“Possessing Our Possessions -- Now” One Part Only

Transcript of message from TV Broadcast 883 -- taken from Closed Captioning Text

-- Brother Phil Enlow: I had a scripture come back to me this morning that I’ve thought about a number of times recently. I had no real thought about it in connection with the service today but I believe that there is a principle that’s very closely related to what’s been said and to what I believe the Lord has emphasized in the music today.

And I’m gonna preface it by just briefly referring to what God did in Israel which we refer to so often, but there’s so many parallels. There’s so many lessons for us that I believe are very, very relevant to our need--to your need this morning and to my need this morning and that’s what we want. We don’t want something that’s just a lecture in theology. I believe we need something that we can take with us this week that will help us.

And, of course, we know that the children of Israel were, in the providence of God, allowed to exist for over 400 years of slavery in Egypt. There came a day when God led them forth with great signs and wonders and miracles under the hand of Moses and in spite of all of the revelation of God’s great power, His faithfulness, just incredible, miraculous things...I mean we look back with our hindsight and we say, how in the world could they have lived through the things they saw and still not believe God?

But the fact is, that’s what happened. That’s the power of unbelief. That’s the power of sin, and we need to reckon on it. We need to realize that we’re up against a real battle, but the thing is we can win.

But they came to a place where two men stood up and say, let’s go up at once and possess the land. We’re well able to overcome it. The Lord’s with us. Let’s go forward and everybody else said, no. It’s a great land but there’s giants and we can’t do it. And everybody stayed up all night crying about it. And, of course, the Lord heard that and He wasn’t real happy about it, and it wound up that whole generation, because of their unbelief, were refused the privilege of going in and possessing what God had promised them.

Now the covenant they had was a covenant of laws and the fruit of that covenant was the ability to enjoy, not only the relationship with God, but a land. There was a physical piece of territory that lay before them and it was a promise of God that they could possess. And, so if you follow through the history you’ll see how God did lead them, as the older generation was dying out, they wandered in the wilderness, of course, and many times they went around same mountain.

( laughing ).

Have you ever gone around the same mountain?

( laughter ).

You know why that happens? Because there’s a lesson there the Lord wants us to get before we go on, that we’ve got to get. And we just need to ask the Lord...Lord, help me to get it this time. Help me to...you know the Lord let’s us take tests over and over again ‘til we pass. And I believe He’s with us to help us to pass those tests. They’re not to torture us with our failures. They’re to help us to take hold of things that we need to go forward in Him.

But anyway, back to what the Israelites did. They actually came to a place where they conquered the territory east of Jordan under Moses’ leadership. They kicked out several kings, destroyed their territory, took over their cities and that was part of the Promised Land. But the main body of it lay across the Jordan River.

And the Lord did not allow Moses to lead the people in because he had dishonored the Lord in front of the people on one occasion. There was just a real spirit of anger and unbelief on the part of Moses. He just got exasperated with the people. He smote the rock when God told him to speak to it.

And God allowed him to go up into a mountain and take a look over and to see the beauty of the Promised Land that God had given to him. But he was told that he was not going to be personally allowed to lead them in. And so the day came for the mantle to pass to Joshua, who had been Moses’ servant. And, so the book of Joshua has to do with Joshua’s leadership and their conquest of the land.

It says, “After the death...” at the beginning of the book of Joshua. “After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said to Joshua son of Nun, Moses’ aide: Moses my servant is dead. Now then, you and all these people, get ready to cross the Jordan River into the land I am about to give to them--to the Israelites. I will give you every place where you set your foot, as I promised Moses. Your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the great river, the Euphrates--all the Hittite country--to the Great Sea...” which is the Mediterranean “...on the west.

“No one will be able to stand up against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave your nor forsake you. Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them. Be strong and very courageous.” (NIV).

And so forth...and then he goes on to...well he says, “Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go. Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.”

Do you notice how many times the Lord tells him not to be terrified, not to be discouraged, not to be...there must be a reason for that, you think? I believe there is. And I believe that we are in a very similar position in the New Testament. You know they had a covenant that gave them a land. But we have a covenant too, don’t we? You know we speak of the New Testament as the books extending from Matthew through the book of Revelation. How many of you know what the word ‘testament’ means? What’s another word for ‘testament’?

-- Brother Chip King: Covenant.

-- Brother Phil Enlow: It’s covenant. That’s right. The New Testament is the new covenant that God had brought into being to replace the old covenant of laws. He tells us that it was only instituted as a temporary measure to prepare people for the eternal covenant. And the eternal covenant is a covenant through the blood of Jesus Christ that gives, through one offering...it gives eternal life. It gives forgiveness of sins. It opens up all the treasures of Heaven to God’s people. It’s a glorious covenant. It’s a perfect covenant. It answers every question. It answers every problem that we could possibly have. It’s in here, folks.

( congregational amens ).

You know you have the commercial about Ragu--it’s in there.

( laughter ).

Well I tell you, everything we need that has to do with life and Godliness and all of those things, it’s in the covenant that God has given to us through His Son. It’s a perfect provision that Christ has given to us, at the cost of His blood. And it’s been given to us.

But I see a need in me, and I see it and I sense it in others, that I feel like we’re in great danger many times, of coming together and singing the glorious songs of Zion, about all the things we’ve got--only we ain’t got ‘em. You know what I’m saying? In a practical sense, we may say I believe this, I believe that. I believe in the blood of Christ that cleanses from all sin, and we go around with guilt hanging over our heads.

Now that doesn’t make a bit of sense, does it? Is that what God has purchased for us at the cost of His Son’s blood? No, it isn’t. And you can go right down the list of all the glorious blessings that there are in this wonderful new covenant, but how many of them do we actually possess?

There’s a scripture, and I finally found it just a few minutes ago, and I’ll just refer to it. Really, I don’t need to turn there. It’s the end of Obadiah, I believe. It’s one of the Minor Prophets. That’s why I couldn’t remember where it was. But it speaks of a time when Jacob would possess its possessions.

Now think about that. The implication is pretty clear. You can possess something and yet not possess it. It can be yours in the mind and the purpose and the will of God, but you not enjoy it. It’s like having a bank account with millions of dollars in it, but you live like a pauper and you can’t pay your bills. You don’t possess it. You don’t have the benefits of what Christ has done for us.

That’s the real key, I believe, to vital Christianity. It’s not simply believing the correct doctrines. That’s part of it. There’s an awful lot of heresy around. Yes, we need to have the Word right. We need to have the doctrines of Christ right. We need to know that we’re saved by grace through faith and that not of ourselves. Those fundamental things, yeah, we better have ‘em. But if all we ever possess--if the only place we ever possess them is up here, then they don’t do us a bit of good.

( congregational amens ).

If you and I go around in a sense of defeat, a sense that there is a cloud hanging over us, that these promises are good somewhere, sometime, somehow for somebody, then what good does your faith do you? What good does it do to talk about the things we’ve got, if we ain’t got ‘em?

( congregational amens ).

People aren’t stupid. They’re looking at our lives. We go around and we say, oh I’m so full of joy, joy, joy, joy, joy and we’re full of misery and complaint. That doesn’t work. If we can’t overcome things in our lives...I’m not talking about some quick fix it. I’m talking about, if we can’t put our foot on things and make progress instead of this two step that I’ve talked about where we step forward and say, oh, bless God, I’m gonna do it...no, I’m not.

( laughter ).

We back track right out of it, the first time we face battle or first time we face doubt, or first time we fail. God wants us to understand how He sees us and how much He loves us and how much He longs for us to possess the things that He has given to us in Christ. And you know so much was sung and said about the blood of Christ and its power to cleanse from sin. But how many of you can look the devil in the eye today and say, He’s forgiven me?

( congregational amens ).

This moment I...put your name in there...am completely free from sin in the eyes of God. It’s been blotted out by the blood of the Lamb.

( congregational praise ).

Or do you sit there and say, well, that’s what it says there, but I sure don’t feel like it...it must be somebody else. I’m supposed to feel a certain way, if that’s true. No! They didn’t put their foot on their land because of a certain feeling. They put their foot on the territory God had promised to them because of the promise.

( congregational amens ).

And that’s how we’re going to possess Matthew through Revelation. There are untold riches in there that I don’t know anything about. I dare say most of you don’t know anything about...I mean, we’ve heard things. We can read the history of the church, of saints who have entered into territory that I’ve never experienced. Was it just for them? Were they special? Did they somehow earn God’s favor in some special way? No! What was it that enabled Abraham to become righteous?

-- Congregation: He believed God.

-- Brother Phil Enlow: He believed God! Oh, we don’t get that, though, do we? We think it can’t be that simple! It just can’t! Look at me. All these things I feel, all these cross currents in my spirit, all these weaknesses...it can’t be that simple! Oh God, I’ve to do something! Well as long as you’re trying to do something, you’re not believing God! God has promised that we’re going to have to learn to step out on nothing but the promise, nothing but the blood of Jesus--nothing but the blood of Jesus, nothing!

( congregational amens ).

That’s what we’ve got! But oh, if we understand, the promise of God is the one thing that we can stand upon. Heaven and earth...

-- Congregation: ...Will pass away.

-- Brother Phil Enlow: ...Will pass away. Oh, it all looks so solid now. It looks so real. It feels real. Everything you see is gonna be gone!

( congregational amens ).

It’s already marked for destruction. The fire is poised. At the right time it will fall just as surely as God destroyed the old world by a flood. He has reserved this present world unto fire. That’s the Word of God, folks. I trust that. I don’t trust what I see. I don’t trust what the scientists tell me. They think they know so much. I’ll tell you, my God is the one who knows and He’s the one who has it under control.

( congregational amens ).

It’s His creation. It’s His not theirs. It’s not yours. It’s not mine. It’s His. But oh, there is a new creation He’s gonna give to us. What He’s doing now is getting us ready.

( congregational amens ).

But there is a land right now that He has set before us as surely as He set a land before the Israelites. But He did not pick them up and put them in it, did He? He said, you’re gonna have to take your sword. You’re gonna have to work together, and you’re gonna have to go, and you’re gonna have to drive the giants off your land.

Now you read the history of it. This did not happen in two weeks. This was years. God understands that what we’re dealing with is a process. We don’t just find some great experience that suddenly fixes everything all up and then we just simply coast. It is a lifetime thing of gaining territory and taking possession of things that we are in need of.

I believe with all my heart that if we would come to God and say, Lord, help me to take possession of my possessions. Show me what I need now. He would be faithful to show us the next step that you and I need to take, because there’s no point in worrying about...oh, what about this way over here, what about that way over there.

What about what’s in front of me right now? What am I facing? Where is the devil beating up on me? Where am I failing? Where am I falling in the mud? Where am I struggling to believe the promises of God? Lord, help me to take possession of this issue that’s right on my plate now.

We don’t have to go looking for stuff. God is faithful to put it right in front of us, if we will simply take this Word and start going by the covenant of God and the promise of God in the face of everything. We will find that we will begin to take possession of what God has said we have.

( congregational praise ).

Boy, that would make a difference, wouldn’t it? Praise God! I believe I’m sensing it, I’m seeing it in a measure that that’s what God is doing. But oh, I believe He wants us to understand that right here.

( congregational amens ).

How many things are there right in front of you right now, that you’re just not sure? I don’t know quite what to do. I know I ought to...you know, you’re just sort of hesitant. But God wants you to say look, Devil, God’s Word says thus and so. It doesn’t say to me if I do this, if I’m this way, if I’m perfect, if I don’t make a mistake...it just says, that’s yours, child.

( congregational praise ).

There is God’s Word. God can bring back to our remembrance the Word that applies to the situation and the need that we face. Every age, every level of life, there’s things that God would set before us in His Word that applies to that thing.

( congregational amens ).

That’s what He wants us to take a hold of and say, oh, God, help me to put my foot on this thing...not to stand back and rejoice at all this stuff I got, but to say Lord, help me to take possession of this thing so that when people look upon my life they’ll see here’s somebody who has believed God and God backed up His Word.

( congregational amens ).

He gave me what He said. Yes, it was a battle. Yes, I fought long and hard. Yes, I thought the billows were going over my soul at one point. I thought I was in way over my head and all was lost, but I kept hanging on to the promise and God’s brought me through, and I’ve got this thing now. I’ve learned. I’ve proved God is faithful. I’ve put my foot on it and He backed me up.

( congregational amens ).

There’s nothing to back up, if all we do is hang back in unbelief and defeat. Praise God! Well I tell you, God has got so much for us. I thought about one scripture that I guess I’ve half quoted a few times. It’s in 2nd Peter chapter 1, right at the beginning. ...Well, it’s on the other side of Hebrews. Excuse me.

“Simon Peter, a servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ...”--Aren’t you glad it’s not through our righteousness? His--”...have received a faith as precious as ours.”

Now see right there it tells you it’s not something that’s of you. This is not something you’ve got to somehow find...somehow I’ve got to come up with this. This is something God’s very willing to give us, if we will come to God like little children and say, Father, you see where I’m at. You see exactly what’s going on in my life. But here’s territory you’ve put in front of me and I’ve struggled with this. It’s beaten me every time. Maybe I’ve gotten through this a little bit, then I’ve sort of backed off, and I’ve just never really gotten a good possession, a foothold.

Sort of like I remember reading about the Korean War where they’d take turns holding a certain hill. The Allies would take it and then the North Koreans and the Chinese would come in and chase them off it, and then they’d mount another offensive the next time. You know, who has the hill today? God wants us to get to the point where we can settle down on that hill and start looking for new hills.

( congregational amens ).

“Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.” Now this is a summary of the principle of what God has given to us through His covenant. His divine power has given us, what? “...Everything we need for life and Godliness...” Now that sounds to me pretty complete. Doesn’t it to you?

( congregational amens ).

Do you believe that God has failed to anticipate anything that you need, or you need, or you need, or I need?

-- Congregation: No.

-- Brother Phil Enlow: No, there’s nothing lacking on what He’s done. When Jesus said it was finished, I dare say, it was finished. There’s divine power behind what He has called us to. If He simply called us to something where He puts out a lot of information about how we ought to be, and left it up to us, we are in deep trouble. But it’s His divine power that’s given us these things. That’s what He called us to rest our hope upon. My hope is not in me. It’s in Him.

So, “...everything we need for life and godliness...”--how?--”...Through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.” It’s knowledge, folks. That’s why we need to understand and know what His covenant is.

Did you notice in the instructions to Joshua how critically important it was that Joshua not forget the Word. He said, “...this Book of the Law.” That was the Word to them. That was the covenant. This Book of the Law shall not depart out of your mouth. You’re to meditate therein day and night. You’re to constantly have it in your mind, and in your thoughts, and in your tongue.

You’re to speak it. Do we speak what God says? Do we stand upon that to the point of confessing what God says instead of what we say, what we think and what things look like? That’s part of putting our foot down. “...Through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them...”--through what? Through the promises--”...you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.”

Is that what you want? That’s what Christianity is all about. It’s about becoming the sons and the daughters of God, born of His very life, escaping the sin and corruption that’s in this world.

( congregational praise ).

God is calling us out. He’s starting over. We have the privilege by taking hold of the promises of God, the provision of God through His Son, to become a part of a brand new creation. But, oh, there’s so much of it that He wants us to conquer here and now, that I haven’t conquered here and now.

I’ll tell you, I can sense in my life day by day God is setting things in front of me and saying, do you believe Me or don’t you believe Me? Now you can just not believe Me and stand back and bellyache about all your problems and how you can’t overcome, but you’re not going to overcome if you stay on the east side of the Jordan. You’re gonna have to be willing to pick up your sword and go over.

I talked about the fact that we have to do it together. It’s not just an individual thing. You know what God’s instruction was to those who had settled on the east side of Jordan? Now I’m talking about those whose inheritance was over there. There were two and a half tribes who were given a territory on the east side of the Jordan.

Well, their attitude could have been, well God’s already given us rest. Good luck, fellas. God said, you, who are there, are to take your swords and you are to go ahead of all the rest of the people, not behind ‘em, not just with ‘em, but ahead of them, and fight with your brethren until ‘they’ have taken the land that God has given them. I mean, these fellas had to leave their homes and go and fight with the rest of the people of God. We are not in this alone, folks. In all of our fighting, we need to realize, let’s fight for one another.

( congregational amens ).

You see your brother struggling, your sister struggling, let’s pray, let’s encourage, let’s do everything God has said in His Word to do.

( congregational amens ).

God will be with us just as God promised to be with Joshua and the people and He fulfilled His promise to the extent they believed Him and did what He said. He fulfilled His promise. He’s gonna do the same for us. He has promised as He did to Joshua. I will never leave you. I will never forsake you. My God, either God’s Word and God’s covenant are true and they are more dependable than the earth we stand upon, or else we might as well, as I’ve said so many times, turn out the lights and go home.

But I tell you what, God’s Word is true and I believe it. And I believe it if you put a gun to my head today. And I believe there’s many of you here that can say the same thing. It’s got to become personal.

If you’ve never come to the forgiveness of sins, I’ll tell you what, as long as you stand back and wait for something to happen it won’t! There’s gonna have to come a time when you just determine in your heart, with God’s help, knowing you’re gonna have to cast yourself upon Him...Lord, I cast myself upon Your promise. I stake my claim upon it. I believe it. I surrender my heart to You, and I’m trusting in You to do Your part.

I put my foot on that promise of the cleansing and the forgiveness of sins and I’m simply gonna stand here and defend that territory from all the devil’s whispers and all of his accusations against my heart. If You say that I have been cleansed by the blood of Christ, then that’s what I’m going by. I stand on that against you, devil. I cast down your evil imaginations.

( congregational amens ).

Praise God! Boy, if we’re struggling with that issue, we can’t do much about anything else, can we? Maybe that’s why the Lord emphasized that so much. We’ve got to get that one right. If we go around with condemnation hanging over our heads all the time, we are in a real mess! But the blood of Jesus Christ has the power to cleanse every sinner who will come and believe the promise of God.

( congregational amens ).

And that means ‘personal’! That just doesn’t mean theological, general, vague, mystical, somewhere, somehow. That means me, now! That means I have the right to claim and to believe the promise of God and to stand and to know in my heart by faith that I stand before Him as if I had never committed a sin. Praise God for the promise.

( congregational amens ).

Do we have exceeding great and precious promises through our God? Yes, we do.

( congregational praise ).

I don’t know what it is in your life right now that God’s set before you and He’s wanting you to put your foot on it, but not through your own strength...not just through that kind of determination. But it’s through the promise of God, saying, Lord, help me to take possession of what you have set before me by believing in what you have promised in your covenant.

( congregational amens ).

And I know that you’re gonna be with me as you were with Joshua and the children of Israel, because this is the eternal covenant. That was temporary. This is the real deal! This is what it’s all about! And I believe we’re gonna see in our generation, in a way that we have never seen before, before it’s over, we’re gonna see God’s people possess their possessions.

( congregational amens ).

We’re gonna have to, but God is gonna do it, too. It’s not as though we’ve got to muster it all up. We’ve got to just believe God more. But all the power and all that’s necessary for us to possess our possessions is locked up in this covenant. But He’s given us the key of faith to unlock that if we will. Praise God!

( congregational praise )

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