We have learned that the things of God are not found on the timeline. Our thinking has to change somewhat so that we realize the things of God that are spoken in the past, if we want to participate in them, then we need to bring them into the present. Things that are in the future, we have to bring them out of the future so that the Lord can be that to us now. He wants to do that and He’s willing to do it but it’s a matter of trust. These are things that will enable us to grow spiritually and become what God wants us to be. We want to realize the hope of glory, the hope of what you’re going to become, what God has for you is centered in Christ in you, not Christ outside of you. Far too many Christians are only looking for the Lord Jesus Christ apart from them rather than to come forth in them. You have a desire to walk with the Lord, a desire to know Him and to become all that He wants you to be. My question is: What would it take to get you to back away from that?
I have seen, time after time, where God has something special for people and they are going for it, but they reach a place and then say, “I’m not going any further. That’s not for me.” We don’t want that to happen. We’re going to look at two instances in the Scriptures that reveal that and see what the Lord says about it and how He reacts to it.
In John 5 Jesus blessed a couple of fish, a little bread and fed the multitude. Do you remember that? It was about 5,000 not counting the women and children – a lot of people. Jesus had a few fish and some loaves of bread, not much, but He blessed it and broke it and gave it to the disciples and the disciples gave it to the multitude. I’m sure they were thinking, “Man, what can this man do for us! He’s feeding us with basketfuls left over.” So all of a sudden Jesus had a lot of disciples. They are all walking with Him, until you get down to chapter 6. In John 6 this multitude of disciples that Jesus had were ready to go all the way with Him. Then the Lord makes a couple of statements.
John 6:51-53 I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.
52 The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat?
53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I saw unto you, Except you eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, you have no life in you.
Now, Jesus knew the Mosaic Law that they were not to eat any meat with blood. That was completely forbidden; that was taboo.
John 6:54, 60-61 Whoso eats My flesh, and drinks My blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.
60 Many therefore of His disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is a hard saying; who can hear it?
61 When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples murmured at it, He said unto them, Does this offend you?
Even His disciple thought, “Umm, what is Jesus saying? This is no way to win friends and influence enemies! Be careful there, Master. You’re going to run them all off.”
John 6:64-66 But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray Him.
65 And He said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto Me, except it were given unto Him of My Father.
66 From that time many of His disciples went back, and
walked no more with Him.
That’s all it took. “Well, if that’s what He is saying, I don’t think we want anything to do with this new doctrine and this teaching.” And they began leaving.
John 6:67 Then Jesus said unto the twelve, Will you also go away?
All of these new disciples, the multitude who were following Jesus said, “That’s enough. I want nothing to do with Him,” and they turned around and walked away. Then, Jesus gave His twelve an opportunity to walk away too. Here’s the thing. You will notice that Jesus didn’t turn to the multitude and say, “Wait a minute. Hold it. Don’t just walk away yet. Let me explain to you what I’m really talking about when I say, ‘Eat My flesh and drink My blood.’” We know that is a spiritual thing; it is partaking of His life. We know that, but those people did not know. They didn’t understand. And Jesus didn’t bother to explain it to them. There will be times in your walk with God that God will do something or something will happen and He is behind the whole thing and you’re going to wonder, “Is this really of God?” And He is not going to bother to explain it to you. Jesus turned and He asked His twelve disciples, “Are you going to go away, too?”
John 6:68-69 Then Simon Peter answered Him, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.
69 And we believe and are sure that You are that Christ, the Son of the living God.
What in the world was Jesus thinking? All He had to do was explain it to them. I tell you, if there is something that can cause you to walk away from the Lord, He will let you. It’s a decision that has to be made and determined, “Lord, I’m going to walk with You. I belong to You. If I direct my own life the very best that can happen is chaos. But if you direct my life, then the very best that can happen will happen. I trust You, Lord.” Then when everything looks the very opposite, then you can say like Peter, “Lord, where can we go? You have the words of eternal life.” That is what makes the difference.
Have you really heard the living Word that Jesus Christ speaks? Have you really heard His Word? This multitude heard the words that Jesus said, but they did not hear the word of God. They didn’t hear that living Word. They didn’t receive of the life that was in it. They were excited about that miracle feeding. In another place, we find that some followed Him because of the miracles He did. “This guy can cure us of our diseases, make us well. We won’t even have to get health insurance. Jesus can do that.” And they will follow until He doesn’t. “God’s going to heal us!”
Also, in the Gospel of John there was an occasion when there was a lot of impotent folk sitting around the pool of Bethesda. Once a year an angel would come down and trouble the water and the first person who stepped into the water would be healed. Some of them were so bad off they couldn’t get there in time. Jesus came along and he asked one impotent man, “Would you like to be healed?”
“Master, when I try to get down there somebody always beats me to it and gets there first.”
“Take up your bed and walk!”
Jesus actually stepped over people and picked out that one man. God has a way of knowing what we are inside and He knows the ones who will walk with Him. You might make a lot of mistakes and somehow it seems that God just looks over them and keeps working with you because He loves you that much.
But what would it take to get you to stop? To turn back? To walk away? Let’s look at Matthew 19. We have one more example. This is an interesting one. We are going to begin with verse 16.
Matthew 19:16-20 And behold, one came and said unto Him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?
17 And He said unto Him, Why do you call Me good? There is none good but one, that is, God: but if you will enter into life, keep the commandments.
18 He said unto Him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness,
19 Honor your father and your mother: and, Thou shalt love your neighbor as yourself.
20 The young man said unto Him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?
The young rich ruler said, “I’ve always done this. I’ve kept those commandments, but I’m still lacking something. What is it?” Have you ever had a time where you have said, “Gosh, I’ve done just about everything I know to do. What am I lacking?”
Matthew 19:21 Jesus said unto him, If you will be perfect…
Now, don’t give that word “perfect” a humanistic interpretation. If you will be perfect – if you will enter in, if you want to become what you are lacking?
Matthew 19:21-22 …go and sell that you have, and give it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven: and come and follow Me.
22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.
I tell you, if there is something that will cause you to back off and walk away, God will reveal it and He will expose it. The other ones, they just wanted the miracles. They weren’t willing to partake of His life and Jesus wasn’t willing to explain it any further. Here, this young rich ruler said, “I’ve done everything I know to do. I’ve kept all the commandments. What am I still lacking?” Well, if you want to be perfect, if you want to enter into life, then take what you have, get rid of it, sell it, sell all that you have, give it to the poor and you come and follow Me and you’ll have treasure in heaven.” The young man turned around and walked away, “Sorry. That’s too much. I can’t do that.” He had a lot of possession and he didn’t want to give up any that he had.
We all have possessions and some of them we count very dear to ourselves. There isn’t anything that you have or anything that you possess or own in any manner that is worth losing the Kingdom of God over. And if there is, the Lord will expose it. This young man walked away. Jesus didn’t stop him. He walked away and the Lord Jesus Christ let him go.
Matthew 19:23 Then Jesus said to His disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.
You can say a rich man or a man who is satisfied. If a person is satisfied with where he is; his riches might be a career, might be an education, or could be any number of things. The thing that he regards very highly so he would say, “I’m not willing to give that up.” How hard it is for a rich man or a satisfied man to enter into the Kingdom.
Matthew 19:24 And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
What is this eye of the needle? As you know, in that day there would be a wall around the city with a big gate. During the day the gate was opened and people would come in and out as they are doing business and so forth. Then at night they would close the gate, but in the gate was a little opening in the bottom, just enough for a camel to get down on its knees and inch through the opening. But if was a pack camel, one would have to take the packs off first. That is what Jesus is saying: it’s easier for a camel to go through that little gate, or that eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the Kingdom of God.
Well, what are your riches? What is it that means so much to you? You may not have any material riches like the young ruler. What if your riches, though entirely different, were something you were not willing to give up?
In another place Jesus talks about counting the cost. Are you willing to walk away from all that you are and all that you have? Does a life in Him mean more to you than anything else? That is something we need to consider. Turn back to Matthew 4.
Alright, now this takes place immediately after Jesus is baptized by John the Baptist. And the Spirit drives Him into the wilderness where He is tested and tempted by the wicked one. Then Jesus came out in verse 17 and this was the beginning of the ministry of Jesus Christ.
Matthew 4:17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Jesus didn’t say that one day at the end of the age the Kingdom of God is going to come. He said: Repent, for it is at hand now. It is at hand now! Like I’ve been telling you, take it out of the future and bring it into the present. Jesus the King has appeared. That means the Kingdom has arrived and there is an open door for us to enter in.
Matthew 4:18 And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.
This is the work Peter and Andrew did. They were fishermen and they loved it. This was their career and the way they made money. It provided food for them and food for a lot of other people because they could take it into the city and sell the fish. They did well with that; that was a going business in that day. So they were casting their nets into the sea.
Matthew 4:19 And He said unto them, Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.
I supposed Peter and Andrew probably looked at each other and said, “Fishers of men? What in the world is He talking about? We kind of like catching these fish. What’s in catching men?” But follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.
Matthew 4:20 And they straightway left their nets, and followed Him.
Already there is something in the word Jesus speaks that grabs their hearts and they follow Him. Has it worked that way for you? It worked that way for me. I remember when I became a Christian I wouldn’t read the Bible. King James Bible? Forget it. I don’t like all those begats and all that King James English. I’m not reading that!” I missed a Sunday night service, and I didn’t know it but I found out later, somebody said, “Let’s pray for Henry that he’ll start reading the Bible.” Probably at the same hour I was sitting in my bedroom on the bed and I picked up that old King James English Bible that my mother had given me and I started reading and I couldn’t put it down. A miracle took place that quick. The Word reached my heart. I loved it and I couldn’t turn it loose. It’s had me following Him ever since. But I tell you, He has tested me time after time and given me opportunities to walk away if I wanted to. Thank God, I haven’t wanted to. It’s like He has a hook in my jaw and He just reels me back in.
You don’t want to think more highly of yourself than you ought to think. “Well, I’m hooked on Jesus and I’m not going to walk away.” Don’t boast on that. You might find yourself walking away. It happened to Peter.
Right before He was crucified Jesus said, “Peter, before the cock crows twice you are going to deny Me three times.”
“Oh, not so, Lord, though I die with You I won’t deny You!” And he did. Three times he said, “I don’t know the man.” Then Peter heard the cock crow and he wept. Lo and behold, Jesus said, “Peter, I pray for you that you fail not.”
I want that something in my heart that regardless of the situation I face, there is no turning back. I know that is not in me. I need the determination of Jesus Christ. I need His dedication to the Father living in me because I cannot trust my own flesh. And you can’t trust your own flesh either.
Matthew 4:21 And going on from there, He saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brothers, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and He called them.
In another place James and John were called the Sons of Thunder. Do you know why? They had some R-rated speech. They talked like some of those old fishermen. But, you know, John became the one who wrote about the love of the Lord. John loved Jesus with all of his heart.
You’ve probably got some hang-ups that the Lord has overlooked, kind of like Jacob. Jacob was called “a supplanter.” He would deceive Esau and anyone else to get what he wanted. Why isn’t God dealing with him? Well, the time is going to come and God is going to deal with him, but he had something going for him. For Jacob the one thing he wanted more than anything else was the blessing. He wanted the blessing of the firstborn. There was something in him that craved the Lord, and with all of his faults God blessed him. Then one day a certain situation happened and Jacob was on the way back to his hometown and he crossed over the river Peniel and there he wrestled with a man. It turned out to be the Lord. He wrestled with Him and Jacob wouldn’t turn Him loose even when the Lord touched his thigh and put it out of joint. Jacob hung on and hung on. There has to be that something in your spirit that you hang onto the Lord and you will not turn Him loose. That is your salvation.
“God, I know I have a lot of problems and I don’t know why You put up with me like You do, but I’m not turning you loose!”
Like Peter said, “Where would we go, Lord? You have the words of eternal life.” So here are James and John, the Sons of Thunder mending their nets and Jesus walks by and says, “Follow Me,” and they didn’t stop to think about it; they immediately dropped everything. They left their father and walked away. Those guys weren’t any smarter than you are or than I am, but they had to walk with Him. They had to know Him.
“Don’t know why we’re doing this, James. You and I are going to walk with this man. We’re going with Him wherever He goes. Don’t know why we’re doing this, but there is something about Him.”
I don’t know about you, but religion doesn’t do much for me. I’m not interested in the religion of man. Man can come up with all these “Do this and don’t do that.” I want to walk with the Lord.
I want to really know Him. I want to know His life, His coming forth in me.
I want to go to one more example, Genesis 12. Now we are going all the way back to Ur of Chaldees, a land and city of idolatry. Talk about an idolatrous place – this was it. The Lord looks down on Ur of Chaldees and He spots one man that He is interested in, a man named Abram.
Genesis 12:1-2 Now the Lord said unto Abram, Get out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will show you:
2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make they name great; and thou shalt be a blessing.
There is a Hebrew word that is pronounced erets. That’s the word that is translated “country.” It’s also translated “land” in the same verse. The meaning is not speaking of this particular place geographically; it is speaking of this particular place as what it is. It is a place of idolatry. When God says, “I want you to come out of your country, come out from this place that is molding you and making you what I don’t want you to be. You stay there and you’re just going to be another idolater.”
And God says, “Come out from your kindred and your father’s house.” Now, the Lord will say that same thing to each one of us.
“But I love my father and my mother. What do you mean?” Jesus said in another place, “Unless you hate your mother, father, sister, and land, you can’t be My disciple.” But we don’t understand what Jesus is talking about. When He speaks of your father in that sense, He is not speaking of your daddy. He is speaking about all the things that have manipulated you and made you what you are. When He speaks of your mother, Jesus is speaking of all the things you have been under, the influences that mothered you and caused you to be born in a certain way. Every one of us have been fathered and mothered by negative things and caused us to be the very opposite of what the Lord wants us to be. These are the things that He wants us to leave. And these are the things that you find are the hardest to separate yourself from because these things have become a part of you – the area you live in, the education you’ve had, the influences of the area, all of the various influences you have been under during your life that has caused you to be like you are. When you’re born, you are not born with a lot of things that are just hanging onto you now, but all these things have mothered you and fathered you and caused you to become something that God doesn’t want you to be and He is going to bring you out.
Paul talks about this in Philippians 3.
Philippians 3:7 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
Things that had been a profit to him, Paul says he counted them but loss.
Philippians 3:8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.
There wasn’t anything involved in Paul’s life, whether it was bad or good or somewhere in between, nothing that he wasn’t willing to give up. Who knows, the Lord might require all that you are so that you can become all that He is. In fact, I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if He did.
Philippians 3:9-11 And be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith;
10 That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death;
11 If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.
This is not talking about the resurrection we normally think of, after you die. This is talking about a spiritual resurrection that takes place before you die.
Paul was willing to give up everything! And some of the things you may have to give up are things that mean a lot to you. Now, Abram did leave the land of Ur of Chaldees. However, he took his dad with him and his nephew Lot. But if you have studied the life of Abraham, you know that every once in a while the Lord trimmed the fat off and took something away. God doesn’t do it all at once, but there were many, many separations Abraham went through on his journey with the Lord. And it will be that way with us also. There will be many times when we reach a certain place and there will be a separation. God will separate us from something that is holding us back and you may think, “Well, I don’t think I want to be separated from that.” There are a lot of these things and you want them; you are drawing off them. The Lord knows they are not doing you any good, so there are separations that you go through.
Alright, what we are talking about here is: what will it take for you to back off and say, “I don’t believe I want to follow the Lord anymore”? That is something to think about because I’ve seen many, many, many people who have said, “I’m walking on with God.” I had one brother in the church I was pastoring that came to my house one night and he said, “Brother DuBose, I just want you to know that I’m dedicated. I’m going all the way and I’m not backing off.” One week later, he was loading up his car to leave.
I tell you if there is something that will cause you to walk away, don’t you worry, the Lord will bring it up. But if we can be like Peter and say, “Lord, where would we go? Surely the Lord will explain this to me.” No, He wants you to say you are going with Him all the way even when you don’t understand it! I bless your hearts. This is kind of a negative one in a sense but it’s good for us to consider. Trust the Lord to put that hook in your jaw and not let you stray out too far before He starts reeling you back in.
God loves us so much that He is willing to put us through some things sometime that are not fun at all, the things that we need to go through to bring the perfection that He wants us to walk in. Amen.
Copyright ©2012 by Henry DuBose