Sit To Walk
by Richard St.James
Sit To Walk
Bible 1611.Com / Sluice Box Adventures.com / Old Paths Bible Ministries © 2008
Exhorts us to be sure of whether we are really born again. Are we
seated in heavenly places before trying to walk the Christian walk?
• Who Will Worship God?
• And Will Come To Worship?
• Those That Are In Distress
• Those That Are In Debt
• Those That Are Discontent
• The Fertile Ground For The Seed
• Seated In Heavenly Places
• Seated In the Church Of The First Born
• And Who Will Not Come To Worship?
• The Secret Place
• The Perfect Covering
• Put Off The Old Man
• Put On The New Man
For those of you who know me well … you know me to be a man fraught
with many imperfections and blemishes. Do I hear an Amen? Amen!
Amen! Amen!
I know you are absolutely right in your observation of
this old sinner. I am a sinner saved by God’s grace … for which I am
not a deserving recipient.
“But God, who is rich in mercy, for his
great love wherewith he loved us,” [Ephesians 2:4] is so great a
love that he took
this old sailor for his very own child though he
was so ruined by sin.
I say to my wife all the time that she is
married to a most difficult man. Truly she is. The Lord will greatly
bless her! Evidently someone else has used this very same term to
describe the kind of marriage that Sarah Edwards had with Jonathan
Edwards in the eighteenth century. [We have, for the last several
months, been reading during family time a book describing their
relationship called: Marriage To A Difficult Man by Elisabeth Dodds.]
God can and will use difficult people. Amen! Amen! Amen!
[Interesting! It was Jonathan Edward’s who was God’s instrument in
the Great Awakening of the American colonies in the 1730’s.]
In New Hampshire years ago a deacon and his wife strongly felt they
needed to lovingly take me aside and confront me with a fault they
deemed to be a major problem in my life. In the basement of the
church on a Sunday afternoon I was “hit” with this observing
declaration by the deacon’s wife. She said:
“Brother St.James, your
biggest problem is that you’re so heavenly minded that you are no
earthly good.”
She did not say this in jest! She was serious in her
criticism. This became
“food for thought” for me down through the
years. Now if we dare
BELIEVE God, we will come to a different
conclusion about
“heavenly minded” people being no
“earthly good.”
It will be a conclusion
“180 degrees out of whack” from the
“earthly
minded” man of any century since the fall of Adam in the Garden of
Eden six thousand years ago.
Now listen, my friend, I will readily
admit my flaws and imperfections! Just ask my wife or children about
them. They will be glad to give you a report! BUT being
“HEAVENLY
MINDED” to the point of being no
“EARTHLY GOOD” is
NOT POSSIBLE!
Now, get it
“nailed down”. If the observation of the deacon’s wife
was true (and I don’t know it to be true), remember, this was her
“opinion”). To be
“heavenly minded”
can not possibly be a flaw or
become some besetting sin to be thus so. To be
HEAVENLY MINDED is to
be every
EARTHLY GOOD! It is the
“heavenly minded” man or woman or
child who has the greatest potential of being
“earthly good” rather
than those who are
“earthly minded.” After all, it is God who said
through his apostle by the Holy Ghost in II Timothy 1:7, that the
Bible-believing Christian has been given
“a sound mind.” “For God
hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and
of a sound mind.” It is the people who have “a sound mind” who are
the best for this earth. Amen! Amen!
In this message are some of the hardest things one can be in
contention with others in life. Yea, it will be some of the hardest
things for any people to stomach in every place under the Earth’s
sun. Many, many do not even realize their very souls are at stake
concerning the most basic issues in life. Therefore, this message
will be for you.
This message will proclaim the absolute necessity
of your
SITTING “in heavenly places” first, before you attempt to
WALK as a Christian in
RUNNING the course of your life. If you are
to successfully
RUN the course of your life, you need to
STAND for
Jesus Christ. Thus this message is titled:
Sit To Walk.
SIT FIRST …
then WALK! Do not try to
WALK a Christian walk without first being
SEATED “in heavenly places.”
There will come a day when nothing worse can happen than for a
person to get to
THE END OF IT (that is, the end of their
LIFE!),
when
THE BOOKS will be opened. These books will contain the complete
documentary of their whole life. They will find out that when
ANOTHER BOOK is opened (A book that contains the names of all who
have been given the gift of eternal life) that their name was not
found written therein. This book is called the
BOOK OF LIFE.
“And
whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast in the
lake of fire.” [Revelation 20:15]
How can a man or a woman come to
the end of it and find out his or her name is not found in the Lamb
of God’s Book of Life.
“Oh! Are you sure my name is not written
there? I mean … come on! I believed in God way back there.”
Then
from somewhere nearby, there will be heard in a measured tone a
voice saying:
“Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest
well: the devils believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain
man, that faith without works is dead.” (James 2:19-20)
“But Oh!
Please … check again for my name. Just check that “book” again!”
Then these words will be heard from within the great
“White Throne”:
“Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the
kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is
in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not
prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have cast out devils? And in
thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto
them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”
(Matthew 7:21-23)
I can’t think more terrifying words from God than
for one to hear:
“DEPART FROM ME, I NEVER KNEW YOU!” This grieves me
to no end, and horrifies me to think that a professing Christian
could be in just such a situation: that he or she would try to
WALK
a walk, and
RUN the whole course of their life, and
MISS THE MARK …
by not first taking a
SEAT in heavenly places
IN CHRIST!
I. Sit
“And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in
heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2:6) In
“heavenly
places” are found heavenly-minded people. There are in the book of
Ephesians four times that the Spirit of God makes reference to
“heavenly places.”
1. Ephesians 1:3
2. Ephesians 1:20
3. Ephesians 2:6
4. Ephesians 3:10
We are to have
“a sound mind.” The
“sound mind” desires to be
obedient to the commands of God.
“Let this mind be in you, which was
also in Christ Jesus … [Philippians 2:5]. This mind is a
“heavenly
mind” and a
“heavenly mind” orientates you to
“heavenly places.”
Who Will Worship God!
The worship of God is
ONLY for those that have been
“raised” up,
yea, who were
“dead” in sins.
“Even when we were dead in sins, hath
quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;).”
(Ephesians 2:5)
God said in Genesis 2:17:
“But of the tree of the
knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day
that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” The
“clock of time”
which is the
“clock of death” began ticking literally when man
disobeyed God. The
“aging” of the whole creation began the moment
that Adam sinned.
“For we know that the whole creation groaneth and
travaileth in pain together until now.” [Romans 8:22] The whole
creation was to
“groan” for
DEATH had come into the world.
“Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by
sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.”
[Romans 5:12]
By Adam, we died in another way. We died
SPIRITUALLY.
That means we are totally
UNABLE to worship God. Why? Why? Why? Here
is the answer! Here is the foundation or
“bedrock” truth that we all
face as sinners. It is found in John 4:24.
“God is a Spirit: and
they who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”
We
must worship
“in spirit” if we are to worship God who is Spirit.
Therefore, we must be
RAISED. Someone who has been
RAISED is someone
who has been
QUICKENED.
“And you hath he quickened, who were dead in
trespasses and sins.” [Ephesians 2:1]
To be
“quickened” is to be
“born again.”
This is the very same thing that Jesus told the
Pharisee in John 3:3: that he needed to be
BORN AGAIN in order to
see the kingdom of God.
“Jesus answered, verily, verily, I say unto
thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Someone who has been
RAISED is someone who has been
QUICKENED, and
someone that has been
QUICKENED is someone that has been
BORN AGAIN.
To be
BORN AGAIN is to be made alive
SPIRITUALLY and
ABLE to
WORSHIP
God who is
SPIRIT.
SIT … first, then
WALK! Do not try to walk
without first sitting
“in heavenly places.”
And Who Will Come To Worship?
“And every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt,
and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him,
and he became a captain over them…” [I Samuel 22:2]
In this verse is
shown a truth. David is given here as a type of Jesus Christ. The
Spirit of God has carefully revealed to us, if we will
LISTEN, that
there are only three kinds of people in the world that will ever
sense the drawing to Jesus Christ to receive God’s so great
salvation. [Hebrews 2]
Those That Are In Distress
The first kind of people who will gather to Jesus Christ are they
who are in distress. The fears of the unknown, the fears of being
alone, and the stress of the
“fast lane” of this life will wear them
down. Their children going bad, their mates divorcing them, and the
robbers breaking in, have finally and completely gotten to them.
They are the ones who are totally
“stuck in the mire” of trouble,
and furthermore have no disposition of heart to seek relief from all
these troubles by the cures offered by this world.
Those That Are In Debt
The second kind of people who will gather themselves to Jesus Christ
are those who are in debt. They are
“down and outers” who tried to
“drink in” all of this world’s material possessions, and
“got in
over their heads” in hock, and came to
“the end of themselves.” So
much for trying to make it big! All who have gotten themselves in a
huge financial flopping mess with the big time loans! In the
“sea of
debt”, they almost come to themselves in realizing;
“Hey! I have
done it all! Whatever there is to be done under the sun, I have done
it all, and for what? I am drowning in fear of my own miserable
debt, for I only see looming before my eyes the bill collectors, and
the BANKRUPTCY COURT?”
Those That Are Discontent
The third kind of people who will haply feel the drawing of Jesus
Christ, and prone to gathering to him are those who are discontent
with life. They are disinterested with what the world has to offer.
All the world’s allurements are to them just so much
HO-HUM. The
person who is discontent is plainly looking for something better
than just eating, drinking and being merry. They are bored with it
all!
The Fertile Ground For The Seed
It is these three kinds of people that will be the ready ground for
the seed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. These hearts are
“ready
hearts” (prepared by the work of the Holy Ghost in reproving of sin
and of righteousness), and are ready for the
PLANTING of the
engrafted written word of God. John 3:16 becomes a sweet song them.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have
everlasting life.”
The drawing power of the Son of God is felt so
strongly by these three kinds of folk that when they hear his
“open
invitation” to come to him:
THEY COME!
“Come unto me, all ye labour
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon
you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall
find rest unto your souls.” [Matthew 11:28-29]
The Spirit of God
sweetly says to them: ng>“Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if
any man open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him,
and he with me.” They
“hear” and with repentance experienced … they
open the door of their hearts to receive Jesus Christ as their
LORD
and
SAVIOR. In an instant of time, faster than the twinkling of an
eye, the Holy Ghost makes the transaction. Quickened … Made Alive …
Born Again … Saved by the blood (from the wrath of God)… Raised … To
SIT in heavenly places
IN CHRIST. Written in the Lamb of God’s book
of
LIFE, they become
A NEW CREATURE
[II Corinthians 5:17] …
AN
ADOPTED SON OF God!
“Who hath delivered us from the power of
darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son.”
[Colossians 1:13] Amen!
Seated In Heavenly Places
Once you have trusted Jesus Christ by faith for your salvation, you
are somehow
“seated” right at this very moment in heaven. Now how
can this be? Every physical sense of our body, the ability to see,
to hear, to touch, to taste and to smell will not help the flesh to
comprehend this. It is because the flesh is limited to the physical
realm without an ability
“to eye” the spiritual realm. What the
flesh cannot see, “the new man” can see which is Christ in you. The
Christian sees through the
EYES of FAITH.
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the
evidence of things not seen.” [Hebrews 11:1]
Somehow at this very moment as a believer in Christ
Jesus, you are
“seated” in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Just as
sure as I stand here on the earth physically, I am now
“seated” in
heavenly places. This I know because God said it, and I believe it.
Seated In The Church Of The Firstborn
Now being seated in heavenly places in Christ we find we are in the
presence of an innumerable company of angels in a great congregation
called the general assembly and the church of the firstborn:
THE
BODY OF CHRIST.
“But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city
of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable
company of angels, To the general assembly and church of the
firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to the spirits of just
men made perfect.” [Hebrew 12:22-23]
And Who Will Not Come To Worship?
There are three kinds of people in the world who will not gather to
Jesus Christ for salvation. The first are those that are
NOT
“distressed” for they have no sense of fear, and they boldly move
forward in their lives with the eager anticipation of attaining
their “earthly” reward. The second are those who are
NOT in debt.
(Or in debt and still believing they have control over there debt).
They have made it
BIG, and live sumptuously and comfortable in their
social strata. Their every material need is filled to overflowing.
The third kind of people who will
NOT gather to Jesus Christ are
those that are
“content” with life in the
“here and now.”
The Secret Place
Why do other people … who are not in distress … who are not in debt
… and who are not discontent with this world … come down an aisle in
a church in response to the Gospel call to
“trust” Jesus Christ for
salvation? There are manifold reasons. Here are some of them.
Some
will come
“forward” to profess Jesus Christ because of their
“keen
sense” that this is the
“right thing” to do.
Some will come forward
because
“others” are doing it. For them the
“peer pressure” will
often be the overwhelming emotion of the moment and will be
sufficiently strong enough to move him or her forward to the alter
when they would not otherwise do
“such a thing” in another time and
in an other place.
Some will come forward in response to the Gospel
call because their father or mother was expecting them to. Yes, from
the time they were little
“babes,” being brought up in Christian
homes, they were taught that they should
“get saved” and become
Christians. Or maybe the reason that they will
“get saved,” will be
because their
“friends” will see them
“give in” by making this
profession of faith in Christ, and now at last, they will accepted
as
“one of them.”
Motives! Motives! Motives! The motives of the
heart are revealed in what we do. Oh, my! What is this thing called
THE HEART? The heart is the secret place. The secret place of our
heart is an intricately woven center and
“SEAT” of our affections,
our passions and our will. Who can know it?
“The heart is deceitful
above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the
LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give to every man
according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.”
[Jeremiah 17:9-10]
Oh, my why
“go forward” to profess Jesus for the
wrong motive or motives? Here it is. The natural man reasons within
himself by means of his natural senses. The natural man goes by what
he can see, or by what he can hear, or by what he can smell, or by
what he can taste, and by what he can touch. The things of the
Spirit he cannot understand.
“But the natural man receiveth not the
things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him:
neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
[I Corinthians 2:14]
In Psalm 51:17 is shown the kind of heart that
is
“inclined” and will tend to be open to the convicting power of
the Holy Spirit concerning sin, and righteousness.
“And when he is
come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of
judgment.” John 16:8.)
Listen, my friend, this is what God wants
from men and women. He wants a contrite heart!
“The sacrifices of
God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou
wilt not despise.” He hates the proud heart. It is with those that
are one of the three kinds of people (that is, those that are in
distress, those that are in debt, or those that are discontent with
this world) that we will find the broken and contrite heart.
It is
this particular kind of heart that is prepared to receive the word
God (the written word of God), and thus be moved us to receive the
WORD OF GOD, THE SON OF GOD, even the
LORD Jesus Christ.
“But as
many as received him, to them gave he the power to become the sons
of God, even to them that believe on his name:” [John 1:12].
This is
the
MESSAGE to you, my friend, from God. This is a
MESSAGE given by
the authority of his
HOLY SCRIPTURE, (which in the English language
is
PRESERVED in the English Bible of 1611) and based on the
principles and precepts thereof:
SIT FIRST, then walk. Do not try to
walk a Christian walk without first sitting
“in heavenly places.”
Receive Jesus as Lord and Savior with
“a broken and contrite heart”
which shows the fruit of true repentance without any other motive
than to gather to him (Jesus) who is
“the captain of our salvation”.
“For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all
things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of
their salvation perfect through sufferings.”
The Perfect Covering!
Oh, my. My friend.
DON’T HIDE UNDER ANY COVERING THAT IS MAN MADE!
This is what your and my father did, and what all our fathers have
done, since our first father … who is Adam. Generation after
generation after generation, it is repeated.
“All we like sheep have
gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD
hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” [Isaiah 53:6]
When Adam
and Eve experienced
“spiritual death” by eating the fruit of the
tree of knowledge of good and evil in direct disobedience to the
command of God … they
“became aware” of their nakedness. This
“awareness” darkened their understanding:
“Having the understanding
darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance
that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart.”
[Ephesians 4:18]
In response to this awareness, Adam determined from
within the
“secret place” of the heart … to contrive with an
invention … a
COVERING. This would become man’s version of the
required covering as a solution to the problem of this newly
acquired “awareness” of his own nakedness.
My friend,
RUN to God’s
solution! Take of his covering! God has made provision for you and
I.
“Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of
skins, and clothed them.” [Genesis 3:21] A
“coat of skin” of an
animal could not be made nor applied to Adam and Eve without their
first having been the
“shedding of the blood” of the animal. Those
“critters” had to give up their lives to give us
“the figure”.
The
Gospel was shown in a shadow to Adam and Eve almost six thousand
years ago. The narrow way of God’s plan of salvation to remedy the
lost condition of man down through the expanse of measured time is
through the shed blood of the Son of God.
“How much more shall the
blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself
without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve
the living God? And for this cause he is the mediator of the New
Testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the
transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are
called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.” [Hebrews
9:14-15]
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of
yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should
boast.” [Ephesians 2:8-9]
HIDE UNDER THE PERFECT COVERING THAT GOD
MADE!
THE SHED BLOOD OF THE LAMB OF GOD … JESUS CHRIST! And you will
be seated in heavenly places! AMEN! AMEN! AMEN!
II. Walk
“I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye
walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called.” [Ephesians
4:1] Walk Worthy…
We
WHO ARE SEATED IN HEAVENLY PLACES are called to a vocation. This
VOCATION is
“that we should be to the praise of his glory” …
“according to the good pleasure of his will.” [Ephesians 1:12a, 5b]
This is our purpose! This is why we were made…
“To the praise of the
glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the
beloved.” (Vs.6) Amen! Amen! Amen!
Walk Worthy…
• In Lowliness and Meekness [Ephesians 4:1]
• In Longsuffering [Ephesians 4:2]
• In Purity [Ephesians 5:3]
• In Honesty [Ephesians 4:15]
• In Love [Ephesians 5:2]
…As A Walking Example
We are to be an example to other believers in our walk in these
ways:
• In Word
• In Conversation
• In Charity
• In Spirit
• In Faith
• In Purity
Paul commanded this to Timothy in I Timothy 4:12.
“… but be thou an
example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in
spirit, in faith, in purity.” In I John 2:6 the Apostle John gave by
the Holy Spirit this command: “We are to walk even as he walked.”
Put Off The Old Man
“This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth
walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, That
ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is
corrupt according to the deceitful lusts.” [Ephesians
4:17,22]
A true Christian has two natures inside him. The first nature is the
flesh, which is the old self, or the old nature. This is the
“you”
and
“I” before we were born again or
QUICKENED. It is the
“time
spent in the flesh” in the
“past of our life” when we lived
according
“to the lusts of men.” (See I Peter 4:2-3)
“Wherein in
time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according
to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh
in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our
conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the
desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the
children of wrath, even as others.” [Ephesians 2:2-3]
1 Put Off Fornication [Ephesians 5:3]
2 Put Off Stealing [Ephesians 4:28]
3 Put Off Lying [Ephesians 4:25]
4 Put Off Anger [Ephesians 4:26]
5 Put Off Uncleanness [Ephesians 5:3]
6 Put Off Covetousness [Ephesians 5:3]
7 Put Off Foolish Talking [Ephesians 5:4]
8 Put Off Jesting [Ephesians 5:4]
9 Put Off Fellowship With Those Who Are In Darkness [Ephesians 5:11]
10 Put Off Being Drunk With Wine [Ephesians 5:18]
Put On
The New Man
“And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the
new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true
holiness.” [Ephesians 4:23-24]
1 Put On Love [Ephesians 5:2]
2 Put On Speaking The Truth [Ephesians 4:15]
3 Put On Giving Of Thanks [Ephesians 5:4]
4 Put On Redeeming The Time [Ephesians 5:16]
5 Put On Proving What Is Acceptable [Ephesians 5:10]
6 Put On Edifying Talk [Ephesians 4:29]
7 Put On Working With Hands For Others [Ephesians 4:28]
8 Put On Understanding the Will Of The Lord [Ephesians 5:17]
9 Put On Speaking And Singing … In Psalms… In Hymns … In Spiritual
Songs [Ephesians 5:19]
10 Put On Being Filled With The Spirit [Ephesians 5:18]
Walk in the Light
[I John 1:7]
There is a vast multitude of people who have mistakenly latched onto
some false hope concerning their salvation. Many don’t realize that
their very souls are at stake concerning this issue of life. Listen
my friend, it is an absolute necessity for you to first
SIT
“in
heavenly places” before you ever attempt to
WALK as a Christian in
RUNNING the course of your life.
SIT FIRST … then
WALK! Do not try
to
WALK a Christian walk without first being
SEATED “in heavenly
places.”
To be
SEATED in
HEAVENLY PLACES will take
THE POWER of God
to put you there! Remember what the Bible says in John 1.
“But as
many as received him, to them gave he the power to become the sons
of God, even to them that believe on his name.” It takes
THE POWER
OF GOD for a soul to get
SAVED!
Friend, there will come a day when nothing worse could ever happen
to you than to get to
THE END of YOUR LIFE, and be where
THE BOOKS
will be opened which will contain the documentary of your whole
life, and for you to find out that when
ANOTHER BOOK is opened (A
book that contains the names of all who have been given the gift of
eternal life) that your name was not found written therein.
Remember, it is called the
BOOK OF LIFE.
“And whosoever was not
found written in the book of life was cast in the lake of fire.” I
cannot possibly think of more terrifying words to hear from God than
for one to hear these words:
“DEPART FROM ME, I NEVER KNEW YOU!”
Please do not mistake your soul’s eternal destination. Please do not
PLAY a Christian.
AGAIN ... do not try to
WALK a walk, and
RUN the
whole course of your life, and
MISS THE MARK … by not first taking a
SEAT in heavenly places
IN CHRIST!
“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some count
slackness; but is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any
should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” [II
Peter 3:10]
Sit To Walk …
“And hath raised us up together, and made us sit
together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”
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