The Other Stayed: There’s Always a Way Back | Marcus Mecum | 7 Hills Church

If you've got your Bibles, turn with me to Genesis chapter 4, and I want to talk to you about something that's incredibly basic. I'm not going to blow anybody's mind with depth today, but I felt like this was the direction I was supposed to go in. This really is a look at two people that have blown it big time. I mean, this is, they've not only messed up in a personal way, they have destroyed people's lives through their sin, through their mistakes. So these are not, you know, average sins that we're going to be talking about. These were significant mistakes that these individuals made. And one after their mistake, the Bible says, disappears into nowhere. The other clings to God with everything he's got and says, God, don't leave me. Whatever happens, don't leave me. One ends up wrecked, the other ends up restored and writes songs that we still sing and worship to to this day. And the difference in these two individuals was one left the presence of God and the other stayed. And that's what I want to talk to you about, the other stayed. Genesis 4, 16, Cain went out from the presence of the Lord and dwelt in the land of Nod. And then Psalms 51 and verse 11, David says, cast me not away from thy presence and take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Both of these men have just committed murder. Cain's response is he went out from the, he left the presence of God. David's response was, cast me not away from your presence. Don't take your spirit from me. Cain sinned. He walked out. David sinned. He cried out. Cain messed up. He was never useful again.

David became more useful than ever. The same failure in many ways, yet different futures. And the question is, why? One said, I'm done. I'm not doing this anymore. I'm out. The other said, God, I'm staying right where you are. The reason this matters is because if you serve God, you'll find that there are a lot of highs. There are mountaintops. There are great times. There are times you feel close to God. There are times you can hear Him clearly. And then there are the lows. There are the bottom type seasons of life where you don't sense God. You don't feel Him. Maybe you're in a pattern that's messed up. You're in a cycle of just, you know, where you're not really focused on the things of God. Your priorities are out of whack. And the point is, all of us will have mountaintops. All of us will have valleys. All of us will have times where we're at the top and we're going to have times that we're at the bottom. Moses had his mountaintops and he had his valleys. He had his times where he received the Ten Commandments and he had his time when he broke the Ten Commandments. Paul had his dreams and visions of heaven that were so grand that he said, I'm not even sure I want to live another day. But if I do live, I guess it's for Christ.

But yet that same Paul had a thorn in his flesh that brought great despair and depression and discouragement in his life. Jeremiah, the great prophet, would weep rivers. Jonah would run in the opposite direction of what God called him to do. All of us, and in Scripture, you'll be hard-pressed to find someone that did not have a peak and a pit. The difference is some people bounce back, other people bounce out. And the difference is how do we stay in the presence of God? Now we've all sinned, right? I did one time like 40 years ago, or like 40 minutes ago, or let's be honest, 40 seconds ago. Some folks spring back, other people sink like a stone. All of us will displease God. All of us will have times where we don't live up to what we know that God wants us to be living like. All of us have those places in life where we mess up, we make mistakes, but the game changer... is learning to stay in the presence of God. So the question is, what is the presence of God? How do I know if I'm staying in the presence of God? Well, first, being in the presence of God does not mean you're right with God. Well, if I check all the boxes, so this week I didn't kick the dog. God doesn't care if you kick the cat, but he cares if you kick the dog. Oh, come on, come on. All dogs go to heaven, all cats go to, that's right. You're a cat lover, I'm just picking on you. Don't mess with people's pets.

That's, I have learned that the hard way. You didn't have a road rage incident this week. You didn't give somebody the one way Jesus sign on the interstate. You've had a good week, so in your mind now, you've created the self-worth that you can be in the presence of God. That's not what being in the presence of God means. I can be in the same room as Sarah, and we're not right. Some of you in church this morning with your spouse, and you're not right, but you're in their presence. You could be fighting, you could be distant, you could be cold, you could be hurting, but you're still in their presence, and with God, it's the same way. Being in his presence does not mean I'm right with him. I can be distant, it can be strained. I can feel like God is the furthest thing from me, but the key is, if I'm near him, it's easier to get right again. So being in his presence has nothing to do with how you lived this week. I know that that's not gonna fit our religious approach to God, but David, when he prayed Psalms 51, when he said, God, cast me not away from your presence. Take not your Holy Spirit from me. He wasn't right when he prayed that. He was broken, but there was something in him that said, God, do not leave me.

Keep me close. Whatever happens, don't send me away. In Psalms 16 and verse 11, it says, in thy presence is fullness of joy. Not I have joy, not I feel joy, but in your presence, that is where joy is. I may not have it, but where Cain left, he went to the land of Nod. There's no joy available there. God's presence wasn't there, joy wasn't available, but David stayed in the place that God's presence was. Joy was there, joy was waiting on him, and you may be in this service today, and you may be feeling like, man, I'm in a cold place. I don't feel like I have joy, spiritual joy. I don't feel like I'm in a grateful place. I don't feel strong right now. I don't have a sense that me and God are where we need to be, but you're here. I just want you to know that joy is in the room, and it's way easier for you to get right and get joy when you're in his presence. You don't go fishing in the Sahara Desert. You go where the fish are. You could even argue that David's sin is worse than Cain's. David committed adultery and killed Uriah. Cain gave the wrong offering and murdered Abel. I'm not measuring the sin. I know that you break one, you broke them all. I'm simply saying David's sin

was further reaching in its consequences. Yet, one recovered, one didn't. One was restored, and one wasn't. Why, because David said, I'm gonna run to God, where Cain made a decision to leave the presence of God. One left, the other stayed. Everybody shout, stay. Stay. So, practically, what did Cain leave? The first thing that he left was the place where God speaks. It's clear that God would speak at the altar. That is where Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel would. bring their offering, they would bring their blood sacrifice. That's where God would speak to them, that's where God would forgive them, that's where God would draw close to them, was at the altar. But Cain went to Nod, there's no altar there, there's no place where the blood was shed, which is the only way for the remission of sin, none of that was there. And I'm not implying that God is locked up in a building somewhere. I'm definitely not implying that God's locked up in this building, but what I will say is you're increasing your odds of hearing from God when you are in a place that the gospel is being preached, the word is being proclaimed, than you are just any other random place. You say, well, I messed up, I don't feel right, I've made some mistakes, I'm not living the way that I should. Stay in the presence of God, stay in church, hang around the word. When you're struggling, get to church. When you're discouraged, get to church. When the marriage feels like it's being ripped apart, get to church. When you feel like you can't even figure out what God's up to, and your life's filled with doubt, and you're going through a faith crisis, be in church when

you need it most. Stay in the presence of God. That is the key. David, the Bible says, after he prayed that prayer, take not thy Holy Spirit. Don't cast me away from your presence. The prophet Nathan would walk in the room, would preach a sermon to David about a little lamb. David would hear that message. Had he left, he would have never heard that sermon. But he hears Nathan preach this sermon, it led him to pray, it led him to say, God, I'm not right. It led him to a place where he was broken, where he ripped the mask off, and shame was broken off of his life. He confessed his sin, and God restored him. And the difference between Cain was Cain left the place where God spoke, David stayed. He wasn't right, but he stayed, and eventually, God got through. God said, David, you can't hide your sin. My eye is on you. You can't act like it's a secret. I'm aware of it. And being in God's presence, hearing God's word preached, is what caused David to turn back to God. Secondly, Cain left God's people. He changed his crowd. He goes to this place called Nod. His legacy was he has a family. He has a son by the name of Enoch. Enoch builds a wicked city that helped pave the way for the flood and God's judgment.

David stayed. David kept the same crowd. His legacy was he's a man after God's own heart, and he wrote the eternal Psalms of praise. At some point, you've got to lock into this idea. I've got to stay with God's people. If I'm not on fire, the best place to get it back is to hang around people that are on fire. If I'm not excited that I'm saved right now, the best way to get it back is I've got to hang around people that are excited and glad they're saved. If I hang around with the complainers, the negatives, the critics, the people that are always finding a problem to nitpick, that spirit will jump on you too. But if you get around the right crowd, you get around people that think like this book says, think. You get around people that look at God in the right way. That has a way of influencing you. The Bible says where two or more are gathered in his name. Is anybody here gathered in the name of Jesus today? Well, that's more than two. That means God is here because his people are here. The devil scatters, God gathers. Be around where his people are gathered. Another way to know if you're in his presence is Matthew 28 verse 20 says, lo, I am with you always. That is at the end of him talking about the great commission, going to all the world, preach the gospel, make disciples, teaching them the things I've taught you, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. All of that, God says, after he gives the great commission, he says,

and by the way, I'm with you in that. God is with the great commission. God is with people that are focused on the great commission. God is with people that care about lost people. They care about people that are away from God. They're concerned about people that do not have a Relationship with Jesus Christ. It breaks their heart to think about somebody going to hell It breaks their heart to think about somebody not knowing the love of God and you want to get around Soul winners why because that's where God's presence is stay around soul winners stay around Word lovers stay around people that are focused on the Great Commission But when you're far from God, it's uncomfortable to do that if I'm not right It's uncomfortable to be around people that are so Doing so good right now So we run off to our little crowds our little groups. We find the people that work out and then we'll say things like They treat me better in the world than they do at church No, you're just more comfortable there That doesn't mean they treat you better and even if that was The truth I would rather be around people doing right Even if they don't do it perfectly Then I would be around people wrong, but they do it smooth They say all the right things. They tell you all the right things at some point. You've got to make a decision I cannot leave the presence of God which means I've got to be where God's People are if I'm not where I need to be. It's all right to be uncomfortable because by proximity Eventually you will get what is on somebody else if they love God, they're gonna talk about it if they're close to God They're gonna talk about their time with the Lord if they were in the car worshiping They're gonna tell you about that and all the sudden you start thinking to yourself Well, I was listening to all that dumb 80s music all week long or I was listening I don't even know what y'all listen to. I don't care what you listen to. I'm just get around people that have a Relationship with God and it gets on you

The Bible says when David sinned it was at a time when Kings were supposed to be at war So David was on a balcony Probably saying something like well, I can feel God anywhere I can sense God anywhere not that that's not the case It was at a time when he was supposed to be shoulder-to-shoulder in the battle Fighting and going after the territory that God was calling his people to go after Never again, do you see David not in the battle? Every other battle after this moment David is shoulder-to-shoulder fighting beside his brothers He's so old at some point that they come to David and they say David You can no longer fight in the battles. You are a liability to us. We're so worried about you We're looking let us fight the battle in David The Bible says right after his last battle saying his last song and he spoke his last words in other words David fought Beside God's people all the way up until he was basically in his deathbed Because he knew I've got to stay around God's people I've got to stay in the presence of God's people because that's where God is That's where his presence is Number three and I'm done finally Cain Left the way back God showed up and said Cain. Why are you downcast? Why are you heavy? Why are you downtrodden? Why are you allowing this to affect you so much if you'll just do right? Will I not accept you? Notice God says all you got to do Cain is do right and God made it clear what right was There's an altar and you bring me the sacrifice the blood sacrifice. That's your way back If you'll just do right in Other words God is teaching Cain his failure was not fatal God was teaching Cain how to frame his failure How to look at his failure that there was a way for him to fail forward and God knew That when you make a mistake the tendency is to frame it wrong And so God said Cain when you failed you cracked open the door

You didn't swing the door wide open You cracked open the door and on the other side of the door sin is there and it's cracked And it's desiring to rule over you in other words. He was saying don't go out the door Don't leave Don't allow this to define the rest of your life Don't allow this failure this sin as horrible as it was and I'm just guessing I'm not talking to a bunch of murderers The door was cracked with that But there's a way back But Cain left the way back and that sin ruled over his life For the rest of his life where David framed his failure He learned from his failure. He learned God is not changing even if I make mistakes He stays the same his nature is the same His character is the same his essence is the same my sin and no way Causes God to change who he is or how he thinks about me And so he would write Psalms 95 to this is how you come into God's presence You come into God's presence with Thanksgiving How do you come into God's presence Wow y'all are quick Almost like I gave you the answer He Would write Psalms 100 in verse 2 you come into his presence with singing How do you come into his presence? Man, you're getting it Nowhere does David write I come into his presence with feeling I Come into his presence with my performance I Come into his presence with my perfection. I Come into his presence because I've checked all the boxes this week and I feel like I've earned the right to now Come into his presence You come into his presence with Thanksgiving and Singing in other words, that's the way back you. Thank your way back

You sing your way back you worship your way back. You praise your way back You sing about his love that's the way back you talk about his grace even when you don't deserve it God is full of mercy. Even if I'm the last person there should be a recipient of that. I sing about it I thank God for it because that's the way I stay in his presence You read his word when you feel like you're in the driest place you've ever been You say grace before a meal even if it feels fake You pray even if you feel like you're going through the motions Even if it's a formal prayer pray it you say no, that's not what I've heard. You can't pray that way I can tell you that when you put your words together and You say something as simple as our Father who art in heaven You could speed pray it in other words, you could say it as quickly as you want, but eventually you're going to come across Thy kingdom come thy will be done You're gonna come across forgive me my trespasses as I forgive those who at some point you're gonna come across Those words and at some point all the sudden you're gonna begin to sense that God honors People that pray he doesn't need to be a slave to you People that pray he doesn't need your perfect prayer. He doesn't need your long-winded prayer He doesn't need your wordy prayer He just needs you in the times when you feel the least like it to say God I'm still going to sing. I'm still going to honor you I'm still gonna thank God for all he's done in my life. That is the way Back So two people Majorly mess up one ruins everything one gets restored two families same crisis Once broken apart forever the other gets stronger Two believers hip-bottom One Recovers one's restored one clings to God with all they have The other quits walks away and leaves the difference is not in the sin

It's in the state The state that's the difference The simplicity is found in the state Stay in the presence of God stay when you feel distant when you feel like Man, I'm not even sure it makes any sense anymore. Stay. Jeremiah chapter 32, let's look at verse 40 together. I love this verse, it's so good. I actually was gonna read a few more, but I'm gonna keep it simple here. I will make an everlasting covenant with them. I will never stop doing good to them. Man, you need to just underline that, write it down. I will make an everlasting covenant. You know what that means? God's never going to do different than what he's saying right here. This is what he's gonna do. And it's everlasting. I will never stop doing good to them. I will inspire them to fear, regard, respect me, so that they will never turn away from me. Watch this. I will rejoice in doing them good. I will assuredly plant them in this land with all my heart and soul. So the Bible says God rejoices over them. Zephaniah 3.17 says God sings over us. The word rejoice comes with the imagery of dancing

and celebrating and spinning about. That's the idea. Just imagine just a great celebration. The Bible says God rejoices over you. He dances over you. He sings over you. And an everlasting covenant is he never stops doing good. He never stops. God never stops doing good for us. The key is stay. You say, no, God's everywhere. Yeah, God is everywhere. But there are places that his presence is more concentrated, where it's heavier. Notice that Jesus is talking to his disciples in John chapter six. And he's talking about eating his body and drinking his blood, of course, referring to communion. And the Bible says the multitudes left, the crowd left. And he looks at his disciples and he says, do you wanna go also? Notice Jesus is not begging anybody to stay. Do you wanna leave also? There's always the option to leave. There's always the option to give up. God's never going to remove that option. At some point, you will hit hard and you'll hit times of pain and discouragement that you're not even sure you have the capability to do anything else.

But the disciples look back at Jesus and said this, where else are we gonna go? Who else are we going to turn to? You have the words of life. Your words are spirit and they are life. We're staying. Disciples stay. Crowds, they're there until they hit that hard place. But disciples make the decision to stay. I could walk away. I can't even scroll on Instagram for two seconds without somebody convincing me I should leave my wife and somebody convincing me I should leave my church and somebody, and they're not even talking about stuff that we, if you use a creative prop in a sermon, that's bad now. Well, definitely don't read through the prophets. Definitely don't read through the book of Ezekiel. Almost every other chapter is an illustration that God makes the prophet do. Up to one point, he's like sleep, he has to lay on the ground for like six months, can't move. Another guy will say, well, if you're in a church that they're not preaching verse by verse, that's a bad church, go to another church. And I'm like, wow, like where's that at in the Bible? Jesus didn't preach verse by verse. He quoted Deuteronomy, he quoted the Psalms, but he didn't go through it verse by verse. Paul quoted the prophets, quoted the Old Testament.

but he didn't go verse by verse. Simon Peter on the day of Pentecost stood up and preached a sermon and walked through the Old Testament, not verse by verse, leading people to Christ. Am I saying verse by verse is wrong? No, I love verse by verse. I'm just not very good at it. So when I hear somebody say that, I think to myself, well man, they would have left Jesus's church because Jesus preached in stories, in parables, bringing out truth. And then as people would pull away with him, he would go deeper in it. I'm pretty sure he's the greatest preacher to ever live. I'm pretty sure Peter and Paul are right up there with him. I don't know, I never heard them, but I'm just saying I'm pretty sure sermons that last 2,000 years are worth referencing before you try to get people to leave churches. If you go to a verse-by-verse church, stay. Don't come to a story church. Stay, stay, stay. Matter of fact, I just wrote a new song just right now in my spirit. Are you ready for it? I'm gonna sing it to you. Stay, stay, stay, stay, stay. Wait, wait, wait till I get to the chorus. Stay. You wanna hear the bridge? Stay, stay, stay, stay, stay. The power is in the stay. Stay in that marriage. Stay committed to those kids. Stay. I understand the reasons. I understand the mindset. I understand, listen, the temporary peace that comes with quitting. Right? There's a peace that comes on you when you walk away. Right? It's a peace, but there's a cost in it. You just don't pay it for a little while. But eventually, you get the cost. Eventually, you get the bill. Eventually, you find the regret. Eventually, you find out all the things you were isolating and making a big deal out of. Now you just have a new set of things. Stay. Not because I'm right. Not because I... This is not about seven hills. This is about a mindset. Stay. Recently, I found out I had two stalkers. Everywhere I went, I turned around, there they were, two women. I mean, I went to Canada, went to Arizona, went to Texas, went to Georgia. Every time I turned around, there they are. Found out one of them, her name was Shirley. Her last name was Goodness. I know, bad preacher joke. The other one's name was Mercy. And the Bible says, they will follow me all the days of my life. There's never a time I'll turn around and Goodness, Shirley Goodness, and then her other stalker friend Mercy is not right there on my heels following me

around. He sings over me. He rejoices over your sorrows. He dances over you, and he never stops doing good to you. Never stops. See, the reason I'm saying this is because if you don't see God right, then you don't see the failure right. If you don't see him, his nature is unchanging. We change, he doesn't. So I've got to settle in my mind, is God angry? Is God mad? Is God frustrated? Is he disappointed? Is he upset? I'm not saying he likes the sin. I'm saying everything about who he is says stay. I'll never leave you or forsake you. Why? Because God is a stayer. God stays in the hard times. God stays when you don't live right. God stays when your heart's cold. He stays. There are times when I felt God's embrace almost like it was physical. There are times when he speaks to me so clear, it's like we're talking face to face. There are other times I don't feel him, and I doubt that I ever did. I can't hear him, and it's like I doubt that I ever did hear him. The ups and the downs, the ups and the downs, but I take great confidence knowing God stays. He's staying with you. He sticks close to you. closer than a brother. Amen? Every eye closed, every head bowed, put your hand on your heart and just prophesy over your life. Prophesy, I'm going to stay. I'm going to stay. I'm not going anywhere. I'm staying the course. In a world that walks away, in a world that gives up, in a world that quits, in a world that finds the most minute violations and blows them out of proportion, in a world that kind of sounds like when they came to Jesus, heals a man and they said, well, you healed him on the wrong day, it's Sabbath, you can't heal somebody on the Sabbath. In other words, they just had their way of forgetting about the person that God healed because of some rule they were caught up on. Stay in Jesus' name. Father, thank you for giving us the power to stay, to stay in your presence. Like David, let's pray this. Say this with me. Say, cast me not away from your presence and take not your Holy Spirit from me. I want to be in the place God speaks. I want to be in the place where God's people are. I want to stay in his presence. Stay around soul winners in Jesus' name. We all said amen. Let's stand up on our feet and give the Lord a good hand clap.