Jeremy Utley - Come Boldly Through Christ in Prayer

i wanted to share something from mark chapter 10. and if you want to turn there with me it's a verse that i've read a lot of times and i have often read it in the same way many times and one of the things that the lord uh just spoke to my heart as i was reading this was um give people the benefit of the doubt that's that's uh this is a specific example of the blessing that comes when we give people the benefit of the doubt i would say it's one of the things i've learned from bobby just in my uh life with him and friendship and fellowship with him is i feel he does a great job of that he gives people the benefit of the doubt and there's lots of ways that we can interpret different things um but i was blessed to see this if you look with me at um mark 10 verse 35 it says james and john the two sons of zebedee came up to jesus and said teacher we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you and he said to them what do you want me to do for you and they said to him grant that we may sit one on your right and one on your left in your glory and i have uh thought and i probably even spoken about the danger of you know salt bug salt exaltation and things like that and that's probably true and accurate but what blessed me was to see that maybe their thinking wasn't so wrong actually maybe this was a good request and i was actually challenged maybe i ought to pray lord grant that i might sit on your right when you come in glory um and i'd like to just unpack a little bit of of why i felt that way it's not the only way to interpret the passage but it blessed me to give them the benefit of the doubt they are two of the disciples who are close to jesus and as i looked at the context it struck me that maybe perhaps this is not a um as bad of a i i've often read it and just thought what you know what um you know what a wrong way to think and i i could be mistaken i wanted to look back if you would look with me at mark chapter 10 it says and think about that the disciples are going to ask this you know in a moment um that lord grant that we may sit on you right in your left because it says that the rich young ruler he wants to inherit life if you look at verse 17 it says as jesus was setting out on a journey a man ran up to him and knelt before him and asked him and said teacher good teacher what shall i say what shall i do to inherit eternal life and i was struck i mean it's this man runs up to jesus he kneels before him he calls him good he expresses a desire to inherit eternal life and jesus he says you know one thing you lack so this one who had obeyed in all these ways sell all that you possess and give to the poor and you'll have treasure in heaven and follow me and then in verse 23 it says jesus says how hard it will be for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of god and then in verse 26 he said verse 27 he says it's impossible for anyone to be saved but not with god all things are possible with god the disciples had said how can anybody be saved and he says it's only possible to be saved except with god's help so and i see here in this example that james and john if they were watching the situation they probably said this guy if anybody could be saved it's this guy you know he's earnest he's sincere he's been obedient and jesus sells us he turns to us and says it's basically impossible and i think and then and then peter i think gives voice to maybe what they're thinking he says in verse 28 behold lord we've left everything and followed you and and then jesus says in verse 29 truly i say to you there's no one who's left houses or brothers or sisters or mothers or fathers for my sake and for the gospel sake you won't receive a hundred times more and i can imagine the disciples you know james and john much like peter may have been thinking oh okay maybe we're maybe we're good you know the rich young ruler may be impossible for him but maybe we're good but then jesus says uh verse 31 but many who are first will be last and then i can imagine james and john going wait so maybe we're not okay maybe it's also impossible it was impossible for the rich young ruler we've given up everything and you say that there's no one who's given up everything you won't be rewarded and yet many who are first it seems like you're talking about us we'll be last maybe we're not good and in a way what i see is it's impossible for me and even a man who's rich in having given up everything and followed the lord it's impossible for a man to be saved impossible and then jesus says something that seems unexpected he says in verse 32 it says they're going up on the road to jerusalem remember all this context you know that which culminates in the question that i tend to criticize they were going up on the road and jesus was walking ahead of them he's just told them it's impossible it's only possible to be saved with god and he tells them uh verse 33 we're going up to jerusalem and the son of man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes and they will condemn him to death and hand him over and they'll mock him and spit on him and scourge him and kill him and it seems like they may have been thinking you know what hope do we have if jesus leaves us if he said it's only possible with god for us to be saved the rich young ruler can't be saved and we can't be saved what hope do we have to be triumphant if jesus leaves what hope do we have that's what i was wondering if they were what they might have been thinking and then it comes they say what verse 35 teacher will you do before you leave we know you're the only way we know it's impossible without you we know that many who are first will be last and just like the rich young ruler we're in danger too will you do this can you do what you have said only you can do in a way it seemed to me as i was reading it you know we say by the way don't we the greatest blessing in all of heaven will be what nearness to jesus christ the great the only gift i want is to be close to him when what are they saying here grant that we might be close to you lord we only want that gift you've just told us it's absolutely impossible and then you've told us the only hope we have you're about to leave before you leave will you assure us it's possible to me i wonder i i was just convicted as i was um assuming the best in them um you know i i think i may uh miss out on a little bit of the heart of this prayer because it's it seems arrogant but as i was reading this with the heart of you know generosity maybe our heart of uh seeking to see the best in others i felt the lord say why don't you pray that too why don't you pray grant that i might be close to you and that's the kind of prayer that i'd like to pray by god's grace lord i see it's impossible i see it's absolutely impossible and without you i have no hope but with you lord i believe that it's possible and jesus answers them he says if you look with me at verse 42 they've said how is it possible for us to sit at your to be near you in your glory the greatest gift we might experience and it says in verse 42 it says calling them to himself jesus said to them you know that those who are recognized as rulers of the gentiles lorded over them and their great men exercise authority over them but it's not to be this way among you whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be the slave of all don't be mistaken by any exaltation now i feel like that's what the lord is saying even the son of man didn't come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many don't mistake exaltation or exercise or admiration or or uh you know anything like that as true greatness the only true greatness is if you can be near me in heaven and who should i look for who who may be granted the privilege of sitting on the lord's right and left it's the servants it's the ones who are willing to come underneath that's and jesus points to himself as the primary example the closer you are to me the more like the more that you will have been conformed to my nature which is to come underneath others if you want to know who's going to be close to me in that day look for the servants seek to be one of those but don't let it snuff out that prayer that says i want to be close to you there's a sense in which we can almost have this false humility we can say oh i can never be close to the lord so i won't even ask and yet you know one of the memory verses we memorized a few months ago it says i think it's second corinthians 5 15 or or 15 5 or somewhere there somebody can mention it if you remember exactly but it says he died that we might no longer live for ourselves but for him why did jesus christ died or why did he die that we might live for him so is it possible to live for him dare i say no i shouldn't say no when when the purpose for which he died is that i might no longer live for myself but live for him lord it's blessedly possible to live all out for jesus christ why not by faith say lord draw me as near to your throne as possible i don't want to bury my talent i don't want to be the one the disciple who said oh i know you'd be a hard taskmaster i know it's impossible to get close to you so i just buried it you know i want to say no you've given me this depositive the holy spirit you've given me a pledge of the inheritance i want to return i want to be close to you lord not presumptuous certainly not not arrogant but as it says in hebrews boldly drawing near to the throne of grace that's what it says maybe we could just end with that verse because i fear that there at least for myself as i examine my own prayer life i can lack a little bit of that boldness at the very least we can we can attribute boldness to james and john whether it's and for me i want to take a little bit from that it says in hebrews 4 verse 16 therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace a hundred percent confident that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in the time of need why would i be far from the lord in that day it's only because i haven't found grace in my time of need and if i can be assured that i can find grace in my time of need why can i not be assured lord i want to be close to you why not pray with confidence let me sit at your right hand not because i deserve it but because you've promised it's possible to live for you and i see that it's impossible except for your promise and yet i see your promise lord so i want to i want to really have that hope in my heart the you know as we sing that song he is not a disappointment he doesn't uh you know it like it says i think in the book of isaiah it says in one place i didn't say seek me in vain i wish i i looked up where that was before i thought of it but i don't remember i can send it out maybe later on whatsapp but i didn't say seek me in a waste place is what he said i'm not taunting you you know and like like it says elsewhere when you said seek my face your face o lord will i seek the lord has called us to be transformed into the image of jesus christ he's called us to proximity to himself and if we're not careful we can have holier ideas than god does we can say that's not possible and the way it'll manifest itself in its prayer life our prayer lives it'll be like those disciples who we hear somebody pleading with the lord for an intimate relationship pleading with the lord for sincerity of devotion and we go how dare they pray like that like they could really you know we wouldn't say it that way we can have that little bit of accusation in our heart or or differently we can fail to grab a hold of god's promises with full assurance of faith and i appreciate that in james and john and i want to learn that lesson from them be bold in prayer come boldly to the throne of grace confident the lord doesn't mockingly tell me to seek him if you see if you search for me with all my all your heart you will find me is what he says and i want my prayer life to bear evidence that i truly believe god's word so i pray the lord help me the lord help us all to improve his faithfulness by our zeal in drawing as close to him as possible in our life and for for forever

Channel: NCCF Church

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Keywords: NCCF, CHRISTIAN

Id: 0Bzt_igI0j8

Length: 14min 3sec (843 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 08 2021