— Brother Phil Enlow: Here we are, separated from God, living a life blinded by the enemy, just living for this life and dying. Think of the need that God saw and the heart that reached out to do something about that.
Let’s define the need. First of all, I’ve got a serious problem with stuff I’ve done. The soul that sins will die. That was the penalty. That was the thing…that was the consequence of my living…throwing out these deeds or doing these deeds, if you will, that are selfish, that are rebellious, that are sinful in His eyes!
They are contrary to His purpose in making me. Their taking gifts that He gave to me and using them in a selfish, ugly way, and we see the fruits of it in this world. But I’m like a criminal going before a judge. What’s gonna…I mean, I can’t argue. I did it. I’m guilty. That’s got to be dealt with, doesn’t it? Okay?
So, what did He do about that? Let’s go ahead and get some scriptures here. Praise God. The exact scripture is 1st Peter 2:24. This is using Jesus as an example, and how He behaved when they did what they did to Him. But it says this. This is the summary of what was happening. “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree…” which is the cross. (NIV). Why? “…So that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed.”
There’s a lot of attack going on in our day, against the reality of the simple truth that Jesus Christ died because of my sins. And the only way I can come to Him is to come clean.
How about Hebrews chapter 9? Just turn back a few pages. The writer here is writing to a Jewish audience who had come to know about Jesus, and he was concerned that they might stop short. And so, he kept on using examples from the history of God’s dealing with Israel, and you know that they had a sacrificial system, don’t you? They would literally, in order to deal with the guilt of their sins, they would bring an animal.
That animal would be killed, and basically, that animal would represent me. It was more than a substitute! He was my representative. He was getting what I deserved.
But it wasn’t that the blood of bulls and goats could actually take away sin. How did God do that? That became a stand-in for what was to come. That was a way to visually, actually express something that…I was putting my faith in God’s promise. But, God was saying, hey, this is a stand-in. I’m gonna take care of it—I’m gonna take care of it. There’s gonna be a day when it’ll be finished. Okay?
So anyway, in chapter 9, verse 26, I believe it is…it talks about how that they had to do it every year in those days. It says, “Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all…” Once! “…At the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.
“Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.” Praise God!
I’ll tell you, God took care of my need. We know about scriptures where He became sin for us and all of those things. I want to just…I want to go ahead and reestablish or establish something that we’ve used before in Romans chapter 3, because the Gospel is so amazing in this respect.
If you think about a criminal who is guilty of actual crimes, and there is a law that affects those crimes, and he goes before a judge, that judge really has a choice, doesn’t he? He can be merciful, but if he’s merciful, he’s not just. Or, he can uphold justice, and that causes him not be to be able to be merciful, because I’ve got to…you did it, I’ve got to take care of the penalty here. You’ve got to suffer the consequences.
So, how in the world can a Holy God uphold His own justice and still be merciful? That’s the question. You think about that.
He did this to demonstrate, He presented… “God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this…” Why? “…To demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished.”
God didn’t just jump on people. He said, there’s something coming. But, “He did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.”
How can God be gracious? How can He show grace to me, a sinner? I deserve it? Because, there was Someone who assumed my guilt.
( congregational amens ).
Every law, every bit of God’s holiness was fully upheld at the cross. But as I come, and I embrace the guilt, and enable Him to be my Representative, I can come and just turn my heart over to Him. And He is free because the guilt is gone. The punishment has been meted out. He is free, now, to accept me. Praise God!
We sing the song, “My Sins Are Gone.” Are your sins gone? Whew! My sins aren’t gone because I deserve it.
( congregational amens ).
I deserve His justice. I deserve His judgment. But God’s love found a way to be just and still show me mercy and show me grace. And He did to you, as well.
But you know, I’ve got another problem. Suppose He wipes out my guilt. That’s great, right? What about tomorrow? If I’m still the same person that I was that committed all that stuff, I’m just gonna keep right on. God has got, not only, to take care of the things that I did, He’s got to take care of what I am.
( congregational amens ).
But see, what we’ve been talking about recently is God had to first cleanse this temple because His whole purpose was to share Himself with me, to come and to live inside me. But, how could He live in a vessel that was full of sin? He had to cleanse it first. That’s what the shed blood of Jesus Christ is about. Has that become real to you?
But then, we open our hearts, and He comes in, and He gives us a new heart and a new life. Yes, there’s a process of learning how to live that out. Absolutely, it sets us on a road.
But I’ll tell you, underneath the whole deal is this simple truth. Everything is ready! Everything you and I need to arrive there on that day and be given a brand-new body and to shine like the sun with the glory of God, it’s been given because He finished it on the cross! That’s the message of hope!
( congregational amens ).
Oh, praise God! I’ll tell you, this takes away the excuses of those who’ve never come. Oh, my sins are too great. Paul had something to say about that. I’m gonna turn over to the actual scripture. I want you to read it.
1st Timothy chapter 1—1st Timothy chapter 1. I have to stop shouting at you here, I’m gonna lose my voice. But that’s all right, this is exciting stuff!
Verse 15, “Here is a trustworthy saying …” This is something you can bank on, is what he’s saying. “… That deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.”
So, why is he bringing this up? “But for that very reason…” Why? The reason that I’m the worst! “…For that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.”
There ain’t no excuse to say, I’m too bad, I’ve done too much. You look at the people to whom Jesus reached out. They were the worst of the worst, and the religious people were angry at Him and upset with Him because He associated with such people. But His heart went to the people who were in need.
I believe there are people who would say, I’m just too bad a sinner, and what they really mean is, I want to live my own life. It’s all been paid for. Everything is ready. There is no excuse, except for a choice to live our own life.
I’m unlovable. Well, a lot of people have had a rough go in life, and Satan has taught you that you’re just a bad person and God couldn’t possibly…this is great, but it isn’t for me. “God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (KJV).
( congregational response ).
Yeah, human love will fail, but God’s love is not like human love! God has the power to reach down to the lowest of the low! He doesn’t love because we’re lovable! He loves because it fulfills His purpose. It gives Him the greatest joy that could possibly be, to show love to someone who doesn’t deserve it and to lift them out of that. Don’t you wallow in your self-pity and say, God couldn’t love somebody like me. He does!
( congregational amens ).
Open your heart to His love.
I just can’t live it. Well, if by living it, you think of you as you are now, being religious, you’re right. I can’t either. But that’s not the Gospel. The Gospel is a new life and a new heart, and Someone who has promised never to leave you, never to forsake you, to walk with us through the end of the age. I’ll never leave you. I’m gonna bring you through all the way to the end. Thank God! That’s part of the, ‘it’s all been prepared.’ Everything has been prepared for you and for me.
That’s why the scripture we’ve heard so many times from Hebrews chapter 3 about, “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.” (NIV). Don’t look for that excuse. If you’re someone who has never partaken of this, God reaches out to you today, because it doesn’t matter how good your theology is.
Like Ricky said, we’re not gonna have a test to get into heaven about how good or how perfect and complete our theology is. That’s not what it’s about. This thing that Jesus Christ has fully provided has to become yours, personally!
( congregational amens ).
It isn’t just that He died for everybody. It’s got to become that He died for me, and I am His for time and eternity. That’s the hope of the Gospel!
That’s what ‘everything is ready’ has to come down to! If it isn’t appropriated, if it doesn’t become yours, what good is it? You’ll die, and you’ll be a theologian with perfect theology and die in your sins, without this. So, I pray that God will just touch hearts, sow seed, do whatever. You don’t have to wait. You don’t have to have an invitation. You don’t have to do anything but just respond when He calls!
( congregational response).
But here’s where I need this. This means I’ve got to learn how, in my journey, when I’m confronted with needs that are ongoing in my own life, I have got to come to a place, a greater place where I remember, everything has been provided!
And my place is not just to say, well, this is as good as it gets. That’s just me, and all the excuses that we make when our eyes get off of that, and they start getting down here, or they get in here, or they get to circumstances and conditions and needs and ongoing situations. Oh, God wants to lift up our eyes to remember everything is ready!
Everything you and I need to take the next step on our journey, and the next one and the next one! Yes, there will be battles! That’s why…that’s why the Word tells us to, “Fight the good fight of the faith.” There’s going to be opposition. It will come from in here! It will come from out there! It will come in circumstances. It’ll come from the prince of the power of the air. Everything in this world will speak to you and discourage you if you let it!
But God wants to lift up our eyes to remember everything is ready! That means me! That means here! That means now! We sing the song, “He Is All I Need.” But what do we sing on the next verse?
( congregational response ).
“I will take Him now.” It’s got to come to that. It’s wonderful to assert this truth, but unless we come to the point where we say, yes, Lord! I need You. I ask for Your mercy. I ask for Your help right now! Ask, seek, knock!
God is still looking for people who will appropriate, who will take what He has given. He doesn’t just dump it on us, and we lay there in a hammock waiting for Jesus to come. We’re gonna have to stand in faith and believe God in the face of everything.
Where are you at in your life today, if you’re one who knows the Lord? Is there stuff where you’re sort of stuck? This society of ours tends to put us to sleep. We tend to get involved, we tend…so much that the Lord is wanting to share of Himself with us, stuff that’s there. It’s part of the unsearchable riches of Christ! It’s real! It’s for me! And, we just say, yes, Lord, it’s for me. And then we just go on as though it isn’t.
And that’s part of the burden that I sense from the Lord. Let’s continue to lift up the reality of the fact that this is not a deal where Jesus says, I sure hope I can pull this off. I’m gonna do my best. He says, “…He is able to save completely those who come to God through him…” Why? “…Because he always lives to intercede for them.”
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That’s the fruit of what He did on the cross. It’s real. He’s able. I’m not. It’s not my ability anymore. I have cast myself on His ability. I have no right to claim…I cannot look inside and find any right to claim Him. But I can rest upon His promises, His character, His purpose, His provision, His everything, because everything is ready, and it’s been ready.
And we just need to present the Good News and say, oh God, give us today, not just our natural daily bread, but that other kind of bread that I need, too. Lord, this area that I’m dealing with right now, this situation, this feeling, this sense of inadequacy, whatever it is, Lord, help me to lift my eyes and look to that and remember it’s there! It’s mine! I have the right to come.
I can’t look at my performance and say, well, if get that right then maybe I can come. That’s the time I need to come! That’s the time I need to come! It’s when we’re in need we can go to that throne to find help and grace to help in time of need. Praise God!
I want to just share one little thing. As I was thinking about this, ‘everything is ready,’ part of mind was, I’m gonna enumerate all these things, and I didn’t get very far with that, and that’s okay. It really breaks down to those two areas that I was talking about…my guilt and my inability.
But then I thought about one particular thing, and I’m gonna go ahead and take us to a scripture in John chapter 17. This is part of the prayer of Jesus right before He was arrested, praying for the disciples.
Now, think about this. How does Jesus feel about this? Is He sitting there in heaven anxious? Is He afraid, fearful, hoping…like I say, hoping He can pull it off? There is a sense in Him that I believe we need to share more.
Listen to what He says in verse 13, I guess it is, “I am coming to you now…” Jesus prays, “…but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.”
Think about what He’s saying. So, what does Jesus have in Him about all of this? Anxiety? No, joy! It was for the joy that was set before Him that He endured the cross! The Kingdom of God is not meat and drink and rules and all that kind of stuff! It’s righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost! That’s the character of the Kingdom of God!
And Jesus is not just saying I want to…Lord, help them get through. Help them to hunker down and just muddle through. He saying, I want them to be full of My joy. I’m full of joy, Lord! I’m just so full of exhilaration looking forward to what’s coming. I know the reality and the power of what You are doing. I know the purpose You have in Your heart! I see where it’s going, and it fills My heart with joy! I want them to share that.
I was very interested in the prayer meeting the other night how much there was said about joy, and I just sort of listened. But is this part of it? Is this part of what is completely provided? When He said everything is ready, didn’t He include joy, so that we don’t have to go, I’m getting by? I’m not very happy about it, but…God wants us to be able to lift up our eyes and learn to make a choice to participate in the joy that He feels right this minute. Is that not one of the riches of His grace that we can share? Yes, it is. Praise God!
Everything is ready. What the Lord wants…if you don’t know Him, if you do know Him, God wants us to lay hold of that and make it ours. He invites us to come on the ground of repentance and faith and trust, all of those qualities that essentially are surrender into His heart and His purpose, and they belong to us, not because we deserve them but because He paid the ultimate price to give them to us.
Lift up our eyes, press on…all these scriptures that we hear so often. Encourage each other, as has been said today. But I’ll tell you, the one thing, I guess, that I’m gonna come back to…I guess this will be the title, but everything is ready. So, the question is, what are we gonna do about it? Praise God!
