Psalm 95:1 Oh come, let us sing to the YHWH! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation. 2 Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms. 3 For the LORD (YHWH) is the great God, And the great King above all gods. 4 In His hand are the deep places of the earth; The heights of the hills are His also. 5 The sea is His, for He made it; And His hands formed the dry land. 6 Oh come, let us worship and bow down; Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker. 7 For He is our God (elōhîm), and we are the people of His pasture, And the sheep of His hand. Today, if you will hear His voice: 8 “Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion, As in the day of trial in the wilderness,9 When your fathers tested Me; They tried Me, though they saw My work.10 For forty years I was grieved with that generation, And said, ‘It is a people who go astray in their hearts, And they do not know My ways.’11 So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.
Psalm 95 and this phrase “today” if you hear his voice is trying to show you something about the way that God requires his people to live in the present. We need to weigh that.
He requires us to live in the present. And the minute that you live, either in the past or in the future, you restrict and limit your life a great deal.
We’re going to deal with six aspects of this, after we have laid a little more foundation in the Scripture. This 95th Psalm is quoted again in the book of Hebrews, Hebrews the third chapter. This is important.
If you want to be effective in your ministry, in your life, listen to this message very carefully. Hebrews chapter 3, beginning at verse 7. wherefore even as the Holy Spirit sayeth today if you hear his voice.
Now here the writer of Hebrews by the anointing of the Holy Spirit takes this passage out of the 95th Psalm and brings it down with an application that’s alarming.
Today if you will hear his voice is not talking about the future reception of the word of God, or what you believed in the past. Today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts as in the provocation or rebellion.
The word provocation is merîbâ in the Hebrew, it is Meribah in english , it is the name of two places in the Desert. 1-a fountain at Rephidim, in the desert of Sin; so, called because the Israelites murmured against God. 2-the name of the water supply at Kadesh on the southern border of the promised land; the people also murmured there against God. It means “strife, quarreling or contention”
Do not murmur, complain like as in the day of trial in the wilderness, for your fathers tried me by proving me and saw my works 40 years. Wherefore I was displeased with this generation, that generation, that he’s referring to specifically, and said, They do always err in their heart, but they have not known my ways. As I swear in my wrath, they shall not enter into my rest.
They shall not enter into my rest. Beware, brethren, lest there be in anyone of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. But exhort one another day by day, notice this, so long as it is called today. So, this phrase today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your heart, is not referring about one 24-hour period. It is talking about in a mystical interpretation that refers to your present life, your lifetime here on earth.
It goes on to say, we are become partakers of Christ if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence firm unto the end. While it is said today if you hear his voice, Hebrews quotes the 95th Psalm again.
Hebrews 3:16 For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? 17 Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? 19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
This is further expressed in the fourth chapter.
And also in Hebrews 13:7 Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct.8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
Now, this is not easy to understand. Back up and look at it again. I’m giving you a lot of scriptures that are very difficult and they’re normally passed over. Listen to this. Remember them that had the rule over you, the men that spoke unto you the Word of God, now he’s referring back to the apostles and apostolic companies of the first century. Remember these men who spoke to you the Word of God. They didn’t preach about the Word, they spoke to you the Word of God. And considering the conduct of their life, and the ultimate result by which they lived, imitate their faith, and this also applies to us. The next verse is (a parenthetical thing, “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever”).
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. The emphasis is on today. And forever He will be the same. This was the issue of every man’s life.
The issue of any apostle or prophet or elder that God raises up today, the issue of their life and the faith that the people of God will be called upon to imitate will be this, that to them “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever” we are coming down to the fact that God is requiring his people to believe to worship, to walk, to minister in the present, When Stephen was preaching he quoted one thing and he said David by the will of God served his generation and he slept with his fathers. He served his generation. The ministries have to serve God today. They have to minister today. They have to have a living faith now.
Now, six things I would develop from this message, and if you’ve listened carefully to the text, you’ll see that every one of them are implications and principles that we teach.
YOUR FUTURE IS WHAT YOU APPROPRIATE TODAY
First of all, Present privileges are based upon the past.
Second, present appropriation measures our future.
Third, present faith measures the extent of the revelation of the Lord.
Fourth, the present partaking is based on present faith and holding firm our confidence in the Lord.
Fifth is that present unbelief invalidates all the promises and cancels the future.
And that number six is that present problems are a part of the eternal plan and purpose in our spiritual development.
The way that you meet present problems is of the utmost importance in God’s plan and purpose for your life.
There’s a theme here you need to understand ” Moment by moment I will believe”. If we do this moment by moment, by keeping these thoughts in mind throughout the day, I believe it will help in renewing our mind. Our brain is like a computer that is programed through repetition, what we are in the habit of doing. So, our habits and responses in life programs our brain and it has to be reprogramed when we get born again.
At this moment I accept His promise as valid and I believe. Now this is the theme. Moment by moment I will believe. At this moment I accept His promises and I believe. This opens the door to everything that we want in God.
Now, are you ready to go to work?
First thing, present privileges are based on the past. When God says, Today, if you’ll hear my voice, it’s because Jesus Christ died upon the cross. All the things that have gone before, all the eternal planning of God and the bringing forth of His Son to die upon the cross, if you believe in what He did in the past, it opens up all of the present privileges.
If you don’t accept what God has done in the past for you, you won’t appropriate any privileges in God in the present. If you’re not claiming any present privileges, you do not have a real faith in what God has done in the past.
God says you’re living right now; you’re living your life right now. You’re in the day God promised you right now. You’re not about to live, you’re living. You’re living your life now. You’re living it today. And if Jesus Christ died for you, it opens up privileges that are present privileges. And if you’re not claiming those present privileges, it’s because there’s not a real valid faith in your heart that what God did in the past, He did for you.
When we read the prophecies of this church, the things that God is speaking in this house, and we say we believe them, that means that day we claim the privileges that those promises unfold. Present privileges in this church is based upon everything God’s spoken since the time He first gave the word that this church was to come forth.
The second thing is that the present appropriation of the word God has spoken to you measures your future. This is not easy to understand. You see, I have hope that one day things will be better for me. Unless you’re appropriating them today, tomorrow is not going to be any better. You want to walk with God? You walk with God today. You don’t walk with God tomorrow; you walk with Him today. This is the hour you do it. And your present appropriation of all that God is saying and doing is the thing that measures your future. It opens it up. I’m reaching into things every day that actually I ought to be discouraged. I’ve been struggling and struggling, reaching for things that seem like they’re just a little bit out of grasp. But I can say truthfully that my constant appropriation of them was a true thing in the realm of spirit even if I didn’t always get them down into the visible realm. What you claim today will yield tomorrow because you’ll sense that it really is yours.
Your future will be measured by the way that you dare to appropriate the things of God right now in the present.
OUR PRESENT FAITH MEASURES OUR REVELATION OF THE LORD
What I mean by a revelation of the Lord, is a meeting with the Lord, he shows up and although you may not see him, you will probably feel him, or at least you will know he is tangibly there. It is the manifest presence of the Lord, which there are degrees of awareness of.
The third thing is our present faith measures the extent of the revelation of the Lord to your heart. This may open up some questions.
God moves in two ways, by his sovereignty and by the initiative of our faith.
Do we know the Lord because He comes to us sovereignly, and then we know Him because He’s revealed to us? Or is He revealed to us because we believe Him?
Well, we know, Lord Jesus, if you’d been here, our brother wouldn’t have died. All right, He says to you, if you believe, didn’t I say unto you that if you would believe, you would see the glory of God? John the 11th chapter.
Which comes first, faith or revelation?
Brothers and sisters, I ask you a question. If you want a revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ, do you appropriate faith and believe to receive it? Or do you just hope that it’s going to happen to you as a sovereign experience that comes in your life? Which is it?
When I was born again the Lord was drawing me to himself-this is what he initiated. When I received the Lord by faith, then he revealed himself to me. If I never said yes to the Lord Jesus Christ, I would not have received the revelation of the Lord to my heart.
To initiate is to do the first act, to perform, it is like doing the first works, but they are living works, those the Lord’s Spirit is moving you to do.
Mainly the initiative is yours. The main way the Lord shows up, is by the initiative of our faith.
Do you want to know the Lord? Do you want a revelation of the Lord? Do you want him to come and commission you or bless you? It’s up to you. Seek his face.
How did Moses come to see the revelation of the Lord? He was on the mountain, 40 days fasting and seeking the Lord. I beseech thee, Lord, show me thy glory! I beseech thee, Lord, show me thy glory! It was granted to him, wasn’t it? He came down from the mountain with the skin of his face, shining like the sun till the people couldn’t look on his face. And he had to put a veil over his face when he spoke to the people because they couldn’t bear to look upon it. Imagine that kind of glory.
I’ll repeat what I said. Your present faith measures the extent of the revelation of the Lord to your heart. Well, I just hope the Lord will reveal something to me that I can have some faith.
And the Lord said, Did I not say unto thee, if thou shouldest believe, you would see the glory of God? It’s reversed. It’s around the other way around. Men and women are believing to see the Lord, and he reveals himself.
Well, the Bible talks about marvelous things that happened to people. Yes, and you don’t always get it from the Bible story until it’s interpreted for you by other Scriptures.
It tells how Enoch walked with God and he was not for God took him. And you read that you think, we’ll it was a sovereign act of God. God took him one day and translated him.
But the New Testament puts it another way. By faith Enoch was translated, he walked with God long enough, and he believed for it long enough.
You say, I have a lot of doubts. I have a lot of fears. You better get to work on them. You better repent of that unbelief and ask God to forgive you and cleanse you like you would of any other sin and start believing God. Because as you believe God, you come to know Him. It isn’t just by chance that you find all of these atheists say, well, God never revealed Himself to me. It’s only to the saints He reveals Himself. To the saints that had the will to believe in him. That it waqs how it was with me. I was an agnostic, but I wished that I believed in God.
In a parable, which was not a true story, a rich man pleaded to Abraham to send Lazarus from the dead and go back and talk to his five brothers. And he said, if they won’t believe Moses and the prophets, they wouldn’t believe if one rose from the dead.
Luke 16: 31 If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.
This was willful unbelief, they were unwilling to be persuaded, they were closed minded. I find a lot of this in the church at large concerning doctrinal beliefs. When I share revelations I have from God to certain people, Because of their belief system, you cannot get through to them, you are wasting your time talking to them about it. You have to pray for them, go into the courts of heaven or bind the devils who are blinding their minds, if you can, sometimes they have a legal right to operate in people who believe some of the doctrines of devils.
Willful unbelief is a vicious, deadly thing. It cuts God off, it cuts His word off, and they wouldn’t believe if one rose from the dead.
There are two kinds of unbelief in the Greek. (1-apistía- uncertainty) (2-apeitheia-unwillingness to be persuaded, willful unbelief, obstinacy).
We need to believe right now, it is a choice, if I accept this, I will walk day by day this week with a revelation of the Lord, with a blessing from the Lord that makes him real to me. If we choose to believe the manifestation will come if we are persistent and show God, we mean business.
The presence of the Lord is with every person, but it takes faith for that individual to practice and develop an awareness of that presence. Weigh that.
This is putting present faith back with us, isn’t it? Oh, if I could just be aware of his presence, kick that unbelief out the window and start believing God, because here is this principle again.
Your present faith measures the extent of the revelation of the Lord to your heart. What are you going to do about it? Are you getting the full impact of this message to realize how important it is? What are you going to do with it?
It means that there can’t be a single day that you live that you’re not aware that you’re living before the face of God right at that time. That’s what made Elijah so great.
Obadiah was on his way to find grass to keep the king’s livestock alive because of a famine, suddenly Elijah met him; and he recognized him, and fell on his face, and said, “Is that you, my lord Elijah?”
And in the scriptures, he says, I am Elijah who stands in the presence of the Lord. That’s who I am. Who are you?
1 Kings 18:15 Then Elijah said, “As the LORD of hosts lives, before whom I stand, I will surely present myself to him today.”
It’s this present faith. It’s walking before the Lord, believing, aware of him, bringing his presence through to you, that is the most important thing you’ll ever do.
I’m going to repeat the first principle I shared now, moment by moment I will believe. At this moment, I accept his promises, and I believe it’s right now we live. This is going to shift it out of the limbo and bring it down to something very practical that you can handle.
GROWING SPIRITUALLY THROUGH OUR PRESENT PARTAKING OF THE PROVISION OF JESUS BASED UPON A PRESENT FAITH
The fourth principle. My present partaking of the blessing of the Lord is based on a present faith and a firm holding on to the confidence in the Lord.
This seems like it’s already been said, and it’s certainly been touched upon, but it means that anything I partake of the Lord is not based upon yesterday’s faith or experience or my hopes for tomorrow. Anything I partake of in this present hour, I partake of because of a present faith. I have to believe right now. Did you get that?
I’m going to do a lot of meditating about this, because the things that I want from the Lord are not things from the sweet by and by. I want to walk with God and all that He’s saying right now. And for me to do it, I’ve got to shift my thinking from the future and from the past into Every moment, day by day, hour by hour, I’m believing the Lord and I’m appropriating to the fullest extent the full potential of that moment.
It is an interesting thing to see how people use their days. It’s a person using their present moment, their present free hour wisely. It makes a difference that when, after the years have gone by, one person is efficient in their job and another person is inefficient in their job, the person that’s efficient has learned and applied themselves every free moment they have been doing it.
That’s true of a musician. It’s true of a professional person. It’s true also in the realm of the spirit.
The person that is living in God, aware of the Lord, growing fully every moment, every moment, and every moment. That’s the person that expands. I know my capacity in ministry is increasing. You know why it’s increasing? Because I face impossible demands on it every week, and I keep reaching into God every week to fulfill those. I never have been adequate for any week that was ever set before me, but I keep reaching in the more, appropriately the more. And that’s stretching, stretching, stretching. You get the idea? That’s what gives you a large capacity.
UNBELIEF CANCELS OUT THE PROMISES OF GOD
The fifth principle is that present unbelief invalidates the promises of God and the future. It invalidates it, crosses it out. That’s what it said concerning the Israelites inheriting the promised land. When God saw that they were moved with unbelief, he swore in his wrath, they’ll never enter into my rest. They’ll never have the promise.
And it doesn’t matter what God has said to the church, it won’t work unless you believe God. A local church could walk away from everything God’s saying right now, and then they would be back in a worst state than they were before.
We have to know that the future absolutely depends upon accepting what God is saying and doing and walking in it right now in the name of the Lord.
Every day, no matter what you’re doing, if you just remember this, that if I am walking in unbelief, it’s going to invalidate all the promises of God and it’s going to cancel out my future with God completely. The issue is not has God’s spoken. The issue is, do I believe?
PROBLEMS
The sixth principle is that our present problems are part of God’s eternal plan and purpose. You may not believe that one. But do you find yourself complaining and drawing back from these problems and circumstances and all of these things.
You may think that, if I could just get rid of all of those and I could serve the Lord, but the truth is that those problems are a part of God’s eternal plan and purpose for you. It does not mean that we do no continue to live in the problem, we are to overcome them and grow spiritually through the process.
The purpose of a problem, is so that we look to the Lord to see what aspect of His divine nature we need to appropriate to overcome it. What is your attitude toward them, do murmur and complain or do you get excited about them. How you respond to problems reveals what kind of relationship you have with God.
You either approach your problems with unbelief, or you approach them with faith. There are not many people that have faith. Twelve spies were sent in to look over the land of Canaan and 10 will come back with a bad report. And two, Caleb and Joshua will come back and say, we can overcome them because God said so.
God gave us the land. Let’s go get them. Your present problems are a part of God’s eternal plan and purpose. And that means your reaction to your problems, your reaction to the things that you’re facing day by day, is going to bring you to a place where you are either aware of God’s promises and you’re trusting Him moment by moment, or you’re overwhelmed by the problem and you’re moving in discouragement and unbelief.
You’ve got to decide every day how you’re going to face that present problem. Your present problems are part of God’s eternal plan and purpose for you. Gods more concerned about your reaction to those problems, than rescuing you from them. Do you believe God, or are you discouraged? Do they produce unbelief, or do you look at them and say, Mountains, you may be miles high, but I still believe the Word of God.
We face our problems and we say again, moment by moment, I will believe. At this moment, I accept his promise concerning this problem and I believe. Do we say that?
Glory to God. This thing will move your heart. And you wait to see what trouble this message causes you this week. You are going to see the difficulties of life, with a new perspective. You don’t dare to walk in unbelief. At this moment, moment by moment, you will believe in the promise and provision the Lord has provided for you.
At this moment, I accept his promises and I believe. Yeah, but that blessed old problem was there yesterday and the day before, and the day before that, and that problem’s going to be there tomorrow, that is unbelief. I don’t care if it’s been there for 300 years. Today, you believe God. Today, you walk with appropriation. Today, the present appropriation is going to measure your future.
So, I come scratching at that mountain and I rebuke it and I cast it in the sea. I do all the things that I can do against that mountain today because God is concerned about producing the eternal sons of God.
This present world that you know, this present life with its problems are all ordered by God to bring sons to glory. Do you believe Him? Right now, do you believe Him?
Faith cannot be a general, elusive, vague thing. I have faith. Faith in what? Faith for what? I just have faith. I have all kinds of faith. Just one kind, please.
The kind that claims a promise of God and says, Thus saith the Lord, and I believe, it’s a valid thing. I claim it today. The day of miracles is not past. It’s not even strained.
I’m not waiting for something to come. I’m not one of those that sits and twiddles his thumbs and waits for something to come. I’m believing God today.
God spoke words to men and he said go prophesy to tyre, prophesy against Sidon, he’d say prophesy against Nineveh.
We’ve still failed to appreciate when God wants something done, he looks around. And like the New Testament said, there was a man sent from God whose name was John. The word of the Lord came unto Amos. The word of the Lord came unto Isaiah. The word of the Lord came to a boy eight years old, Jeremiah.
Jeremiah, I’ve set you for the rise and fall of nations. Don’t say that I am a child. You’ll prophesy to all to whom I’ll send you.
A little boy, don’t say that you’re a child. I’ll put my word in you and you’ll do it. Do you think it’s less in this dispensation or hour? God’s raising you up and He’ll put His word in your heart.
Brethren, what will be your reaction when you come against government persecutions? What will be your reaction when you come against church persecutions? What will be your reaction when you come against false Christs and false prophets?
I have a word from the Lord for you. You’re coming down. That’s your word. By the word that God puts in the mouth of his people, by the prophecies and the revelation that comes, because they say in their heart, God has spoken a word that has made my present alive to God.
At this moment, I’m alive to God. At this moment his promises are alive to me. This is the day in which the blessing of Grace shines upon my life. I have had a word from the Lord; therefore I rise to follow the Lord and walk with the Lord.
As the years have gone by and I have become more aware of God’s demands upon my life, and how essential it was That I become who he has called me to be. I stopped running away from myself, thinking that that gives you any release from the pressure, it doesn’t.
I don’t want to be under the pressure, you know what I mean? And then the day comes in which you’re dedicated to 24 hours a day to be what you are, God’s bond servant. 24 hours a day, you are related to God. You walk with Him. 24 hours a day, you cultivate an awareness of His presence. For 24 hours a day, the Covenants and promises of God are valid.
And the day you start thinking that way, is the day that you really start growing in the grace of God.
Now, how many of you have had moments in which you want to withdraw from what you really are and be something else for a little moment that is not really true?
And so, I say now, moment by moment, I will believe. At this moment, I accept his promises, and I believe at this very moment, I live with my God always in the present. He will be God to me unlimited every moment.