Sermon Transcription:
Hallelujah, Lord! You are worthy, Lord God. All majesty is Yours, Lord God. Lord, we praise You, not because of who we are, Lord God, not because of how we may be doing today, Lord God, not because of the things that we have brought before You in our own strength. Lord God, we can only praise You for who You are. We can only glorify You, Lord God, for what You have done. Even though we were undeserving, Lord God, even though we deserved the wrath of the Lamb, Lord God, You gave us the blood of the Lamb. Lord, You washed us. Lord God, You cleansed us. Lord, You made us children in Your kingdom, all we can do is shout glory to Your name. All we can do is praise You. All we can do, Lord God, is lift up Your name, Lord God, for who You are, what You have done, who You have been, and who You will be forevermore. Lord God, on the throne, Lord Jesus, we praise You, we bless You, and we ask You, Lord God, to send forth Your Spirit today, online and in person.
Lord God, I pray that You send forth Your Spirit to teach something to our hearts and to our minds, Lord God, that we have so far been blind to see. Lord, I pray, Lord God, that an awakening, Father, may come to the body of Christ, Lord God, far beyond Safe House Church, Lord God, to our generation today. Lord, an awakening that causes Your people to see one more time who You truly are, what You've truly done, that their praise would have no limits, Lord God, that their valiancy in Your kingdom would have no limits, that they would be led by the Spirit of the Living God into the streets, Lord God, into the workplace, everywhere they go, to spread the good news: that God has sent His only begotten Son, that whoever believes on Him will receive eternal life and not perish. Lord God, cause Your people to awaken from sleep. Cause Your people to see, Lord God, with spiritual eyes one more time, Lord, that this would be a generation that fought for its peers, that this would be a generation, Lord God, that praised Your name and declared Your name everywhere they went, Lord God. A people unashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, unashamed of His suffering, unashamed of His command to lay down our life to follow Him, and unapologetic for the kingdom of our God. Lord God, I pray that You send Your Spirit to do in the hearts what only You can do. Lord, I pray that You cause our minds to understand what only Your Spirit can cause us to understand. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen.
God has given me a word for you titled Holding God to His Word. Holding God to His Word.
I’ve been praying for you, that a cry may be born into your heart today, whether you’re online or here in the service. I pray that the Holy Spirit may do something in your heart that causes a cry to be born—a cry that the people of God in various generations have always experienced and seen. God consequently begins to do things in a generation that is willing to cry out by the Spirit of God. God begins to do things that are recorded in this Word, things we’ve heard of since Christ died and rose again and poured His Spirit on His church. So I want to read to you Hebrews 4:14–16: "Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need."
This is an incredible corporate call to all the followers of Jesus Christ: that we may come boldly to the throne of grace, that we in our generation may obtain mercy and find grace to help in the time of need. I want to pray one more time to ask the Holy Spirit to overshadow my weakness. Lord, I ask You, Lord God, today to one more time overshadow my weakness, Lord God. Lord, every word that does not come from Your throne, I pray, Lord God, that it would drop dead right in front of this pulpit. Lord, every word that comes from Your throne, Father, I pray that You carry it into the hearts that have counted the cost and are willing to know the truth. Lord, so many are discouraged, so many, Lord God, in the body of Christ have lost a measure of their hope, a measure of their Kingdom anticipation for the future. Yet they desire, Lord God, to be a different kind of man in this generation—a different kind of woman. Father, I pray that Your Spirit would gracefully do in our hearts what we do not deserve. Father, I ask You that You anoint every word that comes from Your throne, Lord God, to do what You have sent it out to do. In Jesus’ name.
We’re going to get into this word: Holding God to His Word. Holding God to His Word.
Let me read to you verse 16 again: "Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need." That word boldly in the Greek means this: all outspokenness, frankness, and bluntness. These are straight-up people that seem to speak before they think. They don’t care about how you feel about what they’re saying—they’re saying it without a filter. They have all outspokenness. There’s not a thought hidden; there’s no motive in how they seek to sound. They don’t beat around the bush. They don’t find a way to say it so that they don’t upset people—or upset God, for that matter. That word implies an all-outspokenness, a frankness, a bluntness, but towards God—completely unreserved, unfiltered, coming to God and speaking to Him that way, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in the time of need.
I don't know any other way to come before the Lord in that way—to come before Him all outspoken, to come before Him with the most frankness I can come up with, to come before Him as blunt as I could say or describe my feelings or thoughts. I don't know any other way to come to Him like that every single day of my life but to know His Word and to stand on His Word and then to hold God to His Word. I wonder many times how many people in the body of Christ actually know what it means to come to the throne of God boldly. Every time that I've been to the throne boldly, all I can describe it as is either God is going to move miraculously, or He is going to burn me up with a light bulb from heaven or something of the likes. It feels like no human being could ever come before Him this boldly, this all outspoken, this frank, or this blunt—holding God to His Word.
Who am I to hold God to His Word? That is the feeling. The only reason to press on is the cross. The only reason to press on is that I'm not praying in my own name. The only reason to press on is God Himself. What He is like, who He is, is moving me to speak to Him that way—to speak to Him as if, "God, if You do not move, there is no other solution." Esther did this in a likeness before the king. She came before the king saying, "If I go to the king"—this was a situation where if you went to the king uninvited, the king would have you put to death unless he reached out his scepter and returned your life to you. And she went to the king uninvited as if she was saying, "What I need to ask of the king now is more important than my life. I may be losing my life for coming to the king this way, but I am going because the reason I'm going—I need to come to him—is bigger than my life. It is more important to me to come before Him with what my eyes are seeing, what my heart is feeling, what my mind is understanding. In my generation, it is more important than for me to live. I can't risk not going to the king. I can't be careful. I can't just protect my own life and not go to Him."
God doesn't owe us. We can never earn the right for God to have to hear us. But what God said—He has spoken. What God has spoken, you can stand on. We see Jesus explain this principle in Luke 18. Let me read to you the first verse of this parable, Luke 18:1: "Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart." You want to know the will of God for your life? He desires for you to always pray and to never lose heart in the way that you pray. Then He shares this parable of the widow—the persistent widow that comes to a judge. Now, a widow was about the lowest status figure in that time. A widow could not have an inheritance. A widow could not have virtually any rights. A widow had no real promised way of provision. A widow really could not make this judge in any way take her case. Yet Jesus chooses in this parable to display this widow that just will not give up. She keeps going after this evil judge that doesn't want to give her justice. And this widow ends up overthrowing that judge. She ends up winning over the judge, and the judge crumbles under her. He literally says, "Woman, you're grinding me out," and he gives in to her.
This widow, who had no power or status compared to the judge—who would have had one of the highest statuses at that time—wins and gets her way. Why? Because she knew the law. The law that God had spoken was on her side. God had made laws specifically to protect widows, to provide for widows, and to ensure they were cared for. She knew what God had said. Let me read to you again verse 1: "Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart." That's the reason Jesus told this parable—that men would always have a prayer life and be men in their generation, that men would never lose heart, never lose hope, never lose valiancy, and never lose divine vision over their generation. That's why He gave this parable: so that His followers would always have a consistent prayer life and never struggle with giving up, never struggle with not knowing what to say in prayer. That we would run to Him and boldly hold on to what He has said, like this widow did, and see come to pass what God placed in our hearts—what God called us to pray for. This widow was able to overthrow the judge because she knew what God had said. We see the same thing happening in Egypt far before this time.
Let me take you to Exodus chapter 2. I'll read to you verses 23 to 25: "Now it happened in the process of time that the king of Egypt died. Then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry came up to God because of the bondage. So God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God acknowledged them." The Word tells us that God remembered His covenant. That is the outcome of the people of God beginning to cry out. What covenant was He remembering? What covenant is this referring to? The Word tells us it is the covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. What did that covenant entail? This is what it entailed: "I will give you descendants like the stars, and in your seed, all the nations of the world shall be blessed."
The promise that the Christ would come. The promise that a deliverer would be sent. Ever since the Garden of Eden, ever since the first Adam sinned and death began to reign in the lives of people created in the image of God, here God remembers the covenant He made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And God said in that covenant:"I’m going to deal with the oppression. I’m going to deal with sin. I’m going to deal with the devil. I’m going to come against the enemy of your soul. I’m going to come against the accusations. I’m going to come against the guilt. I’m going to give a deliverer." That is why the story of Egypt—the people of God in Egypt and being delivered out of it—is such a spiritual picture of your and my journey today. The people there in Egypt were stuck in bondage. They could do nothing about it. It had been the same for generations. Then the people began to cry out, and the Word tells us God remembered His covenant. He sends Moses right afterward, and then, by divine power and by the blood of a little lamb put on the doorpost, He breaks the oppression and brings them into freedom.
Now, the Word tells us a very strange-sounding thing: that God remembered His covenant. So, I was looking into the Greek and examining this story in the Greek. The Scriptures really do not imply that God had forgotten His covenant. But when the people began to remember what their God was like, when the people began to have hope again that the God of their forefathers could possibly do something in their situation, and the people consequently began to cry out again, if you will—this is what the Greek implies—it came to the forefront of the Father’s mind, as if God was saying:"Now I find faith in the hearts of My people. This is the time. Now I will begin to deliver them. In this generation, I will perform My Word."
Right afterward, as you read the story, instantly God begins to prepare Moses and sends him. He delivers the people of God by the hand of God as a foreshadowing of what would happen through the deliverer that God had promised over His people. And about 1,450 years later, the true deliverer is given. He comes on the scene and is brought into this world as angels cried out:"Goodwill towards men. Hope to the nations." But this Jesus, when He is born into this world, the Word tells us that He is born under the law of Moses, that He may deliver those that are under the law. But the Word also tells us that Jesus fulfilled the righteous requirement of the law. He did not do away with the law. He did not abolish the law. You and I, by the cross of Jesus Christ, when you believed and the Spirit of God came to live inside of you, received the righteousness of Christ. You and I received Christ's own righteousness, which means there's nothing for you and I left to fulfill as far as the law goes, because He fulfilled the law and gave His life to you and I, and took our life full of sin and nailed it on the cross. And in doing so—glory to God—in doing so, anytime the Father looks at you, He sees that fulfilled life, that life that fulfilled the law. But Christ did not abolish the law.
What Jesus has brought upon every life that has received His righteousness is incredible. But if you don't really know what God has done, if you don't really know His Word, you're going to have an incredibly hard time coming to the throne boldly. When you feel like that widow, you have no rights. You don't see an inheritance. You don't see the power to make a difference in your case. You don't see how you could be delivered from the enemies in your life. If you do not know what God has spoken, if you do not fully know what God has done, you're going to be worn out. You're not going to have that prayer life that continues—that crying out until God's hand actually moves upon your life or upon your generation. You may be walking well with the Lord, but all you see is how this generation may be going downhill. You don't find the drive, the strength, or the ability to stand in the gap and to continuously, every day, come boldly before the throne for this generation because you don't overflow with hope for this generation. You don't see how God would turn it all around. You don't see how God would save and rescue and redeem the most unlikely to be forgiven and changed. When that hope is not in your heart, it becomes incredibly hard to come boldly, all outspoken, before God every single day of your life. All you begin to see is the greatness of the King and how poor and forsaken you are—as it were, as a widow. All you can do now when you come to God is ask Him for things, ask Him for favors, beg of Him to move in certain ways. But there's no confidence. There's no boldness. There's no outspokenness. There's no frankness. There's no holding God to His Word. It’s careful, if you will.
Let me read to you Deuteronomy 28:1–7: "Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today"—that's what Jesus did; He fulfilled the law perfectly "that the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God:Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country.Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground, and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle, and the offspring of your flocks. Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face; they shall come out against you one way and flee before you seven ways. The Lord will command the blessing on you in your storehouses and in all to which you set your hand, and He will bless you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you. The Lord will establish you as a holy people to Himself, just as He has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in His ways. Then all the peoples of the earth—all the peoples of the earth—shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be afraid of you. The Lord will grant you plenty of goods in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your ground, in the land of which the Lord swore to your fathers to give you. The Lord will open to you His good treasure, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hands. You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow. The Lord will make you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only and not beneath, if you heed the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, and are careful to observe them. So you shall not turn aside from any of the words which I command you this day, to the right or to the left, to go after other gods and serve them."
Jesus Christ fulfilled the law, gave you His righteousness so that there's nothing for you to fulfill anymore. But He did not abolish the law, so the blessings of the law are not done away with. Church, in not abolishing the law, Christ Himself brings all of the blessings upon your life. The requirements He fulfilled, and the blessings come upon those who own His righteousness.
Now, Christ gave His righteousness to sinners that do not deserve it. Why? Because they believed on His name for the forgiveness of their sins. And now, the blessings of the law—the law that still stands—are called to govern your and my life. But if you do not know what Christ purchased on the cross, if you do not know what God gave unto you to stand on so that you would have a prayer life and not grow weary, if you do not know His Word, if you do not know what He has spoken, you will not know how to hold God to His Word, how to hold God accountable to His own Word. You will not dare to come before Him boldly if you don't know what He has spoken. See, we can't come before Him because of how we fulfilled the law—because we didn't. We can't come before Him because of the great days we've had this year without any sin or without any failure. We can only come before Him if we know exactly what He did, what He said He would perform, what He said He gave to us, what He promised He would do to the enemy of your soul, what He promised He would do for you when you have no strength, when there is no way forward for you. The only way you can come before Him boldly is to know His Word.
If you have a hard time believing that the gospel is this good, if you have a hard time believing that every single blessing of the law—that once separated you from God because you did not yet believe that you were forgiven because of the blood of Christ—is now yours, you may walk the poorest Christian walk that has ever been on the face of the earth. You may forsake this Word throughout your week, and you feel horrible about it. You feel guilty about it. You say, "I don't know the last time that I really took time to get alone and really spend time with the Lord, really prayed and put no time limit on it. I was spending time with God." It may have been a month since you sought God that way. You may have the poorest Christian life in the world. If you have believed with all of your heart that someone like you is forgiven because of the blood of the Lamb, He gives you His righteousness.
Every blessing, every promise, is yes and amen in Him—not in the quality of your walk—in Him. Our faith is in Him. Our expectation is because of Him. Let me read to you Romans 5:12–21:
"Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men because all sinned—For until the law, sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by one man’s offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification.For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous. Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
What do we learn from this? What do we learn right here from Paul? Those that are in the lineage of the first Adam inherit from the first Adam. Those that have been regenerated by the blood of Christ because they believed on Him. They're made part of a new generation. They are regenerated from the generation they were a part of, and now they receive a new identity. They're placed in a new generation, a new lineage. They are now part of the lineage of the second Adam. They're now part of the lineage of Christ. Those that are in the lineage of Christ inherit from Christ. They do not inherit from Adam anymore. That is why eternal life will be given to all who have been regenerated and placed in the lineage of the second Adam—the man who came and walked in righteousness, walked in obedience to the law, and fulfilled the law. All those that believe on Him and are placed in His lineage—every single one that receives His righteousness—now inherit from Him. What do we inherit? Everything that was His. He died; the inheritance came free. Everything that belongs to Christ is now yours as well. Every blessing that He earned because He fulfilled the law now also dwells upon your life because you inherited from Him all things that He purchased.
Let me read to you Hebrews 9:14–15: "How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this reason, He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance." In other words, you used to try to be good for God, but those works never accomplished anything. The Word tells us: you commit one sin in your life. The Word goes beyond that. If you understand what sin is, that means you are unrighteous because by the law comes the knowledge of sin.
If the law condemns you, that means sin has been recognized by your spirit—in your actions or in your past. One sin. The Word teaches that if you have one sin in your life, for the rest of your life, God looks at you as though you broke every command He ever gave—even though you may not break any of them that day. If you have one sin in your life, forever from there on out, you are unrighteous, unholy, separated from God—impossible to reunite unless God performs a divine action. A divine action of His hand, taking you out of that lineage of sinners and placing you in the lineage of Christ for one reason: when God displayed His gospel to you, you believed that the goodness of God, the power of the blood, and the willingness of God were greater than the sins that condemned you before the law. Verse 15 continues: "And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance."
Church, when you are in the lineage of Christ, you inherit from Christ. When you are still in the lineage of the first Adam, you inherit from the first Adam. All you inherit is sin and death. You won't be able to walk away from it. You can come to church, and I can preach a message that is passionate. The Holy Spirit may even stir your heart, and you may be so convicted that you walk away from your sins for two weeks. But every time, you find out there's no power. There's no real change. Those blessings of the law are still not working in your life in power. God is still not dealing with your enemy. God is still not causing you to become His holy people like He promised He would do if someone would be found who would fulfill His law. When we still find ourselves powerless, we are still not 100% sure that because of the righteous act of one man, because of the blood of Jesus Christ, we will never be looked upon any differently by the Father than if we ourselves had fulfilled the law perfectly.
An undeserved gift that Christ decided to give away to us because He knew we would never make it. He took the sinful life we had, and the Father looked upon Him as if He had all the sins of the world upon Him and surrendered Him to the cross, surrendered Him into the hands of unclean men to beat Him until He was bleeding. The Father wanted you to have the righteousness of Christ. If you have His righteousness, you get the blessings that the law has in store for those that fulfilled it. Christ did the work. You simply inherited it. You did nothing for it. You're placed in His lineage. Church, you need to know what God says, what He has done, what He has spoken, in order for you to be able to come before Him boldly and to hold God to His Word. In our generation, the people of God—not just in Safe House Church—the people of God in our generation, one more time, need to come to God and cry out as the people of God did once upon a time while they were in Egypt.
God remembered His covenant. God didn’t give them strength; He sent a deliverer. God didn’t give them weapons; He sent His divine hand and the blood of the lamb. And all of a sudden, they walked into a freedom they never fought for. They never purchased it. They never did anything for it. The body of Christ needs to remember the promises of God. We need to remember His might. We need to remember the extent of what God has done. We need to remember. The body of Christ needs to remember what you once were when you first believed on the Lord. The fire that was in your heart. The hope you had for your nation. The belief you had that God was going to use someone like you today in the lives of people you haven’t even met yet. You would pray because you believed, God is going to put something on my heart. You would come to Him for every decision because you believed, He’s going to speak. He’s going to make it clear. He’s going to send His Spirit.
The body of Christ needs to remember the hope they once walked in and become mindful of it again. That’s what that word means: to remember—to become mindful of it again. When your mind gets full of other things, when your mind begins to be focused on the things of the world, when your mind begins to be focused on all the worries for the future, when your mind begins to be distracted by other things, we cannot be mindful again of what God has done. We can’t come to Him boldly. We can’t come to Him crying out in a way that seeks God to remember His covenant in our generation and do something none of us deserve. God will move in His covenant if your heart remembers and you cry out to God and hold Him to His Word.
In our generation—believers, unbelievers, pastors, the Church—there is such a demonic oppression on this generation. Pastors don’t know what to do anymore to keep the people in their churches. They're willing to take that New Covenant, that gospel that God has given us, and put it on the shelf. They tell people, “No, you should be trying to live by the Ten Commandments once again. You should be trying to be good. You should be trying these things.” They’re too afraid to trust that God will keep His word. They don’t mean to; they don’t mean to turn God’s word around. They want to trust Him. They want to hope in Him. But there’s such a demonic oppression on God’s people. Pastors don’t know what to do. Believers don’t know what to do.
They’re in a rescue situation, hiding, cowering away altogether. They clam up when talking about the Lord, even when they’re together. In the workplace, they’re afraid. Believers aren’t sure if God will carry their words into the hearts of unbelievers. They’re not sure if the Spirit will actually do what the Spirit was sent to do. They don’t know what God has spoken over their lives. Their hearts do not remember the level of blessing Christ brought into their lives—that no enemy would stand before them, that they’ll come one way and flee seven ways. Their hearts do not remember. When the heart forgets, church, people stop praying boldly before the throne of grace. In this generation, it is as if the enemy can just come in anywhere he wants.
Churches place their hope in worship, wanting their worship to be so great that people come in because of the worship. People hope in other things but God. People hope that if they live somehow holy—if they behave somehow holy—God will regard it as a holy lifestyle. But only God can define that.
People have risen up in pride, saying, “No, this is holy living. When I do this, God regards it as a holy lifestyle.” People begin to place their hope once more in what they do or don’t do, thinking it affects how God looks at them or responds to them. I believe, with all my heart, that the body of Christ at large does not mean to do this. I believe the body of Christ wants to know God, wants to see the hand of God upon their lives, upon their churches, upon their situations.
But the enemy seems to come and go, taking whatever he wants—out of lives personally, out of the people of God, out of our generation. The unbelievers, whatever the enemy wants to do, he does. He sows confusion to the deepest degree about gender. He seems to be able to just come in and do it. He sows hate between two parties in one nation, depending on the way they vote. He seems able to just come in and do it.
He takes a game that this nation enjoys and, during the time in the middle, puts on a whole display of saying, “I can blatantly rule now. I rule the greatest output of information in the United States—the television. I can come and go as I please.” And here are the people of God. Where are the people of God? Where are the people of God who come boldly before the throne and say, “God, the enemy of our soul seems to think he can still reign in this generation. But God, would you remember your covenant? God, would you remember the law that is on our side now? Would you remember your Son who fulfilled it? “God, remember what you’ve promised. God, you said if there’s one left found in this nation, the enemy will not stand before you—he will flee seven ways.” Where are the people of God who come before His throne boldly? Who remember what God has done? Who remember what God will do in this generation? Where are they? The enemy comes and distracts the people of God. More people in the kingdom of God than ever before spend their lives on things they can’t take with them—things that will only burn at the coming of the Lord. They don’t mean to.
I believe, with all my heart, if given a choice today—to become the godliest, most influential person ever for the kingdom of God, or to stay in the world—most of the body of Christ would choose the former. But the enemy comes in with distractions to rob your time and make it ineffective for eternity. He comes and goes, bringing fear even upon the people of God.
In our generation, so many believers struggle with fear. I believe, with all my heart, if they were allowed to flip a switch today, they wouldn’t be struggling with that fear. Depression comes and goes, even upon the people of God. It’s no different from the time of King Jehoshaphat. So much power seemingly in the enemy’s camp. But that man learned to pray a different way at one point in his life. It turned the whole nation around. One prayer turned the whole nation around.
This man learned to hold God to His word. Jehoshaphat tried, just like most people in the body of Christ. He tried to serve the Lord. He made his mistakes. He didn’t have a perfect walk. But the enemy had so much power in his life. The enemy that he was facing—a picture of who the enemy of our soul is today—had so much power. The enemy could come and go, enter Jehoshaphat’s territory, and take what he wanted. The enemy could bring in what he wanted.
Jehoshaphat loved the Lord. He tried to follow the Lord. But God was about to move in covenant. Watch what happened. Jehoshaphat began to hold God to His word. Verse 5 of Chapter 20 of 2 Chronicles: "Then Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord before the new court, and said, ‘O Lord God of our fathers, are You not God in heaven? And do You not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations? And in Your hand is there not power and might, so that no one is able to withstand You?
Are You not our God, who drove out the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel, and gave it to the descendants of Abraham Your friend forever? And they dwell in it, and have built You a sanctuary in it for Your name, saying, “If disaster comes upon us—sword, judgment, pestilence, or famine—we will stand before this temple and in Your presence (for Your name is in this temple), and cry out to You in our affliction, and You will hear and save.”’ He begins to come to God boldly because he has remembered who his God is. He sees the enemy, and it has caused fear in his life for a long time. This was a child of God. This was a king called of God, following God, serving God, but struggling with fear. The enemy brought fear into his life. But Jehoshaphat begins to remember who his God is. He remembers the stories of old. He remembers what this God has done. He begins to almost accuse God. He becomes mindful again of who his God is. And it causes him to cry out in a way he had not cried out until this moment in his life. He says: "Are You not the God who is in heaven, high over every kingdom? Are You not the God who delivers? Are You not the God who sets free? Are You not that God? Are You not the God who said, ‘I will be found by those who did not seek Me?’ Are You not that God?
Lord, in our city—Portland—are You not the God who said, ‘I would be found by those who do not seek Me?’ Are You not the God who opened the Red Sea of impossibility? Are You not the God who conquers all?" Are you not the God of impossibilities? How can I not have a prayer stir up in my heart when my generation seems impossible? Are you not the God of miracles? Are you not the God who made man out of dust and caused the barren to give birth? Are you not the God who paid for the sins of this world? Are you not the God who loves mercy? Are you not going to make yourself known in this generation as the God who delivers? God, will you not make yourself known? Who are you? Are you not this God I read about? Are you not this God? Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Church, the Lord breaks my heart for this generation. More than ever, the churches are not ready for the Lord's return. Believers are distracted with all the things that the enemy can just throw at them. Prayer has never been as lukewarm as we see today in the churches of the Living God. People come to church, they'll pray in church, maybe even for their food in a restaurant, maybe even shortly before they go to bed.
But where are the people that come boldly before the throne and say, "God, I'm not leaving because I know who you are and I see what's happening in this generation"? How can I be quiet? How can I not go into the courtyard of the King in a way that feels like I may get the death sentence to speak to God like this, as Esther was facing her choice? God, I cannot stay away from your court—not with what my generation is facing. God, I need to cry out. Are you not that God that I believed in? Are you not the God that saves? Are you not the God that heals? Are you not the God that wins over those that are unrepentant, that wins over passionately those that have rebellion in their heart? Are you not the God that always had a way to get to people's hearts? Are you not the God that calls sinners to repentance, sinners that have never tried to keep your law? Are you not that God? Are you not the God who said you would pour out your Spirit and power would come upon your people, and they would be your witnesses? Are you not that God?
This is the prayer in my heart: God, our generation is in bondage. Remember your covenant. If the Spirit of God is bearing witness inside of you to cry out for this generation, if the Holy Spirit, as we prayed at the beginning of this service, is causing you to understand and feel something that says, "I need to cry out for this generation, I need to hope for this generation, I need to remember what my God can actually do," if that is you, as we all stand to our feet, I want to invite you to come and pray together with me for this generation here at the altar. Hallelujah. Hallelu. Father, you are calling us to come before your throne boldly, Lord God. Lord, every person that the Spirit dwells in, Lord God, and had the witness of your Word in their heart today, Lord God—every person that has decided today, "I'm going to come forward and I'm going to pray for my generation. I need to remember who my God truly is, that I would not be shy or quiet in this generation, that I would not shy back from praying over this generation, but that I would come boldly to the throne of grace and say, 'God, are you not the God who said I will be found of those that did not seek me? Are you not the God who can deliver a generation like this? Are you not the God who promised to cause the enemy to be put to flight? Are you not the God who can cleanse and purify the darkest of times? Are you not the God who is able? Are you not the God who conquers? Are you not the God who cares? Are you not the God we read about? Are you not the Lord who gave his Son? Are you not the Lord who hears every prayer of the righteous? Are you not that God?'"
Lord, we need you, Lord God, to move in your covenant. We need you, Lord God, to fulfill your promises. We have no power, Lord God, to make a difference in Portland. We have no power, Lord God, but we have your Word, and your Word tells us, Lord God, that you would do it if we cry out unto your name. Lord God, let it be on the forefront of your mind, Father, that in our generation, Lord God, deliverance would be brought. Lord God, that this city would be known, Lord God, as the city where hope was found. Lord God, the city that learned to praise the Living God. The city, Lord God, where your honor and your glory began to be spread in the streets because those that did not seek you found you by the Spirit of the Living God fulfilling the Word of the Father because the Church began to pray one more time and cry out for a generation in bondage. Lord God, teach us to come before your throne, Lord God. Teach us, Lord God, to have a spirit like Esther had, Lord God, and to come before you boldly, Lord—to come before you all outspoken. Are you not the God who wrote this Word? Are you not the God who is merciful to the unrighteous? Are you not the God who is drawing all people unto himself? Are you not that God?
Lord, move in your covenant, Lord God, that people's eyes may be opened, Lord, that the blind may see, Lord God, that the lame may walk one more time, and that those in the prison houses, Lord God, would be set free from their bondage. Lord, are you not the God who will be faithful to his Word? Are you not the God who said, "I have promised, and surely I will fulfill"? Lord God, let your name be remembered as faithful in this generation, Lord God. Let your name be remembered as the God who does what he says in this generation, Lord God. Let the enemy be shown for what he is, Lord God, and let your name be glorified one more time, Lord God, in this generation. Lord, we cry out unto your name. Unless, Lord God, you remember your covenant and you move in your power, there is no hope in this generation. Are you not the God of hope? Are you not the God that won the victory? Are you not the God who promised his Holy Spirit? Are you not that God? Lord God, let your will be done in this generation.
Father, we stand on your Word, Lord. We trust you. I pray, Lord God, that your Spirit gives birth to a cry over this generation in every heart that has presented themselves today as willing to pray, willing to stand for this generation, willing to pray for those that are lost, willing to pray that God may move in covenant. Lord God, you are good. Are you not that God? Lord God, we bless your name, we worship you, and we wait on you, Lord God. We cannot let go. We wait on you because we know who you are.
-Pastor Stan Mons