SERMON

Presenting Mr. SELF

2009-03-28T12:45:00.001-07:00

Today we come and look at these verses of scripture of John 8:38 through verse 44 but we will be primarily focusing on verse 44. And we read that Jesus spoke to the Jews that were present, saying “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him.

When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.” With this said I know that by now you know that the title of this sermon refers to the devil. And the Jews listening knew that in the core of their heart that their nature was that of self, as like their father the devil. They wanted what they wanted and how they wanted and when they wanted with no regard to others in the nature of their self. They were not open to God neither to his truth of his son Jesus who was standing right in front of them before their very eyes.

They were ignoring it.

We in our old nature know that we are self centered and because of self choose to make choices that are not in line with Gods will. Why is this? Well it all began in the Garden of Eden where man disobeyed God and ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This put man in the world of self, independent of God. Tasting the fruit of his wrong choice the consequences of being separate from God began, he became spiritually dead as it is our problem as well.

The Jews because of this nature, being spiritually dead, did not know that God, who in his infinite wisdom since before the foundation of the world, knew his son Jesus would come to earth to fulfill his justice for all of mans sins once and for all and make his love known towards man. The Jews that were speaking with Jesus knew of sacrifices and of the temple but they only knew it in the nature of their self and not in the fact that God was standing right there personally with them. Because of their circle of self, disobedience and unbelief they were in, they could not acknowledge Gods way of selfless unconditional righteous love through Jesus Christ.

They claimed that God was their father only they did not understand that their nature of self in their heart was that of the same way as of the devils way of doing things, this is why they did not love Jesus. Only through Jesus could someone be born again spiritually and have this love of God and then respond out of knowing that God loves them. This is why Jesus said “You speak of your father the devil” (John 8:44).

This truth is for us who are walking in the carnal nature of self. Yes this is true of many believers that walk in the carnal nature of self and not in the power of the Spirit. How is this possible you may ask? Well most people have never entered into the Lordship of who Jesus is in regard to self. Jesus having died for our sins once according to the scriptures and is now alive forevermore for Gods promise towards us. So that through someone surrendering to the Lordship of Jesus Christ, our response towards God, the Spirit of God for our carnal nature is there available to us by letting us know when we are walking in the spirit or in the flesh.

The book of John 16:8 states: “And when he (The Holy Spirit) is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.” We read in 1 Corinthians 13:13 “And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity” (1 Cor. 13:13). We know that these three are contrary to our nature of self because it is only wrought out in us by the Spirit of God through Christ Jesus. One may have faith that, God is, one may have trust in Gods Word but only by God’s power can one have charity by fully surrendering to the Spirit of God to have real maturing faith and understanding of Gods word by God revealing it to you. Do you need charity of Gods Spirit, self. And do you agree that this your need? Then humble yourself (Jam. 4:6, 1Peter 5:6) in Gods sight and ask him for his charity by the power of the Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus his son and God will show you his will for you personally in the power of the Spirit. Tell God about yourself.

God is a good God and holy and just and understanding to our need to walk by his Spirit. We as his children who are born again as John 3:3 points out need his loving guidance through his Spirit and God by his love wants us to walk by his Spirit. As Jesus shares with us in the book of Luke 11:13 “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” Do not be as boy who is hungry for love in the heart, because of disobedience, and does not ask for forgiveness from his father with confession of his transgressions. God the father is gracious and kind and wants you to know who he is through a personal walk with him through the promise of his son Jesus. Jesus said in John 17:3 “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent."

But the spirit of the antichrist is here as 1 John 4:3 points out which says, “And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.”
Can the term “spirit of the antichrist” also signify self against Christ? The points that are presented here in Gods word (the Bible) for us to read is relevant to our nature in order for an individual to either choose to walk in the carnality of self or choose to walk in the Spirit(Gal. 5:16).

The stories of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11) and the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:20) as told by Jesus attests to this idea of “Self on the throne.” God’s Spirit moves upon us to do of his will. Yes we are partakers but God is the author and director of our spiritual well being. If one has been born again by the Spirit of God’s power through Jesus Christ then he or she should be walking by the Spirit of God, with God holding our hands as well as we are holding his hand, this is his intention for us. Take the time and implore God of your need.

Mr. Self, the devil, has taught us the wrong way. This is true indeed and seeks to destroy us through our weaknesses apart from the truth of Gods word. Now for a true story now to try to help illustrate this would be that a long time ago there was this fighter in the nineteen thirties and forties named Joe Louis who was one of the greatest if not the greatest heavyweight fighter who ever lived? He was fast, strong and an intelligent fighter. He was everybody’s living nightmare who ever fought him he was unstoppable.

But there was one fighter who did beat Joe his name is Max Schmeling.

Max knew that Joe was a very great fighter that in order to win in a fight against him he would have to find a weakness in Joe’s defense in the ring. So Max watched every recorded film of Joe’s fights that he had with other opponents, running the films both forwards and backwards until it happened Max found the weakness in Joe’s defense. When the day came the two fighters stepped into the ring. Joe was the favorite and according to everybody Max would lose, it was only a matter of how long it would take Joe to knock out Max. The bell rang and out came the two fighters each one eyeing the other while throwing punches. Then Max threw the punch right at the moment Joe was defenseless in his actions and Joe got knocked down. Nobody could believe it! Max went on to win the fight against the greatest fighter of all time in the ring.

If a human being can find a weakness in someone’s defense, how much more does Mr. Self the devil find.

He looks for the weakness of any believer not walking in the spirit of Gods truth without relying on the Holy Spirits help. Mr. Self, the devil, is a fighter against Gods truth and is against our soul. Mr. Self watches the film clip of our lives to find and use our weaknesses against us in the ring of life. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world (1 John 2:16).

He does this to steal, and to kill, and to destroy us (John 10:10). Mr. Self, the devil, is also called the accuser of the brethren. He tries to use the believer’s sinful nature (our weaknesses) against us in front of God. But he can only accuse. He also tries to keep individuals from accepting the promise of the word of life as his first task against man. But through Jesus Christ you and I can have the victory over this enemy of our souls. Yes, you too can have the victory, because Jesus is our savior and can be your sin bearer.

Whether a person who does not know Jesus or whether they fail to grasp the victory they possess, they can walk in the light by Gods Holy Spirit through the promise of God. A free gift, freely given to those that ask God and believe that Jesus died for them to pay a debt that they could never pay and believe that God raised Jesus from the dead; you can walk in the light by Gods Holy Spirit. For those who never made a decision to call on Jesus you can call on Jesus right now as your savior and as Lord to lead you.

Through Christ Jesus we are set free through this truth to become sons of God (John 1:12). Yes right now would be a good time to introduce you to Mr. SELF, the devil. Here’s what he has to say.
“The bible is against me and I hate it. When it talks about Gods chosen people and the Christians I get mad as hell. The Lord Jesus even quoted it to me when I tempted him in the wilderness and I had to flee when commanded by him (Mat. 4:3).
The bible is the only place where it talks about Gods people. I rather have any good than Gods absolute right and wrong. Self then rules by its own understanding with God not being in the picture. My hope is that no one else will turn to Jesus as their sin bearer so that they can have eternal life. Please, please use your wisdom and do not ask God for his wisdom by asking him for it in the name of his son Jesus.
This way, because of SELF, the mistakes keep on happening and happening and I just sit back and watch you in your folly until one day you die and you even lose your self. I influence people’s motives without them realizing it is me, the devil, that’s doing it. I help to develop SELF in people, and keep them in bondage to the hating of born again Christians who are no longer in my domain because of the promise of Gods love expressed through his son Jesus Christ and the hope of placing ones trust in Jesus as their sin bearer!”

If the devil could speak I think these words could best help explain his intent towards all men especially those who have been born again by the power of God and not by the wisdom of man.

I must take the time here and address what was just said. A lot of people may have said a prayer or go to church but they never trusted in Gods power to save them through Christ Jesus. They have only trusted in mans wisdom. Jesus is God in the flesh (John 1:1 & 1:14) and only he can save you if you call on him because of your need of him.

All of this truth you may or may not have worked out for yourself. My prayer for you in all that you heard just now is that you would ask God, in prayer, for his promise of his son and that you would walk in the spirit of his truth. And when you ask for his power, by the Holy Spirit, to overcome your weakness of your carnal nature of your self, God’s truth will take root in your life (John 8:32) because without the truth of his word being established in your heart you will always be in bondage to Mr. self, the devil, and to your weaknesses that you have from your old nature (Rom. 6:6).
The Lord Jesus has overcome all of this as Galatians 5:16 and 17 says, “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.” Mathew 10:38 states, “And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.”
1 John 2:16 says, “For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.” Take the time right now and ask God to nail this message into your heart by agreeing with him about your self and tell him that you will take up your cross and follow him. This is the Fathers will for you to live for Christ by his Spirit. “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” as Philippians 1:21 so lovingly points out. And this brings real peace indeed and real victory. So now I end today’s message with a question for everyone listening. How will you respond to God with what you have heard here today?
(All verses above is from the King James Bible)

When You Hear and Respond To the Lord

2009-02-15T12:08:00.000-08:00

Our scripture reading for the day is found in the book of Luke 16:20-31 and we read what Jesus said, “And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.

And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; And in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us that would come from thence.
Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house: For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.” (Luk. 16:20-31, KJV).

I like to take the time now and parallel what Jesus said here in this true story with a true story of a woman named Nancy. Nancy was this fifty some year old woman who lived on the streets in our town. She was homeless and had the problem of being paranoid schizophrenia. When I first laid eyes on Nancy I was on a bus going by and saw that Nancy was eating someone’s discarded sandwich from a garbage can in front of a store. There were hundreds of people passing by her some even taking notice but going about their daily activities. It was a high end neighborhood with lots of money where you had different types of people, some who where young others who were old and many that were on their way either to or from work. As for me I was on my way to work. But Nancy was going no where and as it seemed no one cared.

As I came to find out Nancy used to be a school teacher whose problem got the best of her. She was living in the streets in all seasons and in all types of weather. I even remember hearing Nancy screaming bloody murder one night in January outside about two or three in the morning. Two weeks after I first saw Nancy in the beginning the Lord God spoke to my heart. In which he had used my wife to make an appeal to me on Nancy’s behalf. My wife said “Husband can we get this woman named Nancy a sandwich.” My reply was that out of habit with a resounding “no.” Then I heard Gods still small voice through my wife with her second plea of “Husband we have plenty and she has nothing can we please get her a sandwich.”

I looked around and saw it was the women I had seen two weeks earlier eating from the garbage can. My heart knew it was God that I heard through my wife and so I made the decision and said “yes wife lets get her a sandwich.” To take the time now and share my thoughts on what I learned from God is that first of all when I first said no I was cutting off Gods working love that he was allowing me to be apart of for Nancy’s life. Yes he trusted me with a chance to be available for him to work in Nancy’s life. Then after the appeal of God through my wife I had felt right in the decision to say yes to God and I knew my response was to God and it made me know that I was hearing what God wanted me to do and that I did it in response to him.

My wife and I then started buying Nancy Sandwiches whenever we saw her. We talked to her and we helped her whenever we could and whenever her will allowed us to help her. We about a year later even shared the Gospel about Jesus with her. We told her that everybody has a root problem named self. And that it is the self in us that needs the power of the risen savior Jesus Christ in order to overcome difficulties in life John 16:33 explains this. Nancy had her will and she was entitled to any decision she made in her response to God just like it was for all of us. Do you think or do you feel that you are in the same position as Nancy? You may not be homeless like Nancy or you may not be afflicted with the disease of being paranoid schizophrenia like Nancy but do you think or feel in your heart that you’re going no where in life or that you’re not able to get close to God? Remember Lazarus was near the table of the rich man seeing the crumbs fall to the ground.

Now before all you high and mighty Christians, people who have been born again, think I am talking about a social Gospel I am not. I am sharing a fact that the Lord has told us about ourselves, all of us, the fact of our hearts being desperately wicked and deceitful above all things. And we need Gods help by his Spirit. I am talking about specifically responding to Gods Spirit in our hearts for our lives and how we choose to respond to him. Are you choosing to respond to him?

There where two people in the Rich man and Lazarus story who were both alive but in different circumstances of life. Can you see clearly Lazarus was near the rich man table? The Rich mans heart undoubtedly closed out Gods still small voice. This was his overall life’s decision on everything. He chose to look at the things from the position of self and not God. He was not looking to the hidden things that are unseen. God knocked on the door of his heart many times I believe but he said no so the rich mans heart was closed to the things of God. Lazarus who was hungry saw the crumbs for his physical need but could not get them because man stood in the way for this need. Lazarus died believing in the hope that would come for him as the rich man died who said no to God.

The next place we see these two is that one of them, Lazarus the poor man, is in Abraham's bosom a place of hope. And the Rich man is in hell a place of torment with no hope. Each of the two life’s decisions carried them to the place of their overall life choice; Lazarus looked forward to the hope of love that would be revealed which would be Christ. And the Rich man who was closed in his heart to the love of God wound up in hell having died in his sin. Many people have closed their heart to Gods love, which is through Christ Jesus, and have focused their eyes on earthly things and not the things of God.

There are some born again Christians who have their eyes focused on the things of this world that is choking out a lot of fruit God has for them making them less productive for the kingdom of God. Their eyes are focused either on the lust of the flesh or lust of the eyes or on the pride of life and this is not of the Father but is of the world. They are allowing things to stand in their way for Gods love to blossom in their life for Christ church to grow and mature. They are hindering the church. Are you born again and hindering the church of Christ for yourself and others?

Go to God now and ask him to help you with any of these boulders that may be blocking your way to a deeper meaningful relationship with him to walk in the Spirit.
Some people here may have other certain types of boulders in their way. Some can be in the form of a financial boulder some can be in the form of a disabling boulder. Some may have a person in their lives as boulders. Is someone or something standing in your way for God to meet your need? I will tell you now of the huge boulder that was in front of Jesus’ tomb when he rose from the dead! I will tell you that it was no match for the love of God expressed through his son Jesus who was now alive in the tomb. I will tell you that the boulder had to move out by the power that was in that tomb.

I will tell you if all the stars and planets in the universe were blocking that entrance to the tomb where Jesus was now standing alive from the dead that they too would have moved out of the entrance path. I will tell you that if you ask God who resides in the heavens and in the earth and under the earth that any boulder that’s in your way it will move out by the promise of God that if you ask anything according to his will he will hear you. And it is his will for you to receive Christ Jesus as your savior and Lord. Yes this is most definitely his will for you. And if you know that he hears you, whatsoever you ask, you know that you have the petitions that you desired of him. That’s why we worship him, because he is alive on our behalf forevermore after paying our debt. Sure we do often sin but the boulder is now moved out of the entrance of your heart and no longer are you alive in your trespasses and sins, your dead, but you are now alive in Jesus Christ! Do you know that you are alive in Christ Jesus?

If you do not know you can know. It’s very simple. God is listening to your hearts cry right now and to the words of your need to want to know him. God raised Jesus from the dead, who paid the price at the cross for your sin debt, and is alive for you to now call out loud on Jesus to be your sin bearer, Lord and Savior! Remember Lazarus in this true story mentioned today looked forward to the hope of Gods love in which you too may now have. He did not close his heart. Is your heart open to know Gods love for you? Does your heart want Gods gift for you? You can do this now in the quietness of the moment that’s going to be right now for this opportunity to call on Jesus out loud to save you. God is calling you to him so come to Jesus! Ask yourself a question what is the power of the cross for you? And also the Lord is also calling those who need his strength to get their eyes of their heart back in tune with who God is so come! Seek the Lord his love shown at the cross calls you to repentance!