Under Control

Transcript

Alright, thank you very much. And hello again, radio friends. How in the world are you? You doing alright? Oh, I’ve just been praying that God may give me something that is especially for you. I can’t know. Obviously, I can’t know what you need. Thousands of miles away in some cases. But we’re in John 3, aren’t we? And John the Baptist has just been saying, “I’ll tell you what I’d do about the competition. I point to Jesus. He’s the one that gets the credit. I’m just the best man at the wedding. He’s the bridegroom. He must increase, I must decrease.” He went on to say, “He that cometh from above is above all. He that is of the earth is earthly and speaketh of the earth. He that cometh from heaven is above all and what he hath seen and heard he testifies. He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true.”

Let’s think about that for a little while, shall we? I’ve been reading from John 3 and began with verse 31, “He that cometh from above is above all.” This tallies with the Colossians 1 where he says, “That in all things he might have the preeminence. He is before all things,” says Paul, “and by him all things consist,” or hold together. “That in all things he might have the preeminence,” he’s above all. “Neither Greek nor Jew, barbarian, Scythian, bond or free but Christ is all and in all,” Paul says in another place.

What does it mean that Christ is above all? Let me for a little scripture commentary turn you to Philippians 2, “Jesus Christ is Lord. For this cause, the God also hath highly exalted him and given him a name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow of things, in earth things, above the earth, things under the earth and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. To the glory of God the Father above all.” Now, what does that mean? It means first of all, that he’s Lord of your emotions. He says, “If there’d be any consolation, any comfort, any fellowship, any compassion and mercy, fulfill ye my joy that ye be like minded,” and so on. Lord of your emotions. People have said to me so often, “I can’t help that I feel this way,” and of course that’s true.

You ladies are crying about something and somebody comes and pats you on the shoulder and said, “Don’t cry.” Does that help you stop crying? Not at all. It probably makes you a little irritated and you think this person doesn’t understand how bad I feel. You’re angry and somebody says to you, “Don’t be angry. Does that stop your anger?” No, it doesn’t stop it. You’re afraid of something and someone says, “Oh, don’t be scared.” Does that make you not afraid? No, it doesn’t. See, your feelings don’t respond to lectures, they don’t respond to force, they don’t respond even to logic. You can say to yourself, “I shouldn’t be afraid or I shouldn’t be angry, or I shouldn’t be discouraged. You could try to argue yourself out of it, but feelings don’t respond to logic, and they don’t respond to lectures, and they don’t respond to leverage or force. The only way to change your feelings is to let somebody manage them for you. His name? His name is Jesus. Lord of your emotions. Turn them over to him. Tell the Lord Jesus Christ how you feel. He’ll change your attitudes.

Then it’s Lord of your mind. Lord of your mind. “Let this mind be in you.” It’s a mind that is united, like-minded because it’s based on your heart experience being one accord. It’s a mind that is humble. “Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory but lowliness of mind.” It’s a mind that has other people’s good at heart. “Let not every man on his own things but every man also on the things of others.” It’s a mind that is patterned after the Lord Jesus Christ. “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus. He humbled himself and became obedient unto death even the death of the cross.” Jesus wants to be Lord of your mind. How do you do that? [1] You pray about it. [2] You put scripture in it. Memorize scripture. If your mind is full of scripture, it won’t be full of the garbage of the world. [3] You trust God to give you his thoughts. Have you ever prayed that God would help you think the right thing? Try it sometime. You’ll be amazed at what the Lord does in answer to prayer. This mind, let the Lord Jesus be Lord of your mind and then Lord of your conduct.

He says, “Work out the salvation that is in you because it is God, which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.” Conduct is based upon motivation and willpower, action. To will and to do of his good pleasure. God wants to be Lord of your motivation and Lord of your willpower so that he will be Lord of your conduct then you can do all things without murmurings and disputings. Lord of your conduct. And then he says, “Hold forth the word of life, Lord of your witness and your testimony.” I’ve just ticked off a few of those verses in Philippians 2, that’s how to make the Lord Jesus above all. “He that cometh from above is above all.” That’s how to make Him Lord. Put that to work, will you in your life? He wants to be Lord of your life, Lord of your emotions, Lord of your mind, Lord of your conduct, Lord of your witness.

“He that is of the earth is earthly and speaketh of the earth.” You talk about what controls your life. Give a boy a new Honda and he’ll talk about it before he talks about anything else. Give a young man a young lady whom he’s desperately in love with and he’ll talk about her. And give a grandma a new grandchild and she’ll talk about that grandchild, the prettiest, smartest baby that ever came down the pike. [chuckle] Let me show you 39 pictures of her or of him.

You talk about what is closest to your heart and you talk about that which makes up the fabric of your life. “He that is of the earth is earthly and speaketh of the earth. Don’t blame the unsaved person if he doesn’t talk about eternal matters, he doesn’t have them in mind. The unsaved person, Paul says, can’t understand the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him. “Neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned.” And the Bible doesn’t say, “will not” it says “cannot.” He can’t know them. It’s not that he doesn’t want to, he can’t. The Holy Spirit of God has to enlighten the unsaved heart and mind before any understanding comes. So don’t blame the unsaved person for speaking of earthly things.

But it says, “He that cometh from heaven testifies what he hath seen.” Now, another thought here is your reaction to heavenly truth identifies where you stand. “He that hath received his,” that is Christ’s testimony, “hath set to his seal that God is true.” The nearest illustration I can give of that is the process through which numbers of us went in the old days when we went into mainland China. Coming from Canton on up to Shanghai on one occasion, we were required to bring all of our luggage and I had a good deal of it because I had photographic equipment and all sorts of things and some books and booklets to give out to God’s people along the way.

And so, we were required to bring all of this up to the customs people and go through their examination. They had impounded it when we got to the airport and they had it there ready for us. The office was on the fourth, I think or fifth floor of a huge building. There was no elevator there, we had to trudge up those 96 stairs or whatever it was, and then we had to go from one desk to another filling out forms and in each case when we had given the satisfactory answers and information, the official would take a huge stamp and stamp his approval on that piece of paper and when he did that he was saying, “I approve this, I certify that this is true,” that’s what he was doing. I always get a mental picture of that when I read this verse, “Hath set to his seal that God is true.”

And when you take your stand for the Lord Jesus Christ it is as though you are putting a big stamp of approval and say, “Okay, I know this is true and I approve it and I’ll stand by it, live by it and if need be die by it.” That’s what he’s saying. Now he says, “The Father loves the Son and hath given all things into his hand.” I’m gonna wind up the broadcast with this concept because it is so precious. He says, “The Father loves the Son and hath given all things into his hand.” Has it ever come over you that the Savior whom you trust is actually in charge of everything? He said that himself, didn’t he? When he was speaking to his disciples just before he went back to heaven after his resurrection. Our Savior said to them, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I’ve commanded you and lo, I am with you all way even unto the end of the world. All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.” Everything.

The Father loveth the Son and hath given all things into his hand. Now put that to work in your own life. Does the Lord Jesus have charge of your own personal setup? The family of which you form a part? The house in which you live? The work? The daily work that you do in your job? Or your need of a job if you’re unemployed? Does Jesus know about your health? Does he know what hurts today? Somebody has said, after 70 if you don’t hurt somewhere you’re dead. [chuckle] Sometimes I believe that. [laughter] Does Jesus know how you feel? Yes. The answer is yes, he does. We have a high priest who can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. You’ve broken a hip. Does he know when it hurts? Yes, he does. He’s touched with the feeling of how you feel. So he knows where you live, he knows what you do, he knows how you feel, he knows the difficulties you face. Jesus knows. He is in charge. Rejoice in that fact and trust him today. Now we go on with this the next time we get together.

Jesus, today, you’re in charge. Lead us we pray. Amen.

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