Thru the Bible - Minute with McGee on Oneplace.com

Christ’s heart was broken because of our lost condition. He bled and died for our eternal liberty. He said, “I came that they might have life, and they might have it more abundantly.” And He loved the lost world, and He went to the very depths—even hell itself. And the world spurns Him, the Holy One of God, the spotless Savior who was made sin for us. Have you rejected Him? Spurned Him? Are you ungrateful today? Do you hear the sob of His soul? Do you hear the falling of the drops of blood? “Look yonder in the Garden by yon olive tree, bending low is a Savior” who took upon Himself your humanity and mine, and He went the next day to a cross.

“But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve. For whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? Is not he that sitteth at meat? But I am among you as he that serveth.” In other words, the Lord said, “I’ve taken the lower place.” When He came to this earth, all mankind should have been His servant. We should’ve been there to serve Him, but instead of that, He served us. He set a table of salvation, and He’s invited us to this great feast of salvation.

“He took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup that’s after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.” He took the two frailest things in the world, friends. He took bread and wine. You leave them overnight and both will spoil. And He says, “The bread speaks of My body and the wine speaks of My blood.” The bread speaks of His body broken—not a bone broken, but a broken body—because He’s made sin for us. I don’t think He even looked human when He came down from that cross. That’s the picture that we have here.

“It came to pass, that when he was returned, having received the kingdom, then he commanded these servants to be called unto him, to whom he had given the money, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading.” You see, the important thing is that while He’s away, friends, He’s given to you an opportunity. And that opportunity is the pound, and you’re to be faithful for whatever He’s made you a steward of. Your pound may be a whole city, and another man’s pound may be just a handful of people, and another man it may be just a home. But they’re to be faithful. And when He comes, why He’s going to reward them according to their faithfulness, you see. That is the important thing—faithfulness.

“For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” First of all, let me say that this man Zacchaeus came to the door, and he didn’t say, “Jesus saves and keeps and satisfies.” Now that’s a good testimony if it’s the truth when you give it. He didn’t come to the door and say that “I’m going to do better.” He came to the door and he said, “I’m changed. I’m a new man. I’m going to do differently than I’ve ever done before. I’m turning to the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior.” Jesus had been to his house, and you can always tell the house Jesus has been to; it’ll be different. You can tell the heart Jesus has entered. It’ll be different.

God’s no unjust judge. And you can afford to just keep going to Him in prayer and, if you really mean business, you’re going to move the arm of God one way or another. And He may make it clear to you that He’s not going to do the thing exactly as you want it done, but He’s going to hear and answer your prayer. And that’s the reason I think we ought to just lay hold of God in a very definite way today about these things that concern us, that we feel deeply. And as you look about you today, friend, don’t be discouraged. Don’t faint. Please don’t faint. Pray.

“If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus”—and that’s your vow. That’s your statement of faith. “And shall believe in thine heart that God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” The point of it is, it’s not just what the mouth says; it’s what the heart believes, friends. And he says they must be brought into agreement. “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness.” Now, you don’t believe with your mouth—you say it with your mouth, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. So don’t say it with your mouth until your heart is singing a duet with you.

The only thing God asks you to do is to look—look to Christ. He is taking your place there. You’re a sinner. You deserve to die. He does not deserve to die. And it’s just that simple. Either you’re looking to Christ as your Savior because you’re a sinner or you’re not doing it, friends. And if you’re not doing it, I don’t care how many times you’ve been baptized, I don’t care how many ceremonies you’ve been through, and I don’t care how many churches you’ve joined, and I don’t care who your father and mother happen to be. You’re a lost, hell-doomed sinner until you look to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now it’s just as simple as that.

How many Christians today the minute that Monday comes they lapse right back into the program of the world, and the Lord Jesus is forgotten. Does He go with you for Monday, friends? Are you today living a secular life during the week and a sort of a sacred, religious life on Sunday? No good, friend. I tell you, the Lord Jesus, He wants to go into the marketplace with you. He wants to go into the marks of trade and on the streets of this world today. And He’s as real there as He is in your church on Sunday, I can assure you that. How we need to see this.

“We are journeying unto the place of which the Lord said, I will give it you: come thou with us, and we will do thee good: for the Lord hath spoken good concerning Israel.” Now, our invitation is the invitation Moses gave: Come and go with us. And if you’re listening to me today and you’re not a child of God, by faith in Jesus Christ, you can join the party. And we’re marching. We’re on the way; we’re going to the presence of Christ. We’re not a group that are marching because we’re better than anyone else, because we’re not. We’re sinners, saved by the grace of God. If you see yourself as a sinner and you need a Savior, turn to Him—by simple faith trust Him; join the march.

“At the commandment of the Lord the children of Israel journeyed, and at the commandment of the Lord they pitched: as long as the cloud abode upon the tabernacle they rested in their tents.” So that Moses is not the one who decided whether they would march today or tomorrow or whether they’d stay in camp on the third day. God decided that. And we need to recognize that today. That the Lord Jesus Christ is head of the church. He should be the One to lead. He can’t even keep up with His church today; it’s going its own way. Men are having their own way, making their own decisions. But Christ is still head of His church, and those that are His will follow Him.

Now I’m of the opinion that many of us today are missing a great blessing. Suppose you’re going through a particular time of trial, trouble, why not set yourself aside to God? You’re a Christian, and you don’t want to get hurt in all of this. You want to live for God, don’t you? And so you set yourself aside for God in a very definite way, to walk closer with Him. And it will make the trial—now it won’t remove the trial, but it will make it more bearable, let me say. And He says, “Take my yoke upon you; learn of me, I am meek and lowly,” and it’s nice to be yoked up with Him.

In John 17:6, He says, “I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Thine they were and thou gavest them me, and they have kept thy Word.” You’ll notice that the church has been given to the Lord Jesus. The believers have. And then again in verse 9: “I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me for they are thine.” And so we have been given as a love gift from the Father to the Son. And some of us may feel like He didn’t get very much, but it’s not what we are; it’s what He’s going to make out of us that’s important.