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Pastor
Praise God. Thank you. May be seated. Of all the truths that I have learned in my lifetime, I told David Wilkerson one time, if it was just for this, other than my salvation through Jesus Christ, if it was just for this one truth on the New Covenant, the whole trip to New York City and everything that we had to endure together was worth it. New Covenant is not something new. It's the story of the Gospel. It's that which was in God's heart from before the foundation of the world. You know, First Peter, chapter one and verse 20 tells us that Jesus Christ was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but revealed to us, of course, in these last times. And so it was in the heart of God. Redemption is one story. It's not a hodgepodge of different stories in the Bible that are all kind of compiled together in the text that we call Holy Scripture. It's actually one story. And when you begin to see it, New Covenant is what unlocks the whole Bible. Pastor Nick Cassidy from Ireland said it transformed the church in that nation. When New Covenant was introduced, not introduced, reintroduced. It's not a truth that wasn't known in ages past. But just as you remember, Josiah, the King of Israel was rebuilding. They were renovating the temple, and during the renovations, they discovered the Book of the Words of God, which had been lost in all the religious activity. The Word of God got lost in the temple, and that can happen in any generation. We can get to the place where we actually. We lose the storyline. We fail to understand what the cross is all about and how it affects each of our lives and what it should make my life into. David Wilkerson said, the New Covenant is going to be the truth that will set the last day church free from the power of sin. And I believe that with all my heart. If you're distressed, discouraged, captivated, blind, whatever the situation is, this is going to be your day of freedom. I remember in the Ivory Coast, I was preaching this to about 600 pastors in a stadium and a half a stadium, and I was about 3/4 of the way through part B when the whole stadium rose to its feet and started shouting. I couldn't finish the message. I turned to try to finish it, and my translator was on the floor on his face, crying. So there was no hope to finish the message. In Ohio, I spoke this message to 400 pastors from the Pentecostal Holiness Movement. And because it had a title called New Covenant, they were gripping their Bibles till their knuckles were white. They're going to say, you're not giving us something new. We know the Bible. When we were done, people were laying on the floor all over the place weeping. The choir couldn't sing, the pastor couldn't close the service. And an older pastor about my age that I am now came up to me with tears streaming down his face and he said these words, my God, what have I done to the body of Christ? You know, people can have a false sense of holiness and actually lay a burden on the people that God was not willing to put on them himself. This message has stood the test of time. It's gone through the halls of academia, it's been everywhere. And it's about a three hour teaching and I've got to do it in about two hours. So we're going to have to go fast over some of the scriptures and I'm going to ask that would do is get this message online, especially if you can't be here this afternoon, because if you're not shouting by the time we get to the end, I guess you're dead. I don't know what else to say. You died. We got to send for the undertaker and carry you out because there is a shout of glory comes into your heart. David Wilkerson, one time, having learned this truth, he got out of his seat and just danced all over the platform. It was amazing. I'd only ever seen that once. The rest of us weren't sure what to do. His eyes were closed and he was going around in circles like this and he was dancing. And it reminded me of David, King David before the ark of God, when the presence of God was being ushered back into Jerusalem. How he danced before the ark. And the only thought in my mind is if he gets close to the edge, I have to stand there and stop him from going over the edge. But he was dancing in the spirit. And this truth so touched his heart, so touched his life. And my prayer is that it will do that for you today. God will set you free. God will touch you. You'll start seeing the Bible all the way through. You'll get the thread of the fact that this was just one story. It was in the heart of God before the creation of the world. And it was. It was. Well, you'll see it. I'm not going to say it anymore. You'll see that. So, Father, I thank you, God, that Lord, you are making known this truth that was known. Many knew it in days gone by. Many denominations have it in their statement of faith. They understood it at one time. And Father, I thank you, God, that you're going to make it clear you'll give me the words that I need to speak it. Lord, to these men and women that you have gathered here in New York City and those that are listening around the world. Father God, God, in Jesus name, I ask you, Lord, bring your people out of captivity, bring your church out of the wilderness into the promised life that is ours in Jesus Christ. Lord, we are called not to be an argument. We are called to be a wonder of the presence of God within our lives. Lord, the redemption that is available by faith in Jesus Christ. I pray God, with all my heart that you would do something profound this day. Jesus name. Amen. I've got an echo. I've got a huge echo on the sound system. If you could kind of work on that. I really appreciate that very, very much. I want to start in Luke, chapter 2, verses 10 and 11, and then verses 13 and 14 in Luke chapter 2, beginning at verse 10, it says, then the angel said to them, do not be afraid. For behold, I bring you good tidings, great joy, which will be to all people. So say that with me. Good tidings, great joy to just a few people. Oh, is that what your Bible says? So it's good news that should bring great joy to all people. Are you all people? That's who we are. That's who we are today. So it's not just for a select few, as the anointing might have been, maybe in the Old Testament, but it's good news that should bring great joy to all people. For to you is born this day in the city of David, a savior who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign to you. You will find a babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger, and suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace, good will towards men. So the angel described the coming of a savior which you and I know would lead to a cross as something that is good news, great joy to all people. Now, why is it good news? And why does it bring great the fact that the heavens are opening? This declaration is being made that God is sending his Son into the world. His son is going to be falsely accused, rejected, beaten almost to death, scourged, tried, falsely convicted, and then falsely put to death. This is great news, wonderful news. Now, why is it this declaration even broke open the heavens, causing the unseen to be seen? The way I see it is the angels of heaven are Leaning on the curtain and they understand something that maybe we don't or the people of that time didn't. And they broke through that curtain. And suddenly the sky is filled with angelic beings giving praise to God, saying, glory to God in the highest. Glory to God. God is about to do something that only God can do. God is doing something that God has planned to do. God is doing something that was in his heart to do before the world was even created. Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace, goodwill towards men. Peace between God and man, brought into being by the kindness of God. Not because we've earned it, not because we deserved it, not because it should have ever been, but by the goodness of God. You see, we're not here because we've earned it. Today. You're not accepted with God because you read your Bible for an hour a day. As good as that is, that's not what your acceptance is all about with God. God. What made this such good news? Wasn't there already a religious system in place? There was. And what was wrong with that system that it needed to be replaced with something else? What was wrong? After all? God gave the system, didn't he? God instituted the law, as it's called. He gave it to Moses and such like. Now, in order to answer this question, we have to go right back to the beginning. In Genesis chapter three and verses five to seven, the devil came down into the garden of Eden and said to Eve and subsequently to Adam, God knows in verse five that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was pleasant to the eyes and and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. And she also gave to her husband, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. So remember that. Fig leaves. They traded the glory of God for fig leaves. Can you imagine? I believe in my heart that Adam and Eve were naked, but they didn't know it because the glory of God was their covering. You remember when Moses went up the mountain? He's in the presence of God. When he came down, his face was reflecting God's glory to the point where the people. He had to cover his face because the people were afraid of him, because the glory of God was shining on his face. I feel that because God came down into the garden to meet daily with Adam and Eve. His glory was reflected on them. That's why they didn't know they were naked. And when they sinned against God, when they bit into the theology that you can live independently from God and you can become in yourselves as God is, isn't that something? That was the theology. There might have been a physical thing that they. An act that they did, but there was a theology behind it. The devil said, listen, I've acted independently from God, and look at me. I've got a good mind and I've got a wonderful future. And you know, the scripture says Eve saw this, that it was desired to make one wise. And then partook of this theological fruit. As I see it, that you can think and live independently from God, and you and yourself can determine what is good and what is evil. And you don't have to live in the restriction of the lordship of God in your life. You can act independently from God and end up just as God is. Talk about a deception. Talk about theological fruit. And the moment they bit into that theology, the glory departed from them, as has happened throughout history. When societies reject God, the glory lifts from that society and goes somewhere else. And they sowed fig leaves. Now, fig leaves are kind of a broad green leaf, kind of a large, broad green leaf. Imagine how ridiculous they must have looked. They made a skirt for themselves and probably a covering. It looked like a lampshade on their heads, you know, to maybe try to cover the fact that they were thinking independently from God. And so two people who had the glory of God as their covering now come out of the bushes, you know, covered in fig leaves. But when we try to cover ourselves, that's how ridiculous we look in the sight of heaven. You know, all of the coverings that mankind has made to try to cover up the fact that we're living independently from God. And God said now to Satan himself in verse 14 and 15. So the Lord God said to the serpent in Genesis 3:14, because you've done this, you're cursed more than all the cattle and more than every beast of the field. And on your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life. Now keep in mind that Adam was created from the dust. And I think the curse on the devil is that you're going to go down. You've lost whatever lofty place you once had. Obviously, you've been cast into the earth and you're going to be devouring humanity. That's your whole raison d'. Etre. That's what the devil seeks, walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour, devouring those created by God, the descendants of Adam, who was created from the dust, trying to devour them and take them into a Christless, dark and punishable eternity. And he says, I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise or strike his heel. This is the first time the Gospel is preached in the Old Testament. God says, you thought you could do this. You infused this into humanity and you took away those created in my image from me. But there's going to be a woman. Now. We know that to be Israel, the nation of Israel. And we know that Christ was born from one of the woman who was a descendant of that nation. And I'm going to put division, I'm going to put a battle, I'm going to put a war between your seed. The seed of the serpent is the seed that thinks you can live without God and somehow still be godly. I'm going to put division between your seed and her seed. And he, being the Savior, shall bruise your head and you shall strike his heel. Think about that for a moment. This is the Gospel of the cross of Jesus Christ being preached in the Garden of Eden. Because Christ, according to 1 Peter, chapter 1 and verse 20, was foreordained to die on a cross before the world was even formed. I don't understand that. Let's say you were married and you went to the doctor and you said, we want to have a child. And the doctor came after testing you and said, I've got good news and bad news for you. You can have a child and you're going to have a child, but that child is going to grow up and that child's going to beat you to death, betray you. Would you have that child? God did. God did. He foreknew what humanity was going to do. He foreknew that we were going to rebel against him. He foreknew that his son would have to go to a cross to redeem us, but yet he still chose us. And the only thing I can come up with that answers that question is God so loved the world. There's no other explanation. He knew what we were going to do and he knew before the foundation of the world that his son would have to come and redeem us from our fallen condition, that we could live with him one day forever and rule and reign with Christ. That's going to be. I'm going to talk about that in Greater measure this afternoon. Now, in Genesis chapter 12. So the Lord said, there's going to be a people, and this people are going to be in enmity. This people are going to be. They're going to really crush. They're going to be of the seed of the one that you're going to bruise his feet, in a sense. And think of the nail that went through the feet of Christ on the cross. But in bruising his feet, he's ultimately going to bruise your head. He's going to step upon your head. He's going to tread upon the reasonings that you have infused into the human race. And what's that reasoning? That we can be godly without God. Without God, we can be as God is. And how's that working out in our generation right now? Can't even define what a woman is anymore. God said to Satan, I'm going to soon have a people who are going to tread these reasonings under your feet. Now, in order to fulfill this, he called a man called Abraham. In Genesis chapter 12, he drew a man to himself through whom this promise would soon be fulfilled. Genesis, chapter 12, verse 1. Now the Lord said to Abram, get out of your country or your familiar surroundings, from your family and from your father's house to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation. I will bless you and make your name great. And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you. I will curse him who curses you. And in you all the families and of the earth shall be blessed. Now we know that promise to Abraham had to be through the church of Jesus Christ. His seed would eventually be known as the nation of Israel, through whom would be born a savior, through whom would be born the church which we are. So we are in a sense, that which God's promised. So the purpose that you and I have on the earth is that all the families of this world should be blessed through us. We should be a blessing in our neighborhood, a blessing in our home, a blessing in our family, a blessing on the workplace, a blessing on our job. The blessing of God should be with us. The presence of God should walk with us into every room we go in. This was the promise that God made. Remember, he said, I'm going to have. There's going to be a seed come through the one whose feet you're going to bruise. And that seed will be at war with you, Satan. At war with your thought that you have planted in humanity that you can be godly and somehow achieve a utopian End without God, without a relationship with God. That's where the world is today. But thank God we are here. We are the church of Jesus Christ. We are the ones that God promised Abraham, through whom the world shall be blessed. So I don't know about you, but I'm not willing to be less than a blessing in this generation. I say, God bless somebody today. God bless that person. God bless that person. God bless that person. It should be our prayer every day of our lives. As you walk in a store and you see a clerk that looks down, God bless that person through my life. He promised to bless the whole world through him and by the power of God to make his descendants as numerous as the stars. In Genesis, chapter 15, this is verse 5 and 6. It says, he being God, brought him outside, that's Abraham, and said, now look towards heaven and count the stars if you're able to number them. And he said, so shall your descendants be. This man didn't even have a child. And he says, look up. How many stars are there? We know there's. There's a lot of stars up there right now. I'm not going to try to name them. But he said, you descendants are going to be as numerous as the stars. Of course, he was looking at the church of Jesus Christ. Not just the nation of Israel, as wonderful as that is, but you and me. We were there. God was showing him us. And the scripture says he believed in the Lord, and he accounted it to him for righteousness. Now, the stars. According To Genesis, chapter 1, verses 16 and 17, here's the purpose of the stars. Then the Lord God made two great lights. The greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night. And he made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light over the earth. And Jesus said to us, as his people, you are the light of the world. God set the stars in the heavens. Remember, he said, you descendants are going to be as numerous as the stars. The stars are there to give light. They're there to show us seasons. They gave early travelers direction from place to place. There's just so much that's available by looking at the stars. But Jesus said, you are the light of the world. You, my people, you are the stars that are set by the heavens on the earth. And you are called on this earth to give light, to give direction, to give hope, to give help, to help people, to find a way through darkness and into eternal life through Jesus Christ. And in Genesis Again, chapter 15, Abraham asked the question. In verse 8 he said, Lord God, how shall I know that I shall inherit it? Like he believed God. But he said, God, how is this going to happen? I don't even have a child and you're telling me that my descendants are going to be as numerous as the stars throughout the world and that the whole world is going to be blessed through me. Remember now, this promise given to Abraham is a direct thread to Genesis chapter three. What the Lord God spoke to Satan himself and said, there's going to be a people, there's going to be a savior, there's going to be a seed that's going to be born and and that seed is going to crush your reasonings. And so he said, how shall I know that I will inherit it? In verse 9 of Genesis 15 he said to him, this is God saying to Abraham, bring me a three year old heifer, a three year old female goat and a three year old ram, a turtle dove and a young pigeon. Now the typology is amazing when you see Christ everywhere in the Bible. Jesus Christ started at 30, he ministered for three years, he died at 33 and he was three days in the grave. And here you say three, three, three, three. It's all here. Bring me a three year old heifer, a three year old female goat, a three year old ram. Nothing is by chance in the Bible, folks. It was a plan in the heart of God from before the creation of the world. He brought them all to him and he cut them in two down the middle and placed each piece opposite the other. But he did not cut the birds in two. And when the vultures came down on the carcasses and Abraham drove them away. So God was making now a covenant with Abraham. You got to see this. Abraham's question was, God, how is this going to happen? How are my descendants going to be as numerous as the stars in the sky? How through my life is the whole world going to be blessed? And God says, I'm going to make a covenant with you. You take the. When a covenant was made in the Old Testament, a sacrifice was made. And generally the sacrifice was divided into two parts. And the two people making the covenant would walk through those parts and they would say basically, may I be as this sacrifice if I do not fulfill my part of the covenant. In other words, kill me. If I don't do what I say I'm going to do, kill me. And it was two parties that entered into and made a covenant. But the curious thing about this covenant in the Old Testament is that Abraham wasn't called to walk through the pieces. He wasn't part of this covenant. The scripture tells us at sunset in Genesis 15:17, when the sun went down and it was dark, that behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces. On the same day, the Lord made a covenant with Abraham. And he said to your descendants, I've given this land. In other words, I'm making the promise to you, but I'm making. Now, the smoking furnace is God the Father. In my opinion, the burning torch is the Holy Spirit and the sacrifice is the Son of God. And God's saying, I'm going to do this, Abraham. I want you just to sit there and watch what I'm going to do. I'm going to pass through and make a covenant with myself. Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Now keep that in mind. God walks through the sacrifice himself. I'm making this promise. I'm making the covenant to you, Abraham. And you say, well, Abraham could have said, what is my responsibility? And God would say, chase away the birds. That's your responsibility. Chase away everything sent to devour. This understanding, all he had to do was chase the birds away. You're going to have to fight in your mind. The devil's going to try to come and devour what you're about to hear and take it away. And you start thinking, well, surely I must have to do something. No. Yeah, you do. Chase the birds away. Chase the birds away from this covenant that God made with Abraham. Now, this promise that he made to Abraham goes all the way through the Old Testament, right to the cross. Something very curious happens in the Old Testament, the Old Covenant, as it's called. You see, from when the tree of life is lost, there's a split. It goes all the way through the Old Testament. And it can be confusing if you don't understand why. So on one hand, you've got this thread of promise that goes all the way through. God says, I'm going to do this. God says, I'm going to increase. God says, I'm going to bless. God says, I'm going to make you a blessing. You know, God says, I am, I am, I am, I am, I am. I'm going to do it all. You chase the birds away. That's your part, I'll do the rest. But then there's a law in the Old Testament. There's all these rules and regulations that we have to obey. What's the point of it? So it splits and it goes. There's two threads that go all the way through the Old Testament. And if we don't get the story, it makes it confusing. Sometimes we look at it and say, God, I don't get this. How come if it's, if the blessing comes through Abraham, why is this other thread underneath of this blood sacrifices and all these rules and all these regulations? Well, you remember the problem that was sown in the human race by the devil in the Garden of Eden was that you can be godly without God. That was the problem. You know, people still try that today. It's called legalism. You try to be God, I get rid of my earrings, now I'm godly. I get, you know, the length of my clothes. You understand what I'm saying? There's all kinds of places all over the country where they're still under the old covenant, still trying to be holy by human effort. Now, in order to show the descendants of Abraham that we are not God and we cannot be as God is, in our own strength and with our own reasonings and by our own power, he introduced a set of over 600 laws that those who would be godly had to keep. In other words, God said, okay, descendants of Abraham, I'm going to do this for you. But in the event you think you can do it yourself, here's 600 and something laws that you have to obey. If you break one, you've broken them all. And every time you break one, you have to give a blood sacrifice and try again, try again. Hallelujah. If you broke one, you broke them all. And it proved that we are not God nor godly by our own strength. So a new sacrifice with new promises would have to be made. O God, I promise to be a better person. Oh God, I promise not to tell another lie. Oh God, I promise to be a better husband, a better wife, a better employee. All of these promises the scripture tells us, history shows us that it produced a river, literally a river of blood flowed out of the temple. People were trying hard and it ended up with a religion of rigidity, hypocrisy and discouragement. Ultimately, people just covered themselves with fancier fig leaves. That's all they did. Robes, phylacteries, all these things that were manufactured and made. And it became a religion where only the, the strong rose to the top as they saw it, or the hypocrites rose to the top. Remember, Jesus said, you outwardly look righteous, inwardly you're full of dead men's bones. Can you imagine being under that system, especially for those who are sincere? You know, you come in, you got your Lamb under your arm. You come into the temple, and I'm going to be a better person. I can't be godly. I can do this. I'm going to make promises to God. I know I can do this. And so you go, you give it to the priest. You go through the ritual cleansings. The priest slays the sacrifice, offers it on the altar, and then it pronounces you absolved. And you go out and you feel so good about yourself. Oh, God, I'm just going to be a better person. I'm going to do this. I can't do this. I can't do this. I can be holy. I can't. I can't. I can't be holy. And so you go out and the guy gets to the edge of the temple, and the guy goes by in a cart and runs over his new shoes and he curses him out as he goes down. He's from New York, so the New Yorkers do that. And then he goes, oh, no, just. Oh, no. I just. I didn't even get 50ft from the temple and I blew it. And so you go back and to the table where they're selling goats and doves and how much is that goat? And the guy says, weren't you just here? He says, ah, shut up. Just sell me the goat. He takes the goat and goes back in. The priest says, weren't you just. Yeah, yeah, I was just. Here's the goat. And they sacrifice the goat, and he's absolved again. And, oh, I feel so good. Now, see, that's what religion does. You come in every condemned. Every Sunday, the preacher preaches a message on grace, and you come to the altar, oh, I'm forgiven again. Oh, thank God. And how far do you get on Broadway before you have to look forward to the Tuesday night service? Or when you get home, your wife, I'm going to be a better husband. And your wife says, you didn't take out the garbage. Oh, shut up and take it out yourself. Then you go, hang your head. Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, God. You see, the lie that was sown in humanity is that without God, you can be godly. Without God, you can set your own rules of what's right and what's wrong, and you can somehow end up with a life that only God could have given you in the first place. So God gave this system of laws to show us. Peter says in Acts 15:10, it was a yoke which neither we nor our fathers were able to bear. In other words, it was something put upon us that was. It was heavy. We couldn't do it. We wanted to do it. You know, Paul speaks about this in the book of Romans, in chapter six, seven and eight. He says, we delight after the law of God in the inward man. And we know what is right and we want to do what is right, but we find a secondary law at work in us. The law of sin and death is at work. And I know what to do. But Paul says, I don't know how to find the strength to do it. God, I know this. I understand. Before I came to Christ, and even partway through the journey, it's just like God, I don't want to be thinking this way anymore. I don't want to do this. And I would delight in my heart of the thought of walking in the truth. How many here before you came to Christ? You made New Year's resolutions? You know, we're singing oh, for. How does that song go for Old Lying Sign and all the rest of that stuff? And we make these promises to ourselves. How long does it last? What, 10 after 12? Quarter after 12? And we delight in the. We delight in the thought of being godly, but we can't find the power to be godly within ourselves. Paul says it this way in Galatians 3:24. He says, Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Just as Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. The law was sent to teach us that we can't be godly without God in our lives. We can't be godly without the power of God enabling us to be godly. If the same spirit that raised Christ from the dead be in you, he who quickened Christ will also quicken your mortal bodies by his spirit that is within you. We can't. We can try. We can try to be holy, we can try to change ourselves, but we can't do it. Now. The one that was prophesied that he was going to come and he was going to destroy this thinking that had been infused in the minds of humanity in Mark, chapter 11, beginning at verse 11, says Jesus went into Jerusalem. Now he's the one that was prophesied about in Genesis 3, that his feet are going to be struck. You're going to strike his feet. The context is you're thinking you're stopping his journey. He's on a mission, but you're going to stop his mission. And when that nail that you put through his feet, you think you're defeating him. But what you're doing is you're setting the stage where he's going to rise. And not only he, but the seed that is born into this world through him is going to crush your head, Satan. He's going to crush your ideas, your thoughts that you have planted in humanity. That people can be godly without a relationship with God. That's the plague of humanity today. That's the plague of societies without God. All around us now, the one that God spoke About in Genesis 3 is now coming into Jerusalem, and he's about to go to the cross. Remember, the cross was foreordained before the foundation of the world. This is not. God wasn't caught off guard in the Garden of Eden. He knew what was going to happen when he created humanity. He knew there had to be a redemption. The covenant between Father, Son and Holy Spirit was formed before the world was even created. That is a phenomenal truth. When you and I begin to understand that now Jesus is going into Jerusalem and into the temple. When he had looked around, verse 11 of Mark 11 at all things, as the hour was late, he went to Bethany with the 12. On the next day, when they came out of Bethany, he was hungry and seeing from afar off a what? Fig tree. I want you to think about Genesis 3 again. What was Adam and Eve? What were they clothed in? Fig leaves. So he's seeing a fig tree afar off, having leaves. He went to see if perhaps he would find something on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. In response, Jesus said to it, let no one eat fruit from you ever again. And his disciples heard it. Now, the writer of this, or the writers of this account, they assumed as Jesus walked towards the tree that he was hungry. But there's. And he was, in a sense. But there's a few problems with this. Number one, it wasn't the season for figs. He would have known that he was raised in that area of the world. He would have known, you know, you don't go out looking to pick flowers in February. Do you understand? He would have known this is not the season for figs. Secondarily, he would have also known, because he's supposed to be all knowing. The Son of God was omniscient, means he knows everything. He would have foreknown there was no fruit on this tree. And thirdly, to curse a tree that is not bearing fruit when it's not the season for that tree to bear fruit would make the power of God just an Empty and vain display. It would make him rather petty, wouldn't it? You know, just to curse the tree. And he should have known. No, I don't think it was about figs. I think he was back. You know, the Son of God is not bound by time like we are. A day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like a day. The scripture says. No, he's still there. He's still. Adam is still standing there with fig leaves. The hunger in his heart was for you. The hunger in his heart is for me. The hunger in his heart is to have his relationship with Adam and all of his descendants restored again. He was going to the cross because he loved you. He was going to the cross because he wanted you. He was going to the cross because the love of God in his heart for you was beyond anything we could actually think or describe. He is hungry today for you, for fellowship with you. He's hungry. He's hungry to come down in the cool of the day into your living room, into you, with you on the bus when you're on your way home. He's hungry for fellowship with you. And he walked up to the fig tree, in a sense, he's walking up to Adam. And there is no fruit on this tree. Why? Because you cannot produce the fruit of God with human effort. You can't produce the fruit of God through deception. You can't produce it through just covering up your frailties and your failings and pretending it's there. You can't. And he's looking for this fruit on Adam, which is not there. And then he says, let no one eat fruit from you ever again. In other words, I'm cursing the power of deception. Remember, he's going to step on the serpent's head. I'm cursing the power of deception that wants to deceive you into thinking you can bear the fruit of God through human effort and false covering. So they went to Jerusalem. They went in the temple. He drove out those who bought and sold in the temple and overturned the tables and the money changers and those who sold doves. And then he taught them. Is it not written, my house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations, but you've made it a den of thieves. In other words, you've stolen from me the passion of my heart by making this a perilous house. And you've stolen from the people the victory I would have given them. When evening came, he went out of the City, verse 19. And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. And Peter, remembering, said to him, rabbi, look, the fig tree which you cursed has withered away. So Jesus answered and said to them, have faith in God, for assuredly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, be removed and be cast into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart, but believes those things he says will be done. He will have what he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe you receive them and you will have them. This is profound. This is amazing. The only mountain in the area was Jerusalem. And he's looking at not just the one deceptive fig tree that represents Adam, in my opinion, in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve, but the whole system now that has developed because of, of this illusion that we can be godly without God. And he says, no, not just the fig tree, but the mountain. I'm giving you power to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy. And nothing shall by any means hurt you when you pray. You can defeat this ideology that says you can be godly without God. You can be godly through rules, you can be godly through human effort. You can cast this whole system into the sea. And I remind you, in AD 70, the whole of Jerusalem was cast into the sea by the Roman army. Christ had come to defeat this entire system of deception that Satan had sown into the human race, that without God you can be godly. Now we come to Luke chapter three, which is the funeral service for this thinking. I love it. Now John's baptism begins to make sense in Luke chapter three, beginning at verse three, it says he went out into the region around about Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. In other words, John's message was, give up, folks, give up and give in. You can't be godly without God. Give up on all the human effort that disguises itself as religion and relationship because you can't do it. And I could just see this trail of beaten up, you know, people who had their toes run over by somebody's car coming out saying, it's hopeless, it's hopeless, I can't do this. So John's baptism was a baptism of repentance per se, of trying to be godly without God. That's what John's baptism was. And the Scripture tells us in Luke chapter three, beginning at verse three, as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah, the prophet saying, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord. Make his path straight. In other words, God wants to come to you. Can't get to God, but God wants to come to you. Oh, hallelujah. You can't be holy by human effort, but God wants to make you holy by his presence inside of your life. You see, he made a covenant with Abraham. I'm going to do this. You're not going to do it. I'm going to do this. And as Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness, so too, in believing that Jesus Christ became our substitutionary sacrifice, he becomes our all. He's the indwelling Holy Spirit of God. He is everything we will ever need. We, too, enter into this place of promise that God made through Jesus Christ. Prepare the way of the Lord. Make his path straight. In other words, give up, people. John is saying, give up trying to be holy. Give up buying goats and lambs. Give up coming back to church every week with your head hanging down and confessing your faults and failures, which is a good thing to do, but not condemned anymore. Give up on the whole thing. You can't do it. And he says, every valley shall be filled. Every. Every place of depression, everything that the devil has set before you, telling you you can't get to God. You can never make it. You're never going to be successful. It's all going to be lifted up. There's going to be a plain path. Every crooked place will be made straight. Every rough way will be made smooth. And all flesh will see the salvation of God.
- [43:11]
Congregant/Assistant
Hallelujah to the Lamb of God. Hallelujah. Hallelujah.
- [43:18]
Pastor
Then the multitudes. Then he said to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him, brood of vipers. He said this primarily to the religious leaders who warned you to flee from the wrath that come. You who have. You have embraced the theology of the serpent. You see, a snake can't hear. The snake is led by his tongue or her tongue. A snake can't hear. It's their tongue that leads them. And so that's why I said, brood, vipers, pack of snakes. In other words, who warned you? Because you have no ears, how do you know you should flee from the wrath to come? And then he said these words. This is the funeral service of the law. Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance. And do not say to yourselves, we have Abraham as our father. Don't claim that you are the inheritance of the promise made to Abraham, because the promise made to Abraham was supernatural. It was not by human effort. For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. And what John is saying to the religious people of the day that what God has promised, he is able to do because he's the only one can give life where no life exists. He is the one. He is the one who gives the victory. He is the one who is going to do this. If you are. If you have been able to produce the fruit of God through human effort, then produce it. That's what John was saying. If you've been able to produce it, you claimed you're the seed of the one that sowed this thing in the human race in the Garden of Eden. You still embrace that theology. If you can, if you have been able to produce the fruit of God through human effort, then produce it. And he said, if not. If not, then get prepared, because the ax is going to be laid to the root of every tree. And every tree which does not bear good fruit is going to be cut down and thrown into the fire. How's that for preaching? Pastor Tim, how'd you like to. How would you like to invite John the Baptist into your pulpit on Sunday? Get ready, folks. He says, if you've been able to produce the fruit of God through human effort, then show it. Remember the fig tree just all covered, no fruit. Remember Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden covered in fig leaves, having bought into the lie that we can be godly without God. And so the people are streaming out of Jerusalem. They're streaming out of this whole religious system. And they're coming to John because he's the only one that makes sense. He's finally said the unsayable. He's. He's finally presented the unthinkable. This is hopeless. And it's the honest people coming out. It's the people that say, God, I'm done. I can't do this. I tried. I tried to be truthful. I tried to stop drinking. I tried to put the drugs away. I tried to get out of my depression. I tried to do all of this stuff, and it's just hopeless. I can't do it. Every week I'm coming back with another blood sacrifice. Oh, forgive me. Forgive me again. Forgive me again. Forgive me. Forgive me again. There's no joy. It's just this constant stream of blood. It's this constant stream of coming back to the temple. Oh, God, forgive me. Oh, God, forgive me. Oh, God, forgive me. That's all that legalism can produce. That's all that a gospel that puts the onus on being holy on the people can Produce is hopelessness. And finally, finally the people that had enough, there's finally a voice being raised up saying, God is going to come to you. God is going to do what you can't do for yourself. Make a clear path, make a straight way, because he's coming to you. Open your hearts to him. Stop trying to be holy in your own strength. And then the people come out and they go into John's baptism, which is a baptism of hopelessness. It's repentance, but it's just hopeless. It's just an admission. I can't do this. I'm dead as Christ. Well, we know Christ was. I'm just dead. I can't do this. And what I love, what I love, what I love, what I love, what I love about this, I'm only getting to the exciting part. So if you're not coming this afternoon, boo hoo to you. That's all I can say. Too bad for you. Make sure you get that. Make sure you go online and listen to the second part because we're going to come to where it's really exciting at one o'. Clock. But when they went down into the waters of I can't do this. The next thing John says, behold the Lamb of God.
- [47:47]
Congregant/Assistant
You don't see the Lamb until you give up. You don't see the Lamb until there's an admission, God, I can't do this. I can't be holy. I can't change my character. I can't be a better husband, I can't be a better wife. I can't be a better employee. I can't stop drinking. I can't get out of depression. Behold the Lamb. Behold the Lamb. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah to the Lamb of God. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Behold the one that was prophesied about in the book of Genesis. You're going to bruise his feet. But he is going to step on your head, devil, and destroy your reasoning and destroy your power that you have sown into the human race. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah to the Lamb of God. Glory to the name of Jesus. Behold the Lamb. Behold the Lamb. Behold the Lamb. Behold the Lamb. Behold the Lamb.
- [48:58]
Pastor
Stay on your feet. I'm going to read to you something.
- [49:01]
Congregant/Assistant
Isaiah, the prophet said, ho.
- [49:03]
Pastor
In Isaiah 51, ho. Everyone who thirsts, come to the water. You who have no money, come and buy and eat. Yes. Come and buy wine and milk without money and without price. You are thirsty. God says, I'm going to give you what you've been longing for. But don't come and think you have to purchase it through anything you have. It's free for you. Why do you spend money for that which is not bread and for wages that don't satisfy? Listen to me, he says, and eat what is good and let your soul delight itself in abundance. Incline your ear and come to me. Hear and your soul shall live. And I will make an everlasting covenant with you. The sure mercies of David indeed I've given him as a witness to the people, a leader and commander for the people surely you shall call a nation you do not know. And nations who do not know you shall run to you because of the Lord your God and the Holy One of Israel. For he has glorified you. That's what happened on the day of Pentecost, folks. On the day of Pentecost, there were people from every nation known at that time involved in religious activity, religious sacrifice, religious ritual coming by. And they encountered 120 people that God had so blessed and so empowered that they stopped and they bent the knee and that scripture was fulfilled. The Lord your God nations will run to you because the Lord your God has. The Holy One of Israel has glorified you. He has put his presence within you. He's given you strength you didn't naturally have. And he's taking you where you can't go and making you into what you could never be. Behold the Lamb. Behold the Lamb. This afternoon we're going to go from Behold the Lamb to the right hand of God. Praise be to God. If I were to give an altar call this morning, I would just say, give up. Because you won't behold the Lamb until you do go down into the waters of John's baptism. Say, I'm done. I'm dead. I'm finished. I can't do this. I can't do this. Instead of walking away, as some people do, they get to this point in the body of Christ and they walk away. And their testimony is, well, I tried it. It doesn't work. No, it wasn't supposed to work with you trying it. When you get to the point of saying, God, I'm a dead man. I'm a dead woman. I can't do this, then suddenly your eyes are open and you see the Lamb who was foreordained for you before the foundation of the world. But you and I had to get through the school master that Paul says was sent to teach us that we need a savior. We can't be godly in our own strength. We can't. There's no chance we'll end up with fig leaves. Oh, yeah, we put on a nice suit, nice dress, the whole deal. But it's fig leaves really, is what it is. And then Christ comes and says he comes because he's hungry and so says, show me the fruit. Show me the fruit. And you could say as the fig tree one. Well, it's not the season, of course. It's not the season until Christ in you is the hope of glory. It's not the season until you're empowered by the spirit of God to do it. Only God can. It's not the season until you realize that God made a covenant with himself to give you this life. In the Old Testament, we were supposed to make promises to God. That's what the relationship was. You do this and I'll do this, and you do this and I'll do this. But in the new covenant under the New Testament, God says, no, you've tried. It doesn't work. So now you're going to live by my promises to you. And as Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness, that's all I'm requiring of you, is that you believe the promises I make to you. Oh, thank God. God, thank God. Thank God, thank God. In the Old Testament, it says, come ye lame, come ye maimed, come ye blind. Hallelujah. Find life. Find what you've longed for. Find milk. Find honey. Find promise. Find this promise that you'll be a new creation in Christ Jesus. Come when you know you can't do it in your own strength. You've tried, you failed. It's hopeless. Come. It's not time to go out the other way and say, I give up. I tried Christianity. It doesn't work. No, you tried to be godly in your own strength. That doesn't work. Oh, yes. But when you come to him, when you finally give up, you'll see the lamb, you'll see the cross, you'll see the power of God.
- [54:14]
Congregant/Assistant
Oh, hallelujah. Give God a shout of glory. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Glory to God. Glory to God. No wonder David Wilkerson danced all over the platform. No wonder he got out of his seat and danced.
- [54:32]
Pastor
He was raised in a pentecost that. That taught the people. If you're at a baseball game and the rapture happens, you're not going in the rapture, holiness was all about clothes and exterior things. And many people walked away in that generation from God because they couldn't do it. If only they had seen the Lamb. Oh, God, the joy that comes into your heart. The wonder of it all. I want to give you an altar call. If you want to, you don't have to, but if you feel you'd like to, to just come and we're going to pray and just say, I'm done. I'm dead. I'm done. I'm done. I'm coming to John's baptism. I've had it. I've had it. I'm done. I can't do this. I tried. I can't change myself. It's pointless. It's hopeless. God, I need you. I need you to be a better person. I need you to just. To be the person I know I should be. I can't do this. If that's you, would you come and. I'm just gonna pray. God, open your eyes. Didn't he say, I came to give sight to the blind? Isn't that what Jesus said? Come on, just get out of your seat and come from balcony. Wherever you are, just come. Just make your way. Make your way. Come in close, come in close. I can't do this. Come on now. Come on now. Just leave your fig leaves in your chair. They'll be there when you're done. Just come. No need to pretend anymore. No need to put on my Sunday vocabulary anymore. Praise be to God. I can be a new creation in Christ Jesus. I can have this promised life that God says he'll give me. I love the fact that it's a lot of older people because, you know, you get to walk with Christ long enough, you realize this is hopeless. Only God can do this. Now, some of you are younger, you're going to give it your best shot. Good luck. Oh, thank you, Lord. I say the same thing. Thank you, Lord. God. Thank you, God. Thank you, God. Thank you, God. Thank you, Father. I pray for those that are coming, those that are here and those that are coming for an eye sev anointing. You stood in the town, in the synagogue, Lord, and you said, the spirit of the Lord is upon me. And one of the reasons was to give sight to the blind. I pray, Lord Jesus Christ, that these men, these women who have come here today, that you would open their eyes and they would see you, Lord. They would see the cross, they would see the redemption, they would see the promise of power. They would see the forgiveness. They would understand God who you are, what you have done, Jesus Christ and how it applies to each of their lives. I pray, O God with all my heart that you would release people from the captivity of the condemner who is just there every day saying, look at you, look at you, look at you. Look how you failed. The devil tells us that we can be godly without God, then accuses us when we can't. God, thank you that you defeated his thanking on the cross. God, thank you that you have a people. No, we're not the strongest, we're not the mightiest, we're not the most noble. Many of us are just nothings and nobodies. But we are redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ. We have the spirit of God within us. We are forgiven. We are forgiven. The Bible says Jesus Christ took his blood to the throne of God and once and for all paid the price for everyone who had ever come to him by faith. We don't have to make a sacrifice every week. He did it once, it doesn't have to be done again. He called you his son. That's who you are. He called you his daughter. You're his daughter. It doesn't matter what the devil says. It matters what God says. You are a child of God. You have a future. You have a victory in your life. Oh God, thank you Lord.
- [58:29]
Congregant/Assistant
Thank you Jesus.
- [58:30]
Pastor
Thank you Jesus. Thank you mighty God. Father, bless these people. Bless them God, the way you did on the day of Pentecost. They came out of an upper room and the whole religious system bent its knee. You can cast this whole thing, this whole mountain into the sea. God, thank you God, thank you for new life. Thank you for the promise that you made to us, the covenant that you made with yourself to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. Give us the grace to chase away the birds. Give us the grace to push away the thoughts that want to come and try to rob this from us. God, we thank you, we praise you and we bless you in Jesus name. Amen.
- [59:26]
Podcast Host/Announcer
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