When God Gives Up

Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. The whole point of Jesus coming to earth was to set the captives free, to set us free from bondage. We considered on Sabbath that we’ve been praying for the Holy Spirit and if we receive the Holy Spirit, then where the Spirit of the Lord is there will be freedom and liberty. Therefore we should give our fellowmen freedom and liberty and not to crowd other people’s minds with our minds and not to dominate other people’s minds but give them freedom.

Luke 9:51 And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem, 52 And sent messengers before his face: and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him. 53 And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem. 54 And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did? 55 But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. 56 For the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them. And they went to another village.

The disciples were upset because a certain village did not take their message or receive and appreciate the person who they appreciated. They were annoyed and they wanted to kill these people. They wanted them destroyed and the Lord said, “You don’t know what manner of spirit you are of.” Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty, for the Son of Man has not come to destroy man’s lives. I really appreciate the characteristics of God displayed in Jesus Christ because He is a real gentleman who really respects what you want to do.

It is no part of Christ’s mission to compel men to receive Him. It is Satan, and men actuated by his spirit, that seek to compel the conscience… There can be no more conclusive evidence that we possess the spirit of Satan than the disposition to hurt and destroy those who do not appreciate our work or who act contrary to our ideas. Desires of Ages p. 487

Christ did not come to compel you and me and yet His freedom and His love is somewhat compelling because it’s not compelling. Don’t you love that? I love it too; I want that because there is freedom there.

No one can serve God by proxy. There are so many who seem to think that there is someone in this world stronger than Christ, upon whom they can lean. And instead of coming right to Christ, just as they are, giving themselves unreservedly to Him, they reach out for human help. God wants us to have an individual experience . . .. I cannot work out a character for you, and you cannot work out a character for me. {OHC 90.2}

The gospel deals with individuals. Every human being has a soul to save or to lose. Each has individuality separate and distinct from all others. Each must be convicted for himself, converted for himself. He must receive the truth, repent, believe, and obey for himself. He must exercise his will for himself. . . . Each must surrender to God by his own act. {OHC 90.3}

In the Garden of Eden man sinned and was separated from God. Now who separated from whom? When we sin, we think God runs away from us and says, “Oh, I don’t want to touch sin” and he flees away. No, sin is sin when we leave God. That is sin. It is sin for the transgressor to leave God. Man was free to make a choice. God put two trees in the garden because man was free. Man had a door out of God’s plan. He had the choice to go somewhere else and that proved that man was free. Some think, why did God put this tree in the garden and tell them not to eat and allow Satan to come? Well, if he didn’t, man would not be free. If you’re in a reality that has no exit, you’re bound. But if there is an exit to that reality, to that mindset, then you’re free to go out. And so God created man perfect and He said, “Here’s the door if you want it, but don’t do it though, because if you do it you’ll die, but it’s there just so you can be free. And behold man went out the door and that was sin. That is transgression, to leave God.

Now what happened? Man sinned, so what did God do? Man ran away and hid in bushes and God came. The first words ever spoken to sinners were “Where are you?” The first words of scripture tell us that God came in the cool of the day in Genesis 3:9. And Adam and Eve heard His voice and they ran, and God says, “Where art thou?” The first scriptures spoken to sinners were “Where are you?” It is as if he is saying “You’ve left me, we’re separated but I want to come to you.” And do you know the last words of the Lord ever spoken to sinners in the scriptures? “Surely, I come quickly”. Revelation 22:20. “Where are you?” is the first He says and then he says, “I’m coming.” But there’s a big gap in the middle. What are you going to do? Are you going to accept Him or not because if you say, “Here I am Lord”, then the words are surely, “I come quickly”. I’m coming.

Luke 19:10 For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.

Jesus is looking for us. You know we hide from God in all our activities. We are so busy and we crowd out the Lord and we hid from Him and we think, “Oh, the Lord doesn’t see”. And the Lord saying, “Where are you? He knows where we are but He wants us to accept Him in. The Lord knew where Adam and Eve were but He wanted to come to them. He was seeking them. How many times do we say, ” Well if they wronged me they had better seek me.” Have you ever had someone wrong you and say, “Well when they come to apologize to me then I will accept then back.”? Is that God’s attitude? Did God do anything wrong? No, but who went looking? Who made the effort? It was God. He came to seek and look for the people who were in bondage. What for? Why did He look for them?

Romans 3:10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: [11] There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.

God never sought mankind, nothing would happen. There’d be no restitution of the broken relationship but God is seeking individuals. He’s seeking because there’s none that seek after God. If you have ever feel drawn to the Lord and thought “Yes, I really want the Lord”, it’s because He sort you first. That is why you want Him. It’s because He’s already touched your life. He’s already come to where you are. And now you want Him. But if He didn’t seek us, then there is no hope and we will perish.

Luke 17:33 Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it

If we want to seek and save ourselves and save my own life by my own efforts, I’m going to lose. But the text continues and it says,

Luke 17:33 And whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve it.

As Jesus Christ is coming to seek us and calling “Where are you?”, He’s coming to us to give us an option. “Do you want to go your way again or do you want to come to me and have my life and way? What do u want?” If we seek to save our own life, we’re going to lose it. But if we’re going to give up our life and follow the life of Christ, then we will preserve the life we have.

God sets before mankind two options.

Deuteronomy 30:19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:

When our sins have separated us from God, then God starts looking for us and when He comes to us, He’s coming to us just give us an option again. That is all He is doing. We had the option to start with and we took the exit out. Now we’re bound. We cannot have any other mentality than that of this world and of the devil. So we’re locked in. There’s no exit door. He comes and says, “Okay, I’m going to give you another door back to where you were, if you want that or not. Because you’ve got into this and perhaps you didn’t realize what the results were, I’m going to give you another option. I’m going to give you salvation. I’m going to come to you with the option to come back but it’s your choice.” That’s all He had done when He came to Earth. He came to seek the people so He could save them and He set before them life or death.

If you don’t want him and say, “Lord, no.” Then what is the result? There’s a mentality that thinks the God of the Old Testament is like a dictator that says, “If you didn’t agree with me, I’ll kill you.” and then Christ, well, He was lovely so they are two different gods: the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament. But the principle of destruction is simply leaving God. Let us look at this in the Old Testament in Job 22 and we’ll see what the wrath of God is, God’s destruction that appears to be a dictatorial.

Job 22:15 Hast thou marked the old way which wicked men have trodden? [16] Which were cut down out of time, whose foundation was overflown with a flood: [17] Which said unto God, Depart from us: and what can the Almighty do for them?

What did the people of the flood do? They told God to go away. They told God to depart from us. Leave us alone. So what can God do? He leaves him. What is the result when the creator of the universe leaves someone? It is very evident that there’s destruction. What can God do if people say, “No, I don’t want you.”? What can God do? God respects you if you don’t want Him but what can he do to save you? He can’t save you.

Jeremiah 17:13 it says O LORD, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from thee shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters.

For our names to be written on the earth is eternal death because the life giver has been forsaken.

Isaiah 1:28 And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the LORD shall be consumed.

Colossians 1:17 And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

The word consist simply means held together so the person that holds us together is the creator. He didn’t just make us and leave us to it. He created us and He sustains, and upholds us and holds us together by His power. If we say to God, ” I don’t want you” then I can expect anything else than to be destroyed?

The Bible puts it in another way. When we forsake God what does God have to do? If we say no to God what does God have to do?

In Romans we see an example of the destruction of the wicked and this is to challenge us to make decisions personally. If we understand the nature of salvation and the nature of the plan of salvation, then we’ll understand what our duties before God.

Romans 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;

What is revealed? The wrath of God is revealed. How is God manifest really? Our human thinking is that wrath just means you lose your temper and just smash something into bits, losing control of yourself. But it says “For the wrath of God is revealed”. How is it revealed? Verse 24 of the same chapter it says

Romans 1:24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:

This is talking about the wicked in their activities and what caused those? What does it say? God also gave them up. So you say, “God I don’t want you” and He’ll say “Maybe you’re making a bad decision” and He won’t just run away at the first saying of it but then He’ll say “Okay, I will give you up if that’s really what you want, if that’s really your decision.”

Sometimes we can make decisions or say things we actually don’t mean. Many people said, “Look, I want you to go away” and then afterwards, “Ah no I want you to come back”. I remember when I was young when my mother was disciplining me for misbehaving and because she disciplined me I was annoyed and I said to her “Mum, I don’t want to ever see you again” and my mum said “Ok that’s fine” and she shut the door and walked off and I broke down crying because I thought my mum was going to leave me. I said it because I thought that she could get offended by it and then when she says “Oh good, okay” and walked off, I realised that she left me because I said I didn’t want her but I did not mean what I said. I was just saying it because it was the thing to say at the moment. If we really genuinely say to God from the inner core of our life, “Lord I do not want you. I want to go my own way”, then He will give us up.

Romans 1:26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:

God gave them up. They wanted to go their own way so God let them alone. We can be in a deception to think that whatever we’re doing is holding the truth because the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness. This is referring to religious people, who want to have their ideas yet fail to follow the law in all respects and say at the end of the day, “Lord, I don’t want you”. Now we may not verbalize it but actions speaks louder than words and we can tell the Lord we don’t want him by actions repeated and repeated indicating I don’t want Him and therefore He will give us up.

Romans 1:28 How is the wrath of God revealed “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;”

God lets us have what we want because where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty and if the world does not want the Spirit of God, the Spirit of God will withdraw from the world and the world will fall apart because it is by His power that all things consist. When the world falls apart they think it is the wrath of God and it is the wrath of God! It is the wrath of God to leave you to yourself. It’s not an easy thing for God to do that.

Hosea 11:7 And my people are bent to backsliding from me: though theycalled them to the most High, none at all would exalt him. [8] How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? How shall I deliver thee, Israel? How shall I make thee as Admah? How shall I set thee as Zeboim? mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together.

The word repenting doesn’t mean that He wished He didn’t make man, it means He’s just sorry, he just had sorrow. He says, “”My heart is turned inside of me.” This is so painful for me. My beloved creatures, the people who I love, whom I’ve come to seek, “Where are you guys? I’ve come to save you and now I’ve come to you, I’ve given you the options and you said, “No I don’t want you.” God says, “Oh how can I give you up? How can I let u go? My heart is turning inside of me.” But yet He’ll let you go. As painful as it is to Him He says “Okay, I’m not going to be possessive over you. I’ve given you freedom. You’ve taken your freedom and I cannot take it from you as much as I would love to make your decisions for you and pick the right path for you and draw everything to you so you will not have to suffer, I can’t because that would take away your liberty and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty.”

Hosea 4:17 Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone.

I’ll leave him alone he is joined to his idols. There is another word for ‘giving up’ and that’s called ‘sparing knot’ or ‘not spare’.

2 Peter 2:4 For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;

So what happened? He spared knot the angels, He delivered them or He gave them up, He gave them over. Who did he do it to? He gave up the angel’s.

2 Peter 2:5, 6 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; [6] And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly.

This is the example of God giving up the old world because they told God to depart from them.

Job 22:17 Which said unto God, Depart from us: and what can the Almighty do for them?

What can the Almighty do? When someone is free to choose, He has to give him or her over. He will ‘not spare them’ or ‘deliver them’ but let them go. And as He did it to the angels, as He did it at the time of the flood, as He did it to the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah, so He will do it again. He will leave those who do not want Him behind with their sins and withdraw His power and they will fall apart.

Romans 8:31 What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? [32] He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?

What happened to His Son? He spared not the angels, He spared not the world, He spared not Sodom and Gomorrah, and He will do it again. He didn’t spare His Son either. Why did He forsake and turn His back on His Son? Why? So all those that want to forsake their sins could place them on Jesus and Jesus bore our sins in His body on the tree and was made a curse for us.

What is the curse? The curse is He leaving us, and things deteriorating. We sometimes think that a curse is some magic spell. It’s just the Creator withdrawing is holding power. When men want to fiddle with God’s creation and modify everything and make thorns on things or make animals into what God didn’t make them. He’ll let him do that. He’ll give them over and this world will fail and fall apart because we have broken the everlasting covenant.

When God left His Son, what happened to Him? His heart broke. It burst inside of Him, and He died. He cried on the cross, “My God why have you forsaken me” He was forsaken of God because of our sins. He asks, “Do you want your sins?” If we want our sins, then God will give us over to them, if not, He will give Jesus over to them.

Isaiah 55:6 Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: [7] Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

God is seeking us, but if we do not feel after Him or seek Him back, then He will leave. Seek Him while He can be found because there is a time coming when He won’t be found. He’ll withdraw himself. Just like anybody who’s asked to leave will respectfully go. God will go, but if we seek Him and hang on to His ankles and say “I’m not letting you go. I don’t want to let you go God. You’ve come to seek me, and I’ll want you.” Then you have to forsake on your sins. You can’t have your sins and Jesus. You can’t do it. You got to give them up and have Jesus or give Jesus up and have the sins. If we don’t want Him, He’ll give us up to our sins but if we make the decision that He wants us to make then we will ever be with the Lord.

1 Thessalonians 4:17 Then we which are alive [and] remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 4 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

God is asking “Where are you because I want you to stay with me forever. That’s why I’m looking for you and I will come quickly to your situation if you will have me.”   We need to understand is the power of our will, the power of our decision.

The tempted one needs to understand the true force of the will. This is the governing power in the nature of man–the power of decision, of choice. {MH 176.1}

Tempted souls that are discouraged need to understand the power of their choice and will and when we understand how powerful the will is, we will put our will on the side of God’s will and choose Him. So many people desire to be like Him but they don’t choose Him.

Everything depends on the right action of the will. Desires for goodness and purity are right, so far as they go; but if we stop here, they avail nothing. Many will go down to ruin while hoping and desiring to overcome their evil propensities. They do not yield the will to God. They do not choose to serve Him. {MH 176.1}

The message is choose you this day. Don’t choose somebody else. Choose you this day who you are going to serve. If God is God, better serve Him because He’s holding your life together but if He’s not God to you, if the world is your god. If money is your god, if pleasures a god. Well serve that, but know they won’t hold you together. So it is your choice.

I pray that we can renew our choice every day. This is something that we need to go over and over again. Choose this day who you will serve. As for me, and my house we will serve the Lord.

Amen.