Carter Conlon from the historic Times Square Church in New York City. I I beg you. Get right with God. You're not going to be able to stand in the coming days if you don't get right with God. Give Him what you need to give Him.
Call out! in repentance. And God's word says He'll bring the mountains down, He'll raise the valleys, He'll create a clear path. Between you and him. Thank you for joining us for A Call to the Nation with Carter Conlon.
In the body of Jesus Christ, there are two types of people with regard to the Word of God.
Some are growing in their understanding and knowledge of Jesus Christ, but others accumulate knowledge. But don't change. As Carter will reveal, they may have embraced the knowledge, but the knowledge has not embraced them. Let's join Carter now to understand more. Mm.
Luke chapter 7, verse 29. And all the people that heard him, that's Jesus. and the publicans. Justified God. being baptized with the baptism of John.
But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselves. being not baptized of him.
Now that's an amazing thing. This scripture is talking about. Two types of people who are gathered around the testimony of God in Christ Jesus. They're getting a very, very clear word spoken to them, but there's a line. There's a line that divides the two groups of people.
And it's described in these verses of Scripture as the baptism of John. Those who had accepted the baptism of John. could hear. the voice of God and were able to justify God as it is. And those who had rejected the baptism of John could not hear the voice of God.
Yes, he was speaking, but they could not hear what he was saying.
Now most of us today If I asked you the question, can God speak to you? would say, of course he can speak to me. Otherwise, why would I be here? Why would I be in Times Square Church? Why would I be lifting my hands and worshiping?
It's obvious that God can speak to me.
Now, I suppose this could also be said of Of the opening text. Where I already said there were two different types of people. They were both standing in the presence of Jesus, as you and I are today. Both knew that God was there and that God was speaking. They were both witnesses of the words which he spoke.
There are many, many people today who are capable of hearing words and even repeating them, but There's a difficulty. Um an opening of the heart and allowing those words to live inside of them. They were all aware, both groups. that the one who spoke to them had power. In Luke chapter 7, verse 22, And Jesus said, Go your way and tell John what things you have seen and heard: how the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed.
The deaf here. The dead are raised. And to the poor, The gospel is preached. They're all in his presence. They can all hear his voice.
Speaking They're all aware that he had power. Not just words, but power was behind those words. The reports in the crowd of the Some of them would have known the dead people who were raised to life again, the blind who were seeing. The imprisoned and those who are without power given strength. to do things that they could not do.
in themselves. Yet there was still a percentage of them. That could not be moved from the place where they were. to the place that Jesus was calling them to. And that's the way it is today.
In the body of Jesus Christ. In the church of Jesus Christ. There are two types of people. All gathered around the Word of God. But there's a certain line.
There's a line that divides. I've seen this so many times now over the years. People sitting under the same word, in the same presence of God, and producing two different results.
Some are growing into the grace and the knowledge of Jesus Christ. They are changing by the Spirit of God from image to image and glory to glory, as the Scripture says, and others are accumulating knowledge. without change. They can quote the scriptures. They can study the Bible, they can attend conferences, but technically speaking, they're the same 10 years from now.
As they are today, there's very little change except that they have embraced. Knowledge. But the knowledge, of course, has not embraced them. Here's what Jesus said about. this type of person.
In Luke 7 verses 31 and 32. He said, Whereunto shall I liken the men of this generation? What are they like? They're like children sitting in the marketplace and calling one to another and saying, We have piped to you and you have not danced. And we've mourned to you.
And you have not wept.
Now, there's two, he said, there are two little groups of children. They're sitting in the marketplace, and they're calling as it is across the square one to another. And the one group is saying to one group, well, we have We have brought you joy, but you refuse to leave the place of mourning. And on the other side, they say, well, we have brought you a presentation of mourning, and yet you refuse to leave the place where you are and join us. And here's what Jesus is trying to get across.
He said, whether I call you with a testimony. Of the fullness of joy that could be yours, or I warn you of the sorrow that awaits those who shun the voice of God. Neither of these. For some people, will cause them to get up from where they are and come over to the other side where they should be. He's saying it doesn't matter how, whether I come talking about the wondrous life that could be yours or I warn you of the sorrow that awaits those who refuse to turn from sin, neither move you.
It's a people in a sense who stay Stationary where they are. They've succumbed to something. There's a reason why they can't. Here The words of God.
Now the difference between these two groups of people is really quite simple. One group of people, those who had received and embraced the baptism of John, they saw that their lives had fallen short of all that God intended them to be. And others simply didn't agree with the counsel of God against them. It's amazing. They resisted change.
And instead they embraced a form of godliness which left Them outside of the power and the life that was freely being offered them. They simply didn't agree.
Now, it was a harsh message that John. Look at Luke chapter 3 with me, please, if you will. Luke chapter 3. Beginning at verse Two. Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests.
The word of God came unto John. The son of Zacharias in the wilderness. And he came into all the country. About Jordan preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.
Now, remember, remember. That The group who rejected the baptism of John. Could not hear the word of God. It's amazing. How many people in our generation have come into what they think is a saving relationship with God through Jesus Christ, but have never repented?
have never come to an understanding that Of how other we are. How much of a nature that is corrupted we possess. How much We have, you and I have nothing to present. There's no bargaining on our part. We are completely morally bankrupt.
We have no strength, we have no power, we have no resources. As Isaiah said, all of our righteousnesses are filthy rags in the sight of a holy God. Even the good deeds that we do, there's nothing of ourselves that we can present to God and hope to hold on to. And that was the difference. That's why there were groups of people who were standing there hearing the same words as others, but yet.
Not able to enter into the power of them because they had resisted this understanding that you and I have nothing to present to a holy God. We don't come to Him with resources. We don't come to Him with anything of ourselves that He should look at us and accept us. We've all fallen short of the glory of God. There's not one righteous, the scripture says, not even one among us.
Yeah, it says about John. He came into the country round about Jordan preaching the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. as it is written in the word the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet. saying the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Prepare ye the way of the Lord.
and make his path straight. In other words, he preached the repentance John offered the people a new nature that Christ was offering them. This agreement with God, this desire for change. opens when he talks about this pathway, he says, prepare the way of the Lord and make his path straight. It's not a path for you and I to get to God.
Repentance opens the pathway for God in Christ to come to us. That's what he's talking about. He's not saying repent and be baptized for your sins so that you can get through to God. The moment you have turned and received Christ as Savior, you're fully accepted with God. And it's not about getting to God, it's about that open pathway of God to come.
To you and I. Verse 5, he says, Every valley shall be filled, every mountain and hill shall be brought low. The crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth. In other words, Jesus Christ will remove every obstacle. Everything that stands in the way of you and I knowing him in the way that he has longed to know us.
He says he'll bring down every place that we think is impossible, every obstacle that stands between us and God, every crooked way. Every rough way, everything that life and circumstance has brought into your mind to tell you that God can't and won't come through to you. The moment you and I come to God with the humility in our heart, The moment we come and say, Lord, I'm nothing and you are everything. I have nothing to bring to you, you have everything to bring to me. Lord Jesus Christ.
I don't come in in pride because the Bible says you resist proud, the proud, and give grace to the humble. I don't have any accolades. I don't have any accomplishment. I don't have any reason that you should consider to use me apart from grace and mercy. And so, Lord God, I come to you just as a vessel that says, Lord, I'm altogether other than you are, but you are willing to cleanse me, to wash me, to change me, to empower me, to let your life become mine.
That's where John said every valley. will be filled every mountain brought low. Every crooked place made straight in the rough ways are made smooth. And the pathway is created for the Lord to come to us. That pathway of the Word of God, that pathway, you see, you won't change until you want to change.
You see, the bottom line is that we don't bring part of ourselves into this kingdom and add part of Jesus to it. We bring nothing of ourselves and we add all of Jesus. To that nothingness. That's where our life. comes from.
We don't bargain with God. And say, well, I'll give up smoking, but I'll hang on to pride. There's no bargaining. There's nothing we bring to this table of redemption. But a heart that says God Almighty.
Thank you. that you have chosen to show your mercy to me. And you've chosen to call me into agreement with you. Remember, it says they couldn't hear him because they resisted the Lord's counsel against them. They refused the baptism of John, and the baptism of John is a baptism of repentance.
A baptism Where we acknowledge I must die. And Christ must live. All of me has to go, and all of Christ has to come. But God in His mercy has decided to come and indwell. This body That has nothing of itself to present to him other than a heart that says, Come, Lord Jesus.
Come! and embrace me in totality. And let your life become mine, and let your will become mine, and let your word become mine, and let your heart become mine, and let your mind become mine. And let the pathway of my life not be my path. that I'm asking you to endorse But let the pathway of my life be your path that you've chosen for me.
And God, you'll never send me where you'll not give me the grace to accomplish what you've called me to do. And all flesh shall see the salvation of God. All flesh. Every one of us. Can have a clear view of Jesus once we are out of the way.
Once I'm no longer holding So anything. that God says don't hold to it anymore. I'm often stunned. At the numbers of people that I've met over the years, who sit under this kind of truth but won't embrace it. Don't agree with it.
still have a sense I knew a man one time who was a proficient. Um minister But he had a problem. And he'd been in the church for years and years and years, and he was a very contentious man. Everywhere he went, he seemed to cause contention. One day I spoke to him.
And I said to him, I said, You know, brother, I said, only by pride comes contention, according to what I read. In the scriptures, and I said, every when I go to a Bible study, if you get there before me, you've got the room in an uproar before. Before the Bible study even starts, by always infusing and introducing some chicken and egg spiritual theory. that there's no answer to. And I said Don't you think you should repent of this?
And he looked at me. That's incredulous. This man was probably at that time in his late 60s. He'd been in the church for most of his life and he said, he looked me right in the eye and said, I've never had to repent before. Why would I have to repent now?
Now he'd been a public figure, and you wonder what kind of a Christ had he embraced? You know that man died in a cult. Yeah. If we won't let God touch us, In every area of our lives, That little corner that you think today you can hang on to. We'll get you one day.
The devil doesn't need he doesn't need Uh no, he just needs a a little crack in the window. He just needs a toe in the door. And he'll save it. He'll save it for when it will do the most damage to the kingdom of God. And he'll let you go on in this delusion for 15 or 20 years sometimes, and then suddenly he'll just pull the plug on it, open the door wide, and a flood will come into your mind.
Because you knew You knew that this needed to go. You knew that you could not hang on to this in your life any longer. It was clear, it was evident, but there's something in the human heart that rejects this counsel of God. that rejects this baptism of John, that calls for unconditional surrender. No negotiating.
There has to be this season in your life and in mine where it says, Lord, God, if your word says it's wrong, it's wrong. Jesus gave a testimony of John. In verse 24. He said, what did you go out in the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind.
What did you go out to see, a man clothed in soft clothing? Behold, those who are gorgeously appareled and live delicately are in kings' courts. What did you go out to see, a prophet? Yeah, I say to you, much more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face.
which shall prepare thy way before thee. For I say unto you, among those that are born of women, There's not a greater prophet than John the Baptist. But he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.
Now this verse troubled me for years. I didn't fully get what does that mean.
Now, there's a lot of interpretations of that, but I want to give you what I feel God's been speaking to me. Along the lines of this verse.
Now John is in a season. of perplexity. He's in a season where all hell seems to be against him. He's imprisoned, his future doesn't look very good. Is in a season of personal upheaval and turmoil, very much.
like many of us are going to have to face. Not only today, but in the days to come. And folks, I believe that what God's given me today is a preparation in the heart for these days. It's a preparation to be able to stand. when everything around us seems to be failing.
when we have difficulty understanding God and the ways of God. When there are voices everywhere, even inside of our own heads. that are even challenging the authenticity of Christ. Here's what Jesus said of John. Though he's in a wilderness and seemingly attacked on every side, Yet he will not Be overcome.
He has an inner confidence and he has been a man of truth. He's not only preached. A baptism of repentance of sin, he's lived it. And there's a deposit of the life of God in the Spirit inside of this man that will keep him. Even if he has to die.
In the days in which he was living, which of course you and I know he did. There's a deposit that God is willing to put, and inside each one of us. To get us through these coming days that we're going to have to face. But we are going to have to be people of truth. There is no game player who will ever know this deposit of the life of Christ.
This strength that God is talking about. He said, There's no greater born of women than John the Baptist, but he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater. Than he is. That's an incredible statement. Here's how I interpret that.
John had A measure of the Spirit given to him. For the calling that was upon his life to announce the coming of Christ. No greater man, perhaps, as Jesus said up to that point. But we today Have not just a measure of Christ. We have access to the full life of God in Jesus Christ.
He could point to him. We can know him. We can embrace him. We can have the fullness of his life inside of us, carrying us. That it's not a message for those who are strong in themselves, but the least, the weakest.
The seemingly most frail in the kingdom of God, Christ said, will have the power to get through. An even greater power than John had will have this power to get through fire, flood, trial, difficulty, collapsing economies, wars breaking out, and famines and diseases in the world. The least among us who opens his or her heart and says, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. Bring every mountain down. Bring every valley up!
Straighten out every crooked path. And oh, God, I open my heart and I ask you, Lord, to come into my life. I ask you to be the Christ of my life, to be the God of my life, to be the power of my life, to be the source of my life, to be the strength of my life. Jesus said, There was no greater man till that point, but the least in the kingdom of God will be greater than Job. The least in the kingdom of God will not fall, will not fail, will not falter, will not be thrown aside by the struggles and trials that every one of us are going to have to go through.
These are going to be extremely difficult days, the days ahead of us. I can't minimize what the Holy Spirit is speaking to me. There are going to be perhaps days like none of us have ever known. And perhaps other than in some places where there's been unspeakable, Difficulty. Many in our generation can't relate to.
what we're going to have to go through together. World economies are going to falter. Wars are going to break out. There may even be rioting in some of our cities. This is not a generation that is going to line up for soup, folks.
That ethic is long gone. This is going to be a difficult time. And many of us are going to need this strength, and God wants to give us strength, but it doesn't come without walking in truth. It doesn't come. We can't hear the words of God if we reject His counsel.
If we reject what he is trying to speak to our hearts, that we cannot Retain any measure of our own righteousness, our own sense. of self And still come into the fullness of that which God would give us in Christ Jesus. There's got to be a willingness to walk it clean and to walk it straight. Folks, I want to challenge you with everything that's in my heart. Get right with God.
Get right with God. I feel Often times like Noah. Standing outside a complete place of safety as people are passing by every day, many even agreeing with him. But won't make the change. Lord, make the commitment.
See Losing something of what they do and how they're practicing certain things in life is a loss. when in reality they're losing the kingdom of God. and everything that is offered to them through Jesus Christ. Folks, I challenge you with everything in my heart. God plead with you.
As a pastor, as a father, as a brother. I I beg you. Get right with God. You're not going to be able to stand in the coming days if you don't get right with God. Give Him what you need to give Him.
You know, I find I even have to stop listening to the news now. Because I It's easy to get bitter. I I just am so fed up. with the incivility And the lies. Of even those who are supposed to lead us.
I'm tired of it, I can't take it anymore. And the Lord says, well, don't take it anymore. As many as received him. He gave them the power. to become the sons of God.
If I if I refuse this baptism of John. If I refused to walk in truth. and to humble myself before God, none of this will ever belong to me. But if I make the choice to do this. He has promised to make me a son of God.
The title of my message was, Can God Speak to You? Can God speak to you? Can God Go after that issue of the heart. Can God? Go after that practice in your life.
Can he? Or will you Reject. is counsel. And end up locked out of his power. That's the key.
That's the question. You've been listening to Carter Conlon from Times Square Church in New York City. For more information and resources to help you in your walk in Christ, log on to tsc.nyc. That's tsc.nyc. And be sure to be with us next week for A Call to the Nation with Carter Conlon.
