Jesus Always Gets The Last Word

Carter Conlon from the historic Times Square Church in New York City.

You are the only thing in creation that has the power to resist the voice of God because he created you in his image and allowed you to be an independent thinker. Thank you for joining us for this week's edition of A Call to the Nation with Carter Conlon. Surrounded with sadness and hopelessness, Jesus brought Lazarus back from death and out of his grave. Near Jericho, a blind beggar called out to Jesus for help, and Jesus gave him sight.

For 38 years, a man laid near the pool of Bethesda longing for help to be placed in the healing water. No one would help the man, but Jesus told him to rise, get up, and walk, and he was instantly healed. Let's join Carter now with today's message from John chapter 1 titled, Jesus Always Gets the Last Word. I'd like to take the next few moments and just share some thoughts on faith and prayer, and I've given the title to these thoughts from John chapter 1, the Gospel of John chapter 1. Jesus always gets the last word.

He always gets the last word. Father, I thank you, Lord, for the power that's in your word. God, it's not by the exuberance of my presentation, it's by the power of your word and the capability of your word to find out the deepest, darkest places of our hopelessness and despair and to bring life and light there. And so God, I ask for an anointing on this sharing that will set the captives free, give sight to the blind, heal the bruised in heart. God, and everything that you have promised us that you are to us will be made manifest in those that are willing to hear these words. Jesus Christ, Son of God, we have everything to gain by coming to you and nothing to lose but our sorrows, our captivities, and our despairs.

So give us the grace to hear your word, and I thank you for it, Father, in Jesus' name. John chapter 1, profound words of the Gospel where John writes, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He, speaking of the Word now as a person, was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him nothing was made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men, and the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. In other words, the light came, this light that was the Son of God, this light that was in the beginning with God, this light that was the Word of God, this light that made everything out of nothing, this light that was there in the beginning before anything was, this light that spoke and caused things to exist out of nothing that existed before them. This same light came and shone in our darkness, but the darkness did not comprehend or understand or appreciate what really they were dealing with and who they were dealing with. And the incredible power of this Word of God, who today we know was a person whose name was Jesus Christ.

I want you to think with me for just a moment. Jesus Christ is described in the Scriptures in the book of Revelation at the end, talks about himself. I am the Alpha and the Omega. In other words, I am the beginning of all things, and I am the end of all things. I was there before things that we see in this world, this universe began, and I will be there when they're all over.

He's eternally existed and always has been, never had to be created, always existed, and always will be. Genesis chapter 1, it says, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void. It was empty and darkness was on the face of the deep. In other words, darkness was having its day.

The earth was created, but there was no divine purpose as of yet to it that was visible. And there was darkness covering it. There was a hopelessness in a sense. Can you imagine if you had been there at that time, a darkness probably so thick that nobody can fully comprehend it? And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. And God said, let there be light. And there was light.

Isn't it amazing? God doesn't have to say much. What he says, though, has to be obeyed. No matter how deep, no matter how long lasting, no matter how all-encompassing the darkness was, God said, let there be light.

And light was. Revelation chapter 21 in verse 1, John said, I saw a new heaven and a new earth. There's a day coming when God's Son is going to say one more time, this is the end of this world, this universe as we have known it. Now I command to be created and recreated a new heavens and a new earth, wherein, as the scripture says, dwells righteousness once again. John said, I saw this. I saw the new heavens, the new earth.

I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven as a bride adorned for her husband. He's everything. He was there in the beginning.

He'd be there at the end. All through time, all through history as we have known it, Jesus is there and his word has ultimate power. Now in between those two times, humankind, that's people like you and I, in our fallen condition, decided that we are going to be as God is.

That was the original sin in the Garden of Eden. We can be as God. And by our speech, we can make things happen. That's why we call it talk radio, because that's all it is, is talk. Can't do a thing.

Can't change a thing. All of the words that have been spoken from this moment where Christ commanded there to be light in the world to the point where God recreates the heavens and the earth. All of the words that have been spoken. Jesus himself had said, every person is going to give an account for all the words they have spoken in this life.

Can you imagine? We're going to give an account. There are some people I really hope I'm not standing behind in that line of judgment.

Some people hope they're not standing behind me, because it might take a while to get through all of this stuff. Every word that we've spoken, we're going to give an account for. That's how important speech is. It's how important it is that we use our speech accordingly, that we walk humbly before God and before our fellow men. It's why we need to know what God says about things, because our opinions don't really matter.

Don't really matter in the long run. They can't change anything. They can't make one bad situation good.

They can't change things that can only be changed by God himself. A lot of talk. A lot of talk.

Must be hard for the angels to endure it. Just so much talk. Hard for me to endure it. I can't listen to radio anymore.

I just can't. There's just so much talk about nothing. Endless talk. I think about the news people.

They must be so depressed at the end of the day when they go, how do you do that all day and not be depressed? Cursing everybody like yourself and talking about how wrong these people are as if they are right in all things. It must be very, very depressing. A lot of talk about a lot of things. John chapter 11, there was a man called Lazarus and he died. And there was just a lot of talk going on about him. Some people said he stinks.

Others said, well, he's been dead too long to do anything about. There was weeping. Oh, what a tragedy this is.

This didn't have to be. Some people probably feel that way about some people that are here. And so many things have been spoken. So many words have been spoken over you and your situation and how hopeless you are. And you're a loser and a failure. And you're just like your mother, your father, your aunt, your uncle, or maybe worse than all of them put together and you're just so far gone.

There's no hope for you. And then suddenly in the midst of all this hopeless, endless talk, the one who was there in the beginning, the one who will be there when it's all over shows up. The word of God, light shined in the darkness, but the darkness couldn't comprehend it. I think they were just too busy talking to comprehend who was in their midst. Too busy sharing their woes, too busy with their opinions to even be aware of who had come into their midst.

All these things that if you took all these words, I don't think they'd probably be a vehicle strong enough to carry them all if they had any amount of weight to them. And yet Jesus stands, the one who said, let there be light, stands on a hilltop and with a loud voice says, Lazarus, come forth. And he who was dead in the grave for four days, he who people had an opinion, he's already started to decay.

He smells, why call him out? People who had opinions about the hopelessness of the situation watched the son of God with three words, bring a dead man out of the grave. Luke chapter 18, there was a man who was blind. We don't know how long he was blind, possibly from birth, sitting on the side of the road and he hears that Jesus is coming by. And there's a crowd and there's just all kinds of talk going on. And he starts calling out, son of David, have mercy on me. And people around him are telling him to be quiet. You're a blind man. Just get used to your blindness. What's the matter?

You didn't get enough point in your cup today? You're disturbing the procession. We've all got opinions about who this Jesus is.

And we're all kind of corralling him into our agenda. So just why don't you just be quiet and just just learn to be blind. But he wouldn't be quiet. He called out and Jesus took note of his voice and spoke three words to him.

Receive your sight. And the man who was blind, perhaps from his birth saw, I believe he was according to the story, his eyes came back and he saw. Oh, I thank God for the power of Jesus, the power of his speech. In John chapter five, there was a man laying beside a pool where the waters would be stirred and once in a while people would be healed. And Jesus walks up to him and says, would you be made whole? And immediately says, I just have nobody that when the water gets stirred to put me in the pool, he'd been there so long, people gave up on him really.

And he said, really, that's the bottom line. They might have tried in the beginning years, but they probably told him, you know, Frank, get used to your lameness. Get used to, you'll always be a drunk, get used to it. Get used to this. Get used to your depression. Get used to living this way. Get used to laying on this place where people do who can't get help and can't get hope. We've got other things to do.

There's other people to worry about. You've been this way for so long. Why do you ever think you're going to change? Alcoholism has been in your family for so many generations. What makes you think you're going to be able to stop drinking?

Divorce has been rampant in your home, abuse, verbal abuse and other kinds of abuse. And what makes you think you're going to break the chain of this? And you've been laying this way so long. You've been this way so long. It's hopeless.

Just give it up, my friend. And then Jesus speaks to this man and says, rise, take up your bed and walk. See, he always gets the last word.

This is my point. Jesus always gets the last word. You see, John said, light shined in the darkness, but the darkness didn't comprehend it.

The darkness had no idea who was speaking to it. And sometimes we just get so used to the darkness. We get so used to the the lameness. We get so used to the death around us. We get so used to the inability to see our way forward.

We get so used to laying there in depression and discouragement. We have no idea who's speaking to us. We have no idea anymore that his words have the power to create a universe. His words have the power to speak to the deepest darkness and command it to be light. His words have the power to fold up this whole universe as it's known today and recreate the heavens and the earth and a place where dwells righteousness.

We have no idea who's speaking to us. When God starts speaking to our heart and says, will you be made whole? Will you see again? Lazarus, come forth. Will you come out of that place of death? Will you just move to the sound of my voice?

Will you just let who I am come and touch your situation and revive you and raise you and give you vision and give you a future and give you a hope and give you new life, give you new power you never had before, give you a testimony that only can come from God himself. You see, the irony of the whole thing is the only thing in creation that has the power to resist God is you. You are the only thing in creation that has the power to resist the voice of God because he created you in his image and allowed you to be an independent thinker. Geese don't think when God says flies out they go south. The seas don't reason with God when he says this far and no much farther. The universe didn't disagree with God when he said let there be light.

Nothing could resist it. The only thing in creation that can resist God is you and me because he gave us a free will. He gave us the power to say no to the power in his voice to create, give life, give sight, give health, give hope, give healing. If we are going to know an awakening in our generation we are going to get up and believe God again.

We're going to take God at his word and his promises. You said you came to open my prison door. You said you came to give sight to my blinded eyes. You said you came to heal my wounded heart. You said you came to unlock the treasure of heaven to this poor man or this poor woman.

God this is what you said. You said this day it is fulfilled in your ears and so I'm getting up and I'm getting out. I'm leaving that grave.

I'm leaving that place and begging on the roadside. I'm getting up from that place and where all the lame and powerless people are lying and I'm coming towards the sound of your voice and I am going to be a testimony of who you are in my generation. Hallelujah to the lamb of God. That's called awakening. That's called revival. That's called the church of Jesus Christ and let's not deceive ourselves to think that some sprinkling is going to come from heaven and we're going to call it revival. Revival is going to come when you get up out of a place of death and believe God for your victory. Revival is going to come when you say I'm tired of being blind. I'm tired of not seeing the way forward. I'm tired of not seeing hope for my family and my future. I'm tired of laying in this place of impotence and living a life that brings no glory whatsoever to God.

I'm getting up and I'm getting out by the power of the one who's calling me into freedom. Surely if God can create a universe, he can recreate me. Surely if God can bring Lazarus out of a grave, he can give me life.

Surely if he can give sight to a man born blind, he can give me the eyes I need to see my way forward. Surely if he can raise a man up after 38 years laying there hopeless, he can raise me up out of my hopelessness and give me a testimony. You see, every one of these people became a testimony of who God is. We're not a testimony just by presenting an argument. We're not a testimony just by having all the right theology that we can throw at people. We're a testimony when we allow the supernatural power of God to touch our lives and make us what we could never be in our own strength and take us where we could never go and give us what we could never have hoped to possess. That's called a testimony of who God is. That's why 3,000 bent their knee on the day of Pentecost when 120 failures came out of an upper room empowered by the Spirit of God to speak to cultures that they formerly couldn't communicate with.

Empowered to be people they never could hope to have been in their own strength. When the crowd saw it one more time, they just simply said the Lord is God. Our religion has left us empty and they bent their knee to a holy God. They bent their knee to the light that shines in the darkness. That's why Jesus said you are the light of the world. He wasn't talking about us generating something out of ourselves that that we allow the light to work in us and we are raised up to be a testimony to this darkened generation. That's how we become the light to the world.

It's Christ in us, Paul said, the hope of glory. I can't do it for you. I wish I could. If I could, I would. I can't make you believe.

I can't come into your house and do what only God can do. The only thing I can hope is that somebody, somewhere will hear God speaking to their heart, read his promises in this book and say that's who I'm going to be and stand up and start walking and stand up and start walking towards the voice of God and start believing God to make you into something you could never have dreamt you could be in your own strength. I've lived it. I've tasted it.

I've traveled all over the world or much of the world, not all every place, but much of it. I've seen God do the miraculous. I've walked this life that I'm speaking to you about, but there was a point where I had to get up just like you do and say, I believe you, Lord.

I believe you. You can take a boy's lunch and you can feed 5,000 with it. You can walk on water. You can call Peter and he can walk on water. We focus on the fact that he sunk after a few steps, but he's the only human being I've ever heard of in my lifetime that ever did walk on water. The point simply is this, that if you don't get up and go, if you don't get up and go, you'll never know.

Be always learning, but never coming to the knowledge of the truth. I challenge you. I challenge you with all my heart to believe him for the miraculous where you need a miracle and nothing but a miracle will make the difference now. You're dead. You need a miracle.

You can't see. You need a miracle. You don't know how to go forward. You need a miracle. You can't get up. You can't stop doing what you've been doing. You can't stop what your father's and his father did.

You need a miracle. It's been years in this place, feeling hopeless, despairing, and suddenly somebody calls you and says, receive your sight, take up your bed and walk. The light shined in the darkness, but the darkness didn't understand it.

Had no idea the power of that voice. And so I challenge you with all my heart. Folks, an argument is not going to win this day. Ah, but a testimony. What kind of a testimony you say is God going to give me?

How's this sound? I was dead, but now I'm alive. I was blind, but now I see.

I was lame, but now I walk. You know, we get all caught up in how deep our theology has got to be. And then we're relegated to trying to win an argument instead of presenting Christ to our generation. The argument was won on Calvary.

It was all won. Now you and I are called to be a demonstration of that victory. So I'm going to ask you to stand and we're going to pray together and we're going to believe for miracles. We're going to believe for incredible victory.

Just let me read you a couple of the requests before we pray. Somebody in Illinois, Lord, touch my family as only you can do. We're so very broken. I can't stand it anymore.

I've been married 40 years on Sunday. We're not even speaking. My children are prodigals. Help. If somebody needs a miracle, we're going to believe God for that. From Amsterdam in the Netherlands, please pray for my wife. She can't eat.

All food goes out. Medicine too. She's been in bed five weeks. She's lost eight pounds. Times Square Church, please pray. Friends, we're going to join with you and believe for a miracle. From Zanny in Australia, please pray. Carly has had swine flu and has severe brain damage due to a lack of oxygen.

She's only 34 years old, has a three year old son. She needs a miracle. From Milwaukee, Wisconsin, please pray for me that God delivers me from heroin, opiate addiction. I have no strength left even to cry out to him anymore. Tony, if you're with us, which I believe you are, we're going to pray for you.

We're going to believe with you. Just get up, Tony. Just get up and start moving towards your victory. Linda from New York says, pray for me. I've failed in my RN nursing. My landlord is a victim.

My job is not giving me a schedule and I've no money. I'm falling apart. Linda, you're not going to fall apart. We're going to believe God for you. Get up and move towards the provision that he promises you.

From Ithaca, New York, please God, end the years of severe pain and suffering in my ankles and feet and shrink the inoperable bunion causing pain. I am desperate for a miracle. Trish, we're going to pray with you and stand with you and believe for miracles.

This is going to have to be the year of miracles, folks. Let's not be sold short. Let not history write of us. The light came, but the darkness couldn't comprehend it. Somehow, the people of God believed that their situations were too deep for the one who created the universe with the word of his mouth, too deep for the one who cried. It is finished on a cross after he defeated the powers of darkness.

They couldn't comprehend who they were dealing with and couldn't believe that he could bring them vision, healing and life. No, we're going to believe for a miracle. We're going to stand. We're going to believe with all of our heart. This is not going to be taken away from us.

This is going to be a year of miracles because nothing else is going to work now. So you lift your voice and lift your voice not only for others online, but lift your voice for your own situation and declare life. Agree with God.

Agree with God. I'm not going to live here. I'm not going to be held there. I'm not going to lay there. I'm not going to be given to this darkness any longer. I'm going to live for God and God's going to live through me. You make that declaration and you stand up and fight for the testimony of Christ within your life. 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.