What Jesus Says To Us Out Of Love | February 28th, 2021

praise the lord it is uh it's good to be with you today uh this is a new world new life for me some of you know me some of you don't those of you that know me know that i am in a new direction of life from the lord where i'm traveling a lot i've gone most of the time and so i'm trying to take advantage of the weekends that i am home to minister to the congregations of antioch that i am accountable for uh the oversight of and so i am with you today uh and thank you for your birthday wishes again i want to talk to you a little bit today and the lord has been saying so many things to me and through me over these last couple of months he's just really really challenging me and through me he's challenging believers to walk in a true new testament relationship with him and your pastor told me about this series that the lord began and is continuing on no limits and he heard a message that i ministered last weekend in dallas and he said i you do whatever do whatever the holy ghost tells you to do but if you uh feel the release to do this it would work perfect in our series well i feel more than a release i feel direction from the holy ghost to share this word in this setting i ministered on sunday night in actually in balch springs at brother andrew elms's church we did not stream that message that night we um it was only recorded and so you for most of you this will be the first time you've heard this at all i wonder how many of us truly wants the lord to love us i wonder how many of us wants the lord to love us on his terms not our terms i wonder how many of us wants us to love wants god to love us his way of course he cannot love us any other way but his way if we're not willing for him to love us his way then we're not letting him love us at all and uh i want to share something with you today and we'll see how this goes um uh let's let's read starting in mark chapter 10 verse 17 this story is contained a couple times in scripture i think at least twice maybe three times uh i know it's in mark i'm sure it's in matthew i think it may be in luke also but i don't remember mark chapter 10 verse 17 and when he was going forth into the way there came one running annealed to him and asked him good master what shall i do that i may inherit eternal life and jesus said unto him why callest thou be good there is none good but one that is god thou knowest the commandments do not commit adultery do not kill do not steal do not bear false witness defraud not honor thy father and mother and he the young man answered and said unto him master all these have i observed from my youth all these have i observed from my youth i've done all of those and it's important to note that jesus did not contradict his assertion jesus did not look at him you say boy are you deceived you think you've kept all my commandments no you haven't the lord didn't say that at all by silent acquiescence the lord acknowledged the accuracy of what the man said never addressed negatively what this man said but then it's only said this way in the version of this story in mark and this is so critical then jesus beholding him loved him jesus beholding him loved him so everything that follows in this story from jesus's perspective was motivated by the love of god for this man everything everything that jesus said to him was being spoken out of love everything jesus said to him to do was being spoken out of love it's so important to see this because the lord did not say what he said because he was angry with him he did not say this to him because he was trying to make a point he didn't say this to the young man because he uh was trying to embarrass him and reveal to everybody what his motives were really all about jesus loved him and if i remember correctly the word beholding here here in the greek means to look at with focus he didn't just glance at him but as he looked at him with focus and observed him something about this young man moved the heart of jesus and jesus loved him and said unto him because he loved him one thing thou lackest go thy way sell whatsoever thou hast gift and give to the poor and thou shalt have treasure in heaven and come take up the cross and follow me wow you don't ask much do you jesus no he doesn't ask much yes everything now in the in the in the the version of the story and i'm pretty sure it's in matthew that phrase jesus beholding him loved him it's not there it just says if i remember correctly jesus beholding him said the reason this is so challenging to me is that addition in this version in mark and jesus beholding him loved him everything he said was motivated by by his love for this man and what did he say out of love for this man one thing thou lackest now jesus the man came to jesus and said what shall i do to inherit eternal life so this is what's being addressed here this is what's being addressed and the first thing jesus said to him was you know the commandments keep them and he listed some of them he didn't list all of them and the young man responded and we know from a later part of this story that it was a young man and he was also a wealthy young man and he's in various places called a rich young ruler i believe that's the actual terminology in this in the verse of the story in matthew he was a rich young ruler so he was young but he had much possessions but he also had some place of authority among the people with all of that he's wanting to make sure that he is saved in his mind he's been doing those things that were necessary to be saved and so when jesus says to him you know the commandments and the young man responds and says i've kept them all from my youth in my mind i can almost see him going well that's that was easy everything's fine i'm okay but it wasn't okay because when jesus looked at him he was moved by his love for him and said to him oh by the way there's one thing left one thing thou lackest sell go thy way so go in and take account of all your possessions sell whatsoever thou hast and give to the poor and thou shalt have treasure in heaven and then come take up the cross and follow me it's really important to note that jesus didn't just say to him go sell everything you got and give it to the poor that wasn't even the point jesus is saying to this man you want to go to heaven it's not enough to just obey the word it's not enough to just obey commandments there has to be a personal element between you and i to go to heaven i'm the savior he was saying in my opinion i'm the savior it's not just obeying my word that saves you it's obeying my word and knowing me and being committed to me that saves you and so there's no place in the scripture that implies that you and i are supposed to go sell everything we've got and give it to the poor no that's not the issue but what he does ask for is whatever your most treasured and valuable thing in life is we know the story of abraham his name was abram which means father and then at 75 years of age god gave him a promise that he was he was going to have a son that meant his 65 year old wife was going to conceive and so god changed the man's name at the giving of the promise from father to father of many nations abraham can you just imagine going around and telling people uh abram i'm sorry you can't call me that anymore god said i'm right now i'm now abraham can you imagine the way they laughed at him behind his back the guy is 75 he doesn't have any children at all and now he believes he's going to be the father of many nations right we also know it was 25 years that he had to go by the name abraham father of many nations before the child was born but then god says to abraham i want you to offer isaac to me as a sacrifice now abraham knew that god had forbidden the people of god to sacrifice their children to him he knew that it's idolatry to slay our children in worship to a god but god said to abraham offer isaac to me now we know that abraham had such faith in god that even though he knew it was not according to the word of god to offer isaac hebrews 11 tells us that he didn't have a problem offering isaac because he knew that isaac was the the child through whom the promises were going to be fulfilled that abraham was going to become the father of many nations so hebrews 11 tells us that abraham was so confident god that he knew that if he took the child's life god was going to raise him up because god can't lie yet even with all of that abraham convinced god that he was going to slay the child but the lord stopped it before it actually happened the altar is built isaac is laid on the altar the wood is there they've got the fire waiting to touch to the to the uh wood as soon as the child is slain so it wasn't enough to take the child's life abraham was expected to to burn the body of the child in sacrifice to god he made all that preparation to do it and in his heart of hearts it was done and then in genesis 22 the lord says stop here's a lamb this is my sacrifice my substitute sacrifice the lord said now i know that you will not withhold your son your only son for me now i know what was it what was the test that even though god had promised abraham and abraham believed god god wanted to make sure the promise and the child through whom that promise would be fulfilled never supplanted god in abraham's heart and mind that established a principle because abraham is the father of all believers the scripture says and god established a principle there that at some point in our walk with god every one of us will face the test to see if we put our most important prized possessions ahead of god or if we will put god ahead of them that's exactly what was taking place here in this encounter between jesus and this rich young ruler this man was rich the lord didn't say give up your place of authority whatever his ruling authority was give up your possessions these are your identifiers these are the things that you use to define yourself to you but i want your relationship with me to define you to you i want you to sell everything give it to the poor but that wasn't the end of the sentence or the charge from god come take up the cross and follow me verse 22 says and he was sad the young man was sad at that saying and went away grieved for he had great possessions and jesus looked up round about and saith unto disciples how hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of god and the disciples were astonished at his words but jesus answereth again and saith unto them children how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of god he didn't say how hard is it for them that have riches it's how hard is it for them that trust enriches to enter into the kingdom of god it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle not a physical needle but there was when the gates of jerusalem were closed at night there was a small entrance it was not much larger than the height of a man even though the gates of the city of jerusalem were very large when all those gates were closed and locked in order to permit some coming and going and yet continue to defend the city there was a small gate called the eye of a needle and when travelers would arrive at night according to all that i've read in order for the camels to enter the city they could only come through the gate that was called the eye of a needle and in order for that to happen the camels had to get down on all fours and literally would walk on their knees through the gate the eye of a needle into the city in other words in order for for us that has possessions and i know there are poor in this country by the standards of this country but i've been poor places in this world and trust me 99.9 of the people in this country are definitely above the world's poverty line and we have riches and it may be the greatest test that the average american faces because those that don't have money want money and those that don't have things want things and those that can't travel want to travel etc etc etc and very few people are happy with the house they've got if they could they would get a better one a bigger one very few people are happy with the car they've got if they could they would get a different one if they could maybe they like the one they've got but it's all they can afford so if money was no object is that the car they would be driving very very very few people would say yes very few so in this country we are considered a consumer economy the riches of our country are based on our consumerism but what happens when people no longer have money to spend what happens what happens when people that used to buy are no longer able to buy what happens with people that were used to be able to afford gasoline can't afford gasoline anymore i've been there lived there in the 70s early 70s like 73-74 we went out of town on uh for a uh a conference that was a great a great conference but something had happened while we were gone there was a uh i believe it was an embargo by the arab oil producing countries and then all of a sudden there was a huge shortage of gasoline in this country and the prices for gas went way up when i left for the trip a regular gallon of gas was 25 cents a gallon when i came home at the end of that week gas was 85 and 90 cents a gallon you say well that's cheap not then it wasn't when i first came to annapolis i could buy regular gas for 17 to 20 cents a gallon so i was here a few years and it was still in the 25 cent a gallon range but in one week's time gas prices went from 25 cents a gallon when i left to 85 and 90 cents a gallon when i got back but worse than that there wasn't gas to buy at any price and the lines waiting to get in the gas stations to buy the limited amount of gas that they would sell you were hours long hours long so it is possible to go from being a consumer nation to be in a nation where they there's either no money to consume buy products with or there's no products to buy so the point being here is individually what is your uh what's your most prized possession is that your wife or your husband is it your children i don't mean possession as possession but the most important thing in your life is it your house your profession your dreams your ambitions your goals what is it you covet what is it you desire what are you seeking after because you see this story is not about money it's about priority and jesus told him some things to do that he needed to submit to and what was it about you say you can't earn your way set to heaven absolutely you can't earn your way to heaven but people that are trying to earn their way to heaven are doing what they think is good to do and they're offering what they think is good and what they are producing to try to earn their way to heaven when god tells me what to do and i do it i'm not earning anything all i'm doing is demonstrating saving faith if god tells me what to do and i won't do it do i have faith to be saved now again remember the story jesus said obey the commandments the man said i've done those to my youth up and jesus did not deny that it is possible to obey the word of god and not be saved why because you're not submitted and your will and priorities are not submitted to god it's not enough to do the word of god to be saved i must also do the will of god to be saved and what god asks of you and what he asks of me the word of god is consistent for all of us but each one of us have a different heart each one of us have different priorities each one of us has our own personal will so there's that consistency of the word that we're all supposed to obey but then because he loves us the thing we're lacking is that's that personal element between us and god where he says to me or he says to you give me this make me the priority over this the pastor's been talking about what is your limitation between you and god how far can jesus go and you will submit and obey to him well let me tell you what i stood before a preacher on the 1st of november 1968 and i stood there and pledged by vow to give my whole being natural my whole natural being to one woman for the rest of my life until death would part us i fully understood that she was offering the same back to me if the following morning the day after our wedding she had said to me now chester uh yes you and i are married and we've consummated this marriage but i really need to know well just how much do i actually have to do to be saved or to be married to you i i'd like to know what what what i have to do to be your wife because i will do that but everything else is my call everything else i'm going to do my what i want to do the rest of the time after i've done what i have to do to be your wife i'll tell you what right now that we'd have been done i'd have been looking for some way to annul that marriage because i in good faith gave my whole self which meant i had a right to expect her whole self given back now in all honesty after 52 years of marriage uh that's a process that's a process and it i meant it that day but i couldn't live it immediately that was that day i didn't know what it meant for two to become one i've never been one with anybody else it only been me naturally speaking i had parents but i wasn't one with them i had friends but i wasn't one with them but i was giving up my oneness to become one with somebody else and while i meant what i said that day before the preacher and i believe she meant it too it was a process it took a while and i believe that's the setting we have here there's a here's a young man that came to jesus and called him good master and jesus's response let everyone know that this young man was believing that jesus was somehow deity manifest in the flesh because jesus said why call you me good there's only one good that's god and the young man didn't go whoa whoa i'm sorry i didn't mean to call you god and neither did jesus require him to take back what he said jesus was just explaining to everybody there that that young man by asking him that question was acknowledging that he was god manifested in the flesh and then he just goes right on in and says you know the commandments keep the word and the young man says well i've kept the word from my youth up i've been i'm obedient to the word but then jesus looked at him and loved him and said there's one thing you lack you are obeying my word but i want you i want you and you will demonstrate to me that you're giving me you by putting me as the priority over in your life over the most important things to you now there's another parallel passage to this where a man went that whole way i'm reading quickly philippians chapter 3 verse 1 finally my brother rejoice in the lord to write the same things to you to me indeed is not grievous but for you it is safe beware of dogs he's not speaking of the four-legged kind beware of evil workers beware of the concision those that are caused division for we are are the circumcisions which worship god in the spirit and rejoice in christ jesus and have no confidence in the flesh though i might also have confidence in the flesh if any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh i more and now paul begins to give his his religious pedigree because what are the question is what are your riches do you have a wealth of friends that the lord wants to be first in your life over them do you do you can consider your family your wealth that he wants to be put first in your life young man came to jesus jesus said come follow me the young man says well let me go bury my dead father first and jesus said let the dead bury the dead you come follow me the lord wasn't being hard-hearted he was saying to the young man if you're going to follow me i have to be your priority maybe your reputation is your wealth maybe your health is your wealth maybe your physical being is your wealth maybe your education is your wealth maybe your intellect is your wealth maybe your tradition your religious tradition is your wealth maybe your heritage naturally or spiritually is your wealth in a and i'm reading now that this religious tradition this heritage was paul's wealth for he said for we are the we are the circumcision which worship god in the spirit and rejoice in christ jesus and have no confidence of the flesh though i might also have confidence in the flesh if any other man thinketh that he hath wherever he might trust in the flesh i more and then he begins to tell us his his religious tradition and his religious heritage circumcised the eighth day of the stock of israel in the tribe of benjamin and hebrew of the hebrews as touching the law of pharisee concerning zeal persecuting the church touching the righteousness of the law blameless [Music] but what things were gained to me those i counted loss for christ ye doubtless and i count notice verse 7 is in the past tense what things were gained to me those i counted loss for christ so those things i've i've lost for christ they were gained to me they're gone i don't i don't cherish them anymore but now he goes into the present and the potential of the future yea doubtless and i count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of christ jesus my lord for whom i have suffered the loss of all things and do count present tense them but done that i may win christ he hadn't lost the future he hadn't lost the uh or the present but he put christ ahead of his future and ahead of his present in everything everything and some would say right now wait a minute that's extreme god doesn't ask us that of us really then you might want to go to mark chapter 12 verses 28 29 30 31 and read what the greatest of all the commandments is hear o israel the lord our god is one lord and the king james says thou shalt love the lord your god with all your heart with all your soul with all your mind with all your strength this is the greatest of all the commandments jesus said the greek word translated all four times in that verse is not the normal greek word for all which is paz the english equivalent letters would be pas it is the extreme greek word the whole of the whole of i am to love the lord my god with the whole of my heart the whole of my soul the whole of my mind the whole of my strength and then he said and the second commandment is like namely this thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself if i love myself enough if i value my eternity and my soul enough to want to be saved then i have to value my neighbor the same way to see want to see them saved and my relationship with god which is the obedience to the commandment to know there is only one god and that i should give myself to that one god with the whole of my heart the whole of my mind the whole of my soul the whole of my strength so this rich young ruler had obeyed the commandments but he hadn't given the whole of himself to jesus and jesus loved him and because he loved him he spoke the words of love from god not harshness not hardness not unreasonableness but words of love you like one thing give me all of you that which you value the most i want you to go and put it demonstrate that it's no longer more valuable to you than i am and the ultimate proof of that is you will come take up your cross and follow me now this is not the way christianity is practiced by the great great majority of christians today but jesus loves us he's going to save me because he loves me no he's loving you right now the spirit of the lord is loving you right now because all i'm doing is teaching biblical principle but the lord is speaking to your heart right now and saying do you love me more than this we have another example jesus was crucified he was resurrected but he's not with the disciples all the time and finally uh peter and a few of the others they go back to galilee their hometown the whole home province and peter looks around at him and says i'm going fishing he had he'd given up fishing to follow jesus but now he says i'm going fishing so they fished all night and around daybreak or so there was there was a man standing on the shore they could see him there and he spoke to them out across the water children have you any meat no we don't he said let down your nets but we've we've toiled all night and caught nothing but at your word we will and they caught a great draught of fish and peter then realized that was the master standing on the shore and he didn't wait for the boats to bring come to the shore with all their fish peter dove in the water and swam to shore and fell down at jesus feet and says depart from me i'm not worthy of you but jesus called all of them in and he had a meal prepared for them of bread and fish and after they'd eaten then jesus looks at peter and says peter simon do you love me more than these i could just see him waving his hand at the water in the boats and the fish and that occupation do you love me more than these feed my sheep peter says yeah lord i love you feed my sheep ask him a second time peter you love me lord you know i love you feed my lambs ask him the third time do you love me lord you know i love you feed my sheep now the english loses something in the translation there because it's there's two different words love for love in the greek that's being used by jesus in these verses so i will do it i will give you those words now jesus says peter do you agape me which god is agape and the only source of agape is to receive it from god and i can't love god with agape without first receiving agape from god so jesus asked peter do you agape me more than all of these peter said lord you know i felio you which is the height of human emotion jesus said feed my sheep then the second time jesus asked him again peter do you agape me lord i i filio you feed my lambs then finally jesus asked him the third time peter do you really feel he owe me that broke peter and he said well lord you know all things you know i feel he owe you then feed my sheep notice peter never was able to confess lord i love you i agape you going back to the greatest commandment hear o israel the lord our god is one lord and thou shalt agape the lord your god with all your heart the whole of your heart the whole of your soul the whole of your mind the holy strength when jesus looked at that young man and loved him he loved him with agape love if that young man would have received those words of agape those words of agape received would have empowered him to do what the lord asked even though it was a great thing from a human perspective that the lord was asking but because he would not receive agape he didn't have agape to give back to god his whole heart soul mind and strength with and through so he walked away because he he could not do that one thing he lacked my friend my brother my sister this is so simple from a pure intellectual standpoint but it is very deep and powerful from a spiritual understanding standpoint hear me please you and i cannot earn our way to heaven we cannot deserve our way into heaven but the lord will test our faith and our priorities enough to determine whether or not we are qualified for heaven there's only one will in heaven that's the father's there's only one word and plan in heaven that's the father's so i'm either going to give myself to the to the plan of god and the word of god which is the beginning it's not the ending it's the beginning of salvation but as the lord begins to work in my life he will bring my entire being into harmony with him and he will bring me into the place where i i will receive his love and give that love back to him by putting him making him the priority of everything in my life in jesus name father i thank you for this day i thank you for every person that is watching this this message right now wherever they are or whatever situation they're in i thank you for every person father that will watch this at in the future and i'm believing that you by your word and spirit that your love will be manifested to them and that they will know that what they're feeling in their spirit is not it's not the hard god that the guy with one talent perceives you as father but our god of love our god of our father of love who speaks things to us out of love that are not easy for the flesh to hear but those things separate us from our life and makes you our father the most important one in our life by your grace in jesus name i loose the spirit of the love of god and the spirit of grace upon every hearer of this word that we might be brought into the place with you father that you will be able to bring us into the harmony instead of looking out of us one day and saying one thing you lack you will say well done my good and faithful servant enter into the joy of the lord in the name of the lord jesus christ in jesus name i pray these things he loves you i love you god bless you amen

Channel: Apostolic Iron

Views: 887

Rating: 4.818182 out of 5

Keywords: Apostolic, Apostolic Iron, Jesus, Prayer, Pray, Praying, C.M. Wright, Bishop Wright, Pentecost, Pentecostal, UPCI, Call To War, God, Lord, Preaching, Apostolic Preaching

Id: VGuRDY_SYIs

Length: 45min 48sec (2748 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 11 2021