(This
text was taken from the first service of the 2003
Labor Day - Tape 03LH9-1.)
We're thankful that
there is a way and there is a path that absolutely
restores man back to the original.
Language does
separate people and I'm not talking about speaking
different ethnic languages, I'm talking about
language. When I say "saved" I may mean
something different than what you mean. When I say
what it is to be saved, I'm not usually thinking
about spirit salvation only. I'm thinking about
spirit, soul and body. I'm talking about being
redeemed back to what the original was purposed to
be. You see, the thing is, God had a plan for earth
and He had a plan for man. And He put man on earth. I
don't think Adam was going to go to heaven in a few
years, even if he didn't sin. So, see the church
world has totally changed the plan. But God, because
Adam sinned, God sent His Son and redeemed or brought
back to the original purpose what God had in mind
when He created man.
So when I talk about
redemption, I'm not talking about getting to go to
heaven. You see what I'm saying? Language separates
people. It means different things to different
people. When I'm talking about redemption, I'm
talking about being redeemed or set free from all the
effects and all of the things that the sin of Adam
brought upon us. The Bible says in Romans 5, Sin came
into the world by one man and death by sin. So, if
Jesus come to put away sin and He came to destroy the
works of the devil which was the result of sin, then
you can live and you can glorify God and you can give
glory unto God. You can be healthy, you can be
wealthy and you can be wise. You can have the wisdom
of God. This is not a bunch of hype, this is the
power of the cross.
Under the law they
had the Word. And David said I hide your Word in my
heart. Now, we have Jesus in our heart. We've got the
one who sins not, in us, to influence us, to give us
power … to give us the ability to equip us so
that we sin not. You see there is something greater.
You know we sing the song, we're standing on holy
ground. I'm telling you something, we have been made
holy. Why? Because the Bible says, Christ is in you.
See, where He is, is definitely holy ground, and He
is in you. But as long as the church world has got
this idea that we are going to come together and feel
the presence of God … Just think about this for
a minute… God hasn't come to meet us here. He is
here and people brought Him here. He lives in us. And
what happens is that when people get together and
start talking about the Lord, their awareness of what
is in them begins to get woke up. Their heart is
turned toward the Lord. He is resident. He lives
within us. The Bible says, that if Jesus Christ be
not in you, you be reprobates. Isn't that what it
says?
I'm thankful that we
have a living Word in us and His name is Jesus. And
He ever lives. He was dead. He said, I am He that was
dead and behold I am alive forevermore. And I have
the keys, or the understanding. I know how to unlock
what man has been tied up in, death and hell. I know
how to get them out of it. You see. And He
broke the power. The Bible says in the book
of Hebrews, Chapter 2 that He has destroyed him, He
hath rendered him powerless that has power over
death. That is the devil. My God. I'm excited about
Christ in me.
I want to share with
you some things that the Lord has spoke to my heart.
I have been in the ministry so many years and
pastored seventeen or eighteen years, but the last
couple of years I have faced situations and
circumstances in our church where people have come.
We've been a blessed assembly. In all the years that
I have been pastoring, there is no one that has
gotten a divorce in our assembly. We've been a
blessed assembly. Now, we have many people that's
come that has been divorced and you are not a second
class citizen if you've been divorced. But God hates
divorce and I hate it because it brings heartache,
trouble and strife and there's lots of baggage that
goes with it and every person who has been involved
with that at sometime or another always ends up
suffering guilt, depression and many things and I
don't want people to suffer that. I try to operate by
this principle. It's better to prevent something from
happening than have to fix it. Here's the thing. I'll
fight for somebody across the country to the death to
keep it together and then if it don't stay together,
and they split up, then I'll fight to get them
redeemed.
What I'm saying is,
it's the people that God wants to save. And my
goodness, I've faced some things. Some people came to
our assembly a couple of years ago, and we've dealt
with many across the country in different states and
other areas, and these people came and they were in
the process of divorcing. A man was divorcing his
wife so he could marry this woman. The woman was
divorcing her husband so she could marry this man.
And they came to church and wanted to be accepted.
They had even been living together before. But they
came to church and wanted to raise their hands and
worship God and I'm in a turmoil here. What shall I
do? What shall I say? I have people coming to me
after service, "Are you going to let this go
on?" I say, "What?" All they are doing
is coming. They haven't even said they are coming to
church, they are just coming and worshiping God. What
am I going to let go on? God's letting it go on. You
know what I'm saying. God will let you do what you
want to do, but He don't allow you to choose
your consequences. He gives you your choice
of what you want to do.
These people began
to come and began to assert themselves that they
desired to attend services here, to make themselves a
part. And I went to the Lord because we've got young
people. We've got others whose marriages might be at
a strain, this or that. I want to know to get this
thing where people can be helped and nobody harmed.
We need the wisdom of God here.
We talked to the
people and finally they came across the state line
and they got married. They came over to Arkansas and
got married. You see, it's legal to do that. They can
divorce in Oklahoma and they have to wait six months
to get married again. But they can cross the state
line into Arkansas and get married the next day. So,
the statement was made, "now everybody won't
think we are in sin." The Lord has just checked
me in the process of this. I'm just giving you some
background. I want to teach on the mercy of God. But
people can get their lives so messed up. I was going
to have to say, look, I don't know how far I can run
with you in this. It was real hard to pick up a step,
much less run, you know. And the Lord checked me and
said just hold still. It wasn't very long till the
consequences began to come. The tormenters started
working. The person calls and says I'm so depressed.
I feel almost suicidal. Well, they are just
newlyweds. They ought to be happy. What's wrong? Well
I know what's wrong.
Now I'm going to
tell you something. What I'm going to teach tonight
is going to offend the self-righteous, and make glad
the hearts of them who need help from Jesus. But I'll
tell you what. What the Lord told me, offended me. I
was self-righteous. I said God, I don't want to teach
this. This is against my grain. And the Lord had to
do a work in my heart. So the answer that the Lord
gave me. First He asked me the question, "Well,
how long do you want Me to make them wait before I
forgive them?" A year? Well, it had been easier
on me. Ten years? Everybody would probably accept
them if they'd been out of church twenty years and
just come back and repent and come to the altar and
ask God's forgiveness. They'll forget all about the
other stuff and now they are going to accept them.
And the Lord said, "How long do you want Me to
wait?" You want to whip them awhile?
I tell you what,
sometimes we face circumstances, I know Bro. Glen and
Doctor Null does this on a regular basis here at the
campground. Sometimes the enemy has tricked and
deceived people until their lives are so twisted that
only God can get it straightened out. And actually
this is the case in this situation. I got on my face
before the Lord and said, God, I've got to have some
answers. He gave me some answers. And I can tell you
that it has worked. We've seen lives restored and
rebuilt, that otherwise would have been lost …
that otherwise, my religious preferences at the time
would have probably cast them off. Because I didn't
feel like they could be sincere so quick.
I was reminded in
the Scripture, by the way, where He says "if
your brother turn and repent," and of course
Jesus said seven times seventy in one day, that
sounds pretty insincere to me. You know, we've
got to understand how much God wants to save us.
That He'll reach across everything, and if there is a
glimmer of hope, "a smoking flask He won't put
it out", it says. You understand what I'm
saying? God is merciful.
In 1 Samuel 12,
starting at Verse 7, "Now therefore stand still,
that I may reason with you before the LORD of all the
righteous acts of the LORD, which he did to you and
to your fathers. (8) When Jacob was come into Egypt,
and your fathers cried unto the LORD, then the LORD
sent Moses and Aaron, which brought forth your
fathers out of Egypt, and made them dwell in this
place. (9) And when they forgat the LORD their God,
he sold them into the hand of Sisera, captain of the
host of Hazor, and into the hand of the Philistines,
and into the hand of the king of Moab, and they
fought against them. (10) And they cried unto the
LORD, and said, We have sinned, because we have
forsaken the LORD."
Now you've got to
understand something. Sometimes people cry out
because they get caught. They are not initially sorry
they sinned. And a lot of times when somebody gets
caught and their covert acts have been revealed and
made public, and then they get up and repent .. I've
heard people say, "Well, they wouldn't have
repented if they hadn't gotten caught." Well,
neither would have David! We'll get to that here in a
minute. See, that's our self-righteousness, sticking
itself up because we've not done this. We're holier
than they are. Don't you kid yourself. Let's go on
here. (10) And they cried unto the LORD, and said, We
have sinned." They knew it when they did it.
"Because we have forsaken the LORD, and have
served Baalim and Ashtaroth: but now deliver us out
of the hand of our enemies, and we will serve
thee." In other words, they got their tail
caught in a crack and they was squalling. In other
words, they have motivation to turn to the Lord.
That's what it amounts to. Had they not got in
trouble, they probably would have continued on their
merry way of pleasure in sin.
And it says, (11)
"And the LORD sent Jerubbaal, and Bedan, and
Jephthah, and Samuel, and delivered you out of the
hand of your enemies on every side, and ye dwelled
safe." Now they cried unto the Lord and God
brought them out of Egypt and they forsook the Lord
and they went into bondage. They got into trouble and
they cried unto the Lord and He delivered them. And
it says, (12) And when ye saw that Nahash the king of
the children of Ammon came against you, ye said unto
me, Nay; but a king shall reign over us: when the
LORD (you got to get this one) When the Lord your God
was your king. (13) Now therefore behold the king
whom ye have chosen." What's happened is they
have come to the prophet and said we want a king.
Now, we're going to see something here. We're going
to see the mercy of the Lord. And it says, "and
whom ye have desired!" Now, it doesn't say who
God has chosen or whom He desired, it says whom YOU!
"and, behold, the LORD hath set a king over
you." (14) If ye will fear the LORD, and serve
him, and obey his voice, and not rebel against the
commandment of the LORD, then shall both ye and also
the king that reigneth over you continue following
the LORD your God (15) But if ye will not obey the
voice of the LORD, but rebel against the commandment
of the LORD, then shall the hand of the LORD be
against you, as it was against your fathers. (16) Now
therefore stand and see this great thing, which the
LORD will do before your eyes." There's some
consequences coming with their choices. (17) Is it
not wheat harvest to day? I will call unto the LORD,
and he shall send thunder and rain; that ye may
perceive and see that your wickedness is great, which
ye have done in the sight of the LORD, in asking you
a king."
Now, I used to be
out in western Oklahoma where they grow wheat. You
don't want any rain or thunder at wheat harvest. It
destroys the harvest. (18) So Samuel called unto the
LORD; and the LORD sent thunder and rain that day:
and all the people greatly feared the LORD and
Samuel. (19) And all the people said unto Samuel,
Pray for thy servants unto the LORD thy God, that we
die not:" Now get this, "for we have added
unto all our sins this evil, to ask us a king."
Now what we have here is people that have done
something against the will of God, they've
acknowledged they sinned, but now they've got what
they bound themselves to that was against the will of
God, called a king. And God, in His mercy, look at
this, (20) And Samuel said unto the people, Fear not:
ye have done all this wickedness: yet turn not aside
from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all
your heart; (21) And turn ye not aside: for then
should ye go after vain things, which cannot profit
nor deliver; for they are vain. (22) For the LORD
will not forsake his people for his great name's
sake: because it hath pleased the LORD to make you
his people. (23) Moreover as for me, God forbid that
I should sin against the LORD in ceasing to pray for
you:"
Now I've seen some
times that I would have liked to just quit praying
for people. I mean, it's almost like somebody here
has got a chopping axe, chopping on their hand, and
asking me to pray that they won't bleed. And you know
that as quick as God heals the bleeding, they're
going to hit it again. And as a pastor, pretty soon
you get tired of going and going, in the middle of
the night or early morning, afternoon, praying for
the same one. There's a situation, where the
individual doesn't come to our church but some of the
people that's involved with them do, and we pray for
the lungs of this individual. They can't breathe,
they're dying, and quick as God touched them, and
He's touched them many times, they reach over and get
a cigarette and start it again. Well, do you say,
"I'm not praying for you no more." I don't
heal nobody, but God's healed them every time we've
prayed.
God's good, isn't
He? God's merciful. He is merciful. He wants people
saved. The Bible talked about it with Jesus, that if
He gave His Son, how shall He not freely give us all
things. We have to understand that God wants us saved
and delivered a lot more than we do. His mercy will
last much longer than yours or mine will, even for
yourself. (To be continued in the
November/December issue of Voices)
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