Joyce Rankin Articles ALIVE UNTO GOD & ARE KNOWN OF GOD | ALIVE UNTO GOD & ARE KNOWN OF GOD |
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by Joyce Rankin
I would like to touch on this verse out of Romans the sixth chapter. Sometimes we look at the scriptures as though they are a lot of religious lingo, as if they are just some high and holy words that we come together and hear on Sunday morning, or maybe a couple of times during the week, but never really hope to obtain. When the Lord Jesus uses me to minister, I desire to relate to God's people that the Word of God is true. It is real. It can be applied to your life as surely as you would squeeze the salve out of a tube of ointment to rub on a cut or a burn. The Word of God can be applied to your everyday life.
In this sixth chapter of Romans, verse eleven, we read, “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” This is the way I typed it when I stuck it on my refrigerator, “... reckon yourself to be dead to sin.” You can reckon yourself to be dead unto sin, “...but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” We can reckon ourselves to be alive unto God through Jesus Christ. The verses just before this one are telling us about Jesus, how that He died and rose again. Remember how Jesus spoke. He said that He did not speak His own words and do His own thing, but that He spoke the Word of the Father and did those things which He saw the Father do.
Has not your heart longed to walk as Jesus walked, to know that the words you spoke one day were the words that Jesus would have spoken had He been walking in your place, to know that the things you did were things that you knew that the Father would do if it was Jesus in the flesh walking there? Have we not longed to have this operable in our lives? Well, here we are told, “Likewise,” even as the verses ahead of it, likewise as this happened to Christ, “reckon yourself to be dead unto sin but alive unto God.”
This verse stood out and I got to thinking about that word reckon. Whenever I would use the word reckon, I would feel like Granny from “The Hillbillies.” It has always sounded like a “maybe so, I’m not so sure” sort of word. Now, here it is in my Bible. So, I decided to look it up and find out what it means. This is what I found in Webster's Dictionary. I hope you enjoy the meanings as much as I did. First — To compute — They use the height of a building. Remember in Ezekiel and in Zechariah God sent out the man with the measuring line and they computed the city of Jerusalem and the house of God and they measured everything. Well, there is a reckoning in our lives. We can count ourselves in that number of the redeemed—those that are dead unto sin, but alive unto God. We can have an estimation, we can compute, we can add ourselves in and measure our lives up according to the Word of God—as dead unto sin, but alive unto God. We measure the height and depth and width of the dwelling place of God as we learn of Him. When truth is revealed we discover the vastness of God's kingdom. There is healing, living and walking in the Spirit, wisdom, joy, peace, grace. There are areas we have not yet discovered in God's kingdom that will unfold before us in the days ahead.
Second — To determine by reference to a fixed basis. They use the example, “The existence of the United States is reckoned from The Declaration of Independence.” Now I really got excited. We have something whereby we can reckon our salvation, and it is from the Word of God. The death and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is a fixed basis. Is it real to you? Are the happenings in the life of Christ and the Word of God real to you? Do you have faith in God? If you do, it is a fixed basis where upon you can reckon your salvation. You can reckon yourself dead unto sin but alive unto God through Jesus Christ because God’s Word declares it to be so!
Third — In the terms of accounting, to settle the account. In one Bible reference I noticed that their notation said, “This has to do with accounting” and I thought, “Fine, that is just fine. The old account was settled long ago, and on my new account, the balance is life eternal.” It is still a rejoicing point. The old account was settled—dead unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ.
The reason I wanted to share this scripture with you is that it stood out so strongly. These scriptures are real. They make sense. They are not something to just pass over lightly when a minister is ministering, but let them come alive in you. You can know when temptation comes that the Word of God says: you are dead to sin through the death of Jesus. You are alive unto God.
This all fits with something I have wanted to share for some time out of the book of James. How do you look at sin? Maybe you think, “It is what everybody out there does,” everybody out there in the world. Sin is all those big ugly things we stay away from or, maybe sometimes a person in the church may want to say, “Well, the Lord understands my weaknesses and He is full of grace and He has got to forgive me and He will never leave me nor forsake me. His Word says He is always with me.” We make excuses for sin, but it is a very serious thing. If you had a problem with your car, I think you would listen very carefully as a mechanic explained to you what you could do to make it get you to work in the morning and then over to his shop in the afternoon for repairs so you would be able to use it again as soon as possible. If you had a child or a pet that was sick, you would listen very carefully, or read very carefully, instructions step by step as to what you could do to help them and prevent it from happening again. The Lord's Word is the same way. We have the expert of all experts here with warning signals showing us how to stay out of trouble, and there are remedies as to what we can do when we do get yourselves into trouble. “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death” (James 1:14-15). Sometimes we tend to laugh at sin. Sometimes it might seem to be fun or maybe just a little temptation. If you gave me a pretty new car that could go two hundred miles per hour, it would not be a temptation for me to drive at such a speed because I have no desire to go two hundred miles an hour. But if you lay an open highway before me, I would think, “I could just as well be on that next hill instead of this one,” my impatience might cause me to yield to temptation and exceed the speed limit. So I have learned that I have to take a deep breath, sit back, relax, watch the scenery, and take it easy. We learn the temptations that come against us and any lust that we have. (I know that because we are in the Church and have the baptism of the Holy Ghost, we do not like to think of ourselves as lusting. It might be interesting if you look up the word lust in your concordance.)
There are things that tempt us more than other things. I really like to eat. I enjoy eating different kinds of food. However, if I was in the middle of a fast and you brought in a plate of liver and onions, it would not tempt me in the least. I could resist it. But if you brought me a pizza, I might be tempted. Now it would be foolish for me to say, “Cut a piece and put it on my plate. I will push it around and pretend I am eating.” If I did that, I would be deliberately tempting myself in an area where I knew I had a weakness. So here we see, “when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.” It is when there is something that we will lust after, something that we have a weakness toward, that we are tempted. It would be foolish for satan to tempt us with something that we care nothing about.
We can know ourselves as the Lord Jesus reveals our weaknesses to us. We learn and recognize those things that are more than what we can resist on our own. There are people and places that we can stay away from. There are situations that we should avoid; and, when we cannot isolate ourselves from certain things that would bring a temptation that might overcome us, our prayer life needs to be increased. If we know we are going to face a very tempting situation or predicament in the days ahead, we need to increase our prayer life and the study of the Word. We can apply His Word, “I can do all things through Christ which strengetheneth me.” We need to keep our thoughts on the Lord Jesus Christ so that we have the strength to resist that temptation when it comes so that it does not lead us into sin and sin bring forth death in us. There are other verses in the Bible that use the word reckon. Whereas before reckon had a weak and uncertain sound to me, now I know it to be a very strong word. There is a fixed basis whereon we base our lives and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. He died on the cross and He arose from the dead. He has chosen to invest Himself within each one of us who will believe on Him. “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20). “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 2:5). “Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Romans 8:11).
The ARE KNOWN of God Galatians 4:9 "But now, after that ye have known God, OR RATHER are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?"
Many people have known God and turned away. The first chapter of Romans tells us that some people who have known God “glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four footed beasts, and creeping things.” (verses 21-23). They “changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshiped and served the creature more than the Creator.” (verse 25). “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge...” (verse 28). “Who know in the judgement of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.” (verse 32). So we need more than just knowledge of God. Judas knew the Lord Jesus. He had heard all the teachings and seen the miracles. He was able to introduce people to Jesus, greeted Jesus affectionately, betrayed Him, and then went out and hung himself. We also know that Jesus knew Judas and found no repentance in him. We know this because we find that Paul, after persecuting and killing Believers, was dealt with by Jesus. There was a root desire in Paul to do God’s will and Paul yielded to that dealing of the Lord. He repented and went in the direction of obedience to the will of God. Unfortunately for Judas there was a great gulf between his knowing Jesus and Jesus knowing him. With the in filling of God’s Spirit to quicken truth to us and to lead and guide us, we must be aware of the fact Paul points out here in Galatians 4:9. After you are known of God, how can you possibly turn again to the bondage of the lesser realm. We must yield, as Paul did, to the dealings of the Lord Jesus. Only then can we go on into the deeper truths of the kingdom of God and be of service to our Father and to His people. We know by the word of God that none of us could be serving God today if He had not known us and drawn us by His Spirit. We also find comfort in the fact that He knows our every need and provides for those needs before we even ask of Him. We want Him to know us so He can take care of us and answer our prayers and let us into Heaven when we get there. However, there is a far greater meaning in this “are known” relationship. The Spirit of God is dealing here with the present. Our God is a very present help in the time of need. We need the leadership of the Holy Spirit every day. No matter how many people think of us as being weak, the truth of the matter is that no man can serve God in faithfulness without His Spirit leading and guiding. The history of the children of Israel proved that very fact. We are of the same sinful human flesh. Only by being born again of the Spirit do we die to the flesh and come forth in that same Spirit that raised up Jesus from the dead. We are left without excuse for any gap between our knowing Jesus and His knowing (present tense!) us. We need the very present “are known” of our Father. He knows the intent and motivation behind everything we do. He knows the dark areas of our thoughts and desires. He knows those shadowy places that are not quite filled with light yet. He knows those truths that have been revealed but we refuse to accept. Our Heavenly Father knows the difference between the reasons for what we do and the excuses we may give to others, as well as to ourselves. Not only does our Father know us today, but He desires for us to come forth as pure gold. He desires our obedience, our growth, and our fruitfulness. How do we reconcile the being known of God and our knowing Him? I watched the friendship between two people over a period of twenty years. One left the neighborhood and I wondered if the friendship would survive the change. One left the public school and went into home schooling and I wondered if the friendship would adapt. One went off to college. One went to Europe to study. Could the friendship survive the separation? One went into the business world while the other continued to pursue her field of study. With each change I wondered if their friendship would endure. But through it all they maintained their communication. They talked on the phone. When the miles separated them, they wrote letters. When they got their computers, they e-mailed; and when the cell phones came in at reasonable rates, they were back to talking on the phone. We, too, must keep the lines of communication open to hear from the Lord in this beautiful relationship of being known of Him. Perhaps we have just left a friend’s house and we hear that little nudging correction, “You didn’t have to tell everything you know about so and so.” Maybe during praise and worship “something” brings us back to reality and we realize we were praising with our voice but our mind was on something else. This is not for condemnation. These are adjustments the Lord desires to make in us for our benefit. When the enemy comes with condemnation, he makes us feel we have messed up and there is no way out. But the Lord Jesus convicts us of our error and shows us how we can correct it. A precious sister in the Lord recently gave testimony of a miracle of the Lord in her life. She was diagnosed as having a serious condition. The Spirit of God began dealing with her concerning bitterness. It took a little time, but eventually she yielded to the Lord and followed through with repentance. Further leadership of the Holy Spirit miraculously saved her from death without the aid of natural man. She continues to follow after the principles of God and is maintaining that healing. She and her family have benefitted from her communication and acceptance of God’s leadership. I am thankful to have met her and to have heard her victorious testimony. I am glad she yielded to the “are known” of God as are the people to whom she ministers. The Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus is available to us if we will hear and yield to His dealing with us. Sometimes God deals with us concerning monumental corrections such as the aforementioned testimony and sometimes He deals with us about something that seems to be small and insignificant. I was frustrated one day and said to myself, “I need to get a life.” As soon as I said it, I knew that was wrong. Jesus had taken we at my word all those times I had sung the old familiar words, “Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee.” Or how about the times we sang, “Have Thine own way oh, Lord. Have Thine own way. Thou art the Potter, Lord, I am the clay.”? One day Brother Rankin and I had left home for a meeting in another state. Brother Rankin was driving and I had nothing to do but ride. There was no way I could make the beds, fix dinner, mow the grass, or any other busy work. I leaned back and thought,”This is the life.” (I do enjoy just riding across country!) Immediately the Spirit of God quickened to me in that small still voice, “Jesus is the Life.” Such small attitudes seem harmless, but by drawing my attention to them, the Lord Jesus has saved me from being drawn away into wrong motivations and gratifications in my life. I need and want His leadership active in all that I do. It is His love that warns me about selfishness, bitterness, or hardheartedness. He desires for us to root out pride, high-mindedness, arrogance, and selfishness. I do not like to think those things are active in me at any time, but I would rather have them revealed by my Father than to lose out with Him. He will help me get rid of them before they grow and fester within me to the point of destroying my life in Jesus. Enoch became known as the “was not.” We can be called the “are known of God.” Stop and think for a moment how blessed we are to be serving the living God. Some people say it does not matter what name you call your God.. I tell you it does matter! No other god can know you, let alone help you and save you and lead you by His Holy Spirit. Jesus truly is the sweetest name I know.
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