Brother Bill Sunday School 10/7/12

Brother Bill Sunday School 10/7/12

This lesson continues from last Sunday on the thought of reservations.  When people endeavor to get saved, they need to have nothing held back, no reservations, or they will not really get it.  When people come with reservations we need to tell them this, then they will not think that there is nothing to it when they don’t get saved.  They will recognize that they didn’t do their part.

The rich young ruler had great possessions.  With all mankind, (they may not have a thing except a smoking pipe as the story last week), if they are not willing to give up a possession to serve God then that is their great possession. 

As I was talking to one of my family members on the phone that had made a big mess out of their life, they seemed to be close to getting saved.  I told them that they could get saved and have everything right.  All of a sudden something changed and they said, “No, not now.”  What were they hanging onto?  People must get rid of their reservations.  For each individual in the world that is not saved, what is holding them back?

For each of the ten lepers, leprosy was their crisis.  They were going to die.  Leprosy destroys the body; their members start dying and then fall off.  They came because they had a crisis and Jesus healed them.  Only one came back to give thanks to God. 

When people get saved, they cannot come just for the purpose of getting out of their crisis.  They must forsake all to get saved.  Your crisis may not change after you get saved, but you will have God to help you through life.

Jesus told the rich young ruler to sell all that he had and come and follow Him.  The young man was not willing to do that.  This is just what we need to do: sell out.

1Ti 6:17  Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy;

1Ti 6:18  That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate;

1Ti 6:19  Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.

Here we see that it is not being rich that is displeasing to God.  It is having our possessions or desiring to have possessions with a wrong attitude.

1Ti 6:7  For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.

1Ti 6:8  And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.

1Ti 6:9  But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.

1Ti 6:10  For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

1Ti 6:11  But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.

There is nothing wrong with being frugal but having it as your driving force is wrong.  There is nothing wrong with being able to pay for your house or new vehicle with cash.  But when you are going after that thing where it is ruling you, then it will get you in trouble.

Mat 4:18  And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.

Mat 4:19  And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.

Mat 4:20  And they straightway left their nets, and followed him.

Mat 4:21  And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them.

Mat 4:22  And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him.

They left and forsook.  Jesus called them and there was a leaving behind.  For us it is the same: there must be a forsaking.  Jesus also called the young ruler to come and follow Him; He told him that he would have treasures in heaven, yet he would not forsake his possessions.

Mar 1:16  Now as he walked by the sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers.

Mar 1:17  And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.

Mar 1:18  And straightway they forsook their nets, and followed him.

Mar 1:19  And when he had gone a little further thence, he saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the ship mending their nets.

Mar 1:20  And straightway he called them: and they left their father Zebedee in the ship with the hired servants, and went after him.

They forsook.  Their business was so prosperous that they even had hired servants.  They were willing to forsake their dad and their business to follow Jesus. 

Luk 6:46  And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?

Luk 6:47  Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like:

Luk 6:48  He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock.

He digged deep.  We see here a man digging: he digs a little bit and he sees, “I really love my mom and dad, but I must get past that.”  He digs further, “This way here of ME, I must get past that.  I cannot live with this selfishness and be saved.”  He kept digging, “My children mean a lot for me, I would do anything for them, yet I must dig past that.  My occupation is such that I cannot do it and be saved, I must get past that too.” 

As with Nehemiah before they could start building the temple, they had to remove the rubbish.  If people don’t get past whatever it may be that would hold them back then they will not have a successful Christian walk.  We must dig deep and found our house on the Rock, Jesus Christ. 

Sometimes we don’t view what we possess as rubbish.  They are treasures to us.  We really must consider the cost of what we are hanging onto.  We brought nothing into this world and for sure we can take nothing out with us. 

The first digging is clearing the trash from our life.  Then as we get saved and walk for a while we must pray that God would help us to see our self and let God purge out the trash of our self that we have been hanging onto. 

It is a lifetime thing of dying out to ourselves.  It is not a onetime thing.  We die in sanctification but it is a daily dying out to what I want and saying, “Not my will but thine.”

Our parents and family are not rubbish but we cannot put them before God.  God loves them more than we do.  His desire is to see them saved.  We need to give our loved ones over to God and trust that He knows what is best for them. 

If we don’t die out to ourselves then how can we ever help our family?  If they don’t see us put God first then how can they ever know to put God first? 

It doesn’t make us lesser to our family when we put God first.  What kind of an example are we if they don’t see us live a different life than the nominal Christian world.  Many people are religious, how are we any different than they?  We need to live a life where they can see that God is our life, we have Him first place and will serve God no matter the cost.

What will man give in exchange for his soul?  There is nothing in our life that we could gain that would be worth our soul.  We will have our soul for all eternity.  It is the only thing in our life that is eternal and it is the most valuable thing that we have yet people will trade it for something that will last for just a little bit.  With the fear of God upon people then people will not have a problem getting rid of things.  “By the fear of the lord, men depart from evil.”

Mat 19:23  Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Mat 19:24  And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

Mat 19:25  When his disciples heard it, they were exceedingly amazed, saying, Who then can be saved?

Mat 19:26  But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.

It seems that the disciples were not seeing the message that Jesus was trying to bring out.  We cannot take our sinful heart and in ourselves make the transformation.  With God those things are possible.

Mat 19:27  Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?

Mat 19:28  And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

Mat 19:29  And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.

If we forsake those things that we have worked for, our parents, all that are dear to us, our husband or wife, then we shall receive a hundredfold and in the end everlasting life.

Mar 10:28  Then Peter began to say unto him, Lo, we have left all, and have followed thee.

Mar 10:29  And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel's,

Mar 10:30  But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.

There is a reward.

Mat 6:24  No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

We cannot have our affection on things of the world.  We need to have God first place.  It is not that we don’t love our family it is just that we must have God first place. The things that we have worked for must be lesser in our eyes than God.  We must have God first place.

Our wife or husband may backslide; we must love God above that.  I’ve seen examples of those that start getting older, they get to a place where they are dedicated to God, “I’ll go and be what you want me to be, I’ll go to the mission field and so on.”  The years slip by and since they don’t have a companion they leave God for a companion.  I had a crossroads myself. 

We must have the attitude, “God I love you and will follow you no matter what.”  We all must have it settled.  As we walk in life, we run into things that we didn’t have in mind when we initially consecrated.  The crossroads will come up again and again.  We must make the same decision of, “God I love you more and I choose you.” 

You keep walking and something else will pop up where you must make the choice, “Are you going to choose your way or are you going to go God’s way?”  You may not hear an audible voice saying, “Do you love me more than this?”  Yet the concept is there.  You pass that and in your heart you say, “Yea lord, I love you more.”  Again and again the question arises, “Do you love me more than this?”  Are you going to be yielded to me?  Do you love me more than this? 

With the crossroad, we must get past the “me’s” and the “I’s”.  We also must get past the other person, “what about him, what will he do?” I had to learn that too.  Sometimes it is agonizing.  It is heart wrenching and a battle to give up our way.  Look at Jesus when he went to the cross He had the same thing of “Not my will but thine be done.”