Transcript of message from TV Broadcast 793 -- taken from Closed Captioning Text

-- Brother Phil Enlow: The Lord is saying that if we are living a careless life of complacency, we are living in a sin against Him. That places this in a different category. There is something really, really, really wrong. The devil has come in and just siphoned us off and got us off on a side there where the Lord can't even do anything with us. He says, I'm about to spit you out of my mouth. This is not a light thing. I tell you, I got a lot of repenting to do. How about you?

( congregational amens ).

How many times has the Lord called and we say, later, Lord. I've got stuff to do. I'm busy. I've got to go here and go there. I don't have time, Lord, to get with You and learn from You and be alone with You. And that's what He's saying. So repent.

I'll tell you, it starts with a recognition that where we've been is not where we need to be and there needs to be a genuine, oh God, I see that I'm not where I need to be and I need You. Oh God, do something in my heart. Forgive me. Forgive me, Lord. Forgive me for not drawing near to You when You call...oh God, for missing what this is all about.

Lord, I thought it was just a matter of believing in Jesus and going to church and putting my money in the plate and this and that and the other thing, and that's not what it's about. Those are good things to do but only within the context of what this is really about. Go back to Adam again, and what did he have? What was going on in the garden? It was a one-to-one fellowship between the Son of God and Adam. They walked. They talked.

Everything was...and I'll tell you, by being around, the more Adam was around Him, the more he became like Him. There was a growth. There was a...He was walking light, in pure light. Oh, how much do we walk and how much do we hide and cover and pretend?

And so He says, "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock." (NIV). Now we've commented before, so many people use this as a salvation text and that's all right. I know the Lord does reach out to people's hearts and long for them to open the door and say, my life is done, Lord. I turn my back on everything that is past. I die to it. I give my life to You. That's what salvation...that's how salvation begins.

Nothing short of that is salvation if we don't come to the point where we see that the life we've had is just corrupted and wrong and it's headed for destruction, it's headed for judgment...but that Christ has taken upon Himself our sins on that tree. He's put away our sin. Praise His name! And then we embrace Him and say, You come in, You take over, You make me what You really want me to be. I take a new life from this day forward. My old life is gone. This is a new day and a new life.

But oh, what He's talking about here is people who made that start, but then they've been side-tracked by prosperity and ease. "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me."

Now this is describing...you get together with somebody and just have a meal and eat, and what happens? You kind of get to know somebody, don't you? You spend time with 'em. You talk about mutual interests and there is a personal communion. You're not just talking about somebody. Oh, I heard about Jesus. He's wonderful. He did this, that and the other. He's actually there in a personal communion with you. The same relationship that He once had with Adam is what He desires with me and what He desires with you every single day.

And you know, I think there's a lot of things that tend to, besides just complacency and so forth that get in our way. I know one of them is fear...fear and unbelief. We're not so sure we want to be in that kind of light. We're very good at putting on a front. I wonder how many people come in here on a Sunday morning and you're dying inside and somebody asks you how you're doing. I'm doing great, doing fine! How are you? And we're full of needs. There's terrible problems and needs going on in our hearts.

You know when the Lord shines light of His truth and of reality into our hearts and into our lives, it is never, ever to condemn, to grind us unto the ground, to put us down, to make us feel raunchy and leave us there. It's always to tell us the truth, and then to bring us out and deliver us.

I'll tell you, there's so many people here that are carrying burdens and bondages and things in your life, in your spirit and you're nursing them, and you're covering 'em, and you're trying somehow to cope with life. And Jesus is saying, I'm knocking. You need to come and spend time with Me. I know what you are. No matter how much you pretend, I see exactly what you are. You need to understand something. You don't have to wait 'til you get good enough or measure up to some kind of standard to be able to come and spend time with me. I want you to come just like you are and come to me because I have the answer to everyone of those things that's going on in your life.

You think of what happened with Isaiah. I'm sure that Isaiah as a young prophet of God thought that he was a pretty okay guy. He had been used of the Lord and given out messages for God among the people. I'm sure that he thought in terms of, well, I'm here and they're there. Spiritually, I'm okay...and remember what happened in Isaiah 6.

The Lord took him up to the throne and all of the sudden, he saw himself in a whole different light. He says, oh God, I'm undone! Oh God! If there had been a hole there, he would have crawled in and pulled it in after him as the expression goes. But what did the Lord do? He sent an angel to the altar. He got a coal off that altar and he came and he touched his lips and says, I've touched your lips. I've put away your sin. That's the message of the gospel, folks. Everything that is wrong with us, God has taken care of at the cross.

( congregational amens ).

That's the glory of the message of the cross. Yes, there is a lot wrong with me. Yes, if I get in the presence of the Lord, I'm not gonna come out looking too good in myself. But He doesn't call me to Himself and say, all right now...well, imagine Isaiah. Imagine if this had gone the way we imagine it would. He would have brought Isaiah up there and said, now listen. You thought you were something. Let me show you what you really are. And then Isaiah would just get down and squirm and realize what he was.

All right, now that I've shown you, I want you to go. I want you to straighten up your life. I want you to fix all this stuff that's wrong, and then I want you to come back and we'll talk, and then we'll talk about it and see if we can do something with you.

Did He do that, did He? No. Right then and right there He did what was necessary to cleanse Isaiah perfectly, completely. And notice where it came from. It came from the altar. The altar is a place of sacrifice! And what that pictures for us is that no matter what is wrong with us, God has virtue, has fire from the altar and that altar is the cross where our Savior sacrificed Himself for us. He has the provision to take care of everything that's wrong with our lives. We have no reason to draw back and say, oh God, I'd love to be in your presence, but it's not for me. Look at all that's wrong with me. He says, you come just like you are.

( congregational amens ).

Let's talk about it. Tell Me what's going on in your life. Tell Me what you're afraid of. Tell me everything 'cause He knows it anyway. Why are we kidding ourselves? We're not hiding anything from Him. He knows exactly what's going on in your life. Why does He want you to come there...so He can condemn you? No. I tell you, there's a relationship that He wants with you where He can wrap His arms around you. That's what most of us need anyway, is love.

( congregational amens ).

To know that we're loved, to know that we're valued, to know that we're important, to know that we matter. Where are you going to find that other than in Jesus? This world is full of people that are crying out for Him. They're looking to everything in the world except Him. I'll tell you, there's needs and cries in many of our hearts. And oh, we so easily turn to the flesh and the world to try to scratch those itches.

And Jesus says come in with me. Spend time with me. Yes, Lord, later. I'm busy. I've got to go here and do this and do that. Oh God, help us to repent and spend time when He says, come. Talk to Me. Open your spirit to Me. I can put wisdom in your heart. I can comfort. I can pour the oil and the balm in those wounded places in your heart. I can give you wisdom. I can fill you with My love and it'll quiet that cry that pulls you always in the wrong direction. What you need is not these things in this world. What you need is Me. Oh, praise God!

If anyone hears My voice! What a sad cry to His own church! Whoever hears My voice, open the door! How many times has the Lord spoken to you and called you to step aside and read His Word and just talk to Him? And we think it's a religious duty. You think yes, Lord. I've read my chapter this morning, Lord. That's good enough. That's not what it's about. This is not mechanics. You can do all of that and be in the condition of these Laodicean believers. You can do all the right stuff and be just like these people.

The Lord says, I want you to get to know Me. But what we're seeing this morning is the other side. It's I want to get to know you. I care about you as an individual. I want to spend time with you just like I once wanted to spend time with Adam. I want to be able to talk to you and say, how did your day go? What's going on? What pressures are you feeling? What needs are you feeling? Don't you know what my Word says? I have the answer to your need. Don't wait 'til you're clean--don't wait 'til you think you're clean. Come and let Me cleanse you. I've done everything that's necessary to take care of your need today.

That's an incredible thought that God actually wants to get to know you. I don't know. The Lord's the only one that can make that real to anyone's heart, but that's the truth! This is not just some religion you come and practice. Jesus Christ knows your name. He knows your innermost...the innermost secrets or your hearts. There is a cry in His heart, come.

( knocking ).

Just like He once called, Adam, where are you? I wonder how many times He says, Phil, where are you? Ron, where are you? Put your name in there. I love you. Come. Spend time with me. Step away from all this busy-ness. Step away from your little mechanical religion. I'll show you things as they really are and you don't have to be afraid of that because I'm not calling you out of a spirit of condemnation. Jesus didn't come into the world to condemn the world.

( congregational amens ).

The condemnation that's in the world is because light has come and men don't want the light. That's where condemnation comes from. Jesus said in John 15, if I hadn't spoken to them, they wouldn't have had any sin. That's an amazing thought. But now that I've spoken to them, they're responsible. That's where condemnation comes from. It doesn't come from what's wrong with us. That's what salvation is all about...is to deal with what's wrong with us.

My God, who do we think we are? We're sinners in need of a Savior. We have nothing that we can come and all of our pride...that's another thing that stands in the way. Oh my God, I've got to maintain this image even in private. I've got to maintain this image of myself. I'm okay, Lord. I'm okay. I'm okay.

And the Lord says, you're not okay, but you will be if you'll let go. Let go of that pride and just come into My presence. Be willing to be that worm and I'll take and I'll make you into something, because I love you and I want to get to know you.

Look at a scripture that comes back to my mind from Zephaniah 3:17, I think. Yes. Zephaniah 3:17. And it says this, "The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save." That's my only hope today. He is mighty to save, not, I am mighty to be able to come into the presence of somebody like that. He's mighty to save even if I come there and I feel like Isaiah did. He has what it takes to cleanse me and make me able to be in His presence.

But listen to what it says here. "He will take great delight in you...." Put your name in there. That's real. That means in spite of everything that's wrong with you, the Lord Jesus, the Lord of Heaven is wanting to take great delight in you, personally! Do you know the Lord enjoyed going and talking with Adam? Can you conceive of the Lord enjoying spending time with you? But that's what this is about.

You can take away all the other stuff that goes on in Christianity. This is the essence of it. You get this, the other stuff will find its place. Oh, I'll tell you, we'll pray when the time comes to pray. We'll worship this God. We'll read His Word. We'll learn. We'll have a hunger to know Him. The other things of the world will become secondary and just stuff we got to do. We can trust God with it.

But oh, the very essence of it, is not just us trying to know more about God. It's Him desiring to spend time with us. "He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing." I tell you, do you sometimes...you're so full of fear and you're just so consumed with the problems of life and fear and that's the time you least feel like coming to the Lord?

And He says that's the time you need to come. I have the power to quiet you with My love, not with My condemnation. But I am going to make you so aware that I love you, that I'm concerned about you. That's gonna take away all your fear. What is it that takes fear away? Perfect love comes in...it just...fear, get out of here. That's what John said. "...Perfect love casteth out fear...."(KJV).

"...He will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing." (NIV). I'll tell you this is the imagery of a young man who loves a young woman. I mean really does. And there's something in her that just delights him, and he's looking to spend time with her. He's looking to express that love that he has for her, to quiet her fears, to assure her of his love.

That's the imagery that the Lord is giving here...that He longs to have that relationship with everybody here. Do you have that this morning? Is there a hunger in your heart or are you just kind of rocking along? This is the essence of it, folks. If we don't have this, we're just in the same condition the Laodicean church is. Now, I believe God's dealing with us. I believe God's with us, don't you?

( congregational amens ).

But there's such a danger for me, for every one of us to have mechanical religion, to have all the pieces just in order, believe the right things, do the right stuff, and to be cold or lukewarm at best. That's the danger. If somebody's lukewarm, then they're not cold. They think they've got something and they do have a little bit that's real, but I'll tell you what, God wants us to be hot.

( congregational amens ).

He wants us to have a real personal communion and fellowship with Him every single day. And what I sense the Lord saying to me and I believe to all of us is I love you, personally. I care about everything that happens in your life and I want you to be listening for My voice. There's gonna be times I'm gonna call you aside. I want you to pray, not just pray as, well, okay, I'll go through the mechanics of prayer, but talk to Me.

Praying is not some kind of a thing we recite that's religious. Praying is...Lord, I'm kind of scared today. Lord, I'm dealing with something...I'm in over my head about this situation, and the devil's making me afraid. Help me. Show me what to do. Give me your wisdom, Lord.

( congregational amens ).

I'll tell you, there's somebody who wants to minister right to you...there. That's the foundation of the Christian life...is you and Jesus in a relationship. You have that...everything else, the church, all these other things will fall right into place.

I just pray that God will make this truth real to me. I have to repent so many times. I'll sense the Lord trying to draw me and they'll be the thoughts come to my heart and there's a reality there...and I just kind of set it aside, and I go do something. I'm busy and I got to go do this. I got to do that. I'll tell you there's one thing we've got to do and that's to spend time with our Lord.

( congregational amens ).

And to get to know Him, to acknowledge Him, and to recognize that He loves us, personally every single day. That He not only is willing, grudgingly to put up with us, but that He actually loves us. Now how could He love us? Well, I can't explain it. That's the measure of what real love is about. And I'll tell you something, He doesn't just see you as what you are right now. He sees what He has the power to make you.

( congregational amens ).

It was the joy that was set before Him that enabled Him to endure the cross. In spite of the pain, in spite of the agony there was a rejoicing in His spirit. He saw the glory of what He was going to be able to accomplish for you. He thought about you then. He knew what your need was and He longed to fill that need and He could just see you there in that new world rejoicing, free, the glory of God in your countenance. He said, that's what it's about, and I have the power to do that, and I'm gonna set My love upon that one. It's gonna happen...because all authority in Heaven and earth's been given to Me.

But oh, we have a part to play, don't we? We have a part to play and I want to have a heart that's willing to be open to Him and to say Lord, I'm not gonna hide from You or make excuses. Help me to hear your voice when You call me. Help me to be willing to pray, to wait upon You, just to talk to You, to consult You, and Your wisdom, and Your love about everything.

I'll tell you, you expect we'd have a stronger church if that happened? If we had a bunch of people that had that kind of a hunger...oh, the Lord would just change us into His likeness. Paul said in one place, "...We all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord..." (KJV). What happens?

( congregation inaudible ).

"...Are changed into the same image...." What was it that set the apostles apart when the stood before the Sanhedrin? They said, they've been with Jesus. It's not that they've been to school. They learned all this stuff. They're courageous men. They're this. They're that. They've been with Jesus. You don't have to be anybody to be whatever God wants you to be, if you've been with Jesus, because He's got it all.

( congregational amens ).

Oh, praise God! I'll tell you what...that's the heart of this passage. It's not...man, I'm mad with you 'cause you didn't do this and do that. It says, I long to have a relationship with you and I'm knocking.

( knocking ).

I want you to listen because I want to come in and have a relationship with you every single day. That's the heart. That's the spirit with which Christ reaches out...reached out to them, and I believe it's what He's reaching out to us to accomplish in our lives today.

What is it that's burdening your heart? What's the bondage? What's all going on in your life? You bring that and lay it at Jesus' feet and be straight with Him. He'll be straight with you. He'll receive you. He won't despise you. He loves you. He demonstrated that on the cross. Praise God!

( knocking ).

When He knocks, let's open. Praise the Lord!

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