PRECEPTS FROM THE WORD CONRAD DEFRIESE I would like to welcome you to Precepts from the Word today. I am Conrad DeFriese. The title of my message is The Past Tense of God s Word. In Romans, chapter 10 and verse 17, it says, So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. I pray today that the Holy Spirit will give me utterance to say the very things that He desires for you to hear from this Bible teaching. I pray for you that the Holy Spirit will give you ears to hear and understanding, and that the things He designed in this Word will belong to you today. Whatever God s Word has put in the past tense, you and I should do the same thing. If God says something and puts it in the past tense, you and I should receive it and put it in the past tense in our life. It is up to you and me to initiate and appropriate the Word of God. The Word of God is likened unto a seed and that seed has to be sown. I think of the Bible as being a book of seeds. It has the promises of God, the will of God, what God has already done through Jesus in His death, burial and resurrection. Jesus Christ has already shed His bled, died on the Cross and rose from 1
the dead. He is seated at the right hand of the Father. As far as God is concerned, He has already made provision for every person that will ever be alive on this earth past, present and future to have forgiveness of their sins. The blood of Jesus has already been shed. That price has already been paid and God has put it in the past tense. Everyone on the earth, however, is not saved yet and has not received forgiveness of sin because it is up to them to initiate, or to appropriate, what God has already provided. I want to give you a few meanings of the word initiate. It means to instigate, to activate, to start the process, to trigger, and to act upon present knowledge. When people receive and hear the preaching of the Word of God, they hear that God has provided salvation for them through Jesus Christ. That message brings to them the knowledge of the Word of God and the will of God. But, just because a person hears the Word of God or knows about it doesn t mean it automatically works for them. They must receive it into their heart. They must appropriate the Word of God. The emphasis in our Bible teaching today is learning how to initiate the Word of God, how to appropriate God s promises. Things that are already 2
the will of God and that He has put in the past tense, He wants you and me to put it in the past tense. In the book of Mark, chapter 4, verses 26 and 27, it says: And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man (or a woman) should cast seed into the ground; And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. In other words, it is up to you and me to sow the seed of the Word of God. A natural seed has life in it, whether it is a seed of corn or wheat or any type of seed. That seed has life in it; but, it must be sown in good ground in order to produce a harvest. The Word of God is alive. The Word of God is powerful. The Word of God lives and abides forever; but, it is up to you and me to sow the seed of the Word of God. In order for us to receive a harvest we must get the sowing of the seed in the past tense. Let s look at Luke, chapter 17, verse 21, Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you. 3
We just talked about in Mark chapter 4 that a man or a woman sows seed and he likens it unto the kingdom of God. Now we see in Luke 17:21 that the kingdom of God is within. Once you are born-again the kingdom of God is in your heart. It is in your born-again spirit. It is up to you to take the seed of the Word of God and sow it by faith into your heart, into good ground. It is up to you to appropriate it. I want to give you the meaning of appropriate. It means to possess it and to put the sole of your foot upon it. God told Joshua in Joshua chapter 1, Wherever you put the sole of your feet, it will be yours. He told them (talking to Joshua and the children of Israel) many, many times to go in and possess the land that I have given you. I have given you the Canaan land, but you must go in and possess it. You must put your feet upon it. God has given us His many great and precious promises; but, it is up to you and me to possess those promises. That is what we are talking about here today. How do we appropriate the benefits in Christ Jesus? How do we appropriate the blessings that are in the Word of God? What God has given us by grace, it is up to us to receive by faith. 4
I want to look at a verse where God gave a promise to Abraham. Abraham received God s promise by faith. In the book of Genesis, chapter 17, verse 5, Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee. Before Sarah was ever with child, before Isaac was ever born or conceived in the womb, God said, I have. He put it in the past tense. I have made thee a father of many nations. Well, if Abraham is going to believe that, he has to put it into action. How did Abraham act upon that word? He received the change of his name! He received his name changed from Abram to Abraham. He began to have all of his servants, family and relatives call him Abraham. He had not received the promised child yet; but, he had everybody saying, Abraham is the father of a multitude. Father of a multitude. Father of a multitude. Abraham got in agreement with God and he began to say what God said. He said, I have made thee a father of many nations. He put it in the past tense. In those days a person s name had great meaning with it. Abram said, My name is Abraham. I am the father of a multitude, or the father of many nations. Yet, he had not received the promised child. Praise God, He got in agreement with God. 5
In Romans, chapter 4, verse 17, it says, (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. I want to read Romans 4:17 in the Amplified Bible, As it is written, I have made you the father of many nations. [He was appointed our father] in the sight of God in Whom he believed, Who gives life to the dead and speaks of the nonexistent things that [He has foretold and promised] as if they [already] existed. God called those things that be not as though they were. He called Abram Abraham, saying he was the father of many nations. He called things that did not exist as if they already existed. When God says it and we believe it, as far as we are concerned we have it by faith. God gave a promise to Joshua in the book of Joshua, chapter 6 and verse 2, And the LORD said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour. 6
I want you to notice here that before Joshua and Israel ever crossed the Jordan River, before they ever came to Jericho, they could see the city over there with its high walls. God told Joshua before the walls came down, before the victory was won, See. See with your spiritual eyes. See with your spiritual eye of faith. See with the eyes of faith. See the promise of God and believe that what God says is real as though you already have it. See, Joshua, I have given into thine hand Jericho. He wanted him to see it by faith and that was going to allow God to bring it to pass. That is the way that God wants you and me to receive the promises of God. In Mark 11:24 it says, Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. The Weymouth Translation says in Mark 11:24, That is why I tell you, whatsoever you pray and ask for, if you believe that you have received it, it shall be yours. You have to believe you have it before you can have it. You have to receive it by faith according to God s promises. A seed has to be in the 7
ground, in the past tense, before it can bring a harvest. The Word of God must be received in your heart by faith just like a seed is received in the ground, and it must be in the past tense before it can produce its harvest. In First John, chapter 5, verses 14 and 15, And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him. You and I must learn to receive the Word of God, the promises of God, and put them in the past tense. By His stripes you were healed -- in the past tense. He says, I have given you all things that pertain to life and godliness in Christ Jesus. If God has put the promise in the past tense, it is not only a promise; it is a fact. It is a living seed, the living Word of God. As you take that seed and put it in your heart you believe what God says. You believe He will keep His Word. You believe it in your heart. He says that if you believe you have received it, it shall be yours. Heavenly Father, I pray for everyone listening to this message today. I pray that the Word of God by the power of the Holy Spirit will cause the 8
Word of God to lodge deep into the good ground of their heart and bring forth thirty, sixty and a hundredfold in Jesus Name. 9