We should walk into your feet. Now, we'll walk into the hallelujah. How you live there? How you live there?
I'm talking to all of you. It's me, Bishop Collins. I'm back. I'm back.
I'm back in the studio. I'm praising God. I'm glad to be back. And I want you to know I'm still not afraid, man, by the grace of God.
I'm still walking in the power and the authority of Jesus Christ. I'm still covered by the blood, hallelujah. I am still the name of Jesus Christ, walking in the favor of God. And he still prefers me by his power and by his glory.
I have a word for you tonight. And a word from Elder Collins tonight is entitled Why Jesus Didn't Come Down. This is one of the messages that we preached during what I'll call Holy Month, if you will. So let's go into the message and I'll be back in a little bit.
Because you see church every time we sin, something dies. And it began a long time ago in the Garden of Eden. You remember the story with Adam and Eve? Adam was disobedient to God's command.
And Adam and Eve lost fellowship. They lost communion and they lost eternal life. And since the fall of man, the word tells us that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We church our Adam and Eve.
In the beginning God had a plan. And I thank him for that plan because if you're safe, did not you stand in the plan? God promised that he would send a savior to defeat Satan who came in the form of a serpent, whereby Eve was deceived and Adam disobeyed. Our Holy God cannot and he will not discard or overlook our sin.
No matter how upbringing, no matter your family tree, no matter the money in your bank, no matter the house you live on, the car you drive, it does not matter how much you put in the plate at church. It does not even matter your charity work. It does not matter who you work for or the title you hold or who you believe in, if you don't believe in Jesus. Jesus did not come down from the cross to save himself.
He came to save the world, not punish the world, but yes, he came to save the world from bondage of sin, death, hell, and the grave. And he came to grant us eternal life. Jesus did not come down from the cross. The word in 2 Corinthians 5, 21 said he made him who knew no sin in our behalf so that he might become the righteousness of God.
Let me read it again. He knew no sin to be sin in our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in him. If you don't know Christ, you're not clothed in righteousness tonight, but you will have an opportunity for that. It was a great solution for man that he would send Jesus for us, but not so good for Jesus on the cross, but great for us tonight, for those who know him.
Hebrews 922 says, without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin. Jesus was and is the spotless sacrificial lamb who paid the price on the cross for our sin and he did it with his death. We cannot be good enough. We cannot live right enough and we cannot act like we are better than anyone else if we have not given our heart to Jesus Christ.
Isaiah 64 and 6 puts it this way. And I look for all of us have become like one who is unclean and all our righteous deeds are like filthy garments and all of us wither like a leaf and our wrongdoings like the wind take us away. Jesus did not come down from the cross because of his purpose. He left heaven on purpose with a purpose and we are the purpose to save humanity.
Jesus did not come down from the cross and point to is because of his obedience. The pastor calls crucifixion one of the most heinous ways that one could be put to death. It is a torturous killing machine. The author of Hebrews says it like this, looking only at Jesus.
Hebrews 12 and 2, looking only at Jesus, the original and perfecter of the faith who for the joy set before him, he endured the cross. Disprising the shame and has sat down at the right hand of God of the throne of God. So why would he endure the cross and why would it say the joy set before? There is a beautiful mystery about Jesus.
What we call joy, he doesn't call joy. And what he calls pain, we don't call pain. That is the beauty of Jesus, the pain that he endured on the cross was life for us. In Mark 1436, Jesus is speaking and he says, all the Father, all things are possible for you.
Remove this cup from me, yet not what I will, but what you will. He says, let this cup, this suffering be removed from me, but Jesus being, keeping his mind on being obedient to the Father, he says, not my will, but your will, but your will. In John 638, he says it like this, well, I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. And Philippians 2, 8, 9 says, and being found in their appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, death on a cross.
It was death on a cross. Some people would think that Jesus would not experience any pain because he said he was gone. We have to bump that tonight. Because Jesus would not come down from the cross because he loves us.
He was all God and all man. If you ever wanted to experience the pain, you could look at John 1-1. It says in the beginning, was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. And in verse 14, it says, and the Word became flesh.
Now you know what flesh is, and it dwelt among us. And we saw his glory, glory as the only begotten from the Father who is full of grace and true and he had a love for mankind. You have to know he endured much. I told you he endured emotional pain, physical pain, spiritual pain.
It looks like the chief priests, the elders, the rulers, the Roman officials rendered Jesus to be weak. See, they would be the bullies. They would be the evil doers. They would be the revilers.
They would be the scoffers and the markers. They would render Jesus as powerless. They had to get rid of Jesus. Jesus was getting way too much attention from them.
And the truth is that Jesus holds all the power he did then and he does now. And the scene where Jesus says, Jesus is talking about the betrayal and his capture. He tells them I can call a legion. Now a legion is 6,000 soldiers, y'all.
And he wanted to come down from the cross. It's not that he couldn't come down from the cross. He chose not to come down from the cross. He had a purpose.
He was obedient to the Father and he had a love or humanity. That's why he did not come down from the cross. And I thank God, how about you tonight? He didn't come down from the cross.
He gave us a way to get back to the Father. He gave us a way to get back to having eternal life in all the God intended in the Garden of Eden. Thank you God for giving us another chance. Another chance.
Matthew 26, 53 says it like this. Jesus speaking saying to his disciple, or do you think I cannot appeal to my Father? And he will at once put at my disposal more than 12 legions of angels. That's a lot of angels.
How then would the scriptures be fulfilled which say that it must happen this way? Jesus could come down from the cross. He wouldn't come down from the cross because it had to be this way. He came to earth on purpose.
But God so loved the world that he gave is only begotten son. There who so well, but that is everyone who believed in God will not perish but have eternal life. John 3 17 18 puts it this way, but God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only son.
Jesus offers us life, but the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. That's Romans 6 23. For this reason the Father loves me. John 10 17 and 18 pence it this way.
For this reason the Father loves me because I lay down my life in case you are wondering Jesus lay down his life. I lay down my life so that I may take it back. No one has taken it from me, but I lay it down on my own. It says I have authority to lay it down and I have authority to take it back.
This commandment I received from my father. If you know Jesus tonight, if you receive him in your heart, you too have authority. You too have a level of power and authority because Jesus being in you. But God demonstrates his love toward us that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us Christ died for us.
So Jesus came down, he did not come down off of the cross because of his purpose. He came with a purpose in mind with a purpose to save our sins. Jesus would not come down from the cross because of obedience to his heavenly Father and Jesus he would not come down from the cross because he loves us so much. Before giving our hearts to Jesus I don't know about you but I know that I was dead in my trespasses.
I would be dead in the grave, not just dead. I would not have abundant life. But because we can give your heart to Christ, he gives you life. All the dead, I don't let that sin is dead to me.
Does it mean I'm perfect? Does it mean you're perfect? But you don't wake up in the morning and say let me see how I'm going to sin today because you've got to save your, you've got a Lord who's over your life now. And that makes the difference.
In the heavens, Ephesians 2 and 6 says it this way and he raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. There was a time that I was dead in my sins. There was a time I would be out there doing all manner of evil. There was a time a lot of us would call those the BC days.
That was before Christ. That was before you knew him in your heart. But I don't know how you came to know him. But I remember I was 13 years old on an army base all the way over in Okinawa and you know God's all over.
Oh yeah, he's in Tennessee and Georgia and he's in Iran and he's in Puerto Rico. He's all over. He's the God of the universe. And I'm sitting there and I'm thinking I go to Sunday school, you know, every Sunday and it's all right.
And the pastor comes and does an invitation and I remember that he asked for those who have not received him to come full. Now as a 13 year old, that's quite intimidating because I still remember the I'll be in so long and I was going to have to go so far by myself. But I tell you when the Holy Spirit gets a hold of you, you're going to get up and you are going to give your life to him. The Holy Spirit will speak to you and he'll say you can't sit here any longer.
You can't act like I'm not talking to you. You got to know that there is a voice in your mind right now and pricking at your heart. You can't just sit there any longer and just act like life is going good because I love you so much. I actually came to earth just for you because I'm a personal God.
I can't just for you, Gail. I can't just for you. I could have come down from the cross, but I chose not to. I could have come down from the cross, but I had to give my people a way out.
I had to give them a way to get back to the Father. I had to give them a way to get back to the Father, get back to God. I had to give them a way out because I love them so much. I wasn't going to let them just die in their sins and go to a cold grave and be there forever.
I love them so much. So tonight you might have to be saying so what? As my pastor would say so what? Jesus came down with a purpose.
Yeah, he came to earth and he was going to save humanity and he went come down from the cross because he listened to the Father and he only did what the Father did. What's that got to do with me? It's called obedience. It's called obedience.
Jesus obeyed the Father and we are to obey the Father. When we give our hearts to the Father, he's Lord of our lives. That means I can't do what I used to do. I found out that I'm a saint.
I found out I'm a child of God. I found out I have an inheritance. I found out that I'm not a reviler. I'm not a scoffer.
I'm not an evil doer. I'm not a bully. I gave up that life because when you are in sin, that's exactly who you are. You are just like the evil doer.
The evil doer. So what does this have to do with crucifixion? There are going to be some trials in your life, y'all. There's going to be some trials.
Jesus said, you know, there's going to be trials but take heart. In this world, I will become the world. He says I've overcome the world. When the trouble comes and we will have trouble.
There's going to be some scoffers. There's going to be some people who's going to say, well, where's your God now? When you get laid off your job, where's your God now? When things go wrong in your life, there are going to be people who go into mock you.
They're going to talk about you. They don't even like you. They say they hated him. They're going to hate you.
The same thing. Believers, if you don't know, this is what the believers, we are seated with Christ in the heavenly realm. If we cannot and we will not come down. We cannot do what the world does.
We cannot do what the flesh tells us to do. And we cannot do what the devil says to do. We cannot come down. We are seated with Christ in the heavenly realm.
See, when we are abiding in Christ, I'm in him and he's in me. I'm dead to send, dead to trespasses now, but I'm alive in Christ now. When I'm alive in Christ and he tells me that I'm seated with him, that means I can't do as the world does. That means I cannot come down.
I cannot come down to the world's standards. And there's a verse that says, then Jesus says to his disciples, if anyone wants to come after me, he must deny himself. That means he has to take up his cross and follow me. That means when people talk about you, you're going to have to respond in a different way than the world.
When people call you all man of evil, you're going to have to respond in a different way. You cannot come down. You must take up your cross and follow him. Revilers will show up and it appears that many have said that they have forgotten.
They taught it, Jesus. They said, look at him. He saved others and he can't even save himself. Don't you know we're going to go through persecution?
Don't you know that we're going to have the crucified our flesh? There's going to be a time when you're going to want to do something, but the Holy Spirit is going to tell you, you can't do that. Jesus followers will not come down. Job says in his trial, though he's slayed me, yet I will trust him.
The question for the believer tonight is do you know that you have a purpose? You must take up your cross daily because we cannot come down. The evil doers of the world will plot against you. They'll take what Revite rightfully belongs to you.
They might try to take your free speech. They might try to take your Bible. They might try to take your worship. They might try to take your praise.
The bullies of the world will talk you down, kick you around, and bend you around. But we are wrong. We have to say, Father, forgive them, but they know not what they do. We are children of God, and we cannot come down.
There are a few more questions that we might want to ask ourselves tonight. Do we allow our flesh to be crushed or crucified, or does our flesh lead us? Will we allow our desires to be dashed when our desires do not align with God's will? Do we resemble the revilers or the scoffers or the bullies of the world?
Or do we resemble Jesus? Jesus said, love your neighbor as yourself. That's the second greatest command that there is. Though it hurts sometimes, sometimes you're going to experience pain from people that you never even suspected, people that you thought you knew, people who were very close, people who could be in your family, people who you wouldn't think were even wrong here.
But if Jesus was hated, don't you know you'll be hated? It's the Jesus in you that wars against the enemy that's in them. We cannot come down. We have to hold up the bloodstain banner as my grandmother would say.
You can't do what the world does. You can't do what your flesh wants to do. You know when people talk about me, but don't talk about my children. And definitely don't talk about my mom.
Now have you ever experienced that in the flesh? When your mind would say, I need to just tell them off. Now maybe before you got saved, that's exactly what you would do. But Jesus has put his spirit inside of us.
We cannot come down. We are seated with Christ in the heavenly realm. Though it hurts sometimes, sometimes it's painful, sometimes we can't believe that we've been wrong. What do you think about Jesus when all the disciples ran away?
We walk with them for three years in the flesh, in the flesh. Surely you will experience pain. Surely you will experience pain. Church we must be on purpose with giving God glory with our lives.
If we say we love Him and we say that He's our Lord, we must give Him glory with our lives. We must obey Him. We must obey the Father and we must love humanity. He said forgive them, but they know not what they do.
He said pray for those who persecute you. That's what He said. He said it's going to be easy but He said you can do it because of the Christ that's in you, because of the Holy Spirit that is in you. We must honor Him with our lives.
I'm humbled tonight because He could come down, but He wouldn't come down. He wouldn't come down. That's a whole lot of love. That's a whole lot of love.
Let us know. Thank you, Lord. Tonight there may be someone that is being taunted by all the wrong they've done in their life. All sin, we're all in the same boat.
All sin and fall in short for the glory of God. So if you feel any condemnation tonight, just know that that's not a God as our enemy Satan. Who wants to keep us right where we are stuck and in bondage. So I pray right now that God is bringing to your mind any way, witness, any weight that you know you need to give up because you haven't given your heart to him or you just got strongholds.
You have an opportunity tonight just to give it all to him. He loves us so much. He left heaven on purpose with the purpose of giving us away back to him. And he loves us and he begoses.
But we must come. We must come. So if you just would like to just humbly come to the Father tonight that you raised your hand. Whether repent in heart would you just raise your hand.
Whether you're here in the sanctuary or watching. He's wooing us. He's wooing us. He's wooing us with His love.
He's not a gotcha God. He loves us so much. And he's already proven it when he gave his life on the cross and he died and rose again on the third day. By faith we can come and believe that he is a son of God.
He's a father we thank you tonight. Just being reminded that you love us. We're creating your image and we know Satan hates us but you love us. And Jesus is the bridge to him.
My faith we can give our lives to you Lord. So Father I pray that there's anyone here that has a hesitancy whether tonight or tomorrow or that you just keep pursuing them. I know you will. Do they give their hearts to you?
So we thank you. You could have sent many, many legions of angels to take you down from the cross but you love us. Well there you have it. Another wonderful word from the Lord about the character of Jesus Christ and his great love for us.
And as always we want to give you the opportunity, whoever you are, to give your heart to Christ or to make a decision for Jesus Christ. And the first choice, the first decision that we can make, the best decision we can make is to give our hearts to Jesus Christ. And we can do that by just simply asking Christ to come into our hearts, surrendering our lives to him through a very, very short prayer. Secondarily the next thing that we can do is maybe you've drifted away over the last 12 months or the last 14 months.
Maybe you've drifted away from the church, you've drifted away from the Word of God, you've drifted away from the presence of God and it's time for you to come back home. We want to give you that opportunity right now to make that choice for Jesus Christ. So let me pray with you. Father God in the name of Jesus we just bless you.
We praise you. We honor you. We glorify you, Lord God. And we just thank you Father for those that are listening right now who have made a decision for you.
First to give their hearts to you and to call you their Lord and their Savior, securing Master the name of Jesus Christ, their place in eternity with you. And secondarily Father for those who have already done that Lord God who may have drifted away Father who made a decision. And this moment it's time to come back home. It's time to come back to the old ways if you will.
It's time to reconnect with you, your spirit, your body, your people, your church Lord God. We just ask Father that you encourage their hearts Father even now to step forward Father and faith Lord God and to accomplish those things that you've purposed for their lives to accomplish for your glory and for their benefit. We pray. Amen.
Hey, thanks again for allowing us, allowing me to be in your home tonight. We hope you were blessed by the Word tonight and we simply ask for you to pray for us as we pray for you. Hey, if you're in the Oak Ridge area this coming Sunday at 10 o'clock we're going to have an incredible time in the Lord. I promise that you will meet the Holy Spirit at the House of Worship.
190 Manhattan Avenue Oak Ridge, Tennessee. God bless you. See you next week.