God and Man 8. For Him

Transcription

1 God and Man 8 For Him Study by W. D. Frazee - October 14, Corinthians 5:14, 15. Now in our vesper service last night if you were naming the subject, what would you call it? For Us. I think you have that right. This evening I want to continue this study, and I want to find out from God s word why He did all this, and why He is doing all this for us. He has a purpose. You know whenever anybody does something they have a reason. Jesus has a reason. He is wanting to get something. True, He isn t selfish about it, but He wants to get something. We will find out here: For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again 2 Corinthians 5:14, 15. I am going to read from another translation so that you will get the thought (or at least it makes it a little clearer for me). I am going to read it from the Revised Standard Version: Now watch: For the love of Christ controls us; because we are convinced that One has died for all, therefore all have died 2 Corinthians 5:14, Revised Standard Version. And He died for all that those who live might live no longer for themselves, but for Him, who for their sake died and was raised 2 Corinthians 5:14, 15, Revised Standard Version. Yes, He is trying to get something, friends. He is. As He has given all for us, He wants all, all of us to give all for Him. As He is living for us, He wants us to live for Him. I like the way it is put here in the book Acts of the Apostles: He asks us to be absolutely and completely for Him in this world, as He is for us in the presence of God Acts of the Apostles, page 566. So last night our subject was For Us. Our subject this evening is For Him. He has given everything for us. He wants us to give everything for Him. He lives for us in the presence of God. He wants us to live for Him in the presence of men. What a wonderful exchange, friends! Let me read it again, and this time from Phillips Translation: 1 9

2 The very spring of our actions is the love of Christ. We look at it like this: if one died for all men, then in a sense they all died. And His purpose in dying for them is that their lives should now be no longer lived for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again for them 2 Corinthians 5:14, 15, Philipps Translation. Oh, I think this is wonderful, friends. My life, my love, I give to Thee, Thou Lamb of God who died for me; Oh, may I ever faithful be, My Saviour and my God. I ll live for Him who died for me, How happy then my life shall be; I ll live for Him who died for me, My Saviour and my God. This is the gospel, friends. This is Christian experience, to know these two things, to have these two things settled in our lives, in our experience, in our inmost hearts: to know that everything He has done and is doing is for us, and that our choice is that everything we do shall be for Him. He asks us to be absolutely and completely for Him in this world as He is for us in the presence of God. He is for us and we are for Him. Now, this is not just some bit of poetry or something to sing about. Although it is something to sing about, isn t it, as our brother just sang? And oh, my heart was blessed to hear that again, wasn t yours? No Other Song Have I to Sing But Jesus. But as I say, this is very practical. It means, my dear friends, that we shall consider ourselves dead and finished as far as anything selfish in this world is concerned. It means that there are many, many things going on in this world in which we will have no part, for we have no interest. It means that there are many things in the world even that you might call good things that aren t important enough for the one who is here to represent Jesus while Jesus is representing him in the courts above. Is this too high a standard, to ask this question before I consider doing anything in pleasure or in business, in any phase of life: What would Jesus do? Is this a business He would engage in? We go up and down the streets of the cities or along the highways, and we see all sorts of businesses. Some of them, of course, no Christian would even consider - selling liquor for instance, running a night club and so on. But I want to tell you something, friends. There are a lot of good things in this world that, if we catch the vision that we caught last night and catch the vision which I trust God will give us this evening, we will have no time for. There are many things going on in this world that the world can run whether you and I are around or not. But there is one thing that Jesus would do if He were here today. He would be winning souls. He would be seeking to reveal the Father s love in such a way as to get 2 9

3 other people involved in the same program. If you and I have seen that everything He is doing for us, and we have come to the point where everything we do is for Him, then we will be doing day by day exactly what we envision that He would be doing were He here in Is that too high a standard? So, I want to ask you some questions, friends. Do we have any idea what He would be doing if He were here today? Well, He came down here from heaven nearly two thousand years ago to leave that question without any question, I mean to give it a full and complete answer. He came down here and lived in our humanity the life He wanted us to live. He came to show us how to live as Ministry of Healing, page 365 says. Now, we are told that Christ could have unlocked amazing scientific things that would have caused men to wonder. And not only that, to have material to work with from the time He spoke till the end of the world. But He didn t do it. Why not? He didn t have time. Well, you say, Isn t science important and wonderful? Yes, but there is something more important. It is the science of salvation. There is another thing that Jesus didn t do. He didn t spend a lot of time trying to make money. It is true He worked for His daily bread up till the time He was thirty years of age. He was a carpenter. He was busy in the home and in the shop. But we find nothing in His life to suggest that He thought that going after money was important enough to leave what He was doing. And what was He doing? He was seeking to help the bodies and save the souls of men and women. And because of that, the appeal of gold or silver was nothing to Him. He had left a world where they paved streets with gold, and it meant nothing to Him, my friends, except as it could be used in doing good. We see how unimportant it was to Him when we recognize that He allowed the bag of money to be carried by a man He knew was a thief. Picture the careful, prudent, miserly business man of today doing a thing like that, my friends. You say, Does that mean it isn t important how money is handled? Not at all. I am seeking merely to help us to evaluate things through the eyes of Jesus. When He died He left no legacy for relatives to quarrel over, did He? The only legacy He left was the care of His mother to His beloved John. That is all. It didn t have to go through probate. And don t misunderstand me, friends. I don t mean that it is wrong for a man to have money. God lets some people have money. Abraham was rich. Anybody that wants to be rich can get all kinds of examples in the Bible so he can probably do it with a clear conscience. My point is this, friends: Jesus is looking for somebody in this remnant of time that will be as fully for Christ as Christ is fully for us in the presence of God. That is what He is looking for. He is looking for somebody that will leave to the world the things of the world. That is what Jesus meant when He said to that man, Follow me and let the dead bury their dead. Oh, friends, my soul is burdened when I see so many of God s professed people doing things that the world could do just as well, and in some cases better. 3 9

4 There is one thing and only one thing that we can do better than the world, friends, and that is the job God gave us. And the world will never do that in a thousand years. If it is ever done, God s people will do it. That is to finish God s work in this world. Do you remember that Jesus came along there by the sea of Galilee. And He found Peter and John and James and Andrew. What were they doing? Fishing. Well, they had toiled all night and caught nothing. But then that had happened before. They had nights when the fishing was good, nights when it wasn t so good. But they were weary. And you remember that there along the shore the people were gathering and Jesus started to teach them. And the crowd became so great that He finally said to Peter, Can I get in your boat? Push out from shore a little. And there standing in the fisherman s boat Jesus spoke to the great multitude gathered on the shore. The meeting was over, Jesus turned to Peter and the others and said, Now, launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a draft. But it was unthinkable to suppose that in the clear waters of the lake in the morning light that fish would come into the net when they hadn t been able to get any in the dark. But Peter said, Lord, if that is what You say, we will do it. And they did. You remember the result. The nets were just full of fish. Do you know what some people would think, friends? This is a sign from God that He wants me to keep right on in the fishing business. Wouldn t they? Sure. Look at the providence. But friends, it was just the opposite. Jesus said, Simon, fear not. From henceforth thou shalt catch men. He invited Peter and his brother, Andrew, and the other two men, James and John, to leave those nets and come and work with Him at a substantial increase in salary, right? What? Didn t He? The fringe benefits were greater though, weren t they? Well, it is according to what you mean by fringe benefits. Ah, friends, the inducements that are being offered people today to go here, come there, do this, do that! Good things. But all the while Jesus is calling. He wants somebody that will live for Him as He is living for them in the presence of God. He is my representative up there. I am His representative down here. He is preparing a place for me there, and preparing the way for me there. I am to prepare the way for Him down here as John the Baptist did two thousand years ago. Is that right? That s my business. That s my job. That s my call. If it is any less than that, ah, friends, what I have missed. Speaking of fishermen, let me tell you something, somewhat recent. On August 25, 1950, some thirty miles from the golden gate out in the ocean, John Napolli, a fisherman, had gathered in a big haul of salmon. He was all by himself and with his catch he was proceeding in his boat back to San Francisco harbor. But a heavy fog had come down, so he was proceeding cautiously. When he was about two miles from the harbor he suddenly became aware that the waters 4 9

5 around him were filled with people struggling to keep from drowning. Looking down into the water he saw that a large white ship with a red cross painted on it, sunk in the water. A naval hospital ship had been rammed by another vessel in the fog and had sunk. Here were the survivors, struggling in the water. Well, as he said afterwards, My eyes were filled with tears. God said to me, Now you have seen this, go to work. And so this little fisherman, for he was not a large man, began to reach out and pull men out of the water into his ship. But do you know what he found pretty soon? He didn t have any more room. But there were nearly three thousand dollars worth of fish there in boxes ready to take to harbor. Do you know what he did, friends? He began to throw those fish back in the ocean and make room for men. And as he kept on in the work, his back was aching, his muscles were tired and sore, but he kept praying, Oh, God, give me strength to get some more. And finally, friends, he had no fish left. His whole three thousand dollars was in the bottom of the ocean. But working with all the strength that God would give him, he finally succeeded in rescuing and bringing to shore, single handed seventy people. What have you got in your ship, my brother? What have you got in your ship? And what is worth more, what you have in your ship or the souls that you could get in there if you would unload? But do you know what the devil s game is? It is to sell you and me on the idea that we can do some of both. And I don t doubt that John Napolli could have tucked five or six, or even eight or ten men in there and still kept his three thousand dollars worth of fish. And doubtless his name would have been emblazoned across the papers, the headlines as a man who had done a noble deed in rescuing a dozen. But I doubt if he could have lived with his conscience. I think those three thousand dollars would have burned as he would remember that but for those boxes of fish he could have put more men in. And my brother, while you are after the dollar, a soul is going down to ruin. While you are after fame or notice or position or reputation, men and women are going down who will never come up again. There is only one passion for a blood-bought soul, and that is the passion for men; to win souls to Christ. Ah, somebody says, I would do more if I knew more about it. Brother, why not learn how to do more about it? People don t catch fish just by wishing they might. Anything that is worth doing in this world requires training. The best way to get training is by the apprenticeship method. If you want to learn to be a cook, get with somebody who is cooking every day, not once a year. If you want to be a success as a carpenter, get with somebody who is building houses one after the other. Am I right? If you want to be a soul-winner, get with somebody who is in the soul-winning business and say to him as Elisha said to Elijah, As the Lord God liveth, and as my soul liveth, I will not leave thee. 5 9

6 Think of what Elisha left, my friends. He left everything. He left a good position. Under his father he was the manager of a great farm. He had a successful career before him. But he left all that. He left a comfortable home to attend the prophet in his uncertain life. And Elijah did not offer him inducements - not at all, neither did he make things easy for him. (I was about to say, you will pardon me. No my friends, I shall make no apology.) Were you ever tempted to think or even to say? Well, if they don t do so and so, I won t stay around. Were you ever tempted to say that or to think it? My dear friends, God will give you every opportunity to leave His precious work just as Elijah gave Elisha the opportunity. At the very beginning in the call of Elisha, Elijah said to Elisha, What have I done to thee? Go home again. But Elisha went and took the oxen and slew them, took his wooden plow and broke it up and made a fire. And before the evening had come he had literally burned his bridges behind him. As he gave the feast to his fellow workmen there at the farm, they knew that Elisha was through. But you know, there is many a man who would have said, Well, now wait a minute Elisha. Wait a minute. You don t know too much about Elijah. And after all, he is an uncertain fellow. He is here today, and you don t know where he is going to be tomorrow. He has been carrying on this program of his for some time, and what has he got to show for it? Look here, Elisha, if you feel that you want to go with him, be sensible. Turn the oxen out to pasture, hang up the plow up in the barn. You may want to be back someday. That would have been good sense, wouldn t it? Ah, but Elisha had heard a call. It was ringing in his soul, and he wanted to let men and angels know that there was no reservation in his heart. That he was through with ordinary things. He was now going to do extraordinary things, which turned out to be pouring water on the hands of Elijah. Simple things. Humble things. I wonder how many days off a week or a month Elijah gave him. I wonder what his hours were. I wonder if the time ever came when he said to Elijah, or let the word drift around back to him through the grapevine, You know if I have to work so hard, I am going back to the farm. Oh, my dear friends, there was something in the heart of that young man, that there was just one thing he wanted. He wanted to do what God wanted him to do. You remember at the end of Elijah s life before he was translated, Elijah gave the same test over again to Elisha. Do you remember that? They were going from Jericho to Bethel to Gilgal and then across Jordan. And at each step what did Elijah say? You can stay here. I have got to go on. You can stay here. In other words, You don t have to go as far in this thing as I am going. You know some people are afraid if they get involved, they might get too much involved. Never be afraid of that, dear friends. God is very courteous, very courteous. He will never force you. He will never take advantage of some previous dedication you have made. No, 6 9

7 He won t. If at any point you say, Well, I don t know. I know I said that I would go, I said that I would do, but if I had known how it was going to turn out I don t think I would have done it, God immediately says, Very well, you make your decision now as you think you would have made it if you had known what you know now. Yes, God is very courteous. Tarry here, tarry here. So this evening as we come to Calvary and we see the One who gave everything for us, as His life s blood flows away and His life ebbs away, what is our response? He has given all for us. How much shall we give for Him? That is the question. I want to tell you something, friends. I can t read any hearts here tonight. And I am glad we can t read one another s hearts, aren t you? But I want to tell you something. If this message that we are studying tonight gets through to us, it will make a complete change in some of our lives. That is right. It will spoil some things for us. We will have no more interest in some things. There will be just one thing that we are interested in, finishing the work and getting it done by the fastest way possible, carrying out the Lord s instructions to the letter, and He has given us the instructions. Turn please to 2 Timothy 2:3, 4: Thou therefore endure hardness 2 Timothy 2:3. Paul is writing from a damp, dark dungeon. He is a man that has worn himself out in the service of Christ. He is writing to Timothy, a young man that he has trained with him, that he has drawn away from a lovely, comfortable home in Lystra. Timothy had shared his hardships with him. And now what is Paul s advice to him as Paul knows that he is soon to die? Does he say, Timothy, you had better look out for yourself, better get in a position where you can roll up a good bank account and help the cause that way, and live life comfortably? What does he say? Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier 2 Timothy 2:3, 4. Ah, Timothy, it is a soldier s life that I have called you to. It is a soldier s life that God has called you to. And a soldier, a good soldier has just one desire: to please the One who has chosen him to be a soldier. You know, we are so used to the draft that we lose some to the lesson of this verse. Paul is not talking about draftees. He is talking about people who enlist, volunteers. That is what he is talking about. You know there are some men that enlist for Vietnam. Strange to say, it happens. There are some men whose love for country, and whose desire to serve a cause that they believe right, causes them to enlist. But what would you think of a soldier that got over there, and the first day out in the jungle 7 9

8 he meets one of those big snakes. And he comes running back and he says to his officer, I think I am going home on the next ship. I didn t realize the snakes were so big over here. I am going home. Are things dangerous over there? Nobody better go then, had they? We must stay away from every dangerous place. And are there not many men that could make more money if they would stay here at home? Perhaps that is what they ought to do? Just pay a good income tax to the government. Ah, my friends, I am not here to discuss the merits or de-merits of the war over there. I am here to draw the lesson. A soldier s life is not one of ease or hunting for ease. It is not one of financial profit or hunting for financial profit. A soldier has just one business, that s to get the war done, to win the battle that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. Is this war between Christ and Satan a hot war or a cold war, friends? It is a hot war. Is it going to last very much longer? No. It is almost over. That is not to cause us to breathe a sigh of relief and say, Well, that s good. No more sacrifice to do. It is to challenge us with this fact, my friends, if we ever do any sacrificing for Jesus, we are going to do it now. If we are ever going to share in the soldier s lot, it is now. If we are ever going to put aside the desire for worldly pleasure, worldly profit, worldly position, this is our glorious opportunity. Now, last night the message was what? For us. Who is for us? Jesus. Everything for us. And tonight it is what? Everything for Him. He gave everything for us. Now, He is inviting those who are willing to give everything for Him. He lives for us. We are to live for Him. And oh my brother, please don t study how many boxes of fish you can still keep in the boat and pull in a few men. Oh, don t. Away with the fish and make room for men. What do you say? Let us pray. Elder Tindall will you please pray and then let others pray as the Spirit of God moves. [A prayer season follows.] We are so thankful tonight that mercy s door is still open, that there is still a chance to pull poor, struggling souls out of the waters of doom and get them in the life boat. Oh, God, help us to throw overboard everything, no matter how good it might be that would take up room that would keep us from rescuing souls. Help us that every bit of our time, our money, our thought, our brain force, that it all may be devoted to the one thing of getting as many people as possible ready for the coming of Jesus. Now dear ones as we are kneeling here, each one as it were alone before God, this question: As God has spoken to our hearts this evening hour, if there is a decision that you feel and know in your heart that God wants you to make, and by God s grace you are going to make it, I want you to just put up your hand, just now where you are, dear friend. God will see it. I want you to do that because Jesus will see it and He will help you. Is there another that says, God is calling to me tonight, for a decision. By God s grace, I am 8 9

9 making it. Oh, I am so glad for every hand and so is Jesus. Dear Lord, You know everyone of these dear ones and you see their hands and you hold out to them your precious hand, that hand that was nailed to the cross for them. Oh, we thank Thee that as human hands link with the Divine hand, marvelous results will happen. 9 9