This message is one of the Times Square
Church Pulpit Series.
It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times
Square Church in Manhattan, New York City.
Other tapes are available by writing World Challenge,
PO Box 260, Lindell, Texas, 75771, or calling
903-963-8626.
You are welcome to make additional cassettes of
this message for free distribution to friends.
However, for all other forms of reproduction or
electronic transmission, existing copyright laws apply.
This morning I'm going to speak on loving
Jesus.
John Chapter 21, if you'll go there please,
in the New Testament.
Loving Jesus.
Father, I come before you today, God, and
I thank you for the quickening power of
the Holy Spirit.
I thank you, Lord, that you'll quicken my
mind and my physical body, and you'll quicken
the hearts of the hearers that you have
brought together in this house, at this time
and in this hour.
And, oh, Jesus, speak to all of us.
God, help us to understand who you are,
what it means to be your people.
Take us beyond the normative.
Take us beyond, oh, God, any understanding that
falls short of the glory that you've called
us to exhibit in Christ.
And, Father, I thank you for the enablement.
Lord, anoint this word.
Challenge us through it, oh, God.
Challenge my mind and heart.
And, Father, let us hear and understand.
Lord, I ask today that the kingdom of
darkness and suffer great violence in every heart,
every life, every weapon of the devil formed
against the people of God would be demolished
by the simple preaching of the word of
God.
And I thank you for this in Jesus'
mighty name.
Amen.
Loving Jesus.
John chapter 21, beginning at verse 15.
So when they had dined, Jesus said to
Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonah, lovest thou
me more than these?
He saith unto him, Yea, Lord, thou knowest
that I love thee.
He said unto him, Feed my lambs.
He said unto him again the second time,
Simon, son of Jonah, lovest thou me?
And he said unto him, Yea, Lord, thou
knowest that I love thee.
And he said unto him, Feed my sheep.
And he saith unto him the third time,
Simon, son of Jonah, lovest thou me?
And Peter was grieved because he said unto
him the third time, Lovest thou me?
And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest
all things.
Thou knowest that I love thee.
And Jesus saith unto him, Feed my sheep.
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, When thou
wast young, thou girdest thyself, and walkest whither
thou wouldest.
But when thou shalt be old, thou shalt
stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird
thee, and carry thee whither thou wouldest not.
In this spake he, signifying by what death
he would glorify God.
And when he had spoken this, he saith
unto him, Follow me.
Now, if I were to ask you this
morning, before even getting into this word, Do
you love Jesus?
I think the majority, obviously.
There might be some skeptics or agnostics here
today.
But the majority would say, Yes, I do
love Jesus.
And if I were to ask you, Well,
what is the evidence that you love him?
It would be interesting, I think, the responses
that we would get today.
Some would say, Well, I've come all the
way from Connecticut.
That should be proof enough that I love
him.
Others from far reaches of New Jersey and
the far boroughs.
It's taken you a long time to get
here.
To many, it would be just simply, Well,
my presence ought to be proof enough that
I love him.
I have an affection in my heart for
him.
I want to be where he is.
I love to hear his words.
And so I must love him.
And in this particular situation, in John chapter
21, After Christ had been crucified, the disciples
went out fishing.
And they saw him on the shore.
And John, the beloved disciple, said to Peter,
It is the Lord.
Now, Peter, the scripture says, put a fisherman's
coat about him.
And he didn't wait for the boat to
get to shore.
He just simply dove in.
And he swam to shore.
And, of course, Christ had made a small
lunch for them on the shore.
And what a wonderful reunion.
Now, you would think the simple act of
swimming so ferociously to shore would be evidence
enough of the love of Peter for Jesus
Christ.
If you would read the whole thing in
its context, we would think that just showing
up the way he did would be sufficient
evidence.
Why would Christ even have to ask him,
Do you love me?
Incredible when you think of it.
And sometimes we get the impression that just
showing up is enough.
We've just shown up.
And we've had to swim a long distance
to get here.
And we've had to go through a lot
of difficulty.
And here we are now in God's presence.
We do love Christ as much as we
think we do.
And it should be evident we love the
Lord.
Why would he even have to ask if
we do?
And I can see this joyful reunion.
There's a little, of course, a bit of
trepidation because there's always some questions in the
hearts of the disciples.
And all of a sudden, after the meal
and after this wonderful reunion, I can almost
sense the tenseness in the air when Jesus
turns to Peter and asks him, Do you
love me more than these?
That's an incredible thing.
There's a these in that first question.
Now, when we first look at this, I
remember when I first got saved, I used
to feel, well, Jesus obviously asked Peter if
he loved him three times because he denied
him three times.
It's almost as if every sin we commit
is marked against us.
And so, okay, you love me, I'll knock
off the first time you denied me.
And you love me the second time, so
I'll knock off this.
It's almost like a balancing act.
Okay, now you said you love me three
times.
Now I'll forget about the three times you
denied me.
Unfortunately, that's not the correct interpretation of this.
You see, he asked him three distinct questions.
This was not the same question three times.
These are three very, very different questions.
And you'll see that as we begin to
discuss this.
Peter, do you love me more than these?
And Peter says, Lord, you know I love
you.
It's incredible when you think of it.
It's like, what more do I have to
do?
I've almost drowned trying to get to you.
I went away.
I know I failed you.
I've wept bitterly, but I'm here.
And when others forsook you, I haven't.
I'm back.
And surely that must be evidence that I
love you.
But Jesus says, no, do you love me
more than these?
Now, the Bible purposefully doesn't tell us what
the these are.
And we're left to our imagination.
So if I'm thinking about being around the
shore, I can think of the leftover food.
There's leftover muffins.
Perhaps there's leftover fish.
And perhaps Jesus is pointing to these and
saying, do you love me more than the
provision?
Is it more than just the provision that
I give you that causes you to come
to me?
Do you love me more than these?
I think of maybe the boats and nets
because he'd gone back fishing again with the
other disciples.
And Jesus is perhaps pointing, gesturing to the
nets and the boats and said, Peter, do
you love me more than these?
Are these the basis of your security?
Is your love for me conditional on your
possessions?
If it doesn't go beyond this, Peter, I
feel Christ is saying you're going to miss
the high calling that I have on your
life.
You've got to look beyond just the possessions.
And the these, I wonder, could it be
the other disciples that were there on the
shore at that time?
Could it be his friends?
If Christ were to ask us here today.
I know there are people in this sanctuary
this morning that are in relationships, perhaps with
an unsaved person.
And Christ legitimately says, yes, you've come here
and perhaps you've gone to great length to
get to this house.
But do you love me more than these?
Do you love me more than these things
that are gripping your heart, that are going
to divert your affections in the long run
if you don't put them away?
If you don't have your love relationship with
me in its right priority, you're going to
ultimately lose the mark of the high calling
that I placed on your life.
Paul says to Timothy in 2 Timothy 1
9, he said, God who has saved us
and called us with a holy calling, not
according to our own works, but according to
his own purpose and grace, which was given
us in Christ Jesus before the world began.
Now, beloved, there was a purpose for your
life.
God ordained a purpose before the foundation of
the world.
Now, I don't understand all of these mysteries,
but I do know the Scripture clearly says
that God knew you were going to be
before you were.
Before your mother and father were born, he
knew you were going to be.
You're not a happenstance.
You're not some kind of fluke of nature
that came into the world and now God
has predisposed us or obligated to love you
in spite of your struggles.
No, God knew and God allowed you to
be born.
That's an amazing thing when you begin to
realize it.
And even before you were conceived, he had
a purpose for your life and he had
a plan for your life.
And he supplied grace.
That means he supplied his own strength, his
own character, as much of himself as you're
ever going to need to accomplish that purpose.
He gave to you before you were even
born.
Oh, beloved, when this finally dawns on your
mind and your heart, when it finally gets
into you, there's such a shout of glory
that comes into your soul.
Say, God, you ordained a purpose for my
life and you opened the supply through Jesus
Christ for everything that I will ever require
to fulfill the purpose that you've given to
me.
Nothing can stop what you've destined to do
in my life.
Not angels, not powers, not principalities, not anything
present, nothing to come.
Nothing can separate me from this love and
this supply you have for me in Christ
Jesus.
I am already more than a conqueror through
Christ.
It's amazing when that begins to get into
your heart.
And Peter said, Lord, you know, I love
you.
You know, I love you.
Then Jesus said something very interesting.
He said, feed my lambs.
Now, later on, he's going to talk about
the sheep.
But now he talks about the lambs.
He says this food is for the young
ones.
You've got to teach the young ones to
press beyond the love and the trust of
material things and earthly relationships.
You've got to teach them to seek first
the kingdom of God and his righteousness.
And all these things that they require are
going to be added to them.
You've got to teach them, Peter, that man
will not live by bread alone, but they
will live by every word of God.
And the word live means they will be
caused to live by every word of God.
They'll be quickened to the inner man by
every word of God.
This is lamb's food, Peter.
This is food for those that are babes
in Christ.
Oh, it's so tragic today that many who
are born of the Spirit into the kingdom
of God have to run through this gauntlet
as it is of false preachers of the
gospel who are sent to ensnare them with
the love of material things.
And this is a gospel that is permeating
much of the airways in America today and
the Western world.
And this is a snare to the souls
of the young because they don't understand that
with their hearts divided, they will never fulfill
the calling of God that is upon their
life.
They will run around confessing possessions for the
rest of their life and miss the very
purpose of God that God has ordained from
them before the foundation of the world.
Feed the lambs.
Feed them, these young ones.
Tell them.
And in order to feed them, you and
I have to go there.
We have to be a people who love
Christ.
We have to be a people who can
honestly say to our own children, we can
say to those we preach the gospel to,
we can say to those that we associate
with, I love Christ more than my possessions.
I love Christ more than any earthly relationship
that's going to stop the plan of God
from being fulfilled in my life.
I love God.
I love Him with all my heart and
God knows it.
And beloved, let me tell you something.
The unsaved know it too, no matter what
we confess with our lips.
If our hearts are divided, those around us
know it.
They know it.
Half of the world is laughing at much
of the gospel that is on the airwaves
today.
The unsaved know it.
They instinctively know what it means to be
a Christian.
Isn't it amazing?
Then Jesus goes on and He asks Peter
a second question now.
He says to him the second time, Simon,
son of Jonah, lovest thou me?
And the word lovest is agapeo in the
Greek and really it indicates a direction of
the will.
It means finding one's joy in something or
someone.
It's the word that's used in John 3
.16 about God's love towards men.
When the Bible says, God so loved, that's
agapeo, God so agapeo'd the world that He
gave His only begotten Son.
God so found His joy in a renewed
relationship with His own creation.
God so was moved.
It speaks of Jesus in the New Testament.
It says, who for the joy that was
set before Him endured the cross.
The joy was not just the fact that
He was going to be raised from the
dead.
The joy in God's heart was fellowship with
you and I for all of eternity.
Having you and I bought back.
And God so had a...
the direction of His will was so towards
us that He gave His only begotten Son.
And this is the question that Jesus is
now asking Peter.
He says, Peter, is your joy found in
me?
Is your joy found in me?
Am I the source of that joy?
You can always tell a Christian or pastor
or preacher if they truly are just religious
or if they have a born again relationship.
Those that are gods love Jesus.
Jesus is on their lips.
Jesus is in their mind.
Jesus is in their heart.
They find their chief joy and delight in
knowing Him.
It's all about Him.
It's not about position or power or privilege
and all the other things that can even
be afforded sometimes in the ministry.
It's not about that.
It's about Jesus.
Everything is about Jesus.
Then He's saying, Peter, do you love Me?
First of all, do you love Me more?
You see, you can't really get to the
second question until you've dealt with the first.
Do you love Me more than your possessions?
Do you love Me more than worldly things?
Do you love Me more than position, power,
ambition?
Do you love Me more than all of
the things that this perishing planet have to
offer you?
Do you love Me more than these things?
Peter says, oh, you know I do.
Then he says, now, is your joy found
in Me?
Do you find your joy in Me?
At the mention of Jesus' name, is something
leaping in your heart?
If you hear somebody curse His name in
the workplace, are you grieved inside?
It's not just because you're religious, but you
feel like somebody is cursing your best friend
that you've ever known.
There's something so deep in your heart.
Your joy is so found in Him that
you're grieved when you hear His name misused,
even for apparently righteous purposes.
And Peter said to Jesus, Lord, you know
I love You.
Then he says to Him, feed my sheep.
He says, it implies, the word feed in
the Greek implies the whole office of the
shepherd.
It means leading the flock to its true
source of nourishment.
It means more than merely feed.
He says, Peter, you can't lead the people
to Me if you don't love Me.
Because salvation is a love relationship.
God so loved the world.
The Scripture doesn't say God so was distressed
at the mess that had been created, He
decided to do something to satisfy His own
legal requirements.
Now, the Scripture could say that and be
justified, but it doesn't say that.
It says God so loved the world.
There was a passion in the heart of
God for His people that He determined that
He was going to redeem and bring back
to Himself as His bride for all of
eternity.
Just try to even imagine that.
That God so loved me, God so loved
you, that He's willing to become a man
and die on a cross and suffer a
horrible, cruel death, that you and I might
be restored to God for all of eternity.
He says, oh Peter, if you're going to
shepherd My people, you've got to love Me
this way.
You've got to lead the flock to finding
their joy in Me.
Not in possessions, not in things, not in
church attendance, not in any amount of human
effort.
They've got to find their joy in Me,
in Jesus Christ.
That's the mark of genuine shepherdship, genuine pastorship
over the church of Jesus Christ.
That's the mark of every true office in
the church of Jesus Christ.
At the very core is a passion for
Christ.
If that passion is not there, you're not
sitting under somebody's ministry who can lead you
to the knowledge of Almighty God.
The psalmist says in 119, verse 97, he
says, Oh how I love Thy law, it
is my meditation all the day.
Oh God, how I love Your Word.
Oh God, how I love Your Word, it
is my meditation all the day.
I have always loved the Word of God.
Always.
You can never get to the bottom of
the Word of God.
Never.
You can read a single verse of Scripture
all your life and never touch the bottom
of it.
I could preach on John 3, 16 from
today till the day I die, assuming that's
a little while from now, and never touch
the bottom of that verse.
Never touch it.
Tell me, how can I ever touch the
depth of God's love?
Oh, I could preach on it the rest
of my life, and there would always be
a new corner on the diamond every time
I would stand.
Phenomenal, when you get into the Word of
God.
Phenomenal.
My whole growth in the Christian life has
been in the Word of God.
I remember when I was a police officer,
I've shared this with you before, when it
used to work radar, actually, when I first
got saved.
And I used to pray for rain, because
the old radar sets didn't work in the
rain.
And we weren't allowed to take calls at
that time, so I would just have to
find a barn or a shed somewhere and
park behind it, and I'd open my Bible,
and oh, eight hours, eight hours in the
Word of God.
Oh, I loved His Word.
His Word is life.
His Word is change.
Oh, how I love thy law.
Because the Word is Jesus.
He's not divorced from His Word.
In the beginning was the Word.
The Word was with God.
The Word was God.
The Word became flesh, and we beheld His
glory as of the only begotten Son of
the Father, full of grace and truth.
The Word is Jesus Christ.
Everything in this Bible is Christ, from Genesis
to Revelation.
It's the heart of God through His Son
to our generation.
It's amazing.
Oh, how I love thy law.
Oh, I love God's Word.
I was sitting a while ago in a
seminar that's supposed to be for leaders, and
I thought it was rather interesting because the
speaker got up, and he started the seminar
with a false premise.
I'm not even going to go into it,
but he made a statement, and if you
bought the statement that he made, then that
means you buy the package that comes for
the whole three days.
But the statement he made was false.
Isn't that amazing?
And I remember thinking when he made this
statement, I said, That's not in the Word
of God.
As a matter of fact, that's not what
the Word of God says.
The Word of God says something else.
Folks, if you don't love Christ, you can
be deceived.
If you love Christ, you love this book,
you love this Word.
This Word becomes a lamp for your feet
and a light for your path.
This Word is light.
The Bible says that men loved darkness and
wouldn't come to the light because their deeds
were evil.
But if your heart is towards Jesus Christ,
you will come to this book, and you'll
say, God, let this book be an x
-ray machine every time I read it, and
let it examine my heart, let it prove
my thoughts, let it prove my ways, what
I'm doing, and examine what is really being
formed in me, whether it's Christ or whether
it's something of my own heart.
And Peter said, Oh, you know I love
you.
And then he said, Feed my sheep.
Oh, Peter, Peter, lead them to joy in
me.
Lead them, oh, Peter.
Lead them to finding their joy in me
and me alone.
Oh, folks, everything that we stand on today
could be taken away in a moment, in
a moment of time.
And we don't know what the future is
going to hold.
But everything could be taken away in a
moment of time.
But the love that you have for Jesus
can never be taken away from you.
It cannot be taken out of your heart.
Now he asked him a third time, John
21, 17.
He said unto him the third time, Simon,
son of Jonah, lovest thou me?
Now Peter was grieved because he said to
him the third time.
Imagine if you're sitting here today, and Christ
himself were to come to you in front
of the whole church three times, ask you,
Do you love me?
Oh, you know I love you.
Do you love me?
I know, you know I love you.
You know I love you.
Do you love me?
And he was grieved.
But it's a different word this time.
It's a different question.
The word is phileo in the Greek.
And it means to love somebody with the
intent or the meaning of having common interest
with that person.
Now that's an interesting concept.
Now do you love me more than material
possessions or friendships or these other things?
Do you love me enough to find your
joy in me alone?
And then he says to Peter, Do you
love me enough to share common interest with
me?
In other words, do you love me enough
to walk with me?
Do you love me enough to embrace my
heart as your heart?
That my work is your work?
That you will follow the steps that I
have outlined for your life?
Do you love me enough to do this?
You see, a lot of people get to
stage two.
They say, Well, I've given up material possessions
and they don't seem to hold me anymore.
I really have joy.
I come into the house of God and
I have joy, genuine joy.
I do love Jesus with all my heart.
But then there's a third question that really
proves the extent of our love for Christ.
He says, Do you love me enough that
my way becomes your way?
That my path becomes your path?
That my will becomes your will?
That the purpose that I set apart your
life for from before the foundation of the
world becomes your purpose?
Do you love me enough?
Do you love me enough to break out
of the box of just religion and church
attendance?
Do you love me enough that we cease
to simply study the Word of God?
I mean, just studying for the sake of
knowledge and begin to enter into that knowledge
and what that knowledge represents for us personally.
Do you love me enough to share the
common interest that I have?
Now, John chapter 12, keep a marker in
21.
John chapter 12, verse 25.
Jesus makes an interesting statement here.
He says, He that loves his life shall
lose it.
And he that hates his life in this
world shall keep it unto life eternal.
If any man serve me, let him follow
me.
And where I am, there shall also my
servant be.
Now, when he says he that loves his
life, the same word is phileo, the one
that we're talking about now.
He that has a common interest, and the
word for life is for the lower region.
It means soul, but it means the lower
region of a man's being.
It's that part of a man that he
shares in common with animals.
Now, that's the easiest way I can say
it, and that's actually what the lexicon says
about it.
And what Jesus is saying in this particular
verse is that he that shares common interest
with his lower nature will perish.
In other words, he whose interest comes from
his own fallen nature, who seeks to preserve
himself.
He seeks to justify the interest of his
own heart by somehow bringing it into the
house of God and cramming it into Christianity
as he sees it.
But he's really following the interest of his
own heart.
Jesus says that man will perish.
But he who forsakes his lower nature will
become...
Actually, let me paraphrase this, my own translation
from really digging this apart in pieces.
It says that he that shares common interest
with his lower nature or his own desires
will perish.
But he who forsakes his lower nature will
become the highest and best which Christ is
in him forever.
Amazing when you really begin to understand it.
He said he who hates his life.
It doesn't mean we walk around saying, I
hate my life, I hate my house, I
hate my job.
You know, that's not what he's talking about.
He's talking about the part of the man
that will try to lead him.
Is that making it simple?
He who just puts it off, despises it.
God, I will not be led by my
lower nature.
I'll not be led by the soulish realm
of my mind.
I'll be led by the spirit of God.
I want common interest with God.
I want to know what God's plan is
for my life.
And that's the plan I want to follow.
I want to walk that way with all
of my heart.
And verse 26, he says, if a man
serve me, let him follow me.
And where I am, there shall also my
servant be.
I think that settles the issue.
Where I am, there's where my servant's going
to be.
So the question that we have to ask
ourselves is, where is Christ?
What is he doing?
Go to Psalm 107, please, with me.
I want to show you where God is
today.
And he says, where I am, there will
also my servant be.
I want to be doing what Christ is
doing.
I want to be walking where he's leading
me.
I want to be speaking what he's speaking.
I want to be reaching out where he's
reaching out, as his servant.
Psalm 107 begins to tell us in verse
4, they wandered in the wilderness in a
solitary way.
They found no city to dwell in.
Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them.
Then they cried to the Lord in their
trouble, and he delivered them out of their
distresses.
And he led them forth by a right
way that they might go to a city
of habitation.
Oh, that men would praise the Lord for
his goodness and for his wonderful works to
the children of men.
Now, he's saying, here's where God is today.
Here's where Christ is.
There are people wandering.
They're alone.
They have no dwelling place.
They're hungry.
They're thirsty.
Their soul is fainting.
And they cried to the Lord in their
trouble.
Now, there's a cry that only God can
hear all over society today.
There's a cry at every level of society.
And my Savior and yours heard you and
heard me when we cried out to him.
Even if it was just a faint little
bleat, if that's all we could get out
of our mouths, he heard us.
And he came to us.
And I thank God for that with all
of my heart.
And quite often he came to us through
a person in his church.
I don't know if that's been your experience,
but that was mine.
I thank God to this day with everything
that's in my heart that when I was
crying out to God and saying, God, if
you're real, I want you to show me
who you are.
I thank God that he put it on
a policeman's heart to come to my door
and knock on the door and say, I'm
here to tell you what it means to
be a Christian.
He came to me, but he came through
his church.
That's where Christ is.
And where Christ was, his servant was as
well.
Now, that man, I gave him a hard
time.
I rode him hard for over two months.
I argued with him.
I mocked him.
I made fun of him to the point
where when I gave my life to Christ,
he didn't believe it.
He didn't believe that I actually had surrendered
my life to Christ.
He was skeptical because I had been so
argumentative with him.
But he persisted because Christ was there, because
the cry in my heart was real.
I wanted to know.
I said, but I don't want any more
religion.
I'm sick of religion.
I want a living relationship with God.
And this thing is real.
I want it.
And if it's not, I want nothing to
do with it.
I was very, very clear.
But Christ came to my house every Wednesday,
7 o'clock.
Christ came to my house.
And he came through a man.
He came through a vessel that he sent
to my door.
Jesus said, where I am, there will my
servant be also.
Where I am.
Hallelujah.
He heard my cry, and he delivered me
out of my distress, in verse 6, and
led me forth by a right way to
go to a city of habitation.
I could stop and dance right here.
Thanks be to God.
He took me out of the confusion, the
despair, the depression, and brought me to a
city that has foundations, whose builder and maker
is God.
I thank God with all of my heart.
Hallelujah to the Lamb of God.
Verse 8, he says, Oh, that men would
praise the Lord for his goodness and for
his wonderful works to the children of men.
Now, you see, the Scripture is inspired by
the Holy Spirit.
This is the pen of Christ that is
writing through a man, in Psalm 107.
And this is a cry not from the
psalmist's heart, it's from God's heart.
If you understand the Scripture is inspired, you
understand this principle.
And it's like as if Christ himself is
saying, Oh, that there would be a chorus,
that there might be a chorus of voices
raised to the goodness of God, who might
be there to see the hungry and the
distressed delivered and brought to a city of
habitation.
God says, Oh, that my people might surround
those that are coming and share in my
joy, that there might be a chorus of
voices raised to the goodness of God.
Again in verse 10, he says, Such as
sit in the shadows, in darkness and in
the shadow of death, being bound in affliction
and iron, because they rebelled against the words
of God.
So the Lord says he hears the cry
of the rebellious, even though they've rebelled against
God.
When they cry, he says in verse 11,
And condemned the counsel of the Most High,
therefore he brought down their heart with labor.
They fell down and there was none to
help.
This is always where the rebellious will go.
Then they cried to the Lord in their
trouble, verse 13, And he saved them out
of their distresses.
He brought them out of darkness and the
shadow of death and broke their bands in
sunder.
Then he says again, Oh, that men would
praise the Lord for his goodness and for
his wonderful works.
God says, Oh, that I would have a
people who would be there when it happens.
That I would have a people who are
walking with me, who go into places where
the rebellious live and are crying out, who
stop writing off this generation of young people
and go where they are and hear their
cry and bring them Christ and see their
chains broken and see them set free by
the power of God.
He says, Oh, that I would have a
people who would share a chorus of voices
and be raised to the goodness of God.
In the midst of the rebellious who cry
to God in our generation.
Verse 17, God even reaches out to the
foolish.
The foolish, who are not sort of fools
in our generation.
Verse 17 says, Fools, because of their transgression
and because of their iniquities, are afflicted.
The soul abhors all manner of meat and
they draw near to the gates of death.
These are the God resistors, the fools who
are trying to push Christ out of every
segment of our world today.
Then, it says in verse 19, and you
can better believe this is coming to every
fool.
Then they cry to the Lord in their
trouble and he saves them out of their
distresses.
You remember Jonah.
Jonah didn't want to go to Nineveh because
he said, I know what you're like.
He said, I know I'm going to preach
the word and these fools, these enemies of
God are going to get saved.
And Jonah says, I don't want to go
because I know what you're like.
I want you to destroy them.
But God reaches out when he hears the
cry of a fool.
I was a fool before I came to
Christ.
I don't know about you.
He sent his word and healed them and
delivered them from their destructions.
Delivered them from that which they were embracing
that was going to destroy them.
Not only temporarily, but for all of eternity.
Then again he says, oh, that men would
praise the Lord for his goodness and his
wonderful works to the children of men.
Oh, that I could find a people intermingling,
not of them, but with the fools of
this world who have rejected God.
That I might have a people who are
working there with me.
Where I am, there my people may be
also my servants.
And when they see even one fool come
to Christ, would join their voices with mine,
would join with the angels around about the
throne of God, who break into uproarious joy
every time one sinner repents in the sight
of God.
Verse 23 tells us that he delivers businessmen
who are crying out to him.
It says, they go down to the sea
in ships and do business in great waters.
They see the works of the Lord and
his wonders in the deep.
For he commands and raises the stormy wind
and lifts up the waves.
They mount up to heaven, they go down
to the depths.
Sounds almost like the stock market today, doesn't
it?
Mounted up to heaven and now everybody's in
court.
They go down to the depths, their soul
is melted because of trouble.
They reel to and fro, they stagger like
a drunken man and are at their wits
end.
These are the businessmen of the world, the
business people.
Then they cry, verse 28, unto the Lord
in their trouble and he brings them out
of their distresses.
He makes the storm a calm so that
the waves are ever still.
Then are they glad because they are quiet
and he brings them to their desired haven.
Isn't that amazing?
He brings them to the place where they
long to be right from the beginning.
They thought they could find it through money.
They thought they could find it in business.
They thought they could find it in trade.
But God had a people that loved him
and were set apart for him and were
walking according to his purposes.
They brought into the midst of the business
community the message of eternal life through Jesus
Christ.
And those who were crying and at their
wits end came out and God brought them
to their desired place.
That place of security they longed for and
thought they would find in the world, they
found it in Christ.
And then he goes on, he says, oh,
that men would praise the Lord for his
goodness and his wonderful works to the children
of men.
Oh, God says that I could have Christian
businessmen, businesswomen in the middle of this whole
confused community looking for success and security in
the wrong places.
Who every time a man or woman who
has sought security in the world finds Christ
could lift their voices with me and worship
with me.
Oh, that I could have a people that
love me in the business community.
And verse 41 tells us that he delivers
the poor.
That's where he is right now.
He sets the poor on high from affliction
and makes him families like a flock.
And I love that word families.
In the Hebrew text it means he brings
them into a circle of relatives with strong
blood ties.
Don't you love it?
Isn't it amazing?
He takes the poor that are cast out
and brings them into a circle of new
relatives that have strong blood ties.
That's you and I today.
That's who we are in Christ.
And then he goes on and says, the
righteous shall see it and rejoice.
Now, how do the righteous see this?
Is it that somebody comes to Times Square
Church and gives a testimony?
One time I was in Africa and I
had a chance to lead some people to
Christ.
I went to Jamaica.
Brother Dave, for example, is in South Africa
right now and just came from Zambia.
Is that how the righteous see it?
I don't think so.
There's a lot of places that are just
simply willing to hear nice stories about what
God is doing around the world.
And they will clap and they will say,
this is wonderful, this is great.
And they'll take an offering and give $100
and walk out and say, well, I've done
my part in world evangelism.
No, but the Bible says the righteous will
see it.
There's a big difference between seeing it and
hearing it.
The righteous will see it.
The righteous will see the poor taken and
delivered from the oppressor and brought into the
family of God.
The righteous will see it.
I love it with all my heart.
I've seen it.
Have you seen it?
And I've rejoiced.
Have you rejoiced?
I've seen the poor delivered.
I've seen the one that has no helper
brought into the kingdom of God.
I've seen young people at this altar this
Friday night who may be raised without father
or mother in some cases.
Raised without God.
Raised in a hopeless society that taught them
that temporal values and violence were okay as
long as the objectives were met.
And I've seen these brought into the kingdom
of God.
I've been there.
And I hope to continue to see it
until the day I die.
And the Scripture says the righteous shall see
it.
Now, go to Psalm 109.
I'll show you how the righteous see it.
Psalm 109, verse 30 says, I will greatly
praise the Lord with my mouth.
I will praise him among the multitude.
For he shall stand at the right hand
of the poor to save him from those
that condemn his soul.
Christ will stand at the right hand of
the poor to save him from those that
condemn his soul.
How does the righteous see it?
It's simple.
Jesus said, Where I am, there will my
servants be also.
It's not complicated.
I'll be standing at the right hand of
the poor to deliver him.
And my servants will be there.
Those that are mine will be there.
They will be fighting.
The fight of faith.
They'll be walking with the love of God.
They have another worldly view in their heart.
They see things in this perspective of eternity.
These are our people who are not gripped
by temporal things.
These are our people who find their joy
in Christ.
These are our people who have gripped and
are gripped by the will of God.
And they're being led as God leads them.
Their daily cry is, Jesus, wherever you go
today, I want to go with you.
Whatever you do, I want to be doing.
Wherever you send me, I will gladly go.
God, let me walk with you.
Let me speak for you.
Touch through me.
Speak through me.
See through me.
Encourage through me.
God, flow through me.
Because you said where you are.
He's not changed His work because He's at
the right hand of God.
He's still reaching out to fallen humanity.
That is the work of God.
We are now the church.
We are now His body.
And where He is, His servants will be
also.
That's why on Judgment Day, I believe it's
going to be quite simple.
He's going to say to some, I never
knew you.
You did all kinds of wonderful things in
my name, but I never knew you.
Because where I was, you weren't.
It's simple.
I'm looking.
I don't recognize you.
I don't recognize myself in you.
You see, that's why the separation will be
evident on that day.
There will be no arguments necessary.
Those who are damned will know it.
Those who are saved will be leaping and
dancing for joy all around the throne of
God.
Say, Lord, you're no stranger to me.
I knew you on the earth.
I walked with you.
I knew your voice.
I loved you with all my heart.
If you asked for something, God, I gave
it to you.
You had everything.
You owned everything.
You reached in one day, and by grace,
you ripped it out of my heart.
I gave it all to you, and you
gave me as much as you thought I
should have.
But more than that, you gave me your
will.
Then Jesus says to Peter, feed my sheep.
Then he says, when you were young, you
went where you wanted to go.
You did what you wanted to do.
And of course, Peter was a pretty tough
guy.
He says, but as you're growing older, you're
going to stretch forth your hands, and another's
going to lead you where you don't want
to go.
And the Scripture says, he said this to
signify by what death he would glorify God.
Then he said to Peter, follow me.
Peter, do you love me enough to share
my interest, to adopt my plan for your
life and for this world?
He said, now that you're going to mature,
and as you get older, stretch out your
hands and let me lead you.
Let me take you where you can't go.
Let me make you what you could never
be.
Let me give you what you could never
possess.
Let me flow through you, Peter.
Let me be God to you.
Let me be God through you.
And then he said, follow me.
And Peter, by the way, feed my sheep
with this.
Feed my sheep with the understanding There's no
greater calling on a man or woman's life
than to yield their life to Jesus Christ.
This is not about a religion.
This is about a relationship with God.
Today, if you need freedom, you need deliverance,
if you're tired, you're struggling in your sins,
you can be free.
You can be absolutely set free by the
power of God in a moment of time.
Let's stand for a moment and just worship.
I'm going to ask the worship team to
come.
Please, it's early.
Let's take a moment just to worship.
I'd like to sing this song, I Love
You, Jesus.
And as we do, would you lift your
hearts, your hands with me?
Let's sing this song.
And I'm just waiting for the Holy Spirit
to give me exactly what he wants for
this altar call today.
Hallelujah.
Thank you, Jesus.
Thank you, Lord.
Thank you, Jesus.
Now, listen carefully.
In the annex balcony of Main St. Tree,
If you're here today and you don't know
Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, I
want you to know that He died on
the cross for you and He paid the
price for your sins.
And He said, if you'll believe that I
took your place and confess that you're a
sinner, I will save you.
That means I'll take away the record of
the wrongs that you've done that have barred
your entrance into the kingdom of heaven for
eternity.
And then I will call you into a
life that is supernatural.
I will come, He says, through the Holy
Spirit, I will indwell you once you have
received Christ.
Now, you don't have to understand all of
these things as I'm speaking them, but the
Bible will bear witness to this when you
begin to read it.
He says, I'll come, I'll live in you,
and I'll give you the power to be
another person.
I'll change you.
And it will begin at home.
It'll be changes day to day.
There'll be changes come into your life.
I will teach you how to walk with
me.
I'll teach you how to love me.
I will show you how much I love
you.
And this will become a love relationship.
You see, God's not inviting you into another
religion.
You may be coming from a religious background
here today, and you're saying, well, what's the
difference?
This is not a religion.
This is a relationship with God through His
Son.
It's a love relationship above and beyond everything
else.
You may not understand it today, but something
inside is saying, this is the truth.
God Almighty has touched me, and I know
it's the truth.
And I'm going to invite you this morning
in just a moment to slip out of
your seat and make your way here.
And we're going to pray a simple prayer
of salvation with you today that you may
come to Christ.
If you're here today and you're a Christian,
but you're backslidden and you know nothing or
very little of the joy of God, I
want to encourage you to come back to
the Lord.
If you're struggling with a sin, He'll set
you free.
Folks, He came from heaven to a cross
to set you free.
Don't let the devil convince you that somehow
your situation is different than anyone that's ever
come before you.
No, he hates your sin enough that he
would be crucified to pay the price for
it, and he will set you free.
This is the work of God.
This is what this church is about.
This is what the message today you heard
is about.
It's the work of God to set you
free.
You might be one of those in Psalm
107.
You say, God, I'm at my wit's end.
Lord, I've been a fool.
I've been rebellious.
I've been covetous.
I've gone the wrong direction.
And Lord, I even thought I knew you,
but I don't know you.
And I hear you calling me today, and
I encourage you to slip out as well.
And then lastly, but keep in mind, this
is only if the Holy Spirit's convincing you.
I don't want altercals to get to be
a force of habit in this church.
If the Holy Spirit is speaking to you,
and you say, Pastor, I've been examined today
by the Word of God.
And the Lord's examined me.
I thought I loved the Lord when I
came into this, but I see that the
Word's been opened.
My heart's been examined, and I've really got
some areas that I don't really love God.
And today, I just want to come and
confess that and ask God for the strength
to be a servant that would be where
God wants me to be.
Where the Holy Spirit is working, that's where
I'd be.
The Lord would have access to my life
and through my life for His purposes and
for His glory.
Now, we're going to sing that song again,
Pastor Patrick, if you would.
And as we do, if the Holy Spirit
has spoken to you today, would you slip
out in the balcony?
Either exit, make your way down here, the
main sanctuary.
Education NX, please step forward between the screens,
and we'll pray for you momentarily.
The Holy Spirit's leading you this morning.
Step out.
Come, please, meet me at this altar.
We're going to pray together today.
Let's do that.
You're the first and last to say, I
love you.
I love you, love you, Lord Jesus.
And I praise your holy name.
You are the alpha and the omega.
You let them hang their honor free.
You guide the change of my feet.
I raise my voice up with a cry.
You lift my hands and dry my eyes.
You let them hang their honor free.
You guide the change of my feet.
I raise my voice up with a cry.
You lift my hands and dry my eyes.
I want to ask you a very serious
question this morning.
If you're here today and you have never
received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior,
this is the most important decision you'll ever
make in life.
There'll never be a greater one than this
today.
Because this is the difference between heaven and
hell, an eternity with God and an eternity
without God.
And how tragic it's going to be for
those who are fools who choose to remain
fools, and rebellious who choose to remain rebellious,
and lost who choose to remain lost, who
are confronted with the goodness of God through
Christ but resist that incredible grace, somehow thinking
that when they finally get there before the
throne of God, maybe some good thing in
them will outweigh the bad that they've done.
And what a wrong theology that is.
The Bible says, All have sinned and fallen
short of the glory of God.
The only remedy for sin is Jesus Christ.
He took your place on the cross.
He did it publicly.
He did it high on a hill.
He did it bruised and beaten and naked
as they saw nakedness in His generation.
And He did it for you and He
did it for me.
I remember the day I finally first stepped
up in a balcony in a church similar
to this, and an altar call was given
for salvation and nobody went.
And my heart was pounding in the middle
of my chest.
And God says, I died for you publicly.
I don't want you living in a closet
for me.
I want your testimony to be a public
testimony.
And I remember getting up and walking down
that aisle all by myself.
It seemed like it was a hundred miles
long coming down there.
But thanks be to God.
He gave me the courage to take a
stand for Him.
My life's never been the same and yours
won't be the same either.
You may not feel anything, but when you
believe in Christ, the Bible says your sins
are going to be dealt with, washed away.
Scripture says, In Christ you become the righteousness
of God.
It's as if you've never sinned.
It's amazing.
You're brought in to fellowship with God through
His Son.
The power of God begins to operate through
your life.
You become a new creation.
A brand new person.
It's amazing.
And that's how you know it's real.
I remember saying, God, if this thing is
real, I want it.
That was my salvation prayer.
If this thing is real, I want it.
If it's not, I don't.
And the Lord took me right where I
was at and began to change me.
Day by day by day began to change
my life.
And I see people whose lives are going
to be changed at this altar today.
I see it.
I see what God is doing.
I can hear the angels.
They're tuning up their instruments around about the
throne right now because there's going to be
a party at the throne of God.
Education NX, I can't see you, but the
Holy Spirit sees you today.
Here in the balcony main sanctuary at the
altar.
For those who want to receive Christ as
their Savior for the first time, would you
just raise up your hand now?
Unashamedly, all over the place, up in the
balcony.
You didn't come to the altar, but you
said, I want Jesus.
Raise it high.
Let everybody see it.
Let all your friends see it.
Everybody, raise your hand.
Hallelujah.
We're going to pray a simple prayer with
you today.
You're here together.
You're both coming to Christ.
That's awesome.
That's wonderful.
Thank God.
Let's pray.
Let's pray together.
Everybody who raised their hand and anybody that
wants to pray, just encourage them.
Let's pray together.
Lord Jesus, I am a sinner.
Jesus, I thank you that you so loved
me, that you gave your life on a
cross and paid the price for all the
wrong things that I have done.
Thank you, Lord, for giving me a new
heart.
I don't want to live in sin anymore.
I want to live a new life, a
life that brings honor and glory to God.
Today, Jesus, Son of God, I open my
heart to you and I receive your offer
to me of forgiveness and eternal life.
And I invite you to come into my
heart and be my Lord and my Savior.
I believe that at this very moment, you
are receiving me and my sins are being
washed away.
I believe that the angels are beginning to
rejoice because I'm being set free from a
life of sin And brought into the life
of God.
Oh, God, thank you.
Thank you, Jesus.
Thank you for loving me.
Thank you for saving me.
Hallelujah.
Hallelujah!
Oh, that men would rejoice!
Oh, that men would rejoice and lift their
voices to God for His goodness!
That they would rejoice with God!
Hallelujah!
Now, for the rest that are here, pray
with me now.
Lord Jesus, forgive me.
God, I've not loved you the way that
I should.
And you've shown me today.
But you've also shown me your mercy.
You've shown me your power and your ability
to love me and to change me.
I ask you, Jesus, to take my life
in its fullness.
Break away from my heart.
Everything that holds me from loving you.
Challenge me and change me.
I want to be where you are.
I want to be doing what you are
doing in this generation.
I want to be among the righteous.
Who stand with you at the right hand
of the poor.
And see them delivered from the power of
the enemy.
I want to rejoice with you, Jesus.
Every time one sinner comes to the knowledge
of God.
I want to love you with all of
my heart.
And all of my soul.
All of my mind.
And all of my strength.
And I want to love my neighbor.
As I love myself.
Oh God, hear the cry of my heart.
Answer me today, oh God.
And Lord, I will rejoice with you.
I will rejoice with you.
This is the conclusion of the message.