Well, it is a great blessing and privilege
to be here with you again.
It's been a couple of years I was
over here.
I don't know if some of you may
have been here then.
But I was just thinking before this time
began here tonight, just the blessedness of getting
to be here and speak to you, share
the Word of God with you.
And what I want us to do tonight
is to read a passage from Matthew chapter
11.
We'll read several verses here.
Is this good enough?
Can you hear me in back?
Getting any amplification?
Okay.
Matthew chapter 11, and we'll read verses 7
to 15.
It says, As these were going away, Jesus
began to say to the multitudes concerning John,
What did you go out into the wilderness
to look at?
A reed shaken by the wind?
But what did you go out to see?
A man dressed in soft clothing?
Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in
king's palaces.
But why did you go out?
See a prophet?
Yes, I tell you, and one who is
more than a prophet.
This is the one about whom it was
written, Behold, I send my messenger before your
face, who will prepare your way before you.
Truly I say to you, among those born
of women, there has not arisen anyone greater
than John the Baptist.
Yet he who is least in the kingdom
of heaven is greater than he.
And from the days of John the Baptist
until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers violence,
and violent men take it by force.
For all the prophets in the law prophesied
and tell John, if you care to accept
it, he himself is Elijah who was to
come.
He who has ears to hear, let him
hear.
I'd like for us to center our attention
tonight on one verse, and that one verse
is a very glorious verse, and a mysterious
verse, and it's verse 12.
He says, from the days of John the
Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffers
violence, and violent men take it by force.
John Brashears, would you lead us in prayer
before we look into the word here?
What does the Lord mean when he says,
the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and violent
men take it by force?
What's he talking about?
I've read some commentators on this, and some
of them say that these words should be
understood in a negative way.
They say it's talking about persecution, violence against
Christians.
Others refer to John 6.15. You remember
it says they tried to come and take
him by force, or violently come and try
to make him a king.
But I think it's very clear that our
Lord is not thinking of anything like that
at all.
That's not what he's talking about.
He's not thinking of something negative.
He's thinking of something that is very positive
and commendable.
Now how can I say that?
Well, if you keep your place here, I
don't know how many of you have your
Bibles, but if you have them, we'll turn
to Luke chapter 16.
Luke 16, and we'll see a parallel passage.
Luke 16 and verse 16.
Jesus says, The law and the prophets were
proclaimed until John.
Since then, the gospel of the kingdom of
God is preached, and everyone is forcing his
way into it.
Now the significant thing here, this word forcing
is the same word, violence.
It has to do with violence.
So if we just wanted to read Matthew
11 in this way, you'd say the kingdom
of heaven.
Let's switch the word.
The kingdom of heaven is forced.
The kingdom of heaven is being forced, and
forceful men seize it for themselves.
Or if you wanted to switch it over
in Luke, you could say that the, since,
or verse 16, The law and the prophets
were proclaimed until John.
Since then, the gospel of the kingdom of
God is preached, and everyone is violencing his
way into it.
Same words are used in both these passages.
So in other words, he's talking here in
both these passages about entering the kingdom of
heaven.
That's a good thing, isn't it?
Talking about entering the kingdom of heaven.
Everyone's forcing his way into the kingdom of
heaven.
He's giving a description here, in other words,
of the type of person that enters the
kingdom of heaven.
Now, this is quite an amazing thing.
What type of person enters the kingdom of
heaven?
The only type of people that get into
the kingdom of heaven are violent people.
Isn't that something?
Violent people are the only ones that get
into the kingdom of heaven.
You realize, in order to enter the kingdom
of heaven, you're going to have to be
a violent person.
Now, we know right away, what does this
mean?
Well, we're not talking about physical violence.
We know that right off the bat.
In Matthew chapter 5, Jesus says, Resist not
the one who is evil.
If somebody slaps you on the right cheek,
turn the other one.
If somebody forces you, there's that idea again,
forcing.
If he forces you to go a mile,
go with him too.
So he's not talking about that kind of
violence.
Now, this is something more though.
He's not talking about any kind of natural
violence at all.
Not talking about you having a forceful personality
and asserting yourself and believing in yourself and
being that type of person.
You say, I'm not that kind of person.
I'm kind of weak.
Well, that's great.
You've got a possibility of being a violent
person and in the right way.
Because if you've still got that self-confidence
and that violence in that sort of way,
you know, pride, you're going to be ruled
out as one of these spiritually violent people
getting into the kingdom of heaven.
He's talking about a different kind of violence.
Now, he's not talking about natural aggressiveness or
confidence.
But he's talking about a violence that comes
from a holy desperation.
Not talking about a violence that comes out
of strength.
He's talking about a violence that comes out
of weakness.
You get so weak that you get violent.
That's what he's talking about.
He's talking about a violence that is born
out of humility, not pride.
And out of need and not sufficiency.
And we'll see this, I hope, as we
go along.
It's the meek.
And those who are weak in themselves that
have the kind of violence that Jesus is
talking about.
Now, alright, here's where we've come.
The Lord Jesus Christ says that the only
people that get into the kingdom of heaven
are violent people.
What's he talking about?
Why would this be?
Why is it necessary?
Well, for a number of reasons.
But I think that you can sum them
up, group them in two main groups as
to why violence is necessary.
And I hope all this starts to become
clear as we go along here.
First of all, violence is necessary because of
the nature of the gate that you've got
to pass through to get into the kingdom
of heaven.
The Lord Jesus talks about this in Matthew
7.
And you remember what he says?
Enter by the narrow gate.
The gate is wide, the way is broad
that leads to destruction.
And many go in that.
Now, you don't want to get the idea
that this broad gate has to do with
people like Hitler or Hindus or something like
that.
The broad gate is talking about professing Christians.
You go right on in Matthew 7.
And he says, many.
He said, many will go in that broad
gate.
Many will say to me, Lord, Lord, did
we not prophesy in your name?
Did we not cast out demons in your
name?
Did we not do miracles in your name?
So the many that go in the broad
gate are professing Christians.
They have some kind of a crisis of
some kind.
They go through a broad, easy gate, and
then they walk on a broad way after
they get through there.
But he says, strive to enter in at
the narrow gate.
Try to get through that narrow gate because,
he says, there's few that find that.
It requires violence because of the nature of
the gate.
The nature of the gate itself means violence.
Now, in other words, it means more than
saying, Lord, Lord.
It means, he says, he that does the
will of my Father in heaven, whatever the
cost, doing the will of the Father in
heaven.
You have to be violent.
Another place, Luke 13, verse 23 and 24.
They're going along there one day and they
say to the Lord, Lord, are there few
that are being saved?
What do you think Jesus said to that?
What would you answer to it?
Somebody says, is there few people that are
being saved?
What did Jesus say?
Does anybody remember?
He said, the very next thing he said,
strive to enter at the narrow gate.
And the Greek word is the word agonize.
Agonizamahi or something to that effect.
Agonize to get in to the narrow gate.
Strive to enter in because he said, what
did he say?
Many will seek to enter and will not
be able.
Now, isn't that amazing?
That's amazing to me.
Many people, Jesus said, are going to seek
to get in.
And they're not going to be able.
Why not?
Because they're not violent.
That's the reason why.
The rich young ruler, you remember, he's seeking
to get in the gate.
He comes up and falls down before Jesus
and says, good teacher, what must I do
to be saved?
He didn't make it through the gate.
Why not?
He wasn't violent enough to get rid of
his idol, his riches.
That's a big thing.
That's why Jesus said it's easier for a
camel to go through the eye of a
needle than for a rich man to enter
the kingdom of heaven.
Why?
Because it's going to cost him stuff that
he doesn't want to get.
He doesn't want to get violent enough.
Now, you may not be rich, but you're
going to have to be violent.
I guarantee you, Jesus said it.
You're going to have to be violent in
order to enter the kingdom of heaven.
That's the nature of the gate.
There is no sliding in without violence.
It is going to cost you everything to
follow the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, we'll see this as we go along
here.
The nature of the gate itself requires violence.
You cannot bring your idols and your sins
and your self-life through that gate.
And the Lord Jesus brings this out in
many places.
I want to just look at two or
three.
Luke 14, verse 25 and 26.
You'll see some of this violence.
Luke 14, 25 and 26.
Now, great multitudes were going along with Him.
And He turned and said to them, If
anyone comes to Me and does not hate
his own father and mother and wife, amazing,
and children and brothers and sisters, yes, even
his own life, he can't be My disciple.
He says, you've got to hate your own
life.
That's pretty violent.
Hate your own father and mother and brothers
and sisters and wife and children.
What's that talking about?
It's talking about something like Abraham taking his
beloved son Isaac up there and being ready
to kill him.
That's violent.
I mean, it's a holy violence.
It's a fearful thing, really.
It is.
Right here in this passage, the next verse.
Whoever does not carry his own cross and
come after Me cannot be My disciple.
Another violent Scripture.
And then, I've always been amazed at this
one.
Verse 33 right here in Luke 14.
So therefore, no one of you.
You know, the Lord doesn't give us very
many outs, does He?
You'd think He'd at least say there'd be
a few.
Or some of you are going to have
to give up.
He says, no one of you.
No one of you can be My disciple
who does not give up all his own
possessions.
Amazing statement.
That's a violent statement.
And then again in Mark chapter 9.
Now, let's turn to this if you have
your Bible.
Mark chapter 9, verse 43.
He says, if your hand causes you to
stumble, cut it off.
It is better for you to enter life
crippled than having your two hands to go
into hell, into the unquenchable fire.
In verse 45, if your foot causes you
to stumble, cut it off.
Better for you to enter life lame than
having your two feet to be cast into
hell.
In verse 47, if your eye causes you
to stumble, cast it out.
Better for you to enter the kingdom of
God with one eye than having two eyes
to be cast into hell where their worm
does not die and the fire is not
quenched.
In other words, what's Jesus saying?
He says, you have got to deal violently
with sin and it's not an option of
whether or not you'll be a carnal Christian
or not.
It has to do with heaven and hell.
He says, if your hand causes you to
stumble, to sin.
He's not talking about literally cutting your hand
off.
Remember, we're not talking about physical violence.
We're talking about spiritual violence.
If that thing stumbles you and causes you
to sin, cut it off and throw it
away.
Your eye, tear it out and throw it
away because this is not a matter of
how many gold bricks you get on Main
Street or something.
This is a matter of whether or not
you enter the kingdom of God or you're
cast into hell.
Isn't that what he said?
He says it right here three times.
In other words, for the Christian, there is
a violence towards sin.
And this thing is life and death.
It's not something to treat lightly.
That's the words of Jesus.
Now, sometimes it doesn't fit our theology very
well, but you're going to have to deal
with what he said.
That's what he said.
You know, to get it down into the
real world, if TV causes you to sin,
take it and throw it out the window
on the second floor and smash it.
That's what he's saying.
There came a time in my life, when
I was in college, I went through a
time of such lukewarmness and God began to
deal with me and show me what it
meant to be a Christian.
And I mean, it's like you feel this
light drawing you into the light and you
start to understand a little bit, you know,
God is real, God's real.
And you're like reaching out for him and
he's going away from you.
And you find yourself day after day, you
know, dull and lifeless.
And every now and then you get a
little glimpse of reality.
And you feel the call for something more,
that God is really real.
And you realize, wait a minute, I can't
play around with this thing over here and
at the same time have God.
And you know, in my life, right after
I got out of college, it just began
to dawn on me.
It wasn't some snap deal or something like
that.
It was just gradually began to settle on
my soul.
God was saying to me, look, I don't
want you to go to any more movies,
period, until I show you.
Now, I'm not telling you that this is
for you.
I'm just telling you an example of what
God did.
He says, if it causes you to stumble.
If it doesn't cause you to stumble, fine.
But it began to settle on my soul.
God was saying to me, not necessarily bad
stuff.
He's just saying, I want you in this
area because this, you know, if you're honest
with me, you know this is drawing you
away from really knowing me.
And it settled on me for weeks at
a time.
And finally I saw, this is really God.
This isn't just some guilt trip or something.
This is God talking to me.
And I said, okay, Lord, I won't go
again unless you show me that I'm supposed
to do it.
For 20 years or more, I'd never win
again.
And God used that at that time in
my life when I was just out of
college.
He used that to save me from all
kinds of stuff.
Now, I don't make it an absolute.
It's something I've gone, you know, I felt
that I should go back again in some
cases.
But what I'm talking to you about is
that you've got to face this reality of
whether or not you want to know God
or whether you want to give your time.
I mean, good things.
I'm not talking about bad stuff.
I mean, it's possible to waste a whole
night just being with your friends and nothing.
You never seek God.
You didn't spend five minutes seeking God.
You didn't read your Bible.
You didn't pray.
You didn't do anything.
And you wonder why it is God is
far away and unreal.
Tell you why it is, because you're not
being violent.
You see?
That's what we're talking about.
It might be good things.
Some people, it's hobbies and that kind of
thing.
I know a pastor that collected arrowheads.
And he had arrowheads all through his house.
One day a doctor was in there.
He said, this is fantastic.
How much would you take for it?
And he put some massive price on it
because he didn't want to sell it.
And he groaned.
The doctor said, I'll take it.
And he bought all his arrowheads.
He said he was so sick, he was
almost physically sick when those arrowheads went out
of the house.
What's happening there?
He's got an idol.
That's what it is.
And God broke him of it so that
now he can look at arrowheads and love
them and he enjoys them, but he doesn't
covet them or want to have them.
See, one thing that God insists for you
and me is He insists He's going to
be our God.
And if you're a Christian, you want Him
to be your God.
You want Him.
I mean, there's areas, you know these areas
here that are pulling you, and deep down
in your heart, even though you know the
flesh wants to cling to that, deep down
in your heart, you say, I want you
to be my God.
I want you to be my God, and
I want to be your child in all
that that means.
You've got to deal violently with things.
You've got to deal violently with sin.
I know there came a time in my
life back when I was, I guess it
was probably about the time I got out
of college, I began to realize, look, I
can't go down that aisle that has all
those magazines in it.
I can't go down that aisle because I'll
end up sinning.
I'm talking about even in the grocery store.
I just began to realize I can't do
that.
It's going to cause, it's going to, that's
weird.
Yeah, it's violent.
You enter into life mean.
Everybody else thinks you're a weirdo maybe.
But what it means is that you enter
into life.
There's a pastor out in New Jersey that's
well-known all over the world, and my
co-pastor, I think she's the one that
told me this, she said that he read
that that pastor has his wife look through
Newsweek and all those magazines and tear out
all the garbage photos because he wants to
read the magazines.
Now you say, that's pretty far out.
I'm using words that are 100 years old,
aren't I?
Anyway, I'm not doing that intentionally to try
to relate to you.
That's the way I talk.
But anyway, you say that's pretty extreme.
Yeah, it's extreme.
I mean, it really is extreme.
Question, how's your thought life?
How are you doing?
You see, that's what it gets down to,
the reality of it.
Are we being violent?
Are we being violent in our desire to
know God and to have eternal life?
There came a time in my life where
things kind of came to a crisis, and
I realized, you know, I want to know
God.
I went out one night after I was
at some special meetings, I went out under
the moonlight, and I was crying out to
God, you know, and I was just dry
as I could be.
And then I just sat there for a
while, and it just kind of dawned on
me, just another one of those things where
the Holy Spirit just kind of quietly tells
you.
And this is a thought that came into
my mind.
What would you do different if God was
as real in your life as He should
be, as you know He should be?
What would you change about your life?
If He was as real as He ought
to be, what would you do different?
Well, I said, I know one thing I'd
do.
I'd sell my black leather jacket.
I don't think it's probably the best thing.
And I'd sell my umpty-teen dollar stereo
that I had.
I think I'd already sold my motorcycle at
that time.
Again, I'm not saying these are absolutes.
It's something God was showing me.
I know one thing I'd do.
I'd go back, you know, that picnic table
that other guy and I tore up back
years ago.
We tore up that guy's picnic table.
I knew I'd done it, and I'd never
gone back to that guy and gotten it
right.
I know one thing I'd do.
If God was as real as He should
be, I'd go back and get that right.
I'd go confess that.
And those seats that we tore up in
the movie theater that time, I'd go back
and tell them about that.
That's one thing I would do.
And I just started writing down the stuff
that I would do if God was as
real as He should be.
And by the time it was over, I
had a list.
And by the grace of God, every one
of those things, I was able to go
back and get it made right.
I'm not talking about you trying to cook
up some kind of guilt that you don't
have and introspecting and that kind of thing.
But a lot of times what happens is
somebody just mentions something like this and wham,
that thing comes up and you know in
your heart and mind God's talking to you
about that.
You didn't think it up.
He brought it to your mind.
And you get that thing taken care of,
and I'm telling you, my life was transformed
by obedience to those things that God showed
me to do.
And it wasn't any big experience, you see.
It was just being violent.
I have a friend who's a pastor now.
And before he became a Christian, he was
a pretty rough guy.
And he was particularly obnoxious when he'd get
drunk.
And he came to know the Lord.
And one of the things he and another
guy that was a very rough character, they
had gone one time and they had taken
rocks and just broken out the windows in
this building, just one whole side of the
building.
And after he became a Christian, God brought
that to his mind.
Now this is violent.
It's not easy.
You go back and go to that place
and you tell them, you know, I'm the
guy that broke those windows out.
That's not easy to do.
I know a guy that had embezzled $5
,000 from 7-Eleven.
He had to go back and tell them.
Somebody told him.
They said, you don't need to do that.
You don't need to go back and get
that made right.
Just confess it, you know.
But he knew in his heart, he knew
that was not right.
Anyway, my friend went back and confessed what
he had done breaking out those windows.
Sometime later he saw the guy that he
had done it with.
He started telling the guy.
He said, Rodney, I've come to know the
Lord.
I've become a Christian.
You know what the first thing he said
was?
What about those windows?
Isn't that amazing?
And he could say, I've got that taken
care of.
See, it's violence.
And beloved, there's life there.
There is life if you will be violent.
If you won't be violent, I didn't say
it.
Jesus said it.
There's death.
Psalm 1837.
David says, I pursued my enemies and overtook
them.
I did not turn back until they were
consumed.
I shattered them so that they were not
able to rise.
That's a violent attitude towards sin.
Don't turn back until you destroy that thing.
You give it any little inch and it
will work its way right back in.
It will.
The gate is narrow.
It requires violence.
Why else is violence necessary?
Not only is the gate, by the nature
of the gate, violence is necessary, but there's
another reason violence is necessary.
And that is, you've got all kinds of
opposition standing against you to try to keep
you from getting in.
Let me give you a quote from Pilgrim's
Progress.
John Bunyan gives a picture of this.
He says, I saw also that the interpreter
took him again by the hand and led
him into a pleasant place where was built
a stately palace, beautiful to behold, at the
sight of which Christian was greatly delighted.
He also saw upon the top thereof certain
persons walking who were clothed all in gold.
Then said Christian, May we go in thither?
Then the interpreter took him and led him
up toward the door of the palace, and
behold, at the door stood a great company
of men as desirous to go in, but
durst not.
There also sat a man at a little
distance from the door at a table side,
with a book and his incorn before him,
to take the name of him that should
enter therein.
He saw also that in the doorway stood
many men in armor to keep it, being
resolved to do to the men that would
enter what hurt and mischief they could.
Now was Christian somewhat in amaze.
At last, when every man started back for
fear of the armed men, Christian saw a
man of very stout countenance come up to
the man that sat there to write, saying,
Set down my name, sir.
The witch, when he had done, he saw
the man draw his sword, and put a
helmet upon his head, and rushed toward the
door upon the armed men, who laid upon
him with deadly force.
But the man, not at all discouraged, fell
to cutting and hacking most fiercely.
That's the way you've got to approach the
Christian life.
So after that, he had received and given
many wounds to those that, get this, attempted
to keep him out.
He cut his way through them all, and
pressed forward into the palace, at which there
was a pleasant voice heard from those that
were within, even of those that walked upon
the top of the palace, saying, Come in,
come in, eternal glory, thou shalt win.
So he went in, and was clothed with
such garments as they.
Then Christian smiled and said, I think verily
I know the meaning of this.
Did you know that's the way it is?
Did somebody lie to you?
That's the way the Christian life is, sometimes,
not all the time, but sometimes.
That's the way it is.
One of the men in our church liked
this passage, and a friend of mine painted
him a picture.
It's got the castle there, got the men
standing in front, to keep him out, and
there's a, you can just see the part
of the hand and the pen, and he's
writing this fellow's name in there.
And the guy's got his sword drawn, and
he's heading in.
That's the attitude that we're to have, because
there is great opposition to entering the kingdom.
Now listen to it.
I want to give you some Scripture.
I'm not just saying this.
Acts 14, 22.
Through many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom
of heaven.
Through many tribulations, we must.
There's no question about it.
Paul says you're destined for this.
Now you may not get beat up physically,
but you're going to suffer if you follow
God.
There's suffering involved.
I'll tell you one area of suffering.
You're going to get suffering from the devil.
You see, do you realize this?
You have an objective enemy outside of you
that does not want you to live the
Christian life.
Even if you didn't have any sin in
yourself at all.
Let's suppose you were perfect.
You don't have any sin inside.
You've got an enemy on the outside of
you that does not want you to have
victory.
When you get up tomorrow morning, you're in
enemy territory.
You've got an enemy that does not want
you to succeed in the Christian life.
I'm not talking about what sin you've got
inside you.
I'm talking about even if you were perfect.
Look at the Lord Jesus Christ.
He didn't have one sin within.
He had all kinds of satanic opposition.
The devil hates you.
If you're a true Christian, he hates you.
He does not want you to make it.
He does not want you to walk with
God.
He wants to see you defeated.
Not only the devil, men will oppose you,
persecute you.
I just read today in my daily reading
Jesus said, Beware of men.
He said, I send you forth as sheep
in the midst of wolves.
Picture there's a room full of sheep in
here and outside there's a bunch of hungry
wolves and you send them out.
You send them out one at a time.
Send those sheep out there.
They're going to get eaten alive.
He said, Beware of men.
You've got to be shrewd as serpents and
innocent as doves.
You cannot afford to have sin in your
life and you cannot afford to be stupid.
You've got to be awake about this thing.
Beware.
Not only men but false teachers.
False teachers will try to mislead you and
keep you from getting through the door.
Now this is amazing.
Let me just read it to you.
This is from Matthew 23, 13.
Jesus says, Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees,
hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of
heaven from men.
For you do not enter in yourselves, nor
do you allow those who are entering to
go in.
Now here's opposition.
I said, Why does it require violence to
get in?
The nature of the gate itself.
But not only that, you've got opposition.
You've got guys that ought to be telling
you how to get in and they're standing
in the way hindering you from getting in
by telling you a bunch of lies that
are not in the Bible.
Now that is rampant in America today.
How do they block the narrow way?
How do they keep people from going in
the narrow way?
Well, one way, Jesus said, they've taken away
the key.
Remember that?
Luke 11 32.
Let me read that one to you.
That's the wrong passage.
Luke 11 52.
Woe to you, lawyers, for you have taken
away the key of knowledge.
You did not enter in yourselves.
And see, he's talking about entering in.
You did not enter in yourselves and those
who were entering, you hindered.
Taking away the key of knowledge.
You've got to be violent about that.
The men who should have been giving the
way of knowledge of salvation, they'd actually lost
the key and buried it under a mountain
of false teaching.
And you've got to be violent to get
that key.
You've got to be violent in your desire
to know the truth and your desire to
know God no matter what it cost.
Let me just read another one to you.
In Proverbs, this is one that has meant
so much to me over the years.
This is what the Lord says, My son,
if you will receive my sayings and treasure
my commandments within you, make your ear attentive
to wisdom, incline your heart to understanding.
For if you cry for discernment, lift your
voice for understanding.
If you seek her as silver and search
for hers for hidden treasures, then you will
discern the fear of the Lord and discover
the knowledge of God.
It just doesn't fall on you.
You've got to cry for discernment.
I mean, as students, I hope you know
something about this.
You get away from everybody else and you
go out and walk the streets and you
cry to God, I want to know you.
I want to know the truth.
Teach me.
Open my eyes that I can behold these
wonderful things.
I want to know you.
If you seek her as silver, you do
not find silver, you know, just laying around
on top of the ground.
God doesn't do that.
He hides it.
It's the glory of God to hide a
matter.
It's the glory of kings and princes to
search out a matter.
If you seek her as silver, Proverbs 23,
23, buy the truth and sell it not.
You know what?
It's possible for you to have the truth.
It's possible for you to know what is
true unshakably.
It doesn't matter whether everybody around disagrees with
you.
You know absolutely that it's true.
It's possible to have the truth.
I'll tell you what else.
It's going to cost you something.
Why does he say buy the truth?
It's going to cost.
There is a cost to having truth.
I mean some people that have truth pay
a terrific cost for it.
And it is much cheaper and easier to
believe lies.
It costs to have the truth.
What else about that verse?
Buy the truth and sell it not.
It's going to cost to have the truth.
What else is he saying?
No matter how much it costs, it's worth
it.
That's what he's saying.
It's worth it.
Well the Bible is full of illustrations of
violent men and violent women.
I just want to close here by giving
you a few examples of this.
Jesus said and this was in a historical
setting.
He says the law and the prophets were
preached up until John.
Now he says now the kingdom of heaven
is being preached.
And everybody is forcing their way in.
Violent men are violencing their way in.
The kingdom of heaven suffers violence.
Who is he talking about?
He had some people in mind.
You can read about them in the Gospels.
Some of them.
Let me just give you a few examples.
Luke 8.
Luke 8 and verse 42.
This man Jairus had an only daughter who
was about 12 years old.
She was dying.
As he went the multitude were pressing against
him and a woman who had a hemorrhage
for 12 years and could not be healed
by anyone came up behind him and touched
the fringe of his cloak and immediately her
hemorrhage stopped.
And Jesus said who is the one who
touched me?
And while they were all denying it, Peter
said Master the multitudes are crowding and pressing
upon you.
Jesus said somebody did touch me.
For I was aware that power had gone
out of me.
And when the woman saw that she had
not escaped notice, she came trembling and fell
down before him and get this declared in
the presence of all the people the reason
why she had touched him.
That was embarrassing.
She had a flow of blood that made
her ceremonially unclean and had for years.
She blurted all that out right in front
of everybody.
The reason why she told him in the
presence of all the people and how she
had been immediately healed.
He said to her daughter your faith has
made you well.
Go in peace.
You know the picture here.
There's a massive group of people pushing and
shoving all around Jesus.
And it is not going to be easy
for a little frail woman who has been
bleeding to death for 12 years to make
her way through that on her hands and
knees.
Because she touched the fringe of his cloak.
She's crawling.
What kind of person would do that?
I'll tell you.
A violent person.
Who's weak and helpless and has got to
get to the Lord and get help.
Our problem is not that we are too
weak.
Our problem is we're too strong.
We're not desperate.
She didn't have anywhere else.
She had nowhere else to go.
Sometimes you've got to push past other Christians.
She had to get past the disciples even
to get to it.
And all the discouragements that other people will
heap on you to try to stop you
from doing what God is calling you to
do and seeking Him.
She pushed past all the opposition and when
she got there, she touches his garment.
She's healed.
I wonder what she does.
She blurts out everything in front of everybody.
That's violence.
I've seen people that are violent before.
I mean right in the midst of a
big group.
People are sharing their testimony or something.
One person just comes out and says, for
10 years I have been lying.
I'm lost.
Or they come out with something else.
Things you don't want to get out there.
It's violent.
You know what?
Anybody that's violent will make it into the
kingdom of heaven.
You cover all this stuff over, you know,
smooth it over and protect yourself and go
to hell.
That's what it amounts to.
Mark 20.
29 to 34.
We don't have too many more here.
I'm sorry.
Did I say Mark?
There isn't Mark 20.
Matthew 20.
All you Bible students should have caught me
on that right away.
I'm sure you did.
Matthew 20.
Verse 29.
And as they were going out from Jericho,
a great multitude followed him.
And behold, two blind men sitting by the
road, hearing that Jesus was passing by, cried
out, saying, Lord, have mercy on us, Son
of David.
And the multitude told them to be quiet.
No, they sternly told them to be quiet.
They got ugly about it.
They said, shut up.
They sternly told them to be quiet.
And they said, oh, excuse me.
I'm sorry, but I won't do that anymore.
They cried out all the more.
They were violent.
These men were violent.
An example of a violent person.
They cried out all the more, saying, Lord,
have mercy on us, Son of David.
Jesus stopped and called them and said, what
do you wish me to do for you?
And so on.
Matthew 9, 27, and 28.
We looked at some of these last time
I was here in the messages on persistence
in prayer.
And actually, in persistence in prayer, you see
the same thing.
This violence.
Matthew 9, 27, and 28.
As Jesus passed on from there, two blind
men followed Him, crying out and saying, have
mercy on us, Son of David.
And after He had come into the house,
the blind men came up to Him, and
Jesus said to them, do you believe that
I'm able to do this?
And they said to Him, yes, Lord.
Now, we read right over that.
It says, after He came into the house,
He just kept on walking.
They're crying out, have mercy on us, Son
of David.
He just ignored them.
He went on into the house, and they
had the audacity to follow Him into the
house.
And they got healed.
Luke 9, verse 37, and
38.
And it came about on the next day,
when they had come down from the mountain,
a great multitude met Him.
And behold, a man from the multitude shouted
out, saying, Teacher, I beg you to look
at my son, for he's my only boy.
And behold, a spirit seizes him.
And suddenly, he screams, and it throws him
into convulsion.
Can you imagine?
That's a little bit embarrassing, isn't it?
Shout out in front of the whole multitude,
I've got a son that's full of demons.
You know, most parents, you know why a
lot of parents or kids don't get any
help?
They're so afraid of anybody thinking that they're
not the perfect parent, they won't admit.
And cry out and say, Lord, help me.
Or share it with the people of God.
Say, this is a problem.
I've got a problem here.
I can't handle it.
There's a need here.
And you expose yourself.
You see, that's violence.
I love that one in Mark 2, 4.
We don't need to read it, but you
remember Jesus is preaching.
And those four guys are bringing their friend.
They can't get in.
And they open a hole.
You realize those are tile roofs.
You imagine if I'm standing here right now
trying to teach.
And somebody is tearing the roof out over
my head.
I mean, there's junk falling down and everything.
It was ridiculous what they were doing.
They tore a hole out of the roof
with all these people underneath them.
And they lured this man down in front
of everybody.
Those guys were violent.
The thing is, their friend got healed.
Those guys are chickening out out there at
the edge.
They're still out there.
They were still out there.
The violent take it by force.
Why are they violent?
Again, why are they violent?
I'm not talking about you being some big
shot.
I'm talking about you giving up.
You're getting desperate.
It has to do with weakness.
It doesn't have to do with I'm not
strong enough.
It has to do with I'm too strong.
I've got too much sufficiency of my own.
We won't look at this, but it's really
worth a message all its own.
Matthew 15, that Syrophoenician woman.
She was a violent person.
Jesus didn't answer her word.
She kept on coming.
When he did answer, he answered her negatively.
He said, I wasn't sent but to the
lost sheep of the house of Israel.
What are you doing here?
And then he finally says, it's not right
to take the children's bread and give it
to dogs.
She kept on.
She was violent.
Woman, great is your faith, be it done
to you.
What everything you want, you can have.
What a blessed thing it is when God
works a holy desperation in our hearts.
And we get so needy and so desperate
and helpless that we can't take no for
an answer.
That's what happened to Jacob.
I've heard these sermons about Jacob wrestling with
the angel.
Oh, what a great prayer warrior Jacob was.
You know, he wrestled with God and all
that.
That misses it totally.
The angel attacked him.
A man came and started wrestling with him.
And they wrestled for a time and then
finally the angel touched.
It wasn't a matter that the angel couldn't
overpower him.
Just playing with him to weaken him.
And finally he touched the hollow of his
thigh and his hip was out of joint.
That's the end for a wrestler.
Any of you done anything about wrestling, you
know if your hip was out of joint,
you don't do any more wrestling.
Now what was Jacob doing?
He was hanging on for dear life.
I will not let you go except you
bless me.
He was desperate.
He got to the state of dependence upon
God.
And he was crying out to Him.
He was violent.
One last note.
Luke 16 16 says Now the kingdom of
heaven is preached and everybody is forced in
His way.
We're not talking about somebody else.
We're talking about you and me.
It's for everybody.
It doesn't matter who you are.
You can be a violent person.
And you must be a violent person.
The kingdom of heaven suffers violence.
Take it by force.
They force their way in.
It's a blessed thing because it's a violence
of weak people that need God and can't
stand to live the way they're living.
That's the kind of violence that it is.
Amen.
It's been good to be here.
The Lord bless you.
And may all of us have these things
worked out in our lives.
Amen.