"Face to Face Intimacy with God" by Rob Rufus

While we are waiting for Part 4 of Rob's series on the Holy Spirit ...

Preached on the 5th August 2007 - Isaiah 54.

Condemnation is a very dark demonic thing. No condemnation comes from God (Romans 8:1). We prove from the Scripture that all condemnation comes from the devil.

The most dangerous thing about condemnation is that it de-sensitises you to the Voice of God.

All the righteous anger of God's wrath was finished and poured out on Jesus Christ at the Cross. There is no anger left in God. If we say that God has got a bit of anger left then we are saying that Jesus' death on the Cross was no sufficient and we are blaspheming His sacrifice.

All condemnation is demonic - it is a devilish darkness that comes and it has been so successful in the Church world that the majority of Christians probably haven't heard the inward audible voice of the Good Shepherd even once.

My diagnosis is you don't understand grace and the New Covenant and you are living a mixture of Old and New Covenant. God never condemns you and even when you are feeling condemned, He wants to love you and speak to you. Allow condemnation in and it will confuse your faculties that allow you to hear His voice.

When we were born again it was a New Creation designed so that we can hear His voice and commune with Him. The still small voice of God can often happen while you are brushing your teeth or sitting on the toilet! When condemnation is broken off your life permamently you are entering an adventure where His Presence is upon you so strong that you feel you have hold on bare naked wires full of heavenly voltage. You have received an oath that He will never be angry with you again and never rebuke you again.

"I have sworn never to rebuke you again ... My unfailing love for you will not be shaken".

The symbol of God's peace with Noah was the rainbow. The first thing John saw was a throne and he saw a rainbow encircling the throne. Not 180 degrees like on the earth but 360 degrees. So wherever God looks from His throne He sees the symbol - peace, no judgement, peace, no judgement! Everywhere He looks He sees the symbol that says judgement is over. Then it says that the rainbow resembles an emerald - green. So this rainbow was covered by an emerald colour - a translucent colour over the colour of the rainbow. This colour green resembles something fresh and new. The Hebrew "Fresh" means "Translucent, fresh, green".

In the revelation of grace there is a place for daily fresh oil in the anointing.

When you understand that God has taken an oath never to be angry with you again, then you come into the throne room and you receive grace. Every day you live in a spirit of liberty! God said; "I swear I will never rebuke you again". That word "rebuke" means "condemn". God will never speak to you in a way that will split your personality apart and will divide you or destroy you. Many disintegrated Christians end up going to psychics so desperate are they to get their psyches re-intigrated. The devil comes to you and says; "I am God and I am angry with you". Christians who don't know their New Covenant take that as truth. We cannot boast in ourselves - many many pastors have come apart because they thought they were listening to the voice of God rebuking them for their sin. That sin has been totally rebuked on Jesus and all of the wrath has been poured out and exhausted!

The voice of the Father is always always kind and tender and loving. If you hear a roar, then it is the devil and that roar should be rebuked. My God in heaven took an oath that He will never be angry with me again. That spirit of hostility is not from my Father. We don't need a pastor to counsel me or a psychiatrists to fix me - just remember recovery will come quicker if you stand on the truth of Scripture.

That verse is never saying He will not correct us! There is a big different between correction and condemnation. Your sin has been punished completely on Jesus Christ. Plus God took an oath that He cannot reverse to never be angry again but Hebrews 12 says God disciplines those who He loves.

The corrections and disciplines of God are the most pleasurable experience you can go through.

Get addicted to His voice and His Presence! We have got to hear His voice regularly! "Father - don't go silent on me!". He will sometimes hide Himself temporarily so that we will run to Him. If you do not hear a word like "I love you Rob" and it is silence then pray;

BETTER YOUR CORRECTIONS THAN YOUR SILENCE!!

God doesn't have a culture of confrontation so very seldom will He point out something specific as long as we are pressing on eagerly into His Presence and longing to hear His voice. Jesus loves the Church! When you have a spiritual father they need to be a mentor ahead of you with a proven track record of success with years of stability and experience in these things. There comes a point when a father cannot be a father who teaches you anymore because there comes a time when a son must stand up and become a father himself. You should never have anyone trying to correct you who are jealous of you or don't like you. You need someone who will treat your secrets as safe and will love you unconditionally.

Many Christians are fragile and frightened and scared to be themselves because they have been let down and disciplined by people that didn't really love them and were jealous of them and irritated by them. Many Christians have an orphan spirit because they didn't have a father that would discipline them in true love and help them to grow in grace.

Our heavenly Father will never be angry again.

If this message could get into the 1 billion people who say they are Christians then the Church would be a different place. There would be automatic inner healing and stability in the Body of Christ and it should come from the pulpit, not a thousand courses out there.

(v10) "My unfailing love for you will not be shaken". The Hebrew for "love" means "favour, kindness, fondness, grace towards you". He is saying I will give you preferential treatment. My fondness and My affection to bless you to give you supernatural advantages in life will never be shaken. In the Scriptures, mountains often refer to problems. Yet here it says that the mountains will become level plains and the cry will be "Grace-grace-grace!". With this oath in your heart that God will never be angry and rebuke you again - His unfailing love for you will never change - you can see the mountains facing you be removed.

It is a lie that life is meant to be constant traumas! We are meant to go through whole seasons of peace and joy. While we go through seasons of tests - they are not meant to last your whole life. Speak to your mountains and hills and say "My God says you will be removed but His love will never be shaken"! The New Covenant is a covenant of peace! "Shalom" means "Nothing missing - nothing broken"! There is a constant process where your personality is becoming whole and complete in the New Covenant. In Australian culture you only share marriage problems when you are about to divorce - yet in the church you can be open and free from condemnation.

The Hebrew word "Compassion" literally means a Father fondling His child's hair. He has affection for us His Bride. He has tenderness for us!

I wish all of God's people could live in the full rich reality of this and we would see the full reality of the nations being saved.

The more you are free from condemnation the less you can hear the devil's voice. The more God's voice will come in your life the more you are free from condemnation.

(Hebrews 10).

Trance? That's New Age - no it's the counterfeit! Peter in Acts 9 fell into a trance and saw a vision in the heavenly realm. The Greek word speaks of "falling into a trance".

Spirit to spirit communication is faster than the speed of light and your thought process is not as fast as the speed of light. When God says "Come up - I want to speak to you" you are not to think we come up on our hands and knees - that is what demon gods demand of their subjects. But God is our Father and wants us to come up and commune in glory and peace and intimacy. Why can't all the people have this? They can! It's God's will! "I am drawing the hungry in now. The casual enquirers are loved but they will not see the glory of God".

The manifestations occur because people of God are pressing into the Presence of God.

As a church we are operating on 10% of our potential because 10% are carrying the faith for our meetings. When 100% are coming in with the faith to encounter God, our lives will never be the same again. Let the glory of God be stronger without Rob Rufus than ever before. If we are built around my personality then close shop. Don't miss a beat with us not being here! Overdo it and go for it! (Hebrews 10:12). When the church rises up in revelation and crushes the devil under our feet then this Scripture will be fulfilled! When that happens then Jesus is coming back shortly!

By one sacrifice He made perfect FOREVER! That's why He can say He will never be angry again! FOREVER He sees us as perfect! "I've just sinned Lord". But you are perfect! Every believer is a priest and holy means nothing to do with laws.

Holiness means your heart is captured with Jesus Christ and you become more like the nature and character of Jesus Christ! The deception the church makes is that God will relate to you on the basis of your law-keeping and holiness. If you think God relates to you on the basis of your holiness then God's relationship with you fluctuates. If that is the case then you are in serious deception. God will always relate to you as if you are perfect forever.

He will never withdraw His covenant of peace from us - this is our inheritance!! There is nothing on earth to hold my attention more than God's glory Presence.

If you don't regularly have His glory Presence then you are agitated and restless and will look for it in drugs, inappropriate sexual behaviour - because there is something within you saying that there is more to life than paying rent, paying bills. You will never be satisified unless you daily encounter God's glory Presence.

God has never stopped talking to you or loving you. Your worst sin will NEVER make Him pull back because it's already been dealt with at the Cross. Nothing in all of creation will make Him pull back but if you jam your airwaves with condemnation then you will think in your mind that He has pulled away.

God sees you as perfect FOREVER!