if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
2 Chronicles 7:14
This Old Testament Scripture, some would say only apply to the Children of Israel. I would tell them that this is not true. Because nowhere in the Bible does it tell us to not be humble, to not pray, to not seek the Lord’s face, to not turn from our wicked ways. So, if you are reading your bible correctly then you will realize that the words of the Old Testament are just as important to us as it is to the children of Israel. Are you not a child of God? And in being a child of God do you not take on the name of the Father.
• Were you not brought with a price?
• Are you not adopted into the family of Christ?
So, we are indeed called by His name and in being called by His name we are to do as this Scripture tells us to.
This message comes out of that uncertainty some of us have about the Old Testament and what part it plays in our Christian Walk, so the subject for today is if.
In our Scripture we find that the word if is placed as a condition for the children of Isreal as well as us; something we must do before God does what He desires to do for us. This puts the choice squarely in our laps, because God is ready and able to forgive us and our sins…and the healing of lands means that He can bring about great things into your life. For God to forgive our sins and heal our land we must come to Him in humbleness, giving up of self, seeking Him for direction in our everyday life. If we do these things, then we will see His promises in our lives.
The word if is a very important word in scripture because it calls upon us to do something of our own will; it calls us to react against sin, evil, and wickedness. It calls us to look at our inner self so that we realize what is truly important to us. If we truly wanted to seek God, then we would stop doing some of the things we do that we know are wrong. If we truly wanted to be humble before God, then we would not put any conditions to God before we bow down in submission.
Let’s look back at a condition that God placed before Cain when his sacrifice was not accepted, and Abel’s was.
"If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.”
Genesis 4:7
This scripture speaks to us in how we worship God. He is telling Cain, it is not your sacrifice that is displeasing, it is your attitude and reason for how and what you sacrifice. God asked Cain a very important question, along with the reward for doing it. “If you do well, will you not be accepted? “God said, “Cain, it is up to you to decide which direction you want to go.” God then goes on to tell him what happens if he decides to go in a bad direction. We are like Cain in this respect, at times: doing things for God as an obligation, praising God only in the good times, coming to church to be seen, and just nor doing what we know to be right. Let’s look at Hebrews 11:4 to make this point sharper.
"By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts; and through it he being dead still speaks."
We can see that Abel’s offering was done by faith, while it appears that Cain’s had no such faith. So, we see that it is a matter of the heart. It is a matter of the reason why. If we present ourselves before God with faith and love, we will be all the better for it. But if we choose to go our own way, then sin lays in wait for us.
We can see that God was looking in on the heart of Abel and Cain, in how they presented their sacrifices, not in want they were presenting. And because Cain was not operating from good intentions in his worship of God, sin was not far behind, "If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.” This is where God tells Cain that he could overcome the sin that waits like a lion waiting to pounce on him if he changed his ways. And we can see from the rest of the scripture that sin did overcome him and he killed his brother out of jealously.
Just as God put the condition before Cain “If you do well, will you not be accepted?” We too must also come before God with a sacrifice that is from the heart. We must present ourselves holy and pleasing before God. God wants our obedience more than our sacrifice. Otherwise sin also waits for us, but through Christ Jesus we can claim victory.
Several years ago, I chewed long-cut Wintergreen Skoal. I know, I know. It causes cancer of the mouth and is bad for your heart and your breath, and girls are never going to want to kiss you if you chew that stuff. I knew all that for years, yet I couldn’t kick the habit — mainly because I didn’t want to. The tobacco gave me a little buzz and helped me relax.
I tried to stop. I went to websites and looked up statistics about the health risks of chewing tobacco. I printed the statistics and placed them on my desk where I could read them when I was tempted. But it didn’t help. I still bought a can of the stuff every other time I gassed up my car. This went on for at least a year, until . . .
I was listening to the radio one afternoon, when a voice came on, very distorted and troubled. The man sounded as though part of his face were missing — low and muffled and slobbery. Between songs, the radio station had inserted a commercial, a public Service message about the danger of using chewing tobacco. The man in the commercial said half his jaw had been removed, he had no lower lip, and his face was deformed because for years he had used smokeless tobacco. He didn’t list any facts; he didn’t speak of any harmful ingredients; he didn’t say he was going to die of cancer. Yet the image of a man without a chin speaking into the microphone was enough to convince me to stop. I never used the stuff again.
That is a story of us who are told the danger of something but choose to do what we think is best. Cain did the same and was basically pushed from the presence of God.
If you come to God with a heart that is truly seeking Him, then your sacrifice will be credited to you in the eyes of God.
• The time you spend in His service will be rewarded by Him
• The offerings you give when you tithe will be rewarded by Him
• The life you lead walking by faith will be rewarded by Him
If we come with the right heart. If we humble ourselves and seek His face in prayer and worship, then He will bring a healing upon us. The Old Testament verse in our opening scripture says that God would heal our land; for us under the New Covenant that land is us. God will bring upon us a healing to our health, our emotions, our mind, our finances, our families, and our lives.
• Just as Jesus healed the man born blind
• Just as Jesus healed the man full of leprosy who stated to Jesus if thou wilt, thou can make me clean
• Just as Jesus healed the man by the pool of Bethesda
• Just as Jesus healed the woman with an issue of blood
Jesus can also heal you fully and completely. With Jesus the healing is full and complete, where not only the aliment is cured, but everything that goes along with it are cured: (elaborate on these things). If we humble ourselves.
“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.”
Matthew 5:13
With this verse we now look at our Christian character and how we as born-again Christians should go out and flavor the world with the Spirit of Christ Jesus. “You are the salt of the earth.” Salt adds flavoring, acts as a preservative, melts coldness, and heals wounds. We are the flavoring in this world that should take out the bland taste of sin from the mouths of those that we encounter in our daily lives. We are that flavoring in the world that should help to remove the bad taste of bondage to sin from. We are that salt that adds flavoring to the world so that they see that world is bland, but Jesus is better. Taste and see that the Lord is good. If you lose that saltiness, then what good are you? Your testimony becomes worthless before men. Now this is not saying that you lose or have lost your salvation, but that you are not using your God given talents and abilities to benefit the kingdom of God. it means that you are purposefully not adding that much needed seasoning to the world. Then what good are you? They say that if you are not part of the solution, then you are part of the problem.
If we humble ourselves and seek His face, we can remain salty, bringing a healing to this land we live in.
Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.”
Matthew 16:24
Notice the if, a choice one makes to turn from the old ways to that of Jesus. Please note that He asks us to deny ourselves. What does that mean? It means that we are to put down any identity we think we may be under gay, lesbian, trans, bi, agnostic, atheist, or anything else that flies in the face of the word of God. To shed whatever, it is and take on Christ likeness. That is, if you desire to do so.
Here again we speak of the Christian character of a true believer. Jesus says that if you are a true believer than you would put away self and look to Jesus as Lord of your life. If you are a true believer of Christ Jesus then you would “take up your cross”, which means that you are lifting your Christian walk so high that all may see it, that you are willing to put your life on the line to bring Christianity into the world. This is where you are letting your light so shine that the world knows that you are a follower of Christ Jesus. To take up means to lift the Christ likeness in you for all mankind to see, letting the world know that Christ is truly the head of your life.
If we humble ourselves and seek His face in prayer and worship, we will know that we serve a mighty God. And knowing that you serve a mighty God we will have no problem taking up our cross and following Him.
"If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear!”
Mark 7:16
A very simple statement that carries a lot of meaning, because it speaks of not only the physical but also the spiritual. As far as I know, everybody is born with a set of ears which we use to physically hear things. Sometimes we are born unable to hear the physical world. But we are never unable to hear the spiritual world, the spiritual sounds of Jesus knocking on our door. Sometimes when we are hiding out from a bill collector or that person we don’t want to be bothered with anymore, we try to close our ears to their presence: we screen our calls, we peek through the door peep-hole, and we tell the kids to tell the other person that we are not home. This vary act of avoidance is letting us know that we have ears, but we refuse to hear. Jesus says that to the disciples, that you know that I exist and you know the truth that I am telling you, so stopping acting like I am not here and stop acting like my words are not real and true.
Now it is interesting to note that this phrase "If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear!” It appears about 14 times in the New Testament. It appears once in the book of Matthew, three times in the book of Mark, twice in the book of Luke, and eight times in the book of Revelations. It is an important statement made by Jesus:
• That we should stop avoiding the gift of salvation
• To stop running from the One where all good things flow
• To stop running away from the One who will give us the living water
• (add more as the Spirit wills)
If we humble ourselves and seek His face will all things work out for the good.
