I am Persuaded, Nothing Shall Separate Me from Living for My Lord

We have heard of your example and how Jesus died, but I thank God He is more than one who has lived and died, but He is living. He died to save us, but He is living to see us get our portion.

Who would die for a good man?, but Christ died for sinners. After one dies, that is all. But this one ever liveth to see us get our inheritance. When one dies, often the people and lawyers argue. But Jesus ever lives to see to it that we get our inheritance.

Between us and taking hold, there is a gulf that needs to be bridged. It has been bridged on His side, but there are rules that we must follow to get to Him. God has left these wonderful promises for us, but Jesus sees to it that they are carried out. It is not enough to say that He is our Saviour, but He has left us a heritage in Him that we may be the sons of God in the midst of a wicked generation.

God has a predestinated plan for the world and for people, but how few are walking in His plan? Some people say that if one is to die, well, what is going to be will be. That if people are predestinated to be lost, they will be. This is not true to the Word.

There is a predestinated plan, but few are in it; many are on the way to hell. But it does not change His message to us. The message of peace on earth, good will to men is still true. God still wills well to us tonight. To a sinner, He wills that he may be saved, but that one must call out and God puts him in his predestinated plan.

It is ours to follow the leadings of His Word. Only eternity will reveal what we have missed, these privileges we have had and never taken advantage of. God wills that man be saved. Most people are in the will of the enemy. God’s will for the saints is to be conformed to the image of His Son. This is not for certain ones, but whosoever will.

God’s predestinated plan is that we look like His Son. He wants us to be a credit to Him, but we cannot be in ourselves. We will not come finally to look like Him, unless we be conformed to the image of His Son. It is so plain if we let the Holy Spirit have His way—some naturally have more to work on than others, but that doesn’t change the fact that we are to move into God until we have attained.

If you go in the store to buy some material, you want 4 yards of some particular pattern you have chosen, but this particular piece only measures 3¾ yards. Though you may like it, you will have to choose another pattern because the first didn’t measure up.

We may not be God’s first choice, but these that look better many times do not measure up. God no doubt feels disappointed because people do not measure up, and He has had to turn to others.

In Ephesians 4:13, He wants us to come unto a perfect man, we do not have to wonder what God wants us to be. It seems we go through one test and another and another and we say, “What is the Lord requiring of me?” He is requiring of us full stature. If you are wondering where He wants you to get, He wants you to get to the image of His Son. Moreover He predestinated this plan, and He calls us to it. He calls everybody to His predestinated plan.

Who will come?

Who will partake?

Who will listen?

Anyone may come.

Not only are many saved, but we are justified. We get the results of what has been done in heaven. What we get is like the drippings of what has gone down to our name.
What shall we say: if God is for us, who can be against us; and if two get together, hell will move back. We have more than a natural person; we have God for us. If God is for us, what difference does it make who is against you?

So many people shake their heads and say, “I don’t know who is for me, nobody said amen to my prayer or testimony.” What difference does it make—if God is for us, who can be against us? Do you think that He gave Jesus to die for you, but now says you will have to batter it out for yourself?

No, He with Jesus will give us all things. God with Jesus will give us necessary needs to attain unto what He was. If He hadn’t said it, we would come to the conclusion we could never do it. If He has given us Jesus to start out with, won’t He now freely give us necessary grace to take us through?

This attaining unto the image of God is impossible to the flesh, but possible with God. While people are saying false things about you, God is justifying you all the time. You will see when you are true in that test, that God is justifying. You say, “I want the justifying now where I can see it,” but He will show you in due season.

Who is it that condemneth? He sits at God’s right hand to see we get our inheritance. If we have a desire to attain unto this place of claiming our inheritance and don’t, what is the reason you say, “I have been in a famine,” a dry place you don’t understand?

Maybe you haven’t had the tests that are mentioned here, but whatever is your trouble, that is included in this list. This is why you are still on the waves and wondering.
What is that gulf in between you and claiming your inheritance in God, something is separating you? Paul asks, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?”

Do you feel as though sometimes you have been so persecuted until you are down and out? Paul says, “We are killed all the day long”—not half dead, but killed. I am glad Paul answered this for himself.

(You remember the day that Samuel said to Israel, “You are going to choose a king but he is going to be hard on you.”

But they said, “Nay, give us a king.” How different this nay here?)

Paul says, “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors.” If we don’t allow these things to separate us, we will be more than conquerors. As God does set the goal. And as He says, “Thou shalt not,” we cannot say, “He does not know what it means down in this sinful world to go through.” He did not sit up there, but He came down and lived it and conquered. He had every temptation and went through it. I thank God He doesn’t say, “Go through,” but He paid the highest price he gave all that He had!

He sets a goal. As we make for it, we are half dead, but the things we refuse to yield weights us. Whatever I don’t yield weights me as I begin to pray. The limitations are not put upon me by God; He says, “All the way through.” I stop where my will opposes, He wills me. Well, but I have His Word that tells me what He desires me to be.

Tonight God has shut us in here to get our equilibrium that we may hear His Word and step out on it. My flesh has no idea of moving out, my flesh has the idea of lagging back and holding all it can. If you ever move on and make the grade, we must move on. We cannot make it all at once, but He gives us grace for each step.

Paul says, “What is going to separate us? As for me, my mind is made up. As for me, principalities, powers, heights, depths shall not be able to me.”

How many of us have something in that gulf that is separating us, we must come His Way.
The rule is my God shall supply all your needs. If we don’t get the supplying of our needs from Him, there is no other way of deliverance.

Peter says in Acts, God knew what was going to happen to His Son. He knew His Son would die. Jesus conformed to the predestined plan. God had a predestined plan for the Jews, but they didn’t conform.

He has a plan for the gentiles: it doesn’t look like it will be done, but He will have a people. He will present a church without spot, I don’t see how it will be possible, but when the Holy Ghost wind blows, the people believe. He is going to have a bride, a glorious one. Nothing less will please His heart. Those He calls, He justifies; those He justifies, He also glorifies.

In 1 Peter 1:2, he is saying you are elect, because of obedience. Because of sprinkling of the blood, their part was carried out, and they fit in the place where God could use them. There are places and callings in God that we can come up to.

Jesus says, “If anyone will follow me or be my disciple, let him take up his cross and follow me.” Now that is an open place, and I am called to follow Jesus, and the rule is set down, if you want to go into that place of discipleship, then take up your cross.

If anyone does not do this, Jesus says, “He is not worthy of me.” He is worthy of our all.

The places are open for apostleship. Paul said that he started out to be an apostle by counting all things as dung that He might win Christ. It is a big price, but it isn’t: what we do, it is what we get. You never hear Paul say, “Look what I lost.”

We usually draw a big sign and say, “Look what I lost.” I heard of a missionary when I was in New York who was asked by a corporation to accept a position in the country where he was laboring at a big salary, but his word in reply was, “No. I am in bigger business.”

Paul said he counted all things but loss, that He might know Him in the power of His resurrection. Not only to be carried out in the Spirit and given light, but knowing Him in the fellowship of His sufferings. He said, “I don’t count I have attained, and I don’t believe we will ever reach that place.” Paul says, “Forget those things that are behind.”

You say, “I have fallen so much.” Get up and start over again. The enemy traps us so much by saying you have been such a mess in the past.

Peter says, “Be diligent, be found without spot and blameless.”

Paul says to Corinth, “We don’t come in your assembly and say we are measuring up. We don’t measure past you, we are not above your head, but we hold you out something that measures to you.”

God holds out here a measuring stick, the full measure is the full stature of the man Christ Jesus. That is the end. We can take steps and move on to that place. What is separating us tonight? What is that gulf? Say to that thing, I am persuaded that nothing shall separate me from the love of God. It is easy and simple when we see it.

There is a place, and in between would be obstacles. Before we get into the place where we are running smoothly, the devil will say, well, what about it? What about what lies ahead? We can use the Scripture, “I am persuaded that neither height nor depth nor principality nor power shall be able to separate me.”

We are all called to a place in the Lord Jesus. A place is open for each one to run in the race. Much of our time is taken up with having it in our thoughts we would like to be there, but never attaining to it. But God wants us to take steps and attain. Whatever stops us, we will say, “That is it, Lord,” and yield to Him.