15 Minutes With Jesus / Robert Haymes
Love Intercedes
Greetings in the name of Jesus! This is Rob Haymes. This is 15 Minutes With Jesus. Today’s program is called Love Intercedes. Let’s turn to Gen 18:1-5, This is talking about Abraham, Then the Lord appeared to him by the terebinth trees of Mamre, as he was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day. So he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing by him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself to the ground, and said, My Lord, if I have now found favor in Your sight, do not pass on by Your servant. Please let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. And I will bring a morsel of bread, that you may refresh your hearts. After that you may pass by, inasmuch as you have come to your servant. They said, Do as you have said. Let’s turn to verses 16-33, Then the men rose from there and looked toward Sodom, and Abraham went with them to send them on the way. And the Lord said, Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing, since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice, that the Lord may bring upon Abraham what He has spoken of him. And the Lord said, Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave, I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me; and if not, I will know. Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord. And Abraham came near and said, Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city; would You also destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous that were in it? Far be it from You to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked; far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? So the Lord said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes. Then Abraham answered and said, Indeed now, I who am but dust and ashes have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord: Suppose there were five less than the fifty righteous; would You destroy all of the city for lack of five? So He said, If I find there forty-five, I will not destroy it. And he spoke to Him yet again and said, Suppose there should be forty found there? So He said, I will not do it for the sake of forty. Then he said, Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Suppose thirty should be found there? So He said, I will not do it if I find thirty there. And he said, Indeed now, I have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord: Suppose twenty should be found there? So He said, I will not destroy it for the sake of twenty. Then he said, Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak but once more: Suppose ten should be found there? And He said, I will not destroy it for the sake of ten. So the Lord went His way as soon as He had finished speaking with Abraham; and Abraham returned to his place. Gen 19:15&16, When the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry, saying, Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city. And while he lingered, the men took hold of his hand, his wife's hand, and the hands of his two daughters, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city. Verses 23-29, The sun had risen upon the earth when Lot entered Zoar. Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the Lord out of the heavens. So He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. But his wife looked back behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the Lord. Then he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain; and he saw, and behold, the smoke of the land which went up like the smoke of a furnace. And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot had dwelt. So we see here how Abraham interceded for Lot, and how God remembered Abraham, and He brought Lot out of Sodom and Gomorrah when He destroyed those cities.
Now let’s turn to Exodus 32, and we’ll see how Moses interceded for Israel. Verses 1-14, Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron, and said to him, Come, make us gods that shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him. And Aaron said to them, Break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me. So all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron. And he received the gold from their hand, and he fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molded calf. Then they said, This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt! So when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a proclamation and said, Tomorrow is a feast to the Lord. Then they rose early on the next day, offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. And the Lord said to Moses, Go, get down! For your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves. They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molded calf, and worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt! And the Lord said to Moses, I have seen this people, and indeed it is a stiff-necked people! Now therefore, let Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them. And I will make of you a great nation. Then Moses pleaded with the Lord his God, and said: Lord, why does Your wrath burn hot against Your people whom You have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians speak, and say, He brought them out to harm them, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the Earth? Turn from Your fierce wrath, and relent from this harm to Your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom You swore by Your own self, and said to them, I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven; and all this land that I have spoken of I give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever. So the Lord relented from the harm which He said He would do to His people. And Moses turned and went down from the mountain. Let’s go to verses 30-35, Now it came to pass on the next day that Moses said to the people, You have committed a great sin. So now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin. Then Moses returned to the Lord and said, Oh, these people have committed a great sin, and have made for themselves a god of gold! Yet now, if You will forgive their sin—but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written. And the Lord said to Moses, Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book. Now therefore, go, lead the people to the place of which I have spoken to you. Behold, My Angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit for punishment, I will visit punishment upon them for their sin. So the Lord plagued the people because of what they did with the calf which Aaron made. Chapter 33:1-6, Then the Lord said to Moses, Depart and go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, To your descendants I will give it. And I will send My Angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanite and the Amorite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite. Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in your midst, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people. And when the people heard this bad news, they mourned, and no one put on his ornaments. For the Lord had said to Moses, Say to the children of Israel, You are a stiff-necked people. I could come up into your midst in one moment and consume you. Now therefore, take off your ornaments, that I may know what to do to you. So the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by Mount Horeb. Verses 12-23, Then Moses said to the Lord, See, You say to me, Bring up this people. But You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, I know you by name, and you have also found grace in My sight. Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation is Your people. And He said, My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest. Then he said to Him, If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us? So we shall be separate, Your people and I, from all the people who are upon the face of the earth. So the Lord said to Moses, I will also do this thing that you have spoken; for you have found grace in My sight, and I know you by name. And he said, Please, show me Your glory. Then He said, I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. But He said, You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live. And the Lord said, Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock. So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by. Then I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen. Chapter 34, verses 5-9, Now the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed before him and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children's children to the third and the fourth generation. So Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshiped. Then he said, If now I have found grace in Your sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray, go among us, even though we are a stiff-necked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us as Your inheritance.
Also, in the Book of Daniel, chapter 9, verses 1-19, Daniel interceded for Israel and for Jerusalem: In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the lineage of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans—in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the Lord through Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem. Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. And I prayed to the Lord my God, and made confession, and said, O Lord, great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His commandments, we have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments. Neither have we heeded Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings and our princes, to our fathers and all the people of the land. O Lord, righteousness belongs to You, but to us confusion of faces, as it is this day—to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those near and those far off in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of the unfaithfulness which they have committed against You. O Lord, to us belongs confusion of face, to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, because we have sinned against You. To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him. We have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in His laws, which He set before us by His servants the prophets. Yes, all Israel has transgressed Your law, and has departed so as not to obey Your voice; therefore the curse and the oath written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against Him. And He has confirmed His words, which He spoke against us and against our judges who judged us, by bringing upon us a great disaster; for under the whole heaven such has never been done as what has been done to Jerusalem. As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us; yet we have not made our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand Your truth. Therefore the Lord has kept the disaster in mind, and brought it upon us; for the Lord our God is righteous in all the works which He does, though we have not obeyed His voice. And now, O Lord our God, who brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and made Yourself a name, as it is this day—we have sinned, we have done wickedly! O Lord, according to all Your righteousness, I pray, let Your anger and Your fury be turned away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people are a reproach to all those around us. Now therefore, our God, hear the prayer of Your servant, and his supplications, and for the Lord's sake cause Your face to shine on Your sanctuary, which is desolate. O my God, incline Your ear and hear; open Your eyes and see our desolations, and the city which is called by Your name; for we do not present our supplications before You because of our righteous deeds, but because of Your great mercies. O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and act! Do not delay for Your own sake, my God, for Your city and Your people are called by Your name. And the Lord heard his prayer, and sent the angel Gabriel to show him and give him understanding of the things yet to come, and of His great salvation through the sacrifice of His beloved Son Jesus. In Isaiah 53, Isaiah prophesied of Him: Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, And He shall divide the spoil with the strong, Because He poured out His soul unto death, And He was numbered with the transgressors, And He bore the sin of many, And made intercession for the transgressors.
Abraham loved God. Everywhere he went he built altars and worshiped God. Abraham loved God, and God loved him, and He blessed him. Abraham loved his nephew Lot, and he made intercession for him before the Lord. And God remembered Abraham, when He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities of the plain, and He brought Lot out and spared his life, and his daughters’ lives. Moses loved God and God loved him, and he found grace in His sight. God communed with Moses face to face. Moses loved God, and he loved Israel, and he interceded boldly before God, and saved Israel from being destroyed by God’s wrath because of their great sins against Him. Daniel loved God, and God loved him, and he interceded for Jerusalem, and for Israel His people. God responded by revealing to Daniel His plan of salvation through His beloved Son Jesus, Israel’s Messiah. The Father loves us, and He sent His Son Jesus, 2000 years ago to live as a man in this evil world, and be tempted in every way, yet without sin, and to intercede for all of us by offering Himself as the spotless Lamb of God on the Cross at Calvary for the atonement for all our sins. Jesus loves the Father and the Father loves Him, and He loved us, and He gave Himself for us to save us from our sins and from the wrath of God to come, and to bring us into eternal life with Him and the Father. When Jesus was on the Cross, being greatly tormented and in great agony and pain, He prayed and He said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.
Now, what about us? Will we love the Father? Will we love His Son? Jesus said, Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Will we lay down our lives for Him who laid down His life for us? Will we give ourselves to love one another, and to intercede for others, as the Lord leads us? Jesus said, If a man loves Me he will keep My Words, and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make our abode with him. If we are loved by the Father we can come boldly to His throne of grace, loving Him and fearing Him, to intercede for those who are in any trouble, and He will respond according to His will. If we love them we will intercede for them, and God will hear our prayer and respond. Don’t faint! Keep praying and interceding, even when nothing seems to be happening for a long time; keep believing and praying and God will answer; His way, in His time, and He will be glorified. Always remember to give Him glory and thanksgiving for every prayer that He answers. God bless you and strengthen you in all your prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks!