(3/29/23) How? Behold The Lamb Of God

The main idea of this transcription is that becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ requires denying oneself and giving up everything for Him. Jesus says that anyone who wants to follow Him must hate their family and their own life. He also gives examples of building a tower and going to war to show that one must be fully committed and willing to give up everything to be His disciple. The speaker emphasizes that love is the key to following Jesus and that His love for us should be the motivation for our love and devotion to Him. The transcription also mentions that faith is energized by love and that our love for God is a reflection of His love for us. The speaker concludes by saying that we love because He first loved us and that our love for God will always be a response to His love for us. Okay, well, we begin to be a disciple. Jesus says, let's just refresh briefly here in Luke 14, Luke 14, verse 25 through 33, this is what we're talking about. You hear the words, deny yourself, and I'm not picking on the person who only eats the three Oreos instead of the 12 necessarily. I'm not, didn't say that that is in no way pleasing to God, you might as well eat all 12. But brothers and sisters, denying oneself, contextually defined by the Word of God, is the denial of everything that you are, all of your rights. You relinquish to him. And so that I could make this case to you without question, we looked at Luke 14, verse 25 through 33. Jesus said that while there were great multitudes, verse 25 says, there were great multitudes. This is a perfect opportunity for Jesus to finally make good on his popularity. He's been working so hard healing the sick, cleansing the lepers and raising the dead. He's been doing all these things and finally now people are paying attention in their multitudes. And then Jesus does what we would never have advised him to do, but he does it consistently. This is not the only place he thins the ranks on purpose. And he says, if any man wants to come after me, he needs to hate his father, his mother, his wife, his children, his brethren, his sisters, his own life also. Come on, Ben, let's say this, or he cannot be my disciple. Jesus says, cannot. And I told you that when Jesus says cannot, you better sit up and listen. Because everything is possible with God. He says it's hard for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven, and yet we're all trying. And Jesus said it's hard for anybody wearing blue sweaters. You'd all walk up to this sister and you'd say, I don't know, do you really think you should be wearing a blue sweater when Jesus said it's hard to wear blue sweaters and enter into the kingdom of heaven? But Jesus says it's hard for a rich man, and we just think, well, I don't know, I'll give it a shot. But Jesus did not say it's hard for them to be my disciple unless they will hate father, mother. He said he cannot be, cannot be my disciple. And whosoever does not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. Because which one of you, Jesus says, is setting out to build a tower, and he does not sit down first to make sure he has enough to finish the tower? Which one of you? And what king, if he needs to go to war, he's going to war with another king, does not sit down first and consult whether he is able with his 10,000 to meet the one that is coming against him with 20,000? Interesting, God plans on being outnumbered. Or else, while the other is a great way off, he sends an ambassador and desires conditions of peace. So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, and this is why we've directed our attention here by the Holy Spirit, I believe, is I need you to see, God wants you to see, that denying yourself at Calvary, this is the first step in becoming a disciple, and it is not simply eating one of these and not all of them, that is the result of a life that is crucified with Christ, but the action of denying ourselves is denying ourselves entirely. Entirely. Letting go of every single right that we have to become a disciple of Jesus Christ, laying every relationship, every valuable, everything on the line, if only I may but win Christ. So how much money should one have before he begins to build the tower, Tyler? All of it. How much money should you have before you begin a project? You should have all of it. How much advantage should the king have before he goes to war with the other king? All of it. All the advantage. Even if he's meeting him with half as many men, he needs to have advantage. How much of you does God have? All of it. You cannot be my disciple, Jesus. This is the beginning of discipleship. I don't care how long it is that you've been naming the name of Christ and you've pled the blood to wash you from your sins, we're talking about another thing here, and we're talking about your application and qualification to become a disciple of Jesus Christ, and Jesus put those qualifications this high, and I dare not lower it, or I'll lie to you. Cannot be. Every relationship, every valuable, everything needs to be placed on the if only I can win Christ scale. If I can but win Christ. How much of you does God have? I told you I don't believe that we've seen the tiniest fraction yet of what God wants to build in your life. I don't think we've seen the tiniest fraction yet of the conquest that God is going to accomplish in your life. But he'll begin that when he is everything. He'll do that when he has all of you, but he will not begin until he has all of you. Christ cannot live where you will not die. So you've denied decided to deny yourself. Praise the Lord. You've decided to take up this sentence of death, take up this cross. You've decided to take up this sentence of death, take up this cross and follow Christ. Take up this condemnation of the old man where the old man is justified on no terms, for no reason, under no circumstances is the old man permitted to live. In no case is he given justification in a free pass. He is condemned. We take up this cross with Jesus. And I told you that like I can see you standing there, shoulder square, and you heave that cross up onto your shoulder, and you're ready to go. Praise the Lord. But that I needed to be faithful to tell you that you will never make it to the top of that hill, except for one reason. There is only one thing that will give you the strength to follow him there and follow through. There is only one reason anyone has successfully identified with Christ in his death. There is only one reason anyone has ever had the opportunity to reckon themselves dead with Jesus by faith. And that reason is love. Love. You can feel like you wouldn't even make it, even if you're brave and bold or you're feeling quite weak, but the thought of denying yourself every relationship, the nearest and the dearest, everything on the line, if only I can have Christ. And you think under the weight of that cross, you think I can't hardly make it two steps. Or maybe you're young, you sit here and you think, yep, sounds good. Set my face as a flint. Here we go. If it costs me everything, I'll win Christ. Let me tell you, you'll never make it to the top of that hill without love. But love, oh love, love is as strong as death. When I have set him as a seal on my heart, then my jealousy for his glory is as cruel as the grave. I don't have time to expound that to you, but if you go look at Song of Solomon and let the Holy Spirit speak that to you, most beautiful thing in the world. You want to have the jealousy that will carry you all the way to death with Jesus? It's love, brothers and sisters, and it matches the power of the grave. The coals thereof are as the coals of fire which have the most vehement flame. When in love to Christ, I don't have to shrink back. I march in boldness to the place that he gave his life for me. Hallelujah. And many waters cannot quench that love, neither can the floods drown it. And if you tell me it'll cost me the substance of my house, this is what the Song of Solomon says, I'll despise the cost, if only I might but have Christ. It says that we look to Jesus who is the author and the completer of our faith, who for the joy set before him despised the shame. Do you know what that means? We use the word despise, and we use it very heavily connotative, and what that means is that we have a bit of a stringent meaning. But to despise something too means to count it small. And so very practically, if I despise my dear friend, which I would hate to do, but if I were to do that, I would count you as small. And that's what Jesus did in love to you. He counted the shame a small price to pay to win you. And he despised that shame. It is nothing for love. And if you have the love of God shed abroad in your hearts and then reflected back at the world and at the God that you come into, there you can deny yourself. There you can lay everything down. Only there. Do I have love? You tell me it will cost me the substance of my house. Do I have love? Then I will scoff at the loss and square my shoulders to Calvary. You see, it is love. It's love that carried Christ to Calvary. It's love that carries me there, and it will be love that carries you there. No exceptions. Do not start up the hill until you have love. Do not try. You'll simply be bound in legalistic bondage for the rest of your life, attempting to impress God with how hard you're dragging your cross. But you'll never actually make it to the top. Because only love energizes the faith. Galatians says, faith which worketh by love, and the Greek says, faith energized by love. Hallelujah. Faith energized by love. Being crucified with Christ will always be an act of faith. Faith energized by love. And Ephesians says that Christ may dwell in your heart by faith, you rooted and grounded in love. What faith? Where will you get this faith? Rooted and grounded in love. But then we ask, where do we come by this love? Where do we find this love so sure and so strong? Maybe turn in your Bibles to 1 John 4, verse 19. Can somebody read that for me? It's nice and clear. This is the simple truth that we will begin to discover what we must do. What must we do? Where do we come by this love? 1 John 4, verse 19. We love because He first loved us. We love Him because He first loved us. This is a spiritual and eternal truth that will never be broken. We love Him because He first loved us. Your love to God will always be a reflection of His love to you. When God made the sun to rule the day and the moon to rule the night, where does the light come from that lights the day? Just humor me here. Where does the light come from that lights the day? The sun. That's not a trick question. I should have told you that. That's not a trick question. Where does the light come from that rules the night? But I thought the moon ruled the day, as long as it can see the sun. Yes. Jesus said when He was walking the earth, He says, walk while it is day because the night is coming. Did you know that God is trusting this dark world to His people? To reflect as you can see the love of God. It is in that reflection that you have light to show to the world. Laying in darkness. You with open face beholding the glory of the Lord. Did you know when you see the moon, it can see the sun? Did you know that? It can see the sun. It is not dark on the moon, it's light on the moon. It's full day on the moon. And because it's full day on the moon, it governs the night. So may you be. Yes. Luke 7 verse 47 puts the teeth in this truth in case you thought, oh, that's a nice thought. Not sure that matters to me. You will find in Luke 7 that it matters to you. You don't need to expect the world to see Jesus if you can't see Him. It would be foolish for the moon to be frustrated that we cannot see the sun. The moon but needs to see the sun and it can provide light to us. And if you will shed the love of God abroad in the world that you're walking in, you're going to have to with open face see the love of God shed abroad to you. Luke 7 verse 47. Jesus says something that is very important to us. Her sins which are many. Does everybody know where we are? Her sins which are many are forgiven. How does he know? How does he know that her sins which are many are forgiven? He knows because she loves much. And in case that didn't, he makes it clear. For she loved, to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. Her sins are forgiven. How did he know? How did he know her sins were forgiven? What was the proof that her sins were forgiven? Because she loved. How did he know that many had been forgiven? Because she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. Your love to God will never be greater than how you measure His love to you. And if in arrogant blindness and stupidity you see God's love to you as small, your love will be small and it will never carry you to Calvary's hill. You can try as you might, but you'll burst a sweat just getting the cross to your shoulder and you'll never make it to the top. Only love will carry you there. A great love in answer to His great love. If you come as the chiefest of sinners to the chiefest of saviors, you'll find there the chiefest compassion worthy, the chiefest of your love. All of a sudden it makes sense and you can walk on in faith, faith energized by love. It is at Calvary that we witness the love of God to us. And it is at Calvary that we find that even if it costs me everything, if every right is lost for His sake, it will be too small a price to just be called a child of God. It'd be too small a price just to hear Him call me a child of God. Behold what manner of love the Father has shown us that we should be called children of God. So what do we do? What do we do? If this is true, forgiven little, I'm just going to make some notes. This isn't going to make a whole lot of graph sense, but you'll see. If this is true, forgiven little, love little. But if this is true, then what do we do? Where do we find this love? What do we do? Now I want to point you to a very simple command repeated twice. It is an imperative in the Scripture. It is delivered in the imperative mood. And it is perhaps, I have shared before in a different light, but this same truth, and when I sit there thinking, it's like the Lord said, Joshua, if you just did this all the time, John Bunyan says, pride and self-worship can never take hold in a heart that keeps fresh in mind the scenes of Calvary. So this is the command, the simple command that we're going to look at, John chapter 1. This is what we must do. Verse 35 through 37. The next day after John stood with two of his disciples and beholding Jesus as he walked, he said to his disciples, behold the Lamb of God. Behold the Lamb of God. And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. That is the most concise place I can find this idea. That was the second time. Twice he said it. And because we don't use the word behold, don't feel bad that you never read that as a practical command to you. Because we're going to read in 1 John 3, this is what John says, this is how John says the same truth. If you want to follow Jesus like those two disciples, you actually take up your cross and follow him, you're going to have to behold the Lamb of God. And what does that mean? 1 John chapter 3, he says to us, Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us. Behold the Lamb of God. Behold this love. I'm just abbreviating this. But you read. Behold the Lamb of God. Behold this love. It doesn't sound nearly as spiritual as in eternity it really is. But what have you just seen, heart, with me? What have you been beholding lately? You see, behold is not a gentle word. It's a very, it's not like just, hey look, it's not like that. If I had to translate behold into modern English, that's what we'd have to say. We'd have to write look, but I don't like it because it loses its edge. Behold is aggressive. It is literally be held. Be gripped. Pay attention. This is the implication of behold. Behold. Now when you read, now when you're reading your Bible, behold. You know now you are reading. Pay attention. Look carefully. And look long. Behold the manner of love that the Father has bestowed upon us. What was that manner of love? What was in Christ incarnate? It was the Lamb of God. Behold the Lamb of God. Where will you find this love that will galvanize your faith and give you stamina to make it to Calvary with Him? By beholding the love of God. Will you deny yourself and take up your cross and follow Him? Will you be crucified with Christ? Only by faith. Is that faith energized by love? Love because He first loved you. Behold this love. Behold the Lamb of God. The most practical thing I could tell you. Behold the Lamb of God. Look and stay looking and don't stop looking. Look and stay looking and don't stop looking. Praise the Lord. Make this point in case the simplicity doesn't tantalize you. We'll approach it in beauty and grandeur as well. And I'm not going to tell you where yet. Familiarity may hurt the cause. But we'll look at it in just a moment. But there was a prophet who gave his whole life to speak God's Word. And many times during his ministry, and not unlike other prophets, he was tempted to be discouraged because it cost him so much. His whole life he dedicated to this. And nobody was listening. And honestly, sometimes they really weren't. And it goes like this, and this passage is repeated twice in the New Testament. Who hath believed our report? I was just telling him how the mighty arm of the Lord is going to be revealed. And then he says, who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? Who's pressing in in faith and actually seeing God do mighty things? God, they don't believe me. Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? I don't know. You're all going to find yourselves in ministry if you don't. I think in these last days, I feel courage to tell you, that in these last days, no one will barely make it anymore. I do believe that. And it's perilous times. So you're either going to be in full-time ministry, and by full-time I don't mean that you won't be making tents to feed your family. I just mean that your whole life will be dedicated to the cross and the ministry of Jesus through you. Or you're going to die and go to hell. And the reason I'm confident of that is because in these last days, and brothers and sisters, I think we're seeing this already, and I'm not here to argue about eschatology, but there is a truth that's been burning in my heart these last years. One will be taken and the other left. And as our brother Derek Prince would share, those vultures come down like the power of the enemy to wherever death is. They say, where Lord, where are they taken to? He says, wherever the body is, there the destruction will gather. Where death is, destruction will gather. And you're tolerating spiritual death in your life. The devil is waiting like a vulture for permission to run down on you. We must serve the Lord with everything that we have. The time is short, but in this place of weariness, the reason I've told you that is because if you're serving the Lord, when you're serving the Lord, I'll just speak faith, when you're serving the Lord, you're going to be tempted to the same attitude, the same feeling that came over this prophet, Lord, it's cost me sleep, it's cost me effort, it's cost me money, it's cost me, everything is shutting down. I don't make half the money I used to make. I don't have half the sleep I used to have. Nobody even likes me anymore. What is going on? This isn't working, God. Nobody's believing me anyway. And you should be concerned about this, because, I mean, you're the one that told me to go do this. And it's been so... And I thought that you would break forth, and you would do mighty things, and they would all fall down. And to whom has the arm of the Lord even been revealed? I mean, I know you're real. I know you know. I know. But they don't. They don't believe us. Tom, turn your Bibles to Isaiah 53. Oh, oh, when the Holy Spirit broke this into my heart, I cried and I cried. Oh, because I've not been like Isaiah in his degree. But I've had this temptation in my little degree. And do you know that the answer to discouragement is not God comforting you with, oh, it is working. No, He just takes you to Calvary. And here, here in answer, this was 700 years before Calvary. But what was the answer to weariness in the way? What was the answer to a failing faith? It was the love at Calvary. Behold the Lamb of God. A prophet is complaining that no one believes. No one is discovering by faith the arm of the Lord revealed. He's tempted to be discouraged. It's cost him so much to speak for God, and no one's listening. And it's here in answer to that prophet's dismay that God rolls back the curtain of eternity and answers the weariness of that prophet's heart with a look at the Lamb of God. It is here a divine opportunity was granted him to behold the Lamb of God. The prophet begins to speak what he sees. And while these things would not be fulfilled in time for another 700 years, Isaiah begins to breathe the description of this Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. I hope this evening you will lay hold of the opportunity to behold the Lamb of God, that your heart be strengthened thereby, that love would be rooted and grounded in a love echoing back to Him, and that love would energize a faith that would cause you to lay everything down for Him. Because it is here in the sufferings of Christ, listen carefully, that the reasonableness for your selfishness is destroyed. And it is here that the reasonableness for our service is enjoyed. Praise the Lord. It is there beholding the Lamb of God that the reasonableness for my selfishness crumbles and the reasonableness for my total abandonment to Him is enjoyed. It's reasonable. It all makes sense at Calvary. You want to be crucified with Christ? You want to deny yourself all the rights of life, do you? Where will you find the faith to do that? By beholding His love. By beholding the Lamb of God. Behold this love. Behold the Lamb of God. So let's read a little. Who hath believed our reports, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? And here we have the answer breathed to us in a picture. He sees it as though it is and was, but it was not yet to be, but God just took Him there and showed Him. And you have Isaiah looking at the Lamb of God, describing to us what he sees. For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant and as a root out of a dry ground. He has no form or comeliness, and when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we shall desire Him. He is despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and we are hiding, as it were, our faces from Him. He is despised and we disesteem Him not. Surely He is bearing our griefs and carrying our sorrows, yet we did esteem Him stricken and smitten of God and afflicted, but He was wounded for our transgressions, and He was bruised for our transgressions. A chastisement of my peace was laid on Him, and with His stripes I am healed. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before His shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth. He was taken away from prison. We think prison is justice, but back in the day when capital punishment was normal, prison was mercy. Prison was the opportunity to be cleared. He was taken away from prison and from proper judgment. And who shall declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living. For the transgression of my people was He stricken. And He made His grave with the wicked and with the rich in His death, because He had done no violence, neither was any deceit in His mouth, which pleased the Lord to bruise Him. He hath put Him to grief. When thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. He shall see the travail of His soul and shall be satisfied. By His knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong, hallelujah, because He hath poured out His soul unto death, and He was numbered with the wrongdoers. He was counted with the wrongdoers, and He bared the sin of many and made intercession for the wrongdoers, prayed for the wrongdoers. In case this is not clear enough, brothers and sisters, let me just ask you some questions. He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant and as a root out of a dry ground. Answer God. Don't answer me. Answer God in your heart, and if your conscience is answering, let it talk. Will you maintain your right to be secure in a comfortable place when He was fragile in an unfriendly place for you? Will you hold on to your right when He came to be fragile in an unfriendly environment for you? He doesn't have any form or comeliness, the prophet said. When we're looking at Him, there's no beauty that we should desire. Will you maintain your right to social advantage and your right to be liked and desired and sought after when He was average, normal, and not especially desirable for you? He was despised and rejected of men. Can you maintain your right to respect, your right to be well-received when He was scorned and treated with contempt for you? A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and they hid as it were, we hid as it were, our faces from Him. He was despised and we esteemed Him not. Will you fight for your right to avoid awkwardness, avoid pain, avoid hurt when you see Him despised for you? Ostracized and given the cold shoulder? For who? For me, I'll claim it, for me. Anybody else? Was it for just me? Somebody say for me. For me. Praise the Lord. Who was He ostracized for? Who did He get the cold shoulder for? Because He wasn't the God of the universe? Because He wasn't the one by whom all things were? And the God in whose hand their breath was, was looking at them through big brown eyes and they beat Him in the face while they're ripping out His beard for you? Will you maintain your rights? Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. We that have seen Him stricken and cemented of God and afflicted will you maintain your right to be heard? Your right to be understood? Your right to be supported in grief? When you can see Him misunderstood, misjudged, gossiped, smitten, and afflicted for you, carrying your sorrow and carrying your grief. Behold the Lamb of God. Oh, if something changed tonight and you just kept fresh in mind the scenes of Calvary from this day to the day you die, God will change this world if I only had one person. God will change this world if there's one person who makes it to Calvary ready to lay down everything because He laid it all down for me. He was wounded for our transgressions. Listen. He was bruised for our iniquities and the chastisement of our peace was upon Him and with His stripes we are healed. Will you maintain your right to fairness? Your right to justice? When you see Him wounded for you? When you see Him wounded for you? Who was He wounded for? For me. Who was He wounded for? For me. Who was He bruised for? For me. Whipped and beaten? Purchasing your peace? When with every crash of those... and crash is the right word. It would back up in a competition between the soldiers. Back up and crash that whip down when those studded cords are ripping His back wide open. Not because it would kill a man except through exhaustion. Just for torture. Just for pain. As His back is being ripped open are you going to hold on to your right to comfort? Behold the Lamb of God. It is in that love that you can echo your love to Him. We love Him because He first loved us. All we like sheep have gone astray and we have turned everyone to His own way. Will you maintain your rights to friends and family in a good support group? Because God wouldn't take away my family. He wouldn't do that. God wouldn't take away my support. God wouldn't take away my friends. But what about when you see Him forsaken by all? All His disciples falling asleep on Him when He is in the greatest of need. All His disciples fleeing when He sure could have used somebody's hand on His shoulder. His nearest disciples denying His friendship that they ever even knew. When you see it, brothers and sisters oh, please ask God. I cannot do what the Holy Spirit needs to do. I can't show you what I can see. But you could ask Him to show you. And if you can see when you can see the Lamb of God the reasonableness for your selfishness dies and the reasonableness to lay everything down for His sake all of a sudden, man, everything down for His sake all of a sudden makes perfect sense. Because it was for me. It was love to me. He went there in love. I'll go there in love. None less. No less. How about when you see the Lord laying on Him your iniquity? That's not fair. That's not fair. And praise God, it's not fair. Praise God, it's not fair. It's not fair that I'm free. But praise God, it wasn't fair. And so it's okay if my life isn't fair because it wasn't fair that day. And it's okay if my life isn't fair. He's loved me so much. He's forgiven me so much. I love Him much. It's the smallest I can do. My blood will not forgive anyone their sins. But you know what my blood could do is tell Him how much I love Him. So spill it! He was oppressed. He was afflicted. Yet He opened not His mouth. He was brought as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before our shearers is done. He did not open His mouth. Will you maintain your right to rebel against oppression, your right to flee affliction when you see Him brought as a lamb to the slaughter? Can you maintain your right to justify yourself and go around and defend your reputation when you see Him as a sheep before His shearers done? He does not open His mouth. He was taken from prison and judgment. Now who will declare His generation? Oh, praise God. I will. That's who will. His life was taken from Him that He might live it through me. I'll declare His generation. I'll declare that He lives. For He was cut off from the land of the living for the transgression of my people was He stricken. Why did He lay down His life for you? Somebody tell me. Why did He lay down His life for you? For love. He laid down His life for you because God so loved He gave. Why will you lay down your life for Him? Because you're so love you give. Jesus carried His cross and then calls to you and says, go ahead, take up your cross and follow Me. The unction that carried Him was love. The unction that'll carry you is love. God so loved He gave. You don't have a son to give. You just have your wretched, miserable life that He wants to redeem, cleanse, sanctify, fill, and do great things through. Give it to Him. It is your reasonable service. He made His grave with the wicked and the rich in His death because He hadn't done any violence, neither was deceit in His mouth. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him. That's what we were talking about earlier. Why? Why do the righteous suffer affliction? Why is... Why does it seem that those that love the Lord more, He chastens more? Because... because He wants to use them. He's correcting them to grow the image of His Son that He might... that Jesus might be the firstfruits of many. He will see the travail of His soul and shall be satisfied. Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great and He will divide the spoiled with the strong. That's the most beautiful thing in the world because I can think of no one stronger than Jesus in war. But do you know what? Do you know what He's saying to you? He's not ashamed to be called your brethren. And when the armies come in, when we all come back home carrying our helmets and battle weary, He says, Look, I divide the portion with the strong. God is going to... Daniel says, The Lord shut the mouths of the lions. But when we're getting a preview of the introduction of faith that we're going to... For all of eternity, God's going to be introducing His men and His women of faith. He says, They stop the mouths of lions. He's going to introduce Daniel. It's the one that stopped the mouths. Why? He says, You stop the mouths. He says, You stop the mouths. He'll divide the portion with the strong. Why? Because He poured out His soul unto death and He was numbered with the transgressors. Where will you find the faith to pour yourself out even to death? Where you see Him poured out to death for you? Where will you find the love to follow Him in being counted with transgressors? That's a fun one. You just get lumped with a bunch of transgressors. You're like, No, but I... I can't get myself out of this. I tried. Where will you find the love to pray for those who despitefully use you and persecute you? You will find that love in the place where you see Him praying for you, interceding for you, asking for you. Father, forgive her. Father, forgive him because he doesn't know what he's doing. He wouldn't have mocked me like that if he knew. Let me try again. You see Christ interceding for your stubbornness and Christ interceding for your backwardness and Christ interceding for your blindness and like Jesus said to Peter, you're going to be sifted like wheat, but I have prayed for thee. He is now interceding at the right hand of the Father for you and it's because He wants to use you and it's not because you're deserving of it. It's because He thinks He's going to win. Hallelujah. And when you see the Lamb of God interceding for stubborn, miserable, wretched you, you'll have the love to intercede for another stubborn, wretched and miserable soul. Behold the Lamb of God because it is here in the sufferings of Christ that the reasonableness for our selfishness is destroyed and it is here that the reasonableness for our full service is thoroughly enjoyed. It is His love. In this place, when I have done everything I ought to have, Jesus said, when you have done all. Incredible statement. You mean you can come to a place ready to go be with the Lord. This is a glorious thought. That you have done all. Oh, praise the Lord. You say, but Joshua, I know I've already made mistakes. Yeah, He knew you were going to. But He has work He knows you are going to do for Him. And He's shaping you right now for it. He knows what He will accomplish through you if you'll just cooperate with Him. And when you have done it all, Jesus says, you are to say, I am just an unprofitable servant. I've only done as I should have. Why? Because of His love. So great. That if I move mountains in the kingdom of God, I've only done as I should have. This is the place. At Calvary, when you've done everything as you ought to have, He's loved me so much, I've only done as I ought to have. Calvary puts the reasonable in our service. Calvary puts the reasonable in our service. Oh, you're trying so hard to be a good Christian. You're trying so hard to die to your flesh. You're trying so hard. Try love. Works a ton better. Try love. Try above. Abandon love. He loved you. Love Him. Oh, it'll shoot you to the top of that hill. That you'll be stuck down there wallowing in your crying. Don't. Don't. Why did He do it? For love. Why did He lay down His life? Say it. Say it. For love. For love. Say for love. Why will you lay down your life? For love. For love. Lord, yes. And this is a place where His commandments are not grievous. Because it's love. Perfect love throws away all the fear. How does it do that? Well, because fear has torment in it. His commandments are not grievous, John says. How could you possibly make a thing like that? It's the most grievous list of things I've ever read in my life. I don't get to look like the world. I don't get to act like the world. I don't get to speak like the world. And by the way, that comes with heavy consequences. Because people are like chickens. They just pick on the different ones. And if you stand out slightly, you just get packed to death. How will you ever survive it? For love. He did not go there without love. You shouldn't try either. Isaiah 56 gives addition to this. Chapter 50, verse 6. I gave my back to the smiters. Jesus gave his back to the smiters. And my cheeks to them that plucked out the hair. Men, have you ever got your beard caught and had it jerked out? It squirts tears to your eyes without your permission. Pow! I don't know if it does for you. I've had pain like that. We'd be weed whacking. And right around your nose here, you get a little rock. Hit you right here. Full grown man. No emotions. Pow! Tears literally shoot out of your eyes. It hurts so bad. You can't see straight. You're like standing there in a perfect whiteness for a little bit because of the pain. And he grabbed chunks of his beard and ripped it out. Are you going to stand there and hold on to your rights as they're ripping his beard off? Or will you go to him? Paul says, go to him. And that's my other piece of advice. We don't have time tonight for you. But go to him. When they're ripping out his beard, go to him. Isaiah 52, 14 says, his visage was marred more than any man. So I'm just trusting simply, brothers and sisters. This is the Holy Spirit moving a man to pen those words. And that Holy Spirit knows the heart of God, which knows the life of every single man that ever lived. And he says more than any man. He didn't look human staggering up that hill. They had just exploited the frailty of the human body in every way. So you hold on to your rights. Next time you're primping yourself, remember his visage was marred more than any man. A.W. Tozer said something that I think is so worthy of note. You want to serve Jesus? You have to do it in love. Where will you find that love? At the cross. That is the love that you will be able to reflect to the world. And in that tone, A.W. Tozer says, you don't become a missionary by crossing the sea. You become a missionary by seeing the cross. Because their souls are worth dying for. And their Jesus is worth living for. You don't become a missionary crossing the sea. No, you're here, you're selfish, you go to Africa, you just be selfish in Africa. You're here, you're self-centered, you go to Haiti, you just be self-centered in Haiti, that's all. You become a missionary when you see the cross. It's when love answers love and deep calls to deep that we have the faith that we need, brothers and sisters. This is such a personal thing, I don't have time to tell you all the stories that this truth in my life, I could just attest. But the Word of God is a better testimony than my testimony. But I have testimonies to tell you that it is love that gives me the faith. Always love. And if you're lacking faith, go back to Calvary, make sure you've kept fresh in memory. Ask the Holy Spirit, get down on your knees and beg Him to reveal to you a fresh vision. To see it like you've never seen it before. One of the sisters we were praying, and I can't remember exactly what the situation was, but she shared that she saw Calvary, she saw Jesus dying for her. And as soon as I heard that, I thought, that's my Holy Spirit, hallelujah. That's the Holy Spirit because that's what He does. It's His whole business to reveal Christ to you. Ask Him, ask Him. If you're listening tonight and you're not seeing what some of us can see, oh, ask Him to reveal it to you. Because that's where the faith is found, that's where the love that can energize that faith is found. Jesus didn't die for you because it was fun, brothers and sisters. He hung there for love because it had to be done, Don Francisco sings, hallelujah. Jesus didn't die for you because it was fun. There go all my rights when I see Him wounded for my transgressions. Behold the Lamb of God and there dies self. We will discover and unpack the activation of this faith, but I want you to first source accurately and from the place that all love flows, scenes of Calvary. You will not be able to muster love for God. You must see it and have it reflected back at Him. The love of God shed abroad in your heart will be the love you have to reflect back to Him and to a world that He so dearly loves. Your right to be comfortable dies when you see His back ripped by that whip again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again for you. Just for you. You caused Him that pain and love carried Him through. What is pain but your expression to Him again that you love Him. Hebrews 12 says, Wherefore seeing that we are encompassed about with this great cloud of people testifying to the faithfulness of God. They're all saying, yes, He's faithful. You turn to one and He says, He's faithful. You turn to another and you say, He's faithful. You turn to this one and He says, He's faithful. You turn to her and she says, He's faithful. Everybody says He's faithful. This cloud of witnesses all say God is faithful and promised. Let us lay aside every weight. Hallelujah, then it's true. I don't want to hear again. I will, unfortunately. But I don't want to hear from your mouth or from yours or for yours that you're just dealing with these besetting sins. When He calls you to lay Him aside. You can lay Him down there at Calvary when you see Him dying for you. And how? It says, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. The God who birthed faith in you in the first place. He did it by shedding His love in your heart. He will finish that faith by finishing the maturity of that love. Because mature love casts out all fear. Oh, maybe you've come to Christ and you've seen some of His love. But there's still fear there. The love isn't mature yet. It's okay. He wants to bring you from immature love to mature love. Looking unto Jesus. Behold the Lamb of God. Looking unto Jesus. You can add your name and sign that God is faithful. With the cloud of witnesses. It's already gone ahead testifying that God is faithful. Consider Him who endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself. Lest you be wearied and faint in your mind. I believe I was impressed to what felt a little bit like a sidebar. But the Holy Spirit didn't let me go. Because I can't talk about being crucified with Christ when there's a danger of confusion. With this very... I don't like using the word religious because the Bible talks about pure and undefiled religion. But you know what I mean. This man-centered form of trying to get to God. When there is a demonic religiousness. This man-centered trying to impress God with how tough my life is. I mean, come on God. It's been so tough already. When there is this danger. I had to tell you that the only way to get to the top of that hill with Him is in love. It has to be in love. That's what carried Him there. It's what will carry you there. Where you will find the strength to deny yourself. Take up your cross and follow Christ. Where you will find the love that energizes that faith. You'll find it by beholding the Lamb of God. By beholding the love that the Father has shown to you. By beholding. You become changed, John Bunyan said. And we love Him because He first loved us. Praise the Lord. If you need to add anything in the Spirit. You go ahead. Brothers. Speak while we are captive audience. Praise the Lord for the truth we heard tonight. I don't know if any of you can identify with this. But when something. This is my personal confession tonight. When something goes against my flesh or whatever. I can replay that over and over in my mind. What I should have said different. What I should have said different. What I should have done different. How they could have treated me different. And replay this over and over. Well, we learned tonight what we need to replay over and over in our heads. Hallelujah. That kind of takes the fight out of me. Amen. I don't have any right thing. Can we sing a song? Thank you for the cross over. Yes. Yes. I'm going through my head as we were talking here tonight. Yes. Praise the Lord. Send me that little purple book over there so I don't forget the words. Amen. The love of God. By the Holy Ghost. By the Holy Ghost. You said a really profound thing. To look and see and try. You said try. The love of God. You said your own. Amen. That's one of the many things. Many, many things. Those type of things really stood out. He is starting to work. He's going to complete what he said he would start. Unless we reject his work. He's bringing us total surrender. Total sacrifice. It's at that wonderful place. We have become a sacrifice for him. He now has possession of us. Everything we've been told. He's doing it because his yearning heart is to make us like his son. In the sense that our nature has become pure and clean. Full of thankfulness to him. This is the victory that overcomes the world. Amen. That kind of faith. Amen. That's an imparted faith of his own faith. Thank you Lord for this work. Thank you for your work. Thank you for the cross. Thank you for the price you paid. Bearing all my sin and shame. In love you came and gave amazing grace. Thank you for this love, Lord. Thank you for the pain you're here to stand. Wash me in your cleansing flow. Now all I know, your forgiveness and healing. Worthy is the Lamb, seated on the cross. We crown him now with many crowns. Your reign victorious. High and lifted up. Jesus, Son of God. The treasure of heaven crucified. Worthy is the Lamb. Worthy is the Lamb. Thank you for the cross. Thank you for the price you paid. Bearing all my sin and shame. In love you came and gave amazing grace. Thank you for this love, Lord. Thank you for the pain you're here to stand. Wash me in your cleansing flow. Now all I know, your forgiveness and healing. Worthy is the Lamb, seated on the cross. We crown him now with many crowns. Your reign victorious. High and lifted up. Jesus, Son of God. The treasure of heaven crucified. Worthy is the Lamb. Worthy is the Lamb. Thank you for the cross. Thank you for the pain you're here to stand. Wash me in your cleansing flow. Now all I know, your forgiveness and healing. Worthy is the Lamb, seated on the cross. Thank you for the cross. Thank you for the pain you're here to stand. Wash me in your cleansing flow. Now all I know, your forgiveness and healing. Worthy is the Lamb, seated on the cross. Thank you for the cross. Thank you for the cross. Thank you for the cross. Thank you for the cross. Thank you for the cross. Thank you for the cross. Thank you for the cross. Thank you for the cross. Thank you for the cross. Thank you for the cross. Thank you for the cross. Thank you for the cross. Thank you for the cross. Thank you for the cross. 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