I Don't Feel Anything! | Andrew Farley

I don't feel anything Linda sent me an email from a place far far away and she's one of hundreds of people who have emailed and said I don't feel anything right now I haven't felt anything in six months it's been a year since I felt close to God I remember when I used to and there you have it we recall our finest moment in the Christian life we recall our finest feelings when everything was romantic and warm and fuzzy and amazing and we felt like we were united with Christ and it was so real and then what happened his life hit the music was over we left the church service and three days or three months or even three years later something began to fade life hid circumstances hid things got messy they didn't seem spiritual anymore how could Christ be in this my marriage is falling apart how could Christ be in this I can't even get my kids to behave how could Christ be in this I can't even hold down a good job things get messy we have expectations what happens to us fall short of those expectations and we start wondering where is God where is Christ how can this gospel be true I feel nothing today we're going to talk about what the scripture has to say about that and what God our counselor would say to us and those moments that we feel nothing most of us if we've been in Christ more than a year or five we've been at that place maybe it was temporary maybe it was fleeting maybe it was just for a week or a month but certainly we ride the roller coaster of the soul don't we we ride the roller coaster of emotion up and down and all around and we try to make sense of it and we try to feel God pastors and worship leaders get up front on stages like this and we say things like experience God feel God's presence in this place today and that sets a standard for our expectations shouldn't I feel his presence shouldn't I experience his presence shouldn't I feel something isn't joy a feeling isn't the fruit of the Spirit a feeling isn't peace a feeling and then when it seems that other people around me are feeling and experiencing something that I am NOT I could even wonder if I'm saved or if I'm still saved and so we begin to measure ourselves and examine ourselves and test ourselves concerning our emotional state and you know the Bible never actually promises that we will feel something the Bible never promises that we will feel or experience on an emotional level what God has done for us man it is great when we have emotions come on I mean emotions are awesome and yet they can be the most horrible experience and the most wonderful experience all at the same time have you ever gotten a piece of great news followed by well actually that's not the truth and the whole thing was flipped on you you know I have a friend who was battling with a disease battling with a cancer and you know he thought he was a hundred percent healed and then he got the news that wait a minute there's more work to be done can you imagine going from the depths of despair emotionally and then thinking I'm a hundred percent healed according to doctors and then wait a minute they made a mistake all within a matter of hours or days or weeks up and down and all around and so you can see how circumstances determine our feelings we're created that way I mean you fall in love and you feel things at the deepest level emotionally and it feels amazing and 17:25 32 years later some marriages fall apart there's divorce there's division there's infighting and all the feelings seem to go away what then how do we move forward so emotions we need to embrace the fact that they exist that God created us as emotional creatures we are thinkers we are feelers and yet there's a deeper place than our thinking and our feeling there is a deeper place within us deeper than the soul deeper than our thinking and feeling and it is known as the human spirit and that's where Christ lives Christ doesn't live in our feelings this is radical for many of us we grew up as feeling people we like to live off of a high or even live off of a low and some of us have even been married to emotions and we love experience we're experienced chasers and so we come to know the Lord we spent time in a church somewhere we got to know the gospel we received him and we take our experience chasing into our faith in Christ we take our experience chasing into our Christianity and then we're left wanting we felt it during the songs we felt it and came forward we felt it we felt it when we were on that mission trip or when we were dedicated and committed and making certain decisions that made us feel consistent and obedient and close and then something weird happened I don't know maybe we got married and we had kids and we got busy and there was no mission trip and there was no dedicated behavior and no committed behavior that we could hold on to for that sense of closeness to God like we had in youth group or in college ministry and now we've just got a regular messy-looking life and the question is where is God I want to feel him where is God when I don't feel anything so today I want to share a few thoughts with you the first thought is that salvation involves a knowing not a feeling the Bible says this in first John chapter 5 it says these things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know the key word there B being knowing so that you may know that you have eternal life this is the confidence which we have before him that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us now first I want you to notice the word know there he doesn't say I write you these things so that you may feel he doesn't say I write you these things so that you may experience I write you these things so that you on an emotional level will always feel connected he makes no appeal to emotion here there is no appeal to emotion there is an appeal to knowing and so salvation is a knowing not a feeling now that's good news and bad news isn't it I mean wouldn't it be fun to feel saved all the time wouldn't it be fun to feel your salvation all the time to just run around West Texas and Beyond feeling fused to Christ United with him just feeling it all the time man that would feel amazing it would be like the best drug on the planet we could set up a sign out in the yard that says come in here receive Christ and feel amazing forever and we might have a line miles long for people to come and feel jesus and jesus said something about that he said you guys see and don't believe blessed are those who don't see and yet believe now that's us we don't see but we all so many times we don't feel anything and so we're we're invited to know but not feel in fact the Bible uses an interesting expression it says count on or counts yourselves or reckon right this reckoning if you reckon that something is true well that's how we express an opinion but the reckon in the Bible here is a lot more definite its count on it depend on it trust it and so we're counting on a fact not a feeling the birth of George Washington is a fact not a feeling I wake up some days and I don't feel George was born at all but the birth of George Washington is a fact not a feeling I don't feel George I don't experience George's presidency but surely he was born and served as president of the United States of America we count on that fact we've read it we believe it we count on it and therefore we recount it to other people and it is a fact but the reality is my feelings sometimes have no intersection with the life and times of George Washington now is the name of Jesus magical when I say his name Jesus Christ does that somehow evoke within me all the the perfect emotions to where I feel him and experience him no there's nothing magical about the English name in fact Jesus Jesus Christ can be translated into hundreds of languages around the world and you would hear it differently each time there's nothing within that name the way it sounds to us that would then evoke some magical emotional experience so then what do we go on we have to go with the identity of Jesus the person behind the name and we have to go with the facts of the gospel not the feelings I write you these things so that you may know that you have eternal life I want you to see that the name of the Son of God is mentioned here and what we have to do apparently is believe in the name believe in the name of Jesus Christ that doesn't mean feel something magical about the name it means count on the name believe in the name trust in the name and trust in the person behind the name this is the confidence we have before him that if we ask anything Lord Jesus Christ give me a million dollars some people would say I'm asking and first John 5:14 says and the scripture begins to get twisted out of context when the reality is what he's talking about is asking in Jesus's name for what for eternal life for the expression of Jesus for whatever is on God's heart for us and so the point is this I don't have to feel that he hears I can know that he hears I don't have to emotionally resonate with the idea that he hears I just have to recognize he is not a liar and if he says he hears me he does Romans 10 says something interesting about predicting salvation it says don't do it don't predict who's saved and who's not because you're gonna have egg on your face you're gonna be shocked you're gonna be surprised Romans 10 the righteousness based on faith speaks as follows do not say in your heart who will ascend into heaven that is to bring Christ down in other words you and I have no clue what Christ can do in a person's life don't say in your heart who's gone to heaven that would be to bring Christ down don't say who will descend into the abyss that is to bring Christ up from the dead in other words you are counting the work of Jesus Christ as lesser than and you are saying it falls short if you're gonna make predictions about people's salvation but what does it say what is this righteousness based on faith say it says the word is near you in your mouth and in your heart that is the Word of Faith which we are preaching that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead what does it say you will feel amazing no it says you will be saved now I want you to notice then that there's an agreeing about the identity of Jesus did you know you cannot in a heartfelt way you cannot agree that Jesus is Lord unless the Spirit of God lives in you the Bible says that you cannot say that Jesus is Lord and mean it unless the Spirit of God lives in you I mean an unbeliever could read this verse but they would not agree at a heart level that Jesus is Lord that Jesus is God that Jesus raised from the dead unless the Spirit of God reveals that to them and so the point is we're trying to get our security from our story we're trying to get our security from our past story well I receive Christ when I but then I felt this but then I did this and then this happened and I'm telling the story about me and what I did and what I felt and my story becomes my confidence instead of my present-day recognition that you know what I know Jesus is God and I know he raised from the dead boom end of story you might have a fabulous story but I would bet that in many cases over time the enemy will seek to erode your story twist your story question your story warp your story so that you feel accused and then you're not sure about your story anymore and then you're not sure about your salvation because your story has fallen apart the enemy can attack your story but he cannot attack what Jesus did and that's why this scripture passage puts assurance and our security on what Jesus Christ has done not on the beauty or consistency of our salvation story I'm not trying to take away your story or criticise your story many of us have a testimony and God worked and we share that and great but let your confidence be about today let your confidence be about the fact that you know Jesus is God and you know Jesus is Lord and you know he raised from the dead and that right there is the core of our confidence 1st Corinthians chapter 12 therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says Jesus is accursed and no one get this no one can say Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit now again I get emails of all kinds and a lot of those emails people are scared so there's a lot of scared Christians we can all find fear to be a real battle can't wait I mean there's a lot of freaked out fearful scared Christians and you know when a Christian is scared that God is gonna what does that tell you they recognize God is God they recognize he has authority they recognize he has power and many times they would they if you say well do you believe Jesus is Lord absolutely I mean that's kind of what I'm scared of is that Jesus is Lord so do you see that in the midst of the fear there is fear of an authority there is fear that Jesus is Lord and therefore in its lordship he is gonna punish or cast me away or say you know what I'm through with you we're done you've done it you've done it this time you've gone too far you've out sinned my grace you've exhausted the blood of my son those things can't be done but my point is there are a lot of fearful believers that our believers and they're scared of the Lord Jesus Christ in some regard because the accuser has painted him as a Punisher instead of as the Savior that he is for them and so if you are calling Jesus Lord you can only do that because the Holy Spirit lives in you do you see what I'm saying that there's an accuser that wants to take away your confidence and weave in doctrines of fear but if you recognize that Jesus is Lord and he was raised from the dead that is your assurance all right well what about forgiveness I'm a Christian but I'm not sure all my sins are forgiven I mean I know that I prayed to receive Christ and I think he he did me right on that he he responded I opened the door and he came in but still I've heard a lot of teaching on forgiveness and I'm not so sure I'm completely forgiven there might be some dangling sins you know like in the elections there's some hanging chads you know and so I got a deal with those one by one by one well let's recall that justice Salvation involves a knowing not a feeling forgiveness involves a knowing not a feeling Colossians chapter 2 when you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh God did two things for you he made you alive together with him that's what I just finished saying it happened I opened the door of my life I called upon the name of the Lord I said make me alive come live in me but there's more to the story the last part of this verse he made us alive and then it says having forgiven us all our sins when did that happen what are the first four words of this passage when you were dead this happened forgiveness is not happening you're trying to feel it it's not happening it's happened you're trying to feel forgiven as if it's in progress it's not in progress it's like the birth of George Washington the birth of George Washington is not in progress and his mama is glad the birth of George Washington is a finished work it is a past event it's over it's finished sound familiar your forgiveness is a finished work it's over it's finished it's done with it is not in progress and that's why you don't feel it when I say you don't feel it I mean if you were to say lord please me for forgive me lord please forgive me of the sin I did seven minutes ago and then you wait well I mean did he I mean I feel the same as I did seven minutes ago I mean did he forgive me how do I know he forgave me I'm waiting for the little parachute to come out of the sky you know like in The Hunger Games when they got in trouble not that you would watch such a movie but the parachute comes down and there's a little gift package there to help out and I'm waiting and I'm waiting for the little box of forgiveness and then I open it up and there's just a little portion of the blood of Jesus and then I just apply it to my wicked heart for the day and then I do it with the next sin on the next sin and the next sin look there is no parachute there is no portion of forgiveness forgiveness from the Lord Jesus Christ is not given in installments you're not on an installment plan you're not on a payment program it's over it's finished don't wait don't hope don't look to the sky don't expect an emotion count on the cross it's over it's done and it was a perfect work I don't feel forgiven I don't feel a lot of things I don't feel forgiven the Bible never asks you to feel anything it asks you to believe that what Jesus did is enough Hebrews chapter 10 puts it this way by this will or by this covenant or by this New Testament we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ how many times once for all expecting any parachutes no parachutes once for all let's keep reading for by one offering he has perfected for how long for all time expecting any parachutes no parachutes he has perfected he has made you perfectly forgiving perfectly cleansed for all time if you're in Christ if you're sanctified which means set apart reserved as a new creature as his child you have been perfectly forgiven for all time there are people that will fight this got an email three days ago it said you're a hyper grace wolf and I hit the reply button and set them a recording of me going oh not really not really we worked it out and by the seventh email everything was cool but let me just say this people will fight this tooth and nail you're telling me tomorrow sins are forgiven no I'm not saying that he's saying that it's not about what I'm saying it's about what he's saying he said it was once for all I would have the parachutes every invented religion that involves forgiveness has parachutes I would have parachutes if I were inventing this message it's what he's saying not what I'm saying that's why his ways are not our ways and that's why this is the Word of God not the word of you or the word of me by one offering Jesus Christ has made us perfect for all time not your idea not mine but his and it's outlandish and it's crazy but it's true and it's not a feeling let me say one more thing about that yeah but okay I'm done no but but you know what happens if people say well but but but but in a relationship like you know with me and my kid when he's done wrong then I expect him to ask and then I okay I get it I get it but is your God you did you shed your blood for your child is there a blood covenant between you and your kid it's apples and oranges you're trying to bring God down to your relational level instead of bringing your relationships up to God's level and letting other people off the hook once for all just as he has you're waiting on an apology from your kid he may never even realize what he or she has done they may never realize and so we're called to forgive others as God forgave us he didn't wait on apologies imagine if his forgiveness were conditional then we would run as bitter resentful people waitin on apologies from other people all right so let's not bring God down to human level let's recognize the blood the Covenant the once for all second Christ in us involves a knowing not a feeling second Corinthians 13 test yourselves to see if you are in the faith examine yourselves or do you not recognize this about yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you unless indeed you fail the test but I trust that you will realize that we ourselves do not fail the test how are we to come on you could be a charade master you could be a charlatan you could be a soothsayer you could be a trickster how are we supposed to recognize that you don't fail the test oh it's because you call Jesus Lord and you believe that he was raised from the dead so there's tangible ways to recognize saving faith in another person and in ourselves apparently this is not rocket science I don't have to go how am I feeling how am I feeling how am i feeling how am I feeling instead what do I believe about Jesus do I believe he is who he says he is or do I believe he's a faker and so there's a way to examine there's a way to know there's a way to recognize saving faith it's tangible not mysterious it's obvious and plain not paralyzing now our new identity in Christ we talk a lot about identity in this church we have a new heart we have a new spirit we're United with Christ you know even this identity message involves a knowing not a feeling the Bible puts it this way says the Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God and if children heirs also heirs of God fellow heirs with Christ if indeed we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him yeah but I feel a lot of stuff yeah it says if indeed we suffer with him no but I feel horrible I feel bad I feel dirty I feel distant I feel persecuted in my emotions I feel incredible turmoil yeah it says you're gonna feel that that's the whole point that if you just had nothing but easy living and smooth sailin and good emotions this verse wouldn't speak of you this verse speaks of people with problems with chaos in their emotions struck down perplexed Paul describes his own Christian experience with emotional words he says fearing even of death right so sounds like it's not always a cushy even emotional experience the spirit lets us know he testifies there's a knowing but not a feeling I might be suffering in my feelings but knowing in my heart first John chapter 3 see how great a love the father has bestowed on us that we would be called children of God notice the love what is the love do the love calls us children of God the love doesn't say you're always going to feel like one see how great a love the father has bestowed on us that we would be called children of God and such we are for this reason the world does not know us because it did not know him beloved now we are children of God and it has not appeared as yet what we will be talking about the future redemption of our bodies we know we don't feel and I mean everything's gonna for me I'm gonna be in that hospital bed or wherever everything's gonna fade to black and I'm not gonna feel I'm gonna know on some level but I might even be shaken I might even be freaking out physically and emotionally I might be freaking out and yet at the deepest level of our personhood we can know what's going to happen we know that when he appears we will be like him because we will see him just as he is I want you to just think about this for a second that the love of God never promises God never promises a feeling but he does say that we can know God never promises that we will feel like his children 24/7 but he does say I'm calling you that because such you are you are that you may feel dirty and distant you are clean and close is that possible I mean you're sitting in the movie theater you feel freaked out and you're safe right so could it be that spiritually speaking your emotions you feel freaked out dirty and distant but you are clean and closed don't trust those feelings they're all over the place trust what you know trust what you believe knowing that Christ having been raised from the dead is never to die again death no longer is master over him the death that he died he died to sin once for all the life that he lives he lives to God even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus you ever feel alive to sin oh my gosh I would hope your honest answer is yeah I feel alive to send tons I mean I've got five senses and so something will appeal to my five senses something in this world and I think oh man I got a I got a I got a I feel alive - I feel good and you know what that's a lie it's a lie and so I have to in that moment I have to count myself dead to that thought because the times that I've given into that thought man on the other side I'm thinking I am an idiot why did I do that so foolish so stupid why did I do that now if I were alive to that on the other side of that choice I would think man that hit the spot that was awesome can't wait to do that again but instead I find myself on the other side of that going miserable man that I am who will rescue me and so apparently the key to this thing is to not walk by what I feel not walk by what I feel connected to but walk by what I know I'm connected to I'm connected to Christ I'm connected to life I'm connected to fruit I'm connected to Jesus and so I need to consider myself connected and walk that way and then on the other side I'm going first I'm going she dodged a bullet again and then I'm going thank you Lord for showing me what real life is I didn't feel anything that time I felt nothing I felt numb I felt I might have even felt dirty and distant I felt nothing but I walked and it took 38 seconds for me to choose but I'm so glad that I chose and now I'm on the other side of that and I feel all kinds of thank you I feel all kinds of relief I may not feel heavenly but I feel relief and there's a reason because I'm joined to Jesus I'm not made for sin I'm alive to You Lord all right what do we see today salvation involves and knowing not a feeling forgiveness involves and knowing not a feeling Christ in us involves a knowing not a feeling identity involves a knowing not a feeling so conclusion by faith not by feeling but by faith let's thank God for the facts you ready let's do it together father we thank you that we are completely forgiven we've done some big stuff some small stuff some occasional stuff some frequent stuff we've done all kinds of stuff we've sinned in many many ways some of us feel half for given 2/3 forgiven we feel forgiven for most stuff but not the worst we forget we feel forgiven for the worst stuff but not too frequent everyday stuff so we let it define us we let it label us we let it measure our spirituality Father we're dropping the measuring stick we're agreeing with you it's once for all we're dropping the emotional yardstick and we are agreeing that it's finished that it's over that we're totally and completely forgiven Father we feel like the guy next door we feel the same as the person across the street we don't feel different we go to church for an hour we were believers but we just feel the same as everybody else sometimes we don't feel anything Father by faith today we just decide that's not going to rule over us that's not going to determine our choices that's not going to dictate how we choose to think the attitudes we take on we're gonna just walk by faith with maybe no feelings at all sometimes we just feel nothing no feelings at all thank you Lord that we worship you in spirit and in truth not an emotion thank you Lord that when we feel nothing you're the same when we feel distant were a hundred percent close when we feel dirty were cleansed once for all we put no confidence in our emotions we believe you we trust you you're no liar we love you to death we thank you for taking care of us in this way a way that is not predicated upon emotion father we believe that Christ Jesus lives in us we don't always feel his presence we don't feel great some days some days were sick some days were well some days were anxious some days were calm but we know that Christ lives in us we believe Jesus is Lord we believe that he was raised from the dead to give us life father we thank you for the truth that always always sets us free in Jesus name Amen

Channel: The Grace Message with Dr. Andrew Farley

Views: 33,704

Rating: 4.9192462 out of 5

Keywords: forgiveness, freedom, identity in Christ, Christ, Jesus, Grace, Bible teacher, Bible ministry, Andrew Farley, Andrew Farley Ministries, new life in Christ

Id: KpRztq_2RSA

Length: 36min 37sec (2197 seconds)

Published: Sun Oct 15 2017