Participants: Dennis Uffindell
Series Code: FC
Program Code: FC000050
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00:29 My name is Dennis Uffindell,
00:30 and I'm glad to welcome you to our program again today. 00:34 Let us bow together and ask God's blessing as we do so. 00:39 Father in heaven, 00:41 thank You that we can call You our Father, 00:44 and know that You have a Father's tender care 00:46 for each one of His children. 00:49 We also know that good children are attentive 00:53 to what their fathers have to say, 00:56 and we pray that You'll bless us 00:58 that we may be attentive to Your word today. 01:01 And thus be blessed for Christ sake, amen. 01:07 Perhaps the greatest problem that we can have with-- 01:12 or the God has with us I should say, 01:14 is that the church down through the ages 01:17 has not really wanted what God said 01:20 was essential for their good, 01:23 whether it was the Hebrews church 01:25 or the Christian church. 01:27 What about today? 01:29 Well, the Bible answers that question, 01:31 in rather startling terms. 01:33 If we go to the Book of Revelation Chapter 3, 01:36 I'm going to read a few verses here, 01:39 it says "Unto the angel of the church 01:41 of the Laodicea write: 01:43 These thing saith the amen, the faithful and true witness, 01:47 the begin of the creation of God." 01:49 So first all let's notice, 01:50 He's the one who doesn't make any mistake 01:53 so far as his witness is concerned, 01:55 but His witness is rather disturbing, 01:58 He says, "I Know thy works, 01:59 that thou art neither cold nor hot. 02:02 I would thou wert cold or hot. 02:05 So then because thou art lukewarm, 02:07 and neither cold nor hot, 02:09 I will spue thee out of my mouth. 02:11 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, 02:14 and have need of nothing 02:16 and knowest not that thou art wretched, 02:18 and miserable, and poor, and blind and naked." 02:24 Now I don't know about you, 02:26 but I wouldn't want to be in that destitute position 02:30 physically, would you in temporal affairs, 02:33 and I certainly wouldn't want spiritually either. 02:36 What does it mean? 02:37 To be lukewarm means very simply to be insensitive, 02:43 to have no feelings, either for or against. 02:48 To be miserable of course means to have no joy in the Lord. 02:53 And to be destitute, totally destitute means, 02:58 we have no like, Christ likeness of character 03:01 because that is the goal that's worth having. 03:04 To be blind is to have no spiritual discernment, 03:09 and to be naked means not to be covered 03:11 with the righteousness of Christ. 03:13 Now really, I find it difficult to understand, 03:15 how the Lord can even call 03:17 the church like that His church, 03:19 but in His great love 03:20 and readiness to forgive and to bless, 03:24 He still has not cut them off. 03:27 Why is it that they are in this situation? 03:31 I refer to it again and it says in verse 20, 03:36 "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: 03:41 if any man hear my voice, and open the door, 03:43 I will come in to him, and will sup with him, 03:46 and he with me." 03:49 So then Jesus is on the outside of their hearts, 03:53 not on the inside. 03:56 So He's not in control of their lives. 04:00 The problem is one of relationships, 04:05 but I warn you although this answer seem to be very simple 04:08 and straightforward, 04:10 there's much more to it than appears on the surface. 04:14 In fact what it really means is a terrifying thing, 04:19 hence my title is "All or Nothing: 04:23 The Terrifying Ultimatum." 04:25 Let me illustrate it with a little story. 04:29 An apartment building had caught on fire 04:32 and a woman was trapped in an upstairs apartment, 04:35 the flames were all up the doors, 04:40 I mean, yeah, through the doors 04:41 and corridors and stairs and so on. 04:45 And the wall behind her 04:46 and all she had was the window between her and escape, 04:51 but it was a long way down. 04:54 Fortunately some men 04:55 who were concerned for her safety 04:56 when they saw her there, 04:57 had run and got a large tarpaulin 04:59 and they stretched it out between them beneath the window 05:02 and they said "jump", but she was afraid to jump. 05:07 It was terrifying going down that far and so she hesitated, 05:11 and they called out "jump", but she didn't jump 05:16 and tragically the flames caught her, 05:20 although she was terrified of them, 05:22 the flame caught her and killed her, 05:26 before she made the decision to jump. 05:30 And this illustrates I think very well, 05:34 what the Lord is wanting of you and me. 05:38 He's saying give me all there is of you. 05:44 And we find that extremely difficult to do. 05:48 And it's the terrible mistake that so many have made. 05:51 Jesus spoke about this often. 05:53 You may remember that in Mathew 25 05:56 there is a story of the Ten Virgins. 05:58 Five were called wise and five were called foolish. 06:02 The wise ones, it says had oil in their lamps, 06:05 representing the Holy Spirit 06:07 and therefore the Holy Spirit's presence in their lives. 06:10 The foolish ones had a little, it ran out, 06:13 they were not ready when the Lord came 06:15 and they were left outside. 06:18 The scary part if I may put it that way is this. 06:22 When they knocked on the door and asked for entrance, 06:25 Jesus said, "I never knew you." 06:30 And then in another one-- 06:33 He says something very similar in Luke, 06:37 "I never knew you." 06:39 Why? 06:40 Because they had neglected the necessary preparation. 06:45 They were not doing God's will 06:47 although they thought they were. 06:49 Thus their deeds were evil in the sight of God, 06:53 rather than good, even though to human beings 06:55 they may appear to be good. 06:57 And their reward-- and this is the serious part, 07:01 their reward was the same as those 07:04 who had never ever professed to be Christians. 07:08 Now that is heavy stuff. 07:11 And it can on the surface appear to be unfair, 07:16 but Jesus makes very clear the reason why as we go along. 07:21 So the point that I'd like make right here is this. 07:23 There are no big saints and little saints, 07:27 no big sins and little sins. 07:31 Why? 07:33 Because the issue is not how bad you are 07:36 or how good you are, 07:38 but rather it's who is Lord of your life. 07:43 God does not discard us because we sin. 07:48 He discards us in the end 07:50 because we've totally discarded Him. 07:54 And He says it's all or nothing. 07:59 Make me king of your life, 08:02 and I'll take care of all the problems, 08:06 but if you have to be my follower, 08:09 I must be King of your life. 08:14 So righteousness by faith 08:16 which the church talks a lot about 08:18 and yet it's so often misunderstood 08:20 and even misrepresented. 08:23 It's not an escape from implicit obedience. 08:26 It's the door that opens us to that, 08:29 so that Christ can live His life in us, 08:35 having taken care of the problem 08:38 of our sin and guilt. 08:41 So what He is saying is, there is only one way 08:46 out of your problem as a sinner. 08:51 It's not trying harder, it's not biting your teeth 08:54 and gritting-- biting your tongue, 08:56 and gritting your teeth 08:57 and building up your determination. 09:00 I've tried that and I can tell you, 09:03 it doesn't work. 09:07 But we're not left in doubt about what it really is 09:10 because Jesus told a story 09:12 that illustrates it beautifully. 09:15 A rich young man came to Jesus one day, 09:19 he came running to Him. 09:21 Now rulers don't do that, it's not dignified, is it? 09:25 You Know, you come with property quorum. 09:28 He was anxious. 09:30 He came to Jesus and knelt at His feet and said 09:33 "Good Master, what good thing 09:35 shall I do that I may inherit eternal life." 09:39 And Jesus asked why he called Him good 09:42 and then said very simply. 09:44 "If you would enter eternal life, keep the commandments." 09:48 And so the young man said "well which?" 09:51 And Jesus said, mentioned several of them, 09:54 of The Ten Commandments, 09:55 and the young man was very happy about that 09:57 because he said well, 09:58 "All these thing have I kept from youth up." 10:01 But there was still that nagging emptiness 10:05 so he said, "What lack I yet?" 10:08 So Jesus put his finger 10:10 on the sore spot in his experience 10:14 and He said if thou would be perfect, 10:17 go sell what you have and give to the poor, 10:21 then come and follow me. 10:25 Tragically we read 10:27 that the young man went away sorrowful, 10:30 doubtless he hung his head because it says, 10:33 he had great possessions. 10:37 I would like to state to you 10:39 that actually he too was poverty-stricken 10:43 because the possessions 10:44 that matter most are not material things. 10:47 I've known wealthy people 10:49 who were some of the most unhappy people I've ever met. 10:52 And I have known some poverty stricken people, 10:56 who had a joy that anybody could rightly envy, 10:59 because they were totally committed to Jesus Christ. 11:06 How is it with you? 11:10 He may have to ask you, 11:11 He will inevitably have to ask you 11:14 to let him separate you from certain things 11:18 that for some foolish reason you treasure, 11:23 but He only asks you to separate them-- from them 11:26 because He knows 11:29 that is necessary for your walk with Him. 11:33 In Mathew 6:24 Jesus said this, 11:38 "No man can serve two masters: 11:42 for either he will hate the one, 11:44 and love the other, 11:45 or else he will cling to the one, 11:48 and despise the other. 11:49 You cannot serve God and mammon." 11:53 Those were Jesus' words. 11:55 In other words you can't be on both sides. 11:58 We all know that tragically the United States 12:00 has faced problems with traitors 12:02 and I suppose most countries have had that, 12:05 where people have sold secrets to the other side for money 12:10 or for kicks or whatever it was. 12:14 It is impossible to faithfully serve two masters. 12:18 He say either serve Me or go your own way 12:24 but don't pretend. 12:29 Jesus said, "He that is not for Me is against Me." 12:36 So that's what it is: It's all or nothing. 12:41 And unfortunately today in the kind of society 12:44 in which we live that can sound like fanaticism. 12:48 Oh, you don't have to or doesn't really matter if. 12:57 But I would ask this simple question, 13:00 who is likely to be right, the King of the universe 13:04 who says this and this and this is what I require 13:10 or the foolish sinner, 13:12 caught up in sin and selfishness, 13:15 who says I don't think. 13:18 Frankly it doesn't matter 13:19 what Dennis Uffindell thinks to whose. 13:21 It really doesn't matter what you think, 13:23 but it matters a great deal what the God of heaven thinks 13:28 and what we choose to allow Him 13:31 to do in our lives in that regard, 13:33 determines whether in fact we are for Him or against Him. 13:41 There are no halfway measures. 13:44 There is no possibility of compromise here. 13:49 That's Christ's ultimatum. 13:54 What He is actually saying is this. 13:56 "I want all there is of you or I can't have any at all, 14:04 won't you choose me?" 14:07 Now that's terrifying. 14:10 I know from personal experience, 14:13 but I also have seen 14:15 this ultimatum be faced by individuals. 14:19 And I have seen how before this, 14:23 their Christian experience was weak and wavering 14:26 and it was not full of joy. 14:31 They don't have peace, and they don't have assurance, 14:34 just as that rich young ruler did not. 14:39 So we decide ourselves, 14:43 by the way we respond to what God says. 14:47 Now let me illustrate this. 14:49 Many times we try to serve two masters 14:52 because we try to rationalize our own attitude enacts. 14:57 We like to indulge in greed or pride or appetite, 15:02 or impure thoughts or shall I illustrate it with gossip. 15:08 You see this lady, excuse me ladies 15:11 for saying lady but anyway, 15:14 she didn't mean to hurt anybody, 15:17 she didn't realize she was 15:19 but she was doing it all the time, 15:21 under rationalization for talking, 15:24 gossiping about people woes-- 15:26 she liked people but every day she was hurting people 15:30 because she refused to control her tongue. 15:37 Something has to be done about this kind of things my friend, 15:41 and only the Lord can do it, 15:44 but He will not take any sin or evil from us 15:48 that we do not give Him permission to do, 15:52 and that's why it has to be all or nothing. 15:57 You see, the God of Heaven 15:58 in spite of what the devil claims 16:00 is not a dictator. 16:02 He will not force anyone into heaven. 16:04 He will not force anyone to serve Him. 16:08 He will either love them into doing it totally 16:13 or they'll not be His at all. 16:19 Speaking to His followers 2,000 years ago 16:24 Jesus said this in Luke 14, "If any man come to me, 16:29 and hate not his father, and mother, 16:32 and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, 16:35 yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. 16:40 And whosoever doth not bear His cross, 16:42 and come after me, cannot be my disciple. 16:46 So likewise, whosoever he be of you 16:50 that forsaketh not all that he hath, 16:53 he cannot be my disciple." 16:56 Now that's a hard saying, 16:58 and many turned away from Jesus at that time 17:01 because they were not prepared 17:03 for that kind of level of commitment. 17:06 But Jesus is not really saying 17:08 what we mean with the word hate today. 17:12 In the Bible times the word hate is choosing 17:16 who shall come first. 17:19 And so let me put it in my own words. 17:24 My, friend, what Jesus is saying to you 17:26 and to me is this, 17:29 "I have done and I am willing to do 17:32 everything for your salvation and happiness, 17:36 but it is absolutely essential that you understand 17:39 fully the terms of my covenant and accept them. 17:45 I am offering Myself totally to you, 17:49 but the only way that you can have me 17:52 or anything that I have to offer 17:54 is if you give yourself unreservedly to Me." 18:00 That is the ultimatum. 18:03 Let me repeat a little of it, 18:07 "I am offering Myself to you" Jesus says, 18:10 "totally, and the only way 18:14 that you can have or will ever have, 18:18 what I am offering or anything that I have to offer, 18:22 is if you give yourself totally and without reserved to me." 18:27 There is no alternative proposition 18:30 that He has to offer. 18:34 You know, a few years ago 18:35 it was my privilege to visit Glastonbury in England. 18:40 Now Glastonbury is the earliest Christian site, 18:45 in the British Isles, very close after it was Iona, 18:49 but it is reputed that it was Nicodemus, 18:54 who first took the gospel to the British Isles. 18:59 It dates back to as early as that, 19:03 but what threw me as I spent my time 19:06 walking around the ruins of the building 19:09 that they constructed there was this. 19:12 Christian men and women would send their young people 19:17 there to be trained as missionaries. 19:20 And such was the hostility to missionaries 19:24 and such was the danger 19:26 of international travel in those days 19:29 that they knew that the chances of those young people 19:31 ever coming back home 19:33 and the young people knew that their chances 19:35 of ever coming back home were hardly worth talking about, 19:39 but such was their commitment to Christ 19:42 and their parents commitment to Christ, 19:44 that they rejoiced at the privilege 19:47 of being able to go in those tiny little boats 19:50 at the risk of life and limb, 19:52 knowing that those who hated the cause of Christ 19:55 will destroy them if they could. 19:58 And thousands of them never did come back. 20:02 But I want to tell you something, 20:04 their names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life, 20:08 and when the Lord comes back to this world again, 20:12 you know what? 20:13 They are going to be among the ones 20:15 who are called from their graves and He says 20:18 "Come ye blessed of my Father, 20:20 inherit the Kingdom prepared for you." 20:24 I want to hear Him say those words to me some day, 20:27 don't you? 20:29 I want to be sure that I'm on right side, 20:34 Christianity was founded upon sacrifice. 20:38 Oh, its true, Jesus said that "My yoke is easy, 20:40 and my burden is light." 20:42 And many people think that that means 20:44 you can just go on a merry-old-easy way. 20:47 That's not what He was meaning. 20:48 What He was meaning is this; 20:51 the road that the non-Christians 20:54 hose is a hard road, and it ends in death. 21:00 The Lord doesn't want that for us. 21:03 He wants us to take a road 21:05 that's going to lead to eternal life. 21:08 And the only way that Christianity 21:10 is going to be finished, 21:12 is in the same way that it started. 21:16 And that is that those who give their lives to Christ, 21:20 counted a privilege to surrender to Him totally, 21:23 knowing that they are far safer in His hands 21:26 than in their own hands. 21:30 And that He will allow or bring nothing, 21:32 which when seen from the end. 21:36 They would not choose for themselves, 21:38 because our God makes no mistakes. 21:42 He is a tender and a loving God, 21:45 he cares for every one of His children, 21:48 with a love beyond our comprehension. 21:51 And He wants you to enter into that love, 21:54 into that joy and into that peace. 21:59 For 2000 year the Christian church 22:03 has awaited and yet delayed the second coming of Christ. 22:09 How much longer is He going have to wait 22:11 for His church to be ready? 22:15 He can only come for those who are totally committed. 22:20 And if you my friend are not totally committed, 22:24 then He cannot yet come for you. 22:27 And He doesn't want to leave you out. 22:30 Have you wondered why hasn't come yet? 22:34 It's out of impart at least, tender regard for you, 22:39 because He wants you in His kingdom. 22:45 So I ask you my friend, does that describe you, 22:51 and unwillingness to make the full commitment, 22:55 or are you determined that nothing 22:58 is going to get in you way? 23:00 I'll tell you one thing, 23:02 if you'll spend real time with Jesus, 23:06 it'll reach the point, 23:08 where that will not seem to be a terrible 23:10 and dangerous decision to make. 23:13 It will be the only one that's worth while. 23:16 You know, it reminds of a little story, 23:18 I believe it happened on the river 23:22 a little above Niagara falls. 23:25 It'd been a cold winter, 23:26 and the river was frozen over solid, 23:29 and a lot of people were skating 23:31 and doing all kinds of things on the river, 23:34 and having a great time but then something happened, 23:37 and some of the ice broke. 23:42 And one young couple were on one of these 23:47 separated pieces of ice, above Niagara falls. 23:53 And the flow of the river started taking them away. 23:57 The young man grabbed his wife by the arm 24:00 and took her to the edge of the ice, and said "Jump." 24:02 It was easy for them to, at this point 24:05 jump across onto the solid ice. 24:10 But she was terrified, 24:12 and she began to sank to her knees in fear. 24:16 And you could see for a movement 24:18 that he was hesitating, 24:19 he could have jump to safety, but he choose not to, 24:25 instead he knelt down beside his wife 24:28 and put his arms around in total commitment, 24:33 then slowly and yet surely they floated to water falls. 24:41 Somehow or other a rope was got across 24:43 and dangled where he could reach it, 24:46 and he could have saved himself again. 24:50 But he knew there is no way 24:51 that he could get her attached to it 24:53 before it was too late. 24:55 And he will not leave her alone. 24:59 So instead, they went over the falls together. 25:04 That my friend, is total commitment, 25:07 that's the kind of commitment 25:09 that Jesus Christ had when 2000 years ago. 25:13 He left the security of Heaven, with His peace and joy 25:17 and adoration of the heavenly hosts, 25:20 and came down here to this sin cursed world 25:23 where the most implacable enemy the universe ever seen, 25:27 Satan was in control. 25:32 It was total commitment for you and me. 25:38 Somehow suggested that it would have been possible-- 25:41 impossible, sorry-- for Christ to have failed, 25:44 after all He was both, God and Man. 25:48 I would like to state categorically, 25:50 that if that was the case then God would have been play-acting 25:53 and not real, 25:55 and I don't believe that God does that. 25:58 It would have been possible for Christ to fail, 26:01 but He did not fail, 26:03 because not only was His commitment to us total, 26:08 but His commitment to His Father was total. 26:12 And so His arms were stretched out both ways, 26:15 keeping a firm hold upon His Father, 26:18 and a firm hold upon human race that would accept Him. 26:25 And today, 2000 years later 26:31 He comes to you, 26:33 as He did to the disciples and invites them, 26:38 and invite you as He did to them to follow Him. 26:44 But remember, there's only one way of follow Him, 26:49 and that is with all our hearts. 26:53 Lets us Pray. 26:55 Oh, God, our Father, You know the hearts of those 26:59 who've been listening to this massage today, 27:01 You know my heart. 27:03 Remove anything that stands between us and You, 27:06 oh, God, that You may have total control 27:10 and we may rejoice 27:13 in that beautiful relationship with You to only those 27:17 who are totally committed can have. 27:20 That we can have the fullness of joy and perfect peace 27:26 and something worth living for 27:29 that's better than anything else 27:31 this world can offer. 27:36 So speak to each heart, 27:39 and may each one make that decision. 27:40 I pray for Christ sake. 27:44 Amen. 27:47 Don't let the devil persuade you to delay; 27:53 procrastination is the thief of souls 27:55 as well as thief of time. 27:57 Say yes to Jesus. |
Revised 2015-05-11