Ignore Him but He won't go away

Jordan says, “People ask me (as a preacher), ‘Well, why’d so-and-so do that?’ I learned early on as a parent not to ask my kid, ‘Why’d you do that?’ I know why they did that. They’re sinners.

“But you see, we don’t want to admit that. We say, ‘Well, I wouldn’t do that.’ Yeah, you would. Maybe you wouldn’t do that, but you’d do something worse given the right set of circumstances.

“Anytime you see somebody say, ‘Well, I would never do that' . . . Look, given the right set of circumstances there isn’t anything anybody ever did that you wouldn’t do too.

“The moment you think you wouldn’t, you just lied to yourself. That’s how desperate our condition is, and that’s how wonderful God’s grace is because He says, ‘I’m not going to deal with you on the basis of what you’re doing; I’m going to deal with you on the basis of what I’m doing because of Calvary.’

“Because of Calvary, He comes in to dwell and He comes in to make us that habitation; that place where He is inhabiting. Not because we did something, but because that’s His intention and we enjoy it; we gain access to it.

“That’s that thing in Ephesians 2: [18] For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
[19] Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;
[20] And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;
[21] In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:
[22] In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.

*****

“You understand what a high calling you have in your life? Paul has to rebuke some people for some real nasty, unworthy living. You been doing any of that lately?

“Any unworthy attitudes? Unworthy actions? There’s that old saying, ‘I don’t smoke and I don’t chew and I don’t hang around with the girls that do,’ but what you do is you swap that for pride and arrogance and irritability.

“One of the greatest definitions I ever heard in my life for sin—Brother Reynolds used to say, ‘You want to see sin? You watch somebody doing something that you know you could do better.’ That irritation, that impatience that you get. I thought, ‘Ooh, the thought of foolishness is sin.’

“You see, that’s how desperate our nature is. That’s why ‘it’s not I; it’s Christ.’ Because you can’t get away from the other, but in Him you’re free.

“He says, ‘Don’t you know your body is the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit? He’s IN you and He’s IN you to make you His habitation. I Corinthians 6:20 says, ‘For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.’

“Your life, your body ought to be filled with the glory of God. What’s the glory of God? It’s the outshining of His character.

*****

“Your body, when you trust Christ, the Holy Spirit comes IN you. The verse talks about the habitation of God. He comes to dwell in you the moment you trust Christ.

“In your body, the third person of the godhead takes up personal residence. That means everywhere you go, you take Him with you. That means anytime you think something, you’re in conversation with Him whether you acknowledge it, or pay attention to it, or even realize it or not.

“A lot of us go around talking to ourselves and ignoring God the Holy Spirit who’s right there listening. That’s what prayer is.

“When Paul says ‘pray without ceasing,’ he’s not talking about being on your face and on your knees and bowing your head and closing your eyes all the time.

“He’s talking about living in a constant, conscious union with God the Holy Spirit who resides in you in order to dwell in you. The idea of dwelling is not just, ‘I’m here, along for the ride.’

“When we use that word ‘dwell,’ you settle down and you’re at home. That’s why your body’s called a temple. A temple is a place where God comes to dwell.

“The Lord doesn’t say, ‘If you do this, this and this, I’ll dwell with you.’ He said, ‘I came to dwell! If you don’t take advantage of it, that’s on you.’

*****

“You see, when people tell you, ‘Well, if you do this, this and this, then you’ll have Him indwell you,’ that’s what we call legalism; that’s a performance-based response. That isn’t how it happens.

“You can’t make God settle down and feel at home in you. People say, ‘Well, if I do this, this and this, God will feel at home.’ Are you nuts? I keep telling you, the closer you get to the light the better you see the dirt.

“Anytime you think you can do something and get God’s positive response based upon what you did, you think you did something perfect. Let me tell you something, the best day you ever had wasn’t perfect.

“Is there a five-minute period in the last five days of your life that you’d like to base all of your eternity on?

“In your own resources, you always come short. Why? That’s what the Book says. ‘We’ve all sinned and come short of the glory of God.’ ”