Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: You're listening to a podcast by Lance Lambert Ministries.
For more information on this ministry, visit lancelambert.org or follow us on social media to receive all of our updates.
In today's episode, we'll be listening to Chapter one of the audiobook for the Importance of Covering by Lance Lambert. This book contains a series of messages that lance preached in 1971, which were transcribed and are now available as an audiobook. Narrated by Michael Cross.
In this chapter, Lance introduces the biblical concept of covering by surveying Old Testament examples and symbols showing how this theme of spiritual protection appears throughout Scripture when people stay in their right relationship with God. The complete audiobook featuring all eight chapters of this teaching is available for purchase. You can find the link in the show Notes let's listen to chapter one of the importance of covering.
[00:00:54] Speaker B: Chapter one survey in the Old Testament Psalm chapter 91 he that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the lord, he is my refuge and my fortress my God in whom I trust for he will deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the deadly pestilence.
He will cover thee with his pinions, and under his wings shalt thou take refuge. His truth is a shield and a buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night, nor for the arrow that flieth by day, for the pestilence that walketh in darkness, nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and 10,000 at thy right hand but it shall not come nigh thee.
Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked. For thou, O Lord, art my refuge. Thou hast made the most High thy habitation There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy tent. For he will give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.
They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone.
Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder the young lion and the serpent shalt thou trample underfoot, because he hath set his love upon me therefore will I deliver him I will set him on high, because he hath known my name.
He shall call upon me, and I will answer him. I will be with him in trouble I will deliver him, and honor him with long life will I satisfy him, and show him my salvation.
Ephesians 6:10 20 finally be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of his might put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Wherefore take up the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all to stand.
Stand. Therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace, withal taking up the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the evil one, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, with all prayer and supplication, praying at all seasons in the spirit, and watching thereunto in all perseverance and supplication for all the saints and on my behalf, that utterance may be given unto me in opening my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.
Shall we pray?
Dear Lord, we thank thee. Thou art with us. Thou knowest we are all different ages, spiritually, different conditions, different backgrounds.
O Father, we pray by Thy Spirit, take this subject and bring it in life to every one of us. And may something of its importance dawn upon us. We ask it in his name.
Amen.
The subject we are considering is covering.
It is perhaps one of the most vitally important subjects that we could study.
I have no doubt that there are some who might say I have never heard of covering. Where does it speak of covering in the Bible?
The fact is that this matter of covering or being hid is. Is one of the strong emphases of the Bible from its beginning to its end. It is summed up in that wonderful Psalm 91, which is really a continuation of Psalm 90. It is the same Psalm, but it was divided into two.
You will notice that in Psalm 90, verse 1, it says, Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.
Then in Psalm 91, verse 1, it says, he that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
Perhaps you have never thought of that as covering, but that is exactly what it is.
He that dwelleth in the secret place, the COVID the secret place the covered place of the Most High shall abide, shall remain under the shadow of the Almighty.
The Almighty will be his protection.
The Almighty will be his security.
The Almighty will be his safety. The Almighty will come between him and anything hostile.
He that has made the Lord his habitation he that dwells in the secret place of the most high protection from hostile things.
The psalm speaks about all kinds of terrors.
It speaks of the terrors of the night, horrors of the night. It speaks of pestilence, which is not only physical pestilence, but spiritual pestilence. Too many, many Christians suffer from spiritual pestilence, disease, some infection that won't clear up, that is just getting them down all the time.
Sometimes they think it is just something to do with the way that they are meant to walk, but it is not.
It is because they have become uncovered.
The Word of God says here quite clearly that the pestilence or the plague shall not come.
He shall not be afraid of the pestilence that walketh in darkness, nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday. Verse 6 if you know anything about the east, you know there is a kind of plague, a kind of disease, a kind of infection which can sweep through a community within hours and decimate it.
That is really what the psalmist is speaking of here. A pestilence of a destruction that wasteth at noonday, that lays everything low suddenly, almost without explanation. He speaks of a plague coming nigh your it shall not come nigh your tent. He speaks of war, a thousand falling at your side, 10,000 at your right hand, but it shall not come nigh thee.
The whole psalm speaks of all kinds of hostile things, things that would come out against the Child of God, things that would come out against the church of God to destroy it. But that is not the emphasis of this psalm.
It is not that the Christian is surrounded by hostility, that the Christian ought to be frightened to death by all the things that are around him.
The whole emphasis of this psalm is covering the Child of God can walk with his head high in the air. The Child of God can have boldness to come into the most holy place of all by the blood of Jesus, by that new and living way which is Christ himself.
That is the emphasis of this psalm.
If you come out from under covering immediately, hostile forces can get their grip on you.
If you keep under covering, you are safe.
There is no matter more important to both young and old believers than this matter.
When I am asked what I think is one of the most essential things for a young believer to know, I would say straight away how to be covered and how to remain covered as a child of God.
If an older believer says to me, what do you think is the most important thing I should know? I would say straight away, how to be covered.
I have seen quite a number of people go off the rails.
It all began with uncovering.
There is a stupidity about many of us, an arrogance, a presumption, an insensitivity to the things of God and to the ways of God.
Sometimes we see his acts and we do not understand his ways. But because of that, we are undone in the end.
Pride always goes before a fall.
But to be proud, you don't have to be haughty in your dealings with other people.
You can be haughty in your dealings with God, as if God should open everything up to you, or as if you have a right to tell God what to do in a kind of arrogant and presumptuous way.
That is the pride that goes before a fall. And that is the kind of thing we are talking about.
The enemy's objective.
I know some great servants of the Lord who in their last days got uncovered.
The enemy has a great objective with every single child of God and with the church of God. It is to get us uncovered. He cannot do anything when the church of God is covered. There is not a single thing Satan can do with the church unless it is permitted and allowed by God.
Therefore, the enemy's whole plan, his design, his objective, his strategy in this war is to push the church out from covering, to get it exposed and to get it out into the open, away from its safety. Then the enemy can come and demolish it.
His strategy is exactly the same with the Child of God. His whole strategy is to push the child of God into a position where that one comes out from under covering. He tries to meet the enemy himself or herself, and the enemy knows exactly what to do with the very best of us.
Later we shall be dealing with some great examples in the Old Testament and then the New. But for now, I think immediately of David. He got uncovered when he didn't go out to war with his men. He was not at the head where he should have been. He stayed back and he was uncovered. While he was in that position, perhaps he thought to himself, I will read the Scriptures. I will have a wonderful time of meditation and reflection.
He went up on his rooftop to have this meditation and reflection, but he was uncovered.
We can even talk about spiritual things and yet be uncovered if we are out of the will of God.
There he saw Bathsheba, and the whole foul idea of murdering her husband and taking her took root in his heart.
Where did such a foul and vile idea originate? If it did not originate in Satan, he was out to destroy David and the whole work of God in the people of God.
It is a wonderful thing that God understood who was behind it all. And it is a wonderful thing that David finally got back under covering and said, blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
Psalm 32:1.
In his great letter to the church at Ephesus, which I think all of us agree is the high water mark of revelation in the New Testament, the apostle Paul comes right back to this whole matter of covering in his final word.
You may not think of it as covering, but that is exactly what it is.
Wherefore put on the whole armor of God.
Don't leave a single chink from head to foot be covered.
There is something of Christ for every part of your being.
It is very interesting that really he is not just speaking of individuals here, but he is speaking to the whole church. He is saying to you all, put on the armor of God together.
See that Christ is the helmet, that he is the breastplate, that he is the girdle or the belt, that he is the shoes on your feet, that he is the shield of faith, that he is the sword in your hand, that is covering.
The apostle knew very well that no company of believers who begins to see something of the eternal purpose of God, nor any child of God who begins to see something more than forgiveness of sins, who begins to see that behind it all lies a tremendous purpose from eternity to eternity is safe unless he knows how to put on the whole armor of God.
Our trouble on this matter of covering is that we all go by these eyes and by our physical senses. It is like being exposed to invisible rays.
If there is something radioactive in a room, no one in the room can see the rays, no one can see the danger. But every single person will be exposed to death giving rays. All will be exposed to something.
That is what this whole matter of covering is about.
Spiritually, we can be exposed to things that we cannot see or sense with our physical senses, but which we can know about. If we have our spiritual senses exercised, we can know things that are coming at us.
The whole problem is one of covering. If you are covered, none of those dangerous or injurious things can harm you.
I remember as a little boy at the time of the war, I was always mystified by all those old gentlemen going to work with umbrellas and helmets. I could not understand what those helmets were when I was a little boy. But I was told it was something to do with shrapnel.
Just recently in Belfast, a young lad lost his life as he leaned out of a sentry tower to speak with his relief. He had not put on his protective vest and a bullet got him.
That is what covering is. Never to be without your protective vest, spiritually, never to be without that helmet of salvation, spiritually, always having on the armor of God.
The temptation of Christ was just along this line. There were three main ways that Satan tempted or tried the Lord Jesus. And each time he used scripture.
What was Satan trying to do?
We know that the Lord Jesus could easily have turned stones into bread.
After all, a little later on in his life he did feed over 5,000 people with five loaves and two fish. And on another occasion he fed 4,000 people with seven loaves and a few fish. He could easily have done this.
Why didn't he? Wouldn't it have silenced the devil if the Lord Jesus had just commanded that these stones be made bread?
But the whole point was the Lord Jesus was being tried not as God, but as man. He knew in his heart that he had no direction from God to turn those stones into bread.
The devil's whole objective was to get him to act independently of God. To get him to do something which seemed to be right and legitimate, that expressed faith and was a miracle of the first order, but was done apart from God.
If the Lord Jesus had done that immediately, he would have been exposed to enemy interference.
Then the devil took him upon a high pinnacle of the temple and said, cast yourself down.
He quoted the very scripture from Psalm 91.
He shall give his angels charge concerning thee on their hands they shall bear thee up, lest haply thou dash thy foot against the stone.
This is the psalm about covering we have been considering.
Wouldn't it have been an easy thing for the Lord Jesus just to have done it?
Many times when they were going to lynch him, he walked straight through them. Not a man could touch him. It would have been an easy thing for him, and a rather wonderful thing.
The devil knew very well that Christ could turn stones into bread. And he knew very well that the Lord Jesus could come down from the highest pinnacle of the temple and come down safely.
He knew it. Satan wanted to force the Lord Jesus to act apart from his Father.
If he could only do that, he would expose him to the deadly rays from another world.
So you can go through these temptations and see it is all to do with this matter of covering.
I cannot profess to understand fully this subject and therefore I want to say to you that I am as much a student in this as anyone else.
What I know is that we are touching something like an iceberg. Very little is above the surface. The vast amount of this whole matter lies hidden underneath.
Therefore, all I can do is whet your appetite, point out a number of things, put a question mark over some of them, and explain a few others as far as I am able.
If, as a result of this ministry, the fear of the Lord comes upon us, it has been well worthwhile.
The fear of the Lord where is the fear of the Lord today among the people of God?
I have seen people die under the hand of God. I have seen that the Lord is still the living God. You cannot play about with him. He is like a consuming fire. He must be treated with awe and reverence.
Now I am not asking for that cringing kind of fear that some people associate with the fear of the Lord.
Nor am I asking that people should suddenly all become frightened to do anything, frightened to say anything, frightened to contribute because of the Lord. That is not the fear of the Lord.
At the time of Pentecost, when the church was strongest and the authority of the Lord was most manifest, the fear of the Lord came upon those people again and again and again.
Great fear fell upon the whole church.
Acts 2:43 what did it mean? It did not stop them from contributing. It did not stop them from witnessing. It did not stop them from working.
It did not stop the Lord from manifesting Himself in and through them.
But there was great fear upon them all.
Oh, to be done with this nonsensical stuff that sometimes goes for the work of the Spirit.
It is nothing but the soul in the realm of the Spirit.
When the Spirit of God really starts to work, a reverence comes upon us and awe comes upon us. We begin to watch the way we dress. We begin to watch the way we conduct ourselves. We begin to watch the way we behave because we know with whom we have to do.
We love Him. It is not a cringing fear with torment and punishment from that we must be delivered. But it is a kind of fear which comes out of a sensitive love for God.
The fear of the Lord is something we do not find in the 20th century. We associate it with the Dark Ages or the Middle Ages. But God has not changed. The 20th century does not mean that God's power is less or that he is less of a consuming fire than he ever was.
God does not change. God is the same, always the same.
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.
Hebrews 13:8 Therefore I hope that in touching this whole matter, if nothing else, the profundity of it, the mystery of it, will so come upon us that an inquiring and sensitive spirit may be produced in us all in our walk with God.
Old Testament References Personal we are going to look at some of the various references to covering in the Old Testament. We cannot look at all of them, but a lot of them. First of all, we will go on a few circuits, and the first circuit is a personal one.
And the Lord said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon the rock and and it shall come to pass while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a cleft of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand until I have passed by and I will take away my hand, and thou shalt see my back, but my face shall not be seen.
Exodus 33:21 23 why was it necessary for God to cover Moses, one of the most righteous men that we know in the Bible?
Why should he be hidden or covered when God showed himself to him?
Ask yourself this One day every one of us is going to see the glory of the Lord.
But you know, the glory of the Lord could destroy us unless we were covered. The glory of the Lord would be like a million million vaults that could destroy us.
He covered Moses and I have put my words in thy mouth, and have covered thee in the shadow of my hand, that I may plant the heavens and lay foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, thou art my people.
It is a most extraordinary statement to say that before God fulfills his purpose, he takes this one, puts his words in his mouth, and covers him with the shadow of his hand.
God's hand is over him as a shadow and he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me.
Isaiah 49:2 he that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
He will cover thee with his pinions, and under his wings shalt thou take refuge. His truth is a shield and a buckler.
I will dwell in thy tabernacle for ever I will take refuge in the COVID of thy wings.
Psalm 61:4 of Benjamin he said, the beloved of the LORD shall dwell in safety by him he covereth him all the day long, and he dwelleth between his shoulders.
Deuteronomy 33:12 I will greatly rejoice in the Lord my soul shall be joyful in my God, for he hath clothed me with garments of salvation he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with a garland, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.
Isaiah 61:10 O Lord, the strength of my salvation thou hast covered my head in the day of battle.
Psalm 147 here we have a number of verses representative of very many more that deal with this matter of covering personally.
Tabernacle now we are going to look at one of the greatest symbolic things in the Old Testament, the tabernacle.
Everything in the tabernacle was symbolic. It was a pattern of heavenly things and thou shalt make curtains of goats hair for a tent over the tabernacle. Eleven curtains shalt thou make them.
Exodus 26:7 and the cubit on the one side, and the cubit on the other side of that which remaineth in the length of the curtains of the tent, shall hang over the sides of the tabernacle on this side and on that side to cover it and thou shalt make a covering for the tent of rams skins dyed red, and a covering of seal skins above.
Exodus 26:13 14 first of all you had the white, blue, scarlet, and purple interwoven curtain above that you had the rams skins dyed red, and above that you had the seal skins.
Actually we are not sure whether they were badger skins or seal skins. There were three coverings to the tabernacle, and each one of them has a meaning.
When the camp setteth forward, Aaron shall go in, and his sons and they shall take down the veil of the screen, and cover the ark of the testimony with it and shall put thereon a covering of sealskin, and shall spread over it a cloth of all blue, and shall put in the staves thereof and upon the table of shewbread they shall spread a cloth of blue, and put thereon the dishes, and the spoons, and the bowls, and the cups wherewith to pour out, and the continual bread shall be thereon and they shall spread upon them a cloth of scarlet, and cover the same with a covering of sealskin, and shall put in the staves thereof.
Numbers 4:5, 8 if you read all the way through down to verse 14, you find it is all to do with covering. Every single bit of the tabernacle had to be covered and they shall put upon it all the vessels thereof, wherewith they minister about it the fire pans, the flesh hooks, and the shovels, and the basons, all the vessels of the altar and they shall spread upon it a covering of sealskin, and put in the staves thereof.
And when Aaron and his sons have made an end of covering the sanctuary, and all the furniture of the sanctuary, as the camp is to set forward after that the sons of Kohath shall come to bear it, but they shall not touch the sanctuary, lest they die.
Numbers 4:14, 15 and the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the LORD unto its place into the oracle of the house, to the most holy place, even under the wings of the cherubim for the cherubim spread forth their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark, and the staves thereof above.
2 Chronicles 5, 7, 8 why did the wings of the cherubim have to cover the ark? They were so amazing that they covered literally the whole thing from end to end. Far beyond you could just see the staves on either side coming out behind the curtain. The wings covered the whole. This is found in three different places in the Scripture.
The glory of the Lord Another circuit, which I think is much more interesting, is the glory of the lord. Here we come to what I find is a great mystery, but perhaps it is the key to this whole matter.
And Moses went up into the mount, and the cloud covered the mount, and the glory of the LORD abode upon Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days and and the seventh day he called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud, and the appearance of the glory of the LORD was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel.
And Moses entered into the midst of the cloud and went up into the mount, and Moses was in the mount 40 days and 40 nights.
Exodus 24:15 18 it is interesting that this connection between the glory of the LORD and something covering it comes again and again.
Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.
Exodus 40, verse 34 the cloud covered the tabernacle, but the glory of the LORD filled the actual place.
And on the day that the tabernacle was reared up, the cloud covered the tabernacle, even the tent of the testimony and at even it was upon the tabernacle, as it were the appearance of fire until morning, so it was alway the cloud covered it, and the appearance of fire by night.
Numbers 9, 15, 16 and the Lord will create over the whole habitation of Mount Zion, and over her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night. For over all the glory shall be spread a covering, and there shall be a Pavilion for a shade in the daytime from the heat, and for a refuge and for a covert from storm and from rain.
Isaiah 4:5 6.
Cherubim and under the firmament were their wings straight the one toward the other. And everyone had two which covered on this side and everyone had two which covered on that side their bodies.
Ezekiel 1:23.
These cherubim had three pairs of wings. Two pairs were used for covering themselves, and one pair for flying.
This is also found in Ezekiel 10 and a few other places in Scripture.
What does it mean?
We know that the cherubim are a composite symbol and they represent something. For instance, we find them in Revelation around the throne of God.
If they are angels, they are the most hideous creatures you have ever seen, because whichever way you look, they have a different face.
If you look from within, they have one face, and if you look from without, they have another face. If you look from that side, they have another face. And if you look from that side, they have another face.
They have wheels within wheels. They can go up, they can go down, they can go that way, they can go this way, they can go any angle from the wheels. Wheels within wheels.
Ezekiel speaks also of the whirring of the wheels. They have wings, but they only use one pair to fly. They have eyes all over, not only on their face and body, but all over their wings. And the wheels are covered with eyes.
The whole thing is symbolic of the glory of God which was in them, and of the kind of creation that God wants.
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each one had six wings. With twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly.
Isaiah 6:1 2.
One pair of wings is for covering the eyes and the face.
Now that is very strange, because I don't know how any creature can cover its face so it can't see when it flies.
One pair of wings is for covering the feet, and one pair of wings is for flying, we begin to see. There is something very mysterious in this whole subject about covering.
Every detail of these visions has real meaning. And when the scripture explicitly tells us about wings, for instance, how they are used or how they are not used, there is always a reason for it.
Thou wast the anointed cherub that covereth, and I set thee so that thou wast upon the holy mountain of God. Thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.
Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till unrighteousness was found in thee by the abundance of thy traffic. They filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned. Therefore have I cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God, and I have destroyed thee. O covering cherub from the midst of the stones of fire.
Ezekiel 28:14 16 we know that the devil is the most intelligent being in the universe. We know that the devil originally had a position.
He was called Lucifer, and in God's original economy he had some position to do with worship and to do with covering.
What does it all Mean?
In our reading through the Old Testament, we recognize that there is something far beyond us and something very important there.
Three Meanings of Covering There are three Hebrew words that are used in the Old Testament in this matter of covering. One means to conceal or to hide, which is the most common one used.
The second means to enclose or to hedge in Thou wast the anointed cherub that enclosed or hedged in.
In Exodus 33 it says, I will cover thee with my hand.
That word is I will hedge thee in or I will enclose thee with my hand.
The other reference in Isaiah, I will cover thee with the shadow of my hand is I will conceal thee.
There is a third word, not used so much, which means to protect or to overlay.
Rather like a bird of prey. A larger bird overlays its young by bringing them into the soft, downy part of its underbelly.
This is the word that is used when it says, he shall cover him all the day long. He will overlay him like an eagle protects her young. Concealed in that way Obviously this word covering means or speaks of protection, of safety and of security in Christ.
Now let's come to ground that perhaps we know a little better.
Putting it in simple New Testament language, what it means to be covered is simply are in Christ.
This little phrase is used over 200 times in the New Testament alone. To be covered means that you are in Christ Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus. To all the saints in Christ Jesus that are at Philippi with the bishops and deacons.
Philippians 1, verse 1 this little phrase in Christ Jesus occurs again and again in the word.
We know that when we believe, we believe into Christ.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth on him.
That is the old version. Unfortunately, the very new modern colloquial versions have put in but it does not really mean in. It means our faith has carried us into Him. There is activity in it. We do not stand here and believe in Christ over there, but our faith carries us into Christ.
Through our faith, God puts us in his own Son.
There are all kinds of phrases in the New Testament which sum up this matter of covering.
Every time you read that you are in Christ, made to sit with him, in him, in heavenly places, raised in him and all these other things. It is a question of being covered. You are in Him. That is where God has put you. If you have been saved by the grace of God, if you have been saved through the blood of Jesus Christ, if you have been born of the Spirit of God, you are in Christ.
That is your position.
God has put you there. That is your security.
He is your stronghold. He is your fortress.
He is the secret place of the Most High.
That is the COVID where God has put you in Christ.
Every single born again child of God has been placed in Christ by God.
That is our position.
Whether we are there in practice is another thing, but that is our position.
Through faith in His Son, God has brought us into Him.
The Name There are several phrases or matters which we associate with this. We speak of the name of the and whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
John 14, verse 13.
What did the Lord Jesus mean?
He did not mean that. We just tack in the name of Jesus Christ on the end of our prayer like a little charm, and that works a miracle.
Many Christians think that the name of Jesus is a charm, that all you have got to say is, Jesus, Jesus, and something happens.
Nothing happens unless the facts behind your use of that name are right.
If the facts behind it are true and real, then you can take the name of Jesus on your lips and hell will quiver, but not otherwise.
In the name of Jesus. What does it mean?
It means that you are in Him.
I have four fingers and a thumb on one hand. And I have four fingers and a thumb on the other hand. And they are all in Lance Lambert. They are no one else's fingers and thumbs. They are in me.
Now these fingers can say, we can speak to you in the name of Lance Lambert.
You have fingers and thumbs, but they cannot speak in my name. They speak in yours.
When the Lord Jesus said, whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My name, let that will I do. He meant, when you are in me, you come to the Father. In me you simply say, father, we are not approaching you in our Merits. As if we are anything. As if we can get anything out of you. We are approaching you in Thy Son, we are in Him. We have a right to his name.
So whatsoever you do, do all in the name of Jesus, do everything as being in Christ.
That is where you are.
Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them.
Here we are. We are gathered into the Name. Because we are in Christ.
All of us are in Christ.
Christ is in all of us.
The blood Let us look at another phrase. The blood of Jesus Christ.
Some people have said to me, after having terrible experiences of being carved up by the enemy, I cannot understand it. I repeated again and again, the blood of Jesus. The blood of Jesus.
But you cannot repeat the blood of Jesus and live in disobedience as if by referring to the blood of Jesus, you can take Satan in.
If Satan knows he has got a foothold in your life through disobedience, you cannot just say, the blood of Jesus. The blood of Jesus.
Satan just laughs.
What you must do is get that matter put right under the blood of the Lamb. Then you can say, in the blood of Jesus, when Satan comes and says, what about that? You can say, the blood of the Lamb, Father, the blood of the Lamb.
There is peace in your conscience immediately. Whereas if the thing is still not settled and you go out, you have still got a bad conscience. You think I don't know? It doesn't work for me? They talk about being justified fully through Calvary's love, but it doesn't seem to work for me.
Well, of course not. You cannot be unreasonable. The invisible world around us sees the reality of things.
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin.
1 John 1:7.
Will you please note that there is an if?
Dear child of God, get this. Absolutely.
If we do not walk in the light with God, and we do not walk in the light with one another, then the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, does not go on cleansing.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful to forgive us our sins. But there must be confession.
That word just simply means to say the same thing, to recognize what God calls it.
If God says it is sin, I say it is sin. If God says it is disobedience, I say, lord, it is disobedience, and be found in him not having a righteousness of mine own. Even that which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ. The righteousness which is from God by faith.
Philippians 3:9.
To be covered means that we are in Christ.
We can speak in the name, we can act in the name. We are in Christ.
The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us continually from all sin. We are robed in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is as simple as that.
Abiding.
There is another phrase that comes up in this matter of covering.
In the last hours of his life, the Lord Jesus was at great pains to use one phrase over and over again.
Abide in me. Abide in me.
Again and again. He used it all the way through. Chapters 14, 15 and 16 of John.
The last words to his own dear disciples were, abide in me.
What did he mean, Remain in me. That is your place of covering. That is where you are safe. That is where you are secure. That is where you are protected.
Abide in me, and I in you.
For ye died and your life is hid with Christ in God.
Colossians 3:3.
That is covering. It is the armor of God.
Have you found the Lord Jesus like that? Do you know him as the helmet of salvation? Do you wear it? Are there times when your mind can be attacked because you do not have the helmet on?
The head is the most vulnerable part in many ways. That is why we all need to find Christ as the helmet of salvation. Covered.
Do you know Christ as truth? Not just as the truth, but as truth as reality.
Having your loins girded with truth.
In the modern versions it says strapped or pulled in. Having the belt pulled in for strength with reality.
If there is any unreality in our lives, we feel loose.
Do you know Christ as reality?
Breastplate of righteousness. Some of the modern versions say integrity that is over the heart. Righteousness.
Do you have your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace?
That is a hard word, but what it means is that you have your feet properly shod with good shoes. Peace.
Do you know the peace of God? Do you know Christ as the peace of God? You cannot keep in the way of God without that peace.
How do you know the will of God?
Let the peace of God arbitrate in your heart, or let the peace of God rule in your heart.
You will know that you should go this way or that way by the peace of God. Your feet are shod with the gospel of peace. And the gospel is the way through which peace has come to you.
Shield of faith do you know Christ as the shield of faith? That is the Thing you can move about when the fiery darts come. Covering, uncovering.
Perhaps we can understand this whole matter much more when we look at it from the negative side and what it means when we get uncovered.
Many modern day believers refuse to believe that you can be weak or sick or even die.
But 1 Corinthians 11:30 tells us that if we don't discern the body that is the reality of the presence of Christ, or what it is to be in Christ and Christ to be in us, all this can happen. Weakness, sickness, death.
Of course people will say, what kind of gospel is that? But that is the whole matter of covering. Every one of us should take heed in this matter.
People say, how do you get uncovered? I'm getting frightened. Well, the best thing is to make sure that you are abiding. You do not have to fight to get under covering. You are there. All you have to do is stay where God has put you. But when something has gone wrong, see that you put it right.
Something struck me the other day, so forcibly, when we pray as we were taught to pray by the Lord Jesus Christ. Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us.
I wonder whether many of us understand what we are praying.
We are asking God not to forgive us if we have not forgiven someone else.
Do you realize that is uncovering?
If I come before God and talk to God with unforgiveness in my heart, I am uncovered.
There are forces that watch and say, aha. So he thinks he can get away with that? What are you going to do about it?
Remember the words of the Lord Jesus when he said, peter, Peter, Satan has obtained thee by request. I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not.
Luke 22:31 32.
What did he mean, satan hath obtained thee by request?
Go back a little earlier and you find that Peter said, I will lay down my life for you. Lord, he did not know himself.
In that moment he was uncovered. And Satan went to God and said, did you hear that? Is it true? Let me have him.
And God said, you can have him, because there is something there that will come through. And what he will lose in the trial will be only what is not worth keeping.
Jesus said, I have prayed for you that your faith fail not.
It did not. Even though he denied the Lord his faith, deeper down than his denial never failed. He came through.
Shall we pray?
Lord, thou knowest every one of our hearts and the condition of each of our hearts.
Lord, there is not one of us that wants to be uncovered.
Therefore we praise thee and worship thee for the safety and security which Thou has provided for us in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Help every one of us, Lord, to walk in the light.
Help every one of us, Lord, to be truly in Thee?
Oh, may that truth be found in our inward parts.
So, Father, we commit this time to Thee. Deep beyond us mysterious. But Thy Holy Spirit can give illumination to every one of our hearts.
Grant, dear Lord, that the reverence for thyself, that awe of thyself, that loving, sensitive fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of wisdom and the fountain of life to all who know it may be produced in us all.
We ask it in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen.
The sea watches over from the.
