Participants: Jim Burr
Series Code: HDS
Program Code: HDS000017A
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00:23 Welcome to Heavens Declare. I'm Jim Burr and we're here to 00:28 share more programs. The title of our program today would be 00:32 The Great Controversy and it's a space story. It starts in 00:39 space, outside of the earth. But before we get to that someone 00:46 was asking me just today what about these planets that are 00:51 headed toward earth that are going to knock earth off it's 00:55 orbit? And it's always the same thing that's been going around 00:59 the internet for years. There's some planet coming our way. NASA 01:03 knows about it. They won't tell anybody because their afraid 01:10 people will freak out over this. Actually in February 2016 a man 01:14 was actually killed in India. You can go on the internet and 01:18 see the picture of a hole in the ground where an asteroid came 01:22 and yes there are, as we've talked about before, thousands 01:27 of asteroids that cross the orbit of our earth. But right 01:32 now we don't know of any that are going to crash and NASA is 01:38 looking for these things. In fact, there was one in, I think 01:43 it was, February 2014. It was a tremendous thing. It hit Russia. 01:48 Every year we have several that get quite close to the earth, 01:53 come within the orbit of our geosynchronous satellites. These 01:57 satellites are broadcast at 23,000 miles out there and we 02:02 had one in 2016 that actually came inside the orbit of the 02:07 geosynchronous satellites. There's actually been a space 02:12 watch program. NASA has a space watch program. You could get a 02:18 grant of $25,000. University of North Dakota did and there's a 02:22 doctor in Flagstaff, Arizona that bought one of our big 18 02:26 inch telescopes and I've been down to see it. It's in an 02:30 observatory and he'll go around and take a picture of the sky 02:33 and completely cover the sky. Then four hours later he takes 02:37 the same picture. Then he goes to bed and next morning, he gets 02:42 up and he puts it on a computer. All the stars will be there but 02:46 an asteroid moving our way would cause a streak on the screen. 02:50 He's discovered over 500 of these earth-approaching 02:53 asteroids. So NASA is trying to find them. I mean, we could get 02:59 hit today. But every day of creation was very good so I 03:03 think this is something that has happened since the late heavy 03:09 bombardment which happened since creation, probably at the time 03:13 of the flood. We talked about that in one of our programs. If 03:16 you have an interest in that you might want to get this series 03:23 from 3ABN, The Heavens Declare. The first graphic we have I want 03:30 to show you a little bit about what I do and that's design 03:33 telescopes, invent telescopes. This is the binocular telescope. 03:37 It's a six inch. So you get a six-inch telescope for each eye 03:41 and you see the lady looking down there into the scope. 03:45 You can see the two eye pieces. So you actually can look 03:50 straight up by looking straight down. You see it's got handle 03:54 bars so you can scan around the sky. The next graphic shows a 04:01 larger instrument. There's a 10- inch binocular telescope on the 04:08 right and then the 14-inch on the left. This is kind of a 04:12 world famous guy known in the field of astronomy, Tony Hallis, 04:15 and he bought the 10-inch telescope and then I began 04:19 getting e-mails from him. One day there was a message saying 04:22 he would never, ever, ever, ever look through a one eye piece 04:25 telescope again. Another day he sent me an e-mail saying that 04:29 he had more aesthetic pleasure in three nights with this 10 04:33 inch binocular than he did with a 25-inch telescope. He came 04:36 back and traded it in on a larger binocular. But I want to 04:41 show you the scope that he had and he said that this 10-inch 04:45 scope out performed this humongous 25-inch scope that you 04:49 see on the screen. Can you imagine moving one of those 04:52 instruments? That is a major job moving and setting it up and 04:56 dismantling it and he said that little 10-inch binocular 05:00 actually out-performed and he had more aesthetic pleasure in 05:04 three nights than he had in a whole year with that big 05:08 monstrosity. Then he got the 14-inch binocular telescope. 05:13 You see when you use just one eye you get eye fatigue, your 05:17 eye gets tired when you just look with one eye. But with the 05:21 binocular using both eyes... You walk around for a day like this 05:24 you can see what life looks like You see more than double 05:28 actually and your eyes dilate and the longer you look the more 05:35 you see. So a binocular telescope, there's nothing like 05:39 that. So today we want to talk about the great controversy. 05:44 This is something that started in heaven and you can find this 05:50 in Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28 which talk about war in heaven. 05:56 So I'd like to read from Isaiah 14. In verse 12 it says... 06:29 You know, like God himself. Well Lucifer did not have the ability 06:33 to create. If we go over to Ezekiel 28, it's always easy to 06:39 remember that, you take Isaiah 14 and just double it, Ezekiel 06:44 28 tells more about this. In verse 13 it says:... 07:31 And so we see there was war in heaven. The Bible tells us 07:35 Michael and his angels fought against Satan and his angels. 07:40 It may have been more a battle of rhetoric, a war of words, 07:44 because you see Satan using the I, I, I, will do that. The Bible 07:49 tells us he's the accuser of the brethren and apparently the 07:56 accuser of God. So he was a trouble maker and he talked to 08:02 angels. We have 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands and 08:05 thousands of angels and Lucifer had apparently had conversation 08:10 probably with every one of those angels 08:12 because the Bible tells us that 08:14 one-third of the angels followed him, left God, and two-thirds of 08:21 the angels decided to stay with God. I had a problem in my work 08:27 place some years ago and I had a fellow that was causing a lot 08:31 of problems in the work place and when I'd be gone on weekends 08:35 lecturing I'd come back and I had some disgruntled employees 08:39 and I eventually lost about a third of my employees. I wasn't 08:43 really sure how it happened, who was the trouble maker at the 08:46 very beginning but a third of them left and about two-thirds 08:49 of them stayed. Now he was obviously talking about me and 08:55 whatever it was he was saying and the employees that stayed, 08:59 they heard him talking about me they'd be wondering was this 09:04 true? Was this true? Was there any truth to this? So I would 09:08 assume that what Lucifer was saying about God to all the 09:13 angels, he was trying to recruit everybody. He wanted everybody 09:14 to go with him but two-thirds stayed with God but in their 09:19 minds wouldn't they be wondering was there any truth to what they 09:25 they heard. So we had war in heaven. When you have a conflict 09:31 like that you need a jury to decide who's true, who's right, 09:38 who's wrong. Satan was the accuser of the brethren. If God 09:43 had just destroyed Satan... I mean, he knew he was right, he 09:47 knew the devil was wrong, he could have just zapped him and 09:50 he'd have been gone. But in a court room setting, I want to 09:54 think about this great controversy from the picture of 09:57 a court room. In the court room setting, you've got to have 10:03 somebody neutral. You've got to have the jury. You know how 10:07 careful they are in selecting a jury, they're so careful about 10:12 that. They quiz them, they question them. Do you believe 10:15 in the death penalty? Have you read the newspapers? Do you know 10:19 anything about the case? They're very, very careful in selecting 10:23 a jury. Well you've got to find somebody neutral, somebody that 10:26 isn't starting out with opinion. Well there was nobody in the 10:29 the universe that was neutral. You see a third, according to 10:33 the Bible, had gone with Satan, two-thirds stayed with God. Who 10:37 is going to be the judge? God's hands were tied. He could not 10:42 destroy Lucifer because what happens in a court room if the 10:47 defendant kills the plaintiff, you see? Who's guilty? What is 10:53 the jury going to say? So God said, can't get rid of him. 10:59 We're going to have to take this court to the earth and let the 11:07 earth... You know we're a spectacle to the angels. The 11:09 angels will be watching this. Let us see what the result is, 11:15 let this play out. Let's see how bad things get with a devil in 11:20 control of the earth. He's called the god of this world. 11:24 I don't know if you knew the Bible says that, the god of this 11:26 world, small g, 11:28 OK. He's the god of this world. So here we have earth as a 11:34 court room and God is on trial here. God put himself on trial. 11:40 So we see all the misery. You see this is the most difficult 11:44 question that I hear people call in on the radio all the time. 11:48 The most difficult question pastors have to deal with is why 11:53 do bad things happen to good people? You hear people call in 11:56 and you know their heart is broken. My friend, my brother, 12:00 you know was such a good Christian and they got hit by a 12:05 train or truck or something. Or they got cancer. Starving 12:09 children, where is God? People have this question. You know 12:12 atheists even come at us with these questions. If there's a 12:15 God why are there starving children? Why is there war? Why 12:17 is there so much abuse and blood shed on this planet? 12:22 But we need to put the blame where it is, where it needs to 12:28 go and that is to Satan because he causes all the problems. Did 12:33 ever see a child that could get their brother or sister in 12:36 trouble? There are some kids that are just masters at getting 12:40 their brother and sister in trouble. So this is kind of 12:43 what's going on here on earth. The devil causes all the 12:47 problems he can cause because he knows that God's going to get 12:50 the blame. Starving children, where is God? People ask those 12:54 questions. So we see the result of misery, war and death and 12:58 destruction and disease and we see all this stuff on earth and 13:01 it's caused by Satan. God says I'm going to show you my 13:07 goodness. Moses said to the Lord let me see your glory and the 13:12 Lord said I will make my goodness pass before you. 13:15 So the Lord shows us all his beautiful creation, whether 13:19 we're talking about the universe whether we're talking about the 13:22 microscope, the mountains, the trees, the hills, the flowers, 13:25 the little children, you know, all of the things God has 13:29 created and it is so amazing. I have discovered that he has 13:33 given you 20,000 herbs and spices. The Bible says he 13:37 satisfies your mouth with good things. You know he wouldn't 13:41 have had to give you cinnamon. You like cinnamon on your rolls? 13:47 You like oregano for your pizza? You think of cumin and oregano, 13:52 all the things God has given us to just add. We wouldn't need 13:56 all of that. But it's just the goodness of God that he's given 14:00 us thousands of foods. What a creator. All the beautiful 14:06 things. He's just done everything to show us his 14:10 goodness. The Bible tells us in Romans that the goodness of the 14:15 Lord leads us to repentance and we all need to be repenting 14:19 because we're all sinners, aren't we? So in the court room 14:22 scene, this earth being the court room, the angels are 14:26 watching. We're a spectacle to the angels, we're a spectacle to 14:31 the universe. Now if God decides to solve every problem, cure 14:37 every cancer, feed every child on earth, that's tampering with 14:42 the evidence. In a court room scene, if you tamper with the 14:47 evidence, what happens? You have a mistrial. If God fixes every 14:51 problem on earth, and he does answer our prayer, I've seen him 14:55 answer prayer, I know he answers prayers, he wants to answer 14:59 prayer, but he does not solve every problem on earth because 15:03 the devil is the god of this world. Again, it's a small g. 15:07 He's the ruler of this world. If God solved every problem, that's 15:12 tampering with the evidence. We have a mistrial. You see if he 15:17 solved every problem on earth the angels who are watching us 15:22 go like huh, God says he's really bad. I don't see he is so 15:28 bad. You see the problem? God can't tamper with the evidence. 15:33 Some people have told me this really helps to understand why 15:38 bad things happen to good people you see. Once again, I've seen 15:43 God answer prayer right in front of my eyes. Some stories I can't 15:49 tell you because people might be watching who would know these 15:53 stories, but I tell you, I have seen prayers answered over and 15:58 over again. But yet this earth is a court room. God is on trial 16:04 here and God can't solve every problem, because that would be 16:12 tampering with the evidence. If we look at Revelation 12:10, it 16:19 says: And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven now is 16:23 salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power 16:27 of Christ, for the accuser of the brethren is cast down which 16:31 accused them before God day and night and they overcame him by 16:36 the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony. 16:38 And they loved not their life to the death. Freedom is important 16:43 to God. Revelation 12:12, Rejoice ye heavens, woe to the 16:47 earth because Satan is cast down. Heavens rejoice, rejoice, 16:52 rejoice ye heavens, the devil is cast out of heaven but woe, woe 16:57 to the earth because he is cast down to the earth. He's very 17:04 angry because he knows that he has a short time. So along this 17:08 line, why did Jesus have to die? People say will Jesus died for 17:13 my sins. Why did Jesus have to die? I think a way of talking 17:17 about that and illustrating that and expanding on that a little 17:22 bit, you know, if you get a ticket and you go before the 17:29 judge and the judge says you know don't worry about it. We're 17:34 all about grace, come on we don't want to make anybody mad 17:40 or angry. Just be careful but don't worry about paying the 17:46 fine, OK. And that's the way some people want grace, you see. 17:52 They just want grace. They don't want to hear about the scripture 17:56 that says straight is the gate, and narrow is the way and few 18:01 there be that find it. The scripture that says there is a 18:05 holiness without which no one will see the Lord. I think that 18:10 is probably the holiness of Christ. But if the judge is just 18:14 all about grace, what kind of a planet do we live on, what kind 18:18 of a world do we live on? Don't worry, there's no penalty, you 18:25 see. Now if you get a ticket, you go before the judge, and the 18:30 judge says that will be $100 for running that red light, the 18:35 judge doesn't care who pays the fine. He doesn't care, just pay 18:39 the fine. Your very best friend could come in and write a check 18:44 and the judge is happy; the judge is happy. But if it's your 18:48 very best friend that paid the bill are you going to keep 18:54 running red lights, keep speeding? You see if you have 19:00 respect for the law because the law has some teeth, the law has 19:03 a penalty. If the judge just says, you know, don't worry 19:07 about it, it's all about grace and we don't do any penalties 19:11 here and you disregard the law you wouldn't want to live in a 19:15 place like that would you because it wouldn't be safe. 19:17 Everybody would be running red lights and nobody paying any 19:24 attention to the law. So the law has to have some teeth in it. 19:30 So, again, the judge doesn't care who pays the fine. But when 19:38 it comes to the law of God, you see, we're bankrupt, we're all 19:43 sinful. You look at Romans 5. It talks about in Adam, what 19:48 happened in Adam, it passed to all men, death and sin by one, 19:53 it passed to all of us. You and I might say why is that fair. 19:57 I wish I'd been back in the Garden of Eden. I'd like to have 20:02 a shot at that. Why is it fair for me to be condemned because 20:08 of Adam's sin. Well you read in Romans 5, five times in Romans 20:13 5 it talks about the fact that death came by one man but the 20:18 word says much more has been given to us in Christ. Much more 20:23 has been given to us in Christ. So what we lost in Adam, and we 20:27 weren't there to have a part in it but we have inherited that 20:31 through Adam. It tells us in Romans 5, five times that God 20:35 has given us much more much more in Christ. The debt for that sin 20:47 that we have committed is so great it would take the richest 20:53 person billions and billions on earth and it still wouldn't 20:58 pay the debt. But you see Jesus had credentials to pay the debt. 21:03 Now Jesus is your best friend. Do you respect the law, do you 21:08 obey the law, do you follow the law? Yes, if your best friend 21:12 gets you out of jail, your best friend gets you out of trouble, 21:16 now you have respect for the law. You see you can't run a 21:22 company or a family or a nation or a universe without law and 21:29 it's law that makes it civil, you have to have law to run 21:35 anything and everything. So therefore, you have respect for 21:40 the law because there are some teeth in the law. Now a 21:44 conversation that goes on in the Christian world. Are you going 21:51 be sinning until Jesus comes? This is a debate that goes on in 21:57 Sabbath School classes and other meetings. Some say yes, I'm just 22:01 human; I'm going to be sinning till Jesus comes. And others say 22:06 no you have to be perfect, you have to be an overcomer, 22:11 perfectly overcome before the end, the second coming. Some 22:16 thoughts I have on that I'd like to share with you. Will you be 22:22 sinning till Jesus comes? Yes and no. Yes and no. People use 22:25 the excuse and say well I'm just human, I'm just human you know. 22:32 And some use that as excuse for living a sinful life, excusing 22:38 their sins. The Bible would say making provision for the flesh. 22:43 I guess Ellen White would say that, that people are making 22:46 provision for the flesh. I'm just human. You know, I'm going 22:49 sin because I'm just human. And yes, we are human and yes we make 22:54 mistakes. We make mistakes right here trying to tape this program 22:59 because sometimes the words come out wrong and we have to go 23:01 back and redo it again. We're human, we do make mistakes. 23:04 I'd like to suggest you probably can't get in your car and drive 23:08 for a couple of hours without make some mistakes. You're going 23:11 go over the line, you're going to speed, you're not going to 23:15 a complete stop. Because we're human we make those mistakes. 23:21 So yes. But if we are planning or making provision for those 23:30 mistakes. You see that's where the grace comes in. So I guess 23:38 I would say that we are not going to be making plans to sin 23:44 until Jesus comes. We need to overcome those inherited and 23:51 cultivated tendencies to sin. We must overcome those. But we're 23:56 do we make mistakes, yes, because Ellen White tells us 23:59 that as long as life shall last we shall have self to subdue 24:05 and besetting sins to overcome. So are you going to sin till 24:09 Jesus comes? We are not going to be preparing to sin, we're 24:13 not going to be planning to sin. We're not going to be making 24:16 provisions for our sin. We're not going to be excusing our sin 24:19 and say well I'm only human and therefore, I'm going to be 24:26 sinning tell Jesus comes. So we need to pray for power to 24:32 overcome. In this program, back a ways, we were talking about 24:36 the fact that God put this incredible power in a paper clip 24:41 and in a penny. The energy in the atoms of the penny is, if 24:47 you could convert that to chemical energy, it would be 24:50 2.2 million gallons of gasoline. In a paper clip, there is enough 24:56 in those atoms to create and to make 18,000 tons of TNT, in a 25:01 paper clip. So with that kind of power, God can speak that power 25:06 into the atom. Do you think that your problems are big for him? 25:11 If even in a paper clip the energy there would be equal to 25:16 18,000 tons of TNT. We have another statement from Ellen 25:22 White where she says that Satan knows better than the children 25:26 of God the power that they can have over him when their trust 25:32 is in Christ. So yes folks, are we sinning till Jesus comes? 25:38 Yes, and no. We're human as long as life shall last we have self 25:43 to subdue, besetting sins to overcome, but folks if we are 25:47 saying well you know I know I'm a sinner and it's because I'm 25:51 human I make these mistakes. Yes, we do make mistakes, but we 25:54 don't prepare for them, we don't plan for them, we don't cherish 25:58 them, we discuss it with him, we hate them and we are longing and 26:04 praying for the day when we can be total overcomers and the 26:09 power is in Christ. I love that. Satan knows better, I mean he 26:14 knows he's defeated. Satan knows better than the children of God 26:18 the power they can have when their trust is in Christ. 26:24 The other grave concern I have folks is the Bible says love not 26:29 the world. I have a real concern because I see it in so many 26:33 families. I see people who can't get through the weekend without 26:37 a blockbuster movie and being caught up in the music and the 26:40 materialism and the sports, all the things of this world. 26:45 The Bible says love not the world and I'm afraid that people 26:50 would not enjoy heaven, the holiness of heaven. And how, 26:54 tell me how could a Christian watch a Hollywood movie with all 26:58 the violence and all the blood shed and all the profanity, when 27:02 the angels cover their faces, the angels who never sin, cover 27:05 their faces when they speak God's name. Folks, there is a 27:08 holiness without which no one will see the Lord. We need to 27:12 put away the world, the things of the world, all the things of 27:15 the world, we need to put them away. God is not going to 27:19 torture you in hell or in heaven I know Christians... I've been 27:23 their home and I've seen the Hollywood movies and I go like 27:27 they're not going to enjoy heaven if they can't get through the 27:31 weekend without watching a Hollywood movie. Well our time 27:34 is gone again. I want to thank you for watching Heavens Declare 27:38 We have more programs coming up. I just want to say thanks again. 27:42 God bless. |
Revised 2016-09-29