Time In Control

Transcript

And hello again, radio friends. How in the world are you? You doing alright? Thank God, we can be in the world, but not of it. You don’t have to be tarred with the world’s brush, just because you live in a dirty world. You can be kept, as Peter says, “Kept by the power of God through faith unto Salvation.” Paul the Apostle said, “I know whom I have believed in and persuaded, that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.” Paul turned his entire life over to the Savior and he knew that our blessed Savior would never drop him. For He hath said, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” You can be sure of God’s keeping power. All of that wrapped up in the little greeting, “How in the world are you?” And I trust that things are going well for you today.

I want to keep on with the 12th Chapter of John. We’re winding up that 12th Chapter now. We’ve been talking about the times Jesus shouted. That was a rich study to my own heart, I must admit. I hope it was some blessing to you. And then there’s the way God works, this is by way of review. “Commitment of Faith,” Verse 44. “The awareness of God’s presence in your life,” Verse 45. And, “The illumination of God’s purpose in your destiny,” Verse 46. That’s the way God works. First, the step of faith, then the awareness, the blessed awareness that God is dwelling within you by His Holy Spirit, and then the illumination of His Word, and His purpose for your life. Well, we go on. In Verse 47 and on through Verse 50, there is a discussion about the Word of God. It’s either your judge or it’s the way to everlasting life. It’s all wrapped up in God’s Word. “If any man hear my words and believe not,” now, this is the other side of it. He’s been talking about, “Believe.” Now, He says, “Believe not, I judge him not. For I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.”

“He that rejecteth me and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him. The word that I have spoken, that is going to judge him in the last day. For I have not spoken of myself, but the Father, which sent me. He gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak, and I know that His commandment is life everlasting. Whatsoever I speak, therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.” Now, simply looking at this passage, what He’s saying is, “I came to save. There is a way to be saved. There is a way to be saved. Don’t let anybody tell you that your condition is hopeless, whatever you are, wherever you are, what condition you’re in, not hopeless, so far as your eternal destiny is concerned.” Because Jesus said, “There is a way to be saved. I came to save.” He said in another place, “I came to seek and to save that which was lost.” And He said in another place, “Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give His life, a ransom for many.”

The whole thrust of Scripture is that God has provided a way. Go back in the Old Testament, you’ll find Abraham saying to his inquiring Isaac, who said, “Where’s the lamb?” Abraham said, “God will provide Himself a lamb for the sacrifice.” And that indeed is what happened. “The Passover,” as recorded there in the Book of Exodus, “A lamb for an household.” Foreshadowing all of it. “The sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, there on the cross of Calvary, Christ, our Passover is sacrificed,” said Paul, “For us.” All of the Old Testament is a foreshadowing of the work of the Lord Jesus, and the result of it, as we find it in the church, in this age of grace. Anyway, here you have the fact that there is a way to be saved. “I came to save,” said He, “The world.” Don’t let anybody tell you that your condition is hopeless. Jesus can save to the uttermost. “He is able,” we read in the Book of Hebrews, “To save to the uttermost, all of them that come unto God by Him.” ‘Uttermost,’ that means uttermost, there isn’t any exception. Hallelujah for that. I’m so glad.

Now, the second truth there, there is only one way to be saved. And there, of course, we come into conflict with hundreds of different kinds of beliefs, where people are saying, “This is the way and that is the way.” Jesus said there’s only one, “No man cometh unto the Father, but by me. And if any man believe not, well, the word that I’ve spoken is gonna judge him in the last day, the day of judgment.” You’re up against the fact that God told you and you didn’t believe it. There’s only one way. Can you remember back into your childhood, different times when you wanted to do something, whatever it may have been, and a grown-up would say to you, “That isn’t the way you do this.” But you were a little stubborn and you kept on trying your way, do you remember? And you probably said, a little childlike, “I wanna do it myself. I wanna do it my way.” And you ended up messing up the whole situation. Do you remember anything like that? I guess all of us have come through that stage.

But we’re still like little children in dealing with the issues of eternal matters. We say, “Oh, I wanna do it my way. I wanna try the occult. I want to try pleasures. I want to try drugs. I want to try sex. I want to try business. I want to try money. I want to try popularity and power.” And we’ve all these different avenues of extra-curricular attempts, to achieve eternal life, to achieve fulfillment in this life, and satisfaction. It doesn’t work, does it? See, there’s only one way. There is a way to be saved. There’s only one way to be saved. The penalty for avoiding that one way, is not only that you’ll be lost, but that you’ll be judged. “The word that I have spoken, that will judge him in the last day.” Then there is authority in the message of one way, that comes directly from God, the Father. “I have not spoken of myself, but the Father, which sent me, gave me a commandment, and His commandment,” Verse 50, “Is life everlasting.” The authority of Almighty God stands behind the Gospel message.

Three things that this passage says to us… Now, remember, there is a way to be saved. There is only one way to be saved and the authority of God stands behind the Gospel message, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.” I get letters and cards, now and again, from people who argue with me about this. Strange that it’s so hard for folk to accept the message of salvation through the Lord Jesus. It’s free, the work is done, the price is paid. God’s grace is freely offered, but we argue about it. Dear friend, if I’m speaking to you today about this, would you open your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ and invite Him in? He says still to you, “Behold, I stand at thee door,” that’s the door of your life, “And knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him and sup with him, and he with Me. Call upon me and I will answer thee,” the Bible says. “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved, as many as received Him. ”

Just open your heart by faith to the Lord Jesus. You don’t have to do anything, or pay anything, or give anything, or promise anything. What you have to do, is turn to Him in complete commitment, away from your sins and to Christ. Paul said to the Thessalonians, “How you turn to God from idols, to serve the living and true God.” That’s the process. You turn to the Lord Jesus, and in so doing, you turn away from your sins. That’s what the Bible calls ‘repentance.’ Oh, do that today, somebody needs this, somebody listening now. You may be a little angry with me for emphasizing it, that’s alright. Oh, listen, open your heart to Christ, and turn to Him now, and commit yourself to Him, and find out for yourself this blessed process of commitment, and glorious awareness of God in your life, and illumination of God’s purpose, as it’s revealed in His word, and by His Spirit, all of it with the authority of Almighty God. The one who flung the stars out into space has come close enough to you, to promise you eternal life, if you’d receive it freely. It’s a great message, isn’t it? And a great possibility for each of us.

Now, we go to Chapter 13, it said, “Now, before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come, that He should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved His own, which were in the world, He loved them unto the end.” John is the only one that makes a comment like this. John was very perceptive. He had a tender spirit along with a short fuse of bad tempers, interesting combination. Many people who have the worst tempers, have also a very sensitive spirit and tenderness lying there underneath the crust somewhere. That combination occurs now and again. John was one such. He was aware of the deep love that the Lord Jesus had for His disciples. John was called ‘the disciple whom Jesus loved.’ There was a bond between the two of them of understanding and affection, that was very deep and very precious. And so it’s John that says, “The Lord Jesus knew when His hour was come. He knew that that meant He would go back to the Father. He knew that there would come an end to His physical association with His own, but He also knew that He loved them very much.”

That’s what that verse says. Now, what does it say to you and to me? Number one, God has a plan. His timing is perfect. You will live just as long as God wants you to live. And you will accomplish, by faith, all that God has in mind for you, if you trust Him. And if you commit yourself to Him, Jesus knew that His hour was come. He had divine knowledge, obviously. You and I don’t have such divine knowledge, but we have the certainty that our lives are in God’s hands. “My times are in His hands,” the Bible says. And that they are operating, our lives are operating, on the basis of a divine plan. Relationships, as we know them, do come to an end. “His hour has come, that He should depart out of this world unto the Father.” That meant that He would go and that meant that He would leave those whom He had been teaching for three years. Face the fact that relationships do change. Everything changes. Change is not wrong, if it’s in the will of God.

If you’re facing a change in your own life, or if you’re trying to work through your sorrow with the death of a loved one, or if you’re trying to work through the hurt, and rage, and sorrow of the faithlessness of some partner, who has departed from you in divorce, oh, what a heartbreak. These are rough times, but this is a time of change and God will see you through it. The key word is ‘through,’ as I’ve told you so often, “When thou passes through the waters, they shall not overflow thee.” God has a plan. Change is involved, but love never fails. That’s what that 13:1 says. We’ll get at it again the next time we get together.

Father God, today, oh, may we be in Thy timing, Thy schedule, and Thy love. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Till I meet you once again by way of radio, walk with the King today and be a blessing!