Anchors of Truth

Babylon

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: James Rafferty

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Series Code: AOT

Program Code: AOT000089


00:12 Welcome to Anchors Of Truth from the 3ABN Worship Center.
00:17 Decoding Apocalyptic Prophecy with James Rafferty.
00:22 Good morning and welcome.
00:24 And we'd like to welcome all of our friends around the world,
00:26 as well as those of you here that come locally.
00:30 And some of you have traveled a while to be here.
00:33 Thank you for joining us for Anchors Of Truth.
00:35 How many have been blessed by brother James Rafferty already?
00:38 Okay, a lot of you.
00:39 If we could see the hands of those at home,
00:41 I have a feeling there'd be thousands, maybe
00:44 hundreds of thousands.
00:45 And I was talking to him a little bit before we
00:47 came out here and I asked him, "How long have you been
00:50 coming back to 3ABN?"
00:51 It's been about 20 years.
00:52 I heard of him before that.
00:54 I heard about these two young men.
00:56 It seemed like they were barely 20 years old
00:59 that had a burden for the gospel and were on fire for Jesus,
01:02 and began to preach all around.
01:04 And then I think it was an ASI around 1992 or so that we met.
01:08 And they've been coming here, Ty Gibson and James Rafferty,
01:12 for a long time.
01:13 Today, welcome to Anchors Of Truth.
01:15 And I was thinking about the gospel of Jesus Christ.
01:20 Today, the topic is on Babylon.
01:23 And as Christians, we're commissioned to go
01:25 tell the world, right?
01:27 We're not suppose to have a secret society.
01:29 There's all these secret societies around the world.
01:32 But we don't have a secret society, do we.
01:34 Jesus says, "Go ye into all the world.
01:37 Preach the gospel to every nation, kindred,
01:39 tongue, and people."
01:40 They asked a government leader some time.
01:42 I forgot who it was, but I remember hearing this.
01:45 They asked him, "What do you do?"
01:47 They heard he had this job that's pretty secretive
01:49 and said, "What do you do?"
01:51 And he said, "Well to tell you the truth,
01:52 my job is so secretive, I don't know what I'm doing."
01:58 Hello, somebody get that?
02:00 The job is so secretive, he doesn't even
02:01 know what he's doing.
02:03 Well that's not the way it is with Christians, is it.
02:05 Our job, God has said, "Go ye into all the world."
02:07 The greatest asset that we have is our own personal testimony
02:11 of what God has done for us.
02:13 So I encourage each and every one of you today,
02:16 those of you watching at home from around the world,
02:18 listening by radio...
02:19 I have to say that, Jay Christian is here.
02:21 So I want to make sure I put in radio, Jay.
02:24 Radio, internet, however you're watching 3ABN,
02:27 listening to 3ABN.
02:29 ...to develop a personal relationship
02:32 with the Lord Jesus Christ.
02:33 Nothing like it.
02:34 "Great peace have they which love Thy law,
02:36 and nothing shall offend them."
02:38 And we live in turbulent times.
02:40 But right now, we can have a great peace
02:42 in the midst of the storm.
02:44 What I'd like to do, I'd like to say a little prayer.
02:47 We're inviting, we've already done so here,
02:50 the anointing of the Holy Spirit upon this program.
02:53 And then we're going to have Dr. Yvonne Lewis.
02:56 And Dr. Yvonne Lewis is going to be doing some music.
02:58 But let's bow our heads together right now.
03:01 Father, we thank You for another beautiful Sabbath day
03:03 that You've given us to worship You.
03:06 We thank You for life and health and strength.
03:08 We thank You for the opportunity of being here today.
03:11 We invite Your Holy Spirit to be in our midst, to rule and reign.
03:15 That You would give brother James Rafferty words of
03:17 wisdom from on high.
03:19 Lord, we thank You for Light Bearers, for what
03:21 they have been doing.
03:23 Millions and millions of pamphlets and brochures
03:26 and booklets giving Your gospel message into all the world,
03:30 and personally traveling around the world preaching and teaching
03:33 others about You and Your soon coming.
03:35 We pray for anointing upon James, upon his ministry,
03:38 upon Ty, upon their families today;
03:41 protective hedge about them as they endeavor to take
03:43 this gospel into all the world.
03:46 Thank you for this Anchors Of Truth series,
03:48 that we can continually put out good news
03:51 to a lost and dying world.
03:52 These things we ask and pray in Jesus' name, amen.
03:56 I'd like to invite Dr. Yvonne Lewis.
03:59 She's going to be singing a beautiful song, He Still Leads.
04:03 And right after this, the next voice you'll hear
04:06 will be brother James Rafferty.
04:26 Though trials and tears have come my way,
04:34 when I have failed or I have strayed,
04:43 my heart can hope,
04:47 for I believe that He still leads.
04:55 He leadeth me.
04:59 When daylight fades and life is dark,
05:08 when night is long and faith is hard,
05:16 I trust in Him though I can't see,
05:24 for He still leads.
05:28 He leadeth me.
05:33 He still leads with hands extending grace.
05:41 He still leads with mercies new each day.
05:49 Whatever comes my soul He'll keep,
05:57 for He still leads.
06:01 He leadeth me.
06:12 And when I stand on Jordan's shore,
06:20 when death is near and life is over,
06:28 I will not fear though water is deep,
06:37 for He still leads.
06:40 He leadeth me.
06:45 He still leads with hands extending grace.
06:53 He still leads with mercies new each day.
07:02 Whatever comes my soul He'll keep,
07:10 for He still leads.
07:13 He leadeth me.
07:18 He leadeth me, He leadeth me.
07:26 By His own hands He leadeth me.
07:37 He faithful follower I would be,
07:45 for by His hand He leadeth me.
07:57 By His saving grace He still leads.
08:09 Know each day whatever comes,
08:16 my soul He'll keep.
08:20 For Jesus leads.
08:24 He leadeth me.
08:32 Oh Jesus leads, He leadeth me.
08:52 Amen.
08:54 Thank you, Yvonne.
08:55 That has been the theme of our series all through this week.
09:00 Hasn't it?
09:01 He leadeth me.
09:03 Anywhere with Jesus I can safely go.
09:06 So the whole idea is that we need to find Jesus.
09:09 And of course, we're in the book of Revelation.
09:12 So it's vital for us to find Jesus there because that
09:15 can be a very scary place without Jesus.
09:19 A lot of us have gone there without Jesus.
09:21 A lot of people have gone to the book of Revelation
09:23 without Jesus.
09:25 But we've decided that we're going to turn around and
09:27 go back to Revelation chapter 1, find Jesus,
09:31 before we venture into the rest of the book.
09:34 And that's what we've been doing night by night.
09:36 We've been looking for Jesus so that we can identify
09:40 and understand the rest of the book of Revelation.
09:43 This morning, we're going to be talking about Babylon.
09:47 And this topic is no exception to the foundation
09:53 that we've laid, the principle that we've laid,
09:56 in looking for Jesus first.
09:59 The only way that we can really identify Babylon
10:03 is if we find Jesus.
10:05 The only way that Babylon can even be felled in our lives,
10:11 that is, destroyed, terminated, decimated,
10:14 is when we come in contact with Jesus Christ, who is
10:18 the everlasting gospel.
10:20 Revelation chapter 14 makes this very, very clear.
10:22 If you want to open your Bibles there this morning
10:24 to Revelation 14.
10:26 We talked about this a little bit last night.
10:27 But for those of you who were playing hooky...
10:33 ...we'll review.
10:34 I know you weren't really.
10:35 You were all watching at home, right?
10:37 Yes, good.
10:38 So you know what we're going to say right here.
10:40 You know it is, the point that we're going to make.
10:43 And that is that Revelation 14 gives us an outline of the steps
10:48 that we are to take as we proclaim the everlasting gospel.
10:52 The outline being this.
10:53 Revelation 14:6, "I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven
10:58 having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that
11:01 dwell on the earth, and to every nation, kindred,
11:03 tongue, and people."
11:05 The gospel comes first.
11:09 The gospel comes first.
11:11 Jesus first.
11:12 Now the first angel may say to the second angel,
11:16 "You go ahead and you go first.
11:17 I'm a gentleman, I'll let you go first."
11:19 But the second angel insists, "No, no, no, no, no.
11:22 I cannot go before you.
11:24 Because my announcement is, 'Babylon is fallen.'
11:28 And there is no way that Babylon can completely fall
11:32 unless you proclaim the gospel with a loud voice."
11:35 Babylon is identified in many ways.
11:40 Probably more ways than we can even articulate today.
11:44 It is so intricately involved and intertwined
11:46 in everything we do.
11:47 In fact, Revelation chapter 18 identifies Babylon as this world
11:50 and everything in this world.
11:52 That there is no way that we could have enough time
11:56 to go through all of the symbols and facts
12:00 that identify Babylon in our lives.
12:03 That is why the Word of God tells us, "Focus on the gospel."
12:09 The more you become familiar with the gospel of Jesus Christ,
12:13 the more clearly Babylon will be identified and destroyed.
12:18 Keep your focus on Jesus.
12:20 And you will find Babylon is not only out there in some
12:23 other denomination or in some worldly enterprise,
12:26 but Babylon is the very core center of the human heart.
12:31 And you will find that the only thing that can help us
12:33 on that level is Jesus.
12:36 Babylon, I think, can be defined in many ways.
12:39 One of the best ways that I define it
12:41 is in the original language.
12:43 And that is, confusion.
12:44 That's also taken from the tower of Babel.
12:47 Confusion concerning the gospel, the everlasting gospel.
12:51 Confusion concerning religion.
12:54 You see it in the context of the message itself.
12:57 Babylon is confusion.
12:58 Many times, my wife and I will get into
13:03 a little bit of confusion.
13:04 She tells me I'm losing my hearing.
13:08 I think it might be selective. I don't know.
13:11 But the fact of the matter is, there are times when she will
13:13 tell me something and I will not hear her.
13:16 And I will be confused.
13:19 Babylon represents confusion concerning what we are hearing
13:24 about God and the gospel, about salvation.
13:28 Notice what it says here in this context.
13:30 Verse 8, "Another angel followed saying, 'Babylon is fallen,
13:33 is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations
13:36 drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.'"
13:40 Wine in the Bible represents, well, primarily it represents
13:44 the blood of Jesus Christ.
13:46 "This is the wine of My blood."
13:47 It's the gospel, it's salvation.
13:49 But there's fornication that's being mingled here.
13:53 Fornicating wine here in Revelation chapter 14 verse 8.
13:56 Babylon has mingled salvation with other things.
14:00 And there's confusion about salvation
14:03 in relation to Babylon and what it's teaching.
14:05 There's a lot of religious confusion in the world today.
14:09 And I could stand here all morning and try to give you
14:12 examples of that religious confusion,
14:15 but it would not help us for two reasons.
14:19 One, it would only cause us to look at those examples as
14:23 Babylon and miss Babylon in our own hearts.
14:25 Two, it would fall short of a complete picture.
14:30 Therefore, even though we're talking about
14:34 Babylon, we're actually talking about the everlasting gospel.
14:39 Because the only way we can identify Babylon
14:41 is to lift up Jesus and lift up the everlasting gospel.
14:45 So really this morning's meeting is,
14:47 The Everlasting Gospel, part 2.
14:50 Surprise.
14:53 Jesus tells us that this Babylon is going to fall.
14:56 Now that word "fall" means, to come to an end.
14:58 This Babylon is going to fall when the gospel is preached.
15:01 Look in Matthew chapter 24.
15:04 This is one of those prophetic chapters
15:07 found in the synoptic gospels.
15:09 Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21 are all prophetic chapters.
15:13 They all parallel the book of Revelation
15:16 as well as the book of Daniel.
15:18 Matthew 24, Jesus talks about all these signs
15:20 that are going to take place before His return.
15:22 And we are familiar with a lot of them.
15:24 There's going to be wars and rumors of wars.
15:26 Yes, there are wars and rumors of wars.
15:28 There's going to be earthquakes and
15:30 natural disasters in different places.
15:31 There's going to be famine and pestilence.
15:33 We see all of this taking place today.
15:35 It's been taking place for many, many years.
15:37 Jesus said it was going to escalate like a
15:39 woman in birth pangs.
15:41 I know how that is.
15:42 I remember when my wife gave birth
15:44 to our daughter, specifically.
15:47 Our son was, well, his labor was about 31 hours.
15:51 He was born first, he was our firstborn.
15:53 Our daughter, well we thought it would be
15:55 at least half that time.
15:57 But, well she was born, from the time my wife started
16:00 having birth pangs until she was delivered;
16:02 2 hours and about 15 minutes.
16:04 The problem was, we were about an hour and a half
16:07 from the hospital and it was January in mid winter.
16:10 And we didn't leave until about an hour before she was born.
16:15 Because we thought we had time.
16:17 So my wife was in the back seat having birth pangs.
16:20 And I was driving.
16:21 I was having my own kind of pangs.
16:23 And those pangs got more intense and more frequent
16:26 until finally my wife said, "Pull over.
16:27 I'm having this baby here."
16:29 And I looked around and I said, "I'm not pulling over.
16:31 We're almost there, we're almost there.
16:32 We're almost there."
16:34 I was hyperventilating by the time we got to the hospital.
16:36 My knuckles, my hands were like this in steering wheel position.
16:39 I pulled them off the steering wheel and hammered
16:41 on the door of the hospital.
16:43 They wouldn't let me in...
16:44 ...until they got a call identifying who I was and
16:47 who was in the car with me.
16:48 Our daughter was born five minutes after we got there.
16:52 Birth pangs increase with intensity and frequency
16:55 until finally something is delivered.
16:58 In this case, the something is going to be a uniting of
17:01 all nations to afflict God's people for God's name sake;
17:05 Matthew 24 and verse 9.
17:09 In that context, when all the nations hate you
17:12 because you love Jesus, when all the nations unite
17:16 together to do something about the calamities,
17:18 the global warming and the natural disasters
17:22 and the wars and the famines and the pestilences,
17:23 when all nations comes together to do something about that,
17:26 and you stick out like a sore thumb because you know
17:28 the answer isn't in what we can do but what He can do,
17:32 not what we can solve but what He can solve,
17:35 that you're pointing to Jesus rather than
17:37 to people and politics,
17:40 then people aren't going to like you very much.
17:41 They're going to think you're against the movements,
17:43 you're against the unity.
17:47 And you're going to be hated.
17:48 In that climate, the gospel is going to be
17:51 preached as a witness.
17:53 That's what Jesus says in verse 14 of Matthew 24.
17:55 He says, "And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached
17:58 to all the world for a witness unto all nations."
18:02 That word original; martyr, martyrdom.
18:06 We're not going to love our lives unto death.
18:07 We talked about that last night in Revelation 12 verse 11.
18:12 Only God can give us that kind of love.
18:14 That self-sacrificing love that was manifested in the heart
18:18 and life of Jesus Christ.
18:20 It comes as we see God's love for us.
18:22 And it says that then, verse 14, "the end will come."
18:28 The end of what? The end of Babylon.
18:30 The end of this world.
18:32 Revelation chapter 18, it's going to fall,
18:34 it's going to fall, it's going to fall.
18:35 Why? Look in Revelation chapter 18.
18:36 You're going to see the very same thing.
18:38 And I want you to think about what the key element is
18:41 in each one of these verses that we've looked at.
18:44 Matthew 24, there's a key point there.
18:46 Revelation 14, there's a key point there.
18:48 Revelation 18, there's a key point there.
18:50 Revelation 18 beginning with verse 1.
18:54 Are you with me?
18:56 Trying to keep you awake this morning.
18:58 I know there's a lot of flu and sickness going around.
19:01 I know you've been in bed all week, some of you,
19:03 fighting that sickness and flu.
19:05 But it's time to wake up.
19:09 We're in the Word this morning.
19:12 Praise God for His Word.
19:13 It's powerful.
19:15 It is able to wake us up.
19:17 "After these things I saw another angel come down
19:20 from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened
19:25 with his glory."
19:27 Whose glory is that?
19:28 It's the glory of God.
19:30 And the glory of God is the everlasting gospel.
19:32 The gospel is lightening the earth with the glory of God.
19:35 The gospel is illuminating the minds and hearts
19:38 of the entire world population.
19:41 That's the same thing we see taking place in Matthew 24.
19:44 This gospel will go as a witness to all nations.
19:46 The same thing we see happening in Revelation chapter 14.
19:49 The everlasting gospel preached to every nation,
19:52 kindred, tongue, and people.
19:53 In the context of that, as a consequence of that,
19:57 Babylon falls.
19:58 Notice what it says here in Revelation chapter 18 verse 4.
20:01 "And I heard another voice from heaven saying,
20:03 'Come out of her, my people.'"
20:06 Well, I've gone a little bit too far here.
20:08 Verse 2, "And he cried mightily with a strong voice saying,
20:11 'Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen.'"
20:14 Now I like the way that's termed there in Revelation 18 verse 2.
20:20 It says, "Babylon the..." What?
20:22 "...the great."
20:24 And if you don't know that, it's time to wake up
20:26 and smell the roses.
20:27 Babylon is great in this sense, that it is taking a hold of
20:31 and seeking to crush the life out of every one of us
20:35 individually, and the church corporately.
20:37 It is a great insurmountable power
20:42 that inundates our lives and our hearts.
20:45 But guess what.
20:48 God can bring it down.
20:50 God can bring it down.
20:53 How is He going to do that?
20:54 Well, it's going to be the gospel.
20:57 And it's going to be preached, Revelation 14,
21:01 with a loud voice.
21:03 Praise God for the gospel.
21:05 Praise God for Jesus.
21:06 Notice what it says here.
21:08 "I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the
21:10 everlasting gospel to preach unto them...
21:13 ...to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people."
21:15 Verse 7, "Saying with a loud voice..."
21:18 That's what my wife has to do sometimes.
21:20 I'm just not hearing well, and so she'll have to
21:22 say it with a loud voice.
21:24 And then I get it. It's clear.
21:27 Loud doesn't mean yelling.
21:28 It just means that it's clear.
21:29 The gospel is clear.
21:33 So what is the gospel clearly saying to us?
21:37 Well the gospel, in essence, is a revelation of God's
21:40 unconditional love.
21:43 There are people, Christian people,
21:46 who are confused about God's unconditional love.
21:49 They think that God loves a certain group of us,
21:53 namely believers, that God has given His life
21:56 for a certain group of us, namely for those who have
21:58 responded to that, that God is the Savior of a certain
22:01 group of us, that God has given faith to a certain group of us.
22:07 But I don't find a text in the Bible that says,
22:10 "For God so loved Christians
22:12 that He gave His only begotten Son."
22:15 Or that, "God so loved Baptists or Adventists
22:21 that He gave His only begotten Son."
22:23 The verse that I'm thinking of in John chapter 3 and verse 16
22:26 says, "God so loved the world
22:29 that He gave His only begotten Son."
22:31 Well there's a clear declaration of the gospel.
22:33 "God loves the world so that whosoever
22:37 believes in Him..."
22:39 God has not predestined certain people to be saved
22:42 and certain people to be lost.
22:44 Which, by the way, addition to that means,
22:46 in some people's minds, burn in hell forever.
22:50 God has predestined certain people to burn in hell forever.
22:52 See, that confusion about God is going to be decimated
22:58 by the everlasting gospel.
22:59 "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son."
23:02 The whole world is included in this unconditional love.
23:06 Jesus Christ...
23:07 Well let's just take a look at the verses here.
23:10 The next one is found in 1 Timothy chapter 4 verse 10.
23:18 1 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 10.
23:24 Jesus Christ wants the world to know about His love
23:28 for every single person.
23:30 Jesus Christ wants the world to know.
23:32 1 Timothy chapter 4 and verse 10.
23:36 Are you with me?
23:37 You there?
23:39 I'll give you as much time as you need.
23:40 No, just kidding.
23:42 "For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach,
23:46 because we trust in the living God,
23:51 who is the Saviour of all men,
23:55 and especially of those that believe."
23:58 There are two categories there, friends.
24:01 And this has to be in the context of John 3:16.
24:04 John 3:16 interprets 1 Timothy 4:10.
24:08 God is the Savior of everyone.
24:11 And especially, in an eternal sense, of those who believe.
24:13 There will be people who will be lost,
24:15 who will not be saved eternally.
24:16 It's not because God doesn't love them.
24:17 It's not because God is not their Savior.
24:21 Are we together this morning?
24:22 The everlasting gospel dispels predestination.
24:26 Not in a biblical sense, because God has predestined
24:28 everyone to be saved.
24:30 God is longsuffering to us, 2 Peter 3:9.
24:32 He doesn't want anyone to be lost.
24:34 And therefore He has given, Romans 12:3,
24:38 everyone a measure of faith.
24:40 Everyone.
24:42 Jesus is the author and He is the finisher of faith.
24:46 And He hasn't left anyone out.
24:48 There isn't a long line of people coming to Jesus
24:51 and He's doling out faith, and He's doling out faith.
24:53 And those that get there first get the most faith.
24:54 And those who are in the back of the line,
24:56 "I'm sorry, I've run out of faith."
24:57 No.
24:59 He's the man that took the loaves and the fishes
25:02 and fed the multitudes.
25:03 And there were still baskets left over.
25:07 There is plenty for everyone.
25:10 Revelation does not picture Jesus standing at the
25:12 pearly gate saying, "143,998. 143,999.
25:17 Quick, quick. Last one, quick.
25:19 You John, 144,000. Okay, that's it.
25:22 That's it. Sorry Angie."
25:26 No, no, no.
25:28 The 144,000 is a symbolic number of the redeemed.
25:32 It represents those who are saved.
25:34 If you want to see what they look like and not hear,
25:37 you need to look at the great multitude that
25:39 "no man can number," of every nation,
25:44 kindred, tongue, and people.
25:47 God has in His Word made it very clear
25:51 that His grace comes to all.
25:53 Look at Titus chapter 2.
25:56 Titus is right after Timothy.
25:57 So if you're in Timothy, you just throw those pages over,
26:00 just a couple pages over and you're going to come to
26:01 Titus chapter 2 and verse 11.
26:05 Titus 2 and verse 11.
26:07 "For the grace of God that brings salvation
26:11 has appeared to..."
26:13 Yeah, not just to the Christians.
26:15 Not just to the believers.
26:17 It's appeared to all men.
26:18 We are surrounded with an atmosphere of grace.
26:23 Take a deep breath.
26:29 That helps me to relax actually.
26:34 That breath cost God everything He has.
26:39 And He gave it as an evidence of His unconditional love
26:44 for every human being.
26:47 That's what the Bible teaches.
26:49 Look at it. It's in Acts chapter 17.
26:51 Acts chapter 17.
26:53 Let's move there together.
26:56 We're talking about Babylon again.
26:58 Babylon is coming down, is coming down, is coming down
27:00 as the gospel is preached.
27:03 The confusion about God, the confusion about salvation
27:07 is being decimated.
27:08 God's character is being uplifted.
27:10 He loves us.
27:12 He doesn't just love you, He loves all of you.
27:15 Continue out into the world.
27:18 Babylon is a symbol not only of religious confusion,
27:21 but of the confusion that's in the world.
27:23 There are people in the world that have a wrong picture
27:26 of God, and therefore they refuse to have
27:28 anything to do with religion.
27:29 And God says, "I love them.
27:32 I love those people in Babylon and that confusion.
27:34 I love them because the religion they hate
27:37 is the religion I hate.
27:40 The ideas that they hate of a God that would
27:43 torture people in fire and brimstone
27:46 for a million, a billion, a trillion, a googillion years
27:50 is the same picture I hate."
27:52 And there are a lot of atheists that hate that picture
27:54 and they want nothing to do with a God like that.
27:55 Well I don't either, and neither does God.
27:58 So God says, "I've got people in Babylon.
28:00 I've got people in confusion and I want them out of it.
28:02 Because they think the way I think.
28:05 They actually know Me even though I've been masked
28:08 by this religious confusion, by this fornication,
28:11 this mixture of truth and error that Babylon is.
28:14 It is the essence of Babylon."
28:17 God says in Acts chapter 17, beautiful here how Paul is
28:22 preaching to the world in his time, to Babylon in his time,
28:26 to those who are confused in his time.
28:28 He says, and I'm going to start in the context of verse 24,
28:32 "God that made the world and all things therein,
28:34 seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth,
28:36 dwells not in temples made with hands;
28:38 neither is he worshipped with men's hands,
28:40 as though he needed anything, seeing he gives to all..." What?
28:45 "...life, and breath, and all things."
28:49 Everything that anyone has is from God.
28:56 "And he has made of one blood all nations of men," verse 26.
29:00 That's right, we're all related.
29:03 So there goes racism.
29:05 Just went right down the toilet.
29:08 Good place for it to go.
29:09 "He has made of one blood all nations of men that
29:12 dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined
29:15 the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation."
29:18 God know where you live.
29:21 He has every hair on your head counted and numbered.
29:29 That's not about hair, that's about care.
29:32 I stopped caring about the numbers of hairs
29:34 on my head a long time ago.
29:36 I know some of you did too.
29:37 It's like "Okay, they're in the sink now."
29:43 God knows.
29:45 Not a sparrow falls, but He knows.
29:48 He knows the heartache that you're feeling,
29:50 He knows the struggles you're going through.
29:52 He knows how lonely you feel.
29:54 He knows how strong your passion is.
29:59 And how overwhelmed you feel when you're taking that test,
30:02 or when you're interacting with other people,
30:06 or when you're working, or when you're struggling with
30:10 those inner thoughts that are not at harmony with who He is.
30:14 He knows.
30:16 He's with you in that.
30:18 He's not against you, He doesn't hate you.
30:20 He loves you.
30:21 He empathizes, He sympathizes.
30:24 He is your friend, not your enemy.
30:28 And like no other being in the universe,
30:32 He is for you.
30:34 He's got your back.
30:35 And your front.
30:37 And everything around you.
30:39 He surrounds you with life.
30:42 That's why, verse 27, "that they should seek the Lord,
30:46 if haply they might feel after him, and find him,
30:49 though he's not far from every one of us.
30:51 For in him," in him, in him, "we live, and move,
30:55 and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said
30:59 'For we are also his offspring.'"
31:00 We are in Jesus Christ in a very real and tangible way.
31:04 The entire world is in Christ.
31:07 Now it's a temporal way.
31:09 It's not an eternal way.
31:10 Not everyone in the world has decided for Christ.
31:13 But the only way that decision can be made is if we're in Him.
31:18 In a temporal way, at least.
31:20 We've got to at least have temporal life.
31:22 You understand what I mean by temporal life?
31:24 Temporal life; this life.
31:25 This life that's temporary; temporal life.
31:28 If we're going to have eternal life,
31:29 we've got to have temporal life, because this life
31:31 gives us the opportunity, the opportunity for eternity,
31:36 to make a choice.
31:38 But friends, listen closely.
31:41 This temporal life cost God everything.
31:47 Everything.
31:48 The cross did not just give us eternal life.
31:52 It gave us temporary life.
31:55 Without the cross we wouldn't have temporary life.
31:59 Because all have sinned and come short of the glory of God,
32:02 and the wages of sin is death.
32:05 And we should have died a long time ago.
32:08 But Jesus stepped in our place.
32:11 And He took our penalty so we could have temporal life.
32:14 And God is saying to us, "You know what?
32:17 I would really love it if the life you have now
32:20 would never end.
32:21 I'd like to kind of have you just hang out
32:23 with Me for all eternity."
32:25 "Not me. You don't like..." "I love you."
32:26 "Yeah, really? You love..."
32:28 "Yes.
32:29 There's a few things I'd like to see changed.
32:33 But I think you would too if you see more of Me.
32:35 I think you're going to see that selfishness isn't the best
32:39 for you or anyone else.
32:41 But I'd like for your life just to continue on,
32:43 just to continue on for all eternity."
32:48 Sometimes people say to me, "Well I don't think
32:50 I want to live for eternity.
32:52 I mean, you know, life is bad enough
32:53 with just the threescore and ten.
32:55 Who want to live for eternity?"
32:57 Well think, think, think, think, think, for a second.
33:00 Not about the trails you're going through now,
33:01 not about the way you feel health wise now.
33:05 But think back to a time...
33:08 I don't know when it was in your life.
33:10 I know when it was in mine.
33:12 It might just have been a moment of time.
33:14 A few days, weeks.
33:16 It might have been just an hour or a minute.
33:19 But just think back to a time in your life
33:21 when you were truly happy.
33:23 All out, no holds barred, happy.
33:25 I mean, you were so happy that nothing could touch you, happy.
33:29 I mean, you were just like floating on a cloud.
33:31 It was just like, wow.
33:33 Think about that.
33:35 That time when you were really happy.
33:37 And imagine what it would be like to be in that moment
33:41 of time for all eternity.
33:44 To feel that way for all eternity.
33:48 Because that's what eternal life is.
33:52 It's joy and peace and happiness without end.
33:57 It's not just a place.
33:59 It's an experience that God wants you to have.
34:01 And even though there's evil and pain and sorrow
34:03 and suffering and sin in this world
34:05 that interrupts that experience...
34:08 Perhaps for some of us, more than we have the experience
34:11 we have interruptions to that experience.
34:13 As long as we have that experience even for a
34:16 few moments, we have an earnest, if you will, a down payment,
34:20 of what God really wants for us,
34:22 of what eternal life really is going to be all about.
34:26 And so God gives us this taste unconditionally.
34:29 He wants us to unconditionally how He feels about us.
34:32 He is the Savior of all.
34:33 Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 9 says "Jesus Christ
34:36 has tasted death for all."
34:38 Not just for a few, but for all.
34:42 And one of the reasons why 3ABN is here,
34:45 why this program even exists, is found in
34:48 John chapter 1 and verse 9.
34:53 We're talking here about the unconditional
34:56 manifestations of the everlasting gospel
35:00 that is going to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people
35:03 that dispels the darkness, that diminished the confusion,
35:08 that decimates Babylon, that brings it down.
35:12 John chapter 1 and verse 9.
35:16 It's talking about Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh,
35:18 coming to this world and dwelling among us.
35:21 And it says in verse 9, "That was the true Light..."
35:23 Are you there with me?
35:24 And that true light, lightens...
35:27 What does it lighten?
35:28 "...every man," oh every man, "that comes into the world."
35:35 God gives light to all.
35:36 He gives life to all.
35:38 He gives faith to all.
35:40 He died for all. He is the Savior of all.
35:44 He loves all.
35:48 Do you see the picture that is developing here
35:49 in the everlasting gospel?
35:51 It's a powerful picture when you think about it.
35:55 2 Corinthians chapter 5 tells us that God reconciled all.
36:02 This is the message that we're to proclaim.
36:05 This is the everlasting gospel that will decimate Babylon.
36:09 Babylon is confusion, not just about the gospel.
36:12 Babylon is also confusion about prophecy.
36:16 For that understanding, we need to look in another book.
36:18 The book of Daniel.
36:20 If you want to open there to Daniel,
36:22 we'll start with chapter 2.
36:24 Daniel is an Old Testament minor prophet.
36:27 If you go back to the book of Matthew and then start
36:31 moving backwards, from Matthew backwards,
36:33 into the Old Testament; Malachi, Zechariah, Zephaniah,
36:36 you're going to come to Daniel, the book of Daniel.
36:37 It's right here between the book of Hosea
36:41 and the book of Ezekiel.
36:43 Daniel chapter 2.
36:45 It's all about a dream.
36:46 It's all about a man named Nebuchadnezzar.
36:50 Some people call him, the Nebster.
36:54 Nebuchadnezzar was a heathen king.
36:57 He was cruel, he was a tyrant.
37:00 I'll give you an example.
37:02 He had a dream, he couldn't remember it.
37:03 He told all his wise men, "Tell me the dream."
37:05 They said, "We can't figure it out."
37:06 And he said, "Well you're dead then.
37:07 You tell me my dream or you die."
37:09 I mean, that's got to be worse than any CEO
37:11 you've ever worked for.
37:16 But God was the one who gave Nebuchadnezzar the dream.
37:20 In fact, God brought an evangelist
37:24 into Nebuchadnezzar's life.
37:27 His name was Daniel, Daniel the evangelist.
37:30 It wasn't an easy assignment for Daniel.
37:32 He had to go through some physical modifications.
37:40 Leave his family forever, not just for six weeks.
37:44 Didn't get to fly upgrade on United Airlines.
37:48 Actually had to walk to Babylon.
37:50 It was a long way.
37:51 And he was only a teenager.
37:53 So it was hard to say good-bye. I know.
37:55 When I enrolled my daughter at 14 into Academy
38:00 this last year, it lasted about one month.
38:04 And then we pulled her out and brought her home.
38:07 It was hard to say good-bye, I know.
38:09 When my son went to Academy in his senior year, after being
38:13 home for his sophomore and freshman and junior year,
38:16 it was very hard.
38:17 And he was a senior.
38:21 For Daniel, I don't know how hard it was.
38:23 All I know was that he found faith and strength
38:27 and courage in God.
38:29 And he's in Babylon.
38:30 And he's there for a purpose.
38:32 And it's not about him.
38:34 So he refuses all the luxuries of Babylon
38:36 because he has a mission.
38:37 And that mission that he purposes in his heart
38:40 is that God's love will be revealed to this
38:42 heathen king named Nebuchadnezzar,
38:43 who everyone fears.
38:45 Except for Daniel.
38:48 Because Daniel fears God.
38:50 And when you fear God, there's no earthly
38:52 fear that you can have.
38:53 And so Daniel is there at the perfect time and place.
38:58 Nebuchadnezzar has a dream.
39:00 Can't remember it.
39:02 And obviously doesn't know what it means.
39:04 All the wise men are going to die.
39:05 And Daniel steps in.
39:07 He says, "Give me some time and I'll tell you the dream."
39:09 And so Nebuchadnezzar says, "Oh I'm desperate.
39:11 I'll give you some time."
39:13 Daniel goes into prayer.
39:16 If you want to understand prophecy,
39:19 you need prayer.
39:22 The more you pray, the more understanding
39:24 you're going to get.
39:25 It's not reading of the words and checking out the different
39:28 references and looking at the different commentaries
39:30 that are going to figure out the prophecy.
39:31 When you're on your knees just thinking and praying,
39:33 thinking and praying, and sometimes just being quiet
39:36 before God, He's going to tell you.
39:38 He's just going to tell you.
39:40 That's what He did with Daniel.
39:41 Daniel didn't have any books to look to.
39:44 He didn't have any scrolls to go check out.
39:46 This dream was non-existent.
39:48 It was not on the records.
39:51 He could only get it from heaven.
39:52 And that's exactly what happened.
39:54 He went into this prayer meeting.
39:56 And when he went in, he said, "Hey guys, friends.
39:58 We've got to pray, because all the wise men are being killed.
40:00 And we don't want to be killed with the wise men."
40:02 That's what he said. He said, "We need to pray."
40:05 Daniel said, "We need to pray because
40:07 they're killing the wise men."
40:08 "And we," verse 18, "need to desire mercies of the God of
40:12 heaven concerning this secret; that Daniel and his fellows
40:14 should not perish with the rest of the wise men of Babylon."
40:16 He goes in praying that he would not perish
40:19 with the rest of the wise men.
40:20 He comes out of that prayer meeting, not only having a
40:23 better understanding of the dream, the vision, the prophecy,
40:26 but also having a higher experience.
40:28 What he said here is, verse 24, "Therefore Daniel went in unto
40:33 Arioch, whom the king had ordained to destroy
40:35 the wise men of Babylon.
40:37 He went and said thus unto him; 'Destroy not
40:40 the wise men of Babylon.'"
40:43 Wow.
40:46 See, this isn't about us.
40:48 This isn't about us getting knowledge and us
40:50 being able to prove that we understand,
40:52 therefore we can be saved.
40:53 This is about us and them.
40:56 The other people, the wise men.
40:57 The ones that don't care about us.
40:59 If the wise men had gotten the dream, they wouldn't have said,
41:00 "Hey, don't destroy Daniel and his friends."
41:02 They would have said, "Get rid of those guys.
41:03 We're smart enough, we can run the kingdom.
41:06 We don't need those kids."
41:08 But Daniel, when he connects with God,
41:10 you and I, when we connect with God, we come out changed.
41:14 We have a different attitude.
41:15 Our attitude is concern for them, not just concern for us.
41:21 We're going to talk about that more this afternoon
41:22 when we get into marks and seals, and why it is that
41:26 we keep the Sabbath the way that we do.
41:29 Sabbath keeping is not just about us.
41:31 It's about them.
41:33 But that's another sermon.
41:35 So Daniel comes out with this heart burden for the wise men,
41:38 as well as for Nebuchadnezzar.
41:40 And he tells Nebuchadnezzar the dream.
41:41 Nebuchadnezzar was the first person to attend
41:44 a Daniel seminar.
41:49 He sat on the front seat
41:52 where the angels sit.
41:56 He listened to every word.
41:58 And when the evangelist Daniel was done, he said,
42:01 "I want to join your church.
42:03 I believe in your God."
42:05 And so he was...
42:07 He got membership immediately.
42:09 "Alright, you're in."
42:10 "You're in."
42:14 There were some problems that Nebuchadnezzar
42:15 had later on though.
42:17 That happens sometimes.
42:19 The net catches a lot of fish, a lot of things.
42:24 And he struggled.
42:26 And we could have given up on Nebuchadnezzar.
42:27 Daniel could have said, "Well, you know, he wasn't ready.
42:30 There's got to be some other fish in the sea."
42:32 But he didn't.
42:34 God didn't give up on Nebuchadnezzar.
42:36 God kept working with Nebuchadnezzar
42:37 and growing Nebuchadnezzar.
42:39 And Nebuchadnezzar...
42:41 Well, Nebuchadnezzar is going to be in the kingdom.
42:46 We know that from his personal testimony in chapter 4.
42:48 But before we get to chapter 4, we have to
42:50 pass through chapter 3.
42:52 And chapter 3 is what identifies Babylon
42:55 in relation to Bible prophecy.
42:56 And here's what we see in Daniel chapter 3.
42:58 We see a man who took the truth of Bible prophecy,
43:02 this image of gold and silver and brass and iron,
43:06 and iron mixed with miry clay, that was going to be crushed by
43:11 a stone out of the mountain without hands.
43:13 He took that image and he changed it.
43:16 It was still an image.
43:17 There was still some truth there.
43:19 But the truth was perverted.
43:23 Nebuchadnezzar was afraid of that image because
43:27 the head gold represented Babylon and the silver
43:30 represented another kingdom.
43:32 And he didn't want another...
43:34 He didn't want to come to an end.
43:35 He didn't want to see his vision of the world changed.
43:38 He liked the way things looked from his perspective.
43:41 He was afraid to trust God for the future.
43:43 There are a lot of people out there today that are
43:44 afraid to trust God for the future.
43:46 There are a lot of religions out there today that are
43:48 afraid to trust God for the future.
43:49 There are people that believe they're going to be raptured
43:51 out of here before everything ends and fails.
43:53 They're afraid to trust God to bring them through
43:56 this time of trouble that's coming,
43:58 that's going to be ahead of us.
44:01 But Nebuchadnezzar, afraid as he was,
44:03 and Nebuchadnezzar, as much as he apostatized,
44:06 and confused and became a part of this Babylonian confusion
44:10 of prophecy, Nebuchadnezzar was saved in the end.
44:14 There's a message here for us.
44:16 There's a message here for us.
44:18 God has people in Babylon.
44:21 These people are honest at heart.
44:24 They have genuine fears and genuine concerns
44:26 and genuine questions about Bible prophecy,
44:30 about what the Bible teaches, about who God is.
44:34 And God is looking for Daniels today.
44:37 People who are more concerned about others than
44:40 they are about themselves.
44:41 People who may be more concerned about themselves
44:44 than they are about others, but they're willing to
44:45 connect with God in such a way that God can change them and
44:48 cause them to be more concerned about others
44:50 than they are about themselves.
44:52 Any people who are willing to follow Jesus wherever He goes.
44:58 You don't have to be perfect, you don't have to have arrived,
45:00 you don't have to be free from the temptations
45:03 and the weaknesses that all of us have in the flesh.
45:06 You don't have to pretend with God.
45:08 Even Jesus said, "God, I don't want to go to Calvary.
45:11 I don't want to go to Gethsemane.
45:13 I don't want to bear this cup."
45:14 Even Jesus was honest with God.
45:17 God can deal with that.
45:19 It's when we pretend, Laodicea, when we pretend that
45:21 everything is okay, that's when we're in trouble.
45:25 But God can handle our realities.
45:28 Surely He can.
45:30 He loves us unconditionally.
45:33 And only His love can change those realities
45:35 into who He is and what He wants us to be.
45:42 So there are people in Babylon.
45:44 Look at it with me.
45:46 There are people who are building upon the foundation,
45:48 1 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 11,
45:50 there are people who are building upon the foundation
45:53 of Jesus Christ.
45:54 1 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 11.
45:56 The same way that Nebuchadnezzar was building.
45:58 They're building wrong stuff.
46:01 He had the foundation but he build an image all of gold.
46:03 He wanted Babylon to continue.
46:05 He was afraid for the future.
46:06 God got him straightened out.
46:08 Daniel didn't give up on him.
46:09 God didn't give up on him.
46:11 There are people in...
46:13 1 Corinthians chapter 3.
46:14 And I believe that Paul may be borrowing
46:15 from this statue of Daniel.
46:17 He may be borrowing from the language of the prophecies
46:19 of Daniel when he talks in 1 Corinthians chapter 3.
46:21 He says, "For other foundation," verse 11,
46:24 "can no man lay than that is laid, which is..." Who?
46:28 Jesus.
46:29 Or we could say, the everlasting gospel.
46:32 There's no other foundation but the everlasting gospel.
46:34 Now notice this, verse 12.
46:36 "Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver,
46:40 and precious stones..."
46:41 That's the way the image comes.
46:44 It's gold, it's silver, it's brass, it's iron.
46:46 It has these different metals.
46:51 Then he goes on to say, "wood, hay, and stubble.
46:55 Paul here is differentiating between good and bad material.
46:58 The good material is gold, silver, and precious stones.
47:00 The bad material is wood, hay, and stubble.
47:02 We know this because he's about to identify for us
47:05 what's going to happen when the fire comes.
47:08 When the fire, when the test and the trials of life come.
47:15 Verse 13, "Every man's work is manifest.
47:18 For the day declares it, because it shall be revealed by fire;
47:21 and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.
47:24 If any man's work abide that he has built thereupon,
47:28 he shall receive a reward."
47:30 So if you have Jesus as the foundation
47:32 and you are building on that foundation
47:34 gold and silver and precious stones, if you have the right
47:37 theology and a right understanding of
47:38 Bible prophecy and you understand the
47:40 everlasting gospel, praise God.
47:41 That's super, that's fantastic.
47:45 Praise the Lord.
47:46 But don't forget the other people.
47:49 Because God loves them too.
47:51 And you're not better than them.
47:54 They have a foundation.
47:57 They may be building on that foundation wood, hay, and
47:59 stubble, but hold on just a second.
48:00 Notice what it says here.
48:03 "If any man's work shall be burned,"
48:05 wood, hay, and stubble, verse 15,
48:07 "he shall suffer loss.
48:09 But he himself shall be saved;
48:14 yet as by fire."
48:15 It's going to be a trial.
48:17 I mean, when the church is not raptured...
48:20 Be with me now.
48:21 When the church is not raptured,
48:24 and the seven last plagues come,
48:26 and the antichrist is set up,
48:28 and everyone is still here,
48:30 that's going to be a hard trial for some Christians.
48:33 What are we going to be doing?
48:35 "I told you so."
48:38 I hope not.
48:40 We are going to be doing whatever it is that
48:42 Jesus would be doing at that time.
48:45 I mean, look at His life.
48:48 Jesus, when He was on this earth ministering,
48:50 He went to talk to the Samaritans.
48:52 Jews wouldn't touch the Samaritans.
48:54 He went to talk to the centurion.
48:56 He went to talk to the Phoenicians.
48:58 He went to talk to the Greeks.
49:00 He talked to everyone; the publicans, the sinners.
49:03 Jesus even sought out the Pharisees.
49:07 Sshhh, don't tell anyone that.
49:11 He went everywhere seeking everyone.
49:14 He didn't limit Himself to some group or some people.
49:18 Jesus was our example in all things.
49:23 It's going to be difficult...
49:25 ...for them.
49:27 And for us.
49:29 When our little pet doctrines and our little pet
49:32 understandings of Scripture don't pan out.
49:36 If we think that there is not a cherished opinion
49:40 that we're going to have to give up, we are going to be
49:42 sadly disappointed.
49:44 And when those times happen, we just need to allow God
49:47 to humble us.
49:50 I mean, look at Daniel.
49:52 Daniel is like this guy that is just incredible.
49:54 I mean, he's just a man without fault, He's just blameless.
49:57 He's just writing out these prophecies;
49:58 boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.
50:01 And all of a sudden, he comes to one and he says, "You know what?
50:04 I don't get this.
50:05 I just don't understand it, I just don't get it."
50:09 And God says, "Well it's okay, Daniel.
50:11 I'll seal that one up.
50:12 That's not for you to understand."
50:13 "But I want to understand all of it."
50:15 "Sorry."
50:16 Can you handle that?
50:20 Can we handle that we don't have all the answers?
50:21 Can we handle that only God is all wise and all knowing
50:25 and all understanding?
50:27 Can we trust ourselves with Him?
50:34 The message that God has for us in the fall of Babylon
50:39 is a message of good news.
50:41 Why?
50:44 Because even though Nebuchadnezzar was
50:45 afraid that his world was going to come to an end,
50:47 it had to come to an end.
50:50 This world is filled with greed and selfishness.
50:55 You're reminded of that every time you fill up your gas tank.
50:58 Wickedness, sex trafficking, mass murders, political war.
51:05 Political war.
51:08 Exploitation.
51:10 It's got to come to an end.
51:12 God wants to end it all.
51:14 Why do we look at this world the way that we do?
51:16 Well maybe because we live in America, I don't know.
51:18 Maybe we're oblivious to all this stuff.
51:19 I'm so thankful now for all of the different ways that
51:23 we can communicate with the rest of the world.
51:25 Take a look out there and see what's happening.
51:27 You need to see it.
51:28 Because it will make you sick to your stomach.
51:31 And it will make you long for an end.
51:33 It will make you long for the end, for the fall of Babylon.
51:37 Read Revelation chapter 18 and understand what's taking place
51:40 it the world today, because it's all right there.
51:42 The slaves and souls of men being bought and sold.
51:45 It's all right there.
51:47 Someone asked me about ten years ago, they said,
51:48 "You know, I read that there's going to be
51:50 slavery in the end of time.
51:51 I don't see how there could be slavery in the end of time."
51:53 Well now we know how there could be slavery in the end of time.
51:56 Right in our back yard.
51:58 There's more sex slave traffic on I-5 than anywhere else.
52:01 That's where I live, right on the I-5 freeway.
52:03 Between California and Canada.
52:06 It's sickening, it's heart sickening.
52:09 And when I'm driving that freeway and I'm thinking about
52:11 what's going on around me, I just don't even know
52:15 how God handles it.
52:20 God longs for the end to come.
52:23 But it cannot come until everyone has had an
52:26 opportunity to hear of His unconditional love
52:30 for them individually.
52:32 And that gospel has got to break through all of the confusion
52:35 that Babylon is, that Babylon has brought to this world.
52:39 It's got to help us to understand what it means
52:42 in that context, what it means to fear God
52:47 and give glory to Him.
52:48 The hour of His judgment has come.
52:50 What that means in the context of good news.
52:54 And that's what we need to look at
52:57 as we study this everlasting gospel message.
52:59 It is not a message that primarily focuses on
53:02 one denomination or one church.
53:05 It is a message that lifts up the gospel so that
53:08 Babylon can be discerned and understood
53:10 wherever it lies, wherever its slimy, dirty, filthy
53:17 remains remain...
53:20 ...in the deep recesses of our own hearts.
53:22 So the gospel can bring it to light and crush it out.
53:27 Crush out that slime of selfishness
53:29 and make us new people in Jesus.
53:31 2 Corinthians, just a few pages over from 1 Corinthians,
53:36 is where we'll close this morning.
53:38 2 Corinthians chapter 5.
53:44 We're tired, some of us.
53:46 I've been preaching the gospel for 30 years now.
53:49 I know, I started when I was 5 years old.
53:55 We're older, we're more worn.
53:57 I'm officially now a member of AARP.
54:02 Some of you can relate to that.
54:03 Some of you don't have a clue of what AARP is.
54:05 If you don't, good for you.
54:07 Stay young.
54:12 We get weary.
54:14 Our motivation lags.
54:16 We wonder what's going to keep us going.
54:18 Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians chapter 5 what kept him going.
54:23 He says in verse 14, "For the love of Christ constrains us."
54:29 The love of Christ constrains us, it motivates us.
54:32 It pushes us on.
54:34 There's nothing else, there's no news or information
54:37 or intellectual understanding of anything that's going to
54:40 motivate you like the love of Christ.
54:42 And if your motivation is lagging, if you feel like
54:45 your losing motivation, you need to lay everything aside,
54:48 everything that's in your life, everything that's
54:49 surrounding you, everything, and you need to go back again
54:52 and just fill yourself with the love of Jesus Christ.
54:55 Don't listen to anything, don't watch anything,
54:57 unless it's talking about the love of Jesus.
54:59 And when you get filled with that love,
55:03 then you need to just let God lead you to do this.
55:06 Notice what it says.
55:08 "For the love of Christ constrains us,
55:09 because we thus judge," start judging this way,
55:12 "that if one died for all, then all died."
55:15 That's what the New King James language says.
55:17 All were dead. All died.
55:19 What does that mean exactly?
55:20 It means that when Jesus died on the cross,
55:23 He didn't die for Himself.
55:24 Because He was innocent.
55:26 He died for you and for me.
55:28 But He didn't just die for us.
55:29 He's the Savior of all men, He died for everyone.
55:31 Therefore, He has taken upon Himself the sins of everyone.
55:35 Therefore, everyone died in Jesus, objectively.
55:39 So when you look at a person now, you don't see that person
55:43 in their sinful life, because Jesus died for those sins.
55:46 You see them in Jesus.
55:47 You see Jesus dying for them.
55:49 This is what it means in the context, verse 15.
55:52 "And that he died for all, that they which live should not
55:54 henceforth live for themselves, but unto him which
55:57 died for them and rose again."
55:59 So now you're not living for yourself anymore.
56:00 Notice what it says in verse 16.
56:02 "Wherefore henceforth we know no man after the flesh."
56:08 Now we're going to stop right there.
56:11 Because I'm going to let you study the rest of these verses
56:14 on your own.
56:15 But this is the kicker.
56:17 Henceforth, from now on, we don't know
56:20 anyone after the flesh.
56:21 Now I know you after the flesh and you know me after the flesh.
56:23 Let's just say.
56:25 I know some of you better than others.
56:28 My wife knows me better than any of you,
56:30 after the flesh.
56:33 But she doesn't know me after the flesh.
56:35 Because everything that she knows about me that is
56:37 faulty and sinful and wrong, Jesus died to redeem.
56:42 And so she doesn't see me after the flesh anymore.
56:45 See, and that's what he means in verse 17.
56:47 He says, "If any man is in Christ, he's a new creature."
56:49 He sees things differently.
56:51 He's not just new in the sense that,
56:53 "Oh, I've been born again. I'm going to heaven."
56:54 He's new in the sense that he sees other people differently.
56:57 He has a whole new way of looking at people.
56:59 He's motivated by the love of God.
57:01 And that destroys Babylon.
57:05 It's not just a proclamation, friends.
57:07 It's an experience that God wants us to have.
57:10 And there's only one way that we can have this experience,
57:12 today and every day.
57:14 And that is by asking God to take over.
57:17 Would you like to have that experience today?
57:21 Let's pray together.
57:22 Father in heaven, we're going to ask You right now to take over.
57:26 To take our hearts, we can't give them.
57:28 But they're Your property.
57:30 To save us in spite of our selves,
57:32 our weak unChrist-like selves.
57:34 To mold us, to fashion us, to raise us into a pure
57:37 and holy atmosphere.
57:38 Father, You can do it.


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Revised 2014-12-17