-Transcript-
00:24 Amen. Glory to God. Welcome to the program.
00:25 Welcome to the cafe. My name is Pastor Clark Covington, host of KJV Cafe. Glad you’re aboard here today for the third part of a three-part series on calling upon God.
00:36 I’ve just been jumping to it this week. I haven’t had much of an introduction because there’s just so much to say about why don’t people call on Jesus to forgive them?
00:48 Why don’t the lost call upon Jesus if they knew how good his love and his mercy is? You know, the Bible says, taste and see, amen. Taste and see, Psalm 34:8, oh, taste and see that the Lord is good, blessed is the man that trusted in him.
01:05 How true is that? Why don’t the lost call on Jesus for salvation? Why don’t the saved call on Jesus for sanctification, to grow closer to him, to depart from sin, to seek his will, to have that relationship with him?
01:22 And you might say, well, the broken world, sin, the flesh, the devil, culture, I would say it all boils down to a lack of faith. If you really believe that God’s able, he’ll do marvelous things. Ask the men at Crossroads Rescue Mission.
01:45 He’ll take someone that’s hooked up on a drug that 99 out of a hundred people don’t get off of. And that’s just my anecdotal evidence.
01:54 I don’t know the actual number and he’ll take them off of it and he’ll reunite them with their family and he’ll give them new life.
02:01 And the world will say, how on earth did so-and-so get healthy and yet all these others perished? And they’ll say, well, he went to Crossroads Rescue Mission where pretty much every single night they have chapel and they got that Bible preaching and they have Bible school in the morning
02:21 and they work hard all day and they praise God and they watch God do miracle after miracle over there. And then they’ll say, hmm, well, that’s interesting. And they still won’t believe, they still will not believe.
02:33 It’s incredible. I had the blessing and fortune of being involved there and being able to preach a little bit as a preacher boy, so to speak, for some years and just really enjoyed my time there before planting our own church, setting off on this new ministry four years ago.
02:53 But I still remember the great works God has done there.
03:00 I see the great works in my life. I see the great works in the lives of those in our congregation. Lord has really blessed us.
03:05 I was talking to our church about that last night, how good he’s been to our church and how we are testimony to God’s goodness, his mercy, not to brag, but like, you know, if you see anything good in anyone’s life that’s in our little group, that’s all God, amen.
03:24 He’s just been really good. He’s delivered us from many medical issues, many medical issues and financial and all the other things.
03:30 He’s delivered us and delivered us and delivered us. And he is so good. And what do we do? I mean, literally every Wednesday night, we have a prayer meeting.
03:38 We call on God. We call on God on Sundays, amen, Sunday mornings, Sunday afternoons. We call on God all the time.
03:43 We call on God here on this program. I call on God in prayer. I hope you do too.
03:48 Calling on God is essential in the life of a born again Bible-believing Christian. It’s essential for those that would like to be one by calling upon him to be saved.
04:01 And yet so many people lack the faith, for lack of a better idea, to call upon him.
04:05 And Psalm 86:5 tells us, for the Lord art good and ready to forgive and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee.
04:13 And so he spent many episodes talking about why God is good, how he’s good, amen, encourage you to go back and listen to those if you can. You know, there are so many reasons, you know, why you look in the Bible, why God is good.
04:26 He’s God, amen. He is goodness. And he sent Jesus to die for our sins, amen.
04:31 He gave us the Holy Spirit when we get saved. So he’s living within us, amen. The spirit is literally called the comforter, amen.
04:38 We have a comforter and that’s so wonderful and beautiful. And I see him in my life every single day, amen, the comforter I do. And he’s so good.
04:50 He gave us his word and he gave us fellowship with the brethren and he gave us the commandments and he gave us and gave us and gave us and gave us. He is so good and good and good. He didn’t just give, he also forgave us.
04:58 He forgave us. He’s forgiving, amen. He’s merciful.
05:03 He’s forgiving. How about Christ at Calvary, Luke 23:34, then said, Jesus, father, forgive them for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment and cast lots, his raiment being his clothing.
05:12 Jesus Christ himself, God in the flesh. Think about if you were God, would you come down as a lowly, just average Joe, for lack of a better word, construction worker is what he, what they say, carpenter.
05:27 But some have said he was a construction worker from Nazareth.
05:31 I think it was Nathaniel that said, what good can come from Nazareth? Sometimes I give that term over to some of these country towns that where we live, amen.
05:43 I say to myself, I wonder if people say, Oh, so-and-so town, what good can come from there? You know, but that’s what they said about him. He had no, he said, you know, foxes have holes and birds have Nessie that I don’t have anywhere to lay my head.
05:52 He had no earthly home. He had no earthly riches. He came to die for lost mankind.
05:57 He came to die for all mankind for all time. He suffered a mock trial. He endured brutal assaults on his character.
06:07 He endured false witnesses against him. He endured even the closest in his inner circle, cheating him and setting him up to be crucified. He endured all of the mocking and criticism from the Roman soldiers.
06:21 He endured the great rank unbelief from the Jewish elites. He went through all of this so that you could be saved, friend. He did all of that.
06:32 He died on the cross at Calvary, willingly. You understand this is God in the flesh. He could blink an eye and wipe out all mankind.
06:37 He could have wiped out every single one. He knew their thoughts. He knew how wicked they were.
06:43 The Bible says, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. And yet he said, I’ll do it willingly. And he opened his arms wide and he hung there and bled out on that cross at Calvary, the most brutal death that man has ever died on the cross at Calvary.
06:54 On top of that, the Bible said he was unrecognizable. On top of that, he had to drink that bitter cup of sin.
07:01 That means that he had to take the sin of the whole world upon him for all time.
07:13 Jesus Christ took that sin on his shoulders. I believe that was the most brutal part of this brutal death. Not the physical aspect, but having to take that sin on.
07:17 What I mean by that is, it’s like if your sin was your shirt, he’d have to put that shirt on. But not just your sin, but everyone’s sin for all mankind. But don’t forget, he did put on your sin and he did that.
07:27 You know, God himself, God, the father had to turn his back on the son. That’s why he says on the cross, Jesus says, why has thou forsaken me?
07:36 Because even God had to turn his back on that sin while that sin debt was paid for on the cross. And he’s buried three days.
07:46 He’s risen from the grave, miraculously resurrected to new life. And when that occurs, it’s a whole new ballgame. Devil’s back is broken.
07:53 Anyone that accepts Christ as Savior is freed from that sin that they could never pay. Amen. They are freed from death, hell, and the grave.
08:01 Amen. They are given entry into God’s heaven. Amen.
08:08 They are given a Holy Spirit living within them, the comforter, as I mentioned earlier. Amen. They are given all of these things by simply believing on what Christ actually had to go through.
08:15 God is not asking us to go through those things. Many religions will ask you to die for their God. Our religion simply says, no, God died for you.
08:24 All you have to do is believe. And if we really believed, wouldn’t we call on him? And because I’m preaching here today about how many aren’t calling on him, isn’t that a sad state of affairs?
08:36 And here we have Jesus in Luke, in Luke 23, saying, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. His actual murderers, he’s asking the Father to forgive them, not in jest, not in mocking, not in anger, but in humility and love, he’s asking God to forgive them because they didn’t know what they were doing.
08:57 They didn’t know. They didn’t believe. Friend, we have vantage of hindsight.
09:06 We have the Bible. We have preaching. We have Bible study.
09:11 We have commentary. We have museums. I’ve talked about the Ark before and the Creation Museum.
09:18 We have the internet. We have many preachers who have blogs and YouTube channels and radio shows and all the rest. We have all of this to go back and see the historicity of the Bible and how true it is.
09:31 You know, just pick a place you’re reading about a place in the Bible. Search it up. Have you ever done that? Look at it and you’ll be shocked that, you know, you look it up.
09:40 Somebody went over there to this town. Okay. That Jesus was at, and they can show you where he was and what stone was left unturned.
09:48 This, that, the other, and it’s absolutely remarkable. And yet people still won’t believe. And so there’s rank unbelief.
09:54 They’re not calling upon this God that’s so forgiving. We see it again with Stephen. And I won’t take the time to read the scripture, but very similarly, Stephen’s being stoned to death for preaching the truth to the Jewish elite in the synagogue.
10:11 And he’s, what is he? He said, Lord, lay not the sin to their charge as they killed him, as they murdered him. I imagined me being a preacher, preaching to the religious elite, the truth of Christ and being stoned to death.
10:20 Could I ask God not to lay the sin to their charge? I think a lot of things that come to my mind.
10:26 I’m not sure that would be it. I think I’d be like the disciples asking for that thunder, asking for that fire. And you know, that is probably something I need to work on.
10:31 Amen. But to understand the grace and forgiveness that Stephen showed really was a picture of the grace and forgiveness that Jesus has shown on the cross that God wants us to understand.
10:43 We’ve talked as a church many times over the years about how when we show great forgiveness in our life, okay, we are not only abiding in Christ and living out what he’s commanded us to do, but we were reflecting to God that we understand what he did for us.
11:03 We are reflecting to God that we understand what he did for us by living out that forgiveness. And so all this to say that in the Bible is just full of God being willing to forgive for our transgressions and man being unwilling to call upon God. And there is this tension there.
11:28 And what, what that is, is everything in us, the carnal physical flesh, the devil, the world, everything in us, keeping us from seeking God, which is what is good for us, which is what is health for us, which is what we should do.
11:42 And so we understand that as our text verse says, for thou Lord are good and ready to forgive and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee. We understand that God is good and merciful to all that call upon him, but you still have to call.
12:00 So won’t you call on God today? Won’t you make it about God today and for the rest of your days, make every day about the Lord, call upon him and what better way to call upon him than to ask him to forgive you.
12:15 If you haven’t been saved, I’ve given you the gospel here. You can see it in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4.
12:21 You can see it through Romans road. If you look that up, I’ve given you the gospel that Jesus died for your sins. If you simply trust in him, all he’s asking you to do is believe that he did it.
12:32 Believe that he is who he says he is. Believe that he was risen from the grave and that you’re a sinner in need of that salvation. If you simply believe on Jesus, you’ll be saved.
12:41 Won’t you do that here today, friend? Won’t you believe on Jesus? All you have to do is pray and just ask him to save you. You don’t need to be in church. You don’t need any kind of seminary degree or anything else.
12:52 Just simply pray, say, Lord, save me. I believe you died for me. Please, I accept you as my Lord and savior and he will save you and you will never go to hell.
13:02 You will never face death, hell in the grave. You will be with him forever to be absent from the body. The Bible tells us is to be present with the Lord.
13:09 Pray that prayer if you haven’t already. And if you have been saved, isn’t it time you turn to him again? Isn’t it time that you turn to him and you renew that joy, your salvation?
13:22 And what better way to turn to him again, if you’ve been saved and maybe you’re not living for him is to ask him to forgive you. Say, Lord, I know you’re merciful and I know you desire to forgive me.
13:34 And I just ask you to forgive me for not living up to who you’d want me to be. But Lord, please, however you can use me and help me to live for you in these last days.
13:43 And I believe the Lord’s faithful to forgive you and to put a fire in you that you’ve never seen before and to use you significantly in the ministry until he calls you home.
13:52 And I mean that whether it’s in the ministry of social media, writing letters, gospel tracks, witnessing choir, nursing home, schools, teen youth, the needs are endless.
14:07 The fields are ready for harvest. And all we have to do is call upon the Lord and he will put us to use and we will see a reward in heaven that never rusts and never decays.
14:20 Call upon him today. He is worthy and he is so merciful and forgiving when you call upon him. I thank you so much for listening.
14:28 Tune in next time. Take care. God bless. Amen.