I want to speak to you a message that the Lord has laid on my heart that I believe is going to stir you and touch you. It's entitled, "The end of the rope but not the end of the line".
Acts 20:24, "But none of these things move me, nor do I count my life dear to myself so that I may finish my race with joy and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of the grace of God".
Father, this morning we thank you for your word. God, we love to come to you, we thank you for what you're doing in each of us. Lord, may we decrease and may you increase and may you have your way in us, in Jesus name. Amen
At one point or another every one of us has gotten to the place where all we could do is hang on to the end of the rope. Have you ever been at the end of your rope before? You may even be there right now. How many of you have found that hanging on to the rope can be kind of difficult? I've got good news for you this morning, you may be going through something that has got you to the place where you are at the end of yourself and you feel like you're at the end of the world but just because you'e at the end of your rope doesn't mean that you're at the end of the line. All of us have been there. When we feel like it's the end and we're in an emotional struggle, we don't feel like we've got the strength emotionally, spiritually and sometimes physically even to hang on anymore. How many have ever been in that place once or twice?
Everyone of us face circumstances and challenges. When all you can do is hang on and it begins to undermine your confidence and shake your stability and when you get to the end you start thinking that maybe letting go won't seem so bad because you just don't feel like you can hang on any longer. What I found in life is that many times what I think is the end really is not the end. I like to watch a good movie, I love to get lost in them. I think movies are the cheapest vacation you can ever take. It's wonderful, you either rent one or go to the movie, sit down and get lost in a good story. What I found is that sometimes I'll get so lost in it, I'll feel like I'm there, like I'm in that world and then all of a sudden the movie ends and you begin to realize you're back in real life all over again.
Life goes on, life has many chapters, many beginnings and many endings. But I want you to hear me this morning, nothing is over until it's over. Now that may not sound real deep for you but time and time again when we get to the place where we're at the end of the rope and at the end of ourself and we really do think things are over. How many have found in your life when you get to that place where life just seems so bad and it feels like everything is over but you've come to realize you lived through it and life is still going to go on? God is faithful.
Time and again we meet people in the word of God who were at the end of the rope but they weren't at the end of the line. Paul writes in the Book of Acts about his tribulations, about his trials and struggles. He says this, All these things aren't going to move me. As a matter of fact, I've been through so much that no longer am I going to let those situations and those struggles move me, I'm going to go through my life with joy and I'm going to finish what God has for me. The truth is that not only are we going to finish what God has for us, we can do it with joy. Last week I taught on joy builders and I want to tell you that God wants us to know that not only can we go through life with joy but we're going to finish what he's got for us.
I want to ask you this morning, what's your struggle? What's your issue? What are you dealing with? The truth is that hardly a time goes by in life that you don't have some issue. If you don't have an issue, you just wait, you're going to have one. The Word of God is full of examples of people in situations that were at the end of their rope but they were not at the end of the line. They had a life altering experience but what seemed like the end really turned out to be the beginning of something amazing that God had.
1st Corinthians 10:11 says, "Now all these things happened to them as examples and they were written for our admonition upon whom the end of the age has come".
The one thing that I've become more and more aware of is that we're at the end of the age. How many of you are looking for Jesus to come back? I know you hear me say that alot but I believe we were born for such a time as this. There is no other greater time in history, we're going to see the coming of the Lord, I believe that with all my heart. I don't know when or how, I just believe that these words that were written were written for us, written for our example, for our encouragement, so that we have something to grasp onto that we can learn from.
Job was one of the most successful men in all the world. He had a great family, great children and grandchildren, had amassed a fortune, he had people who worked for him, people who wanted his opinion and he got to a place where not only did he have everything but pretty soon he began to lose everything, money, family, friends, health, his security, his future. Those who were closest to him began to blame him for his own misfortune. Have you ever noticed that somehow, even in Christianity, that somehow we even want to eat our own young? How many think as Christians that we really need to stop getting on each others case? Sometimes the stuff that happens to us is our own fault but how many have found out that most people already had that figured out. People were telling Job, "This is all you, the reason this happened is because you did something wrong". He even got to the place where not only did his friends not comfort him but his own wife came to him and said, "Just curse God and die". How many know at that point you'd be thinking about a new marriage? What kind of encouragement is that? Listen, may we never be like that to our spouses. The truth is that Job realized it wasn't the end of the world and it wasn't the end of the line. There were times he was laying on that bed sick as a dog that he wished he would die but something happened as God began to speak into his life and God began to do something for Job. The Bible says that even after Job lost it all, God was going to restore everything to him.
I want you to look at Job 42 and a couple verses that I pieced together to encourage. "And the Lord restored Job's losses when he prayed for his friends. The Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. Now the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than the beginning. So Job died old and full of days". How many know Job was at the end of his rope but it wasn't the end of the line. God still had a lot for him to do.
The woman with the issue of blood suffered for years. She was unclean according to Jewish tradition. Everywhere she went she bled and it wasn't like they had the technologies today where she could just go to Walmart and purchase what she needed to ease her embarrassment. Everywhere she went people knew she was unclean and it showed. She was an outcast socially wherever she would have gone. Because of the amount of blood she lost she would have been emotionally stirred up and physically tired out all the time. She was at the end of her rope and here comes Jesus coming through the crowd. She just knew that if Jesus was there she may be at the end of her rope but not at the end of the line. She reached out in desperation and everyone just ignored her like they normally did. Tired and wore out, she said, "If I could just touch the hem of his garment" and the power of Jesus went out from Him and she was immediately made whole. Jesus knew exactly what took place. In the midst of the crowd he said, "Who touched me?" I want to tell you, in the midst of the crowd, Jesus knows exactly where you are and he knows what power you need.
Jesus was hanging on the cross and literally he was in the fight for mankind. He was at the end of the rope. Both hands and both feet nailed to the cross, a crown of thorns on his head. God, the Father, turned his back on Jesus because of the sins that he carried, my sins and your sins. Jesus got to the end of the rope and he looked into Heaven. This was the Son of God who just didn't see what was going on here on earth, he could see right into Heaven. How many know the dimension beyond here is just as real as what we're living in right now? I believe that Jesus could see right into heaven and he saw his own father turn his back on Him and he yelled, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" You may be at the end of your rope where you think God has forsaken you. Satan thought he had Jesus on the rope taking the final blows. The soldier took the spear and stuck it in Jesus' side, the blood and water flowed and Jesus gave up his life. Three days later the stone began to roll away and Jesus walked out of the tomb, he was alive and well. Not only did he give his life for us, he rose for us. How many know he was at the end of the rope but it wasn't the end of the line? Jesus is alive and well.
I want you to think about this, one of the great themes of the word of God is this, that the end is never the end. For the Christian, the end will never be the end. Jesus holds eternity in his hand. The King of Kings, the author of our salvation, the height of relationship with God is having right relationship with Jesus. Not only does Jesus hold our salvation, he holds our eternity. Do you realize that even the end for us will never be the end? How many of you are waiting for the rapture to take place? For most of us we think that's the end, we're just kind of waiting for the rapture to happen and then we're all done. Listen, that's just the start of things. Right after the rapture takes place we get ushered into the presence of Jesus, we go before the judgment seat of Christ, he begins to welcome us in, we get to stand before him and find out what we've done with his life, we move on to the marriage supper of the Lamb. After we eat and feast with each other, we celebrate and have a good time while things go on here for 7 years. Then we're going to come back and rule and reign on this earth for 1000 years with Jesus. God is going to take care of business, take care of the devil once and for all and then we're going to live with Jesus for eternity. The end is never the end.
One of the great things we need to understand is that he holds eternity in his hand. Ecclesiastes 3:11 says, "He has made everything beautiful in its time, also he has put eternity in their hearts". I believe this truth will grasp the heart of every Christian. Sometimes as Christians, it's real easy in this life that we live, that we start living just for the now. We're only living for the 80-100 years that you and I get to live. How many know that's a short time compared to eternity? The Bible says that he's put eternity in our hearts.
Something happens when you begin to grab that perspective, when you stop living in the natural and you start living for the eternal. You realize that the end of the rope is just that, it's the end of the rope but it's not the end of the line. For the believer the end of the rope is just a blip on our radar screen because we have an eternal perspective. I want you to listen to me, there are situations that we go through in life where it seems like everything seems to pile up upon us, where it seems like it will never end, like it's never going to go away. Here's what I found, I always lived through those other ones and when I finally got to the next one I began to realize that the end is not the end, it's alright. When you've got eternity in your heart, it's a whole lot easier to live this life because you understand that what God has for you doesn't just stop here and now, we keep going on. These moments are just a blip on the radar screen. The enemy tries to make us feel like it's the end of the world. How many know that the end of the world is simply just a moment in time? Whatever we struggle with is brief in comparison to what life is all about.
Those with an eternal perspective have come to realize certain things when they're at the end of the rope and they hold on to those truths. The truth is that God has given us some things in his word that when you're at the end of your rope there is still something to hold on to. How many have ever found that to be true? God will give you the strength, he'll give you the help and he'll give you the courage. He's already saved you, you already know you're right with him, you know you're going to heaven, you know that things are ok with the Father, so now all you need to do is hold on. So listen, one of the truths that we get is that we're never in such a place that is so forsaken and lonely that God's love won't seek you and find you. The love of God is an amazing thing. I love his love, he's so gracious and kind at every turn. When we're at the end of the rope we're confused, we feel like no one cares and no one knows what we're going through. How many of you have ever been at the end of the rope and found out that lots of other people know exactly how it feels? The truth is Jesus knows how it feels. God knows right where you are.
Throughout the word of God people were at the end of their rope. Those who were toiling away at obscurity when they thought that no one would notice, that's exactly where God met them and lifted them out and began to do a powerful work in their life. The Bible tells us about Moses who found himself 40 years in the desert, thought he was done as an old man and that God would never use him anymore. He had just resigned himself to hanging out with the sheep and working hard out in the desert. God said, "I know where you are, I know the plan that I've had for your life all along, you've held on and I knew you were sitting right there". God pulled him up and said, "Now's the time to come out of the backside of the wilderness and start leading my people out of slavery. I'm not only going to lift you out of obscurity, I'm going to sit you before the most powerful man in all the world and you're going to go head to head with him. I'm going to be your God and you're going to be my people and I'm going to show them that I'm faithful". How many know that same God of Moses is our God today?
David was hiding in a cave. God had given him the promise that he was going to be the King of Israel. The current King was jealous of all his accomplishments. David was a young man who had it all. The prophet of the day had showed up and prophesied over his life, told him what he had and here was David hiding in a cave. All of a sudden God showed up and said, "Now is your time. You might be at the end of your rope, people might want your life but David I've known what I had planned for you all along and now is the time. You might be in this cave and no one might remember who you are but I've still got a plan for you. Go out and do it".
The Apostle John had served Jesus, been close to Him and was there for those 3 years throughout Christ's ministry. He was the disciple of Love, the one who leaned on Jesus' breast. At the end of his life in prison on the island of Patmos, he began to have the greatest revelation of all his life sitting in a prison colony as an old man and asking, "God, what can you do with me now?"
You know what I found out? This world right now looks at all the young people and think they have it all together. Have you ever noticed that God will use young people but he also isn't done with the old people? So here's John on the island of Patmos in a prison colony, an old man, and God begins to show him what the end of days is going to be like. But the revelation that he gave him wasn't for the end of days, it was a revelation of Jesus. He wanted to show the one who knew him and loved him, more of himself. He began to write the greatest book of prophesy that we've ever seen. You see that the end of the rope is never the end of the line. God is not done with any of us yet and he knows right where we are and where we're going and he knows what he wants for us. You might be at the end of your rope wondering what's next but the truth is you don't have to worry about the next step because God has got you covered.
The truth is it's when we're in the wilderness and at the end of our rope that we come to the end of ourselves. It's when we get tired of worrying about what we look like, what we feel like, what everybody thinks of us, that God can really begin to use us.
Moses went from being all that to 40 years in the desert. God said, "Now that you know you're nothing I can use you". "John, you walked with me and talked with me, at the end of your life I'm going to show you more of me than you ever knew before". "David, you learned what it was like to sit before Kings as just a young man, you slew your giants, but now that you are hiding in the cave I'm going to show you that it's not the end of the line".
The truth is that you and I may think we know Jesus, but until we get to the end of the rope we really haven't seen anything yet. I found in my life that I might know my God but when I get in those times that I think I can't hold on any longer, that is the time that I really get to know him. The truth is I had to get to the end of my rope so I could experience all he had. We spend so much time trying to avoid the end of the rope but if we were to look at our life in the spiritual we'd look like that kid in the gymnasium just trying his best not to be at the end of the rope, just climbing and climbing. How many have ever found that if you can't hold on and start slipping you get some pretty good rope burn? Some of us have some scars to show for it trying to hold on in our own strength, in our own power. But something happens when you get to the end of the rope and you can't hang on anymore and that end starts to look more like a noose than it does a lifeline. It's in that moment that you begin to find out who God really is. You thought you knew that you loved him and you thought that you knew he loved you but it wasn't until you got to the end of the rope that you knew how much he did. You thought you understood God, you thought you had him all figured out but when you got to the end of the rope you got a new revelation of who he is.
Listen to me, John is the disciple who knew Jesus best. When Jesus walked the earth, John was known as the disciple that Jesus loved. No one knew him better. When Jesus was hanging on the cross, who did he trust to take care of his mother? It was John. Can you imagine Jesus hanging there, dying on the cross and he asked John to take care of his mom? John didn't get a glimpse of Jesus until he got to the end of the rope and he thought it was the end.
Turn with me to Revelations 1:12-18. I want you to picture this, here's John, he knew Jesus and walked with him, he thought he knew who he was. Now he's on the Isle of Patmos and Jesus told him he was going to show him something he hadn't shown to anyone else because he loved him. He was at the end of his rope sitting in a prison camp and thought it was all over for him then Jesus showed him something.
"Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me and having turned I saw seven golden lampstands and in the midst of the 7 lampstands was one like the son of man clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band. His head and hair were white like wool and white as snow and his eyes like a flame of fire, his feet were like fine brass as if refined in a furnace and his voice like the sound of many waters. He had in his right hand 7 stars, out of his mouth went a sharp two edged sword and his countenance was like the sun shining in it's strength. When I saw him I fell at his feet as dead and he laid his right hand on me saying to me, "Do not be afraid, I am the first and the last, I am he who lives and was dead and behold I am alive forevermore and I have the keys of hades and death".
Many of us know Jesus but when we feel like we're at the end, Jesus says he wants us to look a little higher so he can really show us who he is. This was the Jesus that John had seen perform miracles, who he had eaten dinner with and walked with everyday, and knew that he loved him. When John was at the end he got a revelation of his friend that he never saw before. He realized that he was the King of Kings and the Lord of Lord's, that he was powerful.
The truth is when you and I get to the end of our rope, Jesus wants us to pay attention and quit looking at the end of the rope thinking that's all we have to hold on to. He wants us to look beyond the end of that thing and look into heaven and see who he really is. He has put eternity into our heart and he is our King, our Lord, the God of Love, our salvation, and our hope. He has death and hell in his hands and nothing can harm us because he is our God. How many know that is the God we serve?
Many of us know Jesus but Jesus said we never know who he really is until we get to that rope. Isaiah 64:4 says, "For since the beginning of the world men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, nor has the eye seen any God besides you, who acts for the one who waits for Him." He's not a passive God. How many have found that to be true? Sometimes you're hanging on asking God where he's at. Many times we mistake waiting as a passive sitting around but sometimes when you're at the end of the rope, simply holding on is all you can do because that's when you get to see Jesus work. We're going to watch him work in ways that we never knew Him, and like John, it will be a revelation on many levels of his love, his power, his ability and of his willingness to act on our behalf. He's the God who acts for us.
Have you ever noticed that right after the gospels the next book is the Acts? It is through the end of the rope experiences that we gain the strength to walk through the rest of eternity. How many of you need some strength? When John began to describe Jesus, one of the things that he saw was in Revelations 1:15, "His feet were like fine brass as if refined in the furnace". In the word of God brass is a symbol of strength. Jesus' feet that were once nailed to the cross, that once walked the dust of the earth, that once were bleeding, were now so solid that when he looked at him he had it all together. This wasn't a God with feet of clay, this was a Jesus who had feet of strength. Jack Hayford, one of the great preachers of our time wrote this, "Walk in the trail of he who has gone through the fire and with him you will discover what he found".
The same God that he thought had forsaken him, he said, "Into your hands God I commit my spirit. It's into your hands that I give myself". That same God that had to turn his back on Jesus, he knew would never leave him hanging. How many know he didn't stay on the cross? The truth is that you're not going to stay on the end of the rope and either will I. God's plan and power brought Jesus through and that's how Jesus got the feet of brass. Alot of people want brass knuckles but Jesus didn't have brass knuckles. He wasn't all about the fight, he was all about the walk. It's all about the walk. He gave him feet to stand because he had been through it, he'd been tested by fire and now he could do it all. That's how we get to walk with him, that's how we get feet of brass, that's how we go through the trials, that's how we go through life and that's when we know we may be at the end of the rope but it's not the end of the journey.
The truth is that God will give you the strength to trust Him, the strength to walk with Him, the strength to go through with him and listen, the end is never the end until Jesus says it is. The next step is to abandon yourself. Here's what I found, I've spent so much time just hanging on that I'm afraid what's underneath. Jesus let go into God's hands and he found out he had sure footing right underneath him. How many have given yourselves into the hands of Jesus? I want to encourage you, church, it doesn't matter what we go through. I don't care who the President is, I don't care what the economy looks like, whether I have a job or not, whether everything is going right in my family or not, or whether things are going well with everything else, because the truth is, If I'm right here with Jesus then I can stand and I can stand firm. How many of you are thankful for a faithful savior this morning?
