Printing/Copying
available here
Stage 2: Level 2 - Class 2
Click here to print!
Printing/Copying
available here
Copyright © 1998 P.F.(Simon) Measures
How do you see God - lifted up and remote or approachable like a tender father? How do you see yourself - an unworthy sinner granted salvation or a believer made a righteous son?
The story is told of an occasion in the White House when President Kennedy was hosting an international gathering of dignitaries and in pedalled his small son on a tricycle. Immediately he was taken up in his father's loving arms.
This little boy was far more conscious of his sonship than of his father's high office. He entered without restraint into the very throne room of the nation expectant of his daddy's warm greeting.
Are you as conscious of your sonship as that little boy was? Truly you and I should enter just as naturally into our Heavenly Father's loving presence as he did into his father's presence.
It was with the very intention of this happening that God purposed in Jesus to remove all that stood between Himself and us. He wanted us to know Him as Dad. Behind His great plan of redemption was this eternal purpose - for you to know Him.
Jesus revealed,
I am come that you might have life.
John 10:10
Then later He prayed,
And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
John 17:3 - NKJV.
God wants to be known by you. God wants you and me to know Him like Jesus knows Him. He wants us to call Him Dad as Jesus called Him Dad. He wants us to live in His intimate presence just as His Son Jesus does.
(In way of a follow up study to the above look up Mark 14:36 and Romans 8:15. Note while you're studying these verses that the word "Abba" is Hebrew for Dad or Papa.)
The only way you can truly come to know anyone is through close fellowship with them. This is no less true with God. How can you truly know God outside of intimate communion with Him? How can you know God if you don't feel you can get close to Him? This is why your knowing God will always be in direct proportion to your consciousness of sonship!
Consciousness of sonship is what every believer needs so that he may know God. Where does consciousness of sonship come from? How does it begin? It begins when you are born again and it grows as you receive revelation that you are a new creation!
Your consciousness of sonship will always grow as consciousness of being a new creation grows. Indeed it is possible for you to live constantly in a consciousness of sonship because God in Jesus has provided you with everything that is necessary for this consciousness to be always yours!
"Simon," you say, "how can we be conscious of something that is not apparent on the outside?" We get help with the answer to this from Apostle Paul when he exhorts Timothy, "Hold faith, and a good conscience." 1 Timothy 1:19.
Now holding to faith you might understand but how do you hold to a good conscience? What is a good conscience? Probably not what you think it is!
A conscience is something every human possesses but in unregenerate man it is so marred by sin that it ceases to function as God intended it to function. The Bible calls a sin-marred conscience an evil conscience.
Sin is like mud and grit to man's conscience blinding it to Heaven's light. Sin stains and mars the conscience. Sin blinds the conscience to heaven's landscape and makes it impervious to heaven's light - that's an evil conscience!
Your conscience, holy believer, is cleansed! It is purged; it is purified; it is cleansed (these are the three words used in the King James Version for the one Greek word "katharizo") by the blood of Christ. You no longer have a conscience marred by sins. The sprinkling of the blood of Jesus has cleansed your conscience. Your conscience is clear to allow Heaven's light in - that's a good conscience!
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?
Hebrews 9:14.
On the day of your salvation your conscience of sins - your sin-marred conscience - was purged by the Blood of Jesus. Immediately the light of Heaven was able to flood your heart giving you a revelation of your newly reborn spirit within; the new creation.
Heaven's light has free access now to your heart. You are in a condition now to be a believer with no more consciousness of sin - only a consciousness of righteousness, only a consciousness of being a new creation, only a consciousness of sonship!
How special this cleansing is! Indeed the worshippers of the Old Testament were never able to enjoy such a cleansing. Their offerings of sacrifices and the sprinkling of the blood of animals only provided them with a cleansing of the flesh. Only the blood of Jesus was powerful enough to effect a purifying within the spirit of man where his conscience is.
Gifts and sacrifices are offered which cannot make him (the high priest of the first tabernacle) that performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience...
...the blood of bulls and of goats and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh.
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?
Hebrews 9:9,13-14 - NKJV.
For you, a new testament saint, the precious blood of Jesus has forever cleansed your conscience from sin's defilement. Your conscience is clear.
Now in the light of God - as you draw near and present yourself before Him and His Word - you see God as He really is and yourself as His new creation. You come to know God. You see Him as He is - absolute Love, absolute Life and absolute Light.
This is why He purged your conscience - so you could become new creation conscious. In that consciousness you draw near to Him and know Him.
Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter into the Holiest by the blood of Jesus...Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.
Hebrews 10:19,22 - NKJV.
We are to draw near to God. We are to come boldly into His presence. How likely are you though to come into God's presence with a consciousness of sin? It will only be when you have a consciousness of righteousness that you will boldly approach closely to the Father.
You will only dare enter into the Holiest if you are conscious of what the Spirit of sanctification and the Blood of sprinkling has done for you. This means you will have to know you have a blood sprinkled, true heart. It means you will have to be in full assurance of faith that this blood of sprinkling has brought you righteousness. This is called being righteousness conscious.
The moment you become truly conscious of who you are in Christ Jesus you will have the assurance to call God your Father. In that consciousness you will have confidence to spend time at His side really getting to know Him as Dad.
Who are you now in Christ Jesus? You are a new creation called the righteousness of God. See 2 Corinthians 5:17-21.
How conscious are you of being a new creation? How assured are you that you are made the righteousness of God? The answer will depend on the use you're making of your good conscience.
Your good conscience provides you with a window through which the light of Heaven can shine. Your good conscience is a precious thing that you must hold fast to. Don't put it down for a moment.
Let the window your conscience provides constantly have God's light streaming through it! In this light you will see the new creation that you are within. By this light you will see God as He really is and recognise what a real Father He is to you.
Hymenaeus and Alexander failed to do this. They failed to hold to their good consciences and so shipwrecked themselves. They didn't position themselves daily where the light of God could shine through their good consciences. As a result they sailed into disaster - as far as their faith was concerned they shipwrecked! (1 Timothy 1:19.)
You will only have light to see your inner man as you present yourself - in the presence of the Holy Spirit - before God and His Word. You will only see yourself as God's new creation child in His light. You will only see God as He really is when you get into His light.
The psalmist David declared,
In Your light we see light.
Psalm 36:9 - NKJV.
John the Beloved exhorted,
If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another.
1 John 1:7 - NKJV.
Bible study or scripture meditation time should be a time of illuminating your inner man with the light of God's Word. It is a time to see what manner of man you are. The Bible tells you you will see what manner of man you really are in the light of God's Word. (See James 1:22-25.)
David prayed in Psalm 119,
The entrance of Your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.
Psalm 119:130 - NKJV.
Your inner man is hidden from your view until you bathe in the light of God's Word. It is only by that light that you can plainly see who you are in Christ. Who are you? You are the Father's new creation child created after God in righteousness and true holiness. Ephesians 4:24.
Thank God for your good conscience. The divine nature and features of your hidden man - your child of God characteristics - are clearly seen by the light of God's Word as it streams through your good conscience!
Child of God there should be no more consciousness of sin in you. Are you still living with a consciousness of sin? Living like that is to live a memory! Your consciousness of sin is due to a memory of what you once had on your conscience. Your sins are forgiven, God's thrown them behind His back and the very stains of sin have been purged away by the blood of Jesus.
It's only the stains that were on your conscience you remember. Those stains spelt death, fear and failure to you. The memory of them speaks of the same. Don't live in that memory; live in the light that reveals that you are God's new creation child and called the righteousness of God.
Live with a consciousness of sonship; a consciousness that will speak constantly of life, love and victory! Live in the presence of your Father in Heaven!
Copyright © 1998 P.F. (Simon) Measures
Click here to print!
Printing/Copying
available here
This class is part of High Impact Christianity - now available as a six part book series!
Next class: Covenant Consciousness! - A class on God's covenant of peace.
Previous class: How To Love! - A class on living in God's love.
Please sign our
|
Please Vote! A visit to our Home Page is a vote for us |
Return to
|