(This sermon was preached with a pair of sunglasses sitting on the top of my head, reasons to be seen later in the sermon.)
Every Church longs to see revival. I am not talking about a series of revival services. Those can bring about spiritual awakening, but seldom do.
I’m talking about the people being on fire for God. I’m talking about the members being so full of God, they can’t help but spread the good news of Christ everywhere they go.
I read about a Church over in the South East that got a new pastor. He considered how he could get the people to move towards spiritual revival. After praying and seeking God on it, he decided to start a contest. He asked each of the people to paint a picture that represented a Church in revival.
Many interesting paintings came in the next couple of months. After much deliberation, the pastor chose one of the paintings that he considered to be the winner. It was a picture of the Church building, but it was on fire. It was like the burning bush in Exodus, on fire but not being consumed. It was a beautiful piece of work.
The Church had a special service in which the pastor explained the significance of the painting. By the time he finished the sermon, the people were almost shouting with excitement. The pastor said, “I believe we should permanently mount the picture in the Church to remind us of the fire God grants us through His Holy Spirit. Where should we hang the painting?”
One of the longtime members spoke up without even thinking about it. “I think the best spot for the painting is by the fire extinguisher.”
Many times, when God starts moving in a Church, we place the movement too close to the fire extinguisher.
Let me ask some questions that will guide our thoughts today. How close to God are you today? Are you closer than you were yesterday? Are you closer or further to God than when you were first saved?
Before you answer that question, be careful. Remember, this pastor is one who loves trick questions. Yes, this is one of them.
In Ephesians 2:11-13, the Apostle Paul talks about our position to God, first before we were saved, and then after we are saved. Let’s pray and then look at these verses together.
Eph 2:11 Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called "the uncircumcision" by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— Eph 2:12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
The Apostle Paul summarizes what he has stated in the first part of the chapter to bring back this thought back to our minds. We were once separated from Christ.
One of the thing that kept us Gentiles from salvation was not being a Jew. We were uncircumcised in a world in which God had commanded His people to be circumcised. We were not separated as a people for God but were separated from God’s people. This was an important distinction pointed out by John.
Joh 1:11-13 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
We did not carry the promises of God. When God said, “If my people who are called by my name….”, He was not talking to us. So the “If…Then…” promises of the Old Testament were outside our reach. This was the case for us throughout Jesus’ life.
We have an interesting story in Mark. Mar 7:24-30 And from there he arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And he entered a house and did not want anyone to know, yet he could not be hidden. 25 But immediately a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him and came and fell down at his feet. 26 Now the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth. And she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 27 And he said to her, "Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." 28 But she answered him, "Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs." 29 And he said to her, "For this statement you may go your way; the demon has left your daughter." 30 And she went home and found the child lying in bed and the demon gone.
Jesus was saying that He was coming for His own people first. But the prophecy said that when His people ultimately rejected Him, He would turn to the Gentiles. That happened, but not until after Jesus’ death, although it was prophesied years before.
Psa 69:6-8 Let not those who hope in you be put to shame through me, O Lord GOD of hosts; let not those who seek you be brought to dishonor through me, O God of Israel. 7 For it is for your sake that I have borne reproach, that dishonor has covered my face. 8 I have become a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my mother's sons.
Isaiah 53:3. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
When Israel rejected the ultimate “If…then…” promise of the Messiah by crucifying the Messiah, Jesus Christ, He turned His favor to the Gentiles. Many years before, Micah prophecied what was going to happen.
Mic 3:9-12 Hear this, you heads of the house of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel, who detest justice and make crooked all that is straight, 10 who build Zion with blood and Jerusalem with iniquity. 11 Its leaders give judgment for a bribe; its priests teach for a price; its prophets practice divination for money; yet they lean on the LORD and say, "Is not the LORD in the midst of us? No disaster shall come upon us." 12 Therefore because of you, Zion shall be plowed as a field; Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins, and the mountain of the house a wooded height.
In Jesus’ last week before He was crucified, he echoed the prophecy of Micah in tears. Luk 19:41-44 And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, 42 saying, "I wish that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.43 For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side 44 and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And the destroyers will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation."
And as prophecied, In 70 AD, Titus of Rome defeated Jerusalem and destroyed the city, plowing the very location of the temple, not leaving a stone unturned. By then, the Gospel was well in the hands of the Gentiles.
In John’s letters to the Churches in the book of Revelation, all the seven Churches were Gentile Churches. It was evident that the Gospel had passed from the Jews to the Gentile Church.
But God not only turned His favor to the Gentiles. He not only turned it way from the Jews. By having the temple grounds plowed by Gentiles, He made it to where the Jewish form of worship, in its fullest, would be impossible. With contaminated articles of worship and with no temple, He also removed from the earth the ceremonial means of purifying articles to resume worship.
The articles of Jewish worship must be sanctified in a ceremony with blood of a spotless red heifer. There has not been one qualifying red heifer on the face of the earth since. I must teach a lesson soon on the red heifer.
But if Israel found a red heifer, and their conservative theologians are looking hard in order to find one to resume animal sacrifices required by their worship system, the grounds of Temple Mountain must be cleared and sanctified. Now, there is a Muslim mosque built where the Temple would be. And the Muslims would not give it back to the Jews because it is one of their most valuable and sacred places to a Muslim (The Mosque A Moshed Al Aqsa).
God not only took His favor away from the Jews but He made their style of worship impossible for now. And He turned the keys of the Kingdom to the Gentiles.
Eph 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. (Notice, it is not the blood of a spotless red heifer, or lack of it, which causes the Jews to stumble.)
We were once far away. Look at this verse. If we are saved, where are we now? If we are near when we were once far away, what has brought us near? What can you do to be closer to God?
Careful, these are trick questions. If Christ’s blood has brought us near, how can we improve upon that? If we are saved by grace, and we live in victory through grace, what makes us near to God?
This means, someone else paid for our nearness. The price was the blood of Jesus. The question has to follow: What about the times I don’t feel close to God? What about the times I wander away from Him?
The answer to that is the rhetorical question: What can you do to improve the work that Christ has already done?
Next week, I want to talk about how Christ has “Paid it all.” Paul goes on to show us what was involved in bringing us near. But today, I want to simply nail down the confusion about being close to God. I want to ask the questions and deliver the message Paul was emphasizing and that the Holy Spirit intended us to grasp in this passage.
I. First, When are you near to God?
“But now in Christ Jesus you… have been brought near…”
When? Now. If you have been saved, you are now as close to God as you can be. Why? Because God said so. When you were saved, you entered into God’s presence.
Ephesians 2:6 tells us clearly that we have already been raised up and seated in the heavenly realm. Romans 8:35-39 asks a very applicable question and gives a very emphatic answer.
“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
We will see in coming weeks that this is taken care of by the work of Jesus.
II. How are you near?
“…now you have been brought near.” What did I do to draw near to God? Jesus did the work. “…you have been brought near” for us is in the passive form. It was done to us and for us. Jesus removes the obstacles and He has closes the distance.
We can add nothing to or delete anything from our salvation once we are saved. Therefore, we can do nothing more than receiving the gift. And after receiving the gift of God in salvation, we can do nothing to pull away from God.
III. Why are you near?
“In Christ Jesus, you have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”
The blood of Christ qualifies you and certifies you for God-nearness. The blood of Christ, being in Christ Jesus, is all we can claim as the reason we are near to God. We believers are near to God because we are covered with the blood of Jesus.
You may be thinking, “Pastor, that does not line up with my experience. I have pulled away from Him and I know it. I am not as close to God as I used to be. Probably, none of us are.”
That, my friend, is another attempt by Satan to somehow steal glory away from Christ Jesus. I should be able to explain how we can be unshakably near to God and it seems like we have moved far away.
But to do that, I would have to find my sun glasses. I know I had them earlier, but where are they now? I had them in the Activity Building (fellowship hall/Sunday school class) and when I walked away from that area, I must have walked away from them.
I feel like my sun glasses are far from me, and the evidence that the lights appear glaring is proof that the sun glasses are far away. How could they be near me when every fiber of my being is telling me that they are lost, far from me, and I feel I will never get them back.
Let me just say this, that despite the fact that I lost my sun glasses…. Perhaps you feel like you were once close to God but now you have left Him. Perhaps you feel like if you had been more faithful to reading the Bible, fellowshipping with the family of God, been more forgiving to others, given more to missions, served more in the community those who are struggling, gone on more mission trips or camps. Perhaps if we have a seminar or revival to stir us up, we can be close to God again.
God is saying, “I never left. I will never be far from you. You cannot leave me. I am always near.” “where I am, there will you be also….”
I live with my wife, but I can still be lonely. I can get up in the morning and not speak to her, not touch her, not laugh with her and not let her into my daily thought, but she is here.
God is here, and despite how you feel, you are near to Him, if you are saved. Will you fellowship with Him right now? Realize it, accept it, fellowship with Him. He is Here.
