+Communion
Sermon Transcription:
The Lord has given me a word for you titled "When the Lord Gives In."
Church, the Lord is incredibly humble, beyond what I could ever explain to you, beyond what we could ever learn from another man or woman. But I pray that the Spirit reveals something to your heart today. The Lord is incredibly meek. "Meek" means you have the power but you're not using it. You choose to refrain from using your power. Leonard Raven Hill used to say, "An experience with God that costs nothing does nothing." That is true.
We talk a lot about laying down your life as Jesus speaks about it so much in the New Testament. But today, with what God has given me for you, I truly pray that this service will only cost you your unbelief. That this service would cost you every doubt, every regret you have over your life, every reason you have found over the course of your life as to why God would not use you in a greater way in the latter days than in the former. Let it all be burned up and let God do what He is so willing to do.
God has a greater plan for each and every single one of our lives. A greater plan than we could ever come up with. A greater plan than working away your life for money. A greater plan than spending your life on what the world spends its life on. And if you're willing, He surely will make you into a mighty man or a mighty woman of God.
He is the God at the end of the day that said to his disciples, "Pray to the Lord of the harvest that he may send laborers into the vineyard. The harvest is ready." But if you don't follow him, you may have been in church your entire life and you may still follow the law, not follow Jesus. You may have been in church your entire life, but you may follow everything you need to do to lay down your life as if it's affecting your standing with God. You may have come to church your entire life, and the Lord—you don't know the voice of the Lord. He's never spoken to you. You run to other people to hear from God, but He's not talking with you. He's not treating you as His bride. He's not treating you as His sheep whom He said, "My sheep will know my voice." If you don't follow Him with all of your heart, if you don't walk into what the Lord wants you to spend your life on, it will bring consequences on your life. I don't want that for your life. The Lord doesn't want that for your life. But no matter where you're at today, no matter where you're at in the following of Christ, you might be a poor follower of Christ. No matter where you're at, I pray today that you begin to see the Father's Heart over your life before you ever try to lay anything down for God, before you ever try to do something for the Lord, before you ever begin to pick up guilt for the poor way that you may be following Jesus. Before you do any of that, I pray that the Holy Spirit begins to show something to your heart today.
Let me read to you Genesis 3:21, and then I desire to pray over you. Genesis 3:21, "Also for Adam and his wife, the Lord God made tunics of skin and clothed them." Father, I know that if Your people, Lord God, could only see, Lord God, what You have been showing me, Lord, by Your Spirit, Lord, I know, Lord God, that they would never grow coldhearted towards You. Father, I know that they would never doubt You. I know that they would never distrust You. I know, Lord God, it wouldn't be a thought in their mind whether or not it was a good idea to lay their life into Your hands, Lord. But I ask You, God, to open eyes today, Lord, online and in person. Father, I pray that You send forth Your Spirit in miraculous power today, that still today, Lord God, Jesus, that You still today, Lord God, open the eyes of the blind, that still today, Lord God, it may be true what Isaiah says, that You are found by those that did not seek You, Lord God, that in Your mercy and in Your grace, Lord God, that You may give in, Lord God, to Your people one more time. Father, I pray that by a miraculous touch of heaven, Lord God, the hearts and the eyes of the heart, Lord God, the eyes of our mind may be opened, Lord, in a moment of mercy, in a moment of grace, Lord God, that we would have the opportunity to fully believe on Jesus and leave behind everything else we feel we need to do. Everything else we feel we need to do for God. Everything else we feel we need to produce for God. Everything else that makes us feel like something of God has passed us by. Father, I pray that You open our eyes, Lord God, as only You can by Your Holy Spirit, in Jesus' name. Thank You, Lord.
Let me read to you again Genesis 3:21, "Also for Adam and his wife, the Lord God made tunics of skin and clothed them." If you're at all familiar with the story of Adam and Eve at this point, Adam and Eve have decided disobedience and rebellion against God, even though they had no sinful past, they had no sin at work in their heart or in their mind. They encounter a temptation, and in the midst of it, they decide together disobedience and they decide rebellion against God. And here we read in the word how God responds. God made them tunics of skin and clothed them. God chooses in response to their rebellion, in response to the offense, in response to the disobedience, God chooses sacrifice. And sacrifices animals in order to clothe their nakedness for them. They had tried to do it in their own strength. They had gathered together some fig leaves and done a very poor job. And here comes the Lord, and His response against them breaking the only agreement they had ever had with God, His response is very, very meek, very humble. He had an agreement with them, but He doesn't hold onto it. We see God give in. We see God humble Himself. And we see God choose a sacrifice, and we see God take that skin of that animal that had been sacrificed and clothed the nakedness that was now so apparent in the lives of Adam and Eve. As if God is saying, "We had an agreement, but in this case, I choose to cover you. You choose rebellion, you choose disobedience, but my response is I'm choosing, in this case, I'm choosing to cover."
When the Lord gives in, just a couple of chapters later in the next book, the book of Exodus, we find the people of God in an incredible journey of testimony. God has set them free out of the land of Egypt, which we know to be a spiritual example of Satan, his power, his work, how the people of God were captive, how the people of God were bound by Pharaoh and by the Egyptians, and the people of God had a little bit of freedom to move around but only as far as the boundaries of their enemy that the enemy has set over their life. And God begins to come on the behalf of His children against the enemy over their life, and very quickly, all of a sudden, all of the power of that enemy is broken, stripped down without any help of the people of God, and the grip is loosened, and the people are free now to worship the Lord their God. They leave the bondage behind; they take riches with them out of a place of bondage. Bondage became a place of blessing, and here they now begin to walk with the Lord. They have great testimony and incredible story; they've come through the Red Sea, and now Moses goes to spend time with the Lord.
Just in a matter of days, they begin to turn aside. The word says from the Lord. They begin to turn away from the Lord. It's the opposite word of repentance. Repentance is you turning from unbelief and turning to believing in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Then He sends His Spirit to come and live inside of you and changes everything on the inside. But this word is different; it is turning aside. It is the opposite. They were trusting the Lord; they began to believe in the Lord. They turned aside from Him. And that is where the story comes about where the people make for themselves a golden calf. They had seen God take them out of Egypt; they had seen God take them through a Red Sea experience of impossibility, yet God made it perfectly possible as the cross went before them, represented by the staff of Moses, always going before them into every battle, into every situation, and making a way where there was no way. We see them develop, if you will, that testimony. And here they begin to turn aside to put their expectation for the outcome of their desert battle. They're in the desert now; they're in the mountains. And now they say, "Where is my hope going to come from? I'm going to fashion myself a different God." This is what they do; they fashion themselves a golden calf.
Exodus 32:10-14, the Lord speaking to Moses. "Now therefore let Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot against them, and I may consume them. And I will make you into a great nation." Then Moses pleaded with the Lord his God and said, "Lord, why does Your wrath burn hot against Your people whom You have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians speak and say, 'He brought them out to harm them, to kill them in the mountains, to consume them from the face of the earth'? Turn from Your fierce wrath and relent from this harm to Your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants, to whom You swore by Your own self and said to them, 'I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of I give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.' So the Lord relented from the harm which He said He would do to His people."
Right here we see Moses portrayed as a picture, a foreshadowing, a foretelling of who Christ would be in your and my life, as if Jesus just like Moses steps in front of the people and says, "Lord, Lord, give in. Lord, what would the Egyptians say? Lord, what would Satan say in hell? What would the demons say that used to have power over Your people? What would all the fallen angels say? You died for them; there was a moment where they believed in You in their heart. Now they're having a rough journey. What are they going to say? What is the devil going to say? He saved them, but He couldn't bring them home. He saved them, but He couldn't bring them into the promises. God, would You reconsider? God, would You give in?" Over the generations, following generation after generation, the people of God in their own season, in their own times, we see them complain time and time again. We see them rebel against the Lord time and time again. We see them disobey God almost every opportunity that they can find, a difficult people, yet we see the word of the Lord in the prophet Malachi 3:6-7.
"For I am the Lord, I do not change; therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob. Yet from the days of your fathers you have gone away from My ordinances and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you," says the Lord of hosts. "But you said, 'In what way shall we return?'" All this time, generation after generation, year after year, season after season, all this time rebellion and disobedience is what the Lord receives from His people. Yet right here we see that God is not looking to cut them off. He gets disobedience from them, complaining, rebellion, everything that is evil and wrong. Yet the Lord doesn't ready to cut them off. He's not ready to cast them aside. He's not ready to come against them. What does He say? "Return to Me, and I will return to you." Just come to Me one more time; I will speak to you. I will make known My judgments to you. I will hold you as My own child. Would you come to Me? Return to Me.
We begin to see this clearly as the Son of God Appears to humanity let me take you to Matthew 26, verses 36-46: Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane and said to the disciples, "Sit here while I go and pray over there." And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee. And he began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed." Church, God the Son, who made all things, who upholds the world in his right hand, who made everything without having to put, as it were, any effort in at all. Who bore with the people of God generation after generation, something is taking place right here, and the Son of God, God the Son in the flesh, is sorrowful and deeply distressed. God himself is deeply distressed right here in this moment in history, in this moment in time, understanding and feeling the depths of sin, understanding that he is just, understanding that he is Majesty, understanding that he is Holy. But something needs to give in because he is about to lose you unless you become saved somehow, some way. There is no way for him to be with you, and his desire throughout the Old Testament, throughout the new, has always been, no matter what you do, in the end, at the final word, so to speak, "I want you." He gives into everything else in his character. No matter what you have done, no matter where you are, no matter where you go, no matter what you intend to spend your life on, God will always give in.
In verse 38, "And then he said to them, 'My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with me.'" He went a little further and fell on his face and prayed, saying, "Oh my Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will." Then he came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, "What, could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."
Again, a second time, he went away and prayed, saying, "Oh my Father, if this cup cannot pass away from me unless I drink it, your will be done." And he came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy. So he left them. He let them sleep. Now, he gives in. He doesn't wake them up anymore. He gives in. He lets them sleep.
Now he went away again and prayed the third time, saying the same words. Then he came to his disciples and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going. See, my betrayer is at hand."
Here's the Lord. He's trying to save the world. He's trying to pay for all of the sins of all of the world. And here's his disciples, here's those that have sung and said to him, "I'm going to follow you, I trust you, I believe you, I believe you are the Messiah." They are sleeping. They are resting. This is the man, the woman that says, "Jesus has paid for my sins," but they're not telling anyone on the street about the forgiveness that is possible in the name of Jesus Christ.
Jesus is trying to save the world, here we are, resting, being comfortable in our own lives, in our own houses, in our own journeys, in whatever we like to spend our life on. Here they are, resting and sleeping so often. Simply put, church, that is us. When Christ is trying to save everyone around us, he's deeply distressed with the state of this world. He's deeply distressed with the reality of hell that is right in front of so many people's lives. And his disciples, time after time, just fall asleep. He had commanded them to stay and watch. It wasn't a suggestion; he had given them a command. And after four times, first with all of them and then three times with the few that he took with him, you would think, now, now they're going to get it. Instead, what the Lord does, he does not take distance from them. He doesn't take offense to the fact that they are resting and sleeping and not seeing the urgency of the hour, not seeing the importance of the moment, not seeing that it would be such a blessing if they would partake more and put their hand to the plow and be in tune, be in unity with the Christ in all that he is seeking to bring about for generations to come.
Instead of taking distance from them, this is his response: he says, "You need to get up, come with me, because I want you to be a part of what is coming next." He gives in to the command, he gives in to the expectation, he doesn't take offense with his followers. Instead, he tells them, "I want you to be a part of what is coming next. I'm about to fulfill all that I was sent for to this world. I want you to be a part of it, you sleeper, you who rests when Christ is seeking to save the world. He wants you to be a part of it." He doesn't give them a word of rejection, he doesn't give them a word of rebuke, he gives in to his own, get this church, he gives in to his own perfect Heavenly will. His perfect Heavenly will is always right, yet he gives in to his own perfect Heavenly will that they may remain close to him. He's choosing the closeness with their, broken, and if you will, wretched disciples over standing in his justice, standing in his majesty, standing in being right. You serve a humble God, a meek God. He is seeking to give in whenever you abuse or use your freedom for the wrong things, when you do not trust him, serve him, love him, when you do not go to the places where Christ is represented in purity, biblically, yet he seeks to give in to his people.
Matthew 27, verses 11-14 reads this: "Now Jesus stood before the governor, they're bringing him before Pilate. Now Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, saying, 'Are you the king of the Jews?' And Jesus said to him, 'It is as you say.'" Jesus stands right in front of him, and this is the only time Matthew records that Jesus actually responds. This is the only time that Jesus actually says what you're saying right now is the truth, what you're saying right now is accurate, is it in agreement with heaven? And then we continue: "And while he was being accused by the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing." Then Pilate said to him, "Do you not hear how many things they testify against you?" But he answered him not one word, so that the governor marveled greatly. Here's a people again, the people of God. They did not want to follow this Jesus. They didn't want to lay down their life and follow this kind of Jesus. They didn't want to trust this kind of Jesus. They didn't want to listen to him. They didn't want to obey him. And yet, Jesus simply gives in. He stays quiet, he keeps his mouth closed, as if he is saying, "If all I'm allowed to do in your life is die in your place, then gladly I would do that for your life. If all I'm allowed to do in your life is take on your sins and take them to the Cross, then gladly I will be that person in your life."
You and I alike, we don't often want to obey the Lord all the time. We don't like to listen to him all the time. So many times, we choose sin, so many times, we choose self, what we would like, our way, our time, our attention, our focus, so many times, we choose our own plans, how we spend our money, how we seek to live in this world, what we think our years should be spent on, so many times we do it. Yet, he remains silent, he gives in, he humbles himself that he may bring forgiveness and salvation upon the life of the men and women that nailed him to the Cross. He gives in, he doesn't hold on to the things that you did wrong, he doesn't hold on to the words that you said wrong, he doesn't hold on to the mistakes you made, he gives in that he may bring upon your life what is necessary.
The Lord has a greater plan for our lives, we know this, but even when you resist that plan, no matter the degree, he humbles himself. You have a God who humbles himself, who gives in to sinners, who gives in to a people that keep walking in rebellion, disobedience, and accusation against God, distrust in their heart against the Lord. He gives in and they take him to be crucified. And to be crucified usually happened with ropes, they would tie one arm to a side of the Cross, and then they would tie with ropes the other arm to the other side of the Cross, and then a rope around the waist and a rope around the ankle, surrounding the cross. Not with Jesus, with Jesus they took big nails and hammers and nailed them through his flesh, both his hands and his feet, nailing him to the Cross. Every single time, every single hammer strike that came down on those nails, every sin you ever did was a hammer strike on those nails, every thought you ever thought wrong was a hammer coming down on those nails, yet he is holding up the entire universe with his right hand, and he gives in and allows the nails to just come through his flesh because he is looking for you to be forgiven and saved.
He's staying quiet for himself, he's allowing it to take place, he's allowing the weight of sin to fully settle upon him so that you who is driving the nails in his hands can be free and forgiven and redeemed and stand up. He says, "If this is all that I can be in your life, if all that I can be in your life is a martyr, then gladly as long as I get to be a part of your life. I love you, I seek to forgive you, I want to be in your life." And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left.
Then Jesus said, " Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do. As if the Lord himself, God the Son, was saying to the Father, "Father, I'm giving in to my justice. I don't need it anymore. Father, I'm giving in to my rights. I don't need them anymore. Father, I'm giving in to my honor. Father, let them do it. Father, I'm giving in, forgive them, Father. That is all that I feel left for them, Lord God. That is the only desire left in my heart for this kind of people. Father, they don't know. They don't know what they're doing. They're driving the nails through the Son of Almighty God. They don't know. Father, forgive them. I'm giving in to them, Lord. I'm giving in to them, Father. Forgive them."
One of the criminals on the cross right next to him, most likely a murderer, he was a rebel in the rebellion. Many people died. A man that had murdered someone that Jesus himself had woven in the womb, so delicate, so precious, so full of love. This man most likely had taken a life like that, and a man like this turns to Jesus. Watch this, verse 42 and 43, "And he said to Jesus, 'Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom.' And Jesus said to him, 'Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.'"
The Lord looks at a man like that. Maybe that is you today. Maybe that is you. You have taken whatever God gave, and you have destroyed it. You have taken whatever God intended for good, and you have used it in a selfish way. You have caused those nails to be driven through his hand. You've never followed him, you've never contributed to his kingdom, you've never been baptized, you've never been baptized with the Spirit, you've never confessed all your sins. Just like the murderer on the cross. And Jesus says, "If all I'm allowed to be in your life, if all I'm allowed to be in your life is your Savior, I gladly rescue you from the gates of hell." Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners!
-Pastor Stan Mons