this word walk the Christian life is wealth. The Christian life is a walk. The Christian life is a warfare. And in that last chapter that sixth chapter he takes us into the armory of God and he says you put on the whole armor of God the helmet of salvation your feet shot with the preparation of peace the breastplate of righteousness the shield of faith the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God.

It's so complete except because there's no armor for the back. If you run away you get killed. No armor for folk who run away. No provision made for coward. You've got to keep pressing on going forward.

You get shot in the back. That's your fault. He does not protect those who run away. No no no no. You expose that. We expose ourselves to danger all right. The walk. Well as I've told you before I I didn't do many things that Wesley did or didn't do.

But I did one thing he didn't do. Wesley rode the length of England and the breadth of England on the horse. I walked it. I walked it more than once too. Well they say it's not a very big country. Well you try walking from here to Dallas and see you know for start a hundred miles is a long way.

You start walking two or three hundred miles and know you have to walk that distance back. It's quite a way. So I know a bit about walking. Walking I'll tell you it's pretty tough and it's testing and it's tiring.

Waiting on the Lord for Renewed Strength

And the only way that we can walk according to the prophecy of Isaiah 40 is that they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. Because if you're going to walk you're going to have to rest to renew our strength.

Now let me think of a couple of characters here in the Old Testament. I don't know why but we always associate Enoch. I do know why. Yes why we associate Enoch with walking. Don't we Enoch walked with God.

That's in the fifth chapter of the book of Genesis. But in the sixth chapter of Genesis it says no walked with God. Now we don't think about no walking with God. We think he was good with a hammer. And he he did a bit of building for an old art.

But he also walked with God. Now in the fifth chapter Enoch is just the man who walked with God. I remember being in a class one day when we were studying that fifth chapter and the professor said you know in the old days.

Well ten of their years equal one of our years. Because in that chapter it says that Methuselah was nine hundred and sixty nine years of age. And the learned man said well you don't of course think that he was actually nine hundred and sixty nine years of age.

Do you. No no no no in those days ten of their years equal one of our years. So there's 96 years old and about nine months. Nothing wonderful about it is it. And somebody flicked a piece of paper over to my desk.

It missed me. And the boy next to me got it. The student and he he cracked out laughing. The professor said what's going on back there. Well he said I don't know sir but somebody just whisked the note over to me.

The professor was called Dunning and it says on his Dunning. Right. Well read it. He said. Well it says here that Dunning says ten of their years equal one of our years. Methuselah was nine hundred and sixty nine.

So ninety six years and nine months old. And a little further down it says that Methuselah or J Red was sixty and five years when he begat a son. So he must have been six and a half when he had a son.

I think that's what you call taking the wise in their own craftiness sir trying to get God out of a situation. No it says that the Enoch was what. Well he lived to be 365. That's easy to remember because of the days in the year.

But it was 65 years of age when he begat a son. And then it says after he begat a son he walked with God for 300 years. Why. Well I suggest you the very fact he became a parent woke him up to his responsibilities for one thing.

As soon as he saw he had responsibilities immediately closed very near to God. And he said I've got obligations and responsibilities here. I'm gonna have to live a little bit closer than I've lived before now.

Enoch walked with God. You remember one of the minor prophets says can two walk together. Except they be agreed if you walk with God for 300 years. If you walk with somebody I guess you talk with them.

We sing that he walked with me and he talked with me. What do you think they talked about. Hmm walking for 300 years we've got. What do you think they talked about. Do you think that God shared some of his grief over the collapse of the Garden of Eden or at least of the collapse of of Adam in the Garden of Eden.

Do you think he shared with him about the rebellion in heaven when when Satan decided he wanted to sit on the circle of the earth. Do you think he unfolded a plan of the ages to him. What. What did they talk about.

Two can't walk together except they be agreed. It's an interrogation in the world. The Prophet put it can two walk together. You can turn it around and say two can't walk together. They can't walk together with 300 years.

If they're not agreed you have to agree on the direction you're going. You have to agree on the speed you're going. You have to you have to agree about so many things. If you're going to be in harmony and walk 300 years now.

Abraham’s Walk Before God

The next character and this is this is to me extremely interesting is in the in the 17th chapter of the book of Genesis and it says when Abraham was 90 years old and 999 the Lord appeared unto Abraham and said unto him I am the Almighty God walk before me.

Well that's pretty tough isn't it. What does it say about Enoch. It says he walked with God. What does it say about Abraham. He's commanded to walk before God. The children of Israel were commanded to walk after God.

And then you remember that Paul says in the letter to the Colossians that if we've received Christ we walk in him. When we were little boys we didn't have much money at our house and my my aunt lived away in another town and to get to it we had to get on a streetcar here and go into the city and then come out this way.

But you could walk this way though it was a few miles. So if my father and mother went and my sister and I went that's four of us. It was two cents into town and two cents back sixteen cents. And it was the same up the other road.

That's a lot of money in those days. So mother said we'll walk. And I can remember going over those fields always dressed up nice. You know you to go to your aunt so nice. And I can remember we always had to walk before our parents not behind.

We get into mischief. Sure we'd go running after something. See a rabbit see something. We wanted to explore. And so we were not allowed to walk behind. We walk before. That was something we were under observation the whole time.

Enoch walked with God. Abraham walked before God. The children of Israel what does it say about them. They walked after God. And then the disciples they walked in Christ. You see if you walk before him.

Well we were children we walked before. But that doesn't mean the same thing in the in the in the script in the spiritual level you see if we if we're friends of Jesus Christ we walk with him. If we're really deeply spiritual we walk in him.

But by the same token also we walk before him. Listen to what it says in this verse. I am the Almighty God walk before me and be thou perfect now. That's a stiff word. You know that same Hebrew word is used in the Old Testament 44 times.

And in each of those occasions it's it's translated without blemish. Walk before me without blemish. Well isn't that exactly what Jesus said in that great sermon on the mount. What did he say. Be there for perfect even as your father in heaven is perfect.

Now this is some standard. You know we kind of think when we when we think of characters like Abraham somehow we think of almost instant maturity. Will you notice the last verse of the previous chapter in verse 16 which is the last verse of chapter 16 Genesis 16 16.

And Abraham was four score and six years old. When Hagar bearish mill to Abraham four score and six eighty six years of age. What does the next verse say. Abraham was 99 years of age. So for 13 years as far as we know God hadn't spoken to him.

God hadn't directed him. You see the scriptures are so close together that you think when you come out of one chapter into the other that it happens same weekend. Nothing of the kind we think that God was always appearing to these men.

Nothing of the kind God appeared to Abraham when he came out of her. And when he came to Bethel God appeared to him. And he appeared to him a second time. He appeared to him when a lot left him. You remember a lot left him.

And then there was the battle of the five the four kings the Eastern Kings. And Abraham had another manifestation of God. He had manifestations of God in crisis experiences of his life. What is he known for.

Abraham is known for the fact that he was a man of faith. Well if you have visions every night you don't need faith. Do you. But what if God says nothing for months. Some people expect a vision every night or a miracle every time they go to meetings.

They'd be disappointed in hours. But anyhow or a sensation or a prophecy or something that somehow stirs their senses stirs the the soulish part of their life. I'm not saying they're wrong. I'm saying they're not the supreme thing.

God comes to this man after 13 years and he makes this tremendous demand of him. He says walk before me and be thou perfect. Hmm. Oh my. What would you do in the same circumstances the Lord hasn't spoken to him for 13 years and the last time he was in the he was literally in the flesh.

Abraham was 99 years old when the Lord appeared to him therefore he had vision and the Lord said unto him therefore he had a voice. What was the last voice he hearkened to. I'll tell you Abraham hearkened to the voice of Sarah.

It doesn't mean the Lord will leave you if you listen to your wife. But the Lord listened turned away from him because he listened to the voice of his wife when he was in a situation that was so difficult.

Because you're never impatient. Are you or are you. You pray sometimes Lord give me patience and give me it right now. That's the kind of thing we pray for. Isn't it. Well give me maturity. But I don't want to wait another 10 years.

Couldn't you let me get me. Let me get up in the morning feeling oh you know the throbbings of immortal life feeling eternity in my blood feeling somehow I'm at last a Superman. After this I'll never doubt I'll never stumble I'll never be weak.

I've arrived. He hearkened to the voice of Sarah. And 13 years of elapsed. If you look over in the 17th chapter in verse 25 it says Ishmael his son was 13 years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin and in the cell same day was Abraham circumcised and as Ishmael his son 13 years of quietness.

And then suddenly God appears to him. And when he comes he says walk before me and be thou perfect. And I guess he was saying don't rub it in Lord. You know I've been very imperfect for the last few years.

The biggest thing I did was to stumble there and get into the flesh. And right. You see God had made a promise to him that he couldn't wait for it to be fulfilled. You know God is always right in what he does.

More than that he always comes at the right time to all we think is late. We think somehow things got lost on the eternal desk up there in eternity somehow. And man's coming up later. Never. God's never in a hurry.

But he's never late. Why did he come to him at this time. Because if you if you go down and let you search for yourself in that fourth chapter of Romans which says so much about Abraham he considered himself as good as dead and his wife's womb was as good as dead.

In other words God says I'll take you to the end of the line until you say remember he's a hundred years of age his wife's 80 years. It's an impossibility. I mean we've got a boy now 13 years of age. You know I'm getting to like that boy.

I'm getting to love him. And I can see he's going to inherit all I've got. And you know the Lord said I don't even know he's there. I wouldn't even acknowledge him. Is it in this very chapter or a little earlier or where.

No. It's in this chapter 18. Verse 18 of the 17th chapter where it says Abraham said unto God all that Ishmael lived before thee. You ever tried to get God to vindicate something you did in the flesh.

Well just look over this Lord. I mean after all I know something's bigger coming. But Lord you don't mind this. I mean I know I did it then. So Lord would you recognize it. You remember later he says take my son thine only begotten son.

If it said take thy son he said thank you Lord. This is gonna get me out of trouble. Boy. Yeah. I'll barbecue him all right. Boy as soon as the flames go up I'll say well there you are there there's the end of my sin.

That guilt isn't gonna stand before me anyway. And the Lord wouldn't even recognize it. He had to live with it. You know we suggest sometimes all you have to do take it to the Lord in prayer. And it'll all be blown over.

No it won't my. I've seen some of those girls when we were at teen challenge come in a sweet little thing 16 years of age maybe not as old as that 14 and and they got on drugs and then they didn't know how to maintain the habit.

So they prostituted. And then they got pregnant. And then they say well well will the Lord take the babe. No he won't take it away. No no no no. The rascal that got you into trouble got away with it till judgment.

You've got to live with it. Look after it treat it close it do everything for it. No no no. He won't kill your sin. He'll forgive it he'll restore you he'll pardon you he'll justify you he'll accept you.

But you have to carry the burden of your guilt. All right. Abraham walk before me and be thou perfect. Well he was very conscious. He wasn't perfect. What would you have done in the same circumstance.

Do you think you'd have done what it says in the next verse without looking. You know he did when God said that to him he fell upon his face. Why. Oh his face was so red. He was so embarrassed. I don't think.

So I think he fell upon his face and said my god is your mercy as great as that. For 13 years I've been careless. And the last thing I did was was almost a spit in your face and say listen I'm gonna do it by the flesh.

What should be done in the spirit. I'll do it without your aid if I have to do it. Well this is what an uncommon thing with Abraham because it says in the 17th verse of the same chapter Abraham fell upon his face and laughed when he was told that a child should be born to him.

Abraham fell upon his face and God talked with him. That great. The Lord keeps speaking to him and speaking to him even when he when he humbles himself in the dust the Lord still carries on the conversation.

God’s Covenant and the End of Human Strength

And this is what he says to him. Ask for me. Behold my covenant is with thee to a man who for 13 years have been standing still spiritually. And God says my covenant is with thee. And you know what he repeats that 13 times in this chapter.

He won't let him forget it that he's making a covenant with him. Now 13 is not just an unlucky number. My you didn't mention luck in our house. If you did you got a clip behind the ear. Because luck belongs to the world not Christian.

If you've got luck you believe in chance. No no no no no. That's as bad as a curse word in a in a good old Puritan home in England. My mother. If you somehow you know you forget. And some kids will be playing.

And it's I'd say to my sister well I hope you're lucky. Then come here. What did you say. Oh oh I'm sorry. Yeah luck has to do with superstition. 13 is not an unlucky number. 13 is an evil number in most cases in the scripture.

Go back into chapter 14 and you'll find that it was rebellion in the 13th year. Go down to the 7th of Mark you'll find that Jesus talks about 13 things that occupy an unclean heart. The superstition in the world is partly from the fact that there were 12 disciples and then Jesus he didn't make the 13th.

Judas made the 13th and he ended up in tragedy. And the world has identified 13 with being unlucky. If that was so Martha and I I think we met the first time on the 13th day which happened to be Friday.

We got a home which is which was number 13. I don't know how many 13s we haven't had and maybe you've only 13 years left. But anyhow that doesn't make any difference. You see over and over and over again the Lord says I've made a covenant with you.

And when God makes the covenant he never breaks it. This man has intervened. He's kind of sabotaged God's plan and God in mercy looks over it. And now he says look you got to the end of the line. I heard you saying the other day to Sarah you know we're never gonna have any children.

My I'm glad you told me to have that girl and we have that child. It thrills me to think that we we have this little fellow and the Lord says well how you going on that. Oh well of course there's no chance.

Now I'm a hundred years of age and my wife's 80 and this is absolutely impossible. And God says that just when I come in man's extremity is God's opportunity. What does it say. They hungered in the wilderness and they fainted God's opportunity.

They were pressed by the enemy and they got to the edge of the sea and they said they're gonna come down and kill us. At that moment God brought deliverance and I've told you I think Satan chuckled and said that resurrection morning I've got Jesus here and we can damn the whole world.

And I think it was a countdown and at the final moment just when he thought he said only ten more seconds and just as he said that the Holy Ghost went in and touched Jesus changed history the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead.

At the last moment the disciples had the noses at the gate they were saying I wish the man had come hurry up because we don't want to be caught inside this city when as soon as he opened the gate boy they were out going down the Emmaus Road talking away and saying yeah.

Wasn't it silly. Won't we stupid. We're bankrupt. We gave up our businesses. What we gonna do now for a living. And a stranger comes up and says who you're talking about. Oh oh well if you don't know there's not much good telling you wonder how often God comes near to us.

We kind of giving the brush off because we don't even know he's there. And Jesus goes on talking beginning up Moses man that must have been the greatest Bible lesson in the history of the world. And Jesus unfolded every bit of it.

And he was going further. And they constrained him. Why. Well in simple modern language they saw a hamburger joint. They got bellyache. Yeah. We'd like he would have gone further but they said it's time to eat.

And and we we couldn't go any further because we live by the clock. It's time to eat. Vance Havner says the churches he goes to. Most of the people in the pews are mourning glories. They die at 12 o 'clock.

And they get up and go out because they can only survive an hour in church. That's awful. I wonder where they walk out of heaven to hell if they can't live with Jesus an hour in a Sunday morning service.

What they're going to do in all eternity with it. They'd be bored to death. Won't they. My covenant is with thee and thou shalt be the father. Hey wait a minute. What did he say. You talk about good measure of press down and shaking over.

You say well he says I'll give you a son. That's not what he said. What did he say. God taught with him saying ask for me. Behold my covenant is with thee and thou shalt be the father of many nations.

I think my toes was a curl. Never mind my hair. If he said that to me neither shall thy name anymore be called Abraham. What did God do to that that piece of clay made at the beginning. It looked very good.

I'd. Nice eyes nice feet nice hands. But there's a cock. And so what did God do. He breathed into him. Man became a living. So what did you do to Abraham. He said you are Abraham. You should be Abra. What did you do to disciples in the upper room.

He breathed on them the same spirit that breathed in the beginning. The same spirit that breathe in the upper room. And he breathed on Abraham and said thou shalt be Abraham for the a father of many nations.

Have I made thee. I'm not just sure of this and maybe I'll have to pass it up. But I think it's in the 36th chapter. Maybe it's where he says the same thing. I guess I haven't got it quite right. But remember this man had a grandson.

Remember his name Jacob. And what did God do. He did exactly what he did to his grandfather. So your grandfather's better watch out. The grandfather's name was Abraham. God breathed Abraham all right.

He changed his name. He changed his nature. He made him the father of many nations. And God went up after he had talked with Abraham. Well read the same thing. I forgot the exact chapter but read it read it there where God comes in a like situation to the grandson and he says thy name is Jacob.

Now it's not Jacob. After this I'm changing your name from Jacob to Israel. And thou shalt be the father of many nations. And kings shall come out of thy loins huh. Abraham walked before Sarah. He didn't say that.

What before the Amalekites. He didn't say that what before the devil. He didn't say that. Maybe it's all implied. He would walk before his wife. He would walk before the heathen. He would walk before the devil.

He wouldn't walk before God. My covenant is with me. I still believe God makes covenants with men not with churches with men or women. He comes in a moment of extremity when you think everything's gone and you say we're through we're finished.

And God says this is my chance because when I do this thing you'll never be able to say you stirred your finger to do it that you put an ounce of energy of flesh into it at all. It's not by might. It's not by power.

It's by my spirit. Saith the Lord of hosts thou shalt be the father of many many nations. And in verse 6 he says I will make the exceeding fruitful and I will make nations of thee and kings shall come out of thee.

Exactly what he says later to his grandson. And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant. He made a covenant with him by faith.