Ron Dunn Podcast - The Law of Possession

Episode Date: January 29, 2025

You will never know peace and harmony in life until you learn to submit to the law of possession.

Chapter 2, and I'm going to read the first eight verses, and then skip over and read verses 15, 16, and 17. Genesis, the second chapter, verses the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth, when they were created in the

day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, and every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew. For the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground. But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed. Now verses 15, 16, and 17. And the Lord God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden

to dress it and to keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." When God created the heavens and the earth, He created this universe a harmonious whole, everything working in harmony, everything moving as God originally intended it to be. And at the same time that God created the universe, he also instituted laws by which this universe were to be governed.

And every natural law of life that operates today, and has always operated, is nothing more nor less than the expression of the mind of God. And there are physical and natural laws by which this universe is governed. And really they are spiritual laws rather than physical or natural laws, because they are divinely ordained laws that God himself instituted. Now among these laws are certain laws that are eternal and automatic, and we call these fixed laws. For instance, the fact that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west every day, that is a fixed law. God set that law into effect, and it just runs continuously. God doesn't say every day, All right, Son, now you rise

in the east and set in the west. That is a fixed law. It is an automatic law that always operates. You can never break that law. You can never violate that law. It is a fixed law. For instance, there is a law of gravity. When Newton discovered the law of gravity, that's exactly what he did. He did not invent it, he discovered it. God invented the law of gravity, and the law of gravity is a fixed law, and it holds down everything except prices. That's the only thing that the law of gravity cannot hold down. But that's a fixed law.

It always operates. It always operates in this earth. There's another law that we might call a fixed law, that is the law of sowing and reaping. A farmer sows a certain seed and he reaps that certain seed. You don't sow one thing and reap another. The law of sowing and reaping. There are fixed laws by which life operates. Now, this universe that God made is in sympathetic relationship to its Creator. This universe, this physical earth, recognizes its Lord and recognizes its Master. And this earth always sympathizes with its Creator.

For instance, when Jesus was riding into Jerusalem and the people began to shout and praise him and spread palm leaves before him, the Pharisees rebuked Jesus and said, you ought not to let people talk to you like that. You ought not to let people praise you like that. And Jesus said, if I tell these people to hold their peace, the very stones would cry out. Jesus was saying, if man will not recognize its creator, the stones, the earth, the inanimate objects will. Jesus was on board a ship and a storm arose, and the disciples feared for their life. Jesus just spoke to that wind and spoke to that storm. And the elements of nature

recognized its Creator, and the Bible says the storm was stilled. Do you remember during his temptation the Bible says that Jesus was in the wilderness with the wild beasts? That means he could walk among the wild beasts, and they were gentle, more gentle than the lions that were in the den in which Daniel was thrown, because the wild beasts recognized their Creator. As a matter of fact, the only part of God's creation which has ever failed to recognize its Creator is man. Every other part of God's creation is in sympathetic relation to its Maker. And when Jesus died on the cross, the earth went into convulsions and the sun refused to shine because it was in sympathy with its Maker. Now, that means that these fixed laws, if I observe these fixed laws and I order my

life according to these fixed laws, then I'm going to be blessed. If I ignore these laws and I try to violate these laws, then I'm going to be cursed. Now one of these fixed laws was illustrated in the Garden of Eden. God had made man in his own image. God had made a garden, and in that garden he had caused every pleasant thing to grow. And there was plenty there for man to live on for the rest of his days. And God planted man in the Garden of Eden. God said to man, I want you to dress this garden and I want you to keep this garden. Of every tree in

the garden you can eat, except there is a limitation, there is a prohibition. There is a tree in the midst of the garden, a tree of knowledge of good and evil. Thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. A tree planted in the midst of the garden. Now, what law does that illustrate? It illustrates the same law that God enunciates in the book of Psalms when he says, The earth is the Lord and the fullness thereof. All the silver and gold are mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills belong to me. The earth is the Lord's and everything in it. And God said there is a tree in the midst of the garden that you cannot eat of. That's my tree.

You are not to touch it. You're not to eat of it. Now, what was that tree? That tree was the symbol of God's ownership of all things. Right there God was revealing to man at the very beginning of his human history the law of possession, the law that God possesses all things. You notice he did not give the garden to the man. He merely said, Man, I want you to live in the garden, and I'll tell you how to live in that garden. You are to dress it, you are to keep it, you are to take care of it, but he never gave that

garden to man. Now, there's a possibility that after a few hundred years, Adam might get the idea that the garden is his, and he can do it as he pleases. And so God says, and to remind you that the earth is the Lord and the fullness thereof, I'm going to put this tree in the midst of the garden, and that tree is the symbol, the everlasting symbol of my ownership. That's to remind you you're just a renter on my earth, that this land does not belong to you. It belongs to me and I allow you to live here and to live off the land. But ultimately, I possess the land.

The book of Colossians chapter 1 verse 16 says that all things were made by Jesus and they were made for him. God did not make the heavens and the earth for man. God made the heavens and the earth for his Son, Jesus Christ, and he made us so that through our obedience to the fixed laws of heaven, our observance of that law of ownership, his Son might be glorified. Now that's a fixed law, and that is the very foundation of success. And I want you to know this morning from the teaching of the Word of God that in your life you're never going to know life as God wants you to know it in harmony, in peace, in joy, in success, until first of all you come to recognize and submit to the law of possession

that the earth is the Lord's and everything in it. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. And this is the basic lesson that God wants to teach every person. And as you go through the Old Testament, you will discover God continually teaching the people, I own everything. Don't ever get too big for your inches. Don't ever get too high hat. Don't ever get to thinking that all of this belongs to you. I own it. I possess it. You live here. You use it because I allow you to. And so God brung with a tree and then he taught him with a day. He says six days shall foul labor and on the seventh

you rest. That day belongs to me. God is saying not only is the earth mine, but your time is mine. I possess, I own your time. You don't have any right to do as you please with your time. One day of the week belongs to me. It is holy unto the Lord. And on that day you're not to work. You are to honor me. God was doing what? He was reminding us that time belonged to God, not us. You think, well, my time is my own? No, the Bible says there's a time to be born and there's a time to die. God says you do not even possess your own time. He taught it with a tree. He taught it with a day.

He taught it with the city. When the people started going into the land of Canaan and possessing the land, he said, this is the land that I've had for you. And this is the land of Canaan and possessing the land, he said, This is the land that I have had for you, and this is the land that I have given to you. This is your land. But God wants to remind them that while I am giving this land to you, I still own it, and I still possess it, and you are living here just as my tenants. And he said, There is one city, when you go into the land, there is one city that you're not to plunder, and that's the city of Jericho. When you conquer that city, you're not

to touch any of the silver, you're not to touch any of the gold, that is holy unto the Lord. That is sanctified unto me. God was teaching them that possessions do not belong to them, even though they earn them. I can imagine some people say, but Lord, we took the city. I earned this with the spread of my brow. I went to school. I got educated. I received my degree.

I go out five days a week. I go out six days a week. I earn my money, and what I earn is mine. God says, no, it isn't. You are not to touch the city of Jericho. I'm trying to teach you God's ownership of all things. And if you don't observe that law of God's possession,

you'll never be blessed in your life. He taught it with a tree. He taught it with a day. He taught it with the city. And then he taught it with the land. And when the people were finally in the land, God said, all right, don't get too high-hat, don't think the land is really yours. You will till that land for six years, but every seventh year you will let the land rest. That is just to remind you that your vocation is not your own, it is mine. You might think that since I let you be farmers and agriculturists and give you this land, that your vocation, your life's work is your own. No, it isn't. No, it isn't.

I not only own the earth, I not only own your time, I not only own your possessions, I own your vocation. And every seventh year, you let the land rest. Now, God knew what he was doing. God knew what he was doing. He said, every seventh year, you let the land rest. God knew what he was doing. He said, every seventh year you let the land rest. And then God taught it with a tithe. He says, the tithe is the Lord's. You know what that tree in the midst of the Garden of Eden is? That's the tithe. That's the principle of the tithe. There is a lot of misunderstanding about the tithe. Some people the principle of the tithe. Now, here is a lot of misunderstanding about

the tithe. Some people say, Well, preacher, the tithe, that's under the law. No, it's not, it's before the law. Jacob paid tithes to God before the law of Moses was ever written. A third false assumption of the tithe is that the tithe is man discharging his debt to God. Once I have given my tenth to the Lord, that's it, everything else is mine. No, the tithe is man discharging his debt to God. Once I have given my tenth to the Lord, that's it, everything else is mine. No, the tithe is not my discharging and paying my debt to God, the tithe is my token recognition that God owns everything I have. And if you have never understood that when you give the tithe to the Lord, the nine-tenths that's left still belongs to God and you have no right to spend it the way you want to,

then you don't understand the law of possession. God was not saying, you give me the tithe and that's all I want and the rest is yours to do with as you please. No. The tithe was not to discharge my debt to God. It was a token symbol of my recognition that God owned everything that I had.

What was the purpose of the tithe? It was recognition of God's ownership. Recognition of God's ownership. And when Melchizedek met Abraham after the battles, the Bible says that he was the high priest of the Lord who was the possessor of heaven and earth. And when Abraham heard that he was the high priest of the Lord who possessed heaven and earth, he gave tithes to Melchizedek. God is trying to teach us the basic law of life that God owns all things. At the beginning of the old creation, God planted a tree in the midst of the garden to teach us that God owns us.

At the beginning of the new creation, God erected another tree in the midst of two thieves on a hill to teach us that God owns us completely. So Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6, verse 19, You are not your own, you are bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body which is his. 1 Peter 1, verse 18 says, You are redeemed not with corruptible things such as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ. Acts 20 says that God purchased us with the blood of Jesus.

And just as that tree at the beginning of Adam's race signified God owned all things completely, so that tree at the beginning of this new race of believers signifies God owns us completely, totally. And there is not a person in this building this morning that is going to have the blessings of God on that life until you come to make this basic decision, I recognize that God possesses me completely. He possesses my life, he possesses my body, he possesses my time. He possesses my time. He possesses my thoughts. He possesses my vocation. He possesses my money, my income. Everything I have belongs to

him, and God simply is being gracious and allowing me to use it. The Bible says that even the breath comes from God. Where did Adam get his breath? God breathed into him and he became a living soul. It all belongs to God and God has never given up his title to it. God has never signed over to you the title of anything. He never has. God is a loaner. He loans it out. He lets you use it. He lets you borrow it. He lets you live in it. God never relinquishes any of his property. He never does. Now, two things I want to say about this.

The person who acknowledges and lives according to God's law of possession will be blessed. Your life will be blessed. In Malachi chapter 3, God says, If you will honor me with your tithes and offerings, what is that? If you will recognize my ownership of all things by bringing to me the tithe, I will open up the windows of heaven, and I will pour out blessings upon you in which you cannot receive. Matthew chapter 6, verse 33, Jesus says,

But if you seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, all these things shall be added unto you. What's Jesus talking about? What are these things he's talking about? If you'll read that Matthew chapter 6, you'll discover that Jesus is saying we ought not to worry about what we eat. We ought not to worry about what we wear. We ought not to worry about what we wear. We ought not to worry about where we live. We ought not to worry about how we look, how tall we are, how short we are. God's going to take care of everything we need.

All of the physical, material needs of our life will be provided by God if we'll do one thing. What? If we will recognize his lordship, his ownership of all things. And if you seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, all these things shall be added unto you. God told Adam in the garden of Eden, as long as he obeyed God and as long as he minded his own business, as long as he observed God's law of ownership and possession, that he would be fruitful and he would multiply and he would replenish the earth. And sometimes you do a study on exactly what that means.

Be fruitful, be fruitful, and multiply and replenish the earth. And that doesn't mean simply to populate the earth. That means the earth will be blessed. The earth will be blessed. The earth will be blessed. Did you know that there would not be the curses that are upon the face of this earth today if it were not for violating this basic law of human life, the law of God's possession? So if I observe it, it blesses me. But secondly, if I neglect it, if I ignore it, if I violate this fixed law of God's possession, it will curse me. God said, Adam, you're not to eat of that tree of knowledge of good and evil.

That symbolizes my ownership. You bow before that tree. You realize that I have a right to tell you what to do and when to do it. God violated that. Immediately he was plunged into spiritual death, cast out of a garden, his first son became a murderer, and all of his ancestors have been godless. God said, when you go into the city of Jericho, I want you to remember the law of possession. That city belongs to mine, don't touch it.

Don't touch it. Achan violated the law of possession, he stole a Babylonian's garment, he stole some gold and silver, and the next battle the people of Israel went into they suffered horrible deceit and it cost Achan his life. God says, the law of possession cannot be broken, it is mine. You leave it alone. They went into the land. God said, you till the land six years, let it rest seven. The people said, we'll do what we want to with it. It's our land. We won it. We bought it. We paid for it. You go look on that deed, Lord, and it says, my name is there. I don't see your name anywhere on the checkbook when we make the

payments for that land. It's my land. God says, it's my land. I'm going to prove it to you. I want that land to rest one year out of every seven. And you know, God always catches up on his rent. Did you know that? And you write that down. God always catches up on his rent. You cannot owe God any back rent, he always catches up. The people for 490 years lived on the land, tilling the land every year, ignoring God's law of possession. You know what God did? God took them off the land, put them into Babylonian captivity for how many years? Seventy. How many years were they on the land? They were on the land 490 years. How many years did they owe God? One out of every seven for 490 years is how many? Seventy years. That's exactly how many years they

were in Babylon. Friend, you can't cheat God. We're not about to shortchange God. God says there is a fundamental law of human life and human nature. It's the law of possession, and that law will never be broken. You'll break yourself on it. And so God, the Bible says there's a little verse over there that says that when they went over into Babylonian captivity, then hath the land her rest. God caught up. God caught up. You say, well, that's the Old Testament.

How does that apply to me today? 1 Corinthians chapter 3 says, What know you not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost who dwells in you? Any man who defiles the temple of God, him will God destroy. Him will God destroy. My body has been purchased

by the blood of Jesus Christ. The law of possession is still in force. It never changes. Just like the tree in the Old Testament, there is a tree in the New Testament that shows that I belong to God and this body is his property, his temple, and if I defile the temple of God,

God will destroy me. The law of possession. The law of possession. Some of you are wanting to know how to have victory in your life. You are wanting to know how in the world can I get all of these corkscrews out of my life? How can I get all of these kinks out of my life? How in the world can I ever bring my life back together again from all of its broken pieces and make sense out of it? I want you to know the first step is in your recognizing God's possession. There's a little verse over in Luke chapter 17 that has a lot to say about this.

It says, A man had a servant, and the servant went out and worked all day in his field. Worked all day in his field. When he came in, he had done all of his work. His master said, You are not through yet, I am hungry. Before you feed yourself, before you rest, before you take care of your own physical needs, you serve me. So after he serves him, Jesus says, after that servant has done everything he is supposed to do, he has worked all day, he came in again, he ignored his own basic needs, he was tired, he wanted to rest but he didn't rest, he was hungry, he wanted to eat but he didn't eat,

first of all he went the extra mile, he even did more, and he served his master before himself. What can a fellow say after he has done all of that? Lord, you certainly must be proud of me, because look what I have done. Jesus says, after a man has done all of these things, all he can say is, I am an unprofitable servant, for I have only done that which was my duty. You know what Jesus is saying there? Jesus is saying, you have no personal property and you have no personal rights. After you have done everything, all you can say is, I am an unfathomable servant, because I've only done that which is my duty.

Friends, I want you to know how God will bless you when you recognize the law of possession. Don't have time to go into all of it. Just let me say one thing. The first thing, one thing it will do, it will free you from worry. You worry about your possessions. Have you ever noticed that? You worry about your possessions. You worry about your rights. Somebody violated my rights.

You think back over the past week, every time you've lost your temper, every time you've gotten your feelings hurt, every time you've puffed up and gotten mad and sour, it's because somebody violated what you thought were your personal rights. Most of your anxiety and your worry today is because you're worrying over your own personal life, your personal body. I've never forgotten the testimony of Dr. Walter Wilson when he came to the place where he recognized God's ownership of his life and he yielded himself to the Lordship of Jesus. He said, Lord, this body is yours. If you want to send it to Africa

as a missionary, you can. If you want to lay it on a hospital bed with cancer, you can. It's your body. I don't have any say-so in what you do with it. This is your body. It belongs to you. If you want to send it to Tibet with a story of how Jesus saves, you can do it. Or if you want to blind this body, you do with it as you please. It's your body. It's not mine. God's ownership, once I recognize God, God's possession of all things and ownership of all things, immediately that releases me and sets me free from worrying about whether or not people are going to treat me right, whether or not I'm going to get what I deserve,

whether or not this thing is going to happen, and it saves me from the anxiety and the worry that God never intended Adam to have in the garden. Because Adam had everything he needed without that tree. He didn't need that tree, and that's the sin. He didn't need that tree. God had made ample provision for his life. He could have lived there a dozen millenniums

without ever touching that tree. And it is only when I don't touch the tree, I keep my hands off the tree, I don't eat the tree, Lord, my life is yours, my breath is yours, this body is yours, I don't have any personal rights,

my feelings are yours, my emotions are yours, I don't have any personal rights, my feelings are yours, my emotions are yours, my affections are yours. The earth is the Lord's, and I'm not part of the earth, but the fullness thereof, I'm a part of the fullness. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. And in the Hundredth Psalm that we read this morning, it says that God hath made us and not we ourselves. Have you recognized and submitted this morning to God's law of possession?

You say, how do I submit to it today? You submit to it by submitting to his lordship. You see, this is why we always say when a man gets right on the Lordship, he'll get right on stewardship. This is why if a man isn't tithing, Jesus isn't Lord. If Jesus is Lord and I recognize his ownership of all things, it belongs to God, what's the problem?

You get right in your Lordship and you'll get right everywhere else. You get right in your lordship and you'll get right in your fellowship. You'll be in the house of God on Sunday. You'll keep the Sabbath. You'll honor God with your tithe. You'll obey God. If I come to recognize his ownership, that's the panacea for the ills of the world.