What does it take to see God?
Matthew chapter 23.
Father, I stand here in need of heaven's
touch as always.
Every time I stand, O God, I don't
want to have to try to reason in
any amount of natural ability, because you are
the one who makes your vessels much more
than we are.
I ask you for a supernatural touch on
my mind and heart.
I ask you for an enablement to present
the living Christ to this congregation.
Now, Holy Spirit, you're the only one that
can do this, and so I abandon myself
to you, and I ask you that the
heart of God may be gladdened when this
morning is over.
Lord, let your kingdom come with great power,
and for those who have not seen Christ,
for any amount of time, I pray that
there be an eye-save anointing in this
word today, that their eyes would be opened,
that they would see him, and a deep
and abiding rejoicing would come into their heart.
I pray, God, that you protect this church
from every work of evil.
Keep us, Father, in the coming days.
We ask it in Jesus' name.
Now, that's why we're going to be fasting
in September, by the way.
It's for each of us individually that the
words of our mouths, the meditation of our
hearts, would be acceptable in the sight of
God.
And then, of course, corporately as a church,
that the Christ that we are presenting to
our generation be Christ, that there be no
fly in the ointment, there be nothing that
mars the image of God, and that the
directions that we take as a church be
led by the Holy Spirit.
Everything that we do.
This is probably a very pivotal and important
fast, and I would encourage everyone to mark
it on their calendar and come out and
be in prayer with us, if you can,
September 6th, 7th, and 8th.
What does it take to see God?
Matthew 23, beginning at verse 34.
Wherefore, Jesus said, Behold, I send unto you
prophets and wise men and scribes, and some
of them you kill and crucify, and some
of them you scourge in your synagogues and
persecute them from city to city.
Now, you have to keep in mind, these
are the vessels that God is sending to
give revelation of who he is.
God says, I sent these people, but it's
amazing that the religious heart, in particular, can
come to the point of actually hating the
revelation of the God that they are professing
to be serving.
So much so that they begin to scourge
and slander those that are sent by God
to present him.
That upon you may come all the righteous
blood shed upon the earth, from the blood
of the righteous Abel, to the blood of
Zacharias, the son of Barakias, whom you slew
between the temple and the altar.
Verily, I say unto you, all these things
shall come upon this generation.
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets
and stonest them which are sent unto thee,
how often would I have gathered thy children
together, even as a hen gathers her chicken
under her wings, and you would not.
Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.
For I say unto you, you shall not
see me henceforth till you say, blessed is
he that comes in the name of the
Lord.
What does it take to see God?
He said in verse 39, you shall not
see me henceforth, or in other words, from
this time forth.
And the word see in the original text
means to see beyond with the natural eye.
It means to perceive with the mind.
It means to stop and consider what is
being placed before you.
It means to know intuitively in contrast with
to know something or someone experientially.
You see, folks, it can be said clearly
in Matthew chapter 23 that God's own people
were experiencing his presence.
It's true.
People can come to you from a supposed
revival, a personal time, someplace where there's supposedly
a revelation of Christ.
And they can come and say, we have
so experienced the presence of God.
And it can actually be true.
They can have experienced his presence.
And who can say that in this particular
time when Christ was walking among his own
people, they were, in fact, experiencing the presence
of God.
God was walking among them.
It's undeniable.
But the experience was not bringing them to
any understanding of who God is.
And certainly they had no knowledge of why
he had come.
But they were experiencing his presence.
And even soldiers and temple guards were saying,
we've never heard a man speak like this,
man.
He doesn't speak as the religious leaders of
our day, the passionless as it is presentation
of God.
He speaks as a man who has authority,
as if he knows what he's talking about,
as if within his inmost part is the
ability to bring everything he speaks to pass.
Of course, they're hearing the voice of God,
but they were not aware of it.
It's possible to be experiencing God in a
very real way and yet miss the whole
reason for the experience.
Tragedy, if you're here today and you're experiencing
the presence of the Lord and you walk
out and you get 50 feet down the
street, you feel very good because you've been
in the presence of the Lord, but you
missed the whole purpose, the whole reason why
you're even drawn into the presence of God
or he's chosen mercifully to manifest himself and
not even understanding why.
Jesus said it this way in Luke 6,
46 to his own people.
He said, why do you call me Lord,
Lord?
And you don't do the things which I
say.
I'm bringing you my very heart.
I'm talking about my kingdom and you call
me Lord.
But there doesn't seem to be an inward
desire in you to obey the things that
you hear me speak to you.
We wonder why.
Why does the human condition gravitate to this
form of religion?
Why does every church age end up at
a time?
And we're living in a time where churches
now are saying away with the cross.
It's an offense.
Away with the blood.
Don't talk about the blood.
Don't sing about the blood.
The very things that are the core expressions,
as it is of our redemption, the very
love of God, and they're saying away with
these things.
They're an offense to us.
And we see history now one more time
repeating itself.
This generation that said away with this Christ.
This is not the Christ that we want.
This is not the savior that our hearts
are longing for.
Away with him.
And we hear that very cry in what
professes to be Christendom in our generation.
Isaiah tells it this way.
And I'll just paraphrase it for you.
In chapter 53, verses 2 and 3, he
says, when we shall see him, there is
no beauty that we should desire him.
We hid as it were our faces from
him.
He was despised and we esteemed him not.
It's very simple.
Isaiah is saying the way God is choosing
or will choose in this time to reveal
himself.
This is not the way people want to
see him.
They have a preconceived notion of who God
is and how their lives fit into this
relationship with God.
And so they are running as it is
through and for all throughout the world.
And they're looking for this Christ who fulfills
their sense of their own destiny, if I
can put it that way.
Their self-image and the God that is
going to be the one who supports and
brings this self-image to pass.
And, of course, when Christ comes, this is
not much of an image for those who
are lusting for political power and preeminence among
men.
Who love greetings in marketplaces to be called
teacher, teacher, rabbi, rabbi.
Those that want the chief seats in the
synagogues.
Those that are filled with lust and vengeance
against the Roman occupiers and want to see
a political overthrow.
This Christ who comes on the scene is
not very palatable for these people.
Because it's not the image of the God
that they have fashioned in their hearts.
Ironically, they are the people of God, the
chosen people of God.
But they've so fashioned in their hearts this
other Christ, this other God that they feel
is going to come and fulfill them.
That when Christ does come, the very manifestation
of the heart of God to this generation,
they can't see him.
They have no knowledge of who he is
and they're so offended at God.
And how he chooses to manifest himself in
their midst that they begin to cry away
with this Christ, crucify him.
John says he came to his own in
John chapter 1, verses 11 and 12, and
his own received him not.
But as many as received him, to them
he gave power to become the sons of
God, even to them that believe on his
name.
As many as received him, he gave power.
And isn't it ironic that it wasn't those
who were supposed to know him?
It's those who the religious of the day
considered outside of the realm of God.
It's the prostitutes, it's the lepers, the drug
addicts, the beggars who heard something they'd never
heard before.
Certainly the religious crowd was not giving this
to them.
And they heard and all of a sudden
the lame are leaping in the house of
God and the blind are seeing.
The dumb are giving testimony of the greatness
of God.
It's amazing if you can really see it.
Their eyes are opened and they see who
he is.
While the religious of the day is standing
on the hillside saying, we don't understand.
How could this be and how could that
be?
But those that are touched by God, those
who don't have this preconceived notion in their
hearts.
Those who don't have an unfulfilled ambition are
seeing him.
He said whoever received him and the word
in the Greek means to develop a special
interest on the part of the receiver or
to welcome him.
Whoever welcomed him, he gave them power to
become the sons of God.
It's an amazing thing, isn't it?
Whoever welcomed him, whoever said, well, God, I
thought you were this, but obviously you aren't.
And whoever you are and however you want
to make yourself known to me, I open
my heart.
You are welcome to come into my heart.
You are welcome into my home.
You are welcome to overturn what you don't
like, what offends your nature.
You are welcome to change me from image
to image and glory to glory.
You're welcome to send me to the mission
field.
And if I die there, I die there.
You're just welcome to come into my heart
and into my home.
And these people, these people, Jesus said, God
gave them power to become the sons of
God.
He gave them power to rise up above
the mediocrity of those who are even attempting
to serve God within the confines of their
own natural mind and natural ability.
He takes them out of the natural and
into the supernatural and he gives them gifts
and abilities.
That's what excites me so much because I've
walked this path.
I know what this is about.
That's why I preach on it almost every
time I stand in this public, because I'm
jealous for what God wants to do in
every one of your lives.
If you will just simply believe it by
faith and say, God, whatever you want me
to do, I will do.
I will never say no.
If you say yes, I will never say
it can't be done.
If you say it can't be done, I
will never say I won't go.
God, if you say go and you begin
to walk in this life and realm of
the supernatural, your eyes are open.
And you begin to see Christ where nobody
else can see him.
Jesus said in Matthew 23 that we read
a little earlier.
He said in verses 37, he said, I've
longed to gather you, comfort you, protect you
and nurture you.
But you wouldn't come.
I've longed to bring you right into the
very center of my heart.
That's really what he's giving through this expression
of a hen as it is gathering her
chickens to herself.
And he says now, because you wouldn't come,
I wanted to draw you.
I wanted to cover you.
I wanted to guide you.
I wanted to lead you.
I wanted you to know what it is
to be close to my heart.
I wanted you to hear my inmost thoughts.
But because you wouldn't come, he said to
his own people, your house is left unto
you desolate.
In other words, all that is left to
you is a lonely wilderness place of powerless
religion, an empty house.
It's just an empty house.
It has it'll have all the religious trappings
for a season, but eventually it will all
fall down and not a stone will be
left sitting upon another.
In verse 39, he says, now you will
not see me from this day forward.
Now, remember, we spoke about you.
You will not have an intellectual understanding or
an experience of what that understanding is to
bring you to.
Until you say blessed is he that comes
in the name of the Lord.
Now, the word blessed in the Greek is
eulogeal.
And here's what it means.
It means to speak well of someone, to
say that God acts for our good by
giving us what we need and not what
we desire.
That's really what it means.
You will not see me until you say,
God, whatever you send into my life is
good.
Wherever I am is where you want me
to be.
Whatever I'm called to be is sufficient in
your sight and it will be sufficient in
mine.
I will have learned as Paul to be
content in all things.
You see, go to Isaiah chapter 55 and
stay put a marker in Matthew 23.
Isaiah 55, I think in measure, tells us
why men can't see God.
Now, when I say men, of course, it's
generic for men and women, children, young people.
Isaiah 55, verse six.
Isaiah says, Seek the Lord while he may
be found.
Call upon him while he is near.
Let the wicked forsake his way and the
unrighteous man his thoughts.
So there has to be a forsaking before
you can fully see Christ.
A forsaking of our way and a forsaking
of our thoughts.
Folks, the greatest dilemma of Israel is that
they had a preconceived notion of how God
was going to manifest himself in their midst
and what he was going to do subsequent
to that manifestation.
And this is the dilemma of many Christian
people.
It's why they can't see Christ.
It's why people are running all over the
world looking for Christ now.
Can't see him, can't understand him.
Because there's a there's this self infusion of
thought of who he is, what he's going
to look like and what what his presence
is going to make my life into.
And anything that doesn't fit some people's image
of what they will become because of Christ,
they reject it.
And subsequently, they can't see him.
And let him return to the Lord and
he will have mercy on him.
This is verse seven.
And to our God, he will abundantly pardon.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts and
neither are my ways.
Neither are your ways my ways, saith the
Lord.
As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.
Settle it, folks, in your heart.
The way we think, God thinks higher than
we do.
The way we reason, God's reasoning is higher.
The plans we have, God's plans are better.
As the rain comes down and the snow
from heaven and returns there and waters the
earth and make brings it that it may
bring forth bud that it may give seed
to the sower and bread to the eater.
So shall my word be that goes forth
out of my mouth.
It shall not return to me void, but
shall accomplish that which I please.
And it shall prosper in the thing where
until I send it.
God says, if I send my word to
you, I have a purpose.
If you will open your heart to it
and you're going to begin to understand and
see when you begin to embrace the word
that I sent to you.
And here's what God does in verse 12.
You will go out with joy.
You'll be led forth with peace.
The mountains and the hills will break forth
before you into singing.
All the trees shall clap their hands.
Hallelujah.
Even nature will rejoice because finally somebody is
hearing God.
Somebody is hearing Christ.
Somebody is not being led by the passions
of their own heart.
Somebody is following the Holy Ghost.
And God says even as nature itself, Paul
says in the book of Romans, that creation
groans in itself and awaits the manifestation of
the sons of God.
Because the creation has been subject to a
confusion and a form as it is of
emptiness because of the rebellion of mankind.
Even creation is longing for the man, the
woman of God who will step out and
finally say, Lord, however you choose to reveal
your life in me.
That will suffice me.
That's all I want.
Let me glorify you while I live on
this earth.
Hallelujah.
Instead of the thorn will come up the
fir tree instead of the briar, the myrtle
tree.
And these are all instead of weeds.
In other words, there will be fruit and
it shall be to the Lord for a
name, an everlasting sign that shall not be
cut off.
Never lasting sign of God as we begin
to walk with him.
Now consider this for a moment.
God was sending his son, the Savior, into
the world.
Savior was going to come.
And of course, there is no greater.
There ever has been a greater manifestation of
the love, the life, the character of God,
the plan and purpose of God than Jesus
Christ.
He was an embodiment of God.
He was God in the flesh.
Everybody of that generation has a notion of
how God is going to come.
And if we're honest today, I think many
of us here today have similar notions.
We go to prayer, say, oh, God, come
to me.
Prosper me.
Give me a wife, a husband, a new
car.
Do this.
And we we pray it so long that
it becomes almost like a mantra that when
God comes, this is what he has to
do.
This is what he's going to make me.
We're walking and now we're looking for this
price that we've actually formulated in our own
time.
What if he wants to come another way?
I think of the prayers that would go
up in the synagogue overthrow the Romans, deliver
us from our oppressors, take away our spiritual
poverty.
And all of these things that they thought
the Messiah was going to come in and
do.
And then finally, the moment comes where the
Messiah, God says to his own son, go.
He sends the Holy Spirit to prepare the
way first through the life of John.
And second, the angel Gabriel comes to a
virgin whose name is Mary.
And this word becomes very curious because the
messenger comes to her and invites her into
the life of Christ by offering her in
part a place of misunderstanding and the possibility
of public ridicule, stoning or at least disgrace.
And this is the invitation.
Gabriel comes to Mary.
You understand that she's engaged to be married
to a man.
If she's found to be with child, she
could not only be put away by her
husband, but be stoned by the community.
And this is God's offer to her.
Now, think if you or I had been
married.
We cannot say, well, Lord, can you not
just, you know, ring the bell and have
the baby at the doorstep so I can
say to Joseph, look what God brought is
perfectly formed.
If you want to do it that way,
do you have to somehow just include me
in this disgrace or the possibility of disgrace?
Let me put it that way.
Obviously not a disgrace for God to send
his son to the life of a virgin.
But why do you have to do this
and why the invitation into this place of
misunderstanding?
Why do you have to expose me to
disgrace?
The whispering, perhaps, that would begin as people
count the days on their calendars and perhaps
realize that the baby is born before the
nine month period has expired.
That's only speculation on my part.
But listen very carefully to what I feel
the Lord is speaking.
Jesus in Matthew 24, nine is speaking to
his own disciples and he told them, he
said, you'll be hated of all nations for
my name's sake.
He said earlier in that gospel of Matthew,
blessed are ye when men shall hate you
and they shall misuse you and you'll be
despised and ridiculed and spoken falsely against.
You see, to be invited into the life
of Christ is to be invited into the
reproach of Christ.
The religious, the self-satisfied, the self-justified
have always and will always hate the person
of Jesus Christ.
God says, if you're going to welcome me
in, there's going to be a great measure
of discomfort.
Perhaps it comes into your life.
It's not going to be this success, wealth,
health and happiness and status and power and
privilege in the world.
Oh, you will have that one day.
You will rule and reign with me for
all of eternity.
But till that day, it could be a
season of ridicule.
It could be a season of hardship.
It could be a season of misunderstanding.
You could even be betrayed, as the scripture
says, by members of your own family.
It's not necessarily going to be easy to
be invited into the life of Christ or
let me say to invite the life of
Christ into you.
Now, Mary could have clearly refused and think
of the consequences had Mary said, no, this
is not for me.
I appreciate God, if you want to do
this, but not through my life.
And if she had refused, we'd be reading
today of the girl who had the chance
to have God within her and turned it
down.
And folks think about that for a moment.
Think about eternity.
Think about this lamb's book where every name
is written.
Think about the record of those that ever
lived.
Think about people who sat in the house
of God and had the opportunity no less
than Mary had to have God's life virtually
within you and turned it down.
Turned it down because it meant discomfort.
Turned it down because it may mean a
shaking up of some of our plans.
Turned it down because the way that God
chooses to do it is not the way
we personally think it should be done.
Turned it down.
And so ending up with a testimony that
I heard God speak to me through an
angel once, but I refused what God was
speaking into my heart.
But instead, in Luke chapter 1 verse 38,
she said, Be it unto me according to
thy word.
And this is the key for the Christian
life.
This is the blessedness.
He said, You'll not see me until you
say, Blessed is he who comes in the
name of the Lord.
In other words, and remember the word blessed
is that God is giving me not necessarily
what I'm asking for, but what God knows
that I need and how he will best
be glorified through my life.
And so when my heart is opened, she
said, Blessed be it unto me according to
thy word.
And folks, immediately, immediately, if you go to
Luke chapter 1, please with me.
Immediately she's brought into fellowship where the miraculous
power of God is bringing forth new life.
It's amazing.
When you have this new life of Christ
in you, you will find intuitively, instinctively, you
will know who in what life of what
person, even in this church, Christ is doing
a supernatural work.
Folks, it's amazing when you begin to see
it.
The hungry find the hungry, the disgruntled find
the disgruntled, the rebellious find the rebellious.
And they form their own fellowships even within
the house of God.
But the moment your heart is open and
you have this passionate cry, which I believe
is in the greater measure of those who
attend this church, you are beginning.
You're going to be drawn into a fellowship,
a supernatural fellowship, a fellowship that is encouraging.
It's not just blind optimism.
It is based on a greater reality than
anything your natural mind or natural eye can
see.
You know, you're changing from image to image
and glory to glory.
Nobody has to tell you.
No preacher has to preach it.
You get up in the morning and beloved,
you know it.
You know there's a change taking place.
You know that the person you just spoke
to, there was a love that began to
come from your voice and eyes.
That is not your own.
You know it.
God is beginning to do something in you.
Something is being born inside of you that
is so far beyond your own natural ability
that all you can do is give God
praise.
All you can do is come here on
Sunday and lift your hands and your voice
and begin to thank God for his goodness.
Hallelujah.
Luke 139.
Mary arose in those days and went into
the hill country with haste to a city
of Judah and entered into the house of
Zechariah and saluted Elizabeth.
And it came to pass that when Elizabeth
heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped
in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with
the Holy Ghost.
This phenomenal fellowship beginning to happen here.
And she spake out with a loud voice
and said, Blessed art thou among women.
Blessed is the fruit of thy womb.
And whence is this to me that the
mother of my Lord should come unto me?
For, Lord, as soon as the voice of
thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe
leaped in my womb for joy.
And blessed is she that believed, for there
shall be a performance of those things which
were told her from the Lord.
And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the
Lord.
My spirit is rejoiced in God my Savior,
for he has regarded the lowest state of
his handmaiden.
For behold, from henceforth all generations shall call
me blessed.
For he that is mighty has done to
me great things, and holy is his name.
And his mercy is on them that fear
him from generation to generation.
Here's the prophetic word being formed as it
is in the heart of Mary.
She's saying, God has done a marvelous thing
to me, even though there may be many
around who are not yet ready or willing
to understand this.
But I have received, I'm a recipient of
the mercy of God.
I'm blessed beyond measure.
And I understand that this same mercy is
available to everyone who fears him from generation
to generation.
And that includes Times Square Church in the
year 2005 in Manhattan, New York City.
The same mercy that was extended to her
life is available to yours life and to
mine.
Elizabeth says to her in verse 42, Blessed
among women, blessed is the fruit of thy
womb.
Verse 45, Blessed is she that believeth, for
there shall be a performance of those things
which were told her from the Lord.
And verse 48, Mary says, I am in
all generations will be called blessed.
Now it's amazing because it's not the same
word all the way through this passage.
Now the first two in verse 42 are
eulogeal, the same word that Jesus said.
You'll not see me until you say blessed
is he who comes in the name of
the Lord.
It's the same word.
And Elizabeth says to Mary, you are blessed
in that in the context of the definition
of this word.
It means you have spoken well of God.
And because of it, he has given you
what you need.
Hallelujah.
She is carrying her own savior.
It's amazing.
Hallelujah.
And then Elizabeth says to her, blessed is
the fruit of your womb.
And it also implies a miraculous multiplication.
Now, if you put these two together, she
says you have spoken well of God.
He has placed within you what you need.
And you are now living in a place
of miraculous multiplication.
Hallelujah.
That is the Christian life, folks.
You speak well of God.
You speak well of what he speaks into
your life.
And he gives you exactly what he knows
that you and I need so that our
lives may glorify him.
And he begins to miraculously multiply us.
Hallelujah.
I could stop.
Honest to God, I could stop and dance
all over this platform right now.
Hallelujah.
Because this is the truth of the gospel.
This is the Christian life.
When you are living this, you don't have
to go anywhere looking for God.
You see him.
You see him every day.
You understand his work.
You are experiencing his inward growth in you
every day.
You know you are being made into a
new creation in Jesus Christ.
You have only one desire.
Jesus, glorify yourself through this life.
In the measure of the days I have
left on this earth, be glorified.
Take me from image to image and glory
to glory.
And shout to this generation from the mountaintops,
in the places of commerce, on the street
corners, Oh God, let my life be a
testimony of your glory.
And blessed is she that believed.
Blessed is another word now in verse 45.
It's makarios and it means indwelt by God
and fully satisfied.
Isn't it amazing?
Blessed.
You have spoken well of God.
He has given you what you need.
You are being miraculously multiplied.
You are indwelt by God and fully satisfied.
And then Mary says, all generations shall call
me blessed.
Amazing.
It's another word.
Makarios.
It's a fourth, it's actually a third word.
And it means, it's very similar to the
blessed in verse 45 but there is a
difference.
It means pronounced blessed, indwelt and fully satisfied.
But this word is only used in the
scripture of Mary and the persecuted prophets.
It's used of nobody else.
I am blessed.
I am indwelt.
I am miraculously multiplied.
I am fully satisfied.
Even if I have to walk through this
world misunderstood and persecuted because of the life
of God that is now within me.
Christ is enough.
Nothing outside of Christ is necessary to be
fully satisfied.
I guess the question I have to ask
today is, do you really believe this?
Outside of Christ, I need nothing.
Christ is my life.
Christ is my satisfaction in life.
Oh, yes.
You say, well, Pastor, not too quick.
I do need food.
I need clothes.
I need a place to live.
But Jesus said, if you seek first the
kingdom of God and his righteousness, all these
things will be added to you.
All these things will be there because Christ
is everything.
Christ says, I will.
I commit myself to be everything to you.
I commit myself to be your life, your
joy.
I commit myself to be your covering.
I commit myself to be your testimony.
I commit myself to revealing my heart to
you before I do something.
The last book of the Old Testament, Malachi,
chapter 3, the Lord speaks of a people
who in the last days feared the Lord.
And they began to think about his name.
They began to turn.
They began to meditate on Christ.
Again, perhaps to stop and look one more
time.
The scripture tells us that they were returning
and discerning people.
And I believe in all of my heart
that in the existing church today, there's going
to be a returning, discerning people in the
last hour of time.
The Bible clearly indicates that in spite of
the apostasy, in spite of the wars and
rumors of wars, the terror and tragedy that
will touch much of a world in rebellion
with God, that there is a shout of
glory coming.
There are a people who are going to
be glorifying him in the midst of the
fire.
There is a voice.
If I had time, I'd go through the
Old Testament and prove it to you conclusively.
There is a voice of victory that is
going to be raised.
There is a returning and discerning people.
Christ is everything to them.
They love Jesus Christ with all their heart,
soul, mind and strength.
There's an infusion of that life that is
flowing through them now to their neighbor.
They're beginning to realize that their true neighbor
are the people who are bruised and beaten
and wounded and left half dead on the
road by the devil himself and society and
circumstance and trying to live a life without
God.
This infusion of Christ's life is beginning to
flow through them.
They are misunderstood, but they don't care.
They're ridiculed by a dying world.
It doesn't matter anymore.
They're moving in this divine power of Jesus
Christ, and they are able to discern who
is living for God and who is not.
They know the difference because Christ is in
them.
Christ has become everything to them.
They have his life within them.
There's a measure of the fullness of his
life that he has planted within them, and
they are growing from grace to grace and
glory to glory.
And there's a sweet fellowship that comes from
that.
It's a beloved fellowship.
Now, all around them may be visionless religion.
And the Bible seems to indicate that that's
going to be the cup that much of
a professing but unwelcoming to Christ's church is
going to have to drink.
Visionless, passionless, powerless religion.
Knowledge, but the knowledge that they're gaining does
not bring them to any understanding of the
truth that they're learning.
All around them, this visionless religion may be
going on, but their eyes are opened.
They are in fellowship with others through the
Holy Spirit, and they see Christ, and that's
all they need.
They see him, hallelujah.
They understand him.
They're walking in him.
They're willing to obey him.
They're willing to do what he asked them
to do.
They're willing to be what he asked them
to be, to scale any mountain that calls
them to climb and walk into any valley
and face any deadly giant that is confronting
their generation.
I think for a moment, if you'll go
with me, I'm going to conclude with Luke
chapter 2.
I think of two people in particular who
are living in the temple just a few
years prior to these words being spoken over
Jerusalem that we started with in the beginning
of this message today.
Simeon is a man in Luke chapter 2
and verse 25.
It says, and behold, there was a man
in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon.
The same man was just and devout, and
he was waiting for the consolation of Israel,
and the Holy Ghost was upon him.
Now, you have to understand, you've got to
see this now.
There's a whole religious system now has been
established, and it's all been established in God's
name.
There are big people and little people.
You see, this religion will always exalt man,
and there's pushing for position and power and
authority.
There's this methodical religiousness that's going on in
the temple every day.
And I see the priest in there, and
people are bringing in their babies for dedication,
according to the Old Testament law.
They're just going through the ritual.
Simeon, what is Simeon to them?
Simeon's just an old man.
He's just hanging around the temple, and he
just has a single focus in his heart.
He's waiting for the consolation.
While they're self-consumed, he's consumed that others
receive consolation that God has promised.
He's looking away from himself.
Here's a man who's been in the temple,
and he's waiting.
And God says to him, Simeon, you'll not
die until you have seen the Messiah, until
you have seen the Christ.
You see, folks, a lot of people can't
see Him because they're self-focused.
They're focused on their own agendas.
They're focused on their own gain.
They're focused on their own reputations.
They're focused on their own appearances, even, of
success.
And so when the Messiah comes, they can't
see Him.
And here's an old man in the temple.
And I think of all the nobodies and
nothings that are in the house of God
that everyone else writes off.
And God says, no, maybe a religious system
has written them off, but I haven't.
I'm about to open their eyes, and they're
about to see me in a way that
nobody around them can see me.
And in walks Mary and Joseph with this
little baby.
And to the priest, it's just an ordinary
day.
It's just a humdrum routine of religious activity.
Even the ritual of circumcision doesn't mean anything
to them anymore because they're not set apart
for the purposes of God.
They're so incredibly distant from God that everything
now is just becoming a repetitious, meaningless, religious
practice in the house as they see it
of God.
And here comes Mary and Joseph with the
Messiah.
You see, they can't see Him because it's
not the Messiah they're looking for.
Their hearts are not open for God to
reveal Himself in the way He's about to
do it.
When we see Him, there's nothing we should
desire Him.
We want a king.
We don't want a baby.
We want to rule now.
We don't want to wait for 33 years
and then a few thousand years or a
couple of thousand years after that.
We want it all now.
We want the kingdom here now.
We want to rule and reign now.
And so when God comes in and reveals
Himself through His Son, Jesus Christ, they can't
see it.
It was revealed to Him by the Holy
Ghost, verse 26, Luke 2, that He should
not see death before He had seen the
Lord's Christ.
And He came by the Spirit into the
temple.
And when the parents brought in the child
Jesus to do for Him after the custom
of the law, then He took Him up
in His arms and blessed God and said,
Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in
peace according to Thy word.
For mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, which
Thou hast prepared before the face of all
people, a light to lighten the Gentiles and
the glory of Thy people Israel.
It's amazing.
Look at the prophecy that's coming.
Look at the spiritual understanding.
What an offense to even suggest that the
gospel should go to the Gentiles.
How offended the high priest or the priest
of that day might have been as this
old man takes this child in his arms.
And the glory of God seems to come
into his soul.
And he starts speaking things that they've never
heard because he sees something they've never seen.
He sees the Christ.
He sees the God whose ways are higher
than our ways, whose thoughts are higher than
our thoughts, who has a plan men may
not understand it, but the plan of God
is always perfect.
He says, now I can depart in peace.
Hallelujah.
I've trusted in God's ways.
They are content like Simeon to be where
God has placed them.
They're not pushing for power.
They're not pushing for authority.
They have no unfulfilled itch that they're trying
to use God's name to scratch.
They're there worshiping God and says, God, just
let me see the consolation that You have
promised to Your people.
Let me see it, God, in my generation.
Let me see lives changed.
Let me see hope come into hopelessness.
Let me see prison doors open.
Let me see blinded eyes given sight and
wounded hearts being healed.
Oh, God, let me see it before I
die.
That's the cry of those that have welcomed
Christ.
That's the cry that Jesus himself wanted Laodicea
to find again.
This last church, the churches of Revelation, he
said, anoint your eyes again that you may
see.
And they depart in peace.
They walk through life.
They have no reputation, perhaps, in life.
And while everyone else is dying with unfulfilled
ambitions, they're walking out of this life in
peace.
Peace.
Mark the end, the scripture says, of the
perfect man.
The end of that man is peace.
Hallelujah.
I have a secret desire in my heart.
It's no secret.
I've shared it here from the pulpit.
I guess it's not a secret.
But at the end of my days, I've
asked God that I can put my feet
up in my bed and bless my children
and bless my grandchildren and speak about the
faithfulness of God and then just die.
It's a desire in my heart, and I
know that God has said yes to it.
And Anna is the last person I want
to speak about.
She's a lady who's in the temple.
She's had a very hard life.
The scripture tells us very clearly that she
lost her husband at a very young age.
And she had lived all the rest of
her life, really, in God's presence.
And she had been a person of fasting
and a person of prayer.
And she made some choices in her life.
And Anna is the type of a person
that serves God in spite of their pain.
In spite of what life has dealt her,
she's made a choice.
I'm not going to use God to get
out of my situation.
I'm just going to serve him.
I'm going to pray to him.
I'm going to believe him.
And he's going to show me.
He's going to show me I'm going to
have a vision of Christ.
And we see in verse 36, it says,
There was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter
of Phanuel, of the tribe of Assur.
And she was of a great age, and
she had lived with a husband seven years
from her virginity.
She was a widow of about four score
and four years, which departed not from the
temple, but served God with fastings and prayers
night and day.
And she, coming in that instant.
Now, you have to understand, Simeon is in
the temple.
And Simeon's got the baby in his arms,
and he's saying, This is for the Gentiles.
This is the glory of Israel.
And I can just envision the priests standing
there, either totally annoyed or with their mouths
hanging open.
I'm not sure which.
And here comes in Anna.
She's had no reputation in the house of
the Lord other than she's just been there,
perhaps just doing acts of kindness to people
that come in.
Of course, the scripture doesn't tell us.
But coming in that instant, she gave thanks
likewise unto the Lord and spake of him
to all that look for redemption in Jerusalem.
I love it.
In spite of their pain, those that welcome
Christ, those that say, Here's a lady who
could conceivably say, You wronged me, God.
You wronged me.
I had a plan for her life.
I had a wonderful husband.
He only gave him to me for seven
years.
And then he died, and now I've been
a widow in the house of God.
I'm now 84 years old, and I've lived
my life.
I have this unresolved issue.
But no, that's not her case.
She chose, she made a choice to serve
God in spite of her pain.
She made a choice to believe that all
things work together for good to those who
love God and are called according to his
purpose.
And because of it, she had a spiritual
vision that nobody else except Simeon around her
had.
Now, Mary had a glimpse of it.
Scripture says she pondered these things in her
heart.
And Joseph, I'm not sure where he stood
on any of this at this particular point.
But I know there were two people in
the temple who saw Christ, Simeon and Anna.
And Anna turns, and she begins to preach
to everybody who longs for redemption in Jerusalem.
Here is the Savior.
This is the Messiah.
This is God's plan for redemption.
This is the consolation of Israel.
Come, everyone who is laboring and heavy laden,
and God Almighty, through this child, through this
vessel, will give you rest.
Amazing.
She has a vision of Christ, and she
has an unblemished and an unashamed testimony.
She has no reputation to uphold, and neither
does Simeon.
And they really, frankly, don't care what people
think.
They've seen Christ.
And nothing can stop them speaking his name.
When will I see God?
What will it take for me to see
God, some say.
It's when you look to heaven.
We sang a song.
I thought it was kind of prophetic today.
Lift up your heads.
The King of Glory shall come in.
It's when we look to heaven, where we
live.
The life that we have.
The pain that we're in.
The bad situations that have come our way.
It's when we're willing to drop our self
-image.
Our ambitions.
And things that we have hoped that Christ
would do in us and through us that
might, we would never want to admit it,
but the truth is, bring us to our
own betterment.
Or somehow bring us to a place of
comfort and ease.
Status power.
There's a whole church age now that is
lusting for these things, and they have no
vision of Christ whatsoever.
But it's the person.
It's you.
It's me.
It's the single mother in this church.
It's the widow.
It's the father that's coming out of a
life of addiction.
Heartache.
Has nothing to prove and is not going
to use God for their own gain.
Their own betterment.
Who lifts up his head.
She lifts up her head to heaven.
And says, blessed is he who comes in
the name of the Lord.
Hallelujah.
God, thank you for the life you've given
me.
Thank you for the pain that I've endured
because if I had not had it, I
would not have found you.
If I was raised in a palace with
servants all around me, I would not need
you.
I would not know you.
Oh God, thank you.
Blessed you are, oh God.
Blessed you are.
I think of Hudson Taylor when his beloved
wife died, whom he loved with all his
heart.
At her bedside, he reached down and closed
her eyes with his fingers and said, the
Lord does all things well.
Blessed be the name of the Lord.
Blessed be the name of God.
You want to see him?
Start thanking him for who you are, where
you are, what you are.
Where he has placed you.
Start thanking him for what his plans are
for you, whether or not you or I
agree.
It's not an issue of agreement.
His ways are higher.
And we open our hearts and say, blessed
is he who comes in the name of
the Lord.
God, thank you for speaking your word to
me today.
Thank you for speaking your word in this
house.
Lord, we open our hearts today.
And as a congregation, individually and collectively, we
want to say, blessed is he who comes
in the name of the Lord.
Jesus, we bless you.
We thank you.
We acknowledge today, Lord, that you give us
not what we desire, but what you know
we need.
And what you have to do that your
name can be glorified through us.
God, thank you that you've given us this
kind of a heart.
And I pray now for an open heaven
for every struggling person in this sanctuary.
The annex is hearing the words that you've
given to me.
I pray for an open heaven.
Lord, where all the counter arguments to truth
fall away and all of the trappings of
the natural mind and the enemy fall away.
And there be an embracing of the person
and the purpose of Jesus Christ for each
one of us.
Father, thank you for this with all of
my heart.
Folks, you want to see Jesus?
You want to see God?
Say, blessed be God, no matter where he
leads me, no matter how he leads me,
no matter where he places me, no matter
what he does to me.
Blessed be God.
He is enough.
Christ is enough for me.
Christ is my life.
Christ is my all in all.
Do you think that Simeon or Anna had
any idea that we'd be discussing them 2
,000 years later?
Do you think they had any idea that
they'd be in the Bible?
Do you know what the name of the
high priest was that day doing the circumcision?
Of course not.
His name is not here.
Nobody much cared.
I want to give a very simple altar
call in the main sanctuary and the education
annex.
Freedom comes when you can say, blessed be
God.
Blessed be he who comes in the name
of the Lord.
This is Jesus Christ.
When you can say it, your eyes will
open and you will have a vision of
Christ.
You will see him.
And I don't know who I'm speaking to
today, but I know for sure there's a
lot of people here that you need to
start thanking God for your situation.
And he'll show you how he intends to
be glorified in you through it.
Give it all to him.
Just give it all to him.
Don't try to use him for a way
out.
Yield to him in the middle of it.
And you're going to see the glory.
You're going to see Christ like you've never
seen him before.
That's a promise that the scripture makes to
you.
You will not be living in an empty
religious house any longer.
Lift your hands with me, will you?
And pray with me.
Lord Jesus.
You are blessed.
I love you.
And I thank you for the plans and
the purposes that you have for my life.
I welcome you to do whatever you want
and whatever way you choose in my life.
All I ask is to be glorified in
me and that my eyes and my heart
may always behold you in all things.
I trust you.
I love you.
Oh, God, I will declare you as you
work within me.
My life will be a declaration to my
generation of the faithfulness of almighty God.
Jesus, I declare you before this whole audience
to be a faithful God.
You are faithful to me.
You've given me what I need.
Now I say be glorified.
Be glorified in me.
Be glorified in my life.
Hallelujah!
Be glorified!
Hallelujah!
Blessed is he who comes!
Blessed is he who comes in the name
of the Lord!
I welcome you, Jesus!
I welcome you, God!
I welcome your work into my life!
Hallelujah!
Hallelujah, Lamb of God!
I welcome you!
We welcome you, Lord!
We welcome you!
Hallelujah!
Thank you, Jesus!
Thank you, Lord!
Thank you, Father!
Now, Father, I pray in Jesus' name that
there be an open heaven given to those
who have received you, Lord, in the manner
that you have revealed yourself.
Jesus, thank you.
Let there be a song and a shout
of joy all through their day and week,
O God, through the months and years ahead,
a song of peace and joy in spite
of what life deals that cannot be taken
away by circumstance or adversity.
Lord, be glorified in us.
Be glorified, O God, is the cry of
our hearts.
Be glorified, Jesus.
Father, we thank you for this.
God, we thank you.
Hallelujah!