The Battle of Wills: God's Insistence for Salvation

In this judo match since the beginning of human history, God allows man to insist. But God in his infinite glory and wisdom, three days later, insisted that man be offered an opportunity to be forgiven. God insisted that death be pinned to the ground, not sinners. Just like he did in the garden, he once again entered into time and insisted there be a way. [00:38:44] (31 seconds)  #JudoMatchGodAndMan

you can betray me, but I'm still gonna love you. You can deny me, I'm still gonna love you. You can prefer the darkness rather than the light, I'm still gonna love you. I am. You can mock me. You can spit on me. Curse my name. I'm still gonna love you. And man's insistence pushed him directly to the cross so that then God could take over and show you what he insists on. [01:10:49] (31 seconds)  #UnfailingLoveAlways

Not destroying you, delivering you. Not humiliating you, helping you. Not killing you, adopting you. And with the cross and the burial and the resurrection, you see just a brief moment over seventy two hour period where God took the lead. God took the lead in this judo match in this glorious epic dance. And now humans have to make a decision. [01:11:21] (39 seconds)  #CrossMadeUsDecide

Do you want his insistence that you be saved to win the day or your insistence that you go to hell win the day? Because he will let you insist your way straight to hell. He allowed humanity to insist Christ to a cross because he knew that that was the best thing possible for humanity. And now, you gotta ask yourself whose will's gonna win out? [01:12:00] (29 seconds)  #ChooseWhoseWillWins

selling their soul for the next glimpse of pornography. Man has sold his soul for a whole lot less than 30 silver coins. He wasn't selling Jesus. Wrong. He was selling his soul. He took a price for presence and access. He took a price for presence and access. What is that worth to you? And what are you worth to you? [00:50:11] (28 seconds)  #DontSellYourSoul

You're literally in his presence right now whether you know it or not. This is his world, not yours. And he is, yes, a a transcendent God. But the bible also says he's imminent within his creation. He's involved in his creation. The very next breath you breathe is proof of his presence in your life. Because he's the one who keeps this whole thing going. He's not just the creator, he's the sustainer. [00:46:53] (25 seconds)  #GodIsImmanent

And God, since the beginning of human history, believe it or not, has allowed us to insist if we'd like. And we see it when God looked at Adam and Eve and said, look, I've made it all. I've made it all perfect. I've made you perfect. So I'm gonna give you the opportunity to rule, raise, subdue, fill and multiply. I'm gonna let you insist on how things are gonna be on the earth, and I'm going to submit my sovereign authority to that. Mind blowing. [00:36:23] (28 seconds)  #GodGivesFreeWill

We put ourselves in positions that we are we believe we're capable of handling. And what happens is through our actions, not verbally necessarily, we deny that we know Christ. Peter was actually lying, but we are living a lie. And through our actions, it's called practical atheism. Our actions appear to be that we do not know God nor believe in him. [01:01:35] (36 seconds)  #PracticalAtheismReality

So you gotta you gotta be willing to make the decision. God insists on providing you an opportunity to be forgiven, to be redeemed, and to be made whole. Now, all you have to do is insist on experiencing that. Battle of the wills. What? Will you do. Because I do know it's the will of Jesus to insist that God forgive you. No matter what you've done, Christ wanted God to forgive humanity anyway. Do you want to be forgiven? That is the question. [01:13:19] (49 seconds)  #AcceptForgivenessNow

And it has been that way, but as soon as man insisted and sinned and got pinned under the death of it, God showed back up in the garden and he began to insist. He insisted that there will be a way for you to be covered. He insisted that there's a way for you to be restored and to be redeemed and that the relationship that you just ruined doesn't have to stay ruined. [00:37:06] (25 seconds)  #GodPromisesRestoration

In this judo match since the beginning of human history, God allows man to insist. But God in his infinite glory and wisdom, three days later, insisted that man be offered an opportunity to be forgiven. God insisted that death be pinned to the ground, not sinners. Just like he did in the garden, he once again entered into time and insisted there be a way. [00:38:44] (31 seconds)  #DeathDefeatedNotSinners

Selling Christ for 30 silver coins? No. But selling your soul. Putting other people in harm's way because you you just insist that's gonna be your way or the highway. And when we do, you know what we're doing? Darkness loves when we push and try and exert our will in ways that God doesn't want us to do. And all it does is wait for you to they get you in a position and bam, it pins you. [00:57:23] (30 seconds)  #DarknessExploitsWill

There's still moments I cooperate with darkness. The darkness knows my weakness just like those guys knew Judas', and I'm pushing because I whatever the reason might be, and the next thing I know, I am flat on my back. And I remember when I was wrestling in high school, there's a sign on on the on the ceiling in in our room, and this is what it said, if you can read this, you're in serious trouble. [00:58:06] (28 seconds)  #KnockedDownByDarkness

And so God stepped in the garden in the cool of the day, found Adam and Eve hiding, covered with with leaves from a plant, and God said, no, take that off. I'm gonna cover you with the garment of an animal, the beginning of not necessarily the sacrificial system, but it's certainly evidence of the shedding of blood would lead to the covering of man. [00:37:31] (22 seconds)  #FirstCoveringOfAdamAndEve

You just finally turn it over. You turn him over, you turn access to God, you turn over a relationship with God. And this is what man has done since the garden. The first thing that man turned over was literally having instant access, personal, intimate access to God Almighty. He chose a piece of fruit over God walking you with you in the garden. Choose a piece of fruit over the presence of God in your life. [00:45:12] (28 seconds)  #FruitOverPresence

And Judas in betraying Christ, he didn't just turn Jesus over, turned himself over. He sold his own soul. And what's amazing is they were delighted. Of course, they were and agreed to give him money. And it turns out it's 30 silver coins, maybe thirty days pay, give or take in that day, a month's salary. [00:49:15] (28 seconds)  #JudasBetrayedHimself

And I used to look at this and think, how dare you sell Christ for 30 silver coins? That's not the point. It's how dare he sell his own soul for like, is that all you think you're worth? Is a month's pay? You would sell your soul for a month's pay. I mean, there's people sadly right now selling their soul for the next hit off a crack pipe, [00:49:43] (27 seconds)  #WhatAreYouWorth

When we reached the point where we're willing to spit and to mock God, We've pretty much reached the bottom rung of the ladder. Where in the midst of our sin, we're mocking the holiness of God. There ain't no God. I'm gonna do what I wanna do. I'm just gonna mock him with my choices, mock him with my behavior. [01:05:38] (26 seconds)  #MockingGodShowsDespair

You're in a war of wills. Is it yours or his? And if you're allow if you're willing to let him insist on your salvation, let him lead, you submit. But if you wanna lead, he'll submit. He will literally get out. Hey, come on. You wanna lead? Lead. Then he's gonna step out of the way and you can march yourself straight to hell. Right. [01:12:28] (29 seconds)  #SubmitOrWalkYourWayToHell

Since the beginning of human history, which is shorter than biblical history, biblical history includes the creative process and then man finally joins it. It's almost as if it's one of the other. It's almost as if man has been in an elegant dance with God or a judo match. And the two of those have a lot of similarities. At times, we're dancing, at times we're wrestling. And they both have at at a certain point in the movement, someone is insisting and someone is submitting. [00:34:18] (32 seconds)  #WhenGodInsistsItsADance