Matt Hagee - The Miracle That Might Have Been
When you read Psalm 20:1 through 5, it begins with a series of things that only God can do. "May the Lord answer you in your day of trouble". When God moves in your day of trouble, you might declare, "It's a miracle". "May God send you help from the sanctuary". When the hand of God is helping you accomplish things because he's just that good, some people would call that "A miracle". "May he remember your offerings... May he grant you according to all of your heart's desire". Wouldn't it be wonderful if that's the thing that we received in this message today was the desire of our heart when we walked in here? The reality of it is, is all of those things are available to you, not because you deserve them, but because you rejoice in your salvation. Verses 1 through 4 talks about things only God can do. And verse 5 tells us how we receive those blessings. Verse 5 begins with, "We will rejoice in your salvation". Say that with me. "We will rejoice in your salvation".
Throughout this series, we have seen that thanksgiving is not a suggestion: thanksgiving is a Bible command. Thanksgiving is something that the Word of God requires of us. We looked at 1 Thessalonians 5, and understand that it's something that Paul didn't suggest to the church: he required it of the church. He said, "Rejoice always". "We will rejoice in the joy of your salvation". Why? Because salvation is a miracle. It's something only God can do. Most of the time, when people are talking about miracles, they use the word to describe something that has a measure of probability. Miracles are performed as manifestations of God's power. And they are specifically done that he might reveal himself to us: that he might show those that he created that he is the Lord God Almighty, and he is great and greatly to be praised.
People often say, "I'd believe in miracles if I saw one". Look around. Every person in this room, who has called upon Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, is a living, breathing, walking, talking miracle. Why? Because there was no probability, there was no good fortune, there was no luck that you found a Savior, and that that Savior could wash you white as snow. Only God could do that and that's a miracle. Every life that is twisted and wrangled with sin, tormented by their past that leaves this sanctuary free, because whom the son sets free is free indeed, that's a miracle. When your sins that were scarlet are washed white as snow, when the debt that you owed the Almighty has been paid in lamb's blood, when your pardon has been rendered, when your sorrow is turned to dancing, when your broken heart is mended, when your chains of addiction are broken, when the yokes of bondage have been lifted all of your shoulders, that is a miracle! And we should rejoice in the joy of our salvation!
People say, "Well, it would be great if God would raise the dead". He could do that! He's done it before. He'll do it again when the trump of God sounds and the dead in Christ rise. But the greatest miracle you'll ever see is not a dead body coming back to life. The greatest miracle you'll ever see is when one gives their heart to Christ. Because the Bible says that they were dead in their sin. But as soon as they believe in their heart and confess with their mouth, they come to eternal life. Oh, it would be great if we could watch God hold the sun still like he did for Joshua. He can do that. But the Bible doesn't say that the angels in heaven all rejoiced when he held the sun still. I think the angels in heaven saw God hold the sun still, and they said, "Oh, he's just showing off again".
The Bible does say that when one confesses Jesus Christ as Savior, every angel in heaven shouts for joy. A host that is so large: it cannot be numbered, stops what they're doing and they scream in celebration. Why? Because they know how good heaven is and they know how horrible hell will be. That's a miracle. Every day you should rejoice in the joy of your salvation. Oftentimes, we come to salvation and we stay in the faith, and we begin to take for granted the fact that we woke up still saved. Today, when I got up, I was thankful to God, first and foremost, for breath, because that's hard to live without. I'm serious. You hear the alarm clock go off. Thank God you made it.
And then the next thing I was thankful for is I'm still saved. Why? Because all sin is unacceptable to God. And if it was up to me to keep me saved, I'm here to tell you, I couldn't stay saved for 24 hours, because I'm going to think something, I'm going to say something, I'm going to do something that is going to be displeasing to God. But the Bible says that my God is able to keep that which I have committed to him even unto the day of Christ Jesus. That means that when I gave him my heart and I gave him my soul, his grace is sufficient. He can keep me saved. He loves me enough that his mercy is renewed every morning, and his loving kindness is better than life. When I don't have a perfect day, he still sends me perfect love. And today, I am thankful to God that he has given me grace by which I am saved!
Again, I say being thankful is not a Bible suggestion: it's a Bible command. We read it from 1 Thessalonians. But Paul told the church in Colossians: he said, "Let the peace of God rule your heart and be thankful". Say that with me. "And be thankful". Ephesians 5, he tells the church at Ephesus, "Speak to yourselves". How many of you talk to yourself? Every now and again, you need some expert advice, so it's okay. "Speak to yourselves in hymns... and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart". It means that when you speak to yourself, say good things to yourself. And then it says, "Giving thanks always". Say that with me. "Giving thanks always". Being thankful is a command. And James says, "To him who knows to do right and does it not, to him it is sin".
So if being thankful is the command, then being unthankful is a sin. How does God treat people who are unthankful? First and foremost, he doesn't listen to them. God does not want to hear you complaining when you walk into his presence. It doesn't say, "Enter into his gates with complaining and into his courts with a nag. God, you don't know what I'm going to do down here". Yes, he does. He knew about it before you knew about it. "With thanksgiving, make your requests known to God". Without thanksgiving, God just hits the mute button on you. You could be down here putting on quite a show. And God just has you shut off. When you start a conversation, start by being thankful. Start by telling God how much you appreciate all that he's done for you. Start by reminding yourself that you are created, and he is the one who made us, and it's not we ourselves. He's all knowing.
Be thankful that he knows what you don't. He's all powerful. Be thankful that he can do what you can't. He's omnipresent. He's everywhere all of the time. Be thankful that he's here with you right now, because he's as close as the mention of his name. And he's still in your yesterday working out the details of your past. And he's working in your future preparing a way for you where there seems to be no way. Be thankful unto him and bless his name. In order for you to truly be thankful, the first thing that you have to come to the knowledge of is that you are not in control.
Now in order for you to be thankful, you have to realize you're not in charge. Control is an illusion. It's a mirage. And when you think you're in control, you're worried about everything that you can't stay in control of. When you realize God is in control, then you can start pouring out a heart of thanksgiving and gratitude to the one who controls everything, like your heartbeat and your breath. And the way that you get into the presence of God is with thanksgiving and praise. The way that you develop favor with God is that you thank him and you pour out your heart of gratitude to him, because he's the one that's in control.
You say, "God, I thank you for this day. I thank you for my breath. I thank you for your mercy. I thank you for everything that you've given me". And when you do that, the Bible says, "The Lord inhabits the praises of his people". He shows up just to sit and listen to you talk. Thankfulness is the thing that releases God's supernatural power. Why? Because when God shows up, his power comes with him. Look at it this way in the Bible: Jonah, he hears from the Lord. The Lord tells him, "Jonah, I want you to go to Nineveh". Jonah was so prejudice and so biased against those people that having heard directly from God, he goes the exact opposite direction. And before we break out the judgment card on Jonah, people say, "Oh, if God talked to me, I'd do exactly what he said".
God has so many things that he said to you that you don't do right here. Jonah didn't have the book. We do. Jonah hears from God. Jonah says, "No". Jonah gets on a ship going the opposite direction. You know why? Because Jonah thought he was in control. God, who holds the world in his hands, starts to rock the boat. And there's some of you in this room that God is rocking the boat of your life right now. And you think it's all these other things. You think it's other people. You think it's other situations. No, it's God rocking the boat. And do you know what stubborn Jonah does? He still thinks he's in control. He tells the captain of the boat, "Throw me overboard. The weather will get better".
Do you see how stupid stubborn will make you? I mean, if I'm telling you, "Throw me overboard," no, don't do it. Jonah gets thrown overboard. Now right there, I'd have had a Holy Ghost prayer fit. I'd have just been like, "Lord, I'm sorry". But Jonah's not even sorry. He's in the water and here comes the fish. And the fish eats him. And Jonah still thinks he's in control. Jonah sleeps with the fishes. And for several verses, Jonah is complaining about his situation. Who caused the situation? Jonah. Why? Because Jonah thought he was in charge. God says, "Go to Nineveh". Jonah says, "No, I'm going my own way". God says, "Fine, you're food".
And finally in Jonah 2:9, sitting in the belly of the fish, he says, "You know, Lord, I will sacrifice to you with the voice of thanksgiving". And God takes the mute button off of Jonah's life. What did you say? "With the voice of thanksgiving". And God says, "I'm glad you saw it my way, Jonah. I've got a first-class ticket for you right to where I wanted you to go all along, to do what I wanted you to do all along. Because there's only really one way that you're going to get out of this deal, Jonah, and that's my way. You're not in control". Thanksgiving is what unleashed the mercy of God in his life. When you become thankful, you won't mind being broken, because brokenness is how God multiplies you. People go into a broken season, and they start crying out to God, saying, "Why" instead of thanking God for what.
Your life may be in a broken season, your business may be in a broken season, your marriage may be in a broken season, your body may be going through a broken season. Don't complain about what's being broken. Thank God, who has his hands on you and is multiplying you and taking your not enough that is going to become more than enough. Because I assure you, what you give to him, he'll bless it, he'll multiply it, and he'll bring it back to you. Say: Lord, I thank you for this trial that I'm going through. I don't understand it, but I'm putting it in your hands. I thank you that you're going to bless my business. I thank you that you're going to bless my marriage. I thank you that what I've given to you, you're going to multiply it. And I'm going to see a miracle in my life. I thank you for a broken heart, because you're making it stronger. I thank you for this dark valley, because you're teaching me to follow you. I thank you for the burdens that I'm carrying, because you're showing me, I'm more than a conqueror through Christ. I thank you, Lord, that you're in control and I'm not. I thank you that I'm going to come out of this valley, shouting in triumph, because the God that I serve is more than enough!
Thanksgiving is how you receive your miracle. And you have to learn to be thankful in brokenness. Why? Because how are you going to know God is a healer if you've never been sick? How are you going to know he's a provider if you've never been in need? How will you know he's a way maker until you've had no place to turn? Thank God for hard times because hard times is how you see what a mighty God we serve. Thanksgiving is how you receive your salvation. The miracle that might not have been occurs in Luke 17, when the Bible says that Jesus goes from Jerusalem, throughout Samaria and Galilee, and just happens to go into a village where there were ten lepers.
Now let me give you a better biblical description of what's going on. Jesus, the Son of God, leaves Jerusalem, the holy place where God's house is, and he goes throughout the land. Now literally in the time of Christ, if you were diagnosed with leprosy, because it was so deadly and so contagious: you had to go live in a village with other lepers. There was not a place for the leprous in your town. If your dad got leprosy, if your son got leprosy, if your mother, your daughter, your family member got leprosy, they were extracted from the home and banished to a leper's village. And Jesus, on his way to where he was going, did not happen to come across a leper's village. You had to go in there intentionally. It's not like he just showed up in town and went, "Oops, wrong turn". So everyone in the village was a leper.
Now the Bible says in Luke 17 that ten of those lepers cried out to him, "Jesus, have mercy on us". Ten of the people in that town out of how ever many there were, saw that the one who could meet their need was in that place. And Jesus responds to their faith by saying, "Go and show yourself to the priests," you've been cleansed. Now the reason they had to show themselves to the priest is because the priest was the one who was responsible for public health. And when your family member had leprosy, the priest was the one who decided, yes, this is leprosy: you're going to the leper's village. And the only way you could get out of the leper's village was either death, or the priest had to come and say, "You're cleansed and you can come back". Now the truth is there were no one recovers from leprosy. There wasn't then, nor is there now, a treatment. The only way that it could happen is a miracle.
Now let's connect some dots. The Bible says, "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son". He left the father's home in heaven, and he came to a place that was covered with lepers. All of us have the leprosy of sin that is on our soul. And the only way that we can be cured of leprosy is if Jesus Christ, the anointed one, touches our lives and cleanses us. Luke 17 says that of those ten, one returned. In the theater of your mind, see ten men with a death sentence simply watching their life fall apart, waiting to breathe their last breath. And suddenly, all of that condition that's on their body vanishes. And suddenly, everything that was broken is restored.
And suddenly, all that they thought was impossible is now possible. And they're walking back out of that leper's village into their homes, and into their lives. And they're telling each other, "I can't wait to hug my wife. I can't wait to see my kids. I can't wait to go to work. I can't way to go to this place or that place, or see this person, or touch that person. I got my life back"! And of those ten, one, one says, "Wait a minute. I'll catch up with y'all in a minute". And he runs back to Jesus. And the Bible says he comes and he gives him thanks. And Jesus sees the one. And the statement that he makes should break your heart, because Jesus sees the one and he looks up and he says, "Were there not ten? Where are the other nine"?
Now when you read it in the King James, you want to make it sound like Shakespeare, and it's not nearly as passionate. "Were there not ten? Where art the other nine"? That's not how it went down. Jesus said, "I touched ten. I changed them all. Why is only this one back to say, 'thank you'"? And seeing his gratitude, Jesus says to this leper: he says, "Your faith has saved your soul". You see, Jesus' touch temporarily changed his life. But his life on this earth was going to end. His thankfulness, his thankfulness changed his eternity. Temporarily, leprosy was gone. But when he became thankful, eternally, his destiny was forever changed.
That story often makes me think of how many times only 10% of us are saying "Thank you," while 90% of us are just enjoying the blessings: how only a portion of us understand where the good in our life comes from when the rest of us are all walking in God's blessings and God's favor and God's provision in everything that he's done, and just simply taking it for granted. "In him we live. In him we move. In him we have our being". The breath that you have been breathing while you've been sitting in church today, God gave you! And we should be thankful unto him. Sunday is our opportunity to decide that we're not going to be the nine who enjoy his goodness and just go on with our life. Sunday is the opportunity to be the one that comes back to him who set you free, and says, "Thank you". Sunday is the day for you to say:
God, I thank you for your goodness. I thank you for your mercy. I thank you for your grace. I thank you for your salvation. I thank you for the peace of mind that I have. I thank you for the joy of the Lord that is my strength. I thank you for the provision that you've given me in my job. I thank you that you spared me. I thank you that you made a way for me. I thank you that you've healed me. I thank you that for my loved ones. I thank you for my family. I thank you for my freedom. I thank you for all the things that you've done for me, because without you, I have nothing. But because of you, I have all things. So let me be grateful unto you. Let me be thankful unto you. Let me rejoice in the joy of my salvation, because without you, I'd be lost, and hopeless, and broken, and dead, and dying! But because of you, I have life everlasting! Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!
So often in life, we murmur about the minor instead of being thankful for the major. Ah, we murmur about the dirty house instead of thanking God for a place to live. We murmur about the mess in the sink instead of thanking God for kids that can eat food. We murmur about all that we have to do and the very little time we've got to do it in instead of being thankful to God for the air in our lungs, for the heart that's beating in our chest, for everything that we have, and everything that he's given. We murmur about the world that we're living in instead of being thankful to God that through his salvation, we have overcome the world. Psalm 20, it says very clearly, "We will rejoice in your salvation". If you're having a day of trouble, and you want God to answer you, rejoice in your salvation. If you need help, and you want God to send it to you, rejoice in your salvation. If you want God to remember all that you've done and how you've promised that you would live for him, rejoice in your salvation. And if you need the desire of your heart to be met today, rejoice in your salvation. I want us to stand at the close of this service.
Father, this day as we rejoice in the joy of our salvation, let us be reminded to always be thankful for the many blessings that you have given, and to share the joy of our thanksgiving and salvation with those around us so that they would want to know this redeemer who has set us free. Father, today we thank you for the gift of your son, Jesus Christ. We thank you for the gift of your shed blood, not only for what it has done, but what it is doing, and what it will continue to do until we see you face to face. Amen.