Regaining Lost Ground

Shane Idleman: What other name shakes hell's gates? What other name causes demons to tremble? When Jesus walks into the room, darkness has to flee. Some of you need to get on your face before God more often and call down Christ in a deeper relationship into your heart and say, "Let the light of the gospel penetrate my heart."

Lord, I guard my family right now. No evil shall come upon my kids and my spouse. Lord, I'm covering them. I'm praying for them. How bad do you want it, church? How bad do you want it?

Guest (Male): Thank you for joining us here at Westside Christian Fellowship, located in Leona Valley, California, one hour north of Los Angeles. Today on Regaining Lost Ground, we hear part one of this soul-jarring message titled "The Final Call Before The Final Fall Part 2."

Revivalist John Wesley once said, "Set yourself on fire with passion, and people will come from miles to watch you burn." Do you desire a life surrendered to Jesus? Listen now to Pastor Shane as he tells us why the passionate, fully surrendered Christian life is second to none. Learn how God's Spirit may move passionately through you today, here on Regaining Lost Ground.

You can hear the whole message at Pastor Shane's YouTube and Rumble channels. Make sure to subscribe today. For more information, visit us online at westsidechristianfellowship.org. We also encourage you to hear more truth from Pastor Shane with the Idleman Unplugged weekly podcast. And now, from Westside Christian Fellowship in Leona Valley, California, here is Pastor Shane Idleman.

Shane Idleman: Boldness. We need boldness. So, Paul stood up and, motioning with his hands, said, "Men of Israel, and you who fear God, listen." I need to talk about this for a minute because it's been heavy on my heart this week. There's a lot of people who fear God who don't know Him. They tremble, they have reverence for God. Do you know many of the founding fathers of our nation feared God? They didn't know Him.

Some say Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin—how many of you watched that new movie out, *The Great Awakening*? Make sure when it comes out, it's an incredible movie. Benjamin Franklin was not a believer; he was challenging George Whitefield. But in Congress, when they were putting together the Continental Congress and things, he said, "If a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid? Gentlemen, we need to get back to prayer." An unbeliever—at least he didn't believe in Jesus.

So, you can fear God, but you don't truly know Him. Do you truly know Him? How many religions fear God? False religions. They go through their motions because they fear God. They'll scream out God's name before doing violent things. They fear God, but do they know Him? There's a big difference: intellectual versus heart engagement. Knowing Him is repenting of your sin and embracing Him and believing that Jesus died to set you free.

Paul says, "Okay, you got it. Here we go. The God of this people chose our fathers." Basically, God chose Abraham, Isaac, then Jacob, and the nation of Israel. We don't know why God chose Israel. Why are the Jews the chosen people? We don't know; God chose them. That's His business; I'll leave it up to Him.

Paul goes on to say that God put up with them for 40 years in the wilderness. And when He had destroyed seven nations ahead of them in the land of Canaan—the land of Canaan was the promised land—then He distributed their land to them by allotment. We read that and we think that took a few months, maybe a year. No, when God gave them the promised land, it wasn't one swoop, swift victory. It was years and years and years of fighting.

Anybody ever been in that situation? Most of you, I'm sure, have. It's a spiritual battle. Often victory comes after a hard fight, and it takes time. If you've been here a while, you've heard me read this quote from A.W. Pink before: "It would indeed be strange if we apprehend that on one hand the promised land was a free gift from God to Israel. Was it not? Which they entered in by grace alone. But on the other hand, they had to fight for every single square inch."

Christian, I'm here to tell you, you are in a battle. The devil doesn't sleep; he does not slumber. He is after you 24/7. You've got to fight all the days of your life. You've got to get to the finish line and say, "I have run my race. I have finished. I've lost some battles, but I have not lost the war." It is a hard, difficult battle after that.

So, they got the promised land. This is good history for you guys; you should really read this. It's actually the nation of Israel kind of encapsulated. So, now they have the promised land. God gives them judges. These judges were often called prophets—prophetic voices—and they would teach the people, instruct the people, and judge the people. That was it. That's a true theocracy.

Though the people said, "Give us a king. Give us a king. Give us a king," like all the other nations. So, God said, "Okay, here's your king, Saul." Saul reigned for 40 years and God removed him. God took Saul out of the picture. Wait a minute, He appointed him. But the Bible is clear that Saul was a man of rebellion. He rebelled against God. He did not follow God's orders. He was not a man after God's own heart.

The Bible even says rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. You might want to sit up straight on that one. Am I rebelling in any area? Because witchcraft is rebellion in the spiritual realm. It's not submitting to God; it's seeking a dark authority. That's what it is. He would do other things and God said, "I'm going to remove him and I'm going to put in David, a man after my own heart."

David was a man after God's own heart who would do His will. Wait a minute, this guy had an affair and killed the husband? Hold on. Guys, this is a big difference you need to understand. A man after God's own heart is a repentant man, a humble man, a broken man. It's a person who, when they fall, they get back up and they go to the cross. When they fail, they get back up and they seek God. Why? Because God knows we're frail, but we're after His heart.

That's why David can write all those psalms. Do you have any psalms from Saul? I don't know—did he? David gets confronted. What does he do? Does he make excuses or shift blame? That's what most people do who are not humble and broken and repentant; we call them the blame-shifters. Shift blame, make excuses.

What did he do? He said, "Create in me a clean heart, God. Renew my spirit. Blessed are the bones that You have broken. O God, I cry out to You. Wash me again like snow, and I will be cleansed like hyssop. O God, create in me a clean heart. Begin to break me, restore me, let the joy of my salvation return." That's a man crying out to God because he realizes the pain that he has caused. He's in deep repentance. That's a man after His own heart. You get back up and you keep fighting. Though you fall, you will get back up and keep fighting.

The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and He delights in his ways. Though he fall—thank God for this verse—though he fall, he will not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholds him with His hand. Here's the thing, though: when you fall, you have to reach up. You have to grab that hand and get back on track. You have to engage that. You can't be a little baby that goes and sits in the corner. "I'm mad at God right now. Leave me alone."

That's where many people live. Though he fall, he will not be utterly cast down because the Lord will pull him, but you've got to say, "Here I am," no matter how far you've fallen. I've got commentaries here that were very helpful. Matthew Henry talks about this; that was one of the commentaries George Whitefield and John Wesley would take with them on horseback along with the Bible. He said, "A good man may fall into the hands of a messenger of Satan, but God will not leave him in his enemy's hands." Praise God.

Barnes was helpful as well. "That is, though he is sometimes disappointed, though he is not always successful, though he may be unfortunate, yet that will not be his final ruin." Here's the thing I love with God: the devil doesn't write your story; God does. The good work I began in you, I will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. But you've got to get back on track. You've got to align your will with Mine. Nothing will stop God Almighty. Who's going to stop God?

What other name shakes hell's gates? What other name causes demons to tremble? When Jesus walks into the room, darkness has to flee. Some of you need to get on your face before God more often and call down Christ in a deeper relationship into your heart and say, "Let the light of the gospel penetrate my heart." Lord, I guard my family right now. No evil shall come upon my kids and my spouse. Lord, I'm covering them. I'm praying for them. How bad do you want it, church? How bad do you want it?

One of my favorites is called the Pulpit Commentary. "The good man may be afflicted. He may even fall into some fault or grievous sin, but God will not keep him there if he repents." What a beautiful word. Now you know why I talk about it often. That's what heals a marriage. That's what fixes problems. That's what gets you back on the path: repentance. When a Christian is unrepentant, it's ugly.

Then he continues in Acts. So, from Abraham's seed, according to the promise, God raised up for Israel a Savior. So, again, he's talking to the synagogue people; the Jewish leaders are there. You've probably got the Pharisees, the scribes, the Sadducees, and he's just saying, "Okay, yeah, sounds good." And then here comes Jesus. He's going to shift; he's in neutral, now he's shifting into first gear.

So, God raised up Jesus. Wait a minute, we've heard about this guy. All of Jerusalem was in an uproar. This is after John the Baptist preached. John preached before his coming, and Paul is explaining this to Christian leaders. He said the baptism of repentance is to all the people of Israel. John the Baptist was finishing his course. John said, "Who do you think I am? I'm not He. But behold, there is one coming after me whose sandals I'm not even worthy enough to take off."

Man, we need some more John the Baptists in our churches, don't we? Who can say, "He must increase, but I must decrease"? Who can say that? Usually, it's about me, me, me. More followers, more likes. "I want to be on that stage. If they would let me cut loose on that worship team, I would show them how good I am." If that's your attitude, you'll probably never sing on the worship team. "If you let me preach, Pastor, I'll bring down the house." Wrong heart.

But I want to talk about this for a minute: the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. John the Baptist was a forerunner. The Bible says, "Prepare the way of the Lord." What they would do is they would actually go ahead of kings that were coming into town and they would smooth out the road, take out the rocks, and make a smooth transition for the king to come in.

So, here's John the Baptist and he's preaching repentance. Wait a minute, Jesus hasn't died yet; that's different than our repentance. They're repenting over their sin, preparing the way for the Savior. Don't miss this; this is so important. You have to repent to receive from God. The people, in order to receive their Messiah, had to repent because then their hearts are open. When you don't repent, your heart's not open. You can talk to people and they're like, "I don't hear you. No, no, no." Unrepentant. Repentance opens the ears.

John was called to preach repentance before Jesus arrived. Could it be that this is why the religious leaders rejected Jesus? I didn't realize this connection until I was preaching the first service. I'm very careful what I say usually. I don't know—other than Nicodemus and a few others, the religious leaders never repented under John's ministry. Could it be that's why they rejected the Messiah? They never repented; they didn't know they needed to repent.

Now, they came and watched the baptisms. John's in the Jordan River, probably up to here, baptizing people into repentance. How do you know the Pharisees came and watched? Well, fortunately, the Bible records some words that I kind of like. John the Baptist said, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath that is to come? Don't say 'we are children of Abraham.' God is able to raise up children of Abraham from these very stones. But even now the axe is laid at the root of the tree, getting ready to cut it down. Bear fruits worthy of repentance."

And they would not repent. They would not change their mind. Their self-righteous, arrogant heart would not embrace their Messiah. I'm wondering if for some of them, it was the final call before the final fall for them. I'll forget about it for a while, but when I study for Easter sermons or when I read it in the Bible, how many of the religious leaders—Pharisees, scribes, Sadducees, the lawyers—how many of them are in hell?

They were representing God. They were God's men. Can you imagine that day and Jesus says, "Depart from me. I don't know you. You kept the scrolls. You kept the tabernacle going and the showbread and the inner court and the outer court, the Holy of Holies, and you followed the Levitical priesthood to the T, and you followed what was required in the temple and the sacrifice. You did all of that, but I don't know you." Talk about disappointed.

But you know, there's still people that do that today. I've met so many self-deceived Christians. It's sad because no matter what you tell them, "I fear God, I believe in God." But do you know Him? Do you know Him? Not intellectually. Have you repented and believed? Have you repented of your sin? Again, when you repent, you're able to receive.

This is powerful. John the Baptist said, "I'm not worthy to even take off Jesus's sandals." Barnes notes—let's put that up there on the screen—to unloose Jesus's sandals was the office of a servant. John means, therefore, that he was unworthy to perform the lowest office for the Messiah. "I'm not even a servant; I can't even take off his shoes."

Then Paul, if he's in first gear, he's going to put it in fifth gear. He might even hit the nitrous oxide pretty soon. Did I ever tell you the story? I took off with my friend's Mustang in the 1990s and I hit his nitrous button. 120 miles an hour down Avenue J, heading towards 50th, and I just—had I gone off the road on that one, I would not be here. Thank You, Lord. Maybe somebody in the prison can relate; I don't know. But scared me; that's serious stuff.

So, he's going to put it in fifth gear and he says, "Men and brethren, you are the family of Abraham, and those who fear God, to you the word of this salvation has been sent. For those who dwell in Jerusalem as well, and the rulers, because they did not know Him, nor even the voices of the prophets." You're telling the leaders and the rulers, "You didn't know God and you didn't listen to the voice of His prophets." Talk about controversial.

Can you imagine the temperature in there? They'd get a hook and pull you off stage; that's what they're probably wishing they did with this guy. He goes, "The prophets are read every Sabbath just like we're reading them here. And they've actually fulfilled what the prophets said by condemning Jesus. The man you're rejecting is the man that scripture said would be coming; they would fulfill the scriptures."

So, I'm not going to go into all the different ones, but I want to show just a few of these because Isaiah said He would be born of a virgin. Isaiah talked about it; they knew that. There's a king from Bethlehem in Micah 5:2. Out of Bethlehem is going to come one of my rulers. Isaiah 40: "This is the voice in the wilderness: prepare the way of the Lord." Isaiah 9 said He'll be a light in Galilee. "Those who walk in darkness have seen a great light." He is the light of the world.

I have to remind you on this; I'm looking for opportunities to remind you on this. Do you remember a few months ago, I did a study on the definition of light? NASA and astronomy and all these things about what light is and how light is made—my head was going to explode. Then I said, "Man, I wonder what they have to say about darkness?" One sentence: "The absence of light." That's it.

What a great parallel. Christ in all of our hearts and our lives is the light of the world, the joy of our salvation. When you have that, there's the absence of darkness. See, it works both ways. Then this is a great one, too. Zechariah wrote—interesting time, probably 600 years before Jesus—he said, "Your king is going to come on a donkey." Well, why didn't they remember that when He came in on a donkey? I mean, it's like everywhere.

What about this one? This is incredible. Jesus is going to be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver. The prophets wrote about it. Think about this. This has a double whammy. "So they weighed out my wages: 30 pieces of silver." So, 600 years before Jesus, talking about the Messiah: "So they weighed out, they paid 30 pieces of silver, basically to betray me." And then here's the kicker: "And then the Lord said, 'Throw it to the potter'—this magnificent price at which they valued me."