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Biographical Sketch of Dr. Stuart E. Lease / Bible Messages by Dr. Stuart E. Lease |
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Welcome to
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Biographical Sketch of Dr. Stuart E. Lease / Bible Messages by Dr. Stuart E. Lease |
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[include file=/StatCounter-AllPages.txt] [include file=/StatCounter-SCM.txt]THE VICTORIOUS LIFE FATHER— We do thank you for this precious privilege we have of opening Your eternal Word. May our hearts also be open so that Your Spirit may speak to us in this hour, I pray in Jesus’ Name. Amen.
Open your Bible just for a moment to I Corinthians chapter 10 beginning with verse 11, “Now all these things happened unto them [that is, to Israel] for ensamples [or types]: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.” And in verse 6, “Now these things were our examples [Now again, types], to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.” I’m glad that a number of years ago, I was introduced to the typology teaching of the Old Testament. Very simply stated, salvation is set forth in terms of Israel coming out of Egypt and crossing over the Red Sea. If you want the type there for example of salvation, it’s by blood and by power. The blood of the passover sacrifice and the power of the Lord in holding back the waters so that the children of Israel could cross the Red Sea on dry land and be thus set free— free from the world and its power over them of which Egypt is a type. Now as you know, the children of Israel did by the power of God come out of Egypt, but God’s purpose for them was not just to bring them out. His purpose was to bring them out in order that He might bring them in. Turn back to Deuteronomy chapter 4 [and by the way, the first reference of God’s love in the Bible is found in Deuteronomy 4. First reference to love is found in Genesis 22 where Abraham loved his son; but here the first reference of God’s love, now I know it’s in type elsewhere, but first reference is here.] verse 35, “Unto thee it was showed, that thou mightest know that the Lord He is God; there is none else beside Him. Out of heaven He made thee to hear His voice, that He might instruct thee: and upon earth He showed thee His great fire; and thou heardest His Words out of the midst of the fire. And because He loved thy fathers [now, this is speaking to the generation of those who would enter in to the promised land, and it relates back to the fact that God loved those who were called out of Egypt.] He loved thy fathers, therefore He chose their seed after them, and brought thee out in His sight with His;mighty power out of Egypt; To drive out nations from before thee greater and mightier than thou art, to bring thee in. [Now in my Bible, I’ve underlined, brought thee out and then I brought the line down— to bring thee in, to give thee their land for an inheritance, as it is this day. Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the Lord He is God in heaven above and upon the earth beneath: there is none else.” Then if you go over to the sixth chapter and in verse 23 [In one verse you have it combined together], “And He brought us out from thence, that He might bring us in, to give us the land which He sware unto our fathers.” When you were saved, God did not just bring you out, He did not just get you saved in order that you might just be saved. He got you saved in order that you might be a victorious servant of Jesus Christ, that you might enter in to that promised land of which the land of Canaan is the type. Now I want us to see something about the time when Israel refused to enter in to the promised land. It’s a time of trial, it’s a time of testing in which they failed, and from this I’m taking something of the pattern for victory as set forth in typology in the Old Testament. You can remember what chapter it’s in because it’s the unlucky number. Now the number 13 is called unlucky. I’m number 13, but I’m not so sure how unlucky it is, but I often remember the thirteen number chapters. In the 13 chapters of numbers, you have the spying out of the land. Notice in verse l7, “And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto them, Get you up this way southward, and go up into the mountain: And see the land, what ii is.” Then down in verse 20, “...and bring of the fruit of the land.” Now we see when they went into the land, they saw that it was a good land. Notice verse 23, “And they came unto the brook of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it between two upon a staff; and they brought of the pomegranates, and of the figs.” Then verse 26, “And they went and came to Moses, and; to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land.” They went in to investigate and the potential of the land was clearly recognized. Notice verse 27, “And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it.” And verse 30, “And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.” There was a tremendous potential for the children of Israel in this land, a great land flowing with food and drink, sufficient for all of them. But the problems were recalled before they looked at the potential. Actually, they overlooked the potential and looked rather at the problem. Notice verse 28 and 29, “Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there [that is giants]. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan.” Verse 31 and 32, “But the mean that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature. And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants; and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.” So the problem related here was by the majority. There were ten out of twelve that said, “We can’t and shouldn’t go into that land.” How many that were there that said that we can? Two. You know, there’s something there that may be in America we don’t always want to recognize and it is true. The majority isn’t always right!— unless God is in that majority. Now you see, God and one make a majority, but He has to have at least one! Now here He had two, but the people went along with the majority; and the prospect of entering into the land was refused. The potential had been recognized, the problems were related, the prospect however was refused— and it became known as the provocation. Notice chapter 14, “And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night. And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness! And wherefore hath the Lord brought us unto this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? Were it not better for us to return into Egypt? And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt. Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel. And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes: And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land. [Now notice they recognized a higher power, a power was recognized greater than themselves in verse 8], “If the Lord delight in us, then He will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey.” The Lord would bring them in, as He promised and as He intended. He didn’t just bring them out to leave them out. He brought them out to bring them in. But, they had to bring themselves to the Lord— fully, wholly, and completely. And they said, “Only rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for you: their defence is departed from them, and the Lord is with us: fear them not.” But again, the prospect is refused, “All the congregation bade stone them with stones. And the glory of the Lord appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel. And the Lord said unto Moses, How long will this people [What is the next word?] provoke [provoke] me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have showed among them?” And then, their plight is related. As you go along in this chapter, and I’m not going to read through the whole thing, but you see that they said, “We don’t want our children to be hurt going into this land;” and so for the number of days that they had spied out the land [and you find in verse 25, it was 40 days] they returned from searching the land— according to that number of days they would wander a year for a day, a total of 40 years, they would wander in the wilderness until [as verse 31] their “little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them, will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised.” And when you come to Deuteronomy, it’s those little ones that have grown up to maturity. He says, “I loved your fathers and I purposed to bring them out, that I might bring them in— but they refused.
A year before I graduated from what was then, Lancaster School of the Bible, we had a dear saint of God speak at Baccalaureate. His name was Robert Kersher. He was the superintendent of Christ’s Home in Warminster. He had a very strong German accent, and he said to the graduates that year, “Der’s only one out of a dousand dat will really amoundt to something for da Lord!: What he’s saying was that only one out of a thousand will really amount to something for the Lord. And, I thought he was putting the odds on a long angle there. But, do you know how many Israelites there were [but we don’t know exactly— at least a million and a half, maybe two and a half million— let’s say about two million] How many were there out of those initial two million that really entered in? Well, Caleb and Joshua and the little ones. We don’t know exactly. But, I think Brother Robert may have been pretty close to the truth! You know folks, I can’t help but wonder if the proportion still isn’t pretty true that even out of born again Christians, there’s probably only one out of a thousand that really lives a victorious, Christian life! I wish it could be otherwise. I wish that everyone would live the victorious Christian life. Now I’ll tell you what it takes. It takes an initial giving of yourself to the Lord, and some people never want to do that.
Remember the story of the pig and the chicken walking through the depressed area and the chicken said to the pig, “I suggest that we provide ham and egg dinners for the people living here? And the pig said, “That’s OK for you. You’re just making a contribution; but for me, it means my life!” And you know, that’s what it means for a life of victory. It means your life! And it’s as simply stated as it is, and you’ve heard it hundreds and maybe a thousand times, Romans 12:1 and 2, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice [That word “present” is in the aorist imperative and it means that you do it in a point of time and it remains so.]” I often compare that to the draft that was in existence when I was growing up during World War II and then in the Korean conflict, and in the Vietnam [whatever they called that]. In those days it was possible for a young man to get greetings from the President of the United States. Did some of you get those greetings? OK, you know what that was all about. Now what was the intent of those greetings? Was that just a happy greeting from the President, that he was glad that you were around and then you just sent greetings back and you replied, “I’m glad to hear from you Mr. President [and I’ve never heard from you before]? What was the intent of that communication? I’ll tell you in a very few words—”Present your body!” Exactly!— Not somebody else, not even your money, not your clothes, not your car, not your home— “Present your body!” And that’s exactly the intent of Romans 12: 1 and 2— “Present your body, a living sacrifice, holy acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” You’ve got to give yourself to the Lord, I believe subsequent to salvation. The Lord has given Himself for you, and He gives Himself to you when you’re saved. It’s like the marriage relationship. You join each to the other. But, I believe that sometime subsequent to salvation, maybe immediately thereafter for some, maybe a long time thereafter— unfortunately for some, never— to give your body! I also found that some have done that and they’ve been enlisted and they’ve gone AWOL. [Those ought to come back and report, they ought to get back into service.]
Now go to the book of Joshua, because it is in the book of Joshua that you have the people preparing to enter into the land. Notice, it is a matter of faith. It is an initial giving of yourself to the Lord as in Romans 12:1, but then it’s a matter of a daily walk and service for the Lord. Now I’m going to go to Joshua, verse 9 [and maybe this isn’t good exegesis, but I’m going to do this kind of in reverse] and I want you to see this in 9, 8, and then in 7 and 6 and this is kind of a countdown, but notice verse 9— I believe here is a matter of worship, “Have not I commanded thee: Be strong and of good courage; be not dismayed, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.” We worship God in accordance with His worth, how much we think He is worth. That’s how much we will give to Him. Then we walk with God in obedience to His Word. [Verse 8]—”This book of the law shall not depart out of they mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night. [You can never be a victorious Christian without daily study of the Word of God; and I think that in most cases, it ought to be more than once a day. A few years ago I entered the hospital for surgery, and they had told me that I dare not eat anything from 11:30 the night before until I go into surgery [which was about noon the following day]. I became violently ill the next morning. Do you know why? Because I’ve been used to eating, and my whole system was upset, violently so by not being able to eat. [I should have receive a shot, they told me, to overcome that nausea, but I didn’t get it. [I won’t give you an organ recital or anything like that.] But, you know one thing that God used that to convict me, that if I need a certain number of times eating, physically each day to keep myself physically strong and in balance, I needed more than once a day [People usually eat about three times a day]— I wonder if we shouldn’t be feeding on the Word as often as we eat a day? Think about that! Maybe it will be a challenge for you. “Thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.” This is for the walk of the believer in obedience to His Word. Then going back to verse 7, “Only be thou strong and very courageous, that thou mayest observe [What?] to do — [That’s the work of the believer in response to God’s will.]— “observe to do according to all the law, which Moses my servant commanded thee: turn not from it to the right hand or to the left, that thou mayest prosper whithersoever thou goest”— work in response to His will. I believe that we ought to want to know what God wants us to do. I think He wants us to know, and I think as we walk with Him and are obedient to Him, we will know His will.
Then as you look in verses 5 and 6— warfare, because He is the winner! “There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them.” I want to indicate that the Christian life is not just a business, it’s a battle! It’s a warfare in which we are engaged, and it’s going to take all the energy of the resources God makes available to us. It also means that we better keep in contact and communication with the commander-in-chief. We need a life of prayer in our spiritual warfare. [I have asked folks to pray on a number of occasions, both in my church and even here this week. I asked you to pray for certain individuals,— but I tell you, you sense that you’re in a warfare when you talk to a lady (48 years old) who’s dying with cancer and she says, “Who’s going to be here to meet my ten year old boy when he comes home from school when I’m gone;” and she says, “He prays every night that God will make me well,” but she said, “From everything that the doctors tell me, I won’t be.” That’s a warfare, folks. You’re warring with the enemy who’s trying to bring doubt and discouragement into the heart and life a dear saint of God who I had the privilege of leading to Christ many years ago out of Jehovah’s Witnesses. And today there is one I visited in the hospital who was operated on for seven hours yesterday— she’s not so good to say the least. We need prayer, and we need others to engage in prayer with us, as we engage in warfare; because God is the winner, and we need to keep in touch with Him.
And then, the witness concerning the one and only way. Verse 3, “Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses.” And then He gives the extent of the land. Now I’m going back to verse 2 because here’s where the decision rests, “Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel.” There is a price to be paid. If you’re going to enter into a life of victory and engage in it, it means a constant giving of yourself. [Now I just want to say a word about the end result, in view, and I want to come back to this matter of the price of the life of victory.] I believe the end result that God intends to see in the child of God is the image of His Son. I believe it is for that purpose that Romans 8:28 and 29 are in the Word of God. [There not in there to make you feel good in bad times. Now they do that, but it includes that. But, Romans 8:28, “We know that all things work together [That’s “energize”]. My mother used to do a lot of baking, making pies, cakes, biscuits, all at one time; and she’d take a handful of this and a pinch of that. She’d never measure anything. She’d say, “You just feel it when it’s just right.” I used to love to watch her when she’d do all these things; and eventually when she’d get them all together and got them baked, everything “synergised”] — “worked together for good.” Now some of the ingredients, like: baking powder or baking soda, salt, and others [in themselves] weren’t very pleasant, and some of the ingredients in our lives are very pleasant. But God knows what needs to be put in there; so that the end result will come out as it ought to; and He wants us to be like His Son. Notice, “All things [synergise] work together for good to them that love God, yo them who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate [He marked down in advance] to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.” God was so well pleased with His well-Beloved Son, that He wants us to be much like Him as we possibly can be. And He allows the circumstances of life to, as it were, mold us more and more into the image of His Son. One thing that most of us don’t like too much is suffering, but suffering is one of the ingredients; and it says of the Lord Jesus [in Hebrews 5:8], “Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience [And, that’s the practical outworking and demonstration of obedience— What?] by the things which He suffered.” And Paul says in Philippians 1:29 [writing to the believers while he himself is in prison], he says, “For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but also to [What?] suffer for His sake.”
When I was in grade school, we were required to read literature, and it was good literature. [We didn’t get some of this stuff that they’re getting in school now.] I was raised in a country school where we had eight grades, and when you made it through there and passed the eighth grade examination, you were free to go on to high school; and I chose to go on to high school. But, one of the books we had to read was The Great Stone Face. How many of you had to read that? Well, do you remember the essence of the story is that this man up in New Hampshire had seen the image of the Great Stone Face there upon the side of the mountain and was so impressed with this image, a majestic face, that he thought somewhere, somewhere in this world, there must be someone who has the image of the Great Stone Face. And He traveled here and there and difficulties came in his own life— he always came back looking at that image and hoping and trusting that someday, he’d find the person who bore the image of the Great Stone Face. Now those of you, who read that book, know what happened. He became an old man, a little bit disappointed that he had not found anyone who bore the image of the Great Stone Face. But one day, he looked in the mirror and found that he himself had acquired the image of the Great Stone Face. You know that’s what happens to a believer. II Corinthians 3:18, “But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass [or a mirror] the glory of the Lord [Where do we find the glory of the Lord set forth?—”The things eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard?” Well, the Spirit has revealed them in the Word, and it’s by the Word, you’ll see the glory of the Lord are — What?] changed into the same image from glory to glory [from one degree of glory to another] as by the Spirit of the Lord [and it’s by the Word of God that He conforms us increasingly and suffering in circumstances as we take them in line with the Word of God— that He makes us more and more like His well Beloved Son.”
There are more passages that I would like you to turn to including Hebrews 4:1-11 which relates to the provocation, “Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the Word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. For we which have believed do enter into rest, as He said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. For He spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all His works. And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest. Seeing therefore it remaineth that come must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief: Again, He limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To-day, after so long a time; as it is said, To-day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts. For if Jesus had given them rest, then would He not afterward have spoken of another day. There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into His rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from His. Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.”
Now turn to the gospel of Luke, according to his account of paying the price, counting the cost, paying the price in chapter 14 beginning at verse 25 [and I want to in conclusion the Price of Victory, “And there were great multitudes with Him: and He turned, and said unto them [now I believe that He is going to narrow them down]. There are four principles that I want us to see in this passage. The first principle is Separation from earthly entangling alliances are essential for victory, “If any man come to me, and hate not [or disregard not] his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his [What?] own life also he cannot be my disciple.” In II Timothy 2:4, “No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life...” You can’t live a life of victory if you’re entangled with earthly alliances. Second, there must be a dedication to constant and continual crucifixion. Most of us don’t like that— but that’s the suffering aspect. Back to Luke 14, verse 27, “And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me [What?] cannot be my disciple. And, if you don’t want constant and continual crucifixion, don’t try to enter into the life of victory. Just stay out. Just drift along in the wilderness and end up, and your carcass will lie there. But, if you’re going to enter into a life of victory, there’s dedication to constant, continual crucifixion. Third, there should be an estimation of the cost, in terms of money and men. Now in essence, if you’re applying that to us, it’s in terms of what you have and all you are. Now that’s in verses 28 through 32, “For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? Lest haply, after he hath laid the foundation, and is not able to finish it, all that behold it begin to mock him, Saying, This man began to build, and was not able to finish”— that’s counting the cost [That’s in terms of money in order to finish the job.] Then in terms of men, “Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace.” So the estimation of the cost, in terms of what you have and what you are, is everything. And this principle, consecration of all to obtain an ultimate goal. Consecration, the necessity for consecration of all to obtain an ultimate goal. “So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not [What’s the next word?] all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.
Now most of us don’t like that kind of language. We don’t want to give up everything that we have. We want to hang on to something— “Something’s got to be mine!” Now when we come to the matter of being a servant (in our next message), we will find out that a slave doesn’t have anything, even his name is not his own. There is a place in counting the cost, but then determine whether you’re willing to pay the price. You know folks, we might think we’re really paying a price; but one day when we enter into that inheritance, all that we’ve given Him— we’ll wish that we’d given Him more! If you’re not willing to pay the price, I hope you will! There’s no greater feeling of joy that I’ve never had in my life than when I paid the price for the One I love, and if the object of your love is worthy, and I believe He is [We heard about the works He did for us.], He ought to be worthy of our ALL! All that we are and all we have! That’s what it takes— for the life of victory!
FATHER— We’re thankful for this time of sharing, and our ability is so limited to share the things of the Infinite. We trust that someone in this audience, especially some young person or even an older person; for Lord, we know it’s never ever too late to begin to do the will of God. May someone, this very evening, say, “Lord, I give myself wholly, completely, totally to You— because You gave Yourself wholly, completely, and totally for me, and I’m glad to do it because I love You. And, so I give my body to be used as You see fit, and I thank you, in Jesus’ Name. Amen.