BELIEVERS WILL NOT SEE SINNER MOURN OVER THEIR SINS UNTIL THE BELIEVERS BEGIN TO MOURN OVER THE SINNER..
Restoring The Spirit Of Gethsemane
Matthew 26:40-41. 40 And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour? 41 Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
As believers, we are familiar with these scriptures. We know why Jesus suffered anguish of soul, sweating as it were great drops of blood. Why He prayed as He did, for as long as He did. It was for two fundamental reasons.
(1) For the means of salvation to be brought to a sin filled world of lost, dead in sin souls. Isaiah 53:1-12.
(2) That He might see the results of His obedience in being that means of salvation. Isaiah 1:11-12.
Jesus knew what would become of Gethsemane. He knew that His followers, would be tempted to forsake or neglect the experience of travailing in prayer for lost souls, and get entangled and beset by all sorts of sin and weights. Jesus’ exhortation, “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak”, sheds new light on Hebrews 12:1-4. 1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, 2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. 4 Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.
The Spirit of Gethsemane is the Spirit of anguish. What caused Jesus to agonize so? When the reality of the unsaved’s condition is truly known and felt believers will know the reality of M.O.U.R.N.I.N.G.
M- MORTALITY: The frailty and deception of life. James 4:14. Life is a vapour that vanishes away. Isaiah 40:6-8 and 1 Peter 1:24. Life and all flesh is grass that withers and fades. Job 7:7. Life is a wind that moves on. Ecclesiastes 6:12. Life is a shadow and vanity. Isaiah 38:10-12. A shepherds tent that is removed (2 Peter 1:14)
It is cut off as a weaver cuts off a thread. Life: That which is suspended by a thread over the impending wrath of eternity: sustained only by the mercy and longsuffering grace of God. Do you mourn those that take this life for granted?
O- OBESITY of death: Ecclesiastes 9:1-5. Death devours all. Good and evil, rich and poor, male and female, the aged and the youth. The living know that they will die. Proverbs 30:15-16. Death, the grave devours but is never satisfied. Ecclesiastes 8:8. Death, there is no getting away from it, no power in man against it. Psalm 89:48 What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death? shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave? Look around you at any given time or place. How many of those you see now will enter eternity? Every one of them.
Do you mourn those that think they will be exempt from death’s appetite?
U- UNPREDICTABILITY of death: Ecclesiastes 9:12. For man also knoweth not his time,… when it falleth suddenly upon them. Death may come suddenly in a number of ways. Numbers 35:20-23. At the hands of another, by accident or deliberate action. Proverbs 24:21-23. By means of calamity.( from out of no-where Isaiah 47:11). Wars. Disease. “Natural” Disasters. By what means and when, will death come to someone you know that is not saved? Do you mourn those that will suddenly be cut off, without remedy (Proverbs 29:1)?
R- RECOGNIZING the root of death, Sin: Romans 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.(Romans 3:23 & Romans 6:23). Sometimes we tend to forget or overlook the sin factor in people’s lives. We look at the young and think of only innocence or at the old and think only of their contributions. Gethsemane and the cross are All about the issue of sin and death. 1 John 3:8. He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. Does the reality of sin’s nature being in everyone around you stir you as much as hearing that someone you know has just been diagnosed with cancer? Yet sin destroys not only the body, but the soul. Will you mourn those that have forgotten the devastation of sin?
N- NONCHALANT attitude toward death: People know that death is a certainty, that it’s arrival time is uncertain and yet they do not seriously consider it something to be prepared for. Luke 12:18-19. 18 And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. Believers also fall into this trap. They know all of what the scriptures says about death and yet do not see the urgency of speaking to their unsaved neighbours and loved ones about it. Do you mourn this apathetic attitude?
I- IMPOSITION of death: Luke 12:20. It intrudes while we make plans. Job 34:22. It disrupts our false sense of security. Isaiah 28:18. It cheats one from discovering truth and hope. Jeremiah 9:21. It denies a future. Hebrews 9:27. It exacts judgement. Revelation 22:11. It fixes, without a chance of change, one’s destiny. Luke 16:22-31. It ends all chance for the believer to share the Gospel.
. Will you mourn for all that is wasted? Joel 1:2-17.
N- NAMING: Jeremiah 6:26. Personalize those that are dead (in trespasses and sin). Do not simply pray for “sinners” but when you pray put a name and a face to them and realize that these “real” people are souls destined for an eternity of hell, excluded from the presence of God. When we hear of a plane crash or fire that has taken a number of lives, how do we react? Honestly, we may be saddened but soon put it out of our minds unless one of the dead is someone we know.
G- GRATIFICATION: Matthew 5:4. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. Isaiah 53:11. He shall see of the travail of his soul. Psalm 126:5-6. 5 They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. 6 He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.
Can we now be as Nehemiah (1:4)? And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven. Or Daniel (9:3-4)? And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes: And I prayed unto the Lord my God, and made my confession.
Joel 2:12. Therefore also now, saith the Lord, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning.
Psalm 51:10-13. Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. 11 Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. 12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.13 Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.
God has a purpose in all that He does and we may not understand all of those purposes or His ways but one thing is abundantly clear is that all His purposes are directed toward the redemption of the lost. Everything that happens is for the purpose of bringing hearts to repentance. We need to have the heart of God in these days and not be caught up with all the blessings that God can give to His people. I believe that no believer should desire blessings before every sinner that is known to them is travailed for in prayer and every attempt is made to win them for Christ.
Ezekiel 22:23-30. 23 And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 24 Son of man, say unto her, Thou art the land that is not cleansed, nor rained upon in the day of indignation. 25 There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they have devoured souls; they have taken the treasure and precious things; they have made her many widows in the midst thereof. 26 Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. 27 Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain. 28 And her prophets have daubed them with untempered morter, seeing vanity, and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord God, when the Lord hath not spoken. 29 The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery, and have vexed the poor and needy: yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully. 30 And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.
Mark Cowan
Watchmen On The Pod 