(The Spiritual Man) When God Comes — Denny Kenaston

Hello, this is Brother Denny. Welcome to Charity Ministries. Our desire is that your life would be blessed and changed by this message. This message is not copyrighted and is not to be bought or sold.

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What a blessed privilege we have to be here today, to be among the people of God, to sense the Spirit of God in this assembly. Well, the joy is mine to stand before you in Christ's stead again this morning.

Young people, I didn't know on Friday that I would get to talk to you again on Sunday. I must say I'm thrilled with another opportunity to talk to you. My heart is full. Though I've been giving out all week long, it is more blessed to give than to receive.

And so I'm fuller than you are this morning. I am fuller than you. As I was preparing all the lessons through the week on the spiritual man, it's pretty hard to take that subject and fit it into five lessons, I'm sure.

I mean, it's about as thick as this book, you know, what it means to be a spiritual man. But, alas, we're out of time, so we did what we could do, and that was it. But as I began to pray and ponder what I should share this morning, it became very clear to me that I wasn't done.

And so, somehow, by God's grace this morning, I would like to finish that session with you young people. And I would ask you all to pray for me that I can also bring the rest of us into it also. Even though many of you have not sat here all week with the young people, I know it's the longing of your heart also to be a spiritual man and a spiritual woman.

Because we know it's the will of God. This is the will of God that ye be spiritual men and women. This whole Christian life that we've embarked upon, it's not just a matter of doing things. It's not just a matter of religion.

The Spiritual Man and the Purpose of Christian Life

Jesus didn't die so that He could take us to heaven. He died that He might save us and sanctify us and make us a spiritual people upon this earth. And yes, praise God, when it's all done, we're going to get to go to glory.

But there's a whole lot more than that too, isn't there? So, by God's grace, I want to share one more message with you all. But I'd like for us to pray first. Let's bow our heads for prayer. Our Father and our God, again we come to You.

Again and again, Lord, we come. We don't tire of coming to Thee. For Thou hast the words of eternal life. Thou art God. Thou art the giver of the Spirit. Thou art the one that causes the wind of God to blow through an assembly.

And Father, this morning we ask You that You would blow upon this assembly with the wind of Your Spirit, my God. I pray that You will take these words, dear Father, and breathe life into them. I pray that You will take Your words, which we shall read, and unite them with Your Holy Spirit and make them bread for us, dear God.

We have lived in this world this week, Lord, and we've come to be fed with manna from heaven. We've lived in this world and we need direction for our lives, God. And so we come to You, Holy Father, asking You to help us, each and every one of us.

God, I pray that somehow You will guide my heart in such a way that I can bring all the rest of these visitors here this morning into the spirit of what we've been saying to the young people. And God, that You would bring a challenge and salt our hearts and create desire and make us long, dear God, for more of Thee this morning.

And God, more than all of that, I pray, Lord, that You would come, that You would settle down over this meeting, Lord, in a sweet way, that we would all know that You are here. Wash me, Lord. Wash me in the blood, dear Father.

Every little thought, God. Every fear and insecurity, God, wash me in the blood this morning and fill me with the Holy Ghost. Pray in Jesus' name. We began this week with the young people, talking about the theme of the spiritual man, and we recognized on Monday that there's no way that you can be a spiritual man unless at first there was a clear conversion in your life.

A clear conversion. A place and time of repentance and a turning wholly unto the Lord and believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. And there, in believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, a heart of consecration laid out before God, God receives the sacrifice of the newborn soul that has been washed in His blood, and God fills that soul with the Spirit of the living God.

That's clear conversion. From there we begin to speak to the young people that out of that clear conversion begins to rise up in the heart a longing desire to pursue Christian perfection. I want to be like Jesus in perfection because God has saved me by His precious blood.

From there we move to Romans 8 and the first few verses therein talked about the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus and how that if we will walk by the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus, which is simply walking in the Spirit and grace of God every day, if we will walk that way, we will find ourselves rising up above this flesh and the world around us.

And that's a spiritual man. On Friday we challenged the young people that if you're going to walk in the grace of God, you're going to have to have a spiritual mind as opposed to carnal mindedness. And how that starts with the life of God day by day and continually through the day alienates us from the life of God.

It will alienate us from the life of God. And lastly, we spoke to the young people, it was on Thursday but it should have been on Friday, about the law of blessing and encouraged them that they would rise up to live after the principles of this book and that every principle that God put in this book has a beautiful hidden blessing in it.

And only those who follow those principles will find the golden nugget hidden in the inside of it. The law of blessing hidden in every principle in this blessed book that God has given to us, which He calls the Word of God.

The Results of Walking in God's Way

Now, this morning I want to preach about the end result of all of these things that we've been talking about all week long. We want to look at what will happen in your life and around you if you will follow this way, which is, by the way, the only way.

It is God's way and it's the only way. And it's amazing to me, looking from a pastoral perspective, you know, you minister to your people and you watch them and you pray for them and you preach to them and you counsel them and I tell you, some of them, it takes them several years before they get this whole thing figured out.

But when they get it figured out, you know it! And others, they'll grab a hold of it in a matter of one or two years and take off with God. Whether you take two years or whether you take ten years, God's way is the only way.

And He will just keep on brooding over your life and He will just keep on bringing you messages and He will just keep on speaking to your heart and He will just keep on bringing disciplines and purifying into your life until He finally gets you to that place where you will pursue the reality of a living God in your heart and your life every day.

God will just keep brooding over you because that's what Jesus died for when He hung there on that cross for the joy that was set before Him. He endured the cross, despising the shame. You, my dear people, are the joy that was set before Him.

But He didn't just see you sitting here in a meeting today. He didn't just see you sitting in heaven someday. He saw you walking in the glory of Jesus and that was the joy set before Him that made Him endure the cross shame because He wanted all of that for all of us to be a spiritual man.

It's the longing of God's heart for everyone in this room. The title of my message this morning is this, When God Comes, When God Comes. I want to preach this morning on one of the most powerful texts on revival in the Bible.

One of the most powerful texts on revival in the Bible. If you would open to Psalm 68 this morning. We want to read there. But first I want to talk to you a little bit and give you a little background.

Psalm 68 and the Presence of God

Psalm 68. The theme of Psalm 68 is the presence of God. The theme of Psalm 68 is the presence of God. David wrote this psalm and used it at the time that the ark was being placed in Jerusalem. He wrote it in much fear and trembling because he had tried to move the ark one other time and was not careful and tried to move the ark on a wagon when God said it shall be carried with staves so that no man's hand would ever touch it.

And one man died before the Lord because he reached out and touched the ark which was the symbol of the presence of God in Israel. And so David, with much fear and trembling, he wrote this psalm to be used at the carrying away of the ark, placing it in the little tabernacle that he built for it in Jerusalem before the temple was built.

Now I want you to notice before we read here also that the name of God appears thirty-two times in this psalm. That is no little significance. I am told and I have read that the old Jewish scribes, when they are transcribing the Word of God, the Scriptures, and they come to the name of God they would pin down and pick up another one and write God's name and set the pin down and pick up the other one and continue to write.

That means that scribe in this one psalm must have been a holy awe settled over his heart by the time he finished this psalm and realized how many times God's name appeared in this one psalm. This is a holy awesome psalm.

There is so much depth here and so many applications that could be made. We can take it, first of all, it is a holy prophetic psalm for the present. David used it at the moving of the ark. It had its present significance.

But as we read it, I am sure that you will also notice it has a bit of prophetic nature to it in that it speaks about the days when the temple was built and the kings would come from all far and wide to go to Jerusalem and look into this matter of this holy God who dwells in Israel.

We can also look at it again and see that it's a prophetic psalm of Christ in that we see His life all through the verses of this psalm. We can again go through it again and see that it's a prophetic psalm of the church age and the day of Pentecost as we see this psalm is fulfilled in powerful ways in the book of Acts.

And I know that there may be varied opinions here this morning, but for those who would understand and look forward to a millennial reign of Christ, you can go right through the psalm all over again and see it most beautifully fulfilled in the physical reign of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, only God can do that with His Word. Take it and use it in all those different periods of time. And it fits one and fits another and another. And it seems to me as I look at it that it unfolds into a more brighter and beautiful flower each time you look at it.

And I believe the reason why is because the reality of God comes closer and closer and closer. And therefore it is fulfilled in a more beautiful way every time. And oh, God wants to fulfill it in your lives, dear young people.

He wants to fulfill it in your lives. He wants to come nearer and nearer to you and fulfill this psalm in your life. We're going to read this psalm. I'd like for us to stand while we read this psalm. We've been sitting a while.

The surface is a bit different. Let us read this psalm before the Lord of whom it honors and magnifies. Not just read some words, but read it as it is. The very words of God, the very revelation of God, even to our hearts and lives today.

Let God arise. Let His enemies be scattered. Let them also that hate Him flee before Him. As smoke is driven away, so drive them away. As wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God.

But let the righteous, the uncompromisingly righteous, be glad. Let them rejoice before God. Yea, let them exceedingly rejoice. Sing. Sing unto God. Sing praises to His name. Extol Him that rideth upon the heavens by His name.

Yah! And rejoice before Him, a Father of the fatherless. And the judge of the widows is God in His holy habitation. God setteth the solitary into families and bringeth out those which are bound with chains.

Hallelujah! But the rebellious dwell in a dry land, those who resist this God. When thou wentest forth before thy people, when thou didst march through the wilderness, Selah, picture God marching through the wilderness.

Hallelujah! When thou didst march through the wilderness, the earth shook. The heavens also dropped at the presence of God. Even Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel. Thou, O God, didst send a plentiful rain, whereby Thou didst confirm or restore Thine inheritance when it was weary.

Are you weary today? Thy congregation hath dwelt therein, that is, in the presence of God. Thou, O God, hast prepared Thy goodness for the poor. Blessed are the poor in spirit. The Lord gave the word.

Great was the company of those that published it. Kings of armies did flee apace, and she that tarried at home, even she divided the spoil. Sisters, mothers, wives, ye have lined among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered with silver and her feathers with yellow gold.

What a transformation! Amen? Just an old pot. When the Almighty scattered kings in it, it was white as snow in Salmon. The hill of God is as the hill of Bishan, as high hill as the hill of Bishan. Why leap ye, ye high hills?

Because this is the hill which God desireth to dwell in. Yea, the Lord will dwell in it forever. The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels. The Lord is among them as in Sinai in the holy place.

Thou hast ascended on high. Thou hast led captivity captive. Thou hast received gifts for men. Yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them. Oh, that the Lord God might dwell among those who are now rebellious.

Blessed be the Lord who daily loatheth us with benefits, even God, the God of our salvation. He that is our God is the God of salvation. And unto God the Lord belongeth the issues from death. But God shall wound the head of His enemies.

God shall wound the head of His enemies. God will do that. And the hairy scalp of such an one as goeth on still in his trespasses, watch out, the Lord said, I will bring again from Bishan, I will bring my people again from the depths of the sea, that thy foot may be dripped in the blood of thine enemies and the tongue of thy dogs in the seine.

What a picture! They have seen thy goings, O God, even the goings of my God, my King, in the sanctuary. The singers went before the players on instruments, followed after, and among them were the damsels playing with timbrels.

Can you see the procession there? There was a procession when they moved the ark into Jerusalem. Bless ye God in the congregation, even the Lord from the fountain of Israel. There is little Benjamin with the ruler, the princes of Judah, and their counsel, the princes of Zebulun, and the princes of Naphtali.

Thy God hath commended thy strength. Strengthen, O God, that which thou hast wrought for us. That's a good prayer, isn't it, young people? Strengthen thou, O God, that which you have wrought for us this week.

Because of thy temple at Jerusalem shall kings bring presents unto thee. Rebuke the company of spearmen, the multitude of bulls with the calves and the people, till every one submit himself with pieces of silver.

Scatter thou the people that delight in war. Princes shall come out of Egypt. Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God. Sing unto God, ye kingdoms of the earth. O, sing praises unto the Lord.

Selah. Stop and picture that. All over the world, all the heathen, all those idolaters, all those worshipers of Islam, all of those Hindu worshipers, all of them, singing unto God, sing unto Him that riders upon the heavens of heavens which were of old.

Lo! He doth send out His voice, and that a mighty voice. Ascribe ye strength unto God. His excellency is over Israel, and His strength is in the clouds. O God, Thou art terrible out of Thy holy places.

The God of Israel is He that giveth strength and power unto His people. Blessed be this God who giveth strength and power to His people. Father, in Jesus' name again, we worship You, Lord, as we have looked upon these pages and seen what a mighty God You are.

We worship You, Lord God. O Father, come. Sit among us this morning and open our eyes to who You are. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen. You can be seated. When God comes, what happens? What happens when God comes?

What happens to your life when God comes? What happens to your family when all of a sudden the reality of the presence of the living God is in your home every day? What happens when God comes to your church?

So many churches represented here by all you dear young people. What happens when God comes to your church? And lastly, what happens when God comes to your community? When God comes to your community, are you listening?

When God comes to your community, what happens when God comes? Now, there's many things that we see here in this text that we've read. But we have to begin where God begins here in these Scriptures. The enemies are scattered.

God's Presence Scatters His Enemies

When God arises, the enemies are scattered. It's talking about the enemies of God. The enemies of the cross of Christ. Some of these enemies may be human beings. Some of these enemies may be spiritual beings that we cannot see with our eyes.

But just like Paul said, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers. These are the enemies of God. But sometimes people are also the enemies of God. But when God comes, the enemies scatter.

When God comes, the enemy hangs his head. When God comes, the enemy is confused and doesn't know what to do. And dear young people, I want to tell you this morning, when God comes to your life, the enemies will be scattered.

You may be facing some enemies. You may have some things that you look ahead at as you think about going home, and it looms up before you, and you sit with fear as you wonder how it's going to be when you get home.

But I want to remind you that when God comes, the enemies are scattered. Precious to me as I meditate through this psalm I want to go and read through the book of Acts, because there in the book of Acts, there in chapter 2, God came.

And I believe that you can track every one of these characteristics that we're going to look at this morning. You can go right into the book of Acts and see, yes indeed, there they are, every one of them.

And why? Because God was there. And when God is there, things begin to happen. And when God was there in the book of Acts, did not the enemies scatter, young people? The enemies did scatter. They were confounded.

They didn't know what to do. The gates of hell could not prevail against the church of Jesus Christ. And the reason is because God was there. God was upon her. And the enemies were scattered. And dear young people, the enemies will be scattered in your life also.

I don't know what you're facing. I don't know what you'll deal with when you go back home. But I can tell you this, if God is with you, you have nothing to fear. If God is with you, you can follow the admonition that James gives us in chapter 4.

You can resist the devil and he will run. He will flee. Do you believe that? He has no power when God is there. None when God comes. I want us to notice also that the saints of God begin to praise. They have overflowing joy when God comes.

Joy and Praise When God Comes

I think many of you young people can testify to this point even this week, can't you? As you have sought to clear your heart with God, you have found joy in your souls. And you have found it welling up within you.

One of the sweet blessings that I've had all this week is to sit over here through each one of the evening services and look over here at you sisters while you were singing. My, it blessed my soul so many times because there was an overflowing joy coming up out of some of your hearts and I could see it upon your faces.

And I'm sure that I would have seen it on your faces also, but I was sitting in the wrong place. That is the joy of the Lord. And that comes when God comes. You cannot have one without the other. And may I say to you young people, the joy of the Lord is your strength.

It is your strength. It is the way that strength is continually flooding into your heart when you have the joy of the Lord. It is like it puts a spring in your step. It makes every day a beautiful day.

It sanctifies the most menial past. The joy of the Lord does that. The joy of the Lord is your strength. And when God comes, it's always this way. There's joy! There's joy in your hearts! Young people, don't go home without joy!

The joy of the Lord is your strength. I think of the early church. I believe that was the magnet that drew everybody to that early church. They were so full of joy. I mean, even from the very beginning, the others looked on and said, they must be drunk!

They're so full of God! They must be drunk! No. They have the joy of the Lord. And they are magnifying the works, the mighty works of their God. And I believe the joy of the Lord is a magnet that draws people around you.

Listen, you can go here and there. My mind went this morning. I thought about the Salvation Army. And I know it's not what it used to be, but what it used to be was good and right! Those young people used to go out full of the joy of the Lord.

They would go out into the streets and the highways and the byways and sing, marching down the streets with the joy of the Lord. And the heathen looked on from their windows and looked around the doors at them and said, I wonder why they're so happy.

And many of them tagged along behind the little train and followed themselves with the group and went into an old shabby building somewhere or a basement down in the bottom of some other building where they had a holy service and the Word of God was preached.

And they were changed by the power of God. What drew them? It was the joy of the Lord. And when God comes, you can't get away from it. Oh, I love revival! I love revival! It will take the shyest, reserved, and fill them with the joy of God.

It will do that because it's inside of you like a well bubbling up. What else? In verse 6 it talks about, in verse 5, the Lord being the Father of the fatherless and a judge of the widows and one who sets the solitary into family and brings out those that are bound with chains.

God Meets Needs and Brings Deliverance

When God comes, people's needs get met. Dear young people, you've been having a lot of your needs met this week, but when you get home, I want to tell you, God is the One who will meet your needs. Only God can meet your needs.

And I don't want to sound too simplistic here this morning, but I tell you, God is all you need! The reality of a living God is what you need to meet your needs! When God comes, needs get met. People get delivered.

Souls get saved. The widows get encouraged and comforted. And the solitary are gathered into families. Amen! What a precious promise that is! Some of you are pretty solitary. When God comes, He will gather a family together.

He will gather a family together. Verse 7 -8. Here in this text, Israel begins to rehearse their past. Past. Back there when the Red Sea was opened. Back there at Sinai. Back there when they marched through the wilderness following a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.

Israel begins to rehearse all of that because it is a rehearsal of a point in time in their history when God was in their midst. And think about it, young people. They were cared for when God was there.

Their food was cared for. Their protection was cared for. They had victory over their enemies when God was with them in the wilderness. And there in Mount Sinai, they trembled. May I just make this point, when God comes, His influence is felt in every direction.

The Influence and Refreshing of God's Presence

When God comes, His influence is felt. Mount Sinai trembled at the presence of God. The heathen trembled at the presence of God. And dear young people, when God comes in reality, in your heart, in your life, all of a sudden, you will see an influence begin to emanate out of your life that is the influence of the Spirit of God.

And it's the will of God that every one of you have that divine influence settle down upon your life, that you have the sweet fragrance of Christ upon you. And wherever you go, people know that you've been with Jesus because they can smell it on your life.

When God comes, there's always an effect. In verse 9, when God comes, blessings begin to fall. Showers of blessings begin to fall. That's what it's speaking about here in verse 9. O God, Thou, O God, didst send a plentiful rain, whereby Thou didst confirm or restore Thine inheritance when it was weary.

O my, that is likening our hearts and our lives to a parched soil. And at times you get weary. But when God comes, He sends a plentiful rain, a shower of blessing, the rain of His Spirit down upon us.

And listen, that's what God wants to do. That's what God is all about. He wants to send blessings down upon our lives. He wants to send refreshings from the presence of the Lord. Even this morning, God wants to send refreshings from the presence of the Lord.

Remember, a reminder of that little song we used to sing. We don't sing it anymore. I wonder why. Do you remember it? Some of you here? It's beginning to rain, rain, rain. Hear the voice of the Father.

When God comes, it begins to rain. I promise to pour out My Spirit upon your sons and daughters. I take that as a challenge, as a personal challenge in my own home. God promises to pour out His Spirit upon our sons and our daughters.

But God has to come to our home before that can happen. Blessings begin to fall. Showers of blessings. Verse 11 God gave the Word, and great was the company of those that published it. In the margin of my Bible, it says an army.

An army! Great was the army that published it. And when God sends forth His Word, when God comes, you don't lack for preachers, I'll tell you that. I'll guarantee you you don't have to go scratching to find somebody who's filled with the Holy Ghost and has a message from God.

When God comes, He sends forth His Word right out of His heart. It comes into the hearts of men and women. And great is the company that preached it, published it. Go to the book of Acts again, and you will see the very thing that I just said being lived out in reality because God came.

On the day of Pentecost, God came. And from that day forward, none of the rulers in Israel didn't know what to do. You know you can beat a few of them, but what are you going to do when 5 ,000 of them are running around full of the Holy Ghost with a message from God burning in their soul?

What do you do with that? And all they could do is accuse them that they turned Jerusalem upside down. Bless God, they did turn Jerusalem upside down. And it's because God came. He sent His Word into their hearts.

And His Word was alive. It was spirit. It was life. It was full of power. And it had an influence. And I thought about you, dear young people. For the day, that's too much for us, we're young people. Wait a minute!

Wait a minute! Joel 2 says, in the last days, I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh. I will pour out My Spirit upon your sons and your daughters. And it says, your sons and your daughters will prophesy.

Do you know what that means, young ladies? It means to speak forth the mind and will of God in the power of the Holy Ghost. That's what it means. And God says, when I come, I'm going to transform your sons and daughters into preachers of the Word of God.

That's what God wants to do. That's what God did in the book of Acts, didn't He? That's what He did. When God comes, salvation comes. When God comes, salvation comes. Verse 13. We emphasized it already.

Here you are, just an old pot lying among the pots. One pot in the midst of a bunch of other pots with very little value. But then God comes. And God can take that vessel and clean that vessel and purify that vessel and fill that vessel and make it a beautiful vessel, a vessel under honor, neat for the Master's use.

That's what happens when God comes to each and every one of us, to each and every one of our families, brothers and sisters, to each and every one of our churches, and yea, even to the community. When God comes, salvation comes.

Because God is salvation. God is salvation. Don't forget that. That's a simple little statement with a lifetime of meditation packed in it. God is salvation. Dear people, God is. When God comes, in verse 17, His chariots come with Him.

Spiritual Protection and Gifts of Ministry

Praise God! He brings His chariots along with Him when He comes. His chariots. And His angels. He brings them along with Him. You may not get to see them with your eyes. But when God comes, He doesn't come by Himself.

He brings His chariots with Him. One of those chariots like Elijah rode on. One of those chariots like Elisha's servants and saw there surrounding the city that he and Elisha were staying in. One of those kind of chariots.

Listen, when God comes, you don't need to be afraid of anything. You don't need to be afraid of anything. When God comes, you don't need to be afraid of a gun. You don't need to be afraid of a knife. You don't need to be afraid of a demon.

You don't need to be afraid of a witch doctor. You don't need to be afraid of an angry tribe of people. When God comes, He brings His chariots with Him. What's there to be afraid of? He brings His chariots with Him.

You may not be able to see them, but with the eyes of your heart you'll be able to know without a doubt that God is standing beside you. And when God is standing beside you, what is a silly little gun?

What is a silly little gun in someone's hand will hide you! He brings His chariots with Him. 20 ,000 of them, bless God. Verse 18, when God comes, He brings gifts with Him. Gifts, and gives them out. When God comes, He brings gifts with Him.

Gifts of ministry, young people. When God comes, He brings gifts of ministry with Him. And when God comes, He gives those gifts of ministry out to everybody. And those gifts of the Spirit, those gifts of ministry, when God gives those to you, everybody becomes useful!

Buddy! There's no longer one there who has no use. When God comes, He gives gifts of ministry. And this scripture, you can track it right to Ephesians chapter 4, which talks about gifts of ministry. That's what God does.

Myself, personally, I believe that God gives a spiritual gift or spiritual gifts to every single one of us who walk in the Spirit. As soon as you begin to have a steady walk in the Spirit of God, in the grace of God, as soon as you learn that, be it one year or ten years, all of a sudden, gifts start flowing.

Isn't that right, brother Moses? You see it through perspective. You can watch it happening. Look at those gifts now. Look at them. Look at them. See them flow. Look at it. Look how God is using that person.