Behold the Lamb Presents

Lord, Save Us! Or We Perish!

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Chris Shelton (Host), Kenny Shelton

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Series Code: BTLP

Program Code: BTLP000054


00:41 Hello, I'm Chris Shelton.
00:43 And welcome to "Behold the Lamb Presents."
00:46 Our message for this hour is entitled
00:48 "Lord, save us or we perish."
00:51 Today we are going to look at a couple of stories
00:54 found in the book of Mathew 8
00:56 that many of us are familiar with.
00:59 The first story is that of Christ with His disciples
01:02 as they decide to get in to a boat and cross over
01:05 to the other side of the lake.
01:07 Soon Christ falls asleep as they sail.
01:10 And He remained asleep as a tremendous wind storm
01:14 seiged round about the boat filling their vessel with water.
01:18 Then the second story we're going to study
01:21 took place once Christ and His disciples had reached
01:24 the other side of the lake
01:26 and met up with two men who were demon-possessed.
01:30 Friends, I believe, I believe as you listen to today's message
01:34 that you will find direct applications from these stories
01:38 that apply to our walk,
01:40 our relationships and our faith
01:42 with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
01:45 It is a message of encouragement and revelation
01:48 that I believe you'll want to listen to more than once
01:51 so that this information
01:53 will become a part of your rote memory,
01:56 something that's easily recalled when needed.
01:59 But first, let's listen to a beautiful song entitled
02:03 "He Who Trusts" as sung by Stephanie Dawn
02:07 and recorded at the 3ABN worship center.
02:22 These are peril times we live in
02:26 Trouble everywhere
02:31 Weary hearts will often give
02:34 in to this world's despair
02:39 But high and over all our Father
02:44 knows our every care
02:48 So in His book if you will look,
02:52 you'll find His promise there
03:00 He who trusts in the Lord
03:04 Mercy shall surround him
03:08 He who trusts in the Lord
03:12 Mercy shall surround him
03:17 Be glad in the Lord and rejoice
03:21 You upright in heart, lift up your voice
03:25 For great is His mercy toward
03:30 all who trust in the Lord
03:41 Soon will be the time
03:44 when we will see the Holy One
03:49 And oh, how sweet to know that
03:53 He'll complete what He's begun
03:57 And blessed is the man
04:01 who stands forgiven in God's Son
04:06 And blessed are they who in that day
04:11 Will hear Him say, "Well done"
04:17 He who trusts in the Lord
04:22 Mercy shall surround him
04:26 He who trusts in the Lord
04:30 Mercy shall surround him
04:34 Be glad in the Lord and rejoice
04:38 You upright in heart, lift up your voice
04:42 For great is His mercy toward
04:47 all who trust in the Lord
04:54 Gracious is He and slow to anger
05:02 His loving kindness has no end
05:10 With love to embrace both friend and stranger
05:17 He's reaching out to one and all
05:22 Who upon His name will call
05:28 For He who trusts in the Lord
05:33 Mercy shall surround him
05:37 He who trusts in the Lord
05:42 Mercy shall surround him
05:46 Be glad in the Lord and rejoice
05:50 You upright in heart, lift up your voice
05:54 For great is His mercy toward
05:58 all who trust in the Lord
06:04 Mercy is His reward
06:08 For all who trust, for the pure and just
06:12 Who put their trust in the Lord
06:21 Mercy is His reward
06:28 Great is His mercy toward
06:34 all who put their
06:37 trust in the Lord.
06:53 Thanks for joining us here again "Behold the Lamb."
06:56 We're very grateful and thankful for each of our viewers
06:58 and our listeners each and every day.
07:01 We want to encourage you to keep watching,
07:02 keep listening, keep writing.
07:04 Response, we want to hear from you.
07:06 We know the Lord is put questions in your heart,
07:09 in your mind and feel free to call us here.
07:11 Something we can do to help you in your spiritual walk,
07:13 we want to help you by the grace of God.
07:16 Today as mentioned very, very important subject.
07:18 You know, we're talking about
07:20 "Lord, save us or we perish."
07:23 Again words that someone may utter
07:25 when they are in despair.
07:26 Words that someone may cry out
07:28 when they--we say we're at the end of our rope.
07:31 And so today we were going to see that some people
07:34 were at the end of the rope and there's many people today
07:36 that right there just hanging and just saying
07:38 "Lord, I don't know what else to do.
07:40 Lord, save us or we perish. "
07:42 That puts us all just about in the same boat today.
07:45 Take your Bible and turn to Mathew 8
07:47 as we have prayer together.
07:48 I'm going to begin reading with verses 23 through 27.
07:53 We'll finish out the whole chapter as we have that time.
07:55 But right now,
07:56 we need to pray for the power of the Holy Spirit.
07:57 So where you're at would you just join with me
07:59 as we pray together?
08:02 Merciful Father in heaven, we thank you for your love,
08:04 your mercy and your grace.
08:06 We pray now the power of thy Holy Spirit
08:08 to consume each and every one of us,
08:10 every one of your children around the world.
08:12 May we hear Jesus today, may we see Jesus,
08:15 may we understand the Word to the power of thy Holy Spirit.
08:18 Lord, we pray that each one of us say, not I but Christ.
08:21 May we stand behind the cross of Calvary.
08:24 We pray now as the message goes forward
08:26 that it will be certainly the bread of life.
08:29 We pray that it will be a fountain
08:31 that we can go and we can drink deeply of.
08:33 Bless us now, we pray to this end.
08:35 We carefully give you praise, give you honor
08:37 and give you glory because you are God.
08:39 In Jesus' name, amen.
08:42 As again mention there, pencil and paper
08:44 always because we're in Mathew 8 reading verses 23 on down.
08:49 So hope you have your Bible.
08:51 We're gonna read this thing together. Shall we?
08:53 Notice it says, "And when he had entered
08:54 into His ship, His disciples followed him."
08:58 Who's he? Jesus.
08:59 When Jesus entered in the ship His disciples followed Him.
09:01 "And, behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea,
09:04 insomuch that the ship was covered
09:07 with the waves, but He was asleep.
09:10 His disciples came to Him and they woke Him and saying,
09:13 'Lord, save us, we perish.'
09:17 And He said unto them, 'Why are ye fearful,
09:20 O ye of little faith?'
09:23 Then He arose, and He rebuked
09:25 the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm."
09:28 In other words Jesus what?
09:30 He forbid. He said "Stop.
09:32 Please be still."
09:34 Verse 27, "But the men marveled, saying,
09:36 what manner of man is this, that even the winds
09:40 and the sea obey Him!"
09:43 The setting of this account is very interesting.
09:47 Once again your Savior,
09:49 my Savior out busy laboring for souls,
09:52 working day in and day out, from sun up to sun down,
09:56 seem to be no rest, very little time to even eat.
10:00 He was meeting the physical and the spiritual
10:03 needs of the people.
10:05 This is your Savior, this is my Savior,
10:08 working in behalf of mankind.
10:11 But, you know, Jesus in His human flesh,
10:14 made like we are, He became tired
10:17 and we say worn out and he needed a little rest.
10:20 But again the rest that I believe that Jesus,
10:22 in studying this, that Jesus had in mind
10:25 was as He went across the lake there were folks over there
10:29 who had not had the opportunity on that side of the lake,
10:32 listen carefully, as those on this side had to hear about Him.
10:35 And so he was-- you know,
10:37 He was going to accomplish a couple of things here.
10:40 And so they got into the boat and they,
10:42 you know, was calm and peaceful and wonderful.
10:46 And, you know, all of a sudden here come this storm.
10:49 We call it out of nowhere.
10:51 Some of you've been, maybe driving down the road
10:54 it seemed to be peaceful and quiet
10:55 and all of a sudden there's a storm that blew up.
10:57 We have that sometime here in southern Illinois,
10:59 the summer heat and so on, just all of a sudden here it is.
11:03 And it caught them by surprise.
11:05 The Bible gives the account about the waves going so high
11:08 that it was covering the boat.
11:10 So if they go higher than the boat that means
11:11 they're coming in on top of the boat
11:13 and on top of the individuals.
11:15 So much so, that the disciples feared for their very life.
11:20 And they began to cry out,
11:21 they began to say, "we're gonna die."
11:23 Let me just mention, as we study this,
11:26 we have to realize the disciples
11:28 and--I use this word here.
11:30 Just be careful with it but the disciples were not sissies.
11:33 These were men.
11:35 These were fishermen.
11:36 These are who made their life on the lake
11:39 and so they've been through many storms
11:41 but this had to be the storm of storms.
11:44 Now again why?
11:46 We realize the enemy is the author
11:47 and behind this storm.
11:49 We have to realize this because the devil says what?
11:51 Here is this little boat,
11:53 here is all of this big lake out here and the storm,
11:55 we're gonna try to sink that boat,
11:56 kill the disciples, get rid of Jesus
11:58 and then we've got things the way we want them.
12:01 My, what a surprise the enemy had coming to Him.
12:06 Real men, fighting and all of a sudden they say,
12:10 "You know, uh-oh, we're in trouble.
12:12 We are in trouble.
12:14 We've never seen anything like this in the world.
12:17 And now we're gonna need some help."
12:19 They begin to look around and say,
12:21 "Well, now wait, where is Jesus?
12:23 Where is Jesus at?"
12:25 You know the boat began to fill with water.
12:27 If something didn't happens, so they made every effort
12:30 that they knew to save themselves.
12:31 You know people who are familiar with boating
12:33 they have a lot of, I used to call them,
12:35 tricks in order to keep a boat going or so on,
12:37 so forth that maybe you wouldn't have
12:39 but these men knew that all and whether they were bailing
12:42 the water out and or whatever they was doing,
12:44 throwing things off the boat, they wanted to live.
12:47 The storm was bad.
12:48 And that's the way it is in your life maybe today.
12:50 Storm is so bad, you don't know whether you want to live or not.
12:53 You think, you know, you're going to die.
12:55 And maybe you need to be crying out right now,
12:57 oh, God save me.
13:00 And so the disciples, they were doing everything
13:02 that they possibly could, now listen this,
13:04 to save themselves.
13:06 You know how hopeless that is today.
13:08 There are many people in the world,
13:09 Christians, trying to save themselves by works.
13:12 Doing all that they can do to make sure they're safe
13:14 rather than to simply give your life to Jesus
13:16 and be obedient to His commands.
13:20 There was no hope when man tries
13:22 to save himself outside of Christ.
13:25 All of a sudden they began to think,
13:28 Jesus is onboard. Wow.
13:33 If He didn't react or something wasn't done
13:35 we are going to die.
13:38 I don't know if you've ever been in such
13:39 straight place like that, but I'm sure it's frightening.
13:42 Your life is on the line.
13:46 Jesus, where is He at?
13:48 After all when we were there on the land,
13:52 Jesus said we need to go to the other side.
13:54 Jesus said to them, number one,
13:55 launch out into the deep.
13:57 Do you remember that?
13:58 See, this is wasn't the first time
13:59 Jesus had told the disciples to launch out.
14:02 You are His disciple, I am His disciple,
14:04 I believe I've heard that voice say, launch out.
14:07 It wasn't just launch out, it was launch out into the deep.
14:10 In Luke 5: 4 Jesus had told the disciples,
14:14 you know, they are looking for fish,
14:16 He said, launch out into the deep.
14:18 See sometime we launch out as Christian
14:20 but we only go so far.
14:21 We are afraid to get away from shore.
14:23 Our faith is weak.
14:26 Jesus said to launch into the deep means,
14:29 literally the word means, to where it goes down deep.
14:33 He said wow, go down deep, to push out.
14:37 So I got to think. I said let's study this.
14:38 Let's look a little bit.
14:39 Jesus said launch out into the deep.
14:41 He told His disciples launch out into the deep,
14:42 so they were doing what they were told to do.
14:45 Wouldn't Jesus take care of them?
14:48 It's really beginning to go through their mind,
14:49 I don't know.
14:50 What's wrong?
14:52 He's told us to do this but when you launched out,
14:54 it's always this way.
14:55 The word has the meaning, as you look,
14:57 when you launch out it also means you come back.
15:01 So the faith was I launch out
15:02 and by the grace of God, we come back.
15:05 I like to think of church services.
15:07 We come together to get our spiritual batteries
15:09 all charged up. Don't we?
15:11 And then Jesus says to you,
15:12 when we leave the sanctuary, what?
15:14 That's when the work begins.
15:15 We launch out into the deep.
15:17 We, what, attack as it were by the grace of God,
15:20 the impossibilities in this world,
15:23 all the demons of hell fighting against,
15:25 but God said launch out into the deep.
15:26 Give the message, then we come back together to gain strength.
15:29 Launch out.
15:31 So Jesus had told them
15:32 so it gave them a little bit of encouragement.
15:34 Push out, launch out.
15:37 And so at that point they realized
15:38 Jesus was their only hope.
15:41 Oh, my friend, you realize today
15:42 that Jesus is your only hope today.
15:46 There's no hope outside of Jesus Christ.
15:49 The book of Acts 4:12, it says,
15:52 "Neither is there salvation in any other," What?
15:56 There's no other name given among men,
15:57 whereby we must be saved than the name of Jesus."
16:02 Friend, I want you to think about no other name
16:05 given among men, whereby we must be save,
16:07 it's the name of Jesus.
16:10 There's people today who are praying to idols
16:13 and they are praying, maybe the priest or the pope
16:16 or a pastor or a teacher, you know, Mary,
16:20 you know, dead saints, is to no avail.
16:23 Only the name of Jesus,
16:26 there's no other--there's no salvation outside of Christ.
16:30 And so the disciples begin to think, we're helpless.
16:33 We're not going to be able to escape.
16:35 You're helpless too because we've all sinned
16:37 and come short of the glory of God.
16:38 We are under the death decree.
16:40 You better believe it.
16:41 The disciples began to say "Well, we're going to go down.
16:43 We're going to die and there is one hope,"
16:46 and you have this one hope today, too.
16:49 You can cry out Jesus.
16:51 The disciples said, "Master, Master."
16:54 You ever been in such a difficult situation
16:57 that you just don't say "Master, Master?"
17:00 When you are in need of something
17:02 you let the need known, "Master, Master."
17:05 You know sometime we say here in the ministries,
17:07 you know, they had needs to get the gospel out.
17:10 Not just personal needs.
17:11 People say, well, you ask for this
17:12 or you want help doing this.
17:14 Listen, it's God's work.
17:15 He said you had to make your needs known and sometimes
17:18 we say we had needs.
17:20 God's calls has needs.
17:23 We are not thinking personal.
17:25 If we don't have them, then we don't do those things,
17:27 opportunity to reach people for the kingdom.
17:30 And so we say, you know, as the disciples said,
17:32 "Master, Master, save us or we perish."
17:37 But there was no reply.
17:40 You are going down and you are drowning
17:42 and you're calling out "somebody, save me,"
17:43 and there's no one around to save you, you know.
17:45 I've heard the man say you know,
17:47 if a straw floats by, you try to reach out
17:48 and get hold that straw.
17:50 You're looking for any kind of something to hang on to.
17:53 That's how critical that it is.
17:55 They cried out "Master, Master" and there was no reply.
17:59 There was no immediate response.
18:02 And what happens in your life and my life
18:04 when we come to that point that we cry out
18:06 and we expect Jesus immediately.
18:08 You know we have avoided Him for weeks.
18:10 We've not been going to church.
18:11 We've not been praying.
18:13 We've not been studying.
18:14 And all of a sudden a disaster happens
18:16 and all of a sudden, "God help me.
18:18 Master, Master save us."
18:21 Jesus could respond immediately if He wanted to.
18:24 But was there a lesson here to be learned?
18:27 He didn't respond to them immediately
18:29 as they cried out for help.
18:30 Nothing happened.
18:33 Here's what happens in your life
18:34 and my life and the disciples' life.
18:36 They cried out.
18:37 Nothing happened immediately
18:39 and there was two things that seized them.
18:42 There was fear and then there was doubt.
18:44 Both are of the devil.
18:47 Did you get that?
18:48 Both of those are the devil
18:49 but how often we're fearful and how often we doubt,
18:51 when things don't go our way
18:52 or it's not answered immediately the way we think it ought to be.
18:55 And let me say fear and doubt are--they're more like
18:59 little blood suckers, may I say that.
19:01 When they attach their self to you,
19:03 it's not they just pass by but doubt actually sinks its paws
19:07 into you and you cannot get them to release
19:10 until Jesus does the releasing. Why?
19:13 We've asked the devil to do it.
19:14 When we begin to doubt we give him opportunity to come in.
19:17 You think he's just gonna have a little child's hold on you?
19:19 No, he's not. He's gonna have the death grip
19:21 on you and me and only Jesus can release that.
19:25 Now just a quick question.
19:28 What brings doubt?
19:29 You say, well, I doubt it's-- listen,
19:30 what brings doubt in our Christian experience?
19:33 Oh, you might give a lot of answers.
19:35 Three words will simply do it.
19:37 What brings on doubt?
19:38 Separation from Christ.
19:42 Three things brings doubt, separation from Christ.
19:45 When we are connected to Christ or living for Him or studying,
19:47 reading or praying, we don't doubt.
19:50 Why did you doubt-- the disciples, you know,
19:51 Jesus said, why do you doubt, oh, ye of little faith?
19:54 They began to doubt.
19:55 Separation with Christ, see.
19:58 After all the disciples had just seen,
20:01 they had just been witnessing,
20:04 we're talking for a long period of time
20:06 and just in that day they had seen Jesus
20:08 heal all manner of diseases, everything that came to Him,
20:12 and regardless of what the disease was,
20:14 the person maybe had to be brought in on stretcher.
20:16 He's in the last minutes of his life.
20:18 Jesus touched him and restored him completely.
20:21 They'd saw Jesus do that.
20:23 They'd saw Him cast out demons.
20:25 They had seen Jesus raise the dead.
20:27 They had seen Jesus, as He touched people
20:30 it changed their heart and their life
20:32 and they were never the same again.
20:33 They had witnessed all of these miracles
20:35 and the power of Jesus Christ.
20:39 What was the problem now?
20:43 Was the storm too much for Him?
20:46 What was going on with nature, was it too much for Jesus?
20:49 We've seen all these things but He didn't answer me.
20:53 And, you know, a good thing for us today
20:55 is do what the disciples did.
20:56 You know what they did? They didn't give up.
20:58 Friend, don't give up.
20:59 You may have cried out to Jesus but,
21:01 you know, He didn't answer immediately,
21:03 but I'll tell you what, He was always there.
21:04 He never left you.
21:06 He never forsake-- he never left your side.
21:08 But what the disciples did was they cried out again.
21:12 They cried out again "Lord, Lord,
21:14 we're in panic mode right now.
21:17 We're panicking.
21:19 The boat's going down," and I can guarantee you,
21:21 if you were in that storm would be in a panic mode.
21:23 There would be no mumbling or no whispering.
21:25 Everybody would be top of their lungs,
21:28 "we need some help, save us."
21:29 And so they began to say, "Oh, Lord, save us.
21:31 We're going down.
21:33 We only have a few minutes left I'm sure."
21:36 Lightening flashed across the sky,
21:38 lit up the whole area there and for that one instance
21:41 as it lit up the area the disciples looked down
21:43 and there was Jesus fast asleep in the boat.
21:46 How could He sleep in the midst of a storm?
21:51 How could he sleep as it were--or not answer
21:54 me when I am in trouble?
21:55 That's what we say sometime.
21:57 Why didn't He hear me?
21:58 I've been crying out.
22:00 Jesus was asleep in the boat.
22:03 He was asleep.
22:05 The disciples thought for a split second,
22:06 He was asleep when I needed Him the most.
22:08 When I needed Him the most He wasn't there.
22:11 Sometime you've probably said that in your prayers,
22:14 "Lord when I needed you most where were you?" Wow.
22:17 Was He not always there?
22:20 They said "Lord, we need you now, not later."
22:24 Began to try to put demands maybe.
22:27 They screamed out again "Lord, we need you."
22:31 Lightning flashed out again across the sky.
22:34 And in the boat they saw--Jesus stood up.
22:36 They saw the face of Jesus, the face of love,
22:40 a face of calmness, a face of assurance
22:43 and assured them that He loved them with an everlasting love.
22:48 Probably for a split second
22:49 where they were little embarrassed,
22:51 all the screaming that was going on,
22:52 because they stood in the midst of the King of Kings.
22:55 And yet they had doubted that He even loved them.
23:00 Here's just a key thought. Please take this down.
23:02 Put it in your heart and your mind.
23:04 Never, never, keep this in mind,
23:07 never, never does a person cry out for Jesus
23:12 that it goes unanswered.
23:14 Did you get it?
23:16 Never time that a person cries out for Jesus,
23:18 does He not answer.
23:20 It may take a little while because God knows the best
23:23 for each and everyone of us, but God will answer.
23:27 That's reassuring to me.
23:31 How do I know?
23:32 Let's just share a couple of quick passages, shall we?
23:34 Isaiah 65: 24. I've always loved this because it says,
23:40 "before they call, I will answer."
23:44 Come on, some of you know about--what is it?
23:46 "Before they call, I will answer,
23:49 and while they are yet speaking, I will hear."
23:53 God says even before you call, what?
23:56 Because He knows you're going to call,
23:57 maybe five minutes later, maybe a day or two later
24:00 and God's already putting plans into work
24:03 to answer your prayer.
24:05 Before you call I know what's going on
24:06 and I'm in the process of answering it.
24:09 Jeremiah 33: 3 another one of my favorites as a little child.
24:12 We used to have a pastor that came--that came by
24:14 and I think this might have been his favorite passage too
24:17 because He always quoted it and I'm thankful.
24:19 Jeremiah 33: 3, "Call unto me,
24:23 and I will answer thee, and I will show thee
24:26 great and marvelous things, which thou knowest not."
24:29 Oh, friend, that's an awesome, awesome passage of Scripture.
24:35 Acts 2:21, "It shall come to pass,
24:37 that whosoever shall call on the name," what?
24:40 "Of the Lord shall be saved."
24:42 You notice what it's saying here?
24:44 Psalms 86: 5, just a few, come on.
24:46 "For Thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive,
24:49 and plenteous," the Bible says what?
24:51 "In mercy to all of them that call upon Thee.
24:56 Psalms 86: 7, last one.
24:57 "In the day of my trouble,"
24:59 listen, are you in the day of trouble right now?
25:01 Something going on.
25:02 You don't know, marriage, family,
25:04 children, job, what is it?
25:05 Loosing your home?
25:07 You can claim this.
25:08 "In the day of trouble I will call upon Thee,
25:11 for Thou wilt answer me."
25:13 You notice the faith that's involved
25:14 in that--in claiming that.
25:17 It says in the day that I have trouble I will call on You,
25:20 and hear what he says there.
25:21 And I know that you will answer me.
25:22 You're calling on Him but you're not sure.
25:24 Your faith is little.
25:25 Your faith is just not there where it needs to be.
25:28 How do you expect God to react?
25:31 When we think about it I look at these passage
25:33 in the Scripture and I see, call unto Me,
25:35 whosoever shall call, all that call upon Me,
25:38 I will call upon you.
25:40 You look at that.
25:41 Today Lord, help us.
25:43 Somebody call.
25:45 Did you get it? Somebody call--oh yeah.
25:47 All you have to do, if you're in some dire straits,
25:52 you know, maybe a spiritual battle that's going on.
25:54 It doesn't matter. Mental, physical spiritual,
25:55 it doesn't matter. It says, call and I will answer.
26:00 Somebody make that call right now.
26:02 Say Lord, I need some help, I'm going down.
26:06 I don't know how much longer I can take it. Why?
26:08 Because He has, we say, 24/7 answering service.
26:11 He will always be there, He will always answer,
26:13 He won't be like some of the persons you try to call
26:14 that you can't get somebody talk to.
26:17 He's always there for you.
26:20 Interesting how Jesus answered their cries.
26:24 They cried out for help, Jesus always hears that cry.
26:27 He stands up--and notice, He stands in the boat.
26:29 How He can stand up in the boat?
26:31 Oh, what's going on?
26:32 Only God knows.
26:34 He stood up and He raised up His hands and he said,
26:37 "Peace. Be still."
26:38 He spoke to nature.
26:40 He's a God of nature, isn't He?
26:42 He can speak to it and nature obeys Him.
26:44 The nature obeys Him.
26:46 When the animals went into the ark,
26:47 the animals obeyed Him.
26:49 Everything obeys Him except human beings.
26:52 Think about it. Sad, sad.
26:57 And He's given the intelligence that we can study the word
27:00 and we can balance it out and make decisions and choices.
27:05 He raised His hand, He says "peace. Be still."
27:07 The storm ceases how? Immediately.
27:10 Not next week, not an hour from now.
27:13 I hear people say-- we have storms today.
27:14 They say, let's get in there
27:16 where it's safe and let's wait it out.
27:17 It's going to be hours in passing by.
27:19 It didn't. When Jesus said stop, it stopped.
27:22 He is a Man of His word.
27:24 When He said stop it, it stopped.
27:25 I mean, it disappeared under that sheet of glass again.
27:27 All the boats have been tossed around.
27:29 Those who went out,
27:31 they're all in the big--it seemed
27:32 as though they all kind of cluttered together.
27:35 I wonder if there is a reason for that.
27:37 All the other boats had come around together here
27:39 because all of them had witnessed and seen
27:41 what Jesus had just said and done.
27:44 They had experienced the storm, the storms of life,
27:48 like you and I are going through.
27:49 They had--they all thought that they are going to die
27:53 in that storm but now all the boats close together
27:56 and seeing what Jesus had just done.
27:59 They witnessed the power of Jesus.
28:02 See that's what you need in your life,
28:03 my brothers and sisters, we need more power.
28:05 We're weak. We're vacillating.
28:07 Faith of a grain of a mustard seed, we don't even have that.
28:10 We're ready to give up.
28:12 We're ready to quit because someone
28:13 said something we didn't want to hear.
28:14 We don't go to church anymore
28:16 because somebody hurt our feelings.
28:17 Friend, we've got to be strong in Jesus Christ.
28:19 Those things are going to happen.
28:21 They are tests how much we love Jesus.
28:24 They just witnessed the power of our loving Savior.
28:28 And notice this, all fear was gone.
28:32 They saw Him work.
28:33 If you've been seeing Him in your heart and in your life,
28:35 there need not to be any fear.
28:37 1 John 4: 18 says, "There is no fear," what? Good.
28:41 "There is no fear in love,
28:43 but perfect love casteth out fear."
28:46 I'd love to put all in there.
28:47 I don't think my King James reads that way
28:49 but to me it's all fear.
28:51 Somebody stay with me.
28:52 But it goes on to say this,
28:54 "He that feareth is not made perfect in love."
29:00 So if you still have that fear,
29:02 if you're still fearful in a time when its just,
29:05 you're not sure what's going to take place,
29:06 what's going to happen,
29:08 it's because we have not let Jesus,
29:10 God of love inside of us
29:12 because it says if we still fear,
29:14 we've not been made perfect in love.
29:17 So we need some help, don't we?
29:19 Interesting. Jesus asked this question.
29:21 Now he said to the disciple, it is legitimate.
29:24 And I pose it to you and to myself today
29:26 as we go through the storms of life,
29:28 as we kind of get-- and all of a sudden things
29:30 begin to settle down.
29:31 And someone might look at us and say,
29:33 "Now why did we react that way?"
29:35 You have to ask yourself, why did you react this way?
29:37 After all you've been maybe on this planet for 20, 30, 40, 50,
29:42 maybe more, 60 years, 70, 80,
29:44 and has He ever let you down? No.
29:47 So why is it at this time that-- Jesus said to the disciples,
29:51 "Why, why are you afraid?
29:54 Why are you fearful?"
29:55 And Mark 4:40 it says,
29:58 "How is it that you have no faith?"
30:01 How is it that you have no faith?
30:04 It's a legitimate question.
30:05 We're challenged with that, because without faith
30:07 the Bible says what?
30:08 It's impossible to please God.
30:11 So He says, "Where is your faith?"
30:12 Storms come up, a test of faith and love for Jesus.
30:16 After all He was there, was He not?
30:20 But now, always kind of feeling good about
30:23 what just took place but now they're little fearful again.
30:27 See how the devil is trying to rob and trying to steal?
30:29 The way that their prayer was answered concerned them.
30:35 I don't know if you've ever been there or not.
30:37 We need to think about this, because sometime our prayers
30:40 are answered and it's not exactly
30:42 they way we--that we ask for. Praise God.
30:44 We're asking for a mess sometime, aren't we?
30:46 We think it ought to be this way.
30:48 God knows what's best.
30:49 But we begin to complain because it wasn't answered
30:52 the way we wanted to.
30:53 Just what the disciple said.
30:56 Did you get that?
30:58 There is what they said.
30:59 Now they said in Mark 4:41--I mentioned
31:02 I think it was Mark 4:40 and now it's Mark 4:41.
31:05 Now they said, "What manner of man is this,
31:10 that even the winds and the sea obey Him?"
31:13 Now they began-- instead of saying, "praise God,"
31:16 even though they didn't understand, at least it ceased.
31:19 Who did this? What's going on?
31:20 They said, "What kind of a man is this,
31:23 even the sea and the wind obey Him"
31:25 It wasn't the way they expected it to take place.
31:28 Interesting. Psalm 89:7 says this, listen carefully.
31:33 It says, "God is greatly to be feared."
31:37 So even in their turmoil and they didn't understand
31:40 what kind of a man He was,
31:42 friend, let me tell you He's God.
31:45 God can do it the way He wants to do it.
31:47 He knows what's best.
31:50 "God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints,"
31:54 I'm afraid many times God is not feared
31:57 in the assembly of the saints.
31:59 And the Bible goes on to say,
32:01 "And to be had in reverence of all them that are about him."
32:06 Do you see that in your church?
32:07 Do you see that in your local church?
32:09 Do you see in the church that you go to?
32:11 He said He is greatly to be feared in the assembly,
32:14 when the saints assemble in the church.
32:17 They come into the church and they think
32:19 they're having a social--
32:22 but now they're talking about everything except, what?
32:24 The things of God.
32:26 Is He greatly to be feared?
32:27 No, you've completely rooted Him out
32:30 and thrown Him out of the sanctuary
32:31 because of the worldly chatter and the talk.
32:36 Laughing, carrying on.
32:39 The Bible says, "He is greatly to be feared."
32:41 Now let's hear the whole conclusion.
32:44 Ecclesiastes 12:13 says,
32:45 "Let us hear the conclusion of," what?
32:48 "The whole matter.
32:49 Fear God and keep His commandments."
32:52 Fear God, love Him, respect Him,
32:54 honor Him, obey Him and keep His commandments.
32:57 That's talking about law.
32:58 It's talking about something that's divine.
33:00 It's talking about His ordnances.
33:01 It's talking about His precepts here.
33:04 This is the whole duty of man.
33:06 People have the audacity to say, yeah,
33:07 but no, that's not what it means.
33:08 That's exactly what it means.
33:11 The whole duty of man, that means,
33:13 that's all the duty of man,
33:15 all manner of what man is all about.
33:17 It's everything that has to do-- it's complete and it what?
33:20 It makes you perfect in Christ Jesus.
33:23 Wow, so how are we gonna throw that out?
33:26 We dare not.
33:27 See what did the disciples now see in the face of Jesus?
33:32 In the midst of the storm what did they see?
33:33 They saw love.
33:35 People need to see love in your face, too.
33:38 They need to see something different
33:39 than what goes on in the world today.
33:41 They're looking for comfort.
33:42 They're looking for encouragement.
33:43 If you have the same look and the same desire,
33:45 the same kind of talk and act the same way
33:47 you're not gonna be any help to them.
33:49 He saw love.
33:50 He saw His Father's love in Him.
33:52 1 John 4:16 says, "God is love."
33:55 Get this straight, quickly.
33:56 The Bible said God is love.
33:58 It makes sense then.
34:00 "And He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God,
34:04 and God in him."
34:06 Keep that in your mind.
34:07 So it says God is what? Love.
34:09 And if God's dwelling in you, right?
34:11 We're to dwell in Him, He's to dwell in us.
34:14 We have this relationship together here.
34:16 And then it says in 1 John 4:19,
34:19 "We love Him because He," what?
34:21 "Because He first loved us."
34:23 We're returning-- He first loved me.
34:26 He came to seek and save that which was lost.
34:29 See, it's easy to say--a lot of time you hear people say,
34:30 you know, "Well, you know, we love God.
34:33 Oh, we love God with all of our heart."
34:34 Where is the proof?
34:37 Think about it. Where is the proof?
34:38 Anybody can say that.
34:41 Anybody can say anything.
34:42 But do you love God?
34:44 Here's what Bible makes it clear for us.
34:46 1 John 5:2, it reads like this,
34:48 "By this we know that we love the children of God,"
34:52 we love God's children.
34:53 We love our fellowman. How?
34:55 "When we love God, and keep His commandments."
34:59 There's proof. If you don't love
35:01 your fellowman you don't love God.
35:03 There's some trouble here.
35:04 We don't have the love of God in us.
35:07 Now let me answer this.
35:08 Let me ask you this question.
35:10 What is the love of God?
35:12 I hear people sing about it.
35:13 I hear people talk about it all the time,
35:16 because I hear people say things like this
35:18 and talking about the love of God.
35:19 Some say, "Oh, I'm living in the love of God."
35:23 That's good. And then they'll say,
35:25 "Boy, I'm walking in the love of God.
35:27 I'm working in the love of God.
35:29 I'm singing in the love of God.
35:31 I'm sinking in the love of God.
35:33 I'm gaining victories in the love of God."
35:34 There's nothing wrong with that,
35:36 but that's as far as it goes for them.
35:38 It's a talk, we're living, we're walking in the love
35:42 and we need to for-- why?
35:44 The Bible says in 1 John 5:3, "For this is the love of God,"
35:48 You're walking in love, you're preaching in love,
35:50 you're teaching in love, this is the love of God.
35:53 The Bible says, "That we keep His commandments
35:55 and His commandments are not grievous."
35:57 Wow, interesting.
36:00 They're not grievous.
36:02 It's not bondage.
36:03 It's a freedom there.
36:05 It's not weighty.
36:07 It's not burdensome.
36:08 It doesn't tear you down.
36:09 It's not heavy.
36:11 So let's put it in a nutshell.
36:12 If we love God then this is our whole duty.
36:14 It's what the Bible just said, isn't it?
36:16 We simply keep His commandments,
36:18 because God is love, and what?
36:20 And He dwells in us.
36:21 We return His love, because He first what?
36:24 Loved us. And then when that happens,
36:26 we bear witness to the fact that we love Him
36:29 and we love our fellowman, that we keep His commandments.
36:33 If you love God, you love your fellowman
36:35 then we'll be willing by God's grace to keep His commandments.
36:38 The Bible said, "This is the love of God for us."
36:42 And then if we go on it really gets pretty difficult for some.
36:46 1 John 2:4 tells us, "He that saith,
36:49 I knoweth Him, and keepeth not His commandments,
36:51 is a liar, and the truth is not in him."
36:54 You say you walk in love and everything's all about love,
36:57 then you're gonna keep His commandments.
36:58 That's what the Bible says.
37:00 You can't throw these things out.
37:01 You may want to but you can't do it
37:03 if you are an honest seeker of truth.
37:05 So what happens even to the liars?
37:06 It says, if somebody stops telling the truth,
37:08 says,
37:10 "For without--those outside the walls are dogs."
37:14 Now what does that mean?
37:16 Dogs, the shameless.
37:19 You know dog doesn't have any-- they say any caution.
37:21 Dog goes down, take care of business,
37:22 do whatever he needs to do, he don't care if people are around.
37:24 Outside the dog it says, Philippians 3:2 it says,
37:28 tell us, "That beware of dogs." What?
37:31 Beware of evil workers.
37:33 And then it goes on to say, sorcerers,
37:35 that dealing with magic.
37:36 Come on, let's quickly do it.
37:37 Magic, it produces a non reality condition
37:43 or spiritism or spiritualism here that outside the walls
37:46 we need to be careful with this.
37:48 Bible says, outside the walls are whoremongers.
37:50 That's people, listen to me carefully,
37:51 that's people who sell their bodies.
37:53 Don't you realize your body is important?
37:54 It's supposed to be the temple of God.
37:56 But people, they are selling their bodies
37:58 because they think they have no other way out.
38:00 There's nothing else they can do.
38:01 They need to eat, they have no clothing,
38:03 they have no place to stay and they sell themselves.
38:05 But, friend, you don't have to do that.
38:07 It can stop today.
38:08 You make a commitment to Jesus Christ,
38:10 you call upon Him and say, oh, Lord save me,
38:11 I'm going to perish but I'm not gonna do this to my body.
38:14 It's to be the temple of God.
38:16 You know what? God's gonna bless you.
38:17 He's gonna put your feet on solid ground.
38:19 You're gonna gain a victory
38:20 that maybe you never had in your life before,
38:22 but you have to purpose in your heart,
38:23 that's the last time, no more.
38:25 My body is the temple.
38:26 Because outside the wall it says,
38:28 those who sell their bodies,
38:29 oh, don't do that, my friend.
38:31 You don't have to. That God hears you.
38:32 He wants to do something good for you.
38:35 I thought how interesting this is as we look, whoremongers.
38:38 It said murderers are outside the wall.
38:40 They're talking about people
38:41 who is intentionally murdering.
38:43 Not that you can't get forgiveness of all these things.
38:46 Praise God for His grace, praise God
38:48 for the blood, flows so freely.
38:49 It's so powerful.
38:51 But, you know, we're talking about--
38:52 it said there's idolaters outside.
38:54 Are you an idolater today?
38:55 Are you an image worshipper today?
38:57 Are you bowing down in front of some dead image
38:59 made of glass or silver or wood or whatever it might be?
39:03 God said they're outside the walls.
39:04 Please pay attention to the Scriptures.
39:07 Anything that's put before God becomes your idol.
39:11 They're outside the wall.
39:12 You put anything before God today,
39:14 it can be husband, it can be wife,
39:15 it can be family, it can be children,
39:16 it can be your job, it can be anything,
39:18 before God, here's the bottom line, Bible said,
39:19 "Whosoever loveth and maketh a lie is outside."
39:24 Isn't that interesting?
39:26 But then the Bible goes on to say in the last chapter,
39:28 Revelation 22:14, "Blessed are they
39:31 that do His commandments so they may have a right
39:33 to the tree of life, and enter into the gates of the city."
39:36 My friend, who is going to enter into the gates of the city?
39:39 Those that keep His commandments,
39:41 not commandment breaker.
39:42 It's very clear.
39:44 You can't erase that. You can't take it out.
39:45 You can't wad it up, tear it,
39:46 throw it in the trash, the Bible has said.
39:49 I challenge you with that today.
39:50 Deal with these issues.
39:52 Deal with these Scriptures.
39:53 How are we gonna deal with them?
39:55 You say well, nine's better enough.
39:56 No, it's not.
39:59 James 2:10 talks about if you break one, you're guilty of all.
40:03 We need to-- I wonder how often--
40:05 as we look at this story how often our own life
40:08 and our own experiences so clearly resemble that
40:12 of what the disciples just went through. How often?
40:18 It's like when we were going through the storm.
40:19 It's like--you know, Isaiah 57:20-21 says,
40:23 "The wicked are like the troubled sea."
40:25 The wicked are what?
40:27 The wicked people are not giving their life to Jesus.
40:29 There's turmoil around them all the time.
40:33 There's never peace.
40:35 They get out of one mess just to get into another mess
40:38 and another mess is waiting for them down there.
40:39 Why? Because they don't have Jesus to straighten it out.
40:42 "The wicked are like the troubled sea,"
40:44 the Bible says, "when it cannot rest."
40:47 It says, "there is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked."
40:52 Interesting. Sin.
40:54 Yow know why he's talking about sin and separating?
40:56 There's no peace if there's sin in life.
40:58 We can call, jealousy and pride and gossip
41:01 and back biting and self serving,
41:04 all these things, there's no peace to people.
41:07 They have this, you know, this mindset.
41:09 They can't find any rest
41:10 and they're busy tearing other people
41:12 and other things apart all the time.
41:13 The Bible says there is no-- there is no rest for them.
41:17 Sin has destroyed our peace.
41:20 Sin has destroyed our peace in this world today.
41:22 It doesn't happen to you as a child of God,
41:24 but the world we see that's in turmoil right now.
41:26 But I can say this while self sits on the throne.
41:30 If you not ask God to take self out of your life.
41:33 As self sits upon the throne you'll find no rest,
41:36 because there's no human power,
41:40 no human power that can change the heart.
41:44 You see, only by God's grace.
41:47 No human power can change this heart and this mind of mine.
41:50 It takes out something outside of that.
41:52 It takes the power of the living God to come here
41:54 and change us by His grace.
41:56 We are as helpless as the disciples in that boat
41:59 in the midst of the storm that we are in of life.
42:02 And our cry must be today, don't be embarrassed,
42:04 don't be ashamed about it.
42:05 There's some of your husbands,
42:07 you know, on your recliner over their
42:08 and you're trying to play the man of man
42:10 that you don't need God
42:11 and your wife's trying to go to church,
42:12 trying to raise the children and you're trying to be a man
42:14 and say you don't need God.
42:16 You need God.
42:17 The man of man's cry, Jesus, the man of man.
42:20 He needed His heavenly Father.
42:22 He put the heavenly Father inside of Him.
42:23 We need to what? Accept Him.
42:25 Lord, save us or we perish. We find help through Him.
42:31 And I love Romans 5:1, being justified by what?
42:34 "By faith we have peace with God
42:37 through our Lord Jesus Christ."
42:38 Disciples feeling good now.
42:40 Man, this is wonderful, they're saying.
42:41 Well, look what we did.
42:43 Peace, be still, everything's calm and we are still alive.
42:45 Praise God, we're still here.
42:48 Man, what a calming effect it had upon their nerves
42:51 which were just at wits' end,
42:52 be ready to, you know, like snap.
42:54 And now they view things in a little different light.
42:57 The victory at sea, victory against the old enemy.
43:00 All of a sudden their faces boistered up again
43:02 and they feel like, oh, boy, we can take anything now.
43:05 Bring it on. Oh, they felt good about it.
43:08 By first light, you know, as they landed,
43:10 they went back to the other shore
43:12 and they landed on there,
43:14 got out of the boat, they were feeling good.
43:15 This is wonderful.
43:17 Boy, I tell you, Jesus, He's good. He's in control.
43:19 But since that boat landed on the shore what happened?
43:23 In Mathew 8, you go and read on down starting with verse 28.
43:26 We won't have time to do that but you'll see what happens.
43:29 They landed on there, there come two men possessed with demons.
43:34 Wow, what an interesting thing.
43:37 They'd just been through all this good stuff.
43:39 Now we have two demons going on
43:41 and they were going to tear everyone into pieces.
43:44 Isn't that kind of interesting?
43:46 Anytime you've had an experience with Jesus Christ
43:48 the devil tries to steal that from you.
43:50 You go to church, you have a blessed time.
43:52 Before you get out, the phone rings.
43:53 Somebody is upset, somebody is mad about something.
43:55 You go to camp meeting.
43:56 You can't even get home with the blessing
43:58 because the devil is determined to steal every blessing
44:00 that God gives you.
44:01 You don't have to let him take those.
44:03 We end up giving it to him. Then that devil comes again.
44:06 He said, I can't stand to see
44:08 disciples doing what they doing right now.
44:09 I can't stand it.
44:11 We've got to steal that blessing from them.
44:14 Boy, what do you think he did?
44:17 He came to do exactly what he's always done.
44:19 You remember in John 10:10, the thief cometh not to what?
44:22 Come on, kill, steal and to destroy what?
44:25 To steal--to steal the blessings that God gives to us.
44:29 He comes to kill or take possession of
44:31 or if he can't he physically will try to kill you,
44:34 to destroy, at least to destroy,
44:36 if he can't completely get rid of you,
44:38 to destroy your faith in Jesus Christ.
44:40 The devil never sleeps, dear friend.
44:42 He doesn't wants you to have that blessed assurance.
44:43 He doesn't wants you to have that blessing
44:45 that God sends your way that He wants you to have today.
44:49 Here they just experienced this great victory on the lake.
44:52 What did disciples do?
44:54 Here come these two demons, hair all matted together,
44:58 foaming at the mouth and screaming and big old chains
45:00 hanging down all over from right there.
45:02 You think they weren't powerful individuals
45:04 that were filled with the demons of hell.
45:05 Who's gonna tear those things out of the wall?
45:07 Who's gonna rip metal or steel or chain
45:09 whatever they were chained with out?
45:11 An ordinary man couldn't do that.
45:12 They were cutting themselves, blood everywhere.
45:16 And the eyes of demon they were coming at disciples,
45:18 they were going to kill them.
45:19 What did the disciples do?
45:20 Did they stand fast and say, we serve a risen Savior?
45:24 No. They turned tail and ran.
45:27 That scared them to death.
45:28 They began to run again.
45:30 And all of a sudden, you know, as they were running fast
45:32 as they could go, they're going down the road,
45:34 all of a sudden they said, "Where's Jesus again?"
45:39 They stopped and they looked around
45:41 to see where Jesus was at.
45:42 Jesus was standing fast.
45:45 He never moved a muscle
45:46 as it were when the enemy approached Him
45:48 through these demons.
45:50 You've never seen and never will see Jesus
45:52 back up against the enemy.
45:54 He always goes forward and takes care of business.
45:56 Not the disciples, they turned tail and they began to run.
46:00 Wow. They though that was their only escape.
46:05 Jesus who just stilled the storm
46:09 met Satan out there in the waters
46:11 as it was and He defeated him, cast out demons.
46:17 Here they came with everything they had,
46:19 the demons of hell against the Savior.
46:22 Where's Jesus? There He stands.
46:26 Here come those demons.
46:28 They look around and all the others had fled.
46:30 So here's Jesus standing by the self and the demon says,
46:32 let's get Him now.
46:34 We can take Him.
46:35 They begin to rush at Jesus,
46:37 gnashing their teeth and their eyes--
46:39 it's all about the devil. Fearful.
46:42 Oh, Jesus stood His ground. He never backed up a step.
46:45 He looked at them, He raised His hand.
46:47 You know what Jesus--and they halted in their step.
46:50 their stride. They could come no closer to Him.
46:54 They were still screaming and raging like the devil does now.
46:57 When he can't just get to you when he wants to get to you
47:00 he stands there and he screams and he puts up smoke screens
47:03 and he makes threats as it were through other people,
47:05 but he really can't go any farther than doing that
47:07 but that's enough sometimes to defeat us.
47:11 Jesus stopped them in their track.
47:13 They stood helpless as babies before Jesus. Praise God.
47:19 You know and God in His great mercy--
47:20 you know what, Jesus in His mercy,
47:23 He called out those unclean spirits.
47:26 They'd taken control of these two men here.
47:30 And you know what, they--
47:32 listen, even the demons of hell recognize Jesus.
47:34 In the world today, many people don't even recognize Jesus.
47:37 They don't know who He is.
47:38 The demons recognized who Jesus is,
47:40 because they've been beaten by Him every time they confronted.
47:42 Jesus beat them every time.
47:44 And so we see the demon-- and what they said,
47:47 "Oh, have mercy on us.
47:49 I besiege Thee, don't torment us."
47:52 Jesus asked him, he said, "What's your name?"
47:55 And they answered that we are legion for we are many.
47:58 Remember a legion in the Roman army was 23,000 and 5,000 men.
48:04 That's an awesome thought, think about that.
48:08 The devil was using these two men as mediums
48:11 in which to communicate and do his dirty work.
48:14 This is what the enemy does.
48:15 He uses you till there's nothing left to use up
48:18 and then he tries to destroy you in your sin.
48:22 As those demons came out they said,
48:23 you know, may we enter--
48:26 the demons of hell still had to ask Jesus,
48:29 when they got cast out, where can we go?
48:31 You give us permission.
48:32 And he says, "Can we go into the swine?
48:34 Can we go to the swine?" Jesus gave them, "yeah."
48:38 They realized as they went into the swine, what happened?
48:41 All the swine, the herd that were on the mountain side,
48:43 you have the people that watched over them,
48:46 the caretakers and so on,
48:47 but as demons went into the herd, what happened?
48:49 They ran over the mountain side and all the swine was killed.
48:53 Wow, they all fell to their death.
48:56 But see, I sense this, the Jesus in His mercy
48:58 preserved those who were watching over the swine.
49:01 So that they can see this lesson,
49:02 get an opportunity to come to Him before it was too late.
49:07 Jesus wants to point out that they need to be seeking Him
49:09 instead of the earthly things but they were mad.
49:12 They lost their patience with Him.
49:14 They lost their material things and their eyes were blinded
49:17 to spiritual things and the mercy of God.
49:20 Friends, you realize that today in such a short time
49:22 when Jesus had operated with the power,
49:24 who He really was, and the storm and casting out the demons and--
49:28 you don't realize the demons that he cast out
49:30 became His missionaries.
49:31 They sat at the feet of Jesus.
49:33 When He does something He does it right.
49:34 Let Him do it in your life,
49:36 let Him do it in mine to completion.
49:38 Jesus tried to reach someone.
49:40 Now I want to think about the purpose quickly here,
49:42 I just have a few minutes left.
49:44 Purpose of Satan going into the swine,
49:45 this is really important.
49:46 People say, why Jesus gave permission to go into the swine?
49:49 The devil had a plan, Jesus understood the devil had a plan.
49:52 Here's the plan of the enemy.
49:54 The enemy said, you know, I am--'cause they asked Him,
49:56 "Can we go into the swine?"
49:57 Jesus said, "Yes, you can."
49:59 Because the herd of swine ran over what,
50:02 the cliff and they were killed.
50:03 So what happened? The owners lost the herd.
50:06 The enemy knew that the owners probably
50:09 would be upset about it.
50:10 They lost their money
50:11 and then the devil knew that Jesus would be blamed for it
50:14 because they've seen this miracle take place.
50:17 Cast the demons out and they went into the swine.
50:19 Number two, people would not listen to Him anymore.
50:22 In other words, after this happen
50:24 the people is not gonna listen to Jesus anymore,
50:25 so devil said, oh, this is good.
50:27 Destroy the swine, nobody is gonna listen to Jesus anymore.
50:30 And the number three, they would end up asking Jesus to leave.
50:33 Mathew 8:34, don't forget that.
50:35 They besought Him that he should depart.
50:38 That means they entreated Him, they ordered Him,
50:40 they commanded Jesus to get out after the swine was killed.
50:44 What was the purpose of Christ,
50:46 quickly, in allowing those demons to go into the swine?
50:50 Jesus allowed the demons to go into the herd of swine,
50:53 we're talking about the unclean, isn't that right?
50:55 Jesus knew they were unclean.
50:56 Jesus said don't touch the swine's flesh.
50:58 It's an abomination. It's not any good.
51:00 The Old Testament, New Testament,
51:01 just alike, you need to really study this.
51:03 He did it as a direct review to the Jews
51:06 who were raising swine unclean for selling them.
51:09 Friend, don't try to raise something that,
51:11 you know, you won't eat yourself
51:13 and then you try to give it to somebody else.
51:15 Two, Jesus preserved the keepers and the owners of the swine
51:19 from being swept over by the demon
51:21 so that they could see the power of Jesus Christ.
51:24 That those who witness-- number three, witness,
51:27 so that the people could see the cruel power of the devil
51:31 not only on human beings but on animals.
51:34 Number four, Jesus wants men to have knowledge of the enemy,
51:38 'cause we're all gonna have to meet Him head on.
51:40 Remember that, so that we're not deceived,
51:43 so that we're not overcome.
51:46 Five, Jesus wanted the people to see
51:48 the power that the Father had given to Him over the enemy,
51:52 as the storm, as He set the captives free, dear friends.
51:55 These demon possessed men, again as I mentioned before,
51:58 they became His evangelists, they became His missionaries.
52:01 They threw Jesus out but those two men
52:03 stayed to do the work that Jesus came there to do.
52:05 How interesting. Stabilize.
52:08 Friend, how are you today in your walk with Him?
52:10 We won't read it, but 1 John 1:1-3,
52:14 read that because in it, it says this,
52:16 "We are His witnesses."
52:19 So we are to witness for Him.
52:21 We are to go far and wide to tell what we know about Him,
52:25 the things that we have seen, the things that we have heard,
52:29 the things that we have felt,
52:30 how He's lead us in our Christian life,
52:32 step by step by step if you count it,
52:34 you can see how God has been leading you.
52:37 You can see that His promises are true
52:39 when you by faith grasp a hold of Him.
52:42 You see that the Jesus is answering your prayer.
52:44 We've experienced the grace in His life.
52:47 It's changed us, right.
52:49 We've experienced Him right in our heart and our mind.
52:51 We're no longer the same anymore.
52:53 We're no longer like we used to be,
52:55 but old things become new.
52:57 But you know when that change took place?
52:58 The change took place the day that we cried out,
53:01 Lord, save us or we perish.
53:03 Is there somebody today who's gonna cry out?
53:06 Lord, today is the day. Save us or we perish.
53:08 There's no place for me to go.
53:10 I've tried everything, nothing works.
53:12 And now we're at the bottom, we're at the end.
53:14 We're dying. We're saying, Lord, save us.
53:15 He will hear you if it comes from a real heart,
53:18 contrite heart, a heart that's been to Calvary.
53:21 Oh, He wants to answer your prayer today.
53:23 Your life will change when you cry out,
53:25 God, save us or we perish.
53:28 There may be some today,
53:30 before we have our closing prayer
53:31 and I want to encourage you to do that right now.
53:33 You can send a card or a letter, we can pray for you.
53:35 You can make a phone call
53:37 or you can get on your own knees right now,
53:40 right now as you listen
53:41 and ask God to come into your heart.
53:43 Ask Jesus to come into your heart,
53:44 into your life, take control.
53:46 You know, do for those things that you can't do,
53:50 create in you a clean heart, a new mind, right spirit
53:53 and He's going to do that.
53:55 All those things will disappear and behold,
53:58 all things will become new
53:59 if you make Him Lord, master of your life.
54:01 Why not do that today as we pray?
54:04 But we want to hear about how--
54:05 what God's done in your life to bring you closer to Him,
54:08 but let's pray about it right now.
54:09 Let's confirm it, shall we
54:10 as we do this in prayer? Let's pray.
54:12 Father in heaven, we thank you for Your precious Word today.
54:15 We thank you for reminding us that you are God.
54:17 You do things the way they need to be done.
54:19 We just need to be crying out.
54:21 Oh, Lord, help us not to come to that point
54:23 where there's nothing else left to do,
54:25 but the very first thing we need to do is to cry out to you.
54:28 Lord, save us or we perish.
54:30 Bless us now we pray
54:31 and those who have made that decision right now
54:33 as they turn their life over to You
54:35 and I thank you for hearing and answering prayer.
54:36 In Jesus' name. Amen.
54:40 So those of you, who've made that decision,
54:41 praise God for that.
54:43 You know we appreciate the opportunity and privilege
54:45 to come into your home.
54:47 We think it's an awesome thing that God is doing
54:49 so we'll be able to talk to you and you can talk to us.
54:51 Pray for us here that God will continue
54:53 to help and to bless us as we move forward
54:55 and other opportunities as we might be able
54:57 to reach out, you know, for other people
54:59 and touch their lives for Him.
55:01 And, you know, we survive here and we do programming,
55:03 what, just by your love gifts that you send to us.
55:06 That's our only means of support.
55:08 And we thank you for what you're doing.
55:10 Many people, you see, are praying.
55:12 We hear it all the time, we're praying,
55:13 we're praying and they give.
55:15 We praise God for that.
55:16 Don't forget, you know, the station
55:18 that brings this to you.
55:19 You know without 3ABN and going worldwide,
55:21 you know, these programs wouldn't be on the air.
55:23 So continue, pray everyday.
55:25 Right, pray one for another
55:26 and remember do it before it's too late.
55:28 Cry out, God, save us or we perish.
55:32 Until next time, see you then.
55:37 Hello and welcome back, friends.
55:39 Isn't the Lord good?
55:41 There are so many precious gems to be found in His Word.
55:45 As Pastor Kenny was presenting this message,
55:47 these gems or lessons
55:49 seem so evident, clear and encouraging,
55:52 yet not until I listened to this message
55:54 did all these principles come together for me.
55:57 The Holy Spirit was speaking to my heart,
56:00 as I pray He did to yours as well.
56:02 Christ's ways are not always what we expect them to be.
56:06 They're just not always what we think that they should be.
56:10 This is where our faith
56:12 and our trust in Him must come into play.
56:15 We must believe that the path that He is leading us on
56:17 is the path that He has chosen
56:22 to be the best for our salvation.
56:25 And of course he will only lead us as we allow Him to do so.
56:29 Friends, remember we see through the glass of life darkly
56:34 but Christ sees it very clearly
56:36 what must take place in our lives to clean us up
56:40 and to prepare us for a life
56:41 with Him in the heavenly kingdom some day.
56:44 I desire to be there and I hope that,
56:46 that is your desire as well.
56:48 You know I told you in the beginning
56:50 that this would be a message
56:52 that you would want to listen to more than once.
56:54 Therefore we're making this, copy of this message
56:58 that is entitled "Lord, save us or we perish"
57:01 available to you for a love gift of just $8 or more.
57:05 And remember, as always your generous support
57:08 of this work enables us to continue working together
57:12 with you and sharing these timely messages as God sees fit.
57:16 And if you are interested
57:18 in obtaining several copies of this message at once
57:21 call in and ask us about our special sharing price.
57:24 Our phone number here in the United States
57:27 is area code 618-942-5044, Central Standard Time
57:33 or you may write us at Behold the Lamb Ministries,
57:36 PO Box 2030, Herrin, IL 62948.
57:42 Email us at behold thelambministries@yahoo.com
57:46 or as always you may also order this message on our website
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57:55 Until next time, friends, may our precious Lord
57:58 continue to richly bless you and yours.


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Revised 2014-12-17