From Rejection To Acceptance

I want to speak about a particular problem tonight that affects, in my opinion, millions of people in the United States, let alone other countries. But, here in the United States, as a result of my ministry over the past ten years, I’ve become convinced that probably about 1 in 5 persons is affected in some way or other by the problem that I’m going to talk about tonight. I’ll give it a title, the title is rejection. Or, the sense of being rejected or the sense of being unwanted or the sense of desiring people to love you and believing that they don’t love you. Or wanting to be part of a group and feeling excluded, somehow being on the outside always looking in.

As I say, my conviction is that at least 1 in 5 persons in the United States today because of the form of our society and the pressures, and particularly the breakup of family life, suffer from this problem. Just as a matter of interest, if I was to ask you what would you say would be the opposite of rejection? Acceptance, that’s right. I want to speak tonight about how to move from rejection to acceptance.

Let’s take a picture in the Scripture of rejection. It’s found in Isaiah 54:6, a very poignant picture. It happens to be of a woman, a young married woman.

“For the LORD hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God.”

I think the picture is of a young woman fairly recently married who finds that her husband doesn’t love her. Maybe he has no time for her, shows no interest in her, possibly is even preparing to divorce her and get himself another wife. The Scripture described her as “forsaken and grieved in spirit.” We were singing earlier this evening, “He hath healed the broken hearted.” There is a type of wound which is very, very hard to bear. The Scripture says, “The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity but a wounded spirit, who can bear?” It says also in another place in the same book, the book of Proverbs, “The words of a talebearer are as wounds going down into the innermost parts of the belly.”

I don’t know whether you agree but I know that the Bible is right. There’s an area somewhere deep down inside us where some things penetrate. One of the things that’s mentioned is the words of a talebearer. You’ve opened your heart to somebody and told them some deep, inner problem in strict confidence and you discover that they’ve gone around and told your neighbors and all the church members. That wounds you. The Bible says the words of a talebearer are as wounds going down into the innermost part of the belly. There’s an area somewhere deep inside us which can be wounded. And when it’s wounded, the Scripture says, “A wounded spirit, who can bear?” A wounded body we can put up with but a wounded spirit is something else.

The Scripture also says in 1 Corinthians 2, “For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.” See, there is a spirit in man that’s deeper than his mental understanding, his faculties of memory and reason. That spirit in you is the only thing that knows all about you. Your mind doesn’t know all about you. There are some things in you that your mind hasn’t discovered. There can be wounds that you’ve carried for years that your mind, your conscious mind didn’t know about. Have you ever noticed when people get the baptism of the Holy Spirit—and it may be a strong, self-reliant kind of a man—that he seems to crumple and begin to sob? Have you ever seen that happen? I’ve seen it happen scores of times. When I see that happening I say, “Now, the Holy Spirit has reached down and he’s untying all those knots that have been tied inside you so long. And no one else could ever get there to untie the knots but the Holy Spirit.” I tell people don’t turn it off.

I was praying with a young man about a week ago and this happened to him. He was already baptized in the Holy Spirit but the Lord met a deep need in his life. He was a rather well-controlled, poised, capable young man, very talented. But when the Holy Spirit touched this thing there at the heart of his life, he began to sob like a little child. I said, “Now, look. Don’t turn this off, don’t reassert yourself control. Let it come, because you couldn’t buy a moment like this for a thousand dollars.” It’s precious. And praise God, he accepted my advice.

So, there’s an area deep down inside you that your mind doesn’t know about. Sometimes your mind won’t even face up to the fact about that area inside you. It just won’t recognize it. Psychologists and psychiatrists know there are some things that are so wounding and painful that the mind refuses to focus on them, it just turns a blind eye in that particular direction. Nevertheless, the thing is there deeper than the mind, deeper than the reason, deeper than the memory; it’s in the spirit.

Rejection very frequently is in that area. Many people do not realize that their problem is rejection. Let’s consider just for a moment how this may arise. I’m sure that there are many forms of rejection that I haven’t encountered but I’ve encountered a good many. I remember a lady that lives in Hollywood. Many of you here know her if you’re from Hollywood. I would give her name but, as a matter of fact, I can’t even remember it at the moment. But, she wouldn’t be embarrassed. I was conducting a deliverance service a good many years back in the Assembly of God in Miami. I don’t know that they’d turn me loose to do that now, but they did then. I’d been in this lady’s home a few nights earlier and I did something I very rarely do. I said to her, “Sister, if I’m correct, you have the spirit of death in you.” She was a thin woman, had every reason to be happy, but was never happy. She had a good husband and children but never somehow could get by. I very rarely make that statement to anybody because it sometimes leads to complications. I said, “I’m going to take the risk of telling you. I believe you have the spirit of death in you. I’m conducting a deliverance service on Friday night in the Assembly of God in Miami. If you come, I’ll pray for you.”

There were several people in this area that will remember that service. Mrs. Cooper, the wife of Bill Cooper, who is now in Naples will never forget that service. I’m sure of that. She said, “I sat there hating you every moment of the service. If I could have got out without being embarrassed I would have done it.” Let me tell you this, this is by the way. This happened so publicly that she’s not embarrassed by it. The next morning I was just conducting an ordinary Bible study in the same church, Saturday morning. I didn’t talk on deliverance or anything like that, but at the end of the service Mrs. Cooper came forward and said, “I need prayer.” I said, “Praise the Lord.” She said, “I need prayer now.” I said, “That’s wonderful.” I wasn’t, you know, going to get excited. She said, “I’ve got to pray.” I said just to kneel at the altar and pray. She knelt there at the altar—there may be one or two people here tonight that were actually present—and she began to say this: “There isn’t a drop of blue blood in my veins.” First of all, she said it quite softly but she got louder and louder. “There isn’t a drop of blue blood anywhere in my veins.” I realized that her problem was pride. God chose that way to deal with it.

Now, for the wife of a certain Baptist pastor to kneel at the altar of an Assembly of God church and declare out loud, “There isn’t a drop of blue blood in my veins,” is a pretty good remedy for pride. I said to her afterwards, “I didn’t know Americans were bothered with that kind of problem. In Britain I’m used to it!” “Oh,” she said, “they always told me my ancestors came over in the Mayflower and all this.” So, the Lord delivered her.

To get back to Friday night. This other lady whom I had spoken to about the spirit of death came and when I began the deliverance part of the service she was sitting in the front row. Again, I did something I don’t usually do. At a certain point in the service I walked up to her and I said, “You spirit of death, in the name of Jesus, I command you to answer me. When did you enter this woman?” And the spirit, not the woman, answered very clearly, “Oh, when she was two years old.” I said, “How did you get in?” It said, “Oh, she felt rejected, she felt unwanted, she felt lonely.” I thought, Isn’t that something? It really opened my understanding to an area of people’s problems. She felt rejected at the age of two.

Well, I’ve discovered since then that rejection can begin before a child is born. I could give you the names of quite well-known persons who would testify to this being true in their lives. I’ve discovered that if a woman carries in her womb a child whose coming she resents, that child is frequently born with the spirit of rejection in it from birth. I discovered, for instance, that there’s a certain age group in the United States, children conceived during the Depression. Why? Because many families already had too many mouths to feed and the thought of another little life coming into the world produced this feeling of bitterness. “Why do I have to have another child?”

Or it may happen that the child is conceived out of marriage, it’s illegitimate. And, of course, in most cases there’s tremendous problems involved for the mother and she may come to resent and hate this thing that’s coming into her life and is going to create all these problems for her. That child may be born with a spirit of rejection.

Or, the child may be born and not receive love. I’ve come to the conclusion that every child is born into the world looking for the love of a father and the love of a mother. Every child is created that way. But in many cases a child is not loved, particularly in modern America.

Or, if the child is loved, the parents don’t know how to express the love. I’ve talked to people even recently that say, “I suppose my father loved me, but he never knew how to show it. All his life he never put me on his knee; he never did anything to show me that he loved me.” Or it may be the mother. So the child gets this feeling “I’m unwanted.” I’ve noticed that in a family with two or three children—I was talking about this last night at the home where my wife and I were visiting—let’s say the first child is brilliant, clever, knows all the answers. The next child comes along and is not so brilliant. Then again, the third child is clever. I can mention by name two or three families like that that I know. The second child just never feels in the category with the others. Somehow the parents are always praising the elder child or the youngest child but they don’t say much about the middle child. The result is in many cases that child feels rejected, unwanted. “My parents love my older brother, they love my younger brother but they don’t love me.” As I say, I could give you the names of several families where I’ve found that to be true.

Or, again, rejection may come later in life. A wife may be like the one here that we read about in Isaiah. She loves her husband, she has all sorts of pictures in her mind about what married life is going to be and her husband is going to love her. She’s going to be blessed with children. But the husband, maybe he loves her for a little while and then he gets interested in another woman. Or, he may be one of those men who just don’t know how to show love. After awhile this young woman feels “my husband doesn’t want me, he doesn’t care for me, he doesn’t devote time to me.”

Time is one of the factors in this situation. You talk to many children today who are bitter and rebellious against their parents and they’ll tell you this: “Our parents gave us clothes and education and a car and a swimming pool but they never gave us time. They never gave us themselves.” This, I think, is one reason for the awful, bitter reaction we saw in the past decade in the young people against the older. It was a reaction against materialism. Many of those young people that became so bitter and rebellious were from rather privileged, wealthy homes. They’d had everything except love which was the thing they wanted most.

Rejection can be simply an inner attitude that we carry around with us. I have learned by experience—and I don’t want to trade theories with anybody—but I’ve learned by experience behind every negative emotion, reaction and attitude is a corresponding spirit. Behind fear is a spirit of fear, behind envy is a spirit of envy, behind hate is a spirit of hate. Very often yielding to the emotions will open the way for the spirit to come in. Once the spirit comes in, that person isn’t in full control. For instance, you’ll see this: A girl hates her father because he was cruel, critical and unloving. Then she’s married and has children and without reason, but against her own desire, she’ll transfer that hatred probably to one of her children. Unreasonably and viciously she’ll hate one of her own children. That’s the spirit of hate. When the father isn’t there it’s directed against somebody else. I don’t know whether you parents have noticed, if we have particular faults in ourselves, the child that’s most like us and reproduces our faults is the one we tend to hate. Did you know that? What we’re really doing is hating the thing in ourselves. We don’t turn that towards ourselves, we turn it toward our child that reproduces those things, having inherited them from us.

There is also a spirit of rejection. I suppose that in the course of the past 10 years I’ve dealt with several hundred people that needed and received deliverance from the spirit of rejection. Rejection is a problem that brings others in its train. Tonight I’m going to take just a few moments on the blackboard to sketch out two different lines of reaction. Both of these, of course, are not absolute laws, they’re just common situations.

Let’s put up here rejection. There’s one line that goes this way and from rejection we get—and I’m just giving you the names the way I’ve encountered them—loneliness. Did you know that loneliness is a very terrible thing? This modern world of ours is full of lonely people. Some of them sit in church every Sunday and never cease to be lonely. Loneliness leads to—anybody give me a suggestion? The one I’ve got here is misery. Do you know people who are always miserable? We’ll put misery. Misery and loneliness frequently lead to self-pity, you’re always feeling sorry for yourself. “Nobody understands me. Others can, but you can’t. Why did God make you like that?”

The next one is—this is all provisional—depression. Moods of gloominess that settle down over you. If you’ve ever had them, you’re looking at somebody else that’s had them, too. I can describe them in detail from inside. I know what I’m talking about. Depression will then likely lead to something even more serious which is despair, hopelessness. “It’s no good, I might as well give up.” Then despair almost inevitably will lead to one or other of two things which are final. One is death and the other is suicide. That’s not very well written but I hope you can read it.

Death and suicide are different. Death is the desire to die. Have you ever said, “I wish I were dead”? It’s a very dangerous thing to say. You don’t have to say it many times before that spirit of death comes in. You can even begin to envisage yourself dead. Have you ever wondered what you’d look like displayed in a casket and begun to think about the type of clothing that you’d look best in? You can laugh, but I know people like that.

Suicide is more radical. “You might as well end it all. What’s the good of living? Take the whole bottle, swallow them now.” Or, “Jump in front of the train and end it all.” Well, that’s one line.

There’s another possible line and it’s not the only one by any means but we’ll take it over here. It leads to hardness. “Well, they don’t love me. So what? I don’t care. I don’t need them. I can do without them.” Hardness leads to something which I’ve had occasion to analyze. You wouldn’t normally see this name but it’s called indifference. You know the words that express indifference. “I don’t care. I’ve been wounded enough. Nobody is ever going to hurt me that much again. I’ll put up a barrier that nobody will ever get inside.” I’ve discovered in the spiritual world the name for that barrier is indifference. Outwardly you’re friendly, you talk to people, you joke, but there’s something inside you that they can never get through. Some of you might be married to a husband like that.

After indifference comes rebellion. “Well, they’re against me. I’ll be against them. I hate them. I hate their religion. I hate their church. I hate their God.” You’d be amazed the number of people who’ve actually said to me that at some time in their life they turned and said, “God, I hate you.” It’s a terrible thing to say. I’ve talked to scores of people. “God, why did You make me this way? Why did You bring me into the world at all?”

Then, rebellion quite often leads to something else which isn’t obviously associated but it’s closely associated in the Scripture. Who can tell me what that is? Witchcraft, that’s right. If you want the Scripture, it’s 1 Samuel 15:23:

“Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft...”

When I say witchcraft I mean the occult, going off and seeking false spiritual experiences. The Ouija board, the fortune teller, the séance—that whole realm. That’s really the expression of rebellion. People don’t know it, but it is. It’s turning from the true God to a false god. It’s the breaking of the first commandment, “Thou shall have no other gods before me.”

Now, I want to point out something about the gospel which people don’t readily understand. The gospel is very radical. Do you know what the word radical means literally? Sometimes people use it about the members of some other political party but that isn’t really the true meaning of it. Who knows what radical means? Radical is connected with one word. “Going to the roots,” that’s right. The Latin word for root is radix, so this is just that which goes to the root. The gospel is radical. I’ll prove that to you if you want to turn with me to Matthew 3:10. Who was the great foreigner of the gospel? John the Baptist. When he was describing the gospel, this is what he said in Matthew 3:10:

Now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: [and] every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire.

Let me point out to you it’s not enough to do nobody any harm. You say, “Well, I don’t bring bad fruit, I may not bring good fruit but I don’t have any fruit.” God says that’s not good enough. God says every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. It’s hewn down from the roots. “Now also the axe is laid unto the root of the tree.” See, if you chop off a few branches the tree will go on standing and growing. Even if you chop off the trunk it may not grow, but the life will continue in it, little green shoots will appear and so on. But if you cut the root, you’ve finished with the tree.

This is, I think, a picture of our problems and the way we deal with them. I’m not an artist but I’ll just draw something that I trust you’ll be able to understand. If you can’t, I’ll pray for you! That’s not a Christmas tree, that’s just a tree. There are three parts of a tree and I think they correspond to the three parts of people’s problems. We start with the branches. They are what I call sin; in the plural, sins. Like, lying, swearing, immorality. I’ll put here the general name, addictions, the things that drive people and enslave them and harm them. You can put many others there. Much religious activity, I think, is directed toward lopping off a few branches. “Well, I gave up smoking.” That’s good, but that’s not the ultimate. Or, “I’ve stopped being immoral.” That’s good, too. But that isn’t the ultimate either. Or, “I never do anybody any harm.” “I’m always in church on Sunday.” That’s good but it isn’t good enough. There we have sins.

You understand, if you cut off the branches the problem is another one will grow. It may not be the same branch but you’ll get another branch. They’re all supported by the trunk. In my understanding of theology, the trunk is called sin. Not sins, but sin. There’s a very consistent distinction in the Bible between sins—sinful acts and sin—the thing that causes the sins. For instance, in 1 John we find both. “If we say that we have not sinned . . .” If we say that we have not committed sin, “we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” Why do we make Him a liar? Because He says, “All have sinned.” “But if we say that we have no sin.  ” I’d better read that and make sure I get it right. First John 1:10:

If we say that we have not sinned [we’ve not committed sinful acts, sins], we make him a liar [God], and his word is not in us.

Why do we make him a liar? I’ve already told you. Romans 3:23 says:

“All have sinned...”

If you say “I haven’t sinned,” you’re telling God He is a liar because He says you have sinned. But look back at verse 8.

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

It’s quite distinct. Sin is hard to define. I call it “an evil, corrupt, spiritual power that works in people and drives them to commit sins.”

In the atonement, Jesus was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities, our sinful acts. In Isaiah 53:5. But, in Isaiah 53:10 it says:

“When thou shalt make his soul... sin...”

  That’s dealing with the trunk. That’s altogether different. The Bible consistently maintains this distinction. But, all we’ve looked at so far is what’s above the surface. Under the surface we have something else, don’t we? I’m sure I’m so artistic that none of you will have any problem as to what those are. The roots, that’s right. I believe—and the study of Scripture and experience primarily with myself— the root can be described as “self.” It’s “I,” the ego. “I want, I think, I like, I don’t like. Look at me, I’m important. I matter. God, you haven’t treated me right. The world revolves around me. Poor little me, nobody loves me.” I believe that’s the root. Even those that have faced the fact of sin haven’t always dealt with the problem of self. Yet, if the root is not dealt with, the problems will continue.

  Now, I want to talk to you particularly tonight about the answer to the specific problem that I dealt with, which is the problem of rejection. I want to show you what I believe is the Scripture’s answer to this problem. And what’s more, I’ll tell you something else. It works. I’ve seen scores of lives radically changed. Not temporarily, not superficially, but radically.

Everything that God provides in the gospel is based on fact. Somebody said, “The order is three F’s.” You’ve probably heard this. “Fact, faith and feelings.” I should have probably put them the other way, they really go up.

Number one, fact. Everything God does starts with a fact. The gospel is based on certain simple facts. They’re very, very simple. Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; He was buried; He rose again the third day. Those three facts are the basis of the whole gospel, they are the facts.

Then faith appropriates the facts. Faith believes and acts on the facts. Feelings follow faith.

It makes all the difference in your life whether your faith is based on fact or feeling. Because, if it’s based on feeling, you’ll be a very inconsistent, unstable person. Your feelings will change, the facts don’t. All of us in the Christian life have to learn to believe the facts, even contrary to what our feelings tell us. Maybe sometimes our friends as well.

There are two basic facts in relation to the problem of rejection. Let me also say that every solution of God for every problem in our lives stems from the cross. The cross is where God provided the solution to all our problems. In relation to the cross Jesus dealt with this specific problem. Years back, in fact, in l943, the Lord told me through the gifts of the Spirit that I was to “consider the work of Calvary,” that it was “a perfect work, perfect in every respect, perfect in every aspect.” That’s just 30 years ago almost to the day and I’ve spent 30 years considering the work of Calvary, what Jesus did on the cross. Every time I think I know it all, I discover something new. So, all my sermons and note outlines get out of date. In fact, my manager here will bear me witness. By the time he’s got them catalogued and the outlines printed, I’ve moved on. Sometimes I feel a little guilty.

Well, over the years the Lord showed me one basic principle about the cross. That it was an exchange, a divinely appointed exchange. On the cross, to satisfy eternal, divine justice, God caused to meet together upon Jesus all the evil that was due by justice to the human race. That in return, by faith, the one who repents and believes may receive all the good that is due by justice to Jesus. Jesus took the evil that we might receive the good. This is very simple, very basic. When you once begin to understand it, it’ll open up endless avenues of blessing to your soul. God made to meet together upon Jesus all the evil that we might receive all the good. The longer I meditate on this, the more complete I see that the exchange was.

I can just give you a few things. Jesus was punished for our sins that we might be forgiven. Jesus was wounded for our sicknesses that we might be healed. Jesus was made sickness itself—that’s Isaiah 53:10 in the original—that we might have health. You see, there’s a great difference between being healed and having health. Never rest content with being healed, because the will of God for the believer is what? To be in health. “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health as thy soul prospers.” Isaiah 53:10 says:

“Jesus was made sin...”

And 2 Corinthians 5:21 says:

“[God] made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might be made [what’s the opposite of sin?] the righteousness of God in him.”

Galatians 3:13–14 says:

“Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: that [we might receive] the blessing[s].”

2 Corinthians 8:9 says:

“Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.”

Do you see the exchange? Jesus took our poverty that we might have His wealth. Isn’t that beautiful? Did you know that? Do you know poverty is a curse? Don’t live on Poverty Street, it’s not the address for a child of God. I cannot but take a moment to tell you this because it’s so precious. I saw this in the middle of a sermon that I was preaching in New Zealand. My wife will remember the situation. In the middle of the sermon—it was a sermon on giving money—God opened my eyes. I can actually see that moment and the space where it happened and showed me in my mind Jesus on the cross. I saw Him as He really was, naked. I was reminded of Deuteronomy 28:47–48:

If you will not serve the Lord your God with joy and thankfulness for the abundance of all things, then you will serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness and in want of all things.

When I saw those words I saw that is absolute poverty: hunger, thirst, nakedness and in want of all things. Then, when I saw Jesus hanging on the cross, I saw He literally exhausted the poverty curse. He was hungry, He hadn’t eaten for 24 hours. One of the last things He said on the cross was, “I’m thirsty.” He was naked, they’d taken His clothing from Him and cast lots for it, divided it amongst themselves. He was in want of all things. He didn’t have a single thing. Not one thing in the world. They had to have borrowed burial linen and a borrowed tomb to lay Him in. He didn’t have enough for His own burial. He exhausted the poverty curse that we, through His poverty, might be rich. Rich in every way—spiritually and in every area of need.

Hebrews 2 says about Jesus that “He, by the grace of God should taste death for every man.” He died our death that we might have what? His life. “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”

Romans 6 says “Our old man [this thing down here] was crucified with Him that the body of sin might be destroyed.” The old man died in Jesus. What’s the opposite of the old man? The new man. “That the new man might come alive in us.” This is the final solution. “I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live. Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.”

But while I was meditating on this message, in the last two or three days God said, “There’s another side to that exchange. What about rejection?” What does it say in Isaiah 53:3?

He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief . . .

When Jesus hung on the cross He was doubly rejected. He was rejected of men but He was also rejected of God. His own father rejected Him. He cried out, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken Me?” No answer came back from heaven. You see, Jesus has known the deepest pangs of rejection, what it means to be rejected by a parent. He endured it for us on the cross.

What’s the opposite of rejection? Acceptance. Turn with me to Ephesians 1:6:

To the praise of the glory of his grace, [I like the King James because of this particular word] wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

I like it because you put Isaiah 53 and Ephesians 1 together and you’ve got the two key words. Rejected—accepted. That word that’s translated “accepted” there in Ephesians 1:6 occurs also in Luke 1:28 if you want to note the reference. It’s the salutation of the archangel Gabriel to the virgin Mary. In the King James it says, “Hail, thou that art highly favored.” Another translation is “much grace.” It’s directly taken from the noun for grace. When God says we’re accepted, He doesn’t mean we’re just tolerated. It means we’re “much favored.” I wish I could express this in words that would make it meaningful. We are the object of His particular, loving care and attention. We’re number one on His list of things to take care of in the universe. He doesn’t push us off in a corner and say, “Wait, I’m busy.” Or, “I don’t have time for you now.” Or, “Don’t make a noise, daddy is sleeping.” He says, “I’m interested in you. I want you. You’re welcome. Come in, I’ve been waiting a long time for you.”

It’s like the father in the story of the prodigal son. He was out there looking for the boy to come home. They didn’t have to come and say, “You know, your son is coming home.” The first one to know it was the father. He knew it before all the rest of the family. God’s attitude to us in Christ is like that. We’re not rejects. We’re not second-class citizens. We’re not servants. When the prodigal came back, he was willing to be a servant. He said, “Father, just make me one of your hired servants.” But you’ll notice, if you read the story carefully, when he confessed his sins, the father cut his words off. He never allowed him to say, “Make me as one of your hired servants.” On the contrary, he said, “Bring out the best robe, put shoes on his feet, a ring on his finger. Kill the fatted calf; we’re going to have a good time. This my son was lost and is found, was dead and is alive again.” Praise God.

The whole household was turned upside down to welcome the prodigal. Jesus said, “There is more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner that repents than over ninety and nine just men that need no repentance.” That’s how God welcomes us in Christ. You’ve got to understand this—two basic facts. Number one, Christ on the cross bore our rejection. All the agony, heartache—in fact, He died of a broken heart. Spiritually and medically, He died of a broken heart. Number two, the exchange: We are accepted because of His rejection. We are accepted in the beloved. That’s the basics, you must lay hold of those two facts.

Sometimes you don’t need to do any more. Two years ago at a big camp like the Tennessee/Georgia Camp, I was on my way to a preaching assignment and I literally bumped into a lady who was going in another direction. She was kind of out of breath and she said, “Oh, Brother Prince. I was praying that if God wanted me to meet you, I’d meet you.” I said, “You have, what’s the problem?” I said, “I can give you about two minutes, I’m due to be preaching.” She started to talk and after about half a minute. I said, “Wait a minute, I know your problem. I don’t have to listen any more. Your problem is rejection. I’ve got the answer. Listen, I want you to say these words out loud after me.” I led her in this statement which she repeated out loud after me. I don’t remember the exact words and I know more or less what I said. “God, I thank You that You are my Father and I’m your child. I’m a member of the family of God. Heaven is my home. I belong in the family. I’m not rejected. I’m accepted. God loves me. He wants me. He cares for me.” I said, “Amen. Good-bye; I’m going,” and took off. About a month later I got a letter from the lady, I don’t remember her name. She described the situation so that I would remember who she was and she said, “I want to tell you, those two minutes you spent with me and those words that I spoke have completely changed the whole of my life. I’m a different person from then on.” Because, she realized what it means to be accepted in Christ.

See, God’s family is the best family. There’s no family quite equal to the family of God. Even if your own family didn’t care for you and your own father rejected you and your mother never had time for you, or your husband never showed you love; bear in mind God wants you, you’re accepted, you’re highly favored, you’re the object of His special care and affection. Everything He does in the universe revolves around you. Paul said to the Corinthians who weren’t altogether top class Christians in some ways, he said, “All things are for your sakes.” Everything God does, He does for us. I’ll tell you, you don’t get conceited when you realize that, it humbles you. There’s no room left for conceit when you see the grace of God.

Now, for many people the simple declaration of acceptance in Christ resolves the problem. But, for others it doesn’t always do so. I’m going to tell you a little more in detail the simple steps that you have to take if you are troubled with rejection. I believe the Holy Spirit will show you whether you are. I don’t claim to be able to discern by looking at a person’s face. Many people wear masks. I’m going to tell you the steps and then before this meeting closes I’m going to give you an opportunity to do exactly what I’ve said. It’s going to be a very practical application.

Number one, you have to forgive those who have rejected you. This is essential. You say, “My father is dead.” This has been said to me many times. I say, “That doesn’t matter because it’s not for your father’s sake you’re forgiving; it’s for your sake.” We received a very remarkable article in New Wine which will be published in the next month or two. Some of you will remember Norma Fischer. Well, Norma wrote an article about taking care of our attitude to our parents. It’s quite unique; I’ve never read another article like it. Every one of us that read it said, “We must put that in New Wine.” She described how her husband realized at a certain point through the dealings of the Holy Spirit that he had never shown his father the honor and the respect that were due to him as a father.

Let me point out to you the first commandment with promise is, “Honor thy father and mother that it may be well with you.” If you do not honor father and mother it will never be well with you all the days of your life. No matter how many other things you may have, it will not be well with you because God has made the universe to go that way. You say, “My father was an alcoholic and my mother was a prostitute.” That may be true. You don’t honor him as an alcoholic, you don’t honor her as a prostitute, but as father and mother you’re still obligated to honor them. No matter what may have happened. I tell you, I’ve seen both sides of this. I’ve seen the people that did and were blessed and I’ve seen the people that refused to do it and it never went well with them. Their life was never really totally blessed of God.

But anyhow, Norma Fischer relates in this article how her husband was so convicted that he had to take a journey, I think, from Florida to Pennsylvania, if I remember rightly. It may not have been Pennsylvania. He had to go to his father’s gravestone alone while the family remained seated in the car and spent something like two hours emptying out the bitterness, resentment, the hatred and rebellion that he felt. At the end of that time she said, “My husband was a new man.”

See, it’s not for the one who is dead or far away. We’re talking about you here tonight. It’s your end of the relationship that we’re talking about. You have to forgive. Let me remind you what I’ve said many times. Forgiveness is not an emotion, it’s a decision. Don’t say “I can’t.” If the truth be told, it’s “I won’t.” If you can say, “I won’t,” you can also say, “I will.”

Number one, then, you forgive every person who you feel has rejected you. Sometimes it’s very strange. It isn’t always a close relative.

Number two, which goes closely with it, you have to lay down bitterness, resentment, hatred and rebellion. Those are the four names that so frequently come. Bitterness, resentment, hatred and rebellion. You see, resenting and hating your parents inevitably leads to rebellion because you’re throwing off God’s appointed order of society.

The third thing you have to do is accept the fact which I’ve declared to you tonight, that you are accepted in Christ, that God accepts you. Let me emphasize again this doesn’t mean He just tolerates you. He loves you, He’s interested in you, He cares for you. I don’t know how many young people I’ve told that to and I’ve seen their faces change. Do you know what I believe the youth of America are looking for today as they wander to and fro? Do you know what I think they’re looking for? A father. Because, most of them have never known what it really was to have a father. Shame on us and our generation!

There’s one more thing you have to do, don’t forget this. You have to accept yourself. Sometimes that’s the hardest. I tell children of God: Never belittle yourself, never criticize yourself because you’re God’s handiwork. “Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?” It’s not your business. God knows what He’s doing. You trust Him. It’s not humility, it’s rebellion when you criticize yourself as a Christian. Never belittle yourself: You’re God’s workmanship, His masterpiece, the thing He’s devoted the most time and care to of all the things He ever created in the universe. You’re at the top of the list. If that doesn’t make you feel good, I don’t know what does.

Now we’ve had a little time to look at this from different aspects and I’m going to suggest to you now if you have this problem here tonight and you want release from it—I’m not saying you’re a second-class Christian. You may be a wonderful Christian, but there’s an area in your life that perhaps you’ve never faced before. The Holy Spirit has laid bare something that your mind won’t acknowledge, refuses to look into. “What man knoweth the things of a man save the spirit of man which is in him?” The spirit of the man is the candle of the Lord, then the Lord illuminates your spirit, then it searches all the inward parts of the belly. Now you’d like to take practical action. What I’m going to do is give you an opportunity to repeat after me this declaration.

“I forgive. I lay down bitterness, resentment, hatred, rebellion. I thank You, God, that I’m accepted in Christ. I’m a child of God. Heaven is my home. I belong to the best family in the universe. There’s royal blood in my veins.” You can go on a long while about that and all the time you’re going on you’ll get feeling better and better. “Lord, I accept myself the way You made me. I thank You for myself.”

Let’s just bow for a moment in prayer. I want you to let the Holy Spirit speak to you. Don’t bother about your neighbor. It’s not the deacon, it’s not the pastor. It’s me, O Lord, standing in the need of prayer tonight. If you really feel that this will help you, that it will release you, that it will solve the deep longstanding problem within you and you want to do this tonight, I just want you to do one simple thing: stand to your feet where you are. Isn’t that remarkable!

I was going to invite the people that stood up to come to the front but that would be almost the whole congregation. I think you’ll agree I’m not an emotional style preacher, I haven’t conned you into something. Some of you, praise God, you don’t need it. I want those of you that are here to repeat these words after me. When you’ve said them, then all you’ve got to do is turn loose and praise the Lord. And if anything starts to come out, you start to sob or weep, don’t hold it back, because as I said to that young man, “You couldn’t buy this for a thousand dollars.” I’m getting real American, British people never talk like that!

Now then, our mind is on the Lord. Let’s say this first of all, simply about Jesus.

Lord Jesus Christ, I believe that you’re the Son of God and the only way to God. You died on the cross for my sins and You rose again from the dead. I repent of all my sins and I forgive every other person as I would have God forgive me. All those who have rejected me and hurt me and failed to show me love, Lord, I forgive them all now. I trust You for Your forgiveness. I believe, Lord, You accept me. Right now, as I am in Christ, I’m accepted, I’m highly favored, I’m the object of Your special care. You really love me, You want me, You are my Father, heaven is my home, I’m a member of the family of God, the best family in the universe. There’s royal blood in my veins. Lord, I want to thank You.

One more thing, Lord. I want to tell You this: I accept myself in Christ the way You made me. I’m Your workmanship and I thank You for what You’ve done. I believe that You’ve begun a good work and will perform it, finish it off, until the day of Christ. Lord, I release myself now from any dark, evil pressure. I release my spirit to rejoice in You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Just turn loose and praise God. We praise You, we thank You. We thank You for the spirit of liberty in this place tonight. We thank You for liberation. We thank You for healing. We praise You, Lord, for all that You’ve done. Blessed be Your name. Thank You, Lord Jesus. We give You the honor and the glory, the praise forever and ever. In Jesus’ wonderful name. Amen and amen and amen.