Having Boldness In the Lord

Good morning. Lord, just pray that you'd open up the scriptures to us and help me to share, not from myself, but from your spirit, that your name would be glorified, Jesus. Amen. I was thinking about some things that hinder us in our walk with God. And one of the things I came to understand is that Jesus' disciples, they were wholehearted. They were very fervent. They left everything. They said, Lord, what will we have? We left everything to follow you. But there was something that they lacked. They lacked the Holy Spirit. They lacked the power of boldness. And when it came time, when they said, oh, I'll die with the Lord, you know what happened? They all denied him and they ran away. Some of them stayed close. But Peter, he called down curses. I never knew the man. I don't know the man. And I see that quite often among Christians. When we get together, we have a boldness because we're in a pack. Like coyotes, when they're together, they're in for the kill. But when you see them alone by themselves, they're scared of people. And the fear of man is a snare. It's a snare to you when you're worried about the opinions of people, especially prominent people, people who can affect you, people who can affect your business, people who can affect where you're going to live, people who can have power to determine what kind of work you're going to do on the job. And so our tendency is that if we don't have the power of the Holy Spirit, we are prone to fear. And Jesus said many, many times to his disciples, do not fear. Do not fear. But they were prone to fear and we are prone to fear. And so we don't want to be afraid. Fear involves torment. But perfect love casts out fear. If we had the same concern about those people that we see as someone who has power to influence our future, if we had a real love for them, then we would speak the truth to them in love. We would not be afraid even if they threw us into a prison. Even if the things that happened to us, we don't know what would happen to us, but we compromise. We hold back from speaking the truth. And so many times what can happen is we become cowards. Those of us who are wholehearted can become cowards. And it talks about the section of the moral, we'll take a standard against them and we'll pre-chart against them. And the liars, all liars who have their part in a lakewood fire, you know, and we'll take a stand against the hypocrites. But what about the cowards? What about the cowards who succumb to fear and don't pray fervently and ask the Holy Spirit to give them boldness that they can be witnesses? Because they don't want to suffer. They might suffer rejection. They might suffer persecution. They might lose their jobs. They might lose their friends. They might be rejected by their families. Certain people we feel confident with, but other people, we can become cowards. And you know, the most important thing is that we are consistent in how we behave. If you're a coward, then you should be a coward all the time, 100% of the time. And if you're a Christian, then you should be a Christian all the time. Not 50% of the time, not 75. All the time. That we wouldn't deny the Lord, because that's how you deny Jesus. Oh, I saw you. You're one of the guys. You go up to the creek. You associate with those alcoholics and drug addicts. I don't know what you're talking about. And it can happen that we succumb to fear, that we cower under, that we turtle, that we hide from who we really are. And you know, these are the most sad kind of Christians. They profess to know God, but when it comes down time to speaking up for their faith, they deny him, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified. Outside are not only the liars and the sexually immoral and the abominable, but the cowards. The cowards. He says, if you deny me before men, your heavenly father will deny you before. I'll deny you before my father in heaven. We don't want to be denied by the Lord. So it's important for us to stand fast in our faith, not to be weak in faith, not to succumb to fear, to be crippled by fear. We don't want to be that way. I think of people who started off as worms, like Jacob. And God changed his name after maybe 20 years or more. He changed him into Israel. He went from a worm into a butterfly. He was transformed. We think of some of those creatures that go from one form to another. But then we think of the chameleon. And the chameleon can come, and he can come into the church, and he can worship Jesus, and he can preach the gospel, and he can share the wonderful testimonies of God. And then that chameleon, when he goes into the workplace, and he gets around the ungodly and people who might persecute him, he changes color, and he can fit in just perfectly in that environment, no problem. And then he can go to another place. He can go shopping, and he can go in there, and he can fit in with all those worldly shoppers, and he can just blend right in. Then he can go to a sports game, and he can cheer with the fans at the sports game, and he can become one of the super fans. And he can just fit right in in that environment. And then even he can go with the people who are filthy, and maybe he doesn't do the things that the filthy man does. But he's able to fit in just perfectly and not be persecuted for his faith. He's come to master what it means to be a chameleon. This is not the life of the Christian, to be a chameleon. This is the lukewarm church people who are rich, increasing goods, and they've found a way to fit in everywhere. Because they don't want to be rejected by men, and chosen by God. This is a dangerous place for us, brothers. Because if we decide that we can fit in with the lukewarm just as nicely as we can fit in with those who desire to walk with God, then we have a problem with Jesus. May the Lord help us to get light on ourselves. Paul says this, I am not ashamed of the gospel in Romans in chapter one. For it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes. Do you believe? Then why do we deny him when we get around the the lukewarmers or the unbelievers? Oh, well, we use wisdom. Well, you know, you need to use wisdom. Well, you know, when in Rome, you know, you kind of do as the Romans, and then after they accept you, then you kind of know what will happen is you will become corrupted, you will become defiled. He says, I've chosen you a peculiar people, a set apart people unto myself, chosen by God and precious. So we also have to be set apart, so that we are not ashamed to be Christians. And our conduct has to line up with our words. And many times we chameleon because our conduct is compromising. And so if people find out that we're Christians, well, then we're going to be rejected. And none of us wants to be rejected. We want to be accepted everywhere. This is what Leonard Ravenhill said. Why do you want to be accepted everywhere? Have you no spiritual stature? Have you no righteousness that reflects on their corruption? No, we ourselves compromise, and we can blend in with the best of them. This is not from God, brothers, we need to repent for this. We need to be set apart people, holy and acceptable to God, which is our reasonable act of worship offering ourselves and say, I am a Christian, I will not laugh at your jokes, I will not participate with your foolishness, I will not enter into these kinds of discussions or these kinds of activities. You know, there's different reasons why we compromise, but you know what, fear is the underlying thing that keeps us from standing up for the Lord Jesus Christ. May the Lord give us a spirit of boldness, may we receive the Holy Spirit so we won't compromise our convictions and stand for what is right. I was thinking of Adam and Eve in the garden and how Adam and Eve, they compromise what God said, they compromise their convictions. And what happened is the result was they were cast out of the garden. They didn't realize what was going to happen to them. They only just made one mistake. And all sin entered the world and death through sin came through them. And then I was reading this morning, the Lord said, now man has become like us, doing both good and evil, lest they should go back into the garden and eat from the tree of life and live forever. He set cherub there at the east of the garden with flaming sword so that they could not go to enter at the garden. Yet now we see provision made for us no longer to be cowards, no longer to be terrified by fear, no longer to succumb to the weakness of the flesh and sin. We see Jesus as our elder brother. We see Jesus as our high priest who comes and gives himself completely to the will of the Father so that it is written in the volume of the books to do thy will, O God. Not only did he come to do what Aline shared, to do miracles, to cast out devils, to heal the sick, to raise the dead, to cleanse lepers, but to go to the cross, to give his life as a ransom. It makes no sense unless you're aware of what your Heavenly Father is asking of you, unless you have that heart to know what your boss is asking of you, to give of yourself for the team. You know, Jesus gave himself completely to the will of the Father. And when he was of age, he came to understand for this reason he was born. Because in Adam all die and he would be that provision if he would obey perfectly everything his Heavenly Father asked of him, that he would be able to reconcile mankind back to himself through the death of the cross, through the shed blood of Christ. When we see in the Old Covenant the tabernacle, this is very detailed. And what we see is the high priest could go in once a year not without blood, and he would go into where the Ark of the Covenant was. And here are these angels that once stood at the garden with their flaming swords, keeping man from the tree of life. Here we see them facing one another in a mission of mercy, where they are set there to look upon the blood of the bulls and goats that was brought in once a year for the atonement of the people of God, so that they might have access to hear the word of God. But now at the end of the ages, Jesus, by one sacrifice of himself, he dealt with the sin issue once for all. And we see now that Jesus himself becomes that appropriation, that atoning sacrifice, where his blood was shed once for all. No more sacrifices are necessary. No blood of bulls and goats could take away sin. But Jesus' precious blood appeared for us. And I was reading this morning something interesting. I thought maybe we could take a look at it in John and chapter 20. And I saw something I'd never seen before. And for me, it was a picture of the tabernacle, the earthly tabernacle. Jesus said, tear down this tabernacle and three days I'll raise it again. That's what he said. If this earthly house, this tent is destroyed, you have a tabernacle made without hands in the heavens. And I have to ask you, are the things that are created more beautiful, more acceptable and more precious and more real than the things that are spiritual? I've heard many people say, oh, you're just spiritualizing scripture. You know, Jesus said, my words are spirit and they're spiritually understood. The words of the spirit are more real than the words of the natural. The natural man does not understand or comprehend the things of the spirit. For had they understood these things, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. So the things that are first are natural and then the spiritual, but the spiritual things are more real than the natural things. They're eternal. Heaven and earth, it says will pass away, but he says, my word will not pass away. Jesus is that living word. That blood that was shed will never pass away. He has perfected forever. He said, those who are being sanctified and that by that one offering of himself, he's perfected forever. The conscience can be cleansed from dead works because of that one sacrifice to those who are being set apart. You say you're perfect through the shed blood of Christ. God sees us as beautiful in his sight, reconciled as Adam and Eve were cast out of the garden. Now Jesus drawing us to himself through the shedding of his own blood. When we look here in John in chapter 20, I want to read this. It says now in the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early while it was still dark and she saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. Then she ran and said to Simon Peter, the other disciple who I believe was John, whom Jesus loved and said to them, they've taken the Lord away. She didn't believe. She thought they stole his body. They've taken him away. And then Peter, therefore, he went out and the other disciple who I believe is John was going to the tomb. And they said, then they both ran. They were in full sprint, but John was in better shape. And it says that he got to the tomb first and stooping down, he looked down and he saw the linen clothes lying there, but he himself did not go in. But Peter, Simon Peter came following and he went into the tomb and he saw the linens lying there and the handkerchief that had been there on his head, not lying there, but folded together by itself in the place. Then the other disciple who came to the tomb, then he went in also and he saw and he believed. Here are these brothers, they getting a revelation now. Jesus is risen from the dead. No, he's not been stolen. The light's coming on. He's risen, just as he said, quickly now, let's tell the other disciples what we've seen. And so it happened, it says, then the other disciple who came into the tomb, he also saw and believed. For as yet, they had not known the scripture that he must rise again from the dead. They didn't understand it. But now they understood it. Then the disciples, they ran back to their own houses. But Mary stood outside the tomb weeping. So here's the woman who first looked in and saw the first looked and saw the stone rolled away and didn't see Jesus there. Then these disciples, they came and then they went in and they saw the linen shroud and they saw the handkerchief laying there. And then there was a revelation that came that he's risen. And then they ran back to their houses. And then Mary, she's back there again. She stood outside the tomb weeping. And as she was weeping, she stooped down and now she looks into the tomb a second time. The first time she looked, she didn't see it. The second time, this is what she saw. She saw two angels in white sitting one at the head and the other at the feet with the body of Jesus head laying. And right there, I got a picture of the mercy seat. I saw a picture of the mercy seat. I saw those angels there looking down on the on the shed blood of Jesus must have leaked out of the shroud and was laying there on the stone. And they saw Jesus. They saw that shed blood. And it was like, what mercy, the mercy of God towards mankind. And then Jesus appears to the woman. And she says, he says, don't cling to me for I've not yet been to my God and your God to my father and your father. And I was reading in Hebrews this morning. And it says that in Hebrews nine, it talked about the first tabernacle and that the priest went in to offer sacrifice of the blood of bulls and goats. But he said, Jesus now has entered into the heavens. And he has brought forth a better sacrifice than these offering up a sacrifice now in the tabernacle, a spiritual tabernacle in the heavens. And he went there not without blood brothers. He went there with his own blood and presented that sacrifice of himself before God and made restitution for mankind. So that we now could have access to the mercy through the mercy seat through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. We can now come to the Father in Jesus name. He taught them how to pray our father who art in heaven, you are holy, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, thy kingdom come, thy will be done. So now when the sin issue is dealt with, now it paves the way for the Holy Spirit to come, thy kingdom come, thy will be done. We could never do his will in Adam all died, but in Jesus Christ all shall be made alive to those who believe in him as many as receive him to them he gives the right to become children of God. And so now thy kingdom come, Lord send the Holy Spirit to me because I'm a coward. I can't do this without your help. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Cause me to become like Jesus, cause me to walk worthy of the calling, cause me to be more than a conqueror through Christ who gives me strength. And it is possible through the kingdom coming. You say, oh, well, you know, when will the end be? And when will it be the sign of your coming? Let's look briefly into that in Hebrews in chapter nine. Some of us, we don't have light. And it's because we believe some of the stories and some of the traditions handed down from our forefathers. And we can't blame them because they had limited light. But now when we read scripture and the Holy Spirit illumines our eyes, we can get an understanding of the things that are going on in the heavenlies. If we start in verse 23, therefore it was necessary that the copies of the things in heaven should be purified with these being sprinkled with blood. The copies of the things in heaven, you know, when Moses was on the earth and he went and he sprinkled blood on everything. He sprinkled blood on the people, he was sprinkling blood on everything. And it says that that was the earthly tabernacle that they were working with. But now he said, Christ has entered heavens. And he says, it was necessary that the copies of these things in the heavens should be purified with these things. But the heavenly things themselves are better sacrifices than the earthly. Can everyone say they are better sacrifices? Spiritual things are better than earthly things, than carnal things. And so Christ has not entered the holy place made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself now. Now to appear in the presence of God for us, to make atonement for us, to offer up prayers for us through the shed blood of Christ. Not that he should offer himself often as the high priest enters the most holy place every year with blood of another. Then he being Jesus would have had to suffer many times or often since the foundation of the world. But now once at the end of the ages. Now, when was the end of the ages? The end of the ages was when that first covenant transferred through the shed blood of Christ. And at the resurrection, we enter into the second covenant. We enter into the new covenant. There's a lot of people today who are still old covenant Christians, who have not been born again, who have not received the atoning work of grace through the shed blood of the cross. And they're still living by do's and don'ts, still trying to come to God by their good works, by trying to offer sacrifices of themselves, rather than entering into the finished work of Christ, and coming into the shed blood of Christ. And just being crucified with Christ, just denying self and saying, Lord, I can't do this, help me, Jesus. And just being gloriously born again. And all of a sudden, what they could not do, grace kicks in. And all of a sudden, they can do by the power and glory of God. See, we don't want to preach just the word, but we want to preach the power of God. We want to preach the resurrection of Christ, so that people will see that we're Christians, not cowards. People will see that we've been transformed from worms, the way we used to be into glorious butterflies, and beautiful, being made beautiful in the sight, not chameleons. Fitting in with the ungodly, loving money, loving the world, and all the things that are in it. May the Lord help us. He goes on from there. He says, then Jesus would have had to suffer often. But now once, at the end of the ages, at the cross, this is the end of the ages. He says he has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. This is when he dealt with the sin issue. He dealt with it at the end of the ages. And now it says this, and he has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, and as it is appointed for men to die once, and after this the judgment. If you've also been crucified with Christ, if you've also been buried with him in baptism unto death, you've died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is our life, appears, you also will appear with him in glory. Have you been crucified with Christ? Can you say that it's no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me, and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God. I live as a proxy through Jesus Christ. I'm not my own. Just as the Pharaoh bought the people's land and made them their slaves, Jesus Christ has bought us with his shed blood, and we have become bond slaves of the Lord Jesus. It is appointed for men to die once, and after this the judgment. Brothers and sisters, it says in 1 Peter 4 and verse 17, now is the time for judgment to begin with the household of God. When does our judgment begin? When you've been crucified with Christ. When sin no longer is your master. You're not under law. You're under grace. You've entered into a new covenant. You've entered into life. Though he die, yet shall he live, and though he lives, he shall never see death. By one sacrifice of himself, there is a mystery and a miracle. Brothers, sisters, we want to enter into this kind of judgment now. When you speak that word, and you get that conviction, say, Lord, please forgive me, and he deals with us as sons. He doesn't deal with the neighbor's family and the born again, but you're born again, and he deals with you as sons. Don't despise the chastening of the Lord from Hebrews in chapter 12, somewhere around verse 5, because whom the Lord loves, he disciplines. He judges us now so that we are not condemned with the world, so we can stand before him with confidence, and then we can have access to all the promises that are in God. All the promises in Christ are yes and amen. We can appear before him as the sons of God appeared in the days of Job before God, even so we as the sons of God and the Spirit can appear and bring our petition to God, and it says, whatever you ask of him, you shall, you shall, you shall receive if you don't doubt. You have confidence. You say, Lord, I need this from you. My children are lost. My family's lost. My neighbor's lost. The people at the creek are lost. Lord, I'm pleading now, bringing petition before you, and then we don't know how to pray, and then we groan. The Spirit within us groans. Lord, have mercy on them. Save them. Making intercession for us, it says, we who have the firstfruits of the Spirit inwardly groan within ourselves, longing also, it says in 2 Corinthians 5, to be further clothed. I see weakness in my flesh. I'm not perfected yet that this body, this tent might be put off and that I might be clothed with the righteousness of Christ yet further, the incorruption that is my habitation from heaven, another, a new body, a glorious body, the body of Christ to be transformed into that image. May the Lord help us to receive the Holy Spirit. You say, well, they received the Holy Spirit in an axe, and that was it. No. After the resurrection, it says the same day in the evening, Jesus appeared to the 11 in the room, and he said, peace be unto you, and he went up to them, and he breathed on them. Can you imagine? Breathed on them, and he said, receive ye the Holy Ghost. In the same way that God breathed into Adam's nostrils when he formed them on the ground, he breathed into them, and he became a life, a living being. That same way he breathed on them in that upper room, in that room that they were at, where the doors were locked, and they were terrified. He breathed on them, and he said, receive ye the Holy Ghost. But this is something separate than what happened to them in the upper room, an axe. I believe they received salvation there because they were dead in trespasses and sins, and they had to be reconciled back to God, salvation of their souls. He wakened their souls spiritually as Adam was in the garden, and then they received power to live according to this book, which we can't do unless we receive power. Ye shall receive power when the Holy Ghost come upon you. They were all scared because they were persecuting the Christians. Then what happened? They got together after Pentecost, they got together and they prayed, Lord, we need boldness. We don't want to deny your name. We don't want to be cowards. We don't want to become chameleons and be happy with this lifestyle. Lord, we need the Holy Spirit for boldness. Then that place shook, and they preached the Word of God with boldness. It's not a one-time deal, brothers. You can ask, and it shall be given. You say, Lord, I'm struggling. Lord, I need help. Lord, I need this. I need that. Just as a little child goes to their father and an earthly father will do whatever he can to help his little ones, our heavenly father will do whatever he can to help us so that we can be fully equipped against the devil and all of his schemes. So brothers, sisters, we are entering into that judgment now where for every idle word men speak to give an account. You spoke though proudly against your brother. Oh, man. Sorry, I didn't even realize it. I'm sorry. Please forgive me. Yeah, I guess I was supposed to. I made that joke or whatever. It was carnal. Oh, I didn't even realize it. Lord, help me. I got to change. I want to become like you, Jesus. You would never do that. We need to be more careful with our speech. Our words have power. Our words have weight. And when those words go out, they accomplish something they're sent out to accomplish, whether to hurt people, whether to heal people. Lord, help us to be careful. And so it says that it is appointed for men to die once. Verse 27, Hebrews 9, 27. And after this, the judgment. So Christ offered once to bear the sins of many to those who eagerly wait for him, he will appear a second time apart from sin for salvation. Well, when does salvation come? It comes at the second coming. Of course, I'm not talking about a third coming or a fourth coming or a fifth coming. But at the second coming of Christ, he appeared once to deal with the sin issue. Then he says, it's better that I go so that he can come for Jesus. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. It says he'll appear a second time. He said, it's better that I go so he can come. Who's he? The disciple said, the comforter, the spirit that will come from the father in my name, the spirit of the father and the son. We will come to you. We will make our abode with you. We will make our home with you. Why would it be better? Because Jesus was with them and he said, I will be in you. This is when you are able to not deny the Lord, not to be a coward anymore, not to just walk around just trying to seek to save your life. You're going to be able to give your life as brother Aline shared. You're going to be able to go to the cross. You're going to be able to suffer rejection and not be offended when people say things and mock you and ridicule you and point their finger at you. You won't be so easily offended. You're going to be able to have a backbone of steel and a face of flint when the spirit of God comes on you. You're going to be able to overcome. This is the goal brothers. It says at the end of the ages this was accomplished at the cross and now he said to those who eagerly wait for him. He is going to appear a second time apart from sin for salvation. Brothers and sisters, it is appointed for men to die once and after this the judgment and he's going to appear a second time. He appeared to them in that room and he appeared to them in acts apart from sin for salvation. Brothers and sisters, we have need of salvation and then he appeared to them again when they were in the room after they were cowards and they needed boldness because they were afraid of the persecution. He appeared to them again and then the power of God came and shook the place and he's going to appear to every eye and everyone under heaven and he says every eye shall see him even those who rejected him. They'll all see him. Brothers and sisters, it's better for us that we suffer now, that we deny ourselves now, that we lay down our will now so that we're not judged with the world later. They are of the world therefore they speak as the world. Your tongue gives you a way. If you're a chameleon, you're going to be able to just get on with with the lukewarmers and the unbelievers, no problem. They are of the world therefore they confess just like the world. Everyone who confesses Jesus has come in the flesh is of God. If you're of God, you're going to confess the Lord Jesus Christ. You're going to speak like Jesus. You're not going to speak like the world and if we speak like the world and we get caught up in worldly chatter then we get convicted and it says that we repent so that we're not condemned with the world. May the Lord help us to walk worthy of the calling to which we've been called in a manner pleasing unto him, putting away lying, putting away speaking evil of one another, putting on the Lord Jesus Christ, being clothed with humility and the righteousness which is in Christ. May the Lord help us to fulfill the purpose and call of God for each one of you in your life that we would no longer be conformed to this world but transformed by the renewing of the mind. Let us set our minds on things above where Christ is seated not on earthly things. He says that we're seated with Christ in God. It says that we're seated with him in heavenly places. Are we really seated with him in heavenly places if you're born again? It says let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus. Do you have the mind of Christ? Paul says we have the mind of Christ. I has not seen nor hear heard nor entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared for those who love him. Has God revealed it to you? Paul says God has revealed it to us by his spirit. The natural man cannot understand the things of the spirit but those who are spiritual they understand these things because God has revealed it to him. There's so many things that we haven't entered into the life of the spirit. May the Lord cause us to really press in to those heavenly things. May the Lord give us that grace and that desire to just put off the old man and to put on the Lord Jesus Christ. That means we need to become conformed into his same image. It's step by step brothers from glory to glory. Stars differ in their brightness but may the Lord help us to shine bright and say man you're radiant. You're glowing. We see something different. What's your secret? I'm a Christian. Well I'm a Christian. I'm a bond slave of the Lord Jesus. I've been bought with a price. I'm not home. May the Lord give you that kind of a heart that kind of a passion for Jesus that would draw you closer and closer to him and being obedient to what his word says. This is how we bear fruit and this is how we please the Father. When we're obedient in the small convictions and we walk worthy of that calling then the Holy Spirit will be very quick to respond when we ask. He says whatever we ask in prayer we shall shall shall receive if we don't doubt in Jesus name. Amen.