Pastor Stan Mons
Sermon Transcription:
Thank you, Lord, that you have given us your word. Father, you are doing a work in our generation, Lord God, that is unlike anything that was heard of before Christ came into this world, died, rose again, and sent His Spirit into this world to bring salvation to all who will believe in the name of Jesus Christ. God, you’re doing such a marvelous work, yet the kingdom belongs to children. Lord, it doesn’t belong to the mighty; it doesn’t belong to the educated; it doesn’t belong to the impressive. Father, you say your kingdom belongs to children. We have to become like a child, trust in you. I pray, Father, that you send forth your Spirit today. Lord, send forth your Holy Spirit to minister upon the hearts that are with us online and right here in the sanctuary. Lord God, may your Spirit allow our eyes to be opened, that we would be able to see a glimpse, Father, of what you have done. Seeing, we would have an opportunity to believe you, to press into your gospel, to take hold of the truth, Lord God, and to see all that you have promised become a reality in our life, Lord God.
Lord, you do it for the true believer. You've never done it, Lord God, for those that work hard or are able to offer you something. You’ve only done it for those that come to you with childlike faith. They have nothing else left, Lord God. Lord, you give us everything in the Son; you give us everything in Christ Jesus. Lord God, when we still have other things, Father, I pray that we’d be able to see it and empty ourselves of those things this afternoon, Lord, that we may not leave the same today, Lord God. That we may leave a lot lighter, Lord God, carried by your strength.
Lord, I pray that you send forth your Spirit to open the eyes of our hearts today. I pray that you help us see. I pray, Father, that every person online and right here has the boldness to decide to believe you and to press into your gospel as the Spirit lifts the veil off of our eyes. Lord God, you test the hearts. You know those that are ready; you know those that are willing to count the cost. You know those that are crying out to you with a pure heart, Lord, despite the sin that is in their life, despite the difficulties and the negativity that is in their life. Lord, you respond to those who call upon the name of Jesus with all of their heart, and you deal with the rest. Father, we pray that our eyes may be opened by your Holy Spirit today. In Jesus' name, we pray, amen.
The title of the word that the Lord has given me for you today is this: Pressing into the Gospel. Pressing into the Gospel. See, the word of God tells you and me that we are called to a fight. But a lot of us get ourselves into all kinds of arguments and fights that we were not called to. You can deposit them as you notice them. You don’t have to feel condemned about them, but when you notice that you are engaged in a fight, a battle, seeking to conquer a situation or a person, you can deposit those things the moment that you notice it. Because the Lord only really calls you to one fight. He calls us to fight the good fight of the faith. The word of God uses very strong language. It is always very intentional. It always warrants our attention to look a little deeper and say, "Whoa, why does God use this really strong language when He’s talking about a topic?" In this case, it’s about us fighting a fight, fighting the good fight of the faith. If you want to be a good fighter, you need a good trainer, you need a lot of training, you need to put in a lot of time, you need to put in a lot of effort, you need to use a lot of tools to help you become a better fighter so that you can win some battles.
The word of God tells us that we are called to fight the good fight of the faith. I wonder how many of us are behaving like God speaks the truth, like we actually take time to train ourselves, to put in the effort, to gather the tools, to get someone to help us and train us so that we become a good fighter in the faith, so that we have a lot of faith victories. We have a lot of battles, but we're not overcome. We always seem to come out because we’ve learned how to fight a good fight, how to fight the fight of the faith. You can’t just have other people fight the good fight of the faith. They may be leading worship, they may be preaching, they may be teaching Sunday school, and you show up to watch other people that fight well and then try to live off of that. You can’t win your own victories. You can’t see yourself enter into the victories of Christ when you’re only watching people that fight well. You have to fight the good fight of the faith. It warrants training, it warrants time, it warrants effort. You need to know what you are doing.
If you step into the ring with a boxer and you are not trained in boxing, chances are you’re not going to survive in the boxing ring. You do well in the area where you have been trained. If you train yourself to be a golfer—I know there are golfers among us—you’ll do well at golfing, but you may not do so well at baseball even though you train a lot. You’re training for a different thing. All of us are training in life, and there are things that we are good at. Sometimes they are the ways that we make money, sometimes they are the ways that we do our hobbies. There are things that we put a lot of training in, and we sometimes get help from people or we get help from YouTube, and we get a lot of it. Then we get good at something and we have victories in that area of life. Sometimes people are even impressed with that area of your life.
The word of God limits it to one thing only. It tells you you have one fight to fight. You need to fight the good fight of the faith. You need to know what you’re doing. You need to know how to fight it. You need to know how to be victorious in that area. Everything else, Jesus will take care of. Everything else, He has promises for. Everything else, there are parts for angels, we’re going to see it in the word. But you and I need to learn to fight the good fight of the faith. You have to press into the Gospel.
That's part of fighting the good fight of the faith. You have to set your mind and your heart on the gospel. If you don't set your mind and your heart on the gospel, you cannot fight the good fight of the faith. It is like putting on your boxing gloves before you start boxing; you need to do that in order to have decent training, you need to do that in order to have a decent fight. It is the same with fighting the good fight of the faith. You need to have the promises of God on your mind, or else what are you really fighting to believe? You don't know what you're fighting to believe.
Now, you don't need to know every promise of the word, but you need to know some that are relevant to your season or that are relevant to what you're going through. Here comes the trainer. Here comes somebody that you go to and say, "This is what I'm going through right now. Would you help me to some scripture area, some stories in the Bible that relate to what I'm going through right now so that I may understand the promises and I can practice my faith? I can train my faith so that when I stand in front of my battle, I'm an overcomer, and I don't become depressed, discouraged, and overcome by my situation to then run back to God all confused as to why all of this is happening in my life and I sing I'm victorious but really I'm not."
We have to learn to fight the good fight of the faith. We have to press into the gospel, set your mind on it. The Bible says in Proverbs—we're not going to read it—23:7, "As a man thinks, so he is." Whatever a man puts on his mind, he's going to turn into. Whatever a man puts on his mind, he's going to want. Whatever a man puts in his mind, he's going to end up doing. However a man thinks, so he is. When you begin to put the gospel consciously every day on your mind, you don't have to know all of the impressive stuff, the intriguing eschatology, you don't need to know all of the difficulties of lineage. You don't need to know all of the details that people get way too obsessed about.
You need to fight the good fight of the faith in Jesus Christ. You need to know what he has done. You need to know why he has done that for you. You need to know how to fight, and there's one fight given to you: the fight of the faith. Everything else can become a distraction, even in the word. You can become obsessed with studying things in the word that are not pointing you to Christ. Jesus even accuses the Pharisees; he tells them, "You search the scriptures because you believe that in them you have eternal life, but it is they that point to me." Jesus accuses the Pharisees, "You study and you believe that your freedom comes from knowing more in the word of God." That's what he's telling them. He says, "All along, the scriptures have all been pointing to me. You should be running to me. You should allow the word of God to be a tool in the hands of the Holy Spirit so that tool can bring you to me so that you see me clearly with the eyes of your heart, so that you see what I've done on the cross for your situation today, so that you are able to put your trust in it and practice faith and learn to become a great fighter in the Kingdom, fighting the good fight of the faith."
Church, the devil will do every single thing he can, every moment of the day, to try and put doubt and distrust and sow unbelief and busyness into your heart and into your mind. He will do everything he can. He hates you. He hates what you can become in the hands of Christ. He hates what the promises of God will begin pointing to through your life. Through your life, the promises of God are going to be seen by those that don't believe yet, that they can be forgiven because of Christ. The devil hates that. He wants to keep your journey so busy, so occupied, so distracted, so full of doubt that you will never become a demonstration for other people to go, "Wow, if God can do that, then he can maybe forgive me too."
The devil will do everything he can so that you end up in disbelief, not anymore fighting the good fight victorious in the faith, but now entering into disbelief. "I no longer see how God would use me. I no longer see how much he loves me. I no longer see this word so clear. The Holy Spirit doesn't make it clear anymore. I no longer see how I should partake in church the way the word describes it according to the directions of the Lord. I don't understand anymore. I don't see it anymore." Distrust, disbelief—the enemy tries to sow into your life. He tries to do it through so many different ways. Don't ever be surprised; he'll find a way. But if you're prepared to fight the good fight of the faith, you'll recognize it. You'll be able to put it down right then and there in the moment.
If you're not a good fighter in the faith, your Christian journey will simply look like this: you're all the way on board, excited, offended; all the way on board, excited, ready to step into more of what God has for you; the next moment, you're confused. Confusion doesn't happen when the Holy Spirit of God is present. When you don't learn, when you don't allow the Holy Spirit to teach you and to train you and to learn how to fight the good fight of the faith, you always become an up and down Christian. No stability, no standard, no ease of walking with the Lord. It is easy, Church, to walk with Jesus Christ. He does all of the work. Amen. It is easy. When it's not easy, you're probably not walking by faith. You're probably trying to get something out of the Kingdom. You probably have an ambition for the Kingdom, or you probably have something you want from God. Maybe it's heaven, and you're willing to do whatever you got to do in order to get it. "I'll be a Christian. I'll show up in church." And here goes Jesus: "All these things—my word, Church, the Holy Spirit—they've all been pointing to me. But all you have is those things."
Learning to fight the good fight, pressing into the gospel. Let me read to you an incredible verse, Proverbs 24:16: "For a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again, but the wicked shall fall by calamity." Now, you may know this: the number seven is the number of fullness in the word. It doesn't mean that those who have received righteousness from God fall seven times and then it stops. The number seven is very intentional. This means seven days in the week, seven, the number of fullness. This is a continual, ongoing thing. The righteous fall all the time, but they rise again. The wicked, however, fall by calamity. There's nothing about rising there. There's nothing about getting up.
The righteous man, the righteous woman who has received the righteousness of Christ because they believed in the name of Jesus Christ, the righteous live a life of falling, but it's marked by getting up. They can't help it. They're not strong people; they're not doing it themselves, but they always end up getting up. There's two people in this verse: one has righteousness, one does not. The difference is that one person—both fall—one person comes to a place where they give up and they no longer get up. They give up and they no longer get up. This is not for the righteous. The word says, whatever may be going on in your life, whatever is causing your fall, whatever is hurting you, wounding you, trying to break you, things of life that are thrown at you, if you have the righteousness of Christ, you do not need to worry or be too impressed with life. You're going to fall, but you will always be able to get up because there's going to be something inside of you that has more power than the power of this world, or the power of the enemy, or the power of your sins, or whatever may be coming against you. The righteous have the power to get up. The righteous have the power to hope.
Hope is about the most important thing that we receive continually when we practice faith, when we wage good warfare by the faith, when we continually press into God's gospel. There's not a situation he does not have hope for. But when you lose hope, remember a couple of weeks ago, we talked about the verse where the word says that a man who has a broken spirit, who can bear it? It is a man who has lost its hope. The word tells us if you have the righteousness of Christ, it will never be you. You will always have hope. You will always have reason and strength and power to get up, no matter what the fall looks like.
And you can say, just remember how the word says, "I look to the hills where my help comes from." I remind myself all the time. I made my own version of that for my walk and my life: "I look to Calvary Hill where my help comes from," and all of a sudden I have hope. No matter what the situation is, no matter if I messed up, no matter if I'm wrong, no matter what may be going on in my life or around me, I set my eyes to Calvary Hill where my help comes from. All of a sudden, there's hope, there's reason to get up. This verse, I'll read it to you again: "For a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again, but the wicked will fall by calamity." This verse teaches us something so marvelous, Church. For the righteous person that has believed in Jesus and received the righteousness of God, this is what the word says: the righteous, no matter what happens in their life, they will never become defeated. They will never end up being the defeated man or the defeated woman that do exist in this world. But the word says for the righteous, they fall, and they may fall their entire life, but this is how you know something has changed inside of their heart: they can't help but rise again. They can't help but get back up. That is what I desire for your life, Church.
I desire with all of my heart that you will never be the person that is defeated, that has no reason anymore to get up, that has no hope anymore. That's the desire of my life, that it will never be you, but that you would fall as much as you may make mistakes, as much as you may, but you always get up because something is happening inside of you. God is doing something. Let me take you to the story in Genesis, chapter 22. We're going to start in verse 1. Genesis 22. You may know the story. Please follow along as we get into verse 1. Genesis 22: "Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham and said to him, 'Abraham.' And he said, 'Here I am.' Then he said, 'Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.' So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son. And he split the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. Then on the third day, Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said to his young men, 'Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.' So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son, and he took the fire in his hand and a knife, and the two of them went together. But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, 'My father.' And he said, 'Here I am, my son.' Then he said, 'Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?' And Abraham said, 'My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.' So the two of them went together. Then they came to the place of which God had told him, and Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order, and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar upon the wood. And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, 'Abraham, Abraham!' So he said, 'Here I am.' And He said, 'Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.' Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. And Abraham called the name of the place, 'The Lord will provide,' as it is said to this day, 'In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided.' Then the Angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, and said, 'By Myself I have sworn,' says the Lord, 'because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore, and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed, all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.'"
Here we have this incredible story that would have made a lot of sense to someone like Abraham. For us, it may be a shocker at first—not for Abraham. Abraham came from a place of idol worship. Abraham came from a place where you sacrificed babies to the gods. And here he is on a journey with this God who has called him out of nowhere, who he's been following and has been learning to trust in. This God clearly demands a sacrifice. And here Abraham goes, and he believes in his heart that God is able to raise his son from the dead. He believes that God is able to do a miracle. But he goes, and he obeys what God is placing before him. And God begins to show him that He is different than any other god Abraham has ever heard about. This is a God who provides the sacrifice for Himself. Abraham prophesied it even before it happened—a God who provides a ram instead of the children having to be sacrificed. Remember what happened in Egypt: all of the oldest children in Israel did not have to be sacrificed, did not lose their lives because the blood of a lamb was also put on the doorpost there. This is the same story, time and time again, throughout the word to help us see and understand the gospel so that we can press into it.
When we enter into a situation where for a moment God seems to be confusing to us, or ridiculous, or painful, we can press into faith and see God become to us who He has promised to be always, to every single one of us. And then this incredible promise to someone like Abraham: "Your descendants, your children, shall possess the gate of their enemies." We know the word tells us there are not all children of Abraham who are children of Abraham, but those that are of faith are counted as sons and daughters of Abraham. And here the word says, "Your descendants will possess the gate of their enemies." We just recently heard that the gates of hell will not prevail. The word already told us. Jesus has told you and me that the children of faith will possess the gate of their enemies. There's nothing the enemy can do about it. Jesus took away his power. He's given you power. He's given you promises that by them you may be partakers of the divine nature. Jesus Christ is doing something in your life and over your life and over your generation that is so incredible. But you have to give your attention, your mind, your heart to those things daily so that you can press into the gospel when it matters. When all of a sudden life seems to fall apart or things are confusing, that what comes out of you is the truth, that what comes out of you is the power of the gospel, that what comes out of you is affecting what is happening around you and not the other way around.
When you have not learned or practiced or trained to fight the good fight of the faith in Jesus Christ, then what happens around you starts to affect you to where it gets inside of you. And you start to say things like, "Oh, this person is really getting to me." They may very well be getting to you, but when you learn to fight the good fight of the faith, people don't need to get to you. Situations don't need to get to you. You can walk victorious in all of those things, loving God and loving people at the same time. You do not need to be affected if you have learned to fight the good fight of the faith. Your descendants will possess the gates of their enemies. In your seed, all the nations of the earth shall be blessed. The seed, this descendant, is Jesus Christ of Nazareth, who would be born according to the lineage of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
But do you understand, Church? Do you press into that truth daily? Just the simple truth that the Messiah has already come.
Everything all these generations waited for, everything these promises and prophets pointed forward towards, that Messiah has already come. These promises have already gone into effect. God is already doing now, in your generation, what all these people waited for.
Daily reminding yourself that Messiah has come, every promise is going to be real in my life, God's presence is going to be real in my life. Do you press into the gospel daily so that you can hold on to it, so that you can see the promises and believe in them? See, the Word tells us that God right now is giving you constantly a new heart. He's giving you a new mind. Nothing is wrong with your mind. It doesn't matter what's wrong with your mind. God is giving me a new mind. It's not a problem. It doesn't matter how difficult my heart may be, how selfish I may be, how prideful I might be, how self-righteous I may be. It doesn't matter because God is going to give me a new heart. That is the truth of the Gospel.
Do you remind yourself He's giving you possession of the gates of your enemies? Do you believe that? Do you trust it? Do you press into the gospel and remind yourself when the enemy tries to make you feel like or make you believe that he still has ground in your life? You can't help it. You're going to be a victim for the rest of your life. He's going to run over you. He's going to demand things from you. He's going to control things in you. Do you believe him, or do you believe the gospel? Are you fighting the good fight of the faith that says, "Actually, I know what my God has said. He told me I'd possess the gates of my enemies. Actually, Jesus has taken away all of your power, all of your dominion, all of your authority. I'm going to be just fine. I'm going to be grateful and happy today because nothing is wrong." Do you press into the gospel?
All the nations are blessed. Think about that for just a second. All the nations are blessed. Believer, unbeliever, everyone, you included, you are blessed of God no matter what you do, no matter what you've been through, no matter where you are at in your walk with God today. You may describe that as, "I got to get closer to God," or, "I don't know him at all." It does not matter. You are blessed. Why? Because the Messiah has come. God promised He would bless all the nations of the earth. Why? Because He gave His word. And when Messiah came, the Seed of Abraham came into this world and made a way for all people that if they would only believe in the name above any other name, they would receive all things.
But the enemy knows, and he seeks to distract your heart and distract your mind away from daily practicing faith in the very simple truth of the gospel and to bring you to a place of confusion again, to bring you to a place where you feel like a victim again. You don't feel like Messiah came into this world for you. You feel like a victim. You feel overrun by the enemy. You feel wounded and hurt by people. You feel you don't matter. You feel all these things. There's one reason: you're not fighting the good fight of the faith. You're fighting other battles.
When we fight the good fight of the faith and we allow the Holy Spirit to, if you will, keep the eyes of our heart open and focused on Calvary Hill where my help comes from, there's not a person in this world that can offend you. There's not a person in this world that can wound you or hurt you or make you feel less than because you can see with the eyes of your heart, "My help comes from Calvary Hill. How could I ever not be favored? How could I ever not be blessed? Who is there that could make me a lesser child of God? Who is there that could overrun me? What enemy is there whose gates I do not possess? I am blessed." Why? Because the Messiah has come.
The enemy will combat everything you're called to press into, Church. He will try to combat it by distraction, offenses, depression. Depression. Depression. If you've ever dealt with it, I have. You can write out the depressing thoughts. They are sentences, and they're not telling the truth. In order for us to fight the good fight of the faith, we need to know what God has said so that we can recognize the words of the enemy, so we can recognize the thoughts of depression, and we can judge them and choose to believe the truth. That's fighting the good fight of the faith. You're learning to be victorious by faith over what is all being poured over your life.
All of the falling is going to be a part of it, but the getting up is for those that practice the righteousness of Christ. They've pressed into the gospel. They believe God at His word.
Now, let's look at this Messiah and what God says about him through the writer of the 91st Psalm. Psalm 91. Let's read verse 7 to 16. It's going to get real good, Church. Starting in verse 7: "A thousand may fall at your side and ten thousand at your right hand, but it shall not come near you. Only with your eyes shall you look and see the reward of the wicked. Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge, even the Most High, your dwelling place, no evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling. For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways. In their hands, they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone. You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra, the young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot. Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high because he has 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, I will satisfy him and show him My salvation."
This was literally spoken of the Christ who would come, prophesied in a Psalm over the Christ who would come. How do you know? Study your word. These are the very words the devil used against Jesus when he sought to tempt Him. The devil knew this is being spoken of the Messiah. You should know too. But these words now that in Christ every promise is yes and amen. These words are true for you as well. Christ the head and Christ the body, which is you. You're the body of Christ. You're the Church of the Living God. Whatever was spoken to the head is true for the shoulders, is true for the arms, is true for the hand. The word tells us that you've been grafted into the body of Christ, to the people of Christ. And you becoming a part of the body of Christ means that you become a partaker of everything that belongs to Jesus.
Pressing into the gospel, Church. Pressing into the gospel. How will they believe unless they hear? I'm going to make sure you hear tonight. You do the pressing in. Verse 7: "A thousand may fall at your side and ten thousand at your right hand, but it shall not come near you." That's what the word says over your life. Things may be going on. Fear may be growing rampantly all around in our generation today. The word says a thousand may fall on this hand, ten thousand on that hand, but it will not come near you. It will not touch you.
Verse 10: "No evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your dwelling." In other words, in the place where you rest, in the place where your prayer closet is, in the place where you're raising your family, no plague, nothing that is out of your control will be allowed to touch you. The enemy has no free reign, has no allowance to touch and rule and reign in the place where God's children rest. He still goes around like a roaring lion. We have a verse for that too. Verse 11 right now: "For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways." Church, angels tasked with job descriptions that involve your very name to make sure that there's boundaries to what you're going to go through in your day. Angels working full-time, no pay time off, no PTO, nothing of that. They are tasked to make sure that whatever God said is the boundary to what is going to run into your life, what you're going to run into, what you're going to have to endure, what you're going to be encountering. They're working to make sure nothing gets out of hand beyond what God is entrusting to you as possibly painful, just like Abraham, difficult but an opportunity to fight the good fight of the faith. Nothing is happening to you by accident. God is not doing it all to you, but He's setting the boundaries as to how far it is allowed to go. Angels at work just for you. "In their hands, they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone." Again, you're going to go through difficult stuff, but God sets the boundaries, and He does not allow it to go beyond what He wants His children to go through.
Verse 13: "You will tread upon the lion and the cobra, the young lion and the serpent." In other words, no matter what your enemy is called, he goes around like a roaring lion, a young lion, an old lion, a cobra, a small snake. It doesn't matter. Whatever is going to happen, you will trample him underfoot. That's what the word says over you. "He will call upon Me, and I will answer him. I'll be with him in trouble. I'll deliver him and honor him." In other words, there's going to be trouble, but you will never be alone. There's going to be hardship, but you're always going to hear from God. You're going to be delivered, but you're going to be even honored by the Lord. "With long life, I will satisfy him and show him My salvation." Church, you've received eternal life. This is what God is giving to you in Jesus Christ, every single one of them. Why? Why is this all yours? Why should you believe that all of these things are reality and truth and should be in your life if all you have is that you've believed Jesus is God? Jesus is the Lord. If that is all you have, all of this stuff should be there. Why?
Colossians 1:16-18: "For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have preeminence. He is the head of the body."
Once again, every promise God has ever made to the head is true for the limbs, is true for every part of the body. Every promise that the Father made to Jesus is yours. Everything God promised Jesus He would do while Jesus walked on this earth—take care of Him, protect Him, provide for Him—all of it you receive without you ever living the perfect life that Jesus lived. You never earned it. You will never deserve it, but you're receiving all that belong to Christ because you are blessed. God has done what He said He would do. He said, "In your seed, all the nations will be blessed." But you need to press into the gospel, Church, because other thoughts will constantly be invited and suggested to your mind daily. Some by the enemy, some by your flesh, some you may not know where they come from. But other thinking, other thoughts, feelings often speak and try to suggest to our mind what to think. Other things are constantly being suggested to your mind. You need to press into the gospel. You need to give the Holy Spirit time every day to touch the eyes of your heart so that you can see the gospel clearly and you can choose to believe. You can choose to press into the gospel.
You can't see. I don't care how long you've been in church; you cannot see the salvation of the Lord. You cannot see the gospel. You cannot see the joy of the Lord unless the Holy Spirit miraculously opens your eyes or keeps them open. But it's a fragile thing. It's a matter of the heart. Does God have all of my desire? Does God have all of my trust? Do I believe Him at His word that because of Messiah, I am as blessed as I can ever be? That because the Messiah has come, I'm going to own the gates of my enemies? Because of Messiah coming into this world, I will never miss out on any promise of God? Do I actually press in to believe the incredible gospel of the Living God? Do I give the Holy Spirit time every day to open my eyes? If your eyes are not open, you can't fight the good fight of the faith. What are you going to believe if you cannot see? Give the Holy Spirit time every day to open those eyes.
2 Corinthians 1:20-22: "For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us. Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee."
Sometimes we read these big words from someone like Paul and he says all the promises of God are Yes and Amen in Him. He who establishes us with you in Christ has anointed us in God. It can sometimes feel a little bit like Paul is talking about the apostles or the church leaders, the impressive ones. But then he continues the thought right into "who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee." He's talking about all believers. He's talking about every single person that has given Jesus their heart, their sin, their life, and Christ washed them and cleansed them, gave them His Spirit, set them free, gave them forgiveness, and begins to lead them into all salvation. Paul's not talking about leaders or apostles. He tells us He's given us the Spirit. He's talking about one people: the people of God, the people of promise, the children of Abraham. He's given us the Spirit as a guarantee. The Father gives the Spirit to all who ask, as the Word says. If you ask for the Spirit, you have a promise: you're going to receive the Spirit of the Living God. He is blessing all the nations, all of them—all those who have called on the name of Jesus Christ. You're established in Christ.
You feel your life is wickedy-wonky, falling apart, shaken at every turn, not stable? You need to fight the good fight of the faith because He says this is what God gives us. He establishes us—established, firm, unshakable in Christ. He has anointed us in God. You don't feel anointed? You feel like your anointing slips off or you've never had one? That's not what the gospel has told you. Practice the good fight of the faith. He has anointed us in God. Glory to God! I'm anointed! Who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.
God is blessing all the nations. All He's looking for is someone who believes that the Father actually gave up His only begotten Son, as He at one point challenged Abraham to do. And then God showed, "I actually am doing this for all of you. I'm giving up My Son. I am providing the sacrifice that is needed. I am providing what is needed in order for you to be blessed." You don't need to live a good life. You don't need to read your Bible and pray until God finally blesses you. "I provide My own sacrifice. You can take yours home again, and I am giving you My Son so that you become the blessed in your generation. And you can go and tell everyone that does not know that God has made this the favorable year of the Lord. The blessing of God has gone out into this world so that whoever would believe on the name of Jesus Christ would receive eternal life and not perish."
Church, you are a blessed people. God is doing what He promised. He's doing it in you. Press into the gospel. Stay in that place. Allow the Holy Spirit to keep your eyes open. Let me read to you Isaiah 9:6-7: "For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulder." That word "government" means power. "For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, and the power as Prince will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this."
Church, remember how we talked about the head and the body? When you promise something to me and you say it to my face, it's also true for the rest of my body. With God, it is the same thing. Every promise that He made to His own Son, who lived a perfect life, who deserved all of the incredible promises, incredible guarantees that His Heavenly Father gave Him because He was perfect—then He says, "You did everything wrong, but because you believe that I am the Son of God, I'm making you a part of My body so that every single promise that ever has been heard from the lips of God and written down in the Word of God, you may know that those promises are going to be true for you, that they belong to you as well."
Church, when you have turned to Jesus Christ with all of your heart to be a part of this, you get to be a part of the power. You get to be a part of the peace. He's the Prince of Power. He's the Prince of Peace. You get to be a part of the power of Jesus. You don't need to be strong. You don't need to bring your own power. You don't need to overpower the enemy. You don't need to overpower your sin. You don't need to overpower your situation. You don't need to fight your way forward in the kingdom of God. You don't need to make anything happen in your life. You fight the good fight of the faith. Christ provides His power in your life. You get to be a part of the peace of Jesus. You're allowed to struggle with whatever you're struggling with. Take it to Jesus. He'll give you His peace. It belongs to you. It was purchased for you. It was promised to you. That's where you go. You believe in the gospel of Jesus Christ, and you run to Him. You say, "Lord, I know the truth. Right now, my mind is occupied with worry. Right now, my mind is caught off guard. I didn't do such a good job fighting the good fight of the faith right now."
I'm in trouble, Jesus. I don't have my peace. I need Yours to cover me. Jesus, I don't have power for this. I need Your power. It is a part of Your life. It is promised to you. It is given to you.
Then the words say this incredible thing: "And the increase, there will be no end to it." There's not a sin invented in hell that is tall enough for God's power and God's grace and God's peace to not perfectly cover it. There, the increase will have no end. The peace you need in a generation tortured by fear, there's no end to the increase of the peace. The fear will always be covered. The fear will always be dealt with because you get to be a part of the peace of Jesus. You don't need to bring your own. You don't need to bring your own power.
But what do I do, Pastor? What do I do for all of this to actually be my life? To live without fear, as the Bible prophesies time and time again? Jesus came into the temple, came to His people. It was prophesied right away: now Your people can serve You without fear. Now there's no powerlessness anymore. Now He will bring His kingdom. Now He will conquer our enemies.
We know from the Word that a lot of Jesus' disciples misunderstood it at first. They thought Jesus was going to fight the Romans, when all along Jesus said, "No, no, no, I'm conquering the greatest enemy of all, and I made you a promise. I made you a part of every promise. You will possess the gates of the enemy. He won't be able to go in and out without your permission. He won't be able to be in control without your permission. There's no one in this world that can come at you or have control over you. I am setting you free. I'm making you a blessed people."
Why? Because Messiah came on your behalf. That's why I'm doing it.
So what do I do, Pastor, to be a part of all of this, to see it become real in my life? Well, that's the gospel, Church. You do nothing. Here's what the Word says: "The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this." God has zeal for His own Holy Name. You do nothing to become a part or to see these things come to pass in your life. If you trust and believe in Jesus Christ, you will be able, the Word says, to cease from your works as God did from His, and enter into the rest and enter into the peace of God. You will do nothing. Everything you do will keep you out of this. Everything you try will keep and put up a boundary for you to see with the eyes of your heart and enter into these things by simple, childlike faith.
This is the gospel of Jesus Christ. And when God sees that you believe it with all of your heart, He, in His zeal for His Son, will bring you into every single promise. And through a broken vessel like you, He will glorify Himself without your help, without you doing a thing. All you allowed the Holy Spirit to do was to show you the gospel. You believed it with all of your heart, and God did every single thing He promised to His Son. He performed every promise to every aspect of the body of Christ. You do nothing, Church. That is the gospel of the Living God.
The question is, are you pressing into that gospel, or have you believed a gospel that adds on some stuff? "I still need to do a couple of things." Let me give you a couple of amazing verses. As Paul quotes the prophet Hosea in Romans 9:25-26, "Holy Spirit, I pray that every heart is able to hear this. Amen." As he also says in Hosea, "I will call them my people who were not my people, and her beloved who was not beloved. And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' there they shall be called sons of the Living God."
Church, all the nations will be blessed in the blood of Jesus Christ. God has set His heart on you. You are not called to get yourself closer to God. You can't even give God a thought throughout your day unless the Holy Spirit is bringing things to your mind. God is already doing the work. He's drawing you, He's touching you, He's inviting you, He's bringing things to your mind because other things are trying to be on your mind. God has set His heart on you. Wherever you are, whoever you are, whatever you've done, whatever you're struggling with today, God's heart is for you. He wants you to press into the Gospel. He's drawing you; His eyes are on you. He's willing to save, no matter the situation you need to be saved out of. He's willing to transform your life, and He is going to glorify His name in you. That's who He is, and this is what He's doing in your generation.
Because Messiah has come, the lame will walk, the blind will see, the deaf will hear. You struggle and say you can't hear God's voice for yourself at home alone in your prayer closet. You're going to hear from Him because the Messiah has come. That's the only reason you'll get to know the voice of God. That's the only reason you're forgiven. That's the only reason there's a way forward for you. You say you can't see your forgiveness with the eyes of your heart; it's blinded to you. Your eyes will be opened by the Living God. He'll show you the power of Christ because Messiah has come. This is the good news of the Gospel. "I will call them my people who are not my people." It doesn't matter to God if you believe in Jesus Christ or not. He's coming after you. He loves you. He's seeking to stir your heart and bring up faith to the eyes of your heart that you may have the possibility and the opportunity to just press in just a tiny bit and see that God would begin to keep His promises to you for no other reason than that Messiah has come.
I didn't even seek Him, and He opened my eyes. I didn't even ask for Him; He began to show me the Gospel. That's who He is; that's what He does because in the seed of Abraham, all the nations of the world would be blessed. This is what God is doing in your generation, Church. Behave like it. Tell some people that God has called this the favorable year of the Lord and that He is blessing all nations, that He's calling all people to repentance and to Himself.
There's no big struggle; there's no big obstacle anymore between people and God. Jesus paid for the sins of the world. What obstacle is there other than a lukewarm church that will not tell people that God has made a way for all mankind to receive forgiveness in one name and one name alone, the name of Jesus Christ, through whom all men must be saved? There is no more obstacle, Church. Believe the Gospel. Press into it and let it flow out of you every hour of the day because Messiah has come. It's finished. We're at the home stretch now. We're running home. This is the last of history as the Lord comes soon.
Church, you are blessed by God. That's who you are. You know other people; they may be defined by whatever they may be defined by. But you ask me who I am? I'm blessed by God. That's who I am. It doesn't mean I don't fall. It doesn't mean I don't have a difficult life. It doesn't mean I have no tears. But that is who I am because the Messiah has come. Did you know Messiah has come? We are blessed by God. What has He done? He has paid for our forgiveness. He has paid for us to be free. He has promised us His Spirit. He has, as a matter of fact, made us a part of every promise He's ever made. Did you know that? We are this blessed.
Tell people that the Messiah has come. I wonder, Church, and every person online, can your heart see it? Are the eyes of your heart open? Are you able to press into the finished work of Jesus Christ and enjoy it, rejoice in it, and share it? Are you fighting the good fight of the faith, or have you gotten a little busy fighting other battles in your life? And now the faith battle is not really one that you're really winning; it seems to be somewhat weak.
There's one fight Jesus invites you to fight, and it's the good fight of the faith. No matter what your flesh says, no matter what your situation says, no matter what the enemy brings up, you need to know that you are a part of every promise, every good intention of the Father. If you would stand with me for a moment, this is a very simple time during our altar call of commitment. God is asking you to give time to the Holy Spirit every day. That's all God is asking you today — for you to give time to the Holy Spirit every day so that the Holy Spirit can allow the eyes of your heart to see a little bit more of the cross, a little bit more of the finished work every day that you do, relationship with Him. So that you have the opportunity in those divine moments of grace to press into the Gospel that you're going to need later that day, that you're going to need with the things that are coming up in your flesh, that you're going to need with the things people may say about you or do to you.
The Father knows what you need before you ask, but I believe with all my heart that the Lord is asking us to make a little bit of time every day for the Holy Spirit to just open the eyes of our heart so that we can see this Gospel of a finished work, this Gospel of promises, so that we may be able to press into it, so that we can believe. Can't do it without the Holy Spirit, Church. Can't learn this stuff from a book. You can't even learn this stuff from the Word of God unless the Holy Spirit is allowed to open it up. You need the Holy Spirit to show you Jesus deeper and deeper every day so that you can learn how to believe, how to trust Him, what to trust Him for, what to believe Him for. If you say, "I want to make that commitment. I feel the Lord is just drawing in my heart. I believe that's me," and you say, "Lord, I want to make a little bit of time every day for the Holy Spirit so that He can open the eyes of my heart. I need to learn to press into the Gospel. I need to learn to fight the good fight of the faith."
-Pastor Stan Mons