Filling the void in your heart

Thank you, we are thrilled to hear the news about the trip to India where the gospel was being proclaimed. There is nothing sweeter than being involved in the Lord’s work  where God’s word is going out and people go forward spiritually. May more people rise up amongst us that have this fire burning in their bosom. Don’t sit back and relax if you realise it is ice cold in your heart.

The topic today is about the void in a person’s heart, and how a person can be made complete in God, instead of being a mediocre Christian without a goal or vision. God has given us the gospel which separates us from sin, this reality is a rarity in this world. If everything is just quiet in ones heart, no stirring, then there is something wrong.

There is a possibility that many, even some here in the service, hear the devil’s whispering, some sleep at night and dream satanic things, not blessed dreams where God speaks to them. There is the mystery of being complete in God. What must you do to become perfect vessels fit for the Master’s service?

If you look at yourself, can God use you as you are?  If He can’t even speak to you, let alone use you, ask yourself what the reason is for this tragic situation, what is causing this blockage or hindrance?

Matthew 19:16 – 26   Now behold, one came and said to Him, “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?” 17 So He said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.” 18 He said to Him, “Which ones?” Jesus said, “‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ 19 ‘Honour your father and your mother,’ and, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ ” 20 The young man said to Him, “All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?” 21 Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” 22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.  23 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. 24 And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” 25 When His disciples heard it, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?”  26 But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

This is a well-known portion concerning the rich young man. When you are before God and you ponder on this story, it touches you deeply.

Blessed is the one who, when they look at their spiritual state, they realise it is not as it ought to be, that they do something about it. On a Sunday a person will say, I cannot go through this week without the Lord speaking to me and they ask for prayer because they don’t know what it is that hinders God from speaking to them.

Each one here realises for themselves how things are going with them spiritually. You ought to know, does God speak to you, and if He does, do you obey Him? How will God speak to you if you have no fellowship with Him?

Then there are those who hear many different voices, and they do not know which one is God’s voice, it is the devil speaking to them because he causes chaos and confusion, that’s who he is. And it happens because you have given him room in your heart. Sin separates us from God.

It should never happen in a Christian’s life.

Here is what brings joy on the one hand, but sadness on the other. It brings joy when a person realises something is wrong because they don’t have fellowship with God. Blessed is the one who will act immediately to sort out the wrong thing, not wait for someone else to tell them what to do. But then there are others who wait for someone to act first because they hope that no-one has noticed anything is wrong. And then there are those that resist any help, they even avoid those that may confront them.

Here this rich young man realises there is a problem and it is clear that he cannot continue like that. One wonders why he approached Jesus in this way. He had all the possessions one could desire, but then we see that he was troubled regarding eternal life, if I pass away, will I inherit eternal life?

Ask yourself this question – if the light of your life is extinguished today, will you see God? This young man, when he saw how things were with him, he ran to the right place, the Lord Jesus. He did very well. I wonder what answer he expected. Maybe he expected the Lord Jesus to comfort and support him in what he was already doing.

He asked Him: verse 16. “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?” 

He was concerned whether his life and the way he lived was praiseworthy, so he asked: what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? Friend, does that question trouble you? What must I do that I don’t lose out on eternal life? It is a good question to have. He went to the right place to find out about the future.

Then Jesus replied: verse 17“Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.”

He was full of knowledge. He knew all the commandments. He knew that which was appropriate and that which was not right. That which God loves and is well-pleasing to Him and that which isn’t. Are we not he same? We know what God likes and what He doesn’t like. Yet some of us go straight to that sin which they know is displeasing God. He knew all the commandments they were before him all day. Here is God’s word, it is before our eyes all day. If we have the Bible and we read it, it is before us.

Maybe I can ask you this simple question, when last did you read your Bible? Possibly  some would say, what a strange question, I have my Bible right next to my bed. I’m not asking where your Bible is, I’m asking when last did God speak to you through His word. If we read it, God ought to speak to us. You cannot read the Bible and God doesn’t speak to you.

Why do you call Me good? There is only One who is good. But there are the commandments before you. The Lord Jesus reminded him of some of them. We’ve just read that passage and the dialogue continued.

Verses 18 – 19.  He said to Him, “Which ones?”

Jesus said, “‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ 19 ‘Honour your father and your mother,’ and, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ ”

Murder, how is that possible? Adultery? In church? How is that possible​? I remember in 1978, my very first day here at the mission. When I came, things weren’t as they are today, but I was amazed at what I experienced here. I came to the mission because of my own problems. I came because I was troubled. When I relate my testimony to some people they say that is impossible, you could not have done that, but when the gospel came into my life, I was transformed.

When I came here, I thought I had only killed one person, then God revealed to me that there was a multitude of corpses before Him and I was the guilty one, the one who had murdered them. I then asked, but God, how did I do this? And God made it clear to me that through my tongue I had finished off so many people.

Oh brother, sister the tongue, although it is such a small member of the body, it creates havoc and destroys, maybe there are many corpses before God because of your tongue.

You shall not commit adultery, you may not do it physically, but you do it in your thoughts. There are many people whose minds are in bondage and they are busy with abominable things.

Then, Jesus also said – love your neighbour as yourself. There are some people who are busy with speaking a lot about love, love, love. A person looks at things that are not right and then says, all of that is covered by love. However, if you go to your neighbour and speak to him with respect about that which is not right in his life, that is real love. You help him because you don’t want him to fall down a precipice spiritually. Jesus said, love your neighbour as you love yourself. The young man said, you know, since youth I have kept all these commandments, there is nothing that I lack in these areas. Jesus  didn’t contradict the young man, but He wanted to help him, because he had taken the initiative to come to Jesus.

Dear brother, sister, look at your motives and attitude when you come to Jesus, how do you approach Him, what answer do you expect from the Lord? Are you prepared to accept any response from the Lord Jesus, any answer?

Love your neighbour as you love yourself. Maybe there are many who will fail at that point. The amazing thing about this young man is that he could say, I have kept them all since my youth. Can you answer as this rich young man did?

Verse 21 Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” 

If you want to attain to that which is of God, there is still something you lack. Go, sell all you possess and give it to the poor, then you will have treasure in heaven. He received his answer. If you want to be perfect then this is what you ought to do. If you don’t want to lack in anything, here is what you have to do. Go and sell all that you possess. Because of the Lord Jesus, I lay all on the altar – I don’t want to have anything in my life that will keep me from Him.

It depends on you now, you came to the Lord Jesus, you realised that you had a void. He gives His answer, do you bow to it or is it too difficult to give all? The Lord says, anybody who has lost anything because of Me, will receive his reward. Anyone who wants to come after Me must deny Himself. The one who wants to be blessed, to grow in the Lord, must deny himself, be the least, be the servant of all, let go of everything. That precious stone, whatever it might be, if it separates you from the Lord Jesus, let go of it.

However, it depends on what it is you are seeking. A person may say, I have been serving the Lord for years, but I don’t see where I am heading to. How many of us say they have followed the Lord Jesus for years, but they can’t see the fruit of where they are going. If you are still not doing something you should do because the pastor doesn’t see, oh how lost you are. You are looking at humans, but forget that the eye of God sees you day and night.

Verse 21   Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”

You possess so many things , maybe there are many items in your home that have a curse on them. Maybe your children or your relatives gave some of these things to you, are they blessed, or a curse?

This young man that came in such a commendable way to the Lord Jesus, was disappointed in the end. He saw the price was too much for him to pay and he turned away sadly.

You realise the life you are living does not satisfy you. You are overcome and defeated by your sins daily. Some people hear the devil’s voice from morning till evening. How can you expect the devil to stop attacking you, if you are as lukewarm as you are? If you are busy with your pornography? Some people are enslaved to it and cannot go to sleep without having indulged in this evil bondage. Then you claim that you cannot have victory over pornography. How can you claim that, it is a lie because Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever, His power has not changed. You are still busy with porn, but if you would separate yourself from these images, they will lose their hold on you.

You cannot be satisfied with your life as a child of God if you are not alive spiritually.

Verse 22  But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.

You came so optimistically expecting a solution for your void existence; I will get the answer! However, after receiving the answer you leave, sad and disappointed. Are you here, despondent, depressed, not getting an answer? The solution lies with you, you have to change. You are the one with the gap in your life.

What you need to do is to jump up and do what the Lord Jesus tells you to do, then you will experience the Lord Who saves. Oh, be careful of the sin of pride. Pride will come in and harm your walk with the Lord Jesus.

I am reminded of a story Rev Stegen told us.

A pastor realised things weren’t right in his church, people were living in sin and they were dead spiritually although they attended church regularly. He heard of another preacher where God was working in his congregation. He decided to go to that man and ask him what his secret was.

This minister was a very busy person, and he had to wait quite some time to see him. But finally he could speak to him, and he related to him all about his problem in his congregation, how he preached so earnestly, but the church members remained untouched and were quite dead. He requested whether the preacher could help him, and he was even willing to stay with him for two weeks so that he could learn the secret of how to be a successful pastor.

The minister listened to all he said, then he answered, ‘you don’t need to stay here for two weeks, you can go back right away. When you get home, go into your study and lock the door. Make space on the floor, push the furniture out of the way, take some chalk, draw a circle. Then you get into that circle and pray, ask God to start working, and to start in that circle.’

The pastor was offended, saying, ‘just that? I have travelled for many kilometres, prepared to be here for two weeks, and now you give me this answer.’

But the other minister said, you really don’t need to stay here for two weeks. Just do as I instructed. Once you have drawn that circle, pray and say, ‘God, work, send revival and start working in this circle.’

Rev Stegen also said, do you want revival? Are you prepared to pay the price? It is not for everybody as it is a high price to pay. Jesus said, if anyone wants to follow me, they have to take up their cross and follow me. Forget who you are and your position, just cry out to God, ‘God please work and start with me’. In other words, go home and sell all your precious things which are worth nothing in God’s eyes.

This pastor was quite offended, felt insulted in his pride and went back home like that. Eventually he did as he was advised. He prayed earnestly. As he prayed and cried out to God, God began working and showing him his own shortcomings and sin. The next Sunday, as he preached, some people were touched by the preaching, they said, ‘oh Pastor! Our lives are not right with God’. People were convicted of their own sin, they repented and God sent revival in that church.

Oh brethren, may God send revival amongst us. Forget about everybody else, forget about those next to you and say, oh God, work in my life – have mercy on me a sinner. Oh Lord, I want you to work in my life, I don’t care what you ask of me, where you send me, I am prepared to do whatever You ask me to do. Is that price too high for you to pay?

May God have mercy on us that we might have an ear to hear that which God wants us to do. If you want to be perfect, sell what is precious to you – your sins, pride, evil, that prevents God from working and let Him work and fill that void.

Detlef Stegen closed in prayer