I Won't Let Go — Neil Rhodes

This message is one of the Times Square Church Pulpit Series. It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times Square Church in Manhattan, New York City. Other tapes are available by writing World Challenge, P .O. Box 260, Lindell, TX 75771, or calling 903 -963 -8626.

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I had another title, but I think that's the right title for this afternoon's message. I won't let go. Hallelujah. Father, we thank you this afternoon that your presence is truly among us. Lord, you've been speaking to us all of this week.

It's been the most wonderful week of your presence, your dealing, your love. We thank you this afternoon that one more time we can stand in your presence. Now Lord Jesus, I ask that you bring forth this word from my heart.

Lord, you're the one that laid it on the very tables of my heart. I haven't had to change anything according to the natural mind. You birthed this in my heart. Now Lord, bring it forth accordingly as you have put into my heart.

You bring it forth by the power of the Holy Ghost. In Jesus' name, amen. Turn with me back to Acts chapter 21. We dealt with this scripture last Sunday night, and we are back again at it this afternoon.

Acts chapter 21, and we'll read three verses together, the same verses we read on Sunday night, Acts chapter 21, verses 12 through 14. And when we heard these things, we both and they that of that place besought him not to go up to Jerusalem.

Now, the people of that place, what he's talking about here are Philip, his wife, his daughters. Agabus had come down and had spoken to the apostle Paul and taken the apostle Paul's girdle, tied it around his own waist and said, the person who owns this girdle, so you're going to be bound and be handed over to the Gentiles.

And so everybody of that place, there was Luke was there, Philip was there, he's the evangelist, his daughters are there who prophesied, everybody who had gathered to hear the apostle Paul, and they were all saying to him, then besought him not to go up to Jerusalem.

Verse 13, then Paul answered, what mean ye to weep and to break my heart? Why are you trying to break the purpose of God in my heart? We shared a little of this last week. There was a purpose that they were trying to break, this man was committed to the purposes of God.

And as the choir sang this afternoon, I won't let go. The apostle Paul makes that statement, he says, for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. And when he would not be persuaded, we ceased saying, the will of the Lord be done.

It's one of those cliche words that they end up saying, well, like we always say, well, God bless you. The will of the Lord be done. I'm not sure that they believed it, but they said it anyway. So here is the apostle Paul, and he has a purpose in his heart.

Resisting Disengagement from God's Purposes

Beloved, I want to speak this afternoon about the devil trying to disengage you from the purposes of God. He's always trying to get at your heart. This is a hard issue. We're going to see all through the message this afternoon, it's a hard issue, that the enemy is always trying to get at your heart to disengage you from the very purposes of Almighty God.

As we heard this morning, if we could understand for just one second, one moment today, what the purposes of God really were for our life, if God would just give us a panoramic view of our whole life and what he intended for us, there wouldn't be a hesitation in any one of us today to give up sin, to walk away from our past, and to engage in the things that God has for us.

But we also have an enemy that's always trying to disengage us from the purposes of God. So the Apostle Paul, he won't give in to their fears, we saw that last week, he wasn't buying into their tears either, it was a false compassion.

And there's a lot of people who have a false compassion towards maybe the struggles you're going through, but understand that when we go through trying times, it is God who's at work in our hearts and lives.

And we shouldn't try to dissuade what God is doing in the hearts and lives of people. Paul lived by another code, we saw this as well, and that my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in the demonstration of the Spirit and of power.

And the Apostle Paul said, this was my life, this has always been my life, my life has been lived by one code and one code only, and that is by the power of Almighty God. My life has been changed by God's power, I've lived by God's power.

See, this was his doctrine, this is what he preached, this is what he lived, and so he's amazed at this point. I think the Apostle Paul is amazed, he's perplexed that there is this dissuasion of these people to try and dissuade him from the purposes of God.

I want to tell you, the devil hasn't changed, and if he can dissuade you from the purposes of God in your life, he's going to do it. He's going to do everything possible that he can to change your heart.

I'm going to show that to you this afternoon, some of the most simplest scriptures, how the devil tries to come and dissuade you from that which God has called you to do. Now, the Apostle Paul's doctrine was one that was kept by the power of God, and in Corinthians he said, for the love of God constraineth us.

You see, all along through his ministry, even when he was with the Corinthian church, he told them, he said, now listen, you've got to understand and come to an understanding of one thing, that when God lays hold of your life, when God lays a hold of a man or a woman's life, he will keep them.

The word constrain, the Apostle Paul, using this word for the love of Christ, constraineth us, the word literally means to keep. So God says, and he's speaking through the Apostle Paul, and he's speaking to this church, and he says, this is my doctrine.

You have to get this settled in your heart. It's going to help you in fighting against the enemy when he comes to dissuade you from the purposes of God. You've got to get settled one thing in your heart, that when God calls you and he lays his hand upon your life, he's able to keep you.

The love of God, the love of God is able to keep me. The love of God is able to hold me, even in a wicked world like we are living today. I'm confident of this one thing, that the power of Almighty God through his love is able to keep me.

There's no fear in my heart that I'm going to go astray. There's something that God puts into the heart of the believer that God is able to keep us and to hold us. So the Apostle Paul says, this is my doctrine.

Yes, I am kept from the power of evil. So when he talks about this word constrain, that the love of God is able to constrain us or keep us, he's saying, yes, I'm kept from the power of evil, but I'm also kept alive unto God.

You see, when God keeps his people, it's always for a dual purpose. Yes, he's going to keep us from evil, but he's also going to keep us alive. Yes, he will keep us from harm of evildoers, but he'll also keep me as a light unto wicked men.

So there's always the dual purpose. Yes, he'll keep us from harm, but he also is keeping us so that we can shine in the world. Yes, I am kept from hurtful temptations, but I'm also kept with insight and discernment to live for him.

Yes, I'm kept from foolish and damaging lusts, but I'm also kept in holiness unto the Lord. Yes, I'm kept by the power of God, but for what? What is it that God has for my life? Why does he keep us? Why is this the doctrine of the Apostle Paul that God has the power with which to keep any individual who puts their trust in the living God, God is able to keep them?

Because God has a purpose. He wants us to be engaged in a work and a purpose that he has that absolutely is mind boggling. I tell you, beloved, this whole week I've just seen people's lives touched. People have come to me so many times through the three-day fasting on how their lives have been changed.

They've been delivered. They've been set free. If only we could have an understanding of the power that God and the life that God has for us, it would blow us. I think we're so myopic in how we see things.

We only see our block. We only see where we live. We only see the little things we're about, but God sees things from all eternity's sake. We're dealing with almighty God. We're dealing with a God who created the heavens and the earth.

He's got a plan for us and a purpose for us, and the devil knows it. That's why he does everything in his power to keep you from the purposes of almighty God. It's like my grandkids. I was sharing this on a Friday night one time.

My daughter-in-law was dropped off at the front of the apartment, and we're on the 25th floor, and she had called ahead on the cell phone and said, could I meet you at the foyer just to help with the luggage and the kids, and I said I would, but I was busy on the phone, and so I missed her.

So I finished up on the phone. I hung up, and I raced to the elevator. I went down, and I got to the foyer, and I missed her. I asked the doorman. I said, did you see a young lady here with two little things about this height and this height?

And he said, yep, they've already gone ahead of you. So I raced back to the elevator, and I tell you, it's an amazing thing because only grandparents understand this kind of stuff. I was on about the 23rd or the 22nd floor, and I heard on the 25th floor such yelling like I have never.

I'm three floors away from the floor where I live on, and I can hear these two grandkids yelling, Papa, Papa. They were screaming. My daughter-in-law said they were yelling louder than they've ever heard them yell before because I wasn't there to open the door.

And the moment I walked out of that elevator, I don't know what they think about elevators, but they yell my name, and here I step out of the elevator. And they were so excited. They jumped up and down.

They ran to me. I picked them up in both arms. Beloved, let me ask you a question. What do these kids know about my life? They don't know my background. They don't know my life. They don't know where I come from.

But all they know is that this is my grandpa, and when he picks me up, I'm safe. There's something that takes place. And as soon as I got them into my arms, they were kissing me on the cheek and hugging me and pulling my ear, and there was an impartation from my heart to them.

They just know that there's something about walking with grandpa that they are safe. You see, this is the doctrine that the Apostle Paul was saying. I can't tell you how God imparts the understanding and the knowledge that when you commit to Him, that He has the keeping power to hold you regardless of the circumstances.

I can't understand it. I can't teach you about it. We can talk about it, but only God imparts that unto the understanding of the person's heart. So when you commit yourself to God, there's an impartation.

I can't tell you how He does it, but I know that when I commit my heart to Him, that there is an importation that comes to me that He is able to keep me through everything that I go through in life. Hallelujah.

God's Keeping Power and the Believer's Assurance

God is able to keep us. You can't learn it. It's something that is received by the Holy Ghost. Just like those kids, they didn't spend hours with their mom at two and one year of age, understanding where grandpa comes from, what he earns and where he lives, where he's going and, okay, I can trust him.

It didn't come by knowledge. It came by an association that they see that we love each other. I love my son and my daughter-in-law and they love grandma. It comes by this association that when we come into each other's presence, they don't care about the past.

They don't care what they're going through. All they know is, here is my papa, and as soon as I held them in their arms, there was a tremendous joy in their heart. Beloved, that's what God is all about.

That's what Christianity is all about. That's the importation of God that he gives to our hearts and knowledge that he can keep us and hold us no matter what we're going through. Our God is able to impart that assurance in the heart.

See, this is what the Apostle Paul has received all of his life, all of his walk with God. We can read about all the stonings at Lystra and all the persecutions at Derby and Iconium and where he's left for dead.

We can talk about the shipwrecks. We can talk about all the things that he went through. Why does he go back again and again, not being persuaded away from the very calling of God? Because there is a continuous importation of God and life into his soul.

And he says, I'm not willing to give that up for any person. He says, I'm not willing to give up that which God gives to me by the power of the Holy Ghost, not for any... I'm not going to save my life for it.

To be absent from this body is to be present with the Lord. Does that make sense to you this afternoon? There's an importation that God gives to those that love him. Now, beloved, the heart needs to be engaged.

The Heart Must Be Engaged with God

You see, there is a power that God will keep us and that knowledge is imparted to us. It's imparted by the presence of the Holy Ghost. There's a knowledge and understanding he'll keep us and that's given to us by the power of the Holy Spirit.

But God intends it's not enough just for you to have an understanding that God will keep you. He is wanting your heart to be involved. So many times we miss this crucial part. God, yes, he can keep us.

He can guide us. He can take us through storms. But there's one thing that he asks of us. There's something that he requires that we engage our heart with his. That he has all of that. He might have my life, but does he have my heart?

I might come to the house of God, but does he have my heart? And see, this is what God established from way back that he wants our heart involvement with everything that he does. The joy of the grandkids when they're in my arms and giving me kisses on the cheek and pulling my hair and my glasses off.

It's their way of demonstrating I've got their heart. They've got my heart. There's an issue of the heart that needs to be dealt with. And so here in these last few days of prayer and fasting, God has been speaking to us, ministering to us.

And I tell you, the very thing that he's after is the issue of the heart. Does he have your heart? We can come and be blessed, but God wants to know, do I have your heart? You see, in Exodus chapter 12, and this is the scripture that the Holy Spirit put on my heart for this afternoon.

In Exodus chapter 12, verses 5 and 6, it says, he's talking about the Passover. Your lamb shall be without blemish. So he's talking to the children of Israel. He says, this is the time of the Passover and you need to get a lamb.

It needs to be without blemish, a male of the first year. In other words, going to be a year old. And then it says, you shall take it out from the sheep or from the goats and you shall keep it up until the 14th day of the same month.

And the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. So God is giving these people instruction here. Now, don't miss what is taking place. You see, God has promised them.

He said, on this Passover, this very first Passover, when they're going to be taken out of Egypt on this very first Passover, God is giving them the assurance. He says that when you take the blood of the lamb and you put it on your doorposts and you sprinkle it with hyssop on your house, and God is giving them a promise.

He says, there is going to be a keeping power that will save you from death. God is going to say, he's telling them that you take this lamb, take the blood and you apply it to your household. And he says, then when the angel of death comes, it'll bypass you.

There is a keeping power. You will not be hurt. There will be no damage to your life. God will keep you, but you've got to apply the blood. Now, don't miss the import of the verse of the scripture. It says, you shall take it out from the sheep fold and the goats, and you shall keep it up to the 14th day of the same month.

Now, that was basically four days from the 10th to the 14th. And so, I began to look this up in the scriptures, and there's a lot of commentators who talk about this as they're trying to find some deep significance on the four days.

Why should we take this lamb and keep it for four days? I'll tell you why. They've got their own fandangled ideas. They've got all their kind of things, and I just put that down. And do you know what the Holy Ghost said to me?

He said, very simply, because I want your heart involved in it. I want you to get the lamb. I want you to look it over. This is what he says. He says, you shall keep it. You shall take it out from the sheep.

You see, there's something that God wanted from the people. There's something. So, you take the lamb. He says, yes, the keeping power of God, the deliverance of God is going to be there for you. That's the assurance of who I am.

I'm God. I'll keep you. But there's something I require of you. I want you to take that lamb out. And for four days, I want you to look it over. I want you to hold it. I want you to behold it. I want you to be involved.

There's something of the heart that needs to be involved in this. I just don't want you going out on the day, on the night of the sacrifice, going and taking something and slaying it and taking the blood.

No, there's something. I want you to take it beforehand. And there needs to be a heart involvement of you in this. You need to see it. Let me read a scripture to you in John, just to show you this. In 1 John chapter 1, it says, that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and our hands have handled, of the word of life.

This is 1 John, the epistles of John. 1 John chapter 1, verse 1. And so here the apostle is saying, you need to look with your eyes upon this. Your hands have handled it, of the word of life. For the life was made manifest and we have seen it and bear witness and show it unto you, that eternal life, which is with the Father, which is manifested unto us.

That which ye have seen and heard and declare we unto you, that also we may have fellowship with us. And truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. And these things right we unto you, that your joy may be full.

See, it's the handling. There's something about the heart when we look upon Christ. Christ is the Lamb. And this is what he's saying in Exodus. He says, you've got to take this thing apart, look upon it.

Take four days, make sure. In fact, Malachi says this. He proves that God was wanting a heart issue here, not just a sacrifice. Isaiah chapter 1, if you want to read that, it's a scathing report about them just taking sacrifice.

God just didn't want sacrifices. He wanted the heart of the sacrificer involved with Him. God doesn't want people just to come to the house and just go through the motions. It's not enough. He says, I've got all this for you.

I'll keep you. There's power, there's deliverance. My life will be imparted unto you. But there's something I require from you. I want your heart to be involved with what I'm doing. Don't be disengaged.

And this is what the apostle Paul is fighting. These people want to disengage him from the very purposes of God. He says, I won't be persuaded. I'm not going to be persuaded differently from that which God has put into my heart.

And so this Lamb needs to be looked over. Your heart needs to be involved. It needs to be touched. Malachi says, and if you offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? If you offer the lame and sick, is it not evil?

And he says, you try giving that to the governor. Malachi comes along and says, why don't you go to your pen and take some sick, lame, blind animal and try and take that to your governor and say, Governor, I brought this gift for you.

He says he's not going to accept it. But we're doing that with God. He says, you're disengaging, you're coming in, but your heart is not involved. You're coming in, you're going through the motions, but where's your heart?

Is your heart involved in what God has for us? He's looking to the heart. He wants to know, do I have your heart this afternoon? Check it out. You make the decision. You bring it to the Lord. So when Jesus, talking in Matthew chapter 21, and Jesus went into the temple of God and cast them all out and sold them that bought in the temple and overthrew the tables of the money changers and the seats of them that sold doves.

And he said unto them, it is written, my house shall be called a house of prayer, but you've made it a den of thieves. And I asked myself the question, what is he talking about here? I believe that one of the aspects that they robbed, you see, this is what God was showing me in my heart, what they were robbing from the people was their heart involvement.

Empty Rituals and the Need for Heart Involvement

God had said way back in Exodus, I want you to be involved with this. When I come into your life, I want your involvement. I want you to participate with me in what I'm doing. I've got a plan and a purpose, but I need your heart.

I can't take you ahead if I don't have everything that is in your heart. And so what they were robbing from the people was this, that the leaders of that day had come and they said, we've looked over the land.

We've bought all the animals that you eat. You don't have to be involved. All you need to do is bring us the cash. Just give us the money and buy your animal and just sacrifice to the Lord. You see, God says you've made it a den of thieves.

There's something that God is showing to the heart of the person. He says, why have you robbed the people? How did he rob them? How did they rob them? They robbed them because they did not give the people the opportunity to have a heart in coming to God.

That's why when afterwards he pushes all the tables over, we see that Jesus brings back to them and he says, he opens up the doors and he says, bring the blind and the lame. And they came to him in the temple and he healed them.

You see, when God opened up the doors and allowed those people to come with their heart, they couldn't get there because the people had robbed, the leaders had robbed them from coming and bringing their heart to the altar and saying, God, I want to see God.

God wants all of our heart at the altar. And so when they robbed them of that, they were held back. And when Jesus pushes all of those tables over, the doors then opened and the miraculous power of God.

You see what God is, I think, saying to the people at this point, he's saying that when your heart is involved, yes, I'll keep you. Yes, I'll deliver you. Yes, I'll do all those things. The keeping power of God is there.

But when I've got your heart, then you will go forth with the mighty power of almighty God. You don't, you won't have the loss of speaking words that like the apostle Paul says, I didn't come with man's wisdom, but I came with the power and the demonstration of the Holy Ghost.

See, many times that's what's lacking in so many people's lives. And it's not because God has failed, but it's because God hasn't had our hearts. But when we get our heart, when God takes a hold of our heart and he has everything that is in our heart, I tell you, I believe beloved, those tables go over in our hearts of our lives.

We no longer just letting somebody else get the sacrifice, but God gets all of our heart. It's at that point in time that we go forward in the name of the Lord. And we begin to see the lame begin to walk, the blind begin to see, the deaf begin to hear, those that are dead begin to get raised.

Now life begins to count by the power of almighty God. And this is, in fact, Jeremiah was having a problem. Let me show you something in the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah chapter four, this is what he says.

He says in verse 30, he says, the people were going through the motions in chapter four, verse 30. He says, and when thou art spoiled, what will thou do? In verse, the Jeremiah chapter four, verse 30 says, here is the nation.

It's the whole nation has been spoiled round about them. Things are chaotic. And he says, what will you do? And so he sees a people, Jeremiah sees a people going through the motions. Though thou closest thyself with crimson, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, though thou rentest thy face with painting.

In other words, you deck yourself up, you put all your eye shadow on. He says, you make yourself look fair. You see, Jeremiah was dealing with the people who were going through the motions. They were disengaged from the very heart of God.

They were there in the house. In fact, if you go to chapter seven, their cry is in chapter seven, verse four, trust you not in lying words, saying the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.

See, they were going to the temple of the Lord. They were saying, don't we have the house of God? Aren't we coming? Don't we look fair on the outside? They looked like everything was just fine. Everything was great with their lives.

Everything looked as if it was perfect. They've got all their right robes on, crimson. They've decked themselves out with gold. They've painted up their faces. They look themselves fair. Everybody on the outside looks at this whole lot.

And Jeremiah sees, and God says, even though they do this on the outside, they are just game playing. There's no power. Their whole life round about them is being destroyed. They don't even recognize it.

They don't even recognize it all round about them. The whole nation is going to pieces and that there's a destruction taking place. They don't see it. They don't understand it. And they continue just to go through the motions.

See, God isn't looking for just for the motions. He's looking, is my heart involved in this? Does God have my heart? Does he have everything that is in my heart? And see, the tragedy of this, beloved, is in chapter 4.

It says, verse 22, for my people is foolish. They have not known me. They are Sardish children and they have none understanding. They are wise to do evil, but to do good, they have no knowledge. And so he's saying that even though they go through the motions, they are wise to do evil, but to do good, they don't have a knowledge of.

He says, I want their heart. I just don't want their actions, even though they dress themselves up, even though they go to the temple, even though they go through the motions and they raise their hands.

God doesn't mind that, but he says, but there's something that's missing. And the tragedy of this that Jeremiah begins to speak out here in verse 23 is, I beheld the earth and lo, it was without form and void and the heavens and that they had no light.

And I beheld the mountains and lo, they tremble and the hills move lightly. I beheld and lo that there was no man and all the birds of the heavens were fled. And so he goes on. So what Jeremiah is saying is that when there's a people who go through the motions and we see in the churches in the world today that there's a people who go through the motions, but the opposite instead of it being a creative work that is taking place in the hearts and lives, it's in God's intent for every single person that he would impart to them a knowledge of his keeping power.

He would impart to them when God has a person's heart, he imparts a knowledge that I'll keep you, I'll deliver you. But there's something else that he imparts. He imparts a power that changes lives. See, Genesis is a creative work when God spoke and the world's the whole world.

You see, what encourages me is that when God spoke, it says the whole world changed. It was once void and in darkness. But as soon as he spoke the word, light covered the whole place. Life came about, which means that God, when we take it to understand in our lives, is that when God speaks into our hearts and lives, it's the heart and the purpose of God that wherever we go, that people's lives change supernaturally by the power of almighty God.

We heard this morning how many of us in our hearts struggle with speaking and praying for homosexuals, as Pastor David had mentioned so powerfully this morning. Why don't we pray for some of these people?

And as he mentioned, I know that I struggle with the same things. It just struck a chord in me. I don't pray for some of these relatives of mine or pray for some of these people who are way out there because in my heart, I don't believe that they can change.

I don't believe it. Yet the whole scripture from Genesis onwards, there's an understanding that God says, of course, they can't change. There's no power for them to change. There's no ability for them to change in their own strength.

There's nothing that can cause them to change. That's why there's no program that can lead them to a place of change. They can try anything. There's no program. But God is saying, but when they come to me, I can change them.

I can take that world that is void and full of darkness and destitute of life. I can take the worst sinner that is so destitute of God. You see, that's what the whole message of Genesis is about. It's a place that is darkness and void and no life.

But God speaks one word into that life. God speaks one word into that person who can't change and immediately there is change. The power, the almighty power of God comes into that place. You see, this is what God is wanting the church to walk in.

I am firmly convinced that every one of our lives has a divine purpose with almighty God. And that when he gets the heart of somebody, he intends not only to keep you and deliver you, but he intends for you to take the very word of life to men and women.

And when you speak it, God is there to change their lives. Hallelujah. I believe that with every single thing within me. But here we have a people who, in Jeremiah, who are game playing. Here are people who are, they go through the motions and see the reverses taking place.

Jeremiah says, don't you understand that when you get disconnected with my Holy Spirit, that when you don't have your heart involved in this, that the opposite begins to happen. The very life that was created begins to revert back to chaos.

See, this is what he is saying. He said, my people who don't understand, there's a reversal that begins to take place. How many people, you know who the most miserable person on the face of the earth is?

The most miserable person isn't only the sinner who's in the depth of their sin, but it's the backslider. The backslider who's tasted and tried and seen that the Lord is good. That person is most miserable because they don't fit into the world anymore.

They try, but they don't fit in. How do you fit in with the world? You can't. You've been taken out of that, but yet you don't fit into the house of God. See, the backslider is the most miserable individual.

Why? Because Jeremiah is saying that when your heart is not involved and you're just going through the motions, then there's an opposite work that begins to take place. That which was chaotic, that became light and life to you, goes back into the place of chaos.

People's lives go back into a time of difficulty and hurt and pain. So this is what Jeremiah is speaking about. And yet, he says further on in the scriptures, he said, but if you come back to me, he says, if you come, he says in chapter seven, verse three, thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, amend your ways and your doings and I will cause you to dwell in this place.

The whole word dwell means that you will come into a place of life. He says, if you will just say in your heart, God, I come back with my whole heart to you and you can have my heart. I'm not just going to go through the motions.