Well, let's begin this morning
by turning to the book of Genesis chapter 3. You've more than likely
seen a show on television, was on television, not any longer.
I'm sure it's played in reruns or whatever, but It was on television
for about 14 years, and that show was called Intervention. It was a documentary that followed
individuals who were totally dependent and addicted to drugs,
as well as other serious vices. And these men and women had reached
the lowest point in their lives. And on this show, an ultimatum
was given immediately they were to enter into rehabilitation
or risk losing contact and income and help from their family and
their friends. The men and women depicted in
this documentary were no doubt in trouble. You didn't have to,
but just look at them to see that. They were in a severe,
desperate, and somewhat hopeless situation, and they must agree
to being helped by this intervention. Before the show was canceled,
I stopped watching the show. I watched it fairly regular for
a while, but I had to stop watching it because it was just sad. And
depressing, most of the addicts who were given and agreed to
rehabilitation, they never finished the program, never finished the
rehabilitation. Most of them never continued
in their sobriety, never achieved it and never continued in it.
Most went back to their old ways and some, many even died because
of their unwillingness, inability to change. Now this morning,
I wanna talk to you about another type of intervention. This is
an intervention that every man and woman finds themselves in
need of. All of us need this intervention. And I speak of an intervention
from the addiction of sin. The difference in this divine
intervention is this, it's always effectual. It's always successful
because it's an intervention by God and God cannot fail. Thank God Almighty that in this
divine intervention, the man and woman that loves darkness
rather than light by nature has no decision to make concerning
this intervention. It's a good thing that they don't.
Why is that? Because they would have never
chosen for God to intervene. Now, I know folks like to think
they have a free will and to some degree, it's like we've
said before, you can have a goldfish in a fishbowl And that goldfish
can swim anywhere in that fishbowl that he wants to. But that fish
can't jump out of that bowl and jump in a car and run down to
Kroger's and buy a loaf of bread because it's not within that
fish's ability to do so. It's the same with us. We have
no ability to give ourselves life or to do anything outside
of the bounds of our nature. Our will is in bondage, in bondage
by our nature. Even though the word addict and
addiction is not found in the scriptures, Paul in Romans chapter
seven tells us that he along with every other man and woman
born of Adam are sold under sin. You see, we've all sold out to
sin, all of us have. Every addict of sin will tell
you the same. They do what they shouldn't do.
That was one thing in watching this documentary. You would hear
men and women say often, I don't know why I do it. I say that
quite often myself with my addiction to sin. I don't know why I do
it, but I do. We don't do what we should do
and we hate what we do, but we do it anyway. We've got a problem
with addiction, the addiction of sin. So what hope then does
any sinner have? Well, we've got to have a divine
intervention. What is a divine intervention?
Divine means godly. Divine means holy. Intervention
means to come between. It means to prevent or to offer
a result or an action. God must intervene if we're ever
to be saved from this addiction of sin. If we're ever to be saved,
we've got to have this intervention. The wages of sin is death. The
soul that sins, it shall die. And you're gonna say, preacher,
you say that all the time. Well, it's the truth. Sin is
the cause of death. Salvation is to be delivered
from sin. What are we being saved from?
Sin, not from hell. Sin will send you to hell. If
you're delivered from sin, you'll be delivered from hell. "'Thou
shall call his name Jesus, "'for he shall save his people from
hell.'" No, from their sin. You see, a godly and a holy intervention,
that's what divine means, is exactly what we need. Now, the
phrase salvation is of the Lord means that only God can save.
That's pretty self-explanatory in that salvation is of the Lord. Can't be saved any other way.
The Lord has got to save you. God must divinely intervene.
God must divinely reveal something to us. To intervene means to
come between. God must prevent or alter a course
of events in our lives. God must change our end result. God must intercede. That's what
the word means. Intervene means to intercede.
God must involve himself. God must mediate. The Lord Jesus
is the one mediator between God and men. Only He can mediate.
God must show us mercy. God must not give us what we
deserve. And God must grant us grace,
meaning that God must give us what we don't deserve. Now, if
you're standing before God with the hope of having grace and
mercy because it's something you deserve, you'll be waiting
for a while. It's discriminating mercy. It's called distinguishing grace.
The mercy is undeserved. The grace is unmerited. It's
all the gift of God. I don't know why folks get bad
when you tell them that. The only one who can save me
is willing and able to save. I'm not going to get mad because
you tell me that I can't save myself. God's revealed enough
to me for me to know that I don't have the ability to do so. No
need to get mad about it. It's the truth. Now, last week
we talked about what it is to be born of the flesh and to be
born of the spirit. And all of us are born in the
flesh. because of the fall of our federal
head and representative man, Adam. He is our natural fleshly
father. And he's the reason why we're
all born in and of the flesh. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh. We saw that, I think very clearly. And what's of the flesh will
always be flesh. It'll never be anything else.
And that's why the Lord Jesus told Nicodemus, marvel not that
I said unto thee that you must, must be born again. You see, there are some things
that are a must. Being born again is one of them,
if we're ever to have salvation. That which is born of the spirit
of God is spirit. And this occurs only by a godly,
holy intervening. for every saved soul, for all
the elect of God, in the life of every single believer, God
must divinely intervene. God must come between us and
death. God must alter our course and
give us life. God must get involved. If he doesn't, we'll be forever
lost. Wherefore, as by one man, Adam,
sin entered into the world and death by sin." This is not something
that God just gonna slap you on the hand over. No, death by
sin. We all are dead and trespasses
in, in sin. And so death passed upon all
men for that all have sinned. You see, we can't blame it all
on Adam. We're guilty of sin ourselves.
We also saw in last week's message that to be carnally, fleshly
minded, that's what the word carnally means, is dead. The
scripture is so clear. But to be spiritually minded,
you remember what that is? Life, peace. Now I want life and I want peace. And the only way that I'm ever
gonna get it is that if God divinely intervenes in my life and gives
it to me. You remember what Nicodemus asked
the Lord? He said, how can these things
be? And then beginning in John chapter three, verse 14, the
Lord said, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
even so must the son of man be lifted up. That whosoever believeth
in him should not perish, but have eternal life. "'For God
so loved the world,' meaning His people in the world, His
people out of every kindred, tongue, people, and nation. "'God
so loved the world,' His people in it, "'that He gave His only
begotten Son, "'that whosoever believeth in Him, "'in the Lord
Jesus Christ, should not perish, "'but have everlasting life.'"
Now, you know what that is? That's a divine intervention. God sending his own son in the
likeness of sinful flesh, put away sin by the sacrifice of
himself. For God sent not his son into
the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him
might be saved." Now listen to this. He that believeth on him,
on Christ, is not condemned. But he that believeth not on
Christ is condemned already. You're born condemned. You're
not born saved. You're not born good. And then
somewhere down the line, you do something wrong and you go
bad. No, you're born in trespasses and sin. You're born condemned.
There's no hope for salvation unless God divinely interrupt
in your life. This is the condemnation, that
light has come into the world. What men do with it? They love
darkness rather than light. Why? Because their deeds were
evil, born evil. Well, brother, that is a depressing
message. It's a true message. It's what
God says. How can one who is dead and trespasses
in sin do anything, much less believe? How can one whose deeds
are evil, one who by nature loves darkness rather than light, one
who loves themselves more than they love Christ, who came in
the world to save sinners, how shall they receive life? God's
gotta give it to them. God's got to divinely intervene.
That's been the case since sin came into the world. It's been
the case from the beginning. That was the case with our first
parents. God divinely intervened with
Adam and his wife. It was a divine intervention.
You're in Genesis chapter three. God told the first man and woman
that they could eat of the fruit of every tree in the garden with
the exception of one. There was a great consequence
for disobeying God's one and only commandment. In chapter
two, verse 17, God said, in the day you eat thereof, that tree
you shall surely die. Now look at verse six here in
Genesis three. And when the woman saw that the
tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes,
and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit
thereof and did eat, and gave it also unto her husband with
her, and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were
opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig
leaves together and made themselves aprons. They endeavored to cover
themselves by work of their own hands. And they heard the voice
of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day.
And Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord
God amongst the trees of the garden. And the Lord God called
unto Adam. Probably wouldn't hurt to underline
that. The Lord God called unto Adam. You know what that is?
Divine intervention. And he said unto him, where art
thou? And Adam said, I heard thy voice in the garden. I was
afraid because I was naked and I hid myself. And then, you know
the rest of the story. Adam blamed his disobedience
on his wife. We still do that, men. Eve blamed
her disobedience on the serpent. Both blamed their disobedience
on God. The woman you gave me, she did
give me an identity. The serpent that you put in the
garden, he did entice me. He did deceive me. In other words,
God, it's all your fault. Men and women still do it today.
Men and women still play the blame game, as I call it. And
they say things like, well, if God is sovereign, if God always
has his way and always has his will, then why does he yet find
fault for who hath resisted his will? Well, I'm only doing what
God willed for me to do. Then how could he condemn me
if I don't believe? The answer, nay, but old man,
who are you that replies against God? shall the thing formed say
to him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? I can just
see me going into one of your ladies' house, beautiful decorations
on the wall, and I walk in and say, well, that looks absolutely
horrible. Why in the world did you hang
that up there? Because it's my house. And it
was my picture or whatever to hang up there. Is it not right
for me to do what I will with what belongs to me? It's more
so with God, more so with God. Who are you to reply against
God? Shall the thing formed say to
him that formed? Why have you made me like this? Adam and Eve endeavored to cover
themselves with fig leaves by a work of their own hands. Look
down at verse 21. "'Unto Adam also, unto his wife
did the Lord God "'make coats of skins and clothed them.'"
You know what that is? That's divine intervention. This
was God involving Himself. This was God interrupting. This was God intervening. This was God coming between them
and death. Divine intervention is distinguishing
grace. Divine intervention is discriminating
mercy, and only God can do it, making it divine. Who made the
difference between Abel and Cain? They both heard the teaching
of their father, Adam, but it was Abel that his teaching was
made effectual. And to Cain, it wasn't. Who made
them to differ? The only one that can, it was
God. God would not accept the work
of Cain's hands. Guess what? He won't accept the
work of your hands either. God accepts only an offering
by blood. Abel believed God through a godly
intervening. Enoch walked with God. You know
why? Because God walked with him.
God divinely intervened in Enoch's life. He said, Enoch, let's go
for a walk. And he walked all the way home
with the Lord. Turn over a few pages, Genesis chapter six. Read verse five with me. and
God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth."
What was great in the earth? The wickedness of man. Well,
I believe brother that we're all basically good. Then you
haven't read the scriptures. Not only are we not basically
good, but every imagination of the thought of man's heart was
only evil continually." That's talking about me, that's talking
about you. Verse six, and it repented the
Lord that he had made man on the earth and it grieved him
in his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have
created from the face of the earth, both man and beast and
the creeping thing and the fowls of the air, for it repented me
that I had made them. Verse eight, but Noah found grace
in the eyes of the Lord. God made Noah to differ. God is the only supplier of grace. It was a godly intervention that
saved Noah. Noah was no less a sinner than
anyone else on the earth. Wasn't that what the Bible says?
There's none that do it good. There's none that are righteous.
There's none that seek it after God. None, none, none. Noah wasn't
looking for grace. How do I know? There's none that
seek it after God. But Noah found grace. You know
why? Because grace found him. I found grace because grace found
me. You found grace because grace
found you. Who makes you to differ? What do you have that you did
not receive? How do you receive the salvation
that you enjoy? How did you receive it? By divine
intervention. If we received it at the hand
of the Lord, then we can take no credit or no glory for it.
Why? It's a gift of God. Salvation
is not by works lest any man should boast. Salvation is not
by works of righteousness that we have done, but according to
His mercy, He saved us. He intervened. He mediated. He stood in our place. but God
commended his love toward us in that while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us. Did we do anything that would
merit or cause God to love us? No, we were yet sinners, but
God commended his love to us when we hated him without a cause. Now it's easy to love people
that love you. It's easy to care about someone
that cares about you, isn't it? But what about somebody that
hates you for no reason? But God commended his love towards
us when we hated him. God saved us in spite of us. While we were yet sinners, Christ
died for us. That's God intervening. In Romans
chapter six, verse 17, Paul wrote, but God be thanked that you were
the servants of sin. Did you hear that word? You were
the servants of sin, but you've obeyed from the heart that form
of doctrine, which was delivered you, being then made free from
sin, delivered from sin, you became the servants of righteousness. The church at Corinth were preacher
worshipers. I know people like that. They
said, oh, I like Paul. And others said, hey, Apollos
is my man. Paul told them they were carnal.
You're fleshly, just fleshly minded. The question is, who
then is Paul? Who then is Apollos? Just ministers,
just voices used by God to preach the gospel that you believed.
And Paul went on to explain that very clearly. He said, I planted
and Apollos watered. Paul preached and he planted
the seed of God's word. And Apollos come along and he
preached and he watered the word. but it was God who gave the increase. You know what that is? Divine
intervention. God divinely revealed the gospel
to you, among whom also we all had our conversation in times
past in the lust of the flesh, fulfilling the desires of the
flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath,
even as others. But God, who is rich in mercy,
For his great love wherewith he loved us. Turn over a few
pages to Genesis chapter 12. We talked about Abraham, some
in the first hour. Here Abraham, the father of the
faith. He wasn't always a man of faith.
He was an idolater. He was an idol maker. He lived
in an idolatrous country. He didn't know God, nor did he
want to. He was doing all right on his
own, so he thought. Look at verse one here in Genesis
12. Now the Lord had said unto Abram,
mean Abraham, get thee out of thy country and from thy kindred
and from thy father's house and to a land that I will show thee.
And I'll make of thee a great nation and I'll bless thee and
I'll make thy name great and thou shall be a blessing and
I'll bless them that blessed thee and curse them that cursed
thee and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. So Abraham
departed as the Lord had spoken unto him. Nowhere in those verses
do we find Abraham saying, well, I might consider leaving, but
where am I going? Is there opportunity there for
me to continue my idol making business? What did God do concerning
Abraham? He divinely interrupted in his
life. If Abraham had stayed in the
land of Ur, nothing would have ever changed. If God hadn't called
him out, Abraham would have never left. Why? Because God's intervening
is always affectional. Always affectional. Well, that
was his hometown. That's where his family lived.
That's where he had a thriving business. God told him to leave
without telling him where he was going. God told him that
he'd make him a great nation. God told him that he would make
his name great. God told him that he would be
a blessing and that He would bless those that blessed him
and curse those that cursed him. And Abraham believed God and
it was counted and imputed unto him for righteousness. And Abraham
believed God and he departed as the Lord had spoken to him. What is that? Divine intervention. God still divinely intervenes
and interrupts in sinners' lives to do them good. Why do we fight
him? He's out to do us good. What
does he do so for everyone? No, he does it for those he calls
us to love him. He does it for those like Abraham
that he called. He does it for those with whom
he divinely interrupts in their life. And out of fear for his
life, Abraham later got his wife, Sarah, into a serious situation
with two different kings. God divinely intervened and delivered
Sarah from the king of Egypt and later, from King Abimelech. God's always getting his people
out of the trouble that they get themselves in. It's no less
divine intervention. When Abraham left Ur, Lot left
with him. But Lot had a love for the world.
Lot pitched his tent towards Sodom. Lot wound up moving to
Sodom. Listen, when you pitch your tent
towards something more than likely, that's where you're headed. And
God divinely intervened in Lot's life. Before God destroyed the
city of Sodom with fire and brimstone, He sent angels to bring Lot out. You know what that is? It's divine
intervention. And God divinely intervened in
the life of Isaac, the promised son of Abraham and Sarah. Isaac
lay upon that altar on Mount Moriah. The knife in Abraham's
hand was drawn back to kill his only son and whom he loved. And
God divinely interrupted. He said, lay not thy hand on
the lad, neither do thou anything unto him. I bet you know what
that is. The promised son is from who? The promised seed Christ would
come. Genesis 22 verse 13 says, and Abraham lifted up his eyes
and he looked and behold behind him, there was a ram caught in
a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the
ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his
son. Divine intervention. salvations
of the Lord. And it's the same with all God's
children. We can all claim the same. Jacob,
Rebecca, Leah, Joseph. What about Joseph? Was he not
an example of divine intervention? His whole life was made up of
God's divine interventions. In Acts chapter seven, we're
told, and the patriarchs, the sons of Jacob, moved with envy,
sold Joseph into Egypt, but God was with him and delivered him
out of all his afflictions and gave him favor and wisdom in
the sight of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. And Pharaoh made him governor
over Egypt and all his house. Joseph's brothers meant it for
evil, but God meant it for good. From the pit to Potiphar's house. From Potiphar's house to the
prison. From the prison to Pharaoh's
throne, God was with him. God changed every course and
event. God divinely intervened in Joseph's
life. Child of God, it's the same with
you. Each course and event in your life, God has purposed and
he works together for your good. That's what Paul said in Romans
8.28. It was God that gave Pharaoh
the dreams. It was God who gave Joseph the
interpretation. It was God who sent the famine
to Egypt. It was God who gave Joseph the
knowledge to know what to do. And it was to save Joseph. It
was to save his family and much people alive. God was behind
it all. Years later, a new Pharaoh comes
upon the scene and upon the throne in Egypt. He cared nothing about
the Hebrews as did the Pharaoh in Joseph's day. He was intimidated
by how big Israel had become. He was concerned with Israel
overthrowing Egypt. He said, they're becoming a strong
nation. I got to do something about this.
So you remember what he did? He determined to kill all the
male Hebrew children. That's how the book of Exodus
begins. Pharaoh told the midwives to kill all the male newborns,
but God intervened. It was then that Pharaoh charged
all his people saying, every son that is born of the Hebrews,
you shall cast into the river to drown. No telling how many
thousands of newborn male children were drowned in that river. that
river of Nile, the Nile River. And there was a Hebrew woman
there, that very son, and she hid him for three months. Wonder
why? God was behind it. And when she
could do so no longer, she put him in an ark and she sent him
flowing down the river, Nile and that same river he's supposed
to drown in. And you know the rest of the
story, we can sum it up in two words, God intervened. Pharaoh's
daughter found the child, raised the child as her own in Pharaoh's
house. Pharaoh paid for his food and
his clothing and his college education. You see, only God
can do something like that. Only God could bring that to
pass. Moses was his name and he would become Israel's deliverer
out of Egyptian bondage. God delivered him from Pharaoh
on two different occasions when he was a baby and when he was
a grown man. Then God called Moses 40 years
later when he was a shepherd in the desert. And he said, you
lead my sheep. You're a shepherd. You lead my
sheep out of Egypt. And again, we see God's intervening
mercy and grace to deliver his sheep from their bondage. God
sent his shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ, to deliver us. What happened
at the Red Sea? Again, God intervened and deliver
his people. And it was the same with Joshua
and Caleb and Samson and Daniel and the three children, Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego. It was certainly the case with
Jonah. Why he said so, salvations of the Lord. God intervened. God stopped me in my tracks. God divinely delivered David
from Goliath. God divinely delivered David
from King Saul. God divinely delivered David
from all of his enemies. This book is about divine intervention. It sure is, from beginning to
end. That was the case with all the
prophets of the Old Testament. That was the case with all the
apostles of the New, with the exception of Judas. and God divinely
intervened in the life of the woman at the well at Samaria,
the man at Bethesda's pool, Bartimaeus, and the man born blind, the woman
with an issue of blood, the man with the withered hand, the woman
bowed over who could not raise up, the leper, and the man named
Legion, Mary Magdalene, Lazarus from the tomb, the Syrophoenician
dog, Lydia, The Ethiopian eunuch, the list goes on and on. And
some of your names are on that list. And God's still divinely
intervening. One last question in closing.
Why did and why does the Lord divinely intervene? Numbers 24
one says, it pleased the Lord to bless Israel. Why does the
Lord divinely intervene? It pleases him to do so. 1 Samuel
12, 22, for the Lord will not forsake His people for His own
great name's sake, because it had pleased the Lord to make
you His people. But our God is in the heavens.
He done whatsoever He has pleased, and it pleased Him to make you
His. Whatsoever the Lord pleased,
that did He in heaven and in earth and in the seas and in
all deep places. And it pleased Him to save you
from your sin. The Lord Jesus said, as I said
a moment ago, is it not lawful? Is it not right for me to do
what I will with my own? No other reason God saves his
people. It's lawful, it's right, and
it pleases the Lord to intervene and to save his people from their
sin. And God doesn't need to explain it. He divinely intervenes
because he wants to. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians.
I'll finish chapter one. Paul read this in the men's gathering. But I wanna end on this. How does God save his people
from their sin? 1 Corinthians 1, look at verse
18. For the preaching of the cross
is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us, those who believe,
which are saved, it's the power of God. For it is written, I
will destroy the wisdom of the wise and bring to nothing the
understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the
scribe? Where is the disputer of this
world? Hath not God made foolish the
wisdom of the world? For after that in the wisdom
of God, the world by wisdom knew not God. It pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe." Now preaching
is not foolishness, but it's foolishness to the world that
don't know what it is. And that's what he says here,
verse 22, for the Jews require a sign and the Greeks seek after
wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified. Yes, unto the Jews,
it's a stumbling block and unto the Greeks, it's foolishness,
but unto them, Christ said, I pray for them. I pray not for the
world, but unto them, which are called both Jews and Greeks,
Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. How does God
divinely intervene? What's the divine revelation
of scripture? Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Dear sinner, has God divinely
intervened in your life? The answer is always revealed
by one question. What do you think of Christ?