Glorious Way Church
Glorious Way Church equips believers for the work of the ministry and stands for God’s truth in our culture. We serve as a regional center, where people from all backgrounds find refreshing worship and true communion of the saints.
Glorious Way Church
The Present Day Ministry of Jesus 2
Discover the life-changing truth about Jesus as our Mediator—the One who stands between God and humanity with His blood eternally speaking on our behalf at heaven's mercy seat. This powerful teaching unravels the mystery of Christ's final act of redemption that occurred between His resurrection and ascension, when He instructed Mary Magdalene, "Touch me not, for I have not yet ascended to my Father."
Let's reach down and pick up our Bibles before we're seated. Let's pick them up and wave them around and make Jesus glad, the devil mad. Let's say this together Say Heavenly Father, I'm so glad to be here today Among people of like precious faith. Love plus unity equals miracles. There's a miracle atmosphere in the house and I'm partaker of that supernatural power. Today, through the word of God, through the Holy Ghost, I've got the victory. In Jesus name, amen, praise God, you can be seated.
Speaker 1:Let's turn in our Bibles to, uh, our foundation scripture, hebrews, chapter 8. And we will get into the word together this morning Got a lot of great things this morning with us. Hebrews 8, verse 1. Now, of the things which we have spoken, this is the sum. We have such a high priest who is set on the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens, a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man, for every high priest is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices, wherefore it is of necessity that this man talking about Jesus, see, jesus is better than Aaron. Jesus is better, you know. That's the whole theme of Hebrews. So he's drawing the contrast between, you know, the Old Testament and the New Testament. This man, it's necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer verse 6, but now hath he obtained, talking about Jesus, a more excellent ministry, more excellent than who? Well, aaron, excellent ministry, more excellent than who? Well, aaron, more excellent ministry by how? Also, he's a mediator of a better covenant founded upon better promises. And so we've been starting a series of messages.
Speaker 1:Last week was week one, this is week two, the present day ministry of Jesus. Present day ministry of Jesus. You know, when he, you know, at Easter time, we read out of Acts, chapter one, where he was received up into the clouds and the disciples were all looking up and the angel appeared and said what are y'all looking up for? He's his same. Jesus that's taken up, that's received up into heaven, is going to come again in like manner. He's coming back. And so, in other words, get to work, you know.
Speaker 1:But it's vital for us to have revelation of Jesus' ministry, because he didn't go up into heaven to get in, a lazy boy, and just rock back and just kind of, you know, twiddle his thumbs and wait for something to happen. No, he's real busy and what he does is vital to us who are down here on the earth. We're down here where their demons are. I mean, jesus defeated them. Jesus defeated the devil, but he didn't. They don't cease to exist. And so we have the good fight of faith that we have to fight, and part of our faith is understanding what he is doing on our behalf, because if he weren't doing, if he was not doing these things as high priest and as as all the things that the high priest does, then we would be in trouble. And so, uh, he's been set on the father's right hand, and we mentioned that.
Speaker 1:There's five aspects to his present day ministry. First of all, high priest, mediator we're going to talk about the mediator today intercessor advocate Really, those three mediator, intercessor, advocate they're almost simultaneous. They go back and forth, they have a very. In fact, mediator means intercessor, you know. So it's they overlap, but they're so vital for you to understand it and have faith that he is doing that for you. Everybody say he's doing what he's doing for me. Now you've got to break it down. It's not enough to just say, well, he's doing that for the church, well, yeah, he's doing it for the church, but doing it for you, ind. Not enough to just say, well, he's doing that for the church. Well, yeah, he's doing it for the church, but doing it for you individually. That's how supernatural it is, because think about Jesus how many Christians are there on the earth? A couple of billion, I don't know, maybe. I don't know how many billion there are, but he knows each one of you because your voice is your address when you speak. So I priest, mediator, intercessor, advocate and, of course, lord and head of the church.
Speaker 1:So we talked about the high priest last week, one who is authorized to administer, to execute, to implement and to carry into effect what Our profession or our confession I mean. And so I asked the question what are you saying? Let's check up on what we're saying. If you're in trouble, why don't first place I'd look is what I've been saying on a consistent basis, because most people and this is the thing in my life, the fight of good faith is being consistent in my confession, and I mentioned this last week. We need to become more professional about our confession. You know, if you're trained and you've got a career and your boss sends you off to school to get certified in some aspect of IT, or you know, or whatever your specialty is at work, you know, you're taught how to communicate with your colleagues. You have a professional language. I think about an air traffic controller. I mean, they got to learn how to talk to pilots and the pilots got to learn how to understand the air traffic controller and so forth. It's professional. We need to speak so that our high priest has got something to back up we talked about.
Speaker 1:Moses was an example of that. Moses, you know, was in the wilderness and all the children of Israel weeping and crying because there wasn't any water, and God told him to go strike the rock with his rod. He struck the rock and water gushed out of a rock for three million people and their animals. And then it happened again and they murmured again and Moses was angry. God said, okay, this time go speak to the rock. But Moses was so angry that was a theme in his life he never got control of his temper and he struck the rock in anger. Well, what did God do? God caused the water to come out of the rock. He backed him up anyway. Because what was Moses doing?
Speaker 1:He's the type and shadow of the high priest. He's representing Israel. God's not going to punish Israel for the shortcomings of the high priest. Well, I thought Moses was a problem. Well, yeah, I know that Aaron was a high priest, but really in this case he's prefiguring, he's casting a shadow that we can pick up some knowledge about. Jesus is perfect as a high priest, there are no shortcomings in his ministry and he backs up what you say every time if you say his word. And he backs up what you say every time if you say his word. So this week I want us to get into Jesus the mediator. Let's turn to John 21st here and we'll get into something I want you to see about his blood and about his sacrifice.
Speaker 1:In John, chapter 20, I won't read all of it you know Mary goes to the grave after the. You know, after the crucifixion, they had to wait and on the third day she goes to the grave going to finish her job about preparing his body. You know, in death, make sure he was wrapped up right and the spices and all of that. And she found that the stone was rolled away, the tomb was empty and an angel standing out there. Where have you laid him? What happened? Where'd you take him? Where have you laid him?
Speaker 1:And Jesus appears. And she thought he was the gardener, you know, and he said Mary. And then she recognized See, he was so transformed by the resurrection, he didn't look like himself. I mean nobody. I'm telling you, when we get raptured, we're going to be ourselves, but we're going to look different. I'm looking forward to looking different. Praise God, better, I should say better, looking better. But anyway, so she, uh, uh.
Speaker 1:And John, chapter 20, verse 17. So 16, she turned, he said, she said master Rabboni. She responded to her name, she recognized him and she, she wanted to touch him. She reached out to touch him and Jesus said unto her touch me not. Verse 17,. Touch me not. Touch me not why? Because I am not yet ascended to my father. But go to my brethren. See the disciples. They're hiding, you know, they're afraid. Go to my brethren and say unto them I ascend unto my Father and your Father and to my God and your God.
Speaker 1:So here, jesus is not yet now he's not talking about the ascension that we talked about in Acts, chapter 1, where he was received up into the clouds. He's talking about he hasn't taken his blood into the mercy seat yet. You can't touch me. This blood is holy and you can't touch it. You can't approach it. I have not yet completed the entire plan of redemption. It's not completed.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, he, he died on the cross. That's step one, number two. Then he was made alive in hell and he was risen from the dead by the glory of the Father. Then he defeated the devil and led a train of vanquished foes. He had done all that, the devil has been defeated, but he had not yet deposited the currency of our redemption at the mercy seat. So God is really technically not anybody's father yet except Jesus, but he's about to remedy that. He's about to remedy that because he's going to take the proof of the completion see. So then, in that case, then he's a mediator. He's mediating between God and man. So his blood in Hebrews 9, let's go back to Hebrews.
Speaker 1:I want you to see this because you've got to have. We say things, but you need to know where it is in the Bible and why we believe what we believe, in order to defend yourself when the devil comes to accuse you. He's called the accuser of the brethren. I face this as a pastor all these years. I mean, people get under condemnation and because they don't know the truth, they think they've got to get saved. No, you're saved. Just because you sin doesn't mean that you're not saved. I say that's the thing.
Speaker 1:You go to the Baptist church. What does the preacher preach on? He usually preaches an evangelistic message aimed at getting somebody to answer the altar call to get saved. So, week after week after week, you're taught about how to get saved. Well, you're already saved. What about the rest of the life? I mean, that's the main thing, all right, but I got saved 30 years ago. Will you give me something, preacher, that I can deal with? That? I can deal with the devil. On that I can get a victory in my life over other things besides my salvation, because salvation means more than going to heaven. It means everything else Health protection, deliverance, favor, promotion, supply, financial supply, all of those things. And so people that aren't strong in what I'm preaching on right now, the present day ministry of Jesus, feel the need to debt rededicate. Brother Osteen used to talk about wearing out your rededicator. I just wore out my rededicator.
Speaker 1:You know, once you get this in you you're strong, the righteous are bold and you're being skillful in the word of righteousness. Now see, righteousness is not a fruit, it's a gift and you received it when you got saved. You don't grow in righteousness you can grow in love, you can grow in peace and joy and all the fruits of the Spirit. But righteousness was the free gift that Jesus gave you when you accepted him as Lord and Savior. Today we're going to have another baptism service and some of these people are going to go and they're going to reenact through the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. Their death burial. It's going to be the water baptism where they die and raise from the dead into newness of life. It's something that just seals it all up. Jesus said he that believeth and is baptized. Baptism doesn't save you, but baptism is the proof that you're saved because you're obeying the Lord.
Speaker 1:So here um, in Hebrews 9, 12,. Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, he entered every week into the holy place. Once a week, every Sunday morning, he goes into the holy place. No one time. He did it once. That's why, when he struck the rock the second time, that's why it was so bad, that was terrible, and Moses was punished by not being able to go into promised land for violating this type and shadow. Jesus died once. He took his blood into the Holy of Holies once, and this is what hadn't happened when he appeared to Mary Magdalene at the tomb Don't touch me. Yet See.
Speaker 1:A few days later, thomas was doubting. You know, jesus appeared to the disciples, but Thomas wasn't there. And then Thomas, they told Thomas about oh, the Lord was here. Oh, unless I stick my finger in his nail prints, unless I put my hand in his side, I will not believe. Well, jesus heard him. And Jesus appeared, says come here, thomas. I got a bone to pick with you, son. Come over here, stick your finger right here. Is that a hole? Is that a hole? Right here and right here? How about that? Right there? Is that where the spear went in? And be not faithless, See, because you've touched me, because you've seen it, you believe. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed. So it wasn't wrong for him to touch him. Why? Because the blood had already been deposited and God is the Father. Now, see God. When you get saved, god's no longer just God, he's your Father, amen. So in Hebrews 6, turn back to six here.
Speaker 1:This is talking about the better covenant that we have, that god cut the covenant with abraham. Abraham said look, god, you've been talking to me about this kid. I don't have one. Yet I'm getting old and my wife is sure getting old and we don't have a kid. How, I don't know, any of this is going to happen. He said get me a heifer, get me a heifer. In other words, I'm going to cut the covenant with you, abraham, abram, I'm going to cut the covenant with you, and so that?
Speaker 1:By two immutable things, two unchangeable things. That's what the book of Hebrews is talking about. What are the two immutable things? His promise and his oath. He made promise to Abraham and he swore by himself because he couldn't swear by any higher. In other words, when he swore by himself, he said if I don't make this happen, I'm not God, I'll die. See, a blood covenant is backed by blood and on behalf of God, the bullet was slain. He cut him from head down the tail and split him open lengthwise, and that was the sacrifice that God made and on the basis of that, of that covenant with Abraham.
Speaker 1:So now let's pick it up with verse 17, wherein God willing more abundantly to show under the heirs of promise. See, that wasn't just for Abraham. We're the heirs of Abraham, heirs according to the promise. This promise, it goes all the way back to this sacrifice To show unto the heirs of promise the immutability or the unchangeableness of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath that by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation.
Speaker 1:Who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us? Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul? Your soul is what's going to give you trouble. Your soul, your mind, your will, your intellect will be the part of you that you have to renew and convert over to God's way of thinking. I mean, we're all programmed negatively from the womb, and the more time you spend around worldly people, the more time you spend around the world, the more negative you become. And so what do you have to do? You've got to get your mind renewed to God's word. You've got to think like God thinks. That's my job is to watch over your soul as one that will give an account. I'll give an account if I don't preach these sayings to help you have confidence in your salvation.
Speaker 1:You're not nervous Nellies, you're not tiptoeing around on eggshells. No, you love God, you reverence him, you fear him and you live right and do right, not because you're afraid of God, because you love God. That's why you do it. You want to please him. How many of you want to please God? Sure you do.
Speaker 1:All right, so that by two immutable things in which was possible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation. Who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us, which hope we have as an anchor of the soul. See, once you get this in you, you'll never doubt your salvation, you'll never feel the need to rededicate because you won't go that far, you won't. You won't let, you won't let an instant go by when you know you've missed it. You, I mean the minute you miss it, or you sin the minute you sin. Listen, you know it, you know when you sin. So you stop right there. Oh Lord, I missed it, I'm sorry.
Speaker 1:First, john 1, 9. You confess your sin he's what Faithful and just to forgive you your sin and cleanse you of all unrighteousness. And then you don't think about it anymore and you don't go blubbering around and meditate on what you did wrong and beat yourself up. Well, I thought I was a better Christian than that. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Don't do that. Don't denigrate what Jesus' blood did.
Speaker 1:His blood did the perfect work. It washed you, it cleansed you, it did away with the sin. There's no more sin problem. As soon as it's confessed, it's gone. Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil. See, there it is.
Speaker 1:The blood went behind the veil into the Holy of Holies. It's deposited there, right there, at the throne of God, where Jesus is at the right hand of the Father, and when we sin, he is our mediator. He said well, father, they missed it, but they're confessing it, they're admitting it, they're not hiding it, they're not going away from me, they're coming, they drew near to me. Here's my blood, here's my blood. My blood was shed for them. That blood is still there. It's there. It's there morning, noon and night. It's there in the middle of the night. It's there whenever the devil accuses you. It's there when the devil says that you don't measure up. It's there when the devil says you're finished. It's there when the devil, I'm telling you the blood. Glory to God Whether the forerunners for us entered. Even Jesus made a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. Hallelujah, all right.
Speaker 1:So Hebrews 8, 6 says that he's a mediator of a better covenant found upon better promises. First, timothy 2, 5,. Paul wrote Timothy. He said there's one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. The man Christ Jesus. The man Christ Jesus. See, god was. You know.
Speaker 1:Jesus is not hybrid. He's not half man, half God, he's all God and all man. But he is a man, he is a representative of the human race. The Bible says he was tempted in all points, like as we are, yet without sin. And since he was, he's able to comfort us. We have strong consolation when we have revelation of what the blood has done, faith, everybody say. I've got faith in the blood. Really, where it's at is the mercy seat. The Bible says that Jesus is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world. The propitiation is the mercy seat. That's where the blood is Really.
Speaker 1:Nobody goes to hell because of sin. Hitler didn't go to hell because he killed six million Jews. Nope, he did not. That sin was taken care of, it was wiped away. It wasn't because he. If he went to hell, I figure he did not. That sin was taken care of, it was wiped away. It wasn't because if he went to hell, I figure he probably did. I'm not his judge, but it's kind of evident that he did not because of the Jews, but because he wasn't born again. That's the only reason people go to hell. It's not because of the sin. The sin has been wiped away. The sin has been washed away.
Speaker 1:Now see, I can't get people to really believe that, though You've been taught wrong, most of you have been taught sin, sin, sin, sin, sin. You're just sin conscious. Well, you mean you just don't even. No, I'm don't mess with it, just get it, get it get. Get it gone when it shows up. Don't mess with it, get it gone when it shows up. Don't mess with it, get it gone Because it's irrelevant really, as long as we're in these bodies.
Speaker 1:I mean these bodies want to continue to do what they used to do. I mean Paul. He said I have to keep my body under subjection to my spirit Lest, while having preached to others, I myself would be disqualified. I mean, if Paul had to keep his body under, how much more do we have to keep our body under subjection? See your body, just because your body wants to do something doesn't mean you give it permission. But in the case when you have and you have missed it, then you ought to be so close to God that immediately you know your spirit does not like that.
Speaker 1:You get grieved. It's not the Holy Ghost getting grieved in you, it's you. It's your spirit gets grieved when you sin. And if you'll learn to develop that conscience, that's the conscience. Always listen to your conscience. When your conscience bothers, you get that thing confessed. You admit that right now. You don't put it off. You don't blame somebody else. You don't look for somebody else's fault, blah blah. No, you own your deal and as soon as you do, he's faithful and just to forgive you your sin and cleanse you of all Everybody. Say all, all. What does all mean? It means all, all right.
Speaker 1:So, jesus the mediator the definition of mediator is one who intervenes between two, either in order to make peace and friendship or for ratifying a covenant. It's a medium of communication. It's an arbitrator. Jesus is our arbitrator. John 14, 6 says Jesus told the disciples on the night before he was crucified. He said I am the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh to the Father, but by me. He's the go-between. Not St Stanislaus, not St Jude, not Mary. Mary's not a mediator, mary's not anything but a believer. That's all she is. She's not God, she's not someone to pray to.
Speaker 1:If you've been praying to Mary, you've been practicing idolatry. You know, as a, as a former Catholic, you know I mean I just never could get down with Mary. I could never. I could never made any sense to me. I, I hated. I mean I as an altar boy, you have to go through all these things. We prayed the rosary. I just got so bored I thought this what is this for? Over and over 50 Hail Marys and a glory be to the father and our father and all that stuff. I mean just blah, blah, blah. You know the Bible says he's not heard by your much hearing.
Speaker 1:When I came into the knowledge of the truth, I started going to Lakewood. I was just transformed. I never heard anybody pray like they. I mean people would get up and pray. I would go, wow, how did you do that? They were saved and I never was saved until I finally got saved at 33. Thank God I got saved. Gladys, if she were here she'd say amen, she's coming next week. She'll be here Mother's Day.
Speaker 1:I'm the way, I'm the only way. There's no other way to the Father but by me. And so I'm the way. I'm the truth. He's the reality. There's no reality outside of Jesus. Muhammad is not reality. You know, confucius is not reality. So no man can approach God but through me. That's what he said. That's what Jesus said. I believe what he said. I came across.
Speaker 1:I was reading Job in my normal reading. Yes, job, I read the whole thing. It's hard. You know, job is one of those books that's hard for me to read because it's got so much stuff in it that's not right. Well, why is it in the Bible? Well, it's in the Bible.
Speaker 1:How about Job, chapter 9? Let me show you that one. This is right. I mean, there is truth in there. Even Job's friends have got a sprinkling of truth, even though God rebuked them. Friends have got a sprinkling of truth even though God rebuked them. Job 9, 33.
Speaker 1:And Job is talking. He said, talking about God. God is not a man as I am that I should answer him and we should come together in judgment. Neither is there any daysman betwixt us that might lay his hand upon us both. Daysman in my margin is umpire. There's not an umpire to lay their hand on me and God at the same time and so that we can come. But see, that's a common thread of a covenant relationship in the Bible. You had. You had people that had their hand on both parties and there wasn't one that would serve that purpose between Job and God. He said but Jesus is that mediator, he's the umpire, he's the one that's got his hand on God and he's got his hand on us and he bridges the gap. In fact, the cross is the symbol of the bridging of the gap between heaven and earth, between God and man. The cross, he bridged that gap.
Speaker 1:Just think the unsaved. Just think the unsaved. I mean they could pray for a thousand years and cry and weep and throw their children in the Ganges River, like the Indians do, and they can do sacrifices to demon powers. They can do all this stuff like they do in Africa. I mean, they're always trying to make peace with the devil, they're always trying to earn their keep. If it weren't for the mediator, they would have no hope. But they have a mediator, even being lost, they have one who is at the right hand of the Father, who has shed his blood for them.
Speaker 1:And you know that man in white that many Muslims and Hindus are seeing in their dreams. Why is that happening? Because of the mediator. He shed his blood. There's only one thing keeping them out of heaven, and that is they just need to make Jesus the Lord of their life. How are they going to do that? Somebody's got to preach the gospel to them. So he comes along and appears to them.
Speaker 1:And you know, you heard the Carlson's. They testified about that. I've been hearing about this for years and years and years. Goes back. Brother Stockstill, back in the 80s, was a missionary to the Middle East and all over there, and he was talking about these Muslims. He would talk to them and they would talk about the dream they had about the man in white. Well, he wouldn't reveal himself as Jesus, but he was getting them stirred up to question who is that? That's in my dream. They liked it, they weren't acquainted with him.
Speaker 1:And here you get a man of God or a woman of God. Come along and preach the gospel and then they get saved. Oh, thank God we have a mediator. While we were yet sinners, christ died for us. I'm so glad he did so. Think about Cornelius.
Speaker 1:You know, cornelius was a centurion of the Italian band there in Acts, chapter 10. I mean, you know, he prayed to God always and he offered alms and an angel was sent to him. Why did the angel come to him? Because his prayers and his almsgiving came up as a memorial before God. The mediator saw that he had not accepted the blood, he had not accepted Jesus. Yet he's on the edge and he wanted to tip him over and get him in the right place where he could bring him to heaven. I mean, he's not. He can't come to heaven. He's a good man and all of that. He's praying and he's giving on, but he's not good enough to go to heaven. He's got to get born again. So what happened? Well, the mediator sends the angel and the angel goes out and another group goes and he sends a vision of Peter and you know the story. I mean, not only did he change his life, but all of his household and his kinsfolk and his near kinfolk and his friends A whole bunch of them got saved and filled with the Holy Ghost, all because of the mediator.
Speaker 1:Come on, lift your hand, thank God. Oh, I tell you he loves you. He's not looking to knock you in the head, he's not looking for ways to send you to hell, as we need to keep that in mind. We've got a lot of people need to get saved. We don't know which ones are going to get saved. Some of these hardcore people are going to get saved, some of them won't, but some of them are going to get saved. So we can't harden our hearts so much against these. We can hate the sin, and I do. I hate that sin. I hate it. A 47 year old man competed in a woman's swim event and won all the gold medals. I mean it's the stupidest thing you've ever heard. I mean these people are crazy, but you know they've got a mediator, so I can't just condemn them to hell. I mean they're on their way. Well, we need to keep preaching the gospel. That's all, amen.
Speaker 1:In Genesis 18, you know, God said shall I hide from Abraham the same thing that I do, seeing that he is? You know, commands his children to serve me and he's my. You know he's a covenant friend. God had cut the covenant with Abraham. I can't hide from Abraham the thing that I'm going to do. And basically he said I'm going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. The sin was great, it had come up before God and it demanded justice. We're in preliminary judgment right now. A lot of the stuff that we see on the earth is just preliminary judgments prior to the final judgment. What we're seeing is some of it can be delayed, some of it can be mollified, but generally speaking we're on that track. Jesus is coming and when he gets the church off the earth he's going to start dealing with Israel and he's going to start dealing with the Antichrist and all of the nations that have rejected God. So we're seeing the preamble, if you will, to all of that.
Speaker 1:But in Genesis 18, god told Abraham and Abraham began to step into the place of mediator and really intercessor, the type and shadow of Jesus. He said wait, wait, wait, just a minute, lord. He said you know what? If there's 50 righteous in Sodom, would you destroy the righteous with the wicked? What if there's 50 righteous? Shall not the God of all the earth do right, be it far from thee, lord. You see, he knew something about his standing that most Christians don't even have. And we've got better standing than Abraham Because we've got a better covenant than Abraham. His covenant was blood of bulls and goats, but our covenant, precious blood of Jesus. We've got standing with God. If we just knew how to take our stand, if we just knew to quit this begging and quit this whining and complaining, and let's take to him his word and present a legal case.
Speaker 1:Come, let us plead together, though your sins be as scarlet, isaiah, chapter 1, yet they shall be as white as snow, instead of all this blubbery. Oh God, I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner. No God, you know I missed the mark. I shouldn't have done this, but I bring your word to you. I know you watch over your word to perform it. I know you're faithful and just. I confess. I admit I'm not hiding this. I'm ashamed and yet I'm coming to you because you said I could.
Speaker 1:And then you calmly believe. I believe I received my forgiveness and my cleansing. Thank you, lord, and you don't think about it again ever. You don't let the devil bring that up to you in your prayer life. Say, well, remember the other day when you well, I did that, but that's under the blood, I don't have any. That's washed away. You might as well go jump on the back of another donkey. This donkey's being used right now. You can't ride this donkey right now. Are y'all with me now?
Speaker 1:So he said shall not the god of all the earth do right? I mean you read that and you go wow, he's pretty bold, you know. And god said all right, I won't see, we, we just think god is ready to do anything he wants to do, but yet he's looking for a mediator, he's looking for an arbitrator. He's looking for a mediator, he's looking for an arbitrator, he's looking for a go-between, he's looking for somebody to stand in the gap, which is an intercessor too. I mean, intercession is the same way. It's really very they're very similar Advocate, which is a lawyer. See, can you see these, all three of these kind of working in the same way with Abraham?
Speaker 1:He said okay, now that I've got your attention on 50, how about 40? I've just 10 left. If you do it for 50, you do it for 40,. Yeah, I'll do it for 40. Okay well, how about 30? How about 20? How about 10? He went all the way to 10. And God said yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. And he trailed off. He didn't ask again, he stopped at 10. I wonder what would have happened if it had said five, but, as it turned out, he stopped at 10.
Speaker 1:You can look at that two ways. You could look at that and say well, you know, he just had to stop because and of course, he's spiritually dead, he doesn't have the Holy Ghost on the inside of him like we do. Our prayers are regulated by the Holy Ghost, but I wanted you to see that you've got great boldness to pray for your unsaved loved ones, because you know what God's will is. God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to the knowledge of the truth. Your unsaved loved ones have a mediator at the right hand of the Father, whose blood is in the mercy seat, and their sin has already been wiped away. All they need to do is get saved. All they need to do is say yes, it's really not even that hard. It's not about you fasting, it's really not even that hard. It's not about you fasting and praying and all of that baloney. You just you say, in the name of Jesus, devil, take your filthy hands off my love, you spirit that's blinded their mind to the gospel. Father, I lose the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into their path If it's me, great, I'll be glad to be a laborer, but there might be somebody better. And I claim their salvation in the name of Jesus. And then you start thanking God instead of praying over and over. You just thank God. They're saved, lord. I just thank you. Their salvation is assured. Glory to God. See, you're taking that place of mediator, advocate, intercessor. Praise God Because we have a better.
Speaker 1:So this example here in Genesis 18, we've got a better covenant found upon better promises, and we need to realize that Jesus Christ, the mediator, covers the sinner of all their sins. He hates the sin, of course, but nobody goes to hell because of the sin. Jesus already took care of it. We have such a good news. I mean you can preach good news to the worst sinner there ever was, somebody that just lives like a terrible person. I'm telling you, there's nobody too bad to get saved. Anybody can get saved because the blood has wiped away their sin. Do they all get saved? Well, no, they don't, because some people just get so hardened and I'll tell you, sometimes, you know, people just miss the day of their visitation. You know, you're not. You're not promised unending chances, because it takes the Holy Ghost to convict a sinner of their sin. You can't do it, you, you can't do it, but the Holy Ghost, in a meeting like this, many times people get convicted. Oh, they realize. Oh man, I'm a sinner, I'm really not saved and it's a good time to get saved. So he made a way for the sinner to approach God and through him alone. And we're his agents. We're his God's agents. We're here, we've got good news, we've got the gospel. We've been challenged to go into all the world. That includes our world. You ought to go into your world, your family.
Speaker 1:God sets the solitary in families. I gave that. I had a lady that was back when we were going to church in Corpus for a year and a half we moved down there and I had a young couple that had just gotten married and she was from a whole family of heathens. She was the only young lady in her whole family that was saved. She had five or six siblings. They were all lost and just living for the devil. Parents were lost and I was reading my Bible and I came across that verse in Psalms God sets the solitary in families. And I gave it to her. I said you know, god sets the solitary in families. You're the only one in your family that's saved. It's going to spread through your family. Just keep advocating for them. Just keep living your life in front of them. I mean, you know they might not listen to you, but they're watching you and it just really made all the difference in her life and I think, before we left Corpus, I think a couple of them got saved.
Speaker 1:Hallelujah, we're his agents. Our job is to proclaim the good news that Jesus loves the sinner and if they come to him they can receive eternal life. Come on, let's lift our hands today. Glory to God, aren't you glad for Jesus, the mediator? And let's tenderize our hearts and let's realize we're his agents. I mean, if he so loved the sinner that while they were yet sinners, he died for them, he deposited that blood up there in the mercy seat, then how could we be any less? We've got to be engaged. We've got to, you know, not just close ourselves off to the world and get so offended at what they're doing that we can't reach the individual behind all of that. Hallelujah, did this help you today? Hallelujah, thank you, lord. We give you praise. We give you glory and honor, hallelujah.