Cords

[0:00] Today I want to deliver a drawing lesson. A drawing lesson. A lesson about magnetism. Simple yet profound. A lesson about chords.

[0:26] ! About chords. The drawing forces that are at work on planet Earth today. We know that the Earth is magnetic, isn't it?

[0:40] About the North Pole and the South Pole. There's magnetic forces, magnetic powers, powerful forces that are at work in the Earth's core. Magnetism, when you get your compass out, you can tell where you are because of the magnetic force of the Earth.

[0:57] And there are attracting forces at work on planet Earth today. Spiritual forces, attracting forces and diametrically opposed forces. Contrary forces.

[1:09] Contrary forces. Forces or chords. Again, chords. Chords that draw. That attract. That move us.

[1:20] And we read of one here in Proverbs 5.22. It's a core. It's a drawing force that is not healthy for us. It's not one that we want to be bound up with.

[1:34] Proverbs 5.22 it says, His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself and he shall be holden with the chords of his sins.

[1:49] The chords of sin. The chords of sin. I could have demonstrated, I was thinking half of doing so, of having maybe one of the young people come up and to just wrap them around with these chords or ropes and, you know, bind them.

[2:12] Sometimes we can be bound up by sin. Like a chord that wraps around us, that holds us captive, imprisons us, ties us up.

[2:23] And sin binds the unregenerate heart. Sin binds men. It holds them captive, wrapped up in those chords. You know, sometimes it might be just like things, like the, you know, sense of a string that you could just break or perhaps a piece of wool.

[2:44] But for some, they're heavy ropes, heavy chains that bind people, hold them in their power. It's like the hymn writer says, held in sin's dread sway.

[2:56] Worldliness. Worldliness. And I was talking with a brother lately of worldliness. Worldliness can be a binding force. A bondage. A cord that holds us.

[3:09] That captivates us. That restrains us. A tie that binds. When it comes to worldliness, the Bible exhorts us to remember Lot's wife.

[3:24] We'll be talking a bit about that tonight. Remember Lot's wife. Why? Because she hankered back to Sodom. As they were fleeing, as they were escaping, she hankered back.

[3:35] She had to take a backward glance in disobedience to the Lord God. And we see the result. Remember Lot's wife. Worldliness. It still had its hold on her.

[3:47] It still had those cords about her. Holding her. Tying her to Sodom. Binding her as a captive. With those cords of worldliness.

[3:59] She lingered. And she looked back. She looked for those things that she had left behind. The things of the world. Sin.

[4:10] Cords of sin. Are you held captive? Are you held by those cords of sin? Sin has ruined every man. Ruined every woman.

[4:22] Ruined angels. Sin has occasioned every tear of sorrow. Every sigh of grief. Every pang of agony. Sin has withered everything that is fair.

[4:34] Blasted everything that is good. Made bitter everything that is sweet. Sin has digged every grain. Cords of sin. We know that.

[4:45] I know folk that are ministering to the young people. In the outreach activity. On a Saturday night. Held captive by cords of sin. How we long. How we yearn. To see those cords broken.

[4:57] How we long for those cords to be torn. And for them to be released. James 1.14 tells us. But every man is tempted.

[5:10] When he is drawn. Drawn. Drawn. Drawn by those cords. As it were. Drawn. Dragged. Held captive. As it were. Drawn away of his own lust.

[5:21] And enticed. Then when lust hath conceived. It bringeth forth sin. And sin when it is finished. Bringeth forth death. Notice the progression there.

[5:33] Lust that entices sin. Sin that brings death. And there's many held captive. By the cords of sin. It's the cord that is opposite. To the leading of the Lord.

[5:44] The cord that is opposite. Is contrary. To the power of God. We could think of it. As I said earlier. Like a magnet. Now people might not have seen. Such a contraption as this before.

[5:56] It's a magnet. It's a magnet. They used to use them in the old days. When we had those old fashioned things. Called audio cassettes. Audio cassettes. And you feed that audio cassette.

[6:07] In one end. And out the other. And it just wipes everything. It erases. The tune. The speech. Everything that is inside that cassette tape.

[6:19] Is just destroyed. As you pass it through. The magnet. Magnets have got tremendous power. Tremendous strength.

[6:31] Tremendous action. Says here. An effective way to erase recordings. And neutralize tapes. Neutralize tapes. Magnets. No.

[6:42] Think of the magnet. Oh. Must be the right way up. The magnet. See. It holds things. It's got a magnetic. Attracting force. Hasn't it. Things are drawn to the magnet.

[6:54] Things are drawn to the magnet. And. Sin is like that. It's got a drawing force. It's got an attracting power. Emnity with God. Sin. Someone said. Sin is like the air in a room.

[7:05] It looks like it's all clear. You know. We would look at the air that we're breathing. And think. It's all quite fresh and clean. But when the sunlight enters. When you sit near a window. And the sunlight beams in.

[7:17] You see that that air is full of dust. And particles. And impurities. And sin is like that too. It can be deceptive. In one of the chapters that was read earlier. It talks about the deceitfulness of sin. Sin can be deceitful.

[7:29] being deceptive. In one of the chapters that was read earlier, it talks about the deceitfulness of sin. Sin can be deceitful. There was a newspaper article that was attended to close to bad news stories, which we know are all too common, with the statement, what's wrong with the world?

[7:50] What's wrong with the world? And someone wrote to the editor the following week, they said, dear editor, I am. Man, that's what's wrong with the world. At the base of the world's problems is the sinfulness of man, the cause of sin.

[8:06] And many of us are like those, like some of our darling housewives who would clean the house, destroying the spider's webs without destroying the spiders.

[8:20] And friends, sin, it's not just the effect of sin, but sin must be dealt with. The very cords of sin must be dealt with. And I'd like to put it to you as some good cords, some positive attracting forces, some positive magnetic forces that we can be encouraged by today.

[8:45] And we see one of them in John 6. If you'd like to turn there, John 6, verse 44. John 6, verse 44.

[8:56] And as you turn there, there's a like verse in Hosea 11, verse 4 it says, in part, the Lord is speaking, He says, I drew them with cords of a man with bands of love.

[9:08] I drew them with cords of a man, I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love. The Lord does that. The cords of a man. You could see that prophetically speaking of Christ.

[9:22] The Father, the Father's love, has got a drawing force. The Father's love, the Father's love is like a magnet, drawing, drawing, a drawing force, a drawing power.

[9:34] And He says that in John 6, verse 44. Our Lord speaks and He says, No man can come to Me except the Father which hath sent Me, draw him.

[9:46] The Father which hath sent Me, draw him. And I will raise him up at the last day. The Father's love, the bands of love, of Hosea 11, verse 4.

[9:59] God the Father, He takes the initiative in salvation, doesn't He? He's the one who takes the initiative with our salvation. But I believe that drawing forces such that it can negate man's will.

[10:23] But the drawing force of God is very powerful. And it ends at work on planet Earth today drawing men unto Himself. Sometimes men still say no.

[10:35] Sometimes men still refuse. They still harden their necks. They harden their hearts. They are uncircumcised in heart. And they refuse. They refuse.

[10:47] God's love gift offer. What a tragic, tragic thing that is. But yet, I believe that does still happen today. Men refuse the Father's love.

[10:58] They refuse to bow the knee, the will, the heart. I think sometimes God is like a man that was described as watching a drowning man.

[11:12] man. It was a drowning man, thrashing and flailing his arms, screaming out with wild energy and frustration as he couldn't swim.

[11:25] and he was just flailing helplessly in those wild struggles. And the man just stood on the deck as this man struggled and flailed wildly until he was exhausted.

[11:43] and then the lifesaver dived in. The lifesaver dived in. When the drowning man was too exhausted to save himself, the lifesaver dived in and saved him.

[11:58] And he explained that he waited because of that rage and that energy, that struggle had to happen first until the man was exhausted.

[12:10] Beyond his own power, beyond his own self-effort to save himself. And then the lifesaver saved him. And it's like that with salvation too, isn't it?

[12:20] We've got to come to the end of ourselves. I know a brother was sharing how he was witnessing such that sometimes we've just got to come to a complete stop and a complete state of despair that our own self-effort cannot get us there by any working of our own and to be willing to trust God's work and receive God's gift on our behalf.

[12:41] So we see the Father's love. No man can come unto me, says Christ, except the Father draw him. Some picture salvation as if we're doing God a favour.

[12:53] Accept Christ. It's like he's knocking at your heart. I suppose there is some of that picture you could see to a degree. But God takes the intervention.

[13:04] God takes the initiative with salvation. And his drawing power is that which captures our heart. His drawing power is that in which we cannot but respond to.

[13:18] I pray if you're not saved today. The Father's love is still wooing. He's still drawing you. He's still working upon you. The Father's love.

[13:29] Secondly, we see the Son's act. The Son's act is another drawing force, another magnetic power. He says in John 12, 32, John 12, 32, our Lord says, and I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.

[13:49] I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. The Son's act. The Son's act.