WHAT DOES JESUS WANT FROM US?

By: Pastor Max Solbrekken, D.D.

 It seems that when God wants to do something special for someone, He usually asks that person for something first, so that the law of sowing and reaping may function properly.

 (1)  ADAM & EVE

God created Adam from the dust of the earth.  He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul. (Genesis 2:7)  He placed Adam in the Garden of Eden, a place of beauty and paradise.  God took a bone out of Adam’s body and created a woman which He gave to Adam as his wife.

Adam loved her and called her name Eve, the Mother of all living.  (Genesis 3:20)  God loved Adam and Eve and fellowshipped with them.  He would come down and walk and talk with His children, Adam and Eve, in the cool of the day.

 They lived in perfect harmony with one another and with their God.  God wanted Adam’s loyalty, devotion and faithfulness.  In return, Adam and Eve would continue to live in fellowship with their Maker, in the paradise of the Garden of Eden forever.

There was only ONE STIPULATION: “And the Lord commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat; But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. (Genesis 2:16-17)

ADAM AND EVE DISOBEYED GOD, ruptured their fellowship with their maker, forfeited their residency in the Garden of Eden, plunging the entire human race into sin, rebellion, fear, sickness and death!

It seems o be a rather normal thing, as we study the LIFE OF JESUS, and the WORD OF GOD in general, that if God is going to really bless us, He asks for something of us first; LIKE A SEED WE PLANT IN ORDER TO REAP THE HARVEST!

(II)  NOAH & THE ARK

Here is a classic example of God asking a man to do something which benefits everyone if the request is granted.  God wanted to destroy the human race because of the terrible corruption and violence in the land.

 SIN IS A STENCH IN GOD’S NOSTRILS AND AN ABOMINATION IN HIS SIGHT!

God had made a promise, in the Garden of Eden, to redeem the world through a Saviour,  the seed of the woman. (Genesis 3:15)  Now He was faced with a dilemma.  If He destroyed everyone upon the face of the earth, there would be no lineage out of which the Messiah could be born. 

 

Only one man, Noah and his family, would quality to be used in this role, for the Bible says: “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.  And it repented the Lord that He had made man on the earth and it grieved Him at His heart.

 And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I created from the face of the earth; both man and beast and the creeping thing and the fowls of the air;  for it repented me that I have made them.  But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.

These are the generations of Noah:  Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations and Noah walked with God.  (Genesis 6:5-9)  God promised Noah salvation for himself and His family and the opportunity to re-populate the earth through his immediate family.  WHAT IF NOAH HAD NOT OBEYED?   Of course Noah obeyed and built the ark to God’s specifications and we are here today because of man’s obedience.  God blessed Noah and gave him another 350 years of happy living after the flood.

 (III)  ABRAHAM – THE FRIEND OF GOD

The world that Abraham lived in was filled with idolatry.  His father was involved heavily in the idol-making business.  Ur of the Chaldees was the centre of idol worship.  Abraham, however, was searching for reality and God drew him out of Paganism and led him into the land flowing with milk and honey.  God wanted someone to be the father of a race that could be free from idolatry and dedicated to the worship of the Loving God.  Abraham was asked to leave his father’s house and his country in order to do God’s will, to be led by the Holy Spirit and walk by faith and in obedience to God’s Word and call.

Abraham responded positively and became “The Father of the Faithful.”  God gave him a staggering miracle, when at the age of 100 and his wife, Sarah, being 90 years old, Isaac was born.  The scripture tells us that, “He staggered not at the promse of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;  And  being fully persuaded that, what He had promised, He was able also to perform.  And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. (Romans 4:20-22

After Isaac was born and had grown into a young man, Abraham went through the most trying time of his entire life.  Almighty God asked him to sacrifice his only son to God.  Abraham loved the Lord and trusted God’s Word so much that he knew in order for God to keep His word, He would have to raise up Isaac from the dead.  Of course God did not allow Abraham to slay Isaac as He receives only living human sacrifices. (Romans 12:1)

 God blessed Abraham, changing His name from Abram to Abraham.   And declared him righteous, called him His friend and made him the “father of many nations.”

 (IV)  MOSES – THE SON OF PHARAOH’S DAUGHTER

 St. Paul used Moses as a classic example of one who CHOSE to live for God in the face of severe difficulty instead of serving the god of this world, Satan.  The scripture says, “By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter: Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, then to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward.

 By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing Him who is invisible.  Through faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstbotrn should touch them.  By faith they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land: which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned. (Heb. 11:24-29)

 

Moses indeed gave up his position as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter and possibly the next ruling Monarch to become an outcast and a champion for God’s chosen race, the Hebrew slaves.  God asked Moses to sacrifice pleasures, riches and position to become His Great Lawgiver and prophet, remembered and respected even today, thousands of years later.  Praise God!

Another truth I have discovered concerning God’s dealings with men is this: when God asks something of someone, He repays it in a generous manner and the blessings flow out to many, many more.  To that person’s relatives and neighbors as well.

(v)   JESUS CHRIST & CALVARY

Nothing is free!  Someone has to pay for whatever is purchased.  But you say, Pastor Solbrekken,  Is it not true that salvation is free: That Jesus paid it all – and we enter into God’s Kingdom without money and price?”

 Of course, the Gospel is free!  Certainly Christ Jesus took our place on Calvary and has purchased our salvation through His shed blood.   There is NO doubt about that!  (1 Peter 1:18-19)

Jesus, however, had to pay the full price by giving His life as our substitute.  It cost Him everything to save us from our sins!!  “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed. (Isaiah 53:5)

 “For God so loved the world,  that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)  God had promised in the Garden of Eden, after Adam and Eve fell, that “the seed of the woman would bruise the serpent’s head!”  He had promised a Saviour.  When the fullness of time was come, Jesus was born of a woman and made under the law, in order to redeem lost humanity. (Gal. 4:4-5) 

What a redemption that was and what a salvation we now enjoy through Christ’s substitutionary death upon the cross!  Hallelujah!!

 (VI)  JESUS WAS WILING TO GO

 Jesus Christ humbled Himself and took upon Him the form of a servant and died willingly for our sins.  (Phil. 2:5-11)  To be a light unto the Gentiles, bringing many sons to Glory.   Jesus answered: “MY KINGDOM IS NOT OF THIS WORLD: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence.” (John 18:36)

 “A rugged cross became His throne, His kingdom was in hearts alone; He wrote His love in crimson red and wore the thorns upon His head!”

In order to gain a kingdom, Jesus gave His life’s blood.  However, death could not hold Him!  He arose again from the dead and is alive forevermore and we shall rule and reign with Him forever!  Satan knew who Jesus was and so he tried desperately to destroy Him and to tempt Him.

Jesus used the Word of God to defeat the devil and  so can you and I, today!  Our Lord gave Himself to receive a kingdom and redeem the world from sin.  What have you given to God?  Are you willing to give yourself as a living sacrifice, so that Christ’s Kingdom may come on earth??

Max Solbrekken World Mission Box 22440  RPO Garside Edmonton, AB T5V 1N6; Email: [email protected]; comehometojesus.ca; Facebook; Youtube; Blog: MSWM; Donations can be made by e-Transfer. Make your donation to [email protected].  This would be an opportune time to give an offering to win  lost souls! 

Here is touching old song;"Into a tent where a Gypsy boy lay, dying alone at the close of the day. The Gospel of Jesus to him it was told. He kept repeating, Tell it again, Tell it again. Till none can say of the childen of men, no-one has told it to me before! - Pastor Max & Donna