Lord, I would just say, Lord, may that be the continual prayer in our hearts: that, Lord, You are all I want, all that we ever needed.
Lord Jesus, how we come to Thee this morning. Lord, I would ask that You would, in Your mercy and grace, pour out Your Holy Spirit upon us, Lord Jesus, because we have learned that our own wisdom, our own reasoning, cannot bring us to God. But it is indeed Your love that draws us to Yourself.
Lord, it is a heart issue. And so we would ask this morning, Lord, that You would deeply touch our hearts; that You would put that yearning in our hearts for Jesus and for Him alone. Lord, touch us this day. Open our ears to hear what You are saying to us.
Lord, I, more than anyone in this room, want to hear what You are saying this morning. Lord, we just come to Thee. Lord, I just ask that You would anoint us and bless us with Your words this morning to our hearts. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Well, this morning I am struggling a bit. I have two thoughts on my heart, and we are going to have to see where the Lord takes this this morning.
The first being:
Teach us to number our days,
That we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
And the second, which is kind of the overriding theme, has to do with our spiritual warfare. It is out of Isaiah 59:16:
And He saw that there was no man,
and wondered that there was no intercessor.
He looked down, and He could find no man—no one. And He wondered that there was no intercessor.
So may the Lord, in His grace, show me how these two thoughts are really combined.
I was deeply touched this week as I was preparing by our young brother, Philip Higgins, and, of course, his going to be with the Lord. I think that is what brought me to this matter of, “Lord, teach us to number our days, that we might apply our hearts to wisdom,” because young Philip Higgins was eighteen years old.
Many of us knew him and his family very well through the years, and I was greatly encouraged that our younger brother had, in the last year or year and a half, really returned to the Lord. His heart had returned to the Lord, and he had come back to the Lord in such a deep way.
I was very, very much impressed by the testimonies that were shared, particularly when they said that over the past year, Philip had a lot of inquiry about what it would be like to be with the Lord. The Lord Himself had obviously put this longing in young Philip’s heart.
I am so used to the two Harrisons—the oldest one and then his son—but in Philip’s heart there was this longing, in such a young man’s heart, not only to know the Lord, but to want to be with the Lord.
I was reminded of Paul, the Apostle Paul. He said, “Look, I would much rather be with the Lord than to be here with y’all and sharing.” The Lord had found it necessary that I be here now, but, he said, it is far better to be with the Lord.
And you know, I think in Paul’s heart, he was not saying that because he wanted to escape all the trials and the tribulations and the pressures that he was under. We see in those letters how much the Apostle Paul did suffer, as the Lord told him he would, for the Lord’s name’s sake.
And yet, we have to know in our hearts that Paul’s desire and longing to be with the Lord was not because he wanted to escape. It was because he wanted to be with the Lord.
So I think that the Lord had put a very similar passion in our young brother’s heart, and that deeply touched me. In 2 Corinthians 5:8—you do not have to turn there—I think our brother John, on Wednesday night as we prayed, shared the verse from Paul’s letter:
We are confident, I say, and willing rather
to be absent from the body,
and to be present with the Lord.
Willing. In other words, not because I need to get out of here, but willing rather to be absent from the body, to be present with the Lord.
And I thought about that, and I said, “You know, the Apostle Paul was so close to the Lord, we can understand that. We can understand a man like the Apostle Paul uttering those words.” But I was taken back to the two thieves on the cross.
As I meditated about those two things, I read some, of course, and I looked. It is very interesting that as our Lord Jesus was on the cross, suffering for the sins of the world, one of the thieves mocked Him, as the priests had done, and said to Him, “Look, if You are God, come down off that cross and save Yourself and save us.”
Why not? You are the Son of God. Prove it. Then everybody will know.
Our Lord Jesus Christ cried out, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”
That was our Lord’s response to the mocking, to the stripes, and to man’s bitterness and hatred: “Father, forgive them. They do not know what they are doing.”
Two thieves. One mocked at the words of the Lamb. But the other thief, hearing those words and somehow looking at our Lord Jesus Christ there on the cross, said to Him, “Remember me when You come into Your kingdom.”
The other thief, in hearing those words, “Father, forgive them,” and seeing what the Lord was going through—man’s reasoning was, “If You are truly the Son of God, this cross is not an issue to You. You can come down and save Yourself.”
That was man’s reasoning. And man, in his reasoning, gets such a hard heart.
He thinks and contemplates about God and finally determines that the real god in his life is me—that I am the one who should be in control and need to be in control of things. “If I was in control, I would come down from the cross and overthrow all of those that were against me.”
Oh, how much different we are from our Lord.
But the other thief, seeing the same things and hearing the same things, looks at the Lamb and says, “Remember me when You come into Your kingdom.”
He did not ask Him to somehow save him. He said, “Just remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” That tells us so much.
It tells us that he had seen the same things and heard the same things. He looked at our Lord, and he saw something. The Lord was able to reveal to his heart that indeed, though He was dying and suffering on that cross and taking all the mocking of men, He was indeed the Son of God.
His eyes had been opened by the Father. His heart was able to be touched, and he saw the Lord Jesus Christ for Who He was: the King. He was saying, “Look, I would love to be Your subject. I would love that You would be my King.”
“We are getting what we deserve, but You have done nothing wrong. And yet, You are the One being crucified. Oh, somehow I see that You are the Son of God. You are the King, and when You come into Your kingdom, remember me.”
Isn’t it amazing? The two different hearts in this story. Two men, the same circumstances, the same issue. They were being crucified for their sins that they had committed against society.
Our Lord had not committed one sin.
That one man—God was able to touch his heart—and he looked up: “Remember me when You come into Your kingdom.”
Oh, he was not just looking for salvation, was he? To be saved from his circumstances, even maybe from his sins. He was saying, “This is One that I would love to have as my King. I submit to His lordship.”
Today, often when we come to the Lord Jesus Christ and we present the gospel, we come a little short. We say that Jesus Christ died for your sins, which He did, and for you to obtain eternal life and salvation from your sins, you must accept Him as your Savior—as the One Who died in your place on the cross for your sins.
He is willing to do that because He loves you and has, through your whole history, worked in your life that you might come to that point of decision in your life where you look at the Lamb and say, “Yes, I recognize this One is the Son of God. Yes, in my heart I touch Him, and He is touching me, and I want to respond to this One. I accept Him as my Savior.”
That is a little bit short. We need to also accept Him as our King.
So I think it is interesting that this young man just said, “I want Him to be my King, the Lord of my life.”
Oh, brothers and sisters, God was able to touch that thief’s heart on the cross. Oh, what a difference that made—that one moment in history, almost his last moment, made in this man’s life. In fact, both of the thieves’ lives.
Our Lord’s response to this young man was, “Today.” Not in a thousand years, not at some time in history when I return, but today:
Today shalt thou be with Me in paradise.
What a tremendous difference between two lives. And, brothers and sisters, the only difference that I can see that made a difference was the heart.
It was not the head. It was the heart.
And the Lord was able to reach in and touch the one thief’s heart.
And you know, in John 3:16, it says:
For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish,
but have everlasting life.
Oh, the Lord’s heart was just as much toward the other thief.
Brothers and sisters, I have no answer as to why the Lord could touch one heart and the other one was too hard. But He was able to do that.
We have to remember that we are born in this life, and unfortunately, we are born with a hard heart. But the Lord works in your life. It says He knows us when we are formed in the womb, and He works your entire life to bring you to that point of decision in your life where your heart can be touched by Him.
Then you recognize that this is indeed the Son of God, and that He is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the earth. It was God’s intention and purpose that, in His love for man, whom He created—His own creation—in order to save them from their own desperate need, one day He would send His Son down to this earth as a man, to live as a man, to suffer as a man, to suffer the same temptations, to overcome in all those things, and to live a perfect life, a sinless life.
Because of that, He was qualified to be the substitute for you and me on the cross of Calvary, that He might hang there in our place, and that by accepting Him, we become righteous people because of our faith in what the Savior has done.
And it is all because He touched your heart.
This is love: not that we loved God, but that He first loved us.
Brothers and sisters, we should fall down on our knees and say, “Lord, thank You so much for being able to touch this hard heart of mine.” It was nothing in me.
Do we not realize, brothers and sisters, there is nothing in here that desires God? Even the desire for God has to come from Him, and He can work in our lives.
This morning, we talked about this young woman who pressed through the crowd. And you know why she pressed through the crowd? She had a desperate need in her heart. She was desperate.
Let me say something: to the curious who were there that day, nothing happened. But to this young woman who was desperate in her heart to touch life, the Lord Jesus would not refuse.
He never refuses a desperate heart. He never refuses a heart that is open to Him.
Now, once again, I have to say: when the Lord is able to touch our heart, it is a miracle. We talk about miracles, but, brothers and sisters, to touch these hearts of ours is indeed a miracle—hearts that have been so hardened by sin, by living life the way we want to live it, by rejecting God, by rejecting His hand in our lives.
It gets hard. And I have to say, it takes an absolute miracle and the power of the Holy Spirit to work in our lives so that He can touch our hearts.
So what is on my heart this morning, at least as the beginning thought, is that our life is not measured, brothers and sisters, by the length of years. Philip was eighteen years old, but I have to say, the testimony of this young man’s life has affected thousands in this city.
So we cannot measure our lives by the length of years. It can only be measured by our relationship to Jesus Christ.
Two thieves: one mocking God. His life is measured as zero. The other one, recognizing God, wanting God, loving God:
Today shalt thou be with Me in paradise.
This is our hope, brothers and sisters. One day we will be with Him in paradise.
Our days count. Our lives need to mean something to the Lord. And all I can think of this morning is that what makes the difference is our heart toward the Lord.
What has so deeply been impressed on me this morning is that we have got to get our hearts right with the Lord. It makes such a difference. It makes such a difference.
I know that everyone in this room probably already knows the Lord Jesus Christ, but our relationship to Him today—our heart relationship—is what is going to make the difference.
I found it very interesting. We know that in Matthew 1, you see the genealogy of Jesus Christ. It is traced through the kings, because Matthew has to deal with Christ being the King, and it is traced through the kings.
It ends by saying that there were fourteen generations from David until the call to go back and restore Jerusalem: fourteen generations.
But as you read in Chronicles—the genealogy, I think it is 1 Chronicles; I have it written down here. I will find it. Anyway, it does matter, maybe to some: 1 Chronicles 3:11-12.
If you read that genealogy, you will find that there are four kings, four more generations, that are not mentioned in Matthew’s genealogy.
Now, a lot of those kings were bad who were mentioned, but there are four who do not show up in that genealogy.
Now, is the Bible wrong? Was this book of Matthew wrong in saying there are fourteen generations? Well, if man measures it, we would say it is wrong—that there has been a mistake made. There are really either seventeen or eighteen generations, depending on how you look at it.
Well, one of those kings was actually appointed by Pharaoh, so he did not count. But there are three other kings that were in the line of David, and their names are not recorded in the genealogy of Jesus Christ because their lives did not count.
It did not make a difference. They were evil. They died an evil death.
And when God looked down and said, “We are going to put the genealogy of Jesus Christ, according to the kings, in the book,” those three were eliminated. They did not even count. Fourteen generations in the Lord’s eyes, not eighteen or seventeen.
You see, those three generations are gone. In the Lord’s mind, they are gone. These three men are gone. There is no history there. There was no value to the kingdom of God in those lives.
Brothers and sisters, our days count.
Psalm 90 is a psalm written by Moses, and it is in Psalm 90:12. Moses says:
So teach us to number our days,
That we may get us a heart of wisdom.
Teach me to number my days, Lord, that I might apply my heart to wisdom.
Think about Moses’ life. As a baby, God sovereignly ruled over his life so that he was taken out of that basket in the river. He could have drowned there, but the Lord spared Moses, and he came into Pharaoh’s court.
He became a great architect in his day, a warrior, a tremendous warrior.
And finally, God called him. He thought that he would go out, that he would lead the people out of captivity, out of Egypt, into the promised land. Moses said, “I got it, Lord. I hear You.”
He goes out and slays an Egyptian because he is beating up on one of the slaves. The Lord says, “No, you have not got it, Moses, yet.” He sends Moses out in the desert, does He not, for forty years.
He breaks Moses’ heart, breaks Moses’ very thought of ever leading God’s people into the promised land. That thought is far from Moses’ heart after forty years, brothers and sisters.
Then the Lord appears to him as a burning bush. It is burning, but it is not being consumed. It is a thorn bush.
You have to say that the Lord is saying to Moses, “Do you not see, Moses? You are like this thorn bush. You have grown up. You are wild. You do things your way. You are a thorn to Me, Moses.”
“You are Mine, but you are not yet following Me.”
And after forty years, He said, “Now, Moses, I need you to go down there and speak to Pharaoh.”
“Well, Lord, I cannot speak.” Man, he was an eloquent man. He was the leader of the nation of Egypt.
But all his eloquence, his natural eloquence, had drained away. Everything of his natural strength and power was drained away.
He got into that place of zero in his life, and then God was able to make out of him the man He needed.
What am I saying? I think, brothers and sisters, sometimes in our lives, it is good to get back to zero.
It takes a heart transaction with God to do that. Sometimes it takes many years of transactions to get us back to what is real.
And that is what was so amazing, though sobering, the other day to me: Lord, when it really came down to it, what was real in Philip Higgins’ life? It was the Lord Jesus Christ. That was the testimony that I heard.
Oh, how that testimony in that man’s life gave such comfort to his family, and to the thousands of young people—or at least around a thousand, it looked like to me—of young people that I am sure are wondering about Jesus Christ. All of this thing that Philip was sharing with them now seems so real.
It was because eighteen months ago, the Lord was able to bring Philip Higgins back to zero in his life. Finally, the Lord became everything in his life.
It was no longer fifty percent Philip and fifty percent the Lord, or seventy-five percent me and twenty-five percent the Lord. It was zero and one hundred.
It is a good thing, brothers and sisters, when we are humbled in our lives and brought back to the place in our hearts where we recognize that it is all the Lord; that it is Him, and that what matters in my life is my relationship to Him in my heart. That can only be done in the heart.
I want you to know that mental apprehension of Christ fails us in hours like this. We know that, yes, just knowing there is something about Jesus Christ, and somebody has told me that He died for my sins, and, “Uh, yes, He is the One I call on when I really get in real trouble.”
Very distant to me. In fact, it is kind of like a fairy tale.
Well, let me tell you what: in this hour, in hours like this, it is either real or it is not. It is either made real to you, or you are in more confusion.
What am I trying to say this morning? I am really impressed with the Lord telling us we need to learn to number our days.
Our measure in the Lord’s accounting of things is our relationship to Him—the depth of our relationship to Him. The greater the depth of our relationship to the Lord, the greater the measure.
Seventeen generations by man’s counting; fourteen by God’s accounting. Three generations that have disappeared off this earth in the Lord’s eyes. Amazing, isn’t it?
Brothers and sisters, there is nothing else that matters. I have come to this conclusion: my troubles and my trials and my tribulations are insignificant to the fact of the Lord Jesus Christ, and basically these things are designed to bring me back to the Lord—or, in some cases, drive me back to the Lord.
But the issue, I think, for us is, “Lord, I need to get my heart right with You. I need to get my life straight with You. I need to, because, Lord, I can go months, weeks, years, and those times will account for zero in Your accounting of things.”
See, when our lives are detached from the Lord Jesus Christ, I have to say this: God has designed you as a spiritual vessel. Man is the only vessel designed that way, the only part of this creation that is able to contain the spiritual life of the Lamb, of the Lord.
And when we are not fulfilling the purpose for which we were designed, it does not count. It does not count.
If I tell somebody at work, “Look, I need for you to go and fix that leaking trap under the sink,” and he gets in the truck, drives to the south side, and gets himself a hamburger, I mean, has he fulfilled what I asked him to do?
It does not count, does it? He says, “But look, it took me an hour to do that. You know, I took a whole hour doing that. Surely it counts for something.”
Well, you got your stomach filled, but what I needed done was not done.
It is such a simple thing. We all know it. I just feel so impressed that let us not let another day go by that our heart is not straight with the Lord. Whatever issues we may have with the Lord, whatever, let us get them straight. We need a life that counts.
These circumstances are not designed to crush us, brothers and sisters. They are designed to show us Christ. They are designed to bring us to the Lord.
That lady that we talked about this morning, with that issue of blood from age twelve—all her life, with all the doctors and everything else—do you know that the Lord allowed that? And so she became desperate. She knew the only solution was Jesus, and that was it for her.
I thank the Lord, brothers and sisters. I just think that I bet today she is saying, “Praise God for that issue of blood, because without it I may have never come to Jesus Christ that day.”
It is all that is going to count in the end: our relationship in Jesus Christ. That involves being joined to Him not only in life, which is what our basic salvation does—not only our union in life, but a union in heart and purpose to carry out His will in our life.
That is really what matters. If we are not doing the Lord’s will, it counts for nothing.
I have been living fifty-eight years. I wonder, in the Lord’s accounting, how many is there? I do not know.
My brothers and sisters, I have to say, let us get our lives right with the Lord. Let us get our hearts right with Him. Do not fool ourselves by thinking, “Well, okay, I can get this done tomorrow. Mañana. Tomorrow.”
Or, “Lord, once I get my life straightened out, then I can come back. But I have just got to get this worked out first, Lord.” You are crowding the Lord out of your life. That is all you are doing.
You are saying, “I can do this.” You are like Moses.
Oh, may we realize, hey, the most you have got is zero.
Oh, what a great liberation that is, brothers and sisters, to finally realize in your life that the most you have to offer the Lord is zero. Now all you can do is say, “Lord, I need You. I desperately need You. I need You to fill my life. I need You to fill my heart.”
Yes, these problems and circumstances, somehow in Christ, they can be dealt with. My greatest and most desperate need is for You, Lord, and to know You and Your person and Who You are. That is my desperate need.
Oh, may the Lord challenge our hearts this morning.
Our young brother from Russia—those that were here, I wish all of you had heard him—his passion for Jesus Christ and for the people in Russia.
And he said in his message, “No, a message is not any good if there is no challenge there.” So he gave us a challenge.
You know what the challenge was? He told us a story about two men.
Both were young men; they had grown up together. They both came to know the Lord Jesus Christ. One devoted himself, consecrated himself, and devoted himself to the Lord. All of his life he was serving the Lord, serving others, concerned about others, interceding for others.
A man full of joy, and we can see why.
The other one was very concerned about himself and his issues and his own problems. He drifted away from the Lord, went into the business world, did not do very well, and one day he got deadly sick, deathly ill.
An unhappy man, he called for his friend to come to be with him at his bedside, and his friend showed up.
They began to talk, and his good friend looked at him and said, “Well, are you afraid to die?”
And the man looked at him and said, “No, I am not afraid to die. I am ashamed to die, because my life has fallen so short.”
And he had no more opportunity.
Brothers and sisters, our heart is going to be the measure.
Even when we fail the Lord, it is our heart that is going to make the difference.
Look at Peter. He failed the Lord.
The Lord was being tried before Pilate—no, I think it was the other one—and Peter denied the Lord three times. He failed the Lord.
But Peter’s heart was for the Lord. His heart was for the Lord, and the Lord restored Peter.
You know, to deny the Lord before men is a serious offense, and Peter did it three times. What made it so much more difficult was when the Lord told him he was going to do it ahead of time. Peter was so sure of himself, so sure of his love for the Lord, that he would never do such a thing. Yet he failed.
Now, the point being, Peter could have stayed in that fallen state for the rest of his life. He could have remained in that place of saying, “I failed the Lord. My life is ruined, and I never have another opportunity. I have denied the Lord, and He is going to deny me before the Father.”
But thank God, Peter’s heart was still for the Lord, was it not? We know that the Lord came back in a secret time with Peter, which we do not know what was said during that time. The Holy Spirit has kept that part of Peter’s life sacred.
The Lord restored Peter. He just came back to him. I am sure Peter poured his heart out to the Lord, and he was restored. We know from the record how much of Peter’s life counted in those days that followed, do we not?
What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is sometimes when we fail the Lord, the enemy just says, “That is it. You sinned such a sin, or you have done it so many times. The Lord is totally fed up with you. You are a hypocrite.”
“You might as well hang up your spurs,” as we used to say in the cowboy days. “It is over. Yeah, you can continue to go to fellowship, but keep your mouth shut. Just sit quietly in your seat, because you are a hypocrite. You failed the Lord. You do not deserve to be restored to the Lord.”
Well, brothers and sisters, that is all the talk of the enemy. But how often we come under this spiritual warfare in our lives, and he stops us cold with his accusations.
In Revelation 12, it says they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb. Who were these that overcame by the blood of the Lamb? They were simply those who had a heart for Jesus Christ.
When they failed Him, they were willing to go back and say, “Lord, I have failed Thee, failed Thee greatly, but Your blood has prevailed over my sin. I believe that, Lord. I believe Your word that says that You will restore me if I confess my sins. I believe that, Lord.”
Restoration, brothers and sisters, is immediate. The Lord Jesus said when He was on this earth:
Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest.
How many in this room, including me, need rest in our souls? There is only one way to have that rest and peace in our souls, and that is to come to Jesus Christ.
Oh, brothers and sisters, He is saying, “Return unto Me. Get your heart straight with Me.” That is all that is going to count. “I want it to go on the record. I want your life in the record.” That is what counts.
Let me end here today.
Lord, we just come back to Thee.
Lord, I particularly lift up the Higgins family this day. I lift them before Thee, Lord Jesus, knowing that You have promised to comfort them.
Lord, I cannot get out of my heart that this young man loved You so much that his love drew him right out of this earth into Your arms.
It is our loss, but Your gain. But You had a heart that was so passionate for Thee, Lord.
Lord, my prayer is for all of us today: that we would get our hearts straightened out. Lord, not put it off another minute, another hour. We want to do it right now, Lord Jesus. We want You to restore us, Lord, to heal our souls.
Lord, I never will forget that time in my life when I was so desperate that I thought I was losing my mind. And You spoke those words: “I will restore your soul.”
Lord, You are so good to us, Lord. Lord, may Your love come down and touch every heart in this room. I pray in Jesus’ name.