It's a real joy to be back with
you.
I have to let you know I bragged
about you in a number of places and
said to my wife, I really believe that
this is one of the most mature congregations
that I've been in and I don't say
that just to make you feel good.
I think God has done something very wonderful
in your midst.
It's very rare to, at least for me,
and I travel 47 or 8 weekends per
year to go into a congregation where you
really sense that you make it into the
presence of God.
There's a lot of noise, a lot of
volume, a lot of worship leaders that are
tripping out on their own egos, but not
too many that bring us into the presence
of God.
The Bible says, cast up a highway, and
I believe we've done that tonight.
So again, it's my joy just to share
God's Word with you.
Let's just pray once again, shall we?
Father again, we bring this Word to you.
He said, we're to pray, give us this
day our daily bread.
And Father, we pray that this would be
bread.
Lord, it would nourish, it would sustain, it
would further your cause tonight.
Lord, your Word says you were made known
to the disciples in the breaking of the
bread.
So Lord, make yourself known.
Make your ways known, Lord.
Give us understanding of your purposes.
In Jesus' name.
Amen.
I want to speak to you tonight on
the cross.
I have been in ministry now for 36
years.
I've never had a secular job in my
life.
I don't know if that's good or bad.
I went from high school into Bible school,
and then from Bible school right into ministry.
But I'm convinced that we really don't understand
the cross.
And yet the cross is the very crux,
the very center, the very foundation of all
that we believe.
And if we miss it here, then we
sort of miss it everywhere.
If the foundation is wrong, it doesn't matter
how great the building may be, ultimately something
is going to be out of kilter, something
is going to collapse.
And so I want to look at the
cross, I trust in a way that you
have seen it, but for many of you,
maybe you haven't seen it this way.
And let's begin in the epistle of John,
1 John chapter 2, reading from verse 12.
John says, I'm writing to you little children,
because your sins have forgiven you for his
name's sake.
I'm writing to you fathers because you know
him that is from the beginning.
I'm writing to you young men because you've
overcome the evil one.
John is addressing here three levels of spiritual
maturity.
He is not literally writing to the children's
department of the congregation.
He's not writing to the young people.
He's not writing to the oldies.
But he is writing to three levels of
spiritual maturity.
We begin the Christian life the way we
begin the natural life, as babies.
And the wonderful thing about a baby is
that it has no past.
A baby may toss and turn at night
for various reasons, but it certainly doesn't toss
and turn over the remorse of some sin
that it committed, you know, years previously, because
there's no history.
And so John says, I write to you
little children, because your sins have forgiven you.
That's where it all begins the realization, the
blood of Christ.
God's Son cleanses us from all sin.
We've just sung about the grace of God,
amazing grace.
But Steve Hill used to say, we don't
sing amazing justice, because we sang another song,
if I should mark it iniquity, he would
stand.
But amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that
saved a wretch like me.
So I write unto you children, because your
sins have forgiven you, for his name's sake.
And then he goes on to say in
verse 13, at the end of the verse,
I've written to you children, because you know
the Father.
Now there is a progression that is taking
place here, of maturity.
It isn't too long after we are born
again into the kingdom of God, into the
family of God, we realize again, our sins
are forgiven.
That God is now our Father.
We have a new relationship.
Spirit within us cries, Daddy or Abba, Father.
But not too long after that, we realize
there is a battle going on.
The enemy is out to destroy, to defeat,
to discourage, to undermine all that God is
doing in our lives.
He wants us back in his kingdom.
He's a battle loser.
And so we've got to learn to overcome.
And so he says, I write to you
young men, because you've overcome the evil one.
And part of our maturity process is the
realization that we can't be children forever.
We can't just sort of play with our
toys and our games and have everybody sort
of cater to our needs and so on.
We've got to grow up.
Part of the growing up process is learning
to stand on our own two feet, learning
to resist the devil, learning to fast, to
pray, to get a hold of God for
ourselves, and to overcome the evil one.
He goes into more detail in verse 14.
He says, I've written to you young men,
because you're strong and the Word of God
abides in you, and you've overcome the evil
one.
I think if I were to put that
in what I think is a more logical
sequence, I would say, I've written to you
young men, because you're strong.
Oh sorry, because the Word of God abides
in you.
Because the Word of God abides in you,
therefore you're strong.
Because you're strong, you're able to overcome the
evil one.
The only way you and I will ever
effectively live as overcomers is to have the
Word of God abiding in us.
It's not in natural strength, or human strength,
or human wisdom, or capability.
It's as the Word of God.
Not just the letter of the Word of
God, but the living Word of God, the
Lord Jesus Christ.
Be strong in the Lord, and in the
strength of His might.
And then he addresses the fathers.
Verse 13, I've written to you fathers, because
you know Him who is from the beginning.
Again in verse 14, I've written to you
fathers, because you know Him who is from
the beginning.
And I've always been a little disappointed in
John's revelation, that it doesn't seem to have
the umph that I think he should stress
here.
After all, we're on a path of maturity.
I write to you children, your sins are
forgiven.
I write to you young men, you're strong,
you've overcome the evil one, the Word of
God abides in you.
I write to you fathers, I would have
thought he would have said, because you know
you've completed at least three forty day fasts,
you know you've raised the dead, you've cleansed
the leper, you've established a few churches, you
understand Revelation and Daniel, or you know something
that seems to have at least a little
bit more depth to it than I, than
what seems to be the same statement that
he says to the children.
I write to you children, because you know
the Father.
I write to you fathers, because you know
Him that is from the beginning.
What's the difference?
Well children know fathers from a very selfish
point of view, don't they?
My wife and I have three daughters, they're
all grown up now.
But all my life, at least all my
life from their point of view, I was
there to minister to their needs.
Daddy do this, Daddy do that.
Daddy buy me a bicycle, Daddy teach me
to ride the bicycle, Daddy you know put
me to bed, Daddy read me a story,
Daddy push me on the swing, Daddy buy
me an ice cream, Daddy you know Daddy,
Daddy, Daddy.
And Father existed for one reason alone, my
whole existence was to minister to my children's
needs, at least that was their perspective.
And so, there is a relationship of knowing
Him as Father, and that's wonderful, and thank
God that He does condescend to come down
to our spiritual infancy and immaturity, and minister
to us, and take care of us, and
protect us, and so on and so forth.
But then there is a difference between a
father's perspective.
I write to you fathers because you know
Him that is from the beginning.
A father sees the big picture.
If I were to take three words to
describe these three facets of maturity, the first
one would be regeneration, not salvation.
Salvation is that all-inclusive word that deals
with the moment you get saved, till the
moment we have a glorified body.
But the word regeneration, the new birth, born
again.
And then the young men, the word maturation,
they've begun to mature and grow up.
And then fathers, the word consummation, the bringing
together, the tying together, the understanding of the
overall plan and purpose of God, the big
picture.
The reason a father disciplines, he sees beyond
the immediate, and he knows if that child
is not disciplined, then somewhere down the line
he's going to be a nuisance to society,
and so on and so forth.
And so he sees the beginning of things,
or the end of things, if you like.
And it's this word beginning that is one
of John's favorite words.
John, I think, as far as I know,
you can check it out, uses it something
like 25 times in his writings.
And he seems to have a revelation on
the beginning of things.
His gospel in the beginning was a word,
and the word was with God, and the
word was God.
The epistle here, what was from the beginning,
what we've seen and heard, our hands have
handled concerning the word of truth.
The wonderful book of Revelation talks about the
alpha and the omega, the beginning and the
ending.
And the beginning of things is absolutely essential
if we are to understand the cross.
We need to go back to the beginning.
You see, the cross is God's medicine, if
you like, God's remedy for man's sickness.
The cross is to restore man.
The cross is to bring man back to
his, God's original plan and purpose.
Jesus said, as Moses lifted up the serpent
in the wilderness, even so the Son of
Man must be lifted up.
Now we can simply take that at its
face value and say, you know, Moses lifted
up this serpent, and so Jesus was lifted
up on a cross, and that's that.
But we need to go a little deeper
than that and realize that there was a
moment when the nation of Israel, at least
physically, were well.
Their bodies were healthy, they were normal, they
had plenty of vitality, plenty of life, and
then sin came into the camp.
They began to murmur, complain, and so on
and so forth.
God had allowed judgment to come, and death
resulted.
The wages of sin is death.
The serpents came and Moses, of course, cried
out to God for a remedy, an answer.
And God said, I want you to make
this brazen serpent, put it on a pole
and lift it up.
And whoever looks on that brazen serpent, the
moment they look on it, life will be
restored to them.
They'll go from death at work in them,
to life working in them.
They'll go from sickness to health.
As Moses lifted up the serpent in the
wilderness, even so the Son of Man must
be lifted up.
In other words, the cross then is to
be the counterpart of that.
It's to bring us back to our original
place, if you like, that God had for
us.
And so the beginning of things is essential.
You recall that the Pharisees and scribes and
so on, were always trying to get Jesus
embroiled in some sort of controversy.
And on this occasion, they wanted to know
where he stood on the matter of divorce.
And as you know, there were two schools
of divorce in those days, as there are
now.
One very conservative, one very liberal.
And to back up their claims, they said,
you know, even Moses gave us permission to
divorce our wives.
Oh Lord, would you stand?
You know, what school do you believe in?
For any cause, or for, you know, strictly
the case of adultery.
And Jesus very wisely took it out of
the present debate, and he went back to
the beginning, and he says, you don't understand.
In the beginning, it was never God's intention.
You see, the beginning of things is absolutely
essential.
We need to have a beginning perspective.
If I were to demolish this beautiful podium
here, and take it all apart, and you
had never seen it as a podium.
And I say, is there a carpenter here,
or somebody that's a builder?
And you say, yeah, I am.
And so I have you come up, and
here we have all these pieces of wood
now, pieces of trim, and so on and
so forth.
And I say, would you restore this?
Well, who knows what we'll end up with.
If you've never seen it originally, how can
you restore it?
We may end up with a coffee table.
We may end up with a bookcase.
May end up with a casket.
We could end up with all sorts of
things, a side table, a dresser.
You see, we've never seen it originally, so
how can we restore it back to the
original plan of the Creator?
And we have this theology of trying to
bring man to something we don't, we're not
really sure what the cross is supposed to
look like, when it's all sort of put
back together again, as far as our own
lives are concerned.
And so we need to go back to
the We're going to try and get into
the mind of God, so to speak, and
understand His purpose.
Let's go to Genesis, Genesis chapter 2.
As you know, Genesis is the book of
beginnings.
And here we have man in his original
condition, before sin came, before rebellion came, before
independence came, before man chose to do his
own thing and go his own way.
This is the way God originally intended you
and I to be.
Verse 15, the Lord God took the man
and placed him in the garden of Eden
to cultivate it and to keep it.
There are three things in that verse, the
word, at least the principle, submission, location, vocation.
The Lord God, not simply God, as wonderful
as God is, but God as Lord.
The Lord God took the man, no resistance
on man's part, no objection on man's part.
We don't see man digging in his heels.
We don't see man fighting and striving with
God.
We don't say, see man saying, God, I
don't want to do that.
I want to go my own way.
No, man is totally compliant, totally submissive to
the Lordship of God himself.
So much so that God is able to
take him again without any resistance and place
him in the geographical place of God's choosing
and not man's choosing.
He doesn't say to man, listen, I've got
a few options.
I've just created this incredible garden with all
these beautiful fruit trees, this magnificent river.
And if you like gardening, boy that's the
place to be.
On the other hand, I've got this villa
that I've just about finished.
You're overlooking the bluff there and incredible sunsets
and you know, Adam, just think it over.
I'll be back this afternoon and you know,
God says, listen, I know exactly where I
want you.
This is the location of my purpose for
your life.
And then in that location, a vocation.
Adam, I've got a calling, a specific calling.
In this case, obviously we know God said,
I want you to look after the garden,
cultivate, keep it and so on, replenish the
earth and so on.
Now, I believe if we understand the cross
correctly, that God wants to bring us back
to that place.
Where God can reach into your life and
my life at any given time without any
resistance, any objection.
He can take us and he can place
us in the geographical place of his choosing
and then in that place, he can reveal
why he placed us there.
He's got a mandate, a calling, a purpose
for our life.
Now, that was the beginning of things.
Let's look at some other scriptures.
The book of Colossians.
You see, we've got to know what the
cross is to bring us back to.
Colossians chapter 1, verse 16, For by him
all things were created, both in heaven and
earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions
or rulers or authorities.
All things have been created by him.
Let's pause there for a moment.
I trust you don't have a problem with
that.
All things were created by him.
By faith we understand the world's were framed
by the word of God.
I don't have a problem with the earth
being 6,000 years old or 6 million
years old or 60 million years old or
100 million years old.
It doesn't worry me.
I believe God can create a rock right
now with vintage.
He could have created this earth 6,000
years ago and carbon dated it so it's
100 billion, million, whatever years old.
After all, he created wine at Cana of
Galilee.
It had vintage.
He created Adam with a little bit of
vintage.
He wasn't running around in nappies or diapers.
So, I don't have a problem with creation.
All things were created by him, but now
we have insight and for him.
You see, we're getting in now.
I trust to the understanding to the mind
of God as it pertains to your life
and my life and all of creation.
And not only did God create everything, we
readily admit that, but we needed to understand
why he created everything.
All things were created by him and for
him.
That pertains to you and that pertains to
me.
Then into Revelation.
Revelation chapter 4, verse 11.
Worthy art thou our Lord and our God
to receive glory and honor and power.
For thou didst create all things.
Once again, a declaration that God is the
creator.
And because of thy will they existed and
were created.
Or the King James, of course, says, and
for your pleasure they were created.
So, once again, it's easy to acknowledge that
God is the creator of everything, especially as
believers.
We don't stumble over that like the world
does.
But then we need to take it one
step further and say, well, for his pleasure
all of that was created.
And since I'm a part of that creation,
in fact the crowning achievement, I think, of
that creation, I was created for the will
and the purpose and the pleasure of God,
according to this verse.
And then we go into Hebrews chapter 2.
Again, all of these verses, I'm giving you
two or three or four here, to establish
something.
The Bible says, in the mouth of two
or three witnesses, let everything be established.
You can't establish doctrine on one verse, otherwise
we'd be baptizing for the dead.
Verse 10, for it was fitting for him,
for whom are all things, and through whom
are all things.
Let me put that in the order of
the other verses.
It was fitting for him, speaking of Christ,
through whom are all things, and for whom
are all things.
Again, it's easy to acknowledge that through whom
are all things, because that doesn't really touch
us in any major way.
It just acknowledges, God, you're the creator of
the heavens and the earth.
But then we've got to take it this
step further, and for whom are all things.
And then into the book of Romans.
Romans chapter 11, verse 36, for by him,
and sorry, for for him, and through him,
and to him are all things.
To him be the glory forever.
Amen.
Here Paul has this wonderful revelation.
He says, everything comes from God.
Everything has its beginning in God, from whom
are all things.
And then he says, and through whom are
all things.
You see, in him we live, we move,
we have our being.
Everything is sustained and held together by the
word of his power.
So it's not only from him, as though
it was some sort of historic fact that
took place, you know, thousands of years ago,
but it is present through him.
You and I, the very breath we breathe,
in him we live, we move, we can
have that breath, unless it was through him.
But then Paul says, not only is it
from him and through him, but to him
are all things.
To him be the glory.
Therefore I beseech you brethren, by the mercies
of God.
You see, there's no chapter division there.
This was a letter.
Paul has established something.
He goes on to say, therefore, because everything
is from him, because everything is through him,
because everything is to him, therefore I beseech
you brethren, by the mercies of God, that
you give back to him that which is
from him, that which is through him, that
which is to him as your reasonable worship.
Makes a lot more sense, doesn't it?
See, Paul again, he's understood the mind of
God.
He's mused and meditated and he understands all
of this creation is for one reason and
one reason alone, for God himself.
And our lives and your life belongs to
him.
It's not only from him and through him,
but it's got to be to him.
Therefore give back to him that which is
his.
Then over into Corinthians, we have the same
thought, 1 Corinthians 8, where Paul can't seem
to get away from this little triangle of
truth here.
Verse 6, Yet for us there is but
one God, the Father, from whom are all
things, and we exist for him, one Lord
Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and
we exist through him.
Now he's got it in a slightly different
order than what he does in Romans, but
you have the same thing.
From him, through him, and for him, are
all things, he says once again.
Now these, all these verses are very, very
important.
Now we're back in the beginning.
We're in the mind of God.
We're understanding, again, this world that you and
I are a part of, that doesn't make
sense unless we put it in the perspective
of the beginning of things.
But something went wrong.
Man chose to break that sort of relationship
with God.
Man chose to do his own thing, to
go his own way, to rebel.
Isaiah says, all we like sheep have gone
astray.
We've turned everyone to his own way.
We've turned from God's will, God's purpose, God's
way, God's desire to our own way.
We've wandered again like sheep.
And so the cross then is to bring
us back, to restore us, to heal us,
if you like.
It's God's remedy, God's medicine, God's plan to
restore men.
Now the problem with us is that we
are selfish.
From the moment you and I are born,
self occupies the throne of our life.
We're born into a sin infested world, a
demonized world, and so on, a selfish world.
And so we grow up with self occupying
the throne of our life.
A baby learns within a matter of days,
many times, that a certain cry will get
a certain response.
And there it is in the middle of
the night, you know, maybe the first night,
and it's all alone, and it's not used
to being all alone.
It's been in that warm tummy of mothers
for a while.
Now it's come out into this world, and
everybody's been oohing and aahing, and looking at
it, and admiring it, and so on and
so forth.
And now all of a sudden all of
that's gone, and there's no heartbeat, and no
attention being given.
It's dark in here, and so it lets
out a bellow, and mother comes running in
within a moment, you know.
Honor to whom honor is due.
Father turns over, pretends he doesn't hear a
thing.
And mother picks that child up, and all
of a sudden that child is the center
of the universe again.
And mother oohs, and aahs, and cuddles, and
changes, and feeds, or whatever the need may
be.
And the next night, baby does the same
thing.
And the next night, train of her mother
in the way she should go when she's
old should not be popular.
And baby learns that I am the center
of everything, and as it matures and grows,
it begins to hear certain expressions.
Maybe it's got siblings, older brothers, sisters, and
they come home complaining about maybe an exam
at school, or some test or something.
And this little baby is registering, test, exam.
That's a bad thing.
And so the day comes when it's five,
six years of age, and off he goes
to school, and not too long before the
teacher announces, you know, tomorrow morning we're going
to have an exam.
And all of a sudden the computer picks
up on that, and says, uh-oh, I
remember.
That's a bad thing.
Wakes up the next morning.
Our mother's been trained by now, and that's
all right, Johnny, you can stay home.
Johnny gets his way.
Nine o'clock, of course, there is a
miracle that takes place.
Instant healing.
We're selfish, aren't we?
And all we do, we further that ability
to satisfy and gratify our needs as time
goes on.
It's me, it's mine.
It's my money, my time, my this, my
that.
And so when we see the cross and
hear about the cross, unfortunately, we respond selfishly.
After all, that's all we've known.
And so we look at the cross and
we say, well, what's in it for me?
What sort of a deal can you make
for me, God?
And out of that comes a very popular
theme.
Jesus Christ died on the cross for my
sin, so that I could go to heaven
when I die.
Have a mansion over the hilltop.
I don't personally believe there are any, but
you may.
After all, I don't think God's going to
put us all back in a bunch of
little boxes and isolate us.
We're going to be one big family.
There's going to be no marriage there, so
there'll be no need for the bedroom, and
we're not going to have to eat necessarily.
We'll have resurrection bodies, so no need for
the kitchen, you know.
The Lamb is going to be all the
glory, so we won't need television.
You know, so you can eliminate just practically
just about every room in the house, just
on that basis alone.
But when Jesus said, I go to prepare
a place for you in the Father's house,
there were three rooms that the disciples knew
of, and one of those rooms was off
-limits.
There was only one man once a year
that had access into that room.
But after Calvary, that veil was rent, and
we can be where he is.
I go to prepare a place for you,
that where I am, you may be also.
Not only that, but he lifted us up,
raised us up, and seated us with him
in heavenly places, far above all principalities and
powers.
I don't think Jesus is running around with
a carpenter's belt.
I'm frustrated, you know, because there's an end
-time revival he didn't plan on, or something,
trying to get all the mansions finished, you
know.
But you see, we look at the cross,
and we say, well God, what's in it
for me?
And out of that again comes our popular
teaching that Jesus Christ died so that you
could be free from sin.
Obviously there's truth in that, but it's really
a very man-centered sort of a gospel.
I get to go to heaven, I escape
the flames of hell, you know.
All of these things accrue to me, you
know.
I have a new name, and a new
nature, and a new family, and a new
kingdom, and a new destiny, and new, new,
new.
Everything's made new, and wonderful.
It's true, but it doesn't stop there.
Now let me give you an illustration, and
then we're going to look at a number
of scriptures, and I'm going to change your
mind, I trust.
Let's assume that my wife and I have
been married for one year.
We've been married, I think it's 37 years
this summer.
Yeah, pretty sure.
Better find out before August, but anyway.
But by way of illustration, and let's say
that we begin our married life with a
number of debts, and so we agree together
that we are not going to buy any
sort of luxury item until our debts are
paid off.
And so towards the end of the year,
we have paid off our debts.
Not only that, but we have accumulated now
1,000 pounds.
And during that year, we have gone without
transport.
I've been taking the bus, something you can't
do in America, but you can in England
at least, and you know, to work, or
maybe a carpool, or something.
And so we've been able to get by
without transport, but it's getting somewhat embarrassing calling
friends at certain times to take us places.
And so I say to my wife one
day, darling, listen, I know we've only got
a thousand pounds.
It's our life savings.
It's everything you and I have, you know,
put away now over the last six months,
but I think we need a transport, we
need a car.
And she said, darling, I agree with you.
So I said, well, why don't you pray,
and I'll go out and look, you will,
you know, intercede that we'll get the right
car.
You don't get much for a thousand pounds,
I'm sure.
Now let's also assume that during the year
that we have lived in this particular part
of town, that we've established a reputation as
being Mr. and Mrs. Clean.
Everything about our lives is immaculate.
The house is always immaculate, the lawns are
beautifully manicured, the shrubs are always trimmed perfectly,
the windows are always bright and sparkling, so
on, and we have this reputation.
We, you know, never go around in dirty
clothes, and so on.
I mean, that's the reputation we have.
And so I go out now, and I
take my thousand dollars, and I look around
the various car yards, and eventually I find
this car.
It's, you know, 15, 20 years old.
Engine seems to be running pretty well, but,
you know, it's an old car.
I paid a thousand dollars, I take the
car home, I immediately drive it around the
back so the neighbors can't see it, and
I proceed to wash the car.
I spend hours washing that car, bucket after
bucket of soapy water, then I take some
solvent, excuse me, remove all the grease and
grime that water has not removed, then I
cut and I polish that car, I do
all the chrome work, then I tackle the
inside of the car.
Take the vacuum cleaner and thoroughly clean it,
then I shampoo the carpets, I take some
upholstery cleaner and do the upholstery, and clean
the windows, and everything else.
At the end of four or five hours,
that car now is absolutely immaculate.
There's not a trace of dirt anywhere, the
polishes, you know, brought the color back, it
looks beautiful, just like showroom condition.
And then I gather together all these cleaning
items, and I go into the house and
I pile all this filth on the kitchen
table, all these rags, all these paper towels,
this bucket of soapy, now filthy water, I
tear open the canister of the vacuum cleaner
and dump all the fluff and everything else,
and here's this huge pile of dirt.
I then call my wife from prayer.
Darling, come in here quick.
And with a big smile on my face,
I say, darling, have you ever seen so
much dirt?
I mean, could you believe we could buy
that much dirt for a thousand dollars?
I'm going to have trouble.
My wife is going to be upset.
She's going to say, you know, are you
feeling all right?
I mean, what do you mean?
You mean, you didn't really buy all this
dirt for a thousand dollars?
Yeah, that's what a thousand dollars, your lifeblood
of my lifeblood, that's what it bought, one
thousand dollars worth of dirt.
I mean, this is incredible, isn't it?
I mean, I've never seen that much dirt,
have you, darling?
Obviously, that doesn't make sense.
You see, the reason that I paid the
price that I paid was because I wanted
the car.
It had nothing to do with the dirt.
The car was really the object of my
payment.
And if you like, I can take this
with a grain of salt.
The washing was a byproduct.
Because you see, that car is going to
represent who I am.
It's an extension of who I am.
I'm Mr. Clean.
And so the car, therefore, has to come
up to my standard.
Otherwise, my name, my reputation is at stake.
If I drive around in this filthy old
car, people are going to say, well, I
guess the Raven Hills, um, you know, gave
up that idea of being clean a long
time ago, you know.
Oh, you translate that into biblical terminology.
Be holy as I am holy.
That God gives to us His righteousness.
The blood of Jesus Christ, again, washes us.
But the real object of the payment was
the car.
Now, let's look at some scriptures.
Now, I've got your attention.
All right, all these scriptures now deal with
the atonement.
Romans chapter 14, verses 7, 8, and 9.
For not one of us lives for himself,
not one, or no one dies for himself.
If we live, we live for the Lord.
If we die, we die for the Lord.
Therefore, whether we live or die, we are
the Lord's.
So, you fit into one of those categories
tonight.
Whether you live or die, you are the
Lord's.
For to this end, Christ died and lived
again, that he might be Lord of the
dead and the living.
Or, if we use the illustration of the
car, that he might be the owner of
the car.
Not that he might be the Savior, but
that he might be the Lord.
For to this end, here again, we're getting
into the mind of God.
Why did Jesus Christ die?
To bring us back to God's plan and
purpose.
What he created, he wants back.
He didn't create sin, and he's not interested
in sin.
There's no sin in heaven.
God doesn't, you know, have a sin collection,
like people have coin collections or stamp collections.
If he did, he'd have the best one
in the world, I'm sure.
You know, he doesn't gather around a few
cherubim and seraphim, occasionally, and say, you know,
boys, it's been a while, but have I
showed you, you know, my sin collection.
He pulls down, you know, some big letter
volume out of the library of heaven and
very carefully opens it up and says, you
know, I've got sins going way, way back,
but this is my pride and joy right
here.
You know, this is the only sin of
its kind right here, and I've got it.
You know, it was created, it was committed
back in the 13th century by an old
man up in the mountains of Tibet, and
I'm the only one with him.
Now God, God doesn't collect sin.
He's not interested in sin.
The Bible says, as far as the east
is from the west, so far does he
remove our transgressions from us.
Another place, it says, when he gets a
hold of our sin, he buries them in
the depths of the sea.
It was Corrie ten Boom that says, and
he puts up a little sign, no fishing
here.
So glad, aren't you?
There's no resurrection of those sins in that
sense.
So God doesn't store sin.
He doesn't like sin.
It's something that God hates.
So for this end, Christ died and lived
again, that he might be Lord, both the
dead and living.
He wants to re-establish lordship, ownership, a
reason for the cross.
Over into the book of Titus, you find
Timothy.
Titus is the next-door neighbor.
Titus chapter 2, verse 14, he gave himself
for us, again speaking of the cross, the
death of Christ.
He gave himself for us, that he might
redeem us from every lawless deed.
Let's pause there for a moment.
You see, there are two sides to the
cross.
I want you to imagine there's a cross
up here.
And let's say this side of the cross
represents man's benefit from the death of Christ.
And so this verse says, he gave himself
for us, that he might redeem us, or
set us free, or cleanse us from every
lawless deed, every sinful act, everything that you
and I have ever done.
We have been redeemed from it, by the
blood of the Lamb.
It's under the blood.
And so on this side of the cross,
we are forgiven.
We're brought into the family of God again.
We're taking out of the kingdom of darkness,
brought into the kingdom of God's dear Son.
We have a new name again, a new
nature, a new destiny.
We have a new mind and so on.
I mean all these things accrue to us,
because of the death of Christ.
Now we are familiar with that side of
the cross.
That's the basis on which we all accepted
Christ.
But then it goes on to speak about
God's side of the cross, which we don't
hear very much about.
Notice, he gave himself for us, that he
might redeem us from every lawless deed, and
purify for himself, for his own possession, zealous
for good works.
You see, what Jesus Christ really accomplished on
the cross was not just, and I don't
want to belittle or minimize the blood of
Christ and the cleansing power of that blood,
but there is another dimension, that he might
redeem for himself a people.
You see, the car was what he was
after.
A people for his own possession.
You see, if we only see one side
of the cross, man's side, we've fallen short.
The cross is null and void in one
sense.
Paul says, I write with tears, he says,
because those are the enemies of the cross
who set their mind on earthly things, whose
God is the belly, and so on and
so forth.
There's been no real transformation.
Oh, they've got rid of a few sins,
but not too much else.
You see, he wants the people for himself,
as his own possession.
All of you have got possessions tonight, the
clothes you're wearing, the glasses you're wearing, the
watch, you know, the Bible you're holding, or
whatever.
Those are your possessions.
They belong to you.
God wants to have that same ownership of
your life and my life.
2nd Corinthians chapter 5 verse 15.
He died for all, that they who live
should no longer live for themselves.
Now, notice why he died.
Again, here is the atonement.
This is the very crux, the very center
of our faith.
We need to understand it.
This is why Jesus Christ died.
He died for everybody, that they who live
should no longer live for themselves.
If we're not living for ourselves, then what?
He says, but for him who died and
rose again on their behalf.
You see, the cross was to radically impact
our life.
It wasn't just to, if I can say
it reverently, it wasn't just to sort of
go through the car wash.
On the other end, what the blood cleanses
on this side, the blood cleanses on this
side.
And you are now no longer living for
yourself.
Your whole life has been radically changed, and
you have one sole reason to live.
We're back to the beginning.
All things were created by him and created
for him.
And then we go over into Revelation.
Revelation chapter 5.
Again, centering around the cross, this great wonderful
song.
It talks about the fact that there was
a lamb on the throne.
It was all slain.
And they begin to sing.
Verse 9.
And they sang a new song saying, Were
thou to take the book and to break
its seals, for thou was slain, here again
the atonement, and its purchase for God with
thy blood, men from every tribe and tongue
and people and nation, and thou hast made
them to be kings and priests.
For thou was slain, and its purchase with
thy blood, sin.
No.
God doesn't want your sin.
Not interested in your sin.
No sin in heaven.
He purchased for himself men from every kindred,
tribe, tongue and nation.
Why?
Because he's got a destiny that we might
be kings and priests.
One of the great themes of the word
of God.
So you see, when Jesus Christ died, he
had something in mind.
The Bible says in Isaiah 53 there that
he will see of the travail of his
soul and be satisfied.
You think he's satisfied when he gets a
big pile of sin?
Something you hate?
Something you detest?
No.
He's satisfied when he gets back that which
he created for himself.
That's what satisfies him.
Sin doesn't satisfy God.
You can give him all the sin in
the world.
Doesn't satisfy him.
He went to redeem for himself again a
people.
1 Corinthians 6.
As you're turning to this, let me give
you a brief testimony.
I was raised in a Christian home.
My father was a minister in this country
up until 1950 and then started traveling to
America.
He started preaching at 17, died at 87.
It's pretty good innings, isn't it?
And he was a hellfire preacher.
Verse 5, 6, 8 rows.
You needed your asbestos suit.
And I've been dangled over hell more than
once and I knew that there was a
hell to shun and a heaven to gain,
believe me.
But I did not become a Christian until
I was 18.
I never got into any gross sin.
Never smoked a cigarette in my life.
Not that I'd say that's the grossest sin,
but never taken drugs, never slept with anybody
apart from my wife and that was after
we were married.
Of course she wasn't my wife until after,
but we didn't sleep together before, is what
I'm trying to say.
Just in case there's a lawyer out here
and he's technical.
You know, I've never been to a dance
in my life, never been to a movie
of any consequence in my life.
Should be in Guinness Book of Records, they
just haven't discovered me yet.
But I knew I was a sinner.
There were times I would toss and turn
at night knowing that I was going to
a Christless eternity.
There's no question about that.
Oh, a good church, you know, preaches kid
sinner, but I was a sinner.
And I longed to have peace with God.
I longed to know that if I were
to die, that I'd go into the presence
of God.
But it was one reason I didn't accept
Christ.
And in fact, the night I did accept
Christ, my father looked at me, he saw
me go forward, Bible school, and we'd moved
to America by then, in Minneapolis in the
States.
And he said to me afterwards, David, what
happened to you tonight?
I said, Dad, I got saved.
He looked at me, he said, David, you
mean you weren't saved?
I had a good life.
I would take my tray on more than
one occasion through the cafeteria in a secular
high school of 1,200 students and hear
kids say, shh, Ravenhill's coming.
Because they knew I wouldn't laugh at what
they laughed at.
I wasn't even born again.
So I never created any major havoc for
my parents, never went through any sort of
rebellious stage, but I didn't get saved until
I was 18.
The reason for that was simply this, because
I had one goal, one ambition in life,
that was to go into the field of
graphics.
I had two brothers that were absolutely brilliant.
I'm a middle child.
My older brother was straight-A student.
My younger brother earned PhD, became world-renowned
in his field, became one of the major
directors of the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D
.C., and I was the dummy in the
family.
I brought home Fs on my report card
on more than one occasion.
My mother would sit up with me literally
by the hour at night.
Thank God for moms.
But the one thing I had my brothers
didn't have, I had a flair for drawing,
artwork, and it gave me a sense of
identity.
It gave me a sense of value.
It gave me a feeling that I, you
know, wasn't a total sort of writer.
And so I couldn't wait to get out
of high school and to go into art
school, study fine art.
And from about the age of 12, 13,
14, those early years, I struggled with God.
In meetings like this, big or small, I
would literally shake under conviction of sin.
I mean, if I was holding a hymn
book, it would be going like this, knowing
that God was wanting to draw me to
himself, and yet refusing to go, not because
I didn't want him as Savior, but I
refused to bow the knee to his Lordship.
Oh, I wanted to go to heaven.
I wanted to have my sins forgiven.
I wanted peace with God, but I wanted
my own way.
I wanted to do what I wanted to
do.
And finally, at the age of 18, I
made my way forward in a meeting like
this, and long before any counselor came, I
was doing business with God, and I said,
God, I'm here because I'm a sinner, and
I need you to cleanse me and forgive
me.
I need you to wash me, Lord.
I've got all this filth in my life,
pride and self-righteousness and so on.
But Lord, I'm not here tonight to give
you my sin alone.
I'm here to give you myself.
And that night, I put everything on the
altar, all my goals, my plans, my ambitions,
and I died to my will and my
desires.
And I can honestly testify tonight that was
40 years ago that I've never looked back.
You see, it took me long enough.
It took me from 13, somewhere thereabouts, to
18, so I knew what I was doing.
And when I did it, I did it
once and for all.
It was like getting married.
It was a commitment.
I put my hand to the plow, and
I said, Lord, from this moment on, I
was shy.
I was nervous.
I was introspective.
I never did anything publicly.
I was afraid of my own voice.
They said I was one of the most
nervous students they ever had in Bible college.
And God stripped from me what I could
do with my ability and brought me to
that place of dependency.
And it was just a few days later
that God gave me this verse here in
19 and 20 of 1 Corinthians 6.
Do you not know that your body is
a temple of the Holy Spirit who is
in you, whom you have from God, and
that you are not your own?
For you have been bought with a price.
Again, the atonement.
You have been bought, not your sin, you.
Not the dirt on the car, the car.
You have been bought, and you're not your
own anymore.
Therefore glorify God in your body, not when
you get to heaven, when you've done your
own thing here on earth, and there's nothing
else to do but to glorify Him in
heaven.
But no, right now, start glorifying Him.
Whatever you do, word or deed, if your
life does not glorify God, then you better
find out what does.
You're not your own.
When Paul wrote this, you could go into
any marketplace, and after buying your vegetables and
meat and so on, you could buy yourself
a slave.
And you could take that slave home, male,
female, young or old, strong or weak, whatever,
and that slave was literally your property.
You could starve that slave, beat that slave,
do whatever you wanted with that slave.
Feed that slave to death, love that slave
to death.
That slave had no rights.
When that slave woke up in the morning,
it couldn't say, well you know, what a
great day, you know, finally stop raining.
I think we'll go fishing.
No, it had to report to his master.
It lived for one reason, to serve his
master's interest.
The only reason that slave lived, was to
serve the interest of his master.
And Paul's favorite expression, Paul a slave of
Jesus Christ.
You're not your own, you bought with a
price.
Let's look at a couple of scriptures now,
before we close over into 2nd Peter.
2nd Peter chapter 2, verse 1.
While you're turning to that, the book of
Hebrews talks about, beware lest you drift.
Very easy to drift, isn't it, in our
Christian life.
Some of you are fishermen, maybe you've been
out, you know, on a lake or something,
the winds come up a little bit, and
you're absorbed in doing what you're doing, fishing,
and all of a sudden you look up,
and you realize the current has carried you,
and you've drifted, and you're way off track
from where you started.
Spiritually we can drift.
Let me show you how far now we've
drifted.
Verse 1, false prophets arose among the people.
I was never good at English grammar, but
I do know that that's past tense.
Peter says, listen, we've had a problem in
the past with false prophets, just as there
will be future false teachers among you.
So Peter here now is giving a prophetic
word, a word of warning, that we've had
problems in the past, but he says, I'm
prophesying that down the line there is going
to come a problem with false teachers.
They will come in secretly.
When something is done secretly, we are unaware
that it takes place.
My wife and I were with Youthful Mission
years ago in New Guinea.
We headed up the base there in Port
Moresby, and we'd had a lot of break
-ins in the area.
And so every night we made sure that
we closed the doors and windows and everything
else.
And one morning I got up, and the
little house that we had, walked down the
hallway into the living room, and the front
door was open.
I looked around, nothing seemed to be out
of place, but I thought I'm positive that
I locked it.
But I closed the door, went into the
kitchen, and the kitchen door was open.
Then I saw that somebody cut through the
mosquito netting, removed all the louvered windows, and
come into the house, left both the doors
open, so they could have a quick getaway.
We looked through the house.
First thing we checked on were the two
children.
Only had two at that stage.
They were safe.
But then we discovered a number of things
were missing that actually come into our bedroom.
Down a long hallway into our bedroom, gone
to my wife's side of the bed, and
unplugged the tape recorder from right under virtually
her pillow, under the bed.
Gone around to my side of the bed
and removed my wallet, and stolen a number
of things.
But it was all done secretly, and we
were unaware of it until it was too
late.
Peter says that in the last days, if
you like, false teachers will come in among
you secretly.
They will introduce destructive heresies.
The King James says, damnable doctrines.
I'm taking the liberty of putting in brackets
there to the purpose of God.
And then notice, even denying the master who
bought them.
That's an interesting verse, isn't it?
Oh, not the Savior who washed their sin
away, but they will deny the master.
In the Greek, I'm not a Greek expert,
but that is the strongest possible word for
master.
It's the Greek word for despot, total and
absolute authority.
The master, notice again, the atonement who bought
them.
Not their sin.
This is the cross again.
This is the very center, the very foundation,
the very crux of everything you and I
are supposed to believe.
And boy, has this prophecy ever come true.
We can have huge altar calls, and thousands
of people respond to get rid of their
sin.
But you mention the cross and die to
self, and you can cut those altar calls
down to five percent, because nobody wants to
die.
We all want to go to heaven, but
we want to do our own thing.
Then to the book of James, James chapter
4, verse 14, or verse 13.
Come now you who say today or tomorrow,
we shall go into such and such a
city, spend a year there, engage in business
and make a profit.
Now here is a, let's say a couple
that are making plans.
They just got married, let's say, and they
are anxious to get out of Horsham, go
to London where there's plenty of opportunities, and
universities, and so on.
Maybe they've been, both of them accepted in,
you know, some school, college, and university there
in London.
And they said, you know, we're going to
leave here, we're going to move there, we're
going to go into college, get our degree
in business, and open a business and make
money.
Nothing sinful about that.
They're not talking about doing some sort of
illicit trade.
They're not talking about joining the cartel in
Columbia and smuggling drugs.
Make a lot of money that way.
You don't get caught.
Not talking about opening some pub and, you
know, getting people drunk.
And they're not talking about some counterfeit business.
They're not talking about, you know, some striptease
place or something.
They're just doing what we've all done.
This is what I'm going to do with
my life.
I'm going to move from here to there.
I'm going to go into college, go into
business.
When I get through, you know, make money.
And I can imagine, if I can embellish
this a little bit, that this young couple
maybe come to James, this old man of
God.
And they, like many pastors, have had the
experience as an appointment.
And a young couple come in and they
say, Pastor, we're going to be leaving.
Didn't want to slip out of the church
without just letting you know how wonderful it's
been to be here over the last five
years or ten years or whatever.
And next Sunday is going to be our
last Sunday.
We'd love you to pray for us before
the congregation.
Send us on our way.
I've done that dozens and dozens of times.
And all excited about what they're doing.
You know, we just want to tell you
what's happened.
You know, I've been accepted into, you know,
art school.
I've been accepted into medical school.
So we're going to be leaving Horsham and
going up there, you know, to Manchester, wherever
it is.
And, you know, and then after that, we're
going to open this business and so on
and so forth.
Again, nothing sinful.
But notice what James does.
Here is this old man, wise.
And he looks at that young couple and
he says, John, Mary, let me tell you
something about life.
It's like a vapor.
Appears for just a little while and before
you know it, it's gone.
Life is a vapor.
Talks about the brevity of life.
So many scriptures about the brevity of life.
A life is like a breath, one says.
Another says it's like a weaver's shuttle.
Before you know it, it's over.
So here is this old man looking at
this young couple and he says, listen, life's
going to be gone before you know it.
Instead, he says, you ought to be saying,
if the Lord wills, we'll do this and
that.
And here's this wonderful old man, James, and
I can just see him, maybe in a
very fatherly way, saying, you know, kids, I
appreciate the fact that you've benefited out of
my teaching and being here in the church
and so on, but you know, my heart's
breaking right now.
It's the last 10 and 15 minutes, all
I've heard about is what you're going to
do, where you're going to go, your dreams,
your visions to go into business and have
a big house and travel and so on.
But you know, I haven't heard a single
word about the God.
Not a single word.
And life's too short to mess with.
Before you know it, it's over.
You should be saying, if this is God's
will, if this is the geographical place that
God wants me, if I'm doing the purpose
and the will of God.
But as it is, he says, you boast
in your arrogance and that sort of boasting
is evil.
He said, you know, kids, you've got the
audacity to sit here and tell me that
you've been raised in this church, that I
baptized you, that I married you, and you've
got the audacity to tell me that you're
going to go your own way and do
your own thing.
Haven't you learned anything?
It's not about your will, it's about his
will.
It's not about your way, it's about his
way.
Therefore, to the one that knows the right
thing to do and does not do it,
to him it's sin.
That's what sin is.
Sin is independence.
Sin is me doing what me wants to
do.
It's my way.
But if any man come after me, let
him deny my way and take up his
cross.
And instead of being that sheep that has
gone its own way, turning and saying, Lord,
I'll follow you.
When you turn, I'll turn.
When you stop, I'll stop.
Like the cloud, God was trying to teach
an entire nation that.
If this cloud stops for a day, we
stop for a day.
If it stops for a week, we stop
for a week.
If it stops for a month, we stop
for a month.
If it stops for a year, we stop
for a year.
God was saying, I'm going to lead and
you're going to follow.
Now we say, God, bless me as I
go, do my own thing, you know, help
me make lots of money.
This is where revival begins, lasting revival.
Not just a touch, not just some sort
of an experience because of an atmosphere that
we create, but it's giving God that which
is rightfully His.
All things were created by Him.
All things were created for Him.
He wants you back.
You are His by right of creation and
you're His by right of redemption.
He has a double claim.
And I'm convinced the reason the world isn't
evangelized, the reason we have so many problems
is that 80 percent of the church at
least have never really fully bowed the knee
and made Him Lord.
And so how shall they hear without a
preacher?
I can't believe it's God's will that nations
still don't have the written Word of God,
still something like a thousand tongues in the
year 2001.
Why?
Because we are selfishly clinging on to our
lifestyle, to our way.
We don't want to give it up.
We don't want to learn another language.
We don't want to adapt to another culture.
We don't want to do this.
We don't want to do that.
We don't want to take that money that
God has blessed us in business and give
it to the kingdom of God.
We want to buy a bigger house and
a bigger car and fancier clothes.
Isn't that right?
Let's close in prayer.
Father, we've sung so much about Your greatness,
about Your power, about Your name tonight.
Lord, we don't want to just honor You
with our lips, but our heart not be
in it.
Lord, we want to bow before that throne
that we've sung about.
We want to bow before that majesty.
We want to bow before Your glory and
give You back, Lord, that which You created
for Yourself, that which You purchased 2,000
years ago that were no longer our own,
bought with a price.
And, Father, I pray right across this auditorium
You'd get a hold of lives, old and
young, rich and poor, educated, uneducated, that, Lord,
they would put themselves on the altar, and
You'd begin to speak, and they'd hear that
voice saying, this is the way, walking in
it.
This is the plan I have for you.
Some will go to the mission field.
Some will go to Bible school.
Some will lead into business so that they
can make money to further the cause of
God.
Some will have a call to intercession.
Some will have a cause to teach Sunday
school kids, youth, children, all part of Your
eternal purpose.
Father, let each and every person find their
destiny, that we might be a kingdom of
priests.
And I ask that You stand just quietly,
and I'm going to make these altars available.
I don't believe in putting pressure on You.
I'm just going to ask that You come
and You make this an altar, a real
altar, not an altar where You give God
Your sin.
I'm sure 99% of you have done
that many years ago, for many of you,
but an altar where, like Abraham, You put
Your Isaac on it, whatever that Isaac is.
It may be business, it may be a
reputation, it may be Your ambition, but where
You truly die tonight, and You hand back
to God that which He purchased 2,000
years ago, and You do it willingly, You
do it voluntarily.
He's not going to make You.
He's not going to force You.
There were two types of slaves, as you
know, in the Old Testament.
There was the one that was taken to
the doorpost when he had his opportunity to
be free.
He came to his master, and he says,
Master, I've never had a master like You.
I've never had a man that loved me,
respected me, honored me, blessed me as much
as You have.
And even though I could walk out and
have total freedom and liberty, I want to
serve You now, not because I have to,
but because I love You.
That's what he's looking for.
Oh, he could make You.
He's God.
He doesn't want that sort of relationship.
He wants you to come and say, Lord,
put a hole in my ear tonight, that
the world will know that I don't serve
You because I have to, but because I
love You.
I've never had a master like You.
Lord, I don't want to go out of
Your house.
I don't want to go away from Your
presence.
I want to serve You the rest of
my life.
Let's just stand, shall we?
Why don't you come?
Let God have His way.
Don't wait for a counselor.
I don't think counselors are necessary.
Come, bring with your words, the Bible says.
Don't just be passive.
Tell God why you're here.
Tell Him what you're giving Him.
Let's find a place where you can get
alone with God.
Verbalize it.
Put your hands to the plow and say,
God, I don't know where this is going
to lead me.
It's sort of like getting married.
You don't know where you're going to end
up, how many children you're going to have,
and so on, but it's the beginning of
a journey, saying, Lord, from now on, I'm
Yours.
From now on, Lord, begin to speak to
me over the course of the next few
weeks, the next month, whatever, however long it
takes.
God, begin to put your desires within me.
Open up the eyes of my understanding.
Show me, Lord.
Some of you, no doubt, are thinking, you
know, I don't have very much to offer.
I certainly didn't.
I never thought God could use me.
I honestly didn't.
He's not looking again for your ability, but
your availability, a willingness to say, Lord, I'll
do whatever you want me to do.
I want to hear you say one day,
well done, thou good and faithful servant.
You see, God won't say that to everybody,
unless he's master.
Otherwise, you're not a servant.
It's painful to die.
It took me four years.
I fought.
I resisted.
Nobody likes to die.
Nobody likes to lose their identity, lose that
which to them is of value, their dreams,
their goals, their ambitions.
But this nation is never going to be
touched, and no other nation is going to
be touched, unless God has a people for
himself, vessels.
When he came to Paul, Paul didn't say,
Savior, thank you for taking away my sin.
The very first word out of his mouth,
Lord, what will you have me to do?
Paul understood from the get-go, Lord, what
will you have me to do?
The Lord says, go into such and such
a city, and then he says to Paul,
for this reason I've appeared unto you, to
make you a millionaire gnome.
You might be a witness, a testimony.
You're going to suffer, Paul.
I'm going to tell you up front, it's
going to cost you.
You're going to suffer.
But you're going to have the joy of
taking people out of the kingdom of darkness
and bring them into the kingdom of God's
dear Son.
You're going to be my servant.
You're going to be a laborer together with
me.
And Paul was able to say, having nothing,
but I possess all things.
He suffered the loss of everything, counted it
madung.
But he says, listen, I got in return
all things.
All things are mine.
So while it's painful, there's nothing greater, no
greater joy than serving the Lord Jesus Christ.
Doesn't mean you won't have trials and problems
and difficulties, you will.
But deep down, it's that deep sense of,
God, I'm in the center of your will
and purpose.
The very reason I was created.
I'm fulfilling my destiny.
Call him, brother, call him Hewitt.
It's karma.