Appropriating the power of the cross,
Part 2 - The exchange at the cross Hebrews 10:14, which speaks
about what Jesus accomplished by His death on the cross: For by one offering, or by one
sacrifice, He has perfected forever
those who are being sanctified. The one offering, or the one sacrifice,
is the sacrifice He made of Himself on the cross. And by that one offering
He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. That means to say He
has provided every need for time and eternity in every area of the life of every person
who trusts in Him. There is nothing more that He
has to do. He has done it all. It is one complete all sufficient sacrifice. That’s the first part of that statement. Then it speaks about those
who are being sanctified or set apart to God
or drawn closer to God. That’s an ongoing process. What Jesus has done is once for all,
it’s total, it’s complete. But our appreciation of it, our appropriation of it
is progressive. But we need to start from the fact that
the actual sacrifice is totally complete. When I minister in the Third World,
as I do quite often, I try to use very simple pictures. That will help the people to understand. The same simple pictures will
help people in New Zealand, too but people in New Zealand
might not realize it. So I just want to share with
you two pictures that I used. First of all, in Pakistan
a year and a half ago. Pakistan is a 98% Moslem
country with 84 million people. The Christians, and they’re
only nominal Christians are just a tiny, oppressed,
despised minority. But the Lord opened the way for Ruth
and me with a team of five others to go and spend nine days
in three of the main cities proclaiming the Word of God. It was announced in advance
that we would pray for the sick. Well, our first meeting was in
Karachi, which is the main port. A city of about 8 million people. And before we went to the meeting the leader of team that had invited us, a team of indigenous
local Pakistani Christians, took us to see the Christian
quarter of Karachi. And I’ve seen a lot of poverty in my life
but I have never seen such poverty and such squalor. It really
almost made my physically ill. And I got a little glimpse
of what it’s like to be a Christian in a Moslem nation. They announced that they just had
one meeting in Karachi, because other preachers
had been there first. Then they were going to take us
to other parts of the country, where other preachers
had not been. So I said to the leader, I said: Where are we going to
hold this first meeting? He said: In our church. Having measured the total
economic state of the people I wondered what that would be like. I said: How many people
are you expecting? He said: About 600. I said: How many
does your church hold? He said: 300. So I didn’t bother to reason that out. So they packed our team up
in a little van, and drove to the area of Karachi
where the meetings were to be held. True to Pakistani time
we arrived one hour late. When we got near the church,
we never saw the church. Because at a main intersection - it was
not main roads, it was just dust roads, there were about 3,000 people
just packed in this intersection. This was the congregation. The reason why they had come,
very simple: They heard we would
pray for the sick. So they squeezed me in through the crowd
and got me onto a little platform, just big enough for me
and my Bible and a pulpit. And I was surrounded on
every side by Pakistanis. I mean, there were no space, there
were no aisles, nothing. And they were all
squatting on the ground. So I thought to myself:
God, what am I to say to these people? And God gave me this thought
which I'm sharing with you. I said to them: Now,
if you people were all hungry and I were the owner
of an orange grove. There’s two things I could do for you. I could get an orange from
my grove and give you one. Which would temporarily
stave off your hunger. The other thing I could do
is take you to my orange grove, show you the trees laden
with fruit and say: Help yourself. I said: Tonight I’m going
to take you to the orange grove, and you can help yourselves.
That’s what I’m going to do here tonight. I’m going to take you
to the orange grove. The orange grove is
the truth about the cross. I preached to them in brief outline what
I’m going to preach to you tonight. And then I said: Now how many
of you would like to receive Jesus as your personal Savior? And I suppose half the people stood,
which was about 1500 people. Now of those at least 500
or more were Moslems. I can’t take time to explain to you
the differences between Islam and Christianity. But one thing is they do not believe
that Jesus died on the cross. And they do not acknowledge
that Jesus is the Son of God. So when these people stood up -
all this was through an interpreter, I led them in a prayer and asked
every one of them to follow me. And I began the prayer this way: Lord Jesus Christ, I believe that You are the Son of God
and the only way to God, that You died on the cross for my
sins and rose again from the dead. And they all repeated
those words out loud after me. Now I’m not saying they were all saved. But to get 500 or more Moslems
in a Moslem country, in front of their own Moslems
to say those words, could only have been achieved
by the power of the Holy Spirit. Then I said to myself: We’ve got to redeem
our promise to pray for the sick. There was no way to
get to them in any case. It would have taken hours. So I said: How many of you
want to be prayed for for healing? I think about 90 percent
raised their hands. And I mean, they were sick. People in Pakistan are sick. There aren’t many
really healthy people. That’s really quite typical
of quite a lot of the Third World. So I said, I’m going to pray
a prayer for you. And I want you if you’ve got
some part of your body that’s sick to put your hand on the sick part. And as I pray believe
that God will touch you. So I prayed a prayer - all this
had to be interpreted into Urdu. And I finished praying. I thought, we’ve got to do
something about this. So I said: How many of you
believe God healed you? Well, a few people rather timidly
began to put their hands up. Then there was a disturbance
about ten feet away in front of me. One of the Pakistani
Christians went down and discovered what had happened. A Moslem boy of 12
had been born deaf and dumb. He had never heard and never spoken.
And when I prayed he received his hearing
and began to try to speak. They got him up on the platform
and the place just went wild. Every Pakistani lady
in the congregation determined that we ought to lay hands on them. And they didn’t ask our consent,
they just grabbed hold of our arms and placed our hands on their heads. Well, news spreads. And the next place we went to,
the crowds built to about 16.000. And the local Pakistanis
estimated that in nine days between 8 and 9.000 people
prayed for salvation. The leader of the group
told me a year later that when he went there he was
responsible for five churches. A year later he was responsible
for eighteen churches. Well, that was taking them to the
orange grove, see what I’m saying? Then I was in Zambia,
a little bit earlier if I remember rightly. And I had a crowd of about 7.000
Africans, mainly leaders, gathered. I planned to teach them
on the cross systematically. And I did for about
six successive mornings. I said to them - they were all
professing Christians basically: Now, God has a wonderful storehouse. And it’s filled with absolutely
everything that you could ever need. Whether it’s spiritual, material, physical,
in time or in eternity. It’s just got everything you need,
but the storehouse has a keeper. And in order to get anything
out of the storehouse, you’ve got to make
friends with the keeper. I said: Do you know
the name of the keeper? Some of them said Jesus. I said: That’s a good answer,
but it’s not right. The keeper of the storehouse
is the Holy Spirit. All the wealth of the Godhead,
Father and Son is in the hands of the Holy Spirit.
How important to understand that. You can have all the right doctrine,
you can have all the right theory. You can say all the right things, but
you only get as much as you get from the Holy Spirit. He keeps the storehouse. Then I said to them: The Holy Spirit has one key that
opens the storehouse, only one. And it’s got a very special shape. Do you know what
the shape of the key is? They didn’t guess
so I said it’s the cross. And only when the Holy Spirit uses
the cross to open the storehouse, do the treasures of God
become available to you. So that’s a little introduction to
what I’m going to teach you tonight. I think also that I should
support it from personal experience. I mentioned earlier this evening
that I came to know the Lord in an army barrack room in the
British Army in World War II about midnight. I was so much of a ignorant pagan, that I didn’t know you had to
go to church to get saved. So before anything could happen
I got saved in an army barrack room. About ten days later I was baptized in the
Holy Spirit in the same army barrack room. Nobody told me you had
to go to church to get the baptism. Within 24 hours God gave me
the gift of interpretation of tongues. I didn’t know you had to wait
six months to get the spiritual gift. Shortly after that the British Army
sent me overseas to North Africa and I spent the next three years
in the deserts of North Africa. During that time I became sick with a
condition that the doctors could not heal. A skin condition. If you get the book
God’s Medicine Bottle it’s got my personal testimony
and how I eventually received healing. I was moved from one hospital
to another and I ended up in the British military hospital in a place
called El Ballah on the Suez Canal. Well, there was a very unusual lady
at that time in the city of Cairo. She was a brigadier
in the Salvation Army. She was a brigadier because her husband
who had died had been a brigadier. And in the Salvation Army
the widow takes the husband’s rank. She was 76 years old at the time. And there was very unusual
Salvationists in those days because she was a tongue speaker. And she was as militant
about speaking in tongues as Salvationists normally
are about salvation. She also had received
divine healing from God in India of malaria 25 years previously
and had never taken medicine since. I had met her once and this precious
lady for whom I will always thank God heard about this British soldier who
was a Christian lying in the hospital and she gathered together a little party: A British soldier, a Christian,
to drive the car, and a small car and her American lady coworker
from the state of Oklahoma a young woman of about 25 or 30. And they took this journey to El Ballah, parked the car in
the compound of the hospital. And the brigadier walked
into the hospital ward with her bonnet, her ribbons,
her uniform and overawed the nurse. And obtained permission for me
to go out and sit in the car. So I found myself - I really wasn’t consulted
as to whether I wanted to do it or not. I found myself sitting in the car, in the
back seat of a very smal four-seater car. In front were the driver
in the driver’s seat, the Salvation Army brigadier
with him in the front. And this American lady missionary
in the back seat beside me. The brigadier said let’s pray and when
the brigadier said pray, you prayed. And we started to pray. And the American lady beside me
started to shake. I felt her whole body vibrating. And then she began
to speak in a tongue. And, of course, I knew what that was. And then I started to shake. And then all the people
in the car started to shake. And then the car started to shake. And I mean, that car was shaking
as if it was going on a rough road about 50 miles an hour but it wasn’t
moving and the engine wasn’t running. Well, I knew that was God
who had come into that car. And furthermore, it humbled me to know
that it was for my sake He had come. After the message
or the utterance in tongues this lady came out with what
I knew to be the interpretation. Now, New Zealanders
probably won’t understand this, but I was very British. I mean, I used to talk like
the radio announcers of the BBC and I had not been
exposed to many Americans. And this precious lady
was from the state of Oklahoma. Anybody who knows the United States
will know that in the state of Oklahoma, they talk a very different language
from what a Cambridge don would speak. But when she came out
with this interpretation it was the most beautiful English. I had been a student of Shakespeare.
I was a great admirer of Shakespearean English. I just marveled at the
elegance of this language. In the course of this interpretation she said these words
which I have never forgotten. They are as clear to me
today as they were in 1942. These were the words
and I want you to listen to them because they had
a life-changing impact on me: Consider the work of Calvary
a perfect work perfect in every respect,
perfect in every aspect. Now you’ll agree that is
very elegant English. Most people couldn’t
create a sentence like that. Furthermore, it spoke to me particularly
because I had studied Greek for many, many years and I was familiar
with the Greek of the New Testament. And if you read your New
Testament in English you’ll find one of the last utterances of
Jesus on the cross was: It is finished. But in the Greek that’s
one single word, tetelestai. And it’s the perfect tense of a verb
that means to do something perfectly. So you could amplify it: It is perfectly perfect,
it is completely complete. And so, when the Holy Spirit said:
Consider the work of Calvary a perfect work, perfect in every respect,
perfect in every aspect, my mind said: That’s the Holy Spirit’s
commentary on: It is finished. And I realized that
the Holy Spirit was showing me that if I could understand what had been
accomplished by the sacrificial death of Jesus on the cross,
all my needs could be met. There was nothing that
I could not receive that I needed. That was a revelation. I got out of that car
just as sick as when I got in. But God had showed me where
the answer to my problem was. And that’s what I want
to share with you tonight. We’re going to have a healing service
and I trust that many will receive healing. But I question whether
all will be healed. God does not heal everybody
miraculously in a service. There are many different ways
to appropriate healing. I received my healing
after that revelation. I was healed through Proverbs 4:20-22: My son, attend to my words,
incline thine ear unto my sayings, let them not depart from thine eyes,
keep them in the midst of thine heart: For they, God’s words and sayings,
are life to those who find them and health to all their flesh. And the alternative reading in
the margin for health was medicine. And I said to myself: That settles it. If God, through His words, has provided
health or medicine for all my flesh, there’s no room for sickness. And so, I was very simple. I decided
to take God’s word as my medicine. I was an orderly in
the Royal Army Medical Corps, so I knew how people
took their medicine: Three times daily after meals. And that’s how I took God’s
Word as medicine. Three times daily after meals.
And it did the job. It healed me completely
and permanently in one of the most unhealthy
climates in the world. So what I’m saying to you is:
God has His way to heal you. But whatever way healing comes, the basis is what was done
by Jesus on the cross. And I’m not going
to offer you just an orange. I’m going to invite you to the orchard. And once you get in there you can wander around and help
yourself to all the oranges you want. And you’ll never strip
God’s orchard bare. Now, I want to share with
you out of Scripture what I learned as a result
of that experience. I set my mind to find out what had been accomplished by
the death of Jesus on the cross. And I want to tell you:
I’m still finding out. It’s an inexhaustible study. But I’ll share with you what I believe
is the key to understanding the cross. The key is that on the cross, a divinely
ordained exchange took place. All the evil that was due
by justice to the human race, to each of us individually,
was visited upon Jesus. So that all the good, due to
the sinless obedience of Jesus, might be made available
to us who believe. That’s very simple, it’s very basic. But as that truth unfolds it contains
everything you’ll ever need. I’m going to say it even more simply: All the evil due to us
came upon Jesus, that all the good due to Jesus,
might be made available to us. That was the grace of God. We had no claim upon God,
we couldn't even demand that He do it. We didn’t even know He was going to do it,
we couldn't understand what He was doing. But out of His free
sovereign measureless grace He arranged that exchange. And furthermore,
through His prophets, He had predicted it hundreds
of years before it took place. Perhaps the main predictive
prophecy is Isaiah 53. I want to turn there now and look at
some of what is stated in Isaiah 53. It speaks about an unnamed
servant of the Lord. His name is not given. But the apostles and the writers of the
New Testament were all unanimous in an understanding that this unnamed
servant of the Lord in Isaiah 53, was Jesus of Nazareth. And we’re going to look
at just one verse for a moment. Isaiah 53:6, this is the central verse
of the last 27 chapters of Isaiah. And it really is the central
verse of the atonement. All we like sheep have gone astray.
We have turned every one to his own way, and the Lord has laid on Him,
that’s Jesus, the iniquity or the guilt,
or the rebellion, of us all. What is the universal guilt
of the human race? We have not all robbed a bank or
committed adultery, or stolen, or got drunk. There are many things
we can say we haven’t done. But there’s one thing we’ve all done: We have turned every one
to his own way. And that, in one simple word,
is rebellion. Rebellion is the universal guilt
of the human race. No matter what nation, no matter
what color, no matter what race. We are all guilty of rebellion. The mercy of God is that
when Jesus hung on the cross, the Lord visited upon Him the iniquity,
or the guilt or the rebellion of us all. That word in Hebrew, and I will not take time tonight to quote
passages from the Old Testament, but that Hebrew word, avon,
means not only guilt or rebellion. But it means also all
the evil consequences of guilt. The same word means both. So God visited upon Jesus on the cross
the guilt or rebellion of the whole human race and all the evil consequences of rebellion. So that we might be freed
from those evil consequences and receive the benefits
of the righteousness of Jesus. Now we’re going to look at
about eight or maybe nine, it depends on how much time
we have, aspects of that exchange. I want you to grasp this very clearly. I’m going to do it with my left hand for
the evil and my right hand for the good. The evil came upon Jesus, that the
good might be made available to us. Let’s look now at some
specific aspects of the exchange. We’ll look, first of all, at the
two previous verses of Isaiah 53. Verse 4-5: Surely He has borne
our griefs and carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
smitten by God and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our
peace was upon Him, and by His stripes, or His wounds,
we are healed. There are two aspects to those verses. There’s the spiritual
and there’s the physical. The spiritual first: Jesus was punished for our
transgressions and our iniquities. And because He was punished,
we can be forgiven. And being forgiven,
we have peace with God. As long as we are unforgiven,
we have no peace with God. Peace with God comes
only through forgiveness. But forgiveness has
been made possible, because Jesus bore
the punishment for our iniquities. So, I want to do it very simply. Jesus was punished
that we might be forgiven. Right now, I want you to
share with me on this. I want you to use your hands. I want you to get really involved
with your total being in this truth. Watch me once and then I’m going to
ask you to do it together. Jesus was punished,
that we might be forgiven. All right?
Now we’re going to say it all together. With your left hand, the evil;
the right hand, the good. And remember, your right
hand is opposite my left. Don’t get confused about that. Except for those of you who are behind me. All right. Are you ready? Jesus was punished
that we might be forgiven. That’s the first aspect of the exchange.
Now in the same verses it says: Surely He has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows. But those are not literal translations. The literal translation is: He has borne
our pains and carried our sicknesses and the consequence is:
with His wounds we are, what? Healed. You see? I feel that you
need to have that confirmed. Keep your finger in Isaiah 53 and turn
to two passages of the New Testament. First of all, Matthew 8. This is simply
an accident of translation, that nearly all of the English translations
do not translate those words with their very clear literal translation. Some other languages do. The Scandinavian languages use
the normal words for sicknesses and pains. Luther’s German translation uses
krankheit und schmerz, which are the two words for
sickness and pain. It’s just an unfortunate accident. I think millions of English
speaking Christians have been in some way
deprived of a revelation of the physical aspect
of the healing of Jesus. If you look now in Matthew 8:16-17. This is the beginning of the
public ministry of Jesus. When evening had come,
they brought to Him, Jesus, many who were demon possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word
and healed all who were sick; that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken
by Isaiah the prophet, saying: He himself took our infirmities
and bore our sicknesses. What’s he quoting? Isaiah 53:4-5. Matthew was Jew, he understood Hebrew
and also he was inspired by the Holy Spirit. Now turn to 1 Peter 2:24. Peter is again quoting Isaiah 53. 1 Peter 2:24, it’s the middle of a sentence,
but we won’t let that disturb us. Who Himself bore our sins in His own
body on the tree, that’s the cross, that we, having died to sin
might live for righteousness, by Whose stripes, or wounds,
you were healed. The Greek verb for healing there
is the standard Greek word for physical healing, from which comes the Greek word for a doctor. And it still has the same meaning
in modern Greek today. So it’s very clear: on the cross
Jesus took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses,
and with His wounds we are healed. He was the substitute. So, we’ll do it now,
the left hand and the right. I’ll do it once and then
I invite you to do it with me. Jesus was wounded,
that we might be healed. You don’t have to be a
theologian to understand that. In fact, theologians
probably find it difficult. Are you ready? Jesus was wounded,
that we might be healed. That’s the first two aspects
of the exchange, number one: Jesus was punished,
that we might be forgiven. Number two: Jesus was wounded,
that we might be healed. Now if you go down to
verse 10 in Isaiah 53, you’ll find a further unfolding
of what was accomplished. Yet it pleased the Lord
to bruise or crush Him, Jesus. He has put Him to grief; when you
make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed,
He shall prolong His days, the pleasure of the Lord
shall prosper in His hand. Notice that middle phrase: when you shall
make His soul an offering for sin. Alternatively it could be translated, and
it makes no difference to the sense: When His soul shall make a sin offering. Whatever way you
translate it, the fact is that Jesus’ soul was made the sin
offering for the whole of humanity. Now, the same word that’s translated
sin offering, or guilt, or guilt offering is also translated guilt
in the Old Testament. The reason is that according to
the law of the sin offering in the Levitical priesthood,
when a person sinned he had to bring his sacrificial offering.
It might be a sheep, it might be a goat it might be a ram, it might be a bullock. He brought it to the priest,
confessed his sins to the priest. The priest laid his hands on the head
of the animal that was the offering and symbolically transferred the sin
from the man to the offering, to the animal. And then the priest killed
the animal and not the man. In other words, the animal paid
the penalty for the man’s sin, because the animal had become
identified with the sin of the man. Now, the New Testament makes
it clear that in the last resort bullocks and sheep and goats
cannot atone for man’s sin. They were just preliminary
prophetic pictures of Jesus. But Jesus’ soul really
became the sin offering. And in becoming the sin offering
He became sin. If you keep your finger in Isaiah 53
and turn to 2 Corinthians 5:21, you’ll find Paul’s rendering of this fact. 2 Corinthians 5:21: And I’m going to put the nouns in place of
the pronouns, just to make it more clear. For God made Jesus, who knew
no sin, to be sin for us that we might become
the righteousness of God in Him. Unless you understand the ordinances
of the Old Testament sacrifices, you wouldn’t fully appreciate that in 2 Corinthians 5:21
Paul is quoting Isaiah 53:10: When you make His soul
an offering for sin. Because when His soul became the
offering for sin, His soul became sin with the sinfulness of humanity. You don’t have to be a theologian
to discern the exchange. I’ll say it once and I expect you to get it
right the first time when I say it with you. Jesus was made sin
with our sinfulness, that we might be made righteous
with His righteousness. Let’s look at that 2 Corinthians 5:21
again so you’ll be sure you’ve got it. God made Jesus, who knew
no sin, to be sin for us that we might become the
righteousness of God in Him. Notice again the exchange: Jesus
was made sin with our sinfulness, that we might be made righteous
with whose righteousness? His righteousness. Not ours, His. I’ll say it once and I expect
you to follow me. Jesus was made sin
with our sinfulness, that we might be made righteous
with His righteousness. You’ve got that? All right. Jesus was made sin
with our sinfulness, that we might be made righteous
with His righteousness. Can you heave a sigh of relief? You don’t have to struggle
to do your best to be righteous. You have to receive by faith
the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Any lower level of righteousness
will never get you into heaven. But God has made provision for
you and me to be made righteous with the righteousness of God. The next exchange
we will turn to Hebrews 2:4. We could turn to many different passages
but this I think is the simplest and shortest. Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 4. It's not verse 4, I made a mistake. It's verse 9. Excuse me, I wrote down
the wrong verse. Hebrews 2:9:
But we see Jesus, Who was made a little lower than
the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor,
that He by the grace of God might taste death for every one. So the wages or the penalty
of sin is death. When Jesus was made sin
with our sinfulness, it was inevitable that He would have
to pay the penalty, which is death. So, Jesus tasted death for us. You don’t have to be a theologian to
know the opposite, that we might what? Share His life. John 10:10: The thief cometh
only to steal, to kill and destroy, but I am come
that they might have what? Life and have it more abundantly. So the exchange is very simple: Jesus tasted death for us that we might,
I like to say, share His life. Okay, are you ready? Jesus tasted death for us,
that we might share His life. Can you see how very clear it is,
how very logical, how very practical? Mind you, I’d have to say: it took me a good many years to mind
these truths out of the word of God. I’m sharing with you in an hour or two things that have cost me hours, days
and weeks and months and years. I say cost but, after all,
it was a blessing and a privilege. The next exchange
is stated in Galatians 3. Galatians 3:13-14: Christ has redeemed us from the curse of
the law being made a curse for us. For it is written: cursed
is every one who hangs on a tree. Remember that the cross
is called a tree. Because in some languages, Hebrew is one
and Swahili in East Africa is another, a tree is a tree, whether it it’s growing
or whether it’s cut down. So the cross was a cut down tree. Cursed is every one who hangs on a tree, that the blessing of Abraham might come
upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise
of the Spirit through faith. How many theologians do we have here
who can discern the two opposites? What is the evil? Curse. What is the good? Blessing. So Jesus on the cross
was made a curse. It says in the book
of Deuteronomy 21:22-23 that anyone who is hung
on a tree becomes a curse. So when Jesus was hung
on the tree of the cross, every Jew who knew his Torah,
his Old Testament, knew that Jesus
had been made a curse. He was visibly made a curse. He was made a curse that we
might receive the blessing. This is an area which God has led
me into in the last four or five years. And because I’m not going to
have time to go into it in detail, I want to just recommend to you the
same book that I mentioned earlier: How to Pass From Curse to Blessing. It’s not fair just to leave you
knowing you’ve been redeemed from the curse
that you might receive the blessing. This is the how-to of it. Let me just mention seven
common indications of a curse. Now, most curses don’t
concern merely individuals. They concern families
or larger communities. And the essential feature of both
curse and blessing in the Bible is that they go on from generation
to generation to generation. Unless something happens
to cut them off. So, we have dealt with people whose
problems went back hundreds of years. I don’t know whether there are
any Scottish people here tonight? Don't put your hand up if there are. But I have learned that the Scots
were a nation of cursers. Not in the sense of swearing
but in cursing one another. And Ruth and I have dealt in the
last few years with two families who had curses pronounced
on them in the 1600’s that were still at work in those families. One was in Scotland,
the other was in Australia. Anyhow, just very briefly let me give you,
on the basis of my personal observation, 7 common indications that there
may be a curse over your life. Now, if there’s only one of these,
I’m not saying for sure there is a curse. But if there are several of them and
if they are found in your family in different areas and in different generations. You can be almost sure that there is a curse. Here they are. First of all,
mental and emotional breakdown. Second, repeated or chronic sicknesses,
especially if they’re hereditary. Because the hereditary
is the indication of the curse. Third, repeated miscarriages
or related female problems. In our ministry to the sick
Ruth and I have come to the place when we encounter that we
simply deal with it as a curse. Four, breakdown of marriage
and family alienation. If there’s a history in your family
of falling apart and splitting up. And it goes on and on
and repeated and repeated. You can be sure there’s
a curse over that family. Five, financial insufficiency
if it continues. All of us can know insufficiency at
certain times, but if it’s persistent and we never get out from under it,
you can be almost sure it’s a curse. Six, what they call accident prone. I’m naturally prone to accidents. And this is an objective statistical fact, which insurance companies take into account
when they assess your insurance premium. And seven, in a family a history of
suicides or unnatural deaths. We’re not going to dwell on that tonight,
but we’re going to affirm the solution. Thank God we never as Christians
have to focus exclusively on the problem. We deal with the problem
in order to point to the solution. So we’re going to deal
with this one now: Jesus was made a curse
that we might receive the blessing. You’re all theologians tonight. All right, are you ready? It’s not just a formality
you’re saying this. Every time you say it God and
the holy angels and the Holy Spirit are all taking note of what you’re saying. Remember, Jesus is the
high priest of what? Your confession, that’s right,
you are making a confession. We’ll say it together. Jesus was made a curse,
that we might receive the blessing. Amen. The next one
is really part of that. But it’s such an important part,
that I deal with it separately. Jesus on the cross endured our poverty,
that we might share His wealth. This came to me as a revelation
years ago here in New Zealand. I was invited over with
my first wife one year to speak. And when we got here they had promised
to pay our fares to and from the United States. They didn’t have the money,
but that was allright. They said we’re going to take up an offering
and we want you to preach on offering. So I was motivated! If I remember rightly
it was in Auckland. I’ve taught on money many times
and I’ve got that book there: God’s Plan For Your Money. So I had my outline and I was preaching
on it but a strange thing happened. As I was going through my outline,
mentally I was seeing Jesus on the cross. And I saw Him as He really was,
stripped totally naked. And as I defined
the aspects of poverty, I saw that every one of them exactly
applied to Jesus on the cross. Well, they took the offering at the end. And they had four cartons used for apples
at the front on the platform. And the people streamed forward to put
their money in or to put in their pledges. And that one offering covered
the total expenses of everything. The next day Lydia and I
were in Auckland with the pastor and we met the people
going to their savings accounts to draw out the money that
they’d promised the previous night. I have never seen
a more abundant offering. And the people were what
the Bible calls hilarious givers. They were almost intoxicated
with the excitement of giving. But now I’ll share with you
the revelation that I got. First of all, let’s do the Scriptures,
the New Testament Scriptures. 2 Corinthians 8 and verse 9. 2 Corinthians 8:9. For you know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, that though He was rich yet for your sakes He became poor
that you through His poverty might be rich. You don’t have to be a theologian
to see the opposites. What’s the bad thing? Poverty.
What’s the good thing? Riches. Now, the opposite side of the
exchange is in 2 Corinthians 9:8, which Ruth and I have already recited once. Come on, sweatheart, we'll do it again. I feel better every time we do it. You've got to get near
to the microphone. God is able to make
all grace abound toward us that we always, having
all sufficiency in all things may abound to every good work. See if you can find any area
that’s not covered by that promise. God is able to make
all grace abound toward us. That’s not some grace,
but all grace. That we always, having all sufficiency
in all things, may abound to every good work. That’s the level of God’s
provision for His people made possible by the substitutionary
sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. He was made poor that we might share,
I prefer to say abundance, because I don’t think it’s necessarily
scriptural that every Christian will have a large bank account
or drive a Rolls Royce. But I do believe it’s God’s will for every
Christian to have his needs supplied and enough left over to give to others. Because, it’s more blessed
to give than to receive. And God doesn’t want any of His children
to live on the lower level of blessing. So He provides abundance
that we may be able to have the higher level
of giving to others. Now, some people picture Jesus
in His earthly ministry as a kind of poor preacher wandering
around in rags looking for handouts. I don’t think that was true.
I don’t think he was poor. He was clothed like
a normal man of his day. And He had a very elegant seamless
robe on top of the others, which was so valuable that the soldiers
at the cross wouldn’t divide it. They cast lots for it. I just say this: Jesus didn’t carry a lot of cash. He just used His Father’s credit card! And it was always honored. I mean, any man who can feed 5,000 men
plus women and children in the wilderness and leave them abundantly
satisfied is not poor. There was a time when the question
arose about the tax money. He didn’t send Peter to the bank,
but to the Sea of Galilee. But the money came,
what difference does it make? Jesus said at the Last Supper
to His disciples: When I sent you out without staff or purse
or other provision, did you lack anything? And what did they answer? Nothing. There’s a lot of missionaries
who got abundant allowances and are equipped with cars and houses,
who lack a lot of things. But those first apostles lacked nothing. Because they were supplied
out of God’s abundance. Let's look now for a moment
at the chapter of curses. How many of you know which is the
chapter of curses? Deuteronomy 28. It’s blessings and curses. It’s got 68 verses,
it's a long chapter. The first 14 verses are blessings
and the remaining 54 verses are curses. And if you’re ever in doubt as to what
a curse is, just read those 54 verses. You may find that as a Christian
you’ve been enduring curses, when you should have
been enjoying blessings. In the middle of this are two verses in
the list of curses 47 and 48. And please note this is a curse. Deuteronomy 28:47-48: Because
you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and gladness of heart
for the abundance of all things. That’s God’s will. But the alternative for the unbelieving
and the disobedient: Therefore you shall serve your enemies
whom the Lord will send against you in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness
and in need of all things. Take those four statements: Hunger, thirst, nakedness,
need of all things. What is that in one word? Poverty. Absolute poverty. You can have
no greater poverty than that. Being hungry, thirsty, naked
and in need of all things. Now, picture Jesus
for a moment on the cross. He was hungry, He hadn’t
eaten for 24 hours. He was thirsty, one of
His last statements was: I thirst. He was naked, they’d stripped Him
of all His clothes. And He was in need of everything,
He didn’t have a single thing. When the time came for Him
to be buried, He was buried in a borrowed robe
and a borrowed tomb. Why? Because He
exhausted the poverty curse. That we might have what?
The abundance, that’s right. See the exchange? Let’s say it. I’ll say it once and then
you say it with me. Jesus endured our poverty,
that we might share His abundance. Jesus endured our poverty,
that we might share His abundance. Look happy, it’s good news! I tell Christians it’s no sin
for a Christian to be happy. We’ll quickly do two more aspects. Our time is beginning to run out
and I want to just wrap it up in a minute. Jesus - and I’m going to say this - endured
our shame that we might share His glory. If you turn to Matthew 27 you’ll
find the description of the crucifixion. Matthew 27:35-36: Then they crucified Him,
and divided His garments casting lots. They took from Him all His clothes. A man in those days had
four items of clothing. There were four soldiers,
one soldier took one item each. Then they cast lots
for the seamless robe. Then it says in verse 36: Sitting down
they kept watch over him there. I want to say this in a way
that is discreet. But Jesus was exposed naked
to the eyes of all who passed by. And it’s a very interesting thing that
you’ll notice in the record of the gospel the women that came with him
stood at a distance. The only woman who came
close was His mother. The Bible is so discreet. He endured our shame. Now, what’s the opposite? We’ll turn to Hebrews again,
chapter 2 and verse 10. The very next verse
after the one we looked at. For it was fitting for Him,
that’s God the Father for whom are all things
and by whom are all things in bringing many sons to glory,
to make the author of their salvation, that Jesus, perfect through sufferings. What was God’s purpose?
To bring many sons to what? To glory. How was that made possible? Because Jesus endured our shame,
that we might share His glory. I’ve discovered in counseling people
that one of the deepest wounds of the human heart is shame. And there are many different causes
but one very common cause in our contemporary culture, is in children who have been sexually
abused in childhood. And in America they estimate that’s
true of one in every four children in the United States today. And it leaves a scar, a shame. But thank God we don’t have
to stop at the problem. We’ve got the solution.
And I have helped many people. Jesus endured your shame
that you might share His glory. You’ll find some people -
I’m not looking at anybody so I want to be very careful. But you’ll see some people that
when they pray, never lift their face up to God. They always keep
their head down like that. Usually the problem is shame. When a person is delivered, Job said, I will lift up
my face without spot to God. Many times we’re not aware of
the secret bondage that haunts us. But the release from every bondage
is provided through the cross. So let’s do the exchange. I think you can do it this time
without my coaching you. You’re a wonderful group of people. Jesus endured our shame,
that we might share His glory. Now just one more
and we’re going to close. That’s not the end of the list
but it’s the end for tonight. The final exchange is between rejection and acceptance. And here again in ministering to people I have come to the conclusion
that rejection is the deepest wound that the human heart can bear. A mark of rejection is that such a person
always feels on the outside looking in. Others can get in, I can’t. Another mark of rejection
is the inability to express love. John says we love God
because He first loved us. I believe we can’t express love if love
has never been expressed to us. It takes the expression of love
to release the expression of love. And the commonest single
reason why so many in our contemporary civilization
carry the wound of rejection is the attitude and conduct of parents. First of all, if a woman is pregnant and resents the little new life
that she’s carrying in her womb and says things like, I wish I
wasn’t going to have another baby. That little life feels
that rejection in the womb. And the baby is frequently
born with a spirit of rejection. I’ve dealt with this in many cases. Then again, when a baby is born
the first longing of every child planted in it by God is for warm expressed
outgoing love from parents. And primarily from fathers. I have come to the conclusion: it’s a
father’s love, warm and expressed, that gives a child security. Oh, the strength of being held in daddy’s arms
and clasped against his chest! But you see, in our
contemporary culture, I think in the United States 50% of
children today never receive that. And they go through life with
this inner wound of rejection. Oh, how I thank God
that there’s a solution. Let me relate this little story,
I won’t make it long. I was in a camp meeting
in the United States. And I was due to preach and I was
walking across the campground. I was in danger of being late for my assignment,
so I was walking very quickly. There was a lady walking just
as quickly in the opposite direction and we ran into one another. So after we’d kind of pulled
ourselves together she said: Mister Prince, I was praying that if God wanted
me to speak to you, we'd meet. Well, I said: We have met. But I can only give you two minutes,
because I have to be in the auditorium to preach. So tell me what your problem is. And she spoke for about one minute
and she would have gone on for twenty. I said: Listen, I have no more time. I think I understand your problem,
I want you to say this prayer after me. And I didn’t have in mind exactly
what I was going to pray. I didn’t tell her what I was going to
pray but I prayed something like this: God, I thank you that you are
my Father, that I am your child. You really love me.
I’m not rejected, I’m not unwanted. I’m a member of the family of God,
the best family in the universe. Thank you, God, you are my Father,
I am your child. You love me and I love you.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, God. And I said: There you are, good bye. A month later I got a letter from that lady. She described the situation how we’d met
so she’d be sure that I knew who she was. She said: I just want to tell you,
praying that simple prayer after you, has completely changed my life. What happened to her? She passed from
rejection to acceptance. She realized what it was
to be a child of God. If your parents failed you, there’s a lot
of things we can’t change in the past. But your relationship
to God we can guarantee. Look at this picture of Jesus,
and this is the last one we’ll look at. Matthew 27:45-51. Now from the sixth hour,
which was 12 noon, until the ninth hour, that’s 3 p.m.
there was darkness over all the land. Matthew 27:46: And about the ninth hour Jesus
cried out with a loud voice, saying Eli, Eli, Lama sabachthani? That is, My God, My God
why have you forsaken me? Some of those who stood there
when they heard that said: This man is calling for Elijah. Immediately one of them ran and took
a sponge, filled it with sour wine and put it on a reed and gave it to Him
to drink. The rest said: Let Him alone, let us see
if Elijah will come to save Him. Jesus, when He’d cried out again
with a loud voice, yielded up His spirit. And behold, the veil of the temple
was torn in two from top to bottom. You see, Jesus did not die of
the physical effects of crucifixion. When Pilate heard He was
already dead he was surprised. Because normally He would have
lived maybe two hours longer. What did He die of?
He died of a broken heart. What broke His heart? Rejection. By whom? By the Father. For the first time in the history of the universe
the Son of God cried out to the Father. And the Father did not answer.
Stopped His ears, averted His eyes. Why? Because Jesus had been
made sin with our sinfulness. And God cannot look upon sin with favor. Jesus endured our rejection. And immediately after that
He gave up His spirit. And the first thing that happened
was the temple veil was torn in two
from top to bottom. It was extremely thick. Human beings couldn’t have torn it
in two even from the bottom. But it was from top to bottom because it was
the affirmation that God had done it. That was the veil that separated
unholy men from a holy God. And when Jesus endured our rejection,
God gave us His acceptance as His children. Let’s look to Ephesians 1 for a moment. Ephesians 1. We'll read verses 3-6. Ephesians 1:3-6: Blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual
blessing in the heavenly places in Christ: Just as He chose us in Him
before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without
blame before Him in love: Having predestined us to adoption
as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of
His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He has
made us accepted in the beloved. What’s the exchange? See if you can say it
without my coaching. Jesus endured our rejection,
that we might have His acceptance. Wonderful, we’ll do it again. Jesus endured our rejection,
that we might have His acceptance. Let me very quickly go through the eight aspects of
the exchange that we’ve looked at. And I’ll do them with my hands. I’ll do them once and then you do
them after me a second time. We’re not going to delay,
time is slipping away. Jesus was punished,
that we might be forgiven. This time I want you to make it personal. Don’t say we, say I. Jesus was punished,
that I might be forgiven. Can you give a sigh of relief? Jesus was wounded,
that I might be healed. Jesus was made sin
with my sinfulness, that I might be made righteous
with His righteousness. Jesus died my death,
that I might share His life. Jesus was made a curse for me,
that I might receive the blessing. Jesus endured my poverty,
that I might share His abundance. Jesus endured my shame,
that I might share His glory. Jesus endured my rejection,
that I might have His acceptance. Now if we really believe that
you know what we have to do? We have to thank God, there’s
just nothing else we can do. Let’s take a little while
to thank Him, shall we. All of us. Freely thank Him. That’s the best expression
of faith is to thank Him. Thank Him. Thank Him. Amen. Thank You, Lord. Thank You, Lord.
Thank You, Jesus. Thank You, Lord Jesus.
Praise Your wonderful name. Praise Your wonderful name.
We believe You, Lord. We believe You, we thank You.
We bless You. Blessed be Your holy name Lord Jesus. You did it all for us and we
want to say thank You tonight. If there are those of you here tonight
who've never personally thanked Jesus for what He did for you,
that He died in your place. That He was made sin
with your sinfulness. That you've been made
righteous with his righteousness. That He endured your rejection,
that you might have his acceptance. We would like to give you, just in a few closing
moments, the opportunity to make that decision here
tonight and affirm it. We are talking now of people
who have never actually accepted the atonement of Jesus on
their behalf for their sins, for their souls, to receive eternal life. You have that presented and painted
before you tonight from the Word of God. The Spirit of God is tugging at your heart and
you say: I want to make it mine tonight. I want to be sure that I have it. I don't want to get out of this
place uncertain or confused. It's very simple. What I'm gonna ask you to do if you
want to settle this with God tonight, Is just one simple thing:
stand up where you are right now. And I'll lead you in a very simple prayer
that will make it yours. Don't hesitate and don't wait. Because we're not going to
prolong this service much longer. You feel the need to make a personal
affirmation of your acceptance of the sacrifice of Jesus on your behalf. Jesus said that if you
will confess Him before men, He will confess you before the Father. If you deny Him before men,
He will deny you before the Father. So if you want to make
that confession here tonight if God is dealing with you, you stand
to your feet right where you are. Don't be embarrassed. Stand up and say:
God, I want that tonight. Wherever you are. We'll pray for you. Praise God. God bless you. God bless you. God bless you. I may not see you all Brothers on
the platform, God bless you. That's four men that stood up
at the balcony. God bless you, lady.
Don't sit down, stand up. I'm about to lead you in a prayer.
Stay standing. Thank you.
Just stay with me and help me. God bless you. I believe there are a number more.
Don't be timid. Praise God. If I don't acknowledge you,
don't let that embarrass you. Just keep standing. What is surprising to me and gratifying
is the number of men that are standing. I have seen that lady; if I don't
see you that's not a big problem. God sees you, that's what matters. There are more who need to stand. Some of you've been
churchgoers all your life, but you've never actually made this
personal decision and affirmation. God bless you,
I see another one standing there. God bless you. I just don't have the liberty
to close this meeting right now. We're not trying to pressure you,
we are just trying to help you. There is somebody
somewhere that needs to stand. God, we just pray in
Jesus' name and release, and release those who are
bound by fear. Lord we release them now in the
name of Jesus - God bless you. Keep standing, don't sit down
again, stand up. Please, that lady there,
don't be embarrassed. Brothers and sisters, I want to tell you -
God bless you, sir, I see you - one day if we're embarrassed to stand
for Jesus now, we are going to be terribly embarrassed
when we stand before Him. Two more in the balcony.
Christians, keep praying. I hope you can be patient just a
little longer, this is so important. Amen. Praise God. I have a feeling that there's one
or two quite young persons, boys or girls, even below the age of
the teens that need to stand. Now I know it's a big thing to stand
in front of all these grown ups. But if God is prompting you,
you just do it. There are people
in the James Hey auditorium. I hope you've been standing. Because this offer is just as much
to you as it is to anybody here. Amen. All right, those of you that are standing,
I want you to say this prayer after me. You're gonna be praying to
the Lord Jesus Christ. You're not praying to brother Prince. And I like you to say just
loud enough to hear yourself. So that you know when you walk
out of here, you've said that prayer. Can you say these words
and address them to the Lord Jesus? Lord Jesus Christ, I believe that You are
the Son of God, and the only way to God. That You died on the cross for my sins. And rose again from the dead. I thank You for what You did for me. And by faith, I receive it now. I receive You, Jesus, as my Saviour. And I confess you as my Lord. Accept me now
and make me a child of God. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Shall we all thank God together
for those who have prayed this?
