Allen Jackson - Such Wonderful Promises - Part 2
So if there is a statement of intent from our Lord, I would submit to you, it would be in our best interest to understand it. If he is about something, I want to help. So look with me at your notes. It’s Matthew 16. This is Jesus speaking. He said, «I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not overcome it». Now, he wouldn’t have had to put that second half of the sentence in there unless there was going to be some seasons and times and presentations when it looked like the gates of Hades might overcome it. We needed that rest of the message.
«I will build my church,» he said. «I will give you the church, the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven». The promise, what’s the promise? Jesus will build his church. And hell will not be able to stop it. Now, that makes me smile. And he went on to say there’ll be some keys for freedom available to the church. Well, if Jesus is in the business of establishing and expanding his church, watch me get involved. However, whatever.
You know, people will say to me from time to time, do I think the church is too large? And I go, no, actually I’m a little embarrassed. I’ve been working in this harvest field for a good while and the city’s grown exponentially, one of the fastest-growing cities in the state, one of the fastest-growing regions in the nation, and we’re losing ground every day. Fewer church people in Rutherford County than any time in the history of this county. Am I grateful for what God’s done? Absolutely, but it doesn’t seem like something that we should be puffed up about.
Jesus is in the business of building his church. And that’s not based on who’s in political power or what the IRS rules or what Congress says or what the ACLU does. Jesus is building his church. That makes me smile so much. We’re gonna see him one day. Ah, I get on a rabbit trail, we’ll never finish. Look at Ephesians 1:22: «God placed all things under his feet». That’s Jesus’s feet. «Placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be the head over everything for the church». When you drive through our community, bless the churches. Not just the one where you sit. Say, «Lord Jesus, let your name be exalted in that place. Let your Word be taught. Let the truth be told. May that become a lighthouse. May that become a place of deliverance and liberty and freedom», amen?
We take this, it’s not like it’s not mine. What do you mean it’s not our? It’s the intent of our Lord. How can you say you serve the Lord and you don’t care about the church? It was very convicting for me because I didn’t. My spiritual formation didn’t take place in church. I was baptized in the Atlantic Ocean in Fort Lauderdale. Right in front of the Sheraton, not in some neat little fiberglass baptistry in some sweet church. Right out there on the beach with the pagans. On a stormy day, I got baptized a couple of times before I got to the place where they were baptizing people. I mean, I accepted the Lord in a kitchen, not at the altar of a church.
Most of my spiritual experiences weren’t connected to a formal religious gathering, and so I didn’t really value the church. God, when he began to invite me into ministry, I thought, «What do you…» I didn’t even understand. He had to change my heart so dramatically. Church isn’t about a building, it’s about people. But the initiative of church requires some things, some organizational principles. There’s a whole host of things that go with it. Jesus is the head of the church. It’s a very dangerous thing to be destructive to the church. I’m not talking about this place, so I want you to bless them. Have an attitude in your heart that brings God’s best to them.
John 14, this is worth exploring just a little bit more for a moment. Jesus said, «I tell you the truth,» and you know now that means truth bomb. Bunker buster. «I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I’ve been doing». Well, there’s his plan for the church. This is his operational objective, «The things I’ve been doing, you’re gonna do». Whoa, wait, how? «He’ll do even greater things than these, because I’m going to the Father. And I’ll do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You’ll ask me for anything in my name, and I’ll do it». He just gave us authority to use his name.
You know why we pray in Jesus’s name? Because that’s why we have standing. It’s not like I walk into the throne room of God and go, «Hey, yo boss, it’s AJ». I know it’s kind of funny too. It wouldn’t carry much, would it? But I can come in humility and say, you know, «Father, I’m coming in Jesus’s name». It’s not my account. I’m coming under his authority. Why would we do that? Why would Jesus give us that authority? Because he wanted to establish his church. It conquered the Roman Empire. It’s outlasted so many murderous empires and leaders and initiatives. It’s been hated and hunted, and it’s flourishing in the earth. It’s amazing to me.
Part of the same dialogue in John 16: Jesus said, «Now is your time of grief». He’s just told his friends he’s leaving and where he’s going they can’t go, and he said, «But I’ll see you again and you’ll rejoice». I’m gonna be arrested and tortured to death. You’re gonna grieve, «but you’ll see me after that and you’ll be really happy about it, and no one will take away your joy. In that day after my resurrection, you’ll no longer ask me for anything. I tell you the truth,» here we go again, «my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. Until now you haven’t asked for anything in my name,» because I could just go ask him. They would bring somebody to the disciples for help or ministry and they couldn’t help him.
And so they would take him to Jesus and say, you know, we’re not having any luck, and he would intervene. But he said, «Now I’m going away and where I’m going, you can’t come, but now you can ask in my name». We’re so casual about this. We can approach the throne of the Creator of heaven and earth in the name, under the authority, of our Lord and King. In Hebrews, he said we can approach the throne of grace with boldness. To find grace, grace is favor we don’t deserve, we didn’t earn. Grace and mercy in our time of need, not in our time of triumph. We can approach the throne of grace boldly, how? In his name.
That’s why we make, like, the blood of Jesus confession. Through the blood of Jesus, I’m delivered out of the hand of the enemy. Through the blood of Jesus, all my sins are forgiven. Through the blood of Jesus, I’m sanctified, made holy, set apart to God. Through the blood of Jesus, I’m justified, made righteous, just as if I’d never sinned. My body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, redeemed, cleansed by the blood of Jesus. Therefore, Satan has no place in me, no power over me, through the blood of Jesus. Not because Allen’s so good or I read my Bible so regularly. I do my best, but I’m not earning those things. I’m coming in Jesus’s name.
Why is that important? Because Jesus is building his church in the earth and I wanna be a gatekeeper, a doorkeeper, a door sweeper, whatever it takes, I wanna be in. It’s a promise. I’ll give you a different promise. James chapter 1, says: «If any of you lacks wisdom,» I hope you’re leaning forward now. How many feel like you lack a little wisdom? Or how many of you got up this morning and thought, «You know, today is just not gonna be challenging at all. I know all the answers». Yeah, me either. «If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given him». There’s the promise. God will give us his wisdom, generously. Wisdom is not just knowledge or information, it’s the right use of knowledge. It’s the timely use of information. God will give us his wisdom.
Verse 6: «But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt». Many of God’s promises are conditional. God said we have to be born again and he’s made provision that you can be saved, but there’s a condition you have to meet. You have to believe in your heart and confess with your mouth. God said he’ll give you his wisdom, but you have to ask. You can’t say, «I don’t need it». You can’t say, «I’m the smartest person in the room already». You have to ask for his wisdom. But then he said we have to «believe and not doubt, because if we doubt we’re like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man shouldn’t think he’ll receive anything from the Lord. He is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does».
Well, the promise is God said he’ll give us his wisdom, generously, with no criticism. He won’t go, «You’re dumb as a stick. I’m not giving you any wisdom». He said he would give it generously, no criticism, but the conditions are we have to believe and not doubt. We cannot be double-minded. We have to be single-minded. That’s been one of my most consistent prayers for a long, long time. You still have prayer cards in the back of the seats in front of you. For many, many years, we would take those prayer cards and type a list every week of the prayer requests that were turned in. It got to be multiple pages. Now we just pray over the cards. But for many of those years I didn’t have an assignment. Before we had multiple sanctuaries, I didn’t have to make announcements. Not the good old days, just different days.
So every week when they were receiving an offering, I got to fill out a prayer card. And I put the same thing, at least as a part of my prayer every week for years and years. God, give me your wisdom. I needed it. I knew I was in so far over my head. Did you know you can have God’s wisdom? Stop saying, «I’m not so smart. I don’t know how technology works». I know who does. Folks, these promises will not populate your experience by accident, any more than conversion and the transformation of your life will. You see, if you confess Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that he’s Lord, it opens a doorway into the eternal kingdom of God, but it initiates a journey on your part where you’re gonna begin to say yes to godliness and no to ungodliness.
And when you say, «God, I want your wisdom,» the Spirit of God will unleash a journey in you. He’ll give you a hunger for his Word. He’ll put people in your path that have wisdom around areas where you need expertise. And if you’re willing to learn and listen and be a learner and have the humility to say, «I would love to know more about that, can you tell me»? and you’ll give time and energy to that, God will bring the wisdom you need for the season you’re walking through, in the time you need it.
Now, I get impatient. I want all the information I’m ever gonna need for whatever problem I’m ever gonna face, and I wanna be able to instantly recall it at the right moment. God has not done that for me. But he has provided the wisdom I have needed at every juncture, often beyond me. Somebody will walk in and say, «I can help with that. I wanna help you with this». They’ve walked into my house, said, «I’m gonna help you with this». I’m going, «Oh, I didn’t know I needed help». «Oh, you need help». I pray that prayer with such regularity. I don’t want my life to reflect my IQ. I’ve had the privilege of a reasonable education, but I don’t want my life outcome to reflect what I learned in a library. I want my journey through time to reflect the wisdom of Almighty God.
So I’m asking, yeah, and I mean, it’s not easy to stay single-minded. Peter climbed out of the boat and he got focused on the wind and the waves and he got a little wash. And you may sink a little bit from time to time. That’s why you need people to encourage you. It’s why I want to make the journey. I want to spend my discretionary time with people that believe the promises of God.
This isn’t a game, it’s not some joke. It’s not a hobby. I’ve told you many times, stop trying to be godly, start training, very different. You try when it’s convenient, when you have some free time, when you’re in the mood, when the weather’s right. Training, if you’re committed to it, you do, no matter what. When you’re tired, when the weather’s bad, when you don’t feel like it, when you’re achy, when your joints are creaky, you keep training. We’ve been trying to honor the Lord long enough. Let’s start training.
I got one last one. This one’s so good, I wanna give it to you. Told you it was a fun lesson. I’ll hush. We’ll be done, for breakfast. It’s about Jesus and his angels. Look at Matthew 16: «Jesus said to his disciples, 'If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.'» Oh bother. I mean, what a Debbie Downer. What a fun message. «'For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for me will find it. What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world? '»
Well, I could think of some good. You can get yachts like Bezos. «'But he forfeits his soul? '» That’s not so good. «'Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? '» Well, verse 23 is the promise. «'For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory.'» Glory means the manifest, the visible expression of the majesty and the power of God. Jesus is returning to the earth with a visible display of the power of Almighty God. He’s not coming back to a stable in Bethlehem with the shepherds and some little kid going, «Pa rumpa pum pum». He’s gonna come in his Father’s glory with his angels. We’ve got one scene in the book of Revelation where there’s 100 million. He’s coming back with a show, folks.
And then, here’s the promise, he will reward each person according to what he has done. What’s Jesus interested in? Well, he said he was building his church. And he’s coming back in his Father’s glory to reward each person according to what he has done. Well, how do you get in the line to get a reward? Well, you have to be born again. But the beginning of that passage, you know, the bummer part of the passage? Those are the conditions. If you want to be rewarded, go back to verse 24: «If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself».
Well, why would you deny yourself? Because when Jesus comes back with a demonstration of all the power of the kingdom of God, he’ll reward you for it, amen. Why would I satisfy my temporary nature? It changes with the weather. It changes based on what somebody says is fashionable, who’s applauding or who’s hissing. But I can please Jesus, and he will reward me if I’ll say no to my old carnal self and say yes to him. He said, «If you want to save your life, you’ll lose it. But if you’ll lose your life for me».
Lord, what can I do to invest my life in what you’re doing? How can I be a part? I may have a job as a butcher, a baker, or a candlestick maker, but I’m gonna be a butcher for Jesus, a candlestick maker for Jesus. I’m gonna be a baker that tells people about the Bosch. «Well, you might lose a sale because somebody might», that’s okay. I’m gonna get rewarded. It’s a promise. Are you living like the promises are true? Are you living like you got your ticket for heaven punched and you hope Jesus gives you what you want today? He’s building a church, he’s dispensing wisdom. He’s planning his return trip with all the angels and the rewards he’s bringing. That’s better than Santa. And we get this perverse false gospel that says, you know, it’s about giving me what I want, when I want it, the way I want, no, no, no, let’s decide we’ll deny ourselves and serve the Lord.
What a promise. What a promise, he’s coming back. Remember, John, in the book of Revelation, I’ll quit with this. John, he’s a prisoner on the Isle of Patmos. Most or many scholars say he was probably working in the copper mines, hard labor, an old man. And he’s in that place because of his testimony for Jesus, not because he was a thief or a murderer. And it says on the Lord’s day, he was in the Spirit. He wasn’t in grief. He wasn’t in the dumps. He was in the Spirit. And he heard a voice. And he describes the voice. And he turned to see, and it’s Jesus.
It’s in Revelation 1, and John fell at his feet like a dead man. It’s been decades since he’s seen Jesus. He stood at the foot of the cross, and Jesus gave him the assignment of Mary. And now he’s an old man and his peer group are all gone. They’ve all been martyred. And John’s doing hard labor. Humiliating. And on the Lord’s day, he sees Jesus. And he doesn’t say, «Well, it’s about time». He fell at his feet like a dead man. It says Jesus put his hand on him and said, «I’m the living one. I was alive and I was dead and I’m alive forevermore. And I got the keys. I’m the head of the church, son. This is gonna work out for you».
I brought you a story that I need you to write down. Oh, you will not regret what you do for the Lord. You won’t regret the time you invest, the hours you serve, the dollars you give, the sacrifices you make, the times when you say no to yourself. You may be in the moment a battle. But there’ll be a day come when you’ll fall on your face before him. And we won’t be complaining because the traffic was bad, or whatever. Begin to purposefully make the promises yours, intentionally, daily, as a part of a training regimen. «God, give me your wisdom. God, show me today where I can deny myself and give you a greater place. Jesus, I want to cooperate with you».
If you don’t know what else to do, start to pray for the church. Use the authority of Jesus’s name. «God, bring life to your church, a voice to your church, vitality to your church». Welcome the gift of the Holy Spirit, cooperate with him. That’s just a sampling of the promises. They’re your inheritance. Everything you need for life and godliness. What an amazing, amazing future. More transformational than some piece of geography. There’s an opponent, there’s an adversary. They regularly bomb Israel. And the enemy will regularly try to disrupt the promises of God in your life. Don’t let him. I wanna pray with you. I gotta hush, stand up. There’ll be nursery workers streaming through the back doors in just a moment.
Father, I know your promises are yes to us in Jesus, and we come tonight to say we believe, we choose you. We wanna join you in what you’re doing in the earth. We want to yield ourselves, our bodies, our soul, our spirit. We want to cooperate with you. May we not be distracted or turned aside. May we not be discouraged or overwhelmed. May we not grow weary in doing good. Help us to encourage one another, to admonish one another, to walk together to the best that you have so that when our days are spent and our strength is small, your response to each of us may be, «Well done». We thank you for that in Jesus’s name, amen.