Participants: Frank Fournier
Series Code: HPOV
Program Code: HPOV000016A
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00:01 Hello, my name is Frank Fournier
00:03 I want to invite you to Heaven's Point of View. 00:06 We're still studying the Parable of Prodigal Son. 00:09 Go get your Bible come and join us, 00:11 we are having a good time. 00:42 Welcome again, take hold of your Bible now 00:45 we're about to receive another blessing. 00:47 Turn with me to Luke Chapter 15 00:50 and now we are going to go to verse 13. 00:52 In the last two studies we did together, 00:54 we only got one verse done for each sermon 00:59 but now we're going to do three of them in this next one. 01:01 We're in verse 13 we're in the Parable of the Prodigal Son. 01:05 "And not many days 01:06 after the younger son gathered all together, 01:08 took his journey into a far country, 01:11 and there wasted his substance with riotous living." 01:16 Wow. 01:18 Jesus says that the young man went into a far country. 01:22 Do you know that we don't have to go very far 01:24 to go into a far country? 01:26 As a matter of fact I think we could accomplish 01:27 that in a very comforts of our own living rooms, 01:30 all we would have to do is turn our backs on God. 01:36 That's why Jesus said he was going too far. 01:39 Jesus himself never went that far it was too far. 01:43 Friends, don't turn your backs on God. 01:46 Now, Jesus as you know is our substitute, 01:51 He went to the cross on our behalf, 01:53 He paid for our sins, 01:55 He died our death and He gives us His life. 01:58 But do you know that Jesus is not just our substitute 02:02 that He is also our example. 02:04 Turn with me to Hebrews Chapter 4. 02:07 We're going to go to Hebrews Chapter 4 now 02:11 and we are going to see what Jesus experienced. 02:14 We're in verse 15, "For we have not an high priest 02:18 which cannot be touched 02:19 with the feeling of our infirmities 02:21 but was in all points tempted like as we are." 02:25 When Jesus came to this world 02:27 He came to live life as we have to live it. 02:30 He set aside His divinity, 02:31 He took up on himself our humanity and apparently 02:35 He was tempted in every respect 02:37 like you and I are tempted 02:38 and He met these temptations with the same equipment 02:42 that you and I have, 02:43 yet He met these temptations successfully. 02:47 Isn't that amazing? 02:48 Do you know why He was able to do that? 02:50 I will have you turn with me to John Chapter 5. 02:54 John Chapter 5, very interesting verses there. 02:58 We're gonna look at two verses in John Chapter 5 03:01 and we're going to see that Jesus says something 03:04 which is incredible to say. 03:06 Actually we are in John Chapter 5 03:09 and we are looking at verse 19. 03:13 Verse 19, John Chapter 5, 03:15 "Then answered Jesus and said to them, 03:18 Verily, verily, I say unto you, 03:20 The Son can do nothing of himself." 03:24 Really? How could Jesus say that? 03:28 He is God, He came down from heaven, 03:30 He came down to this world 03:32 don't tell me He can't do anything. 03:34 But Jesus says He can't. 03:36 Verse 30 He says the same thing. 03:38 "I can of mine own self do nothing." 03:41 Do you know why Jesus said that? 03:43 Because that's the position you and I are in. 03:46 In John Chapter 15, excuse me, yeah John 15:5, 03:50 Jesus said, without Me you can do what? 03:53 Well, you can do nothing. 03:54 Well, friends, if without God we can do nothing 03:58 then Jesus had to come down to this world, 04:00 take the position we're in, take the circumstances we're in, 04:03 take the equipment that we have 04:05 and He had to meet life just like we have to do. 04:09 He put Himself in the position 04:11 where He could do nothing of Himself. 04:15 And this is to teach us that we could live as He lived 04:20 because He accomplished great things by the way. 04:23 Turn with me to John Chapter 14. 04:26 John Chapter 14 and we are looking at verse 10. 04:32 Very interesting John 14:10, 04:35 Believest thou me Jesus speaking, 04:37 "Believest thou not that I am in the Father, 04:40 and the Father is in me? 04:41 The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself, 04:45 but the Father that dwelleth in me, 04:48 he doeth the works." 04:50 Now, did Jesus ever perform great miracles? 04:53 Why, no. 04:55 He says so Himself, 04:56 all the miracles that were performed, 04:58 were performed by his Father through Him. 05:02 Because Jesus came to this world 05:05 to live life as we have to live it. 05:07 Do you think that it is possible 05:09 that you and I could live life that way as Jesus did? 05:12 Why sure, this is what the Bible is trying to teach. 05:16 He came down set aside 05:18 His divinity took on our humanity 05:21 that we might put aside our divinity, 05:23 put aside our carnal natures, take up His divinity 05:26 and walk as Jesus walked. 05:30 It's a fantastic thought. 05:33 You might wonder well, 05:35 how is it that I can't perform miracles like He did? 05:39 Look at verse 12 we're still in John Chapter 14, 05:42 we're looking at verse 12. 05:44 "Verily, verily, I say to you, He that believes on me, 05:48 the works that I do shall he do also 05:52 and greater works than these shall he do" Isn't that amazing? 05:56 This is what Jesus is saying. 05:58 If you believe in Him, 06:01 when Jesus was here down here below 06:04 He lived life like we have to live it, 06:05 He lived it by faith. 06:08 When He met someone that had a need 06:10 He would reach up to His father 06:11 by faith and say, Father, I have need of help, 06:14 this lady needs this thing 06:16 or this man needs whatever he might need 06:18 and I need your help to perform this 06:20 and God would give Him the power to do it. 06:22 And then He said, 06:23 greater works than these shall you do 06:25 if you should exercise your faith as I did. 06:30 Isn't that amazing? 06:32 This is what God expects from us 06:35 and this is what we want to do, of course. 06:37 Let's go back to the Parable of the Prodigal Son, now 06:40 and we're going to go verse 14. 06:43 This is Luke Chapter 15 06:46 and now we're looking at verse 14. 06:50 "And when he had spent all," talking about the Prodigal Son, 06:54 he received his inheritance, he's gone out 06:57 and he's dissipated away his life and his money. 07:00 At this point he had spent it all, 07:02 so what it says, "And when he had spent all, 07:07 there arose a mighty famine in that land 07:10 and he began to be in want." 07:13 In other words, he began to feel a need. 07:17 Friends, from the soul that feels 07:19 his need nothing is withheld. 07:23 The Prodigal Son had been freely giving all things, 07:27 all things that he had been giving had meant to speak 07:29 to his heart of his Father's love, 07:31 it had meant to turn his heart toward home, 07:35 it meant to lead him to repentance. 07:37 But did it do it? 07:38 No, it didn't do it because he was said, 07:40 he was focused, he knew what he wanted. 07:42 He wanted his money and he wanted to go in sin 07:44 that's what he wanted to do. 07:46 And so the gift didn't speak to his heart that way. 07:49 Now here is the question, 07:51 if you were the father of that boy 07:53 what would you have done? 07:55 I mean after all you've given him everything 07:57 you've got, is there anything left to give? 08:00 But friends, listen God is never stumped. 08:03 God always has something more that He can do. 08:05 As a matter of fact 08:07 you and I could've something more to do in that circumstance 08:10 should we ever be in that circumstance. 08:12 And I want you to see something, 08:14 I'm going to read a little quotation here 08:18 from Patriarchs and Prophets page 470. 08:21 Watch, watch, God speaks 08:23 to His people in blessings bestowed. 08:26 We saw in our last study that with His son 08:29 He has freely given us all things. 08:32 Oh, He has bestowed upon us blessing upon blessing 08:35 all meant to turn our heats toward Him. 08:39 And it says God speaks to us that way, 08:42 now watch and when these are not appreciated 08:46 He speaks to them in blessings removed. 08:50 Oh, no not that. That's not what we want. 08:54 You know, even human beings know how to operate that way. 08:58 Supposing you are a grandfather or grandmother 09:01 you have only one grandson he's three years old, 09:04 you love him to death 09:05 and what are you naturally going to do? 09:07 Well, you are going to buy him a gift. 09:08 Maybe you'll buy him a tricycle 09:09 and he has such a blessing, 09:11 such a good time driving around on his tricycle 09:14 and everything is wonderful 09:17 but the little boy still has a carnal nature you understand 09:20 and one day he is being disrespectful. 09:23 So what are you going to do, go out and buy him a gift? 09:25 No, no that's not what you are going to do this time. 09:28 This time you're going to take the tricycle 09:29 hang it up in the rafter somewhere 09:31 and say to the little boy, listen, 09:33 you can have your tricycle back if you're smarten up. 09:36 See, this is how we operate. 09:38 Well, friends, that's how God operates also. 09:43 Yeah, I had a friend in Canada. 09:48 He was a principal of a school. 09:49 I had the opportunity 09:51 of preaching these very sermons there at his school. 09:53 It was an academy 09:55 and after I had preached the sermons similar to this, 10:00 he came to me and he says I have a story to tell you. 10:02 He says, I was born in Saskatchewan 10:04 now that's a province in Canada and its very big 10:08 and the farms there, the ranches there 10:10 were 5,000, 7,000, 10,000 acres 10:12 that's how it was and he said he had a huge family 10:15 many extended family lots of boys 10:18 but he was the strongest one. 10:19 He had the biggest arms that what he said. 10:23 And he said also that this was 1950. 10:26 Do you know what happened in 1950? 10:28 In 1950 there was a polio epidemic 10:31 and it swept through the land but it didn't take anyone 10:35 from his family, not from the extended family, 10:37 it didn't take anyone that he knows except him. 10:41 And it didn't take anything from him 10:43 but his two arms. 10:44 Can you imagine? 10:45 Now really I don't know how polio operates, 10:48 some doctors tell me that polio starts in the feet 10:51 and begins to go up and settles in the body somewhere. 10:54 You know, I spent 10 years in Africa 10:56 and I saw a lot of people who'd had polio 10:58 and when polio was done with the people 11:01 they were all twisted and all deformed 11:04 but this man was not twisted nor was he deformed at all, 11:07 he is very good looking individual 11:09 and but he had no strength in his arms. 11:13 All that he could lift was a pen or a chalk 11:18 and so he became a school teacher 11:20 because he could lift at least that much. 11:22 Do you know what the man said to me, 11:25 he wanted me to know 11:26 that he was extremely grateful for what God have done. 11:30 You see, he had strength it was a gift from God, 11:34 it's wonderful to have strength. 11:35 I wish I was stronger but to save the man's soul 11:42 God took away that in which he was taking the glory. 11:45 Instead of giving the glory to God 11:47 he was taking the glory to himself. 11:54 Jonah said to, excuse me, God said to Jonah, 11:59 I want you to go Nineveh 12:01 and I want you to cry against it. 12:03 And Jonah said, I don't think so. 12:06 As a matter of fact, I've got to take it to Tarshish. 12:09 I'm going to Tarshish. 12:11 And so on his way God sent a storm. 12:17 Why did God send a storm? 12:19 Was it to drown the recalcitrant? 12:22 Oh, no, no the storm was sent to save Jonah from himself. 12:28 And so in the Parable of the Prodigal of Son, 12:30 God sends a feminine the land. 12:32 Is it to starve the Prodigal of Son to death? 12:35 Why no? 12:36 No, this is what God is going to use to save His soul. 12:42 Turn with me to Psalms 119. Psalms 119. 12:51 We're going to start with verse 67 in Psalms 119. 12:57 "Before I was afflicted I went astray." 13:01 Now what is it feel like before you are afflicted? 13:05 Well, friends it feels great. 13:07 I hate to be afflicted 13:09 but when I'm not afflicted everything is well 13:12 but the tendency is to go astray. 13:15 Doesn't the Bible say, 13:17 all we like sheep have gone astray, 13:20 we've turned everyone to our own way. 13:22 Do you know that having our own way is very pleasant 13:25 but it tends to have us go astray. 13:29 Verse 71, "It is good for me that I have not been afflicted." 13:35 Really? 13:36 Its what he says, this is the Psalms 13:37 and he says "that I might learn thy statutes." 13:42 And look at verse 75 this is the punch line really, 13:46 "I know, O Lord, that thy judgments are right, 13:49 and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me." 13:53 Did you notice in the verse, 13:54 who it is that's doing the afflicting here? 13:56 Why? It's God. 13:58 No, God wouldn't do that. 14:01 I mean are we not taught that if we become Christians 14:04 everything will be fine from here on now. 14:06 Well, friends, it isn't true. I think its Job that's said. 14:09 Job 14:1, "Man that is born of a woman 14:12 is a few days and full of trouble." 14:15 Why is there trouble in this in our lives? 14:18 Can I promise you anything? 14:20 Well, if I have anything to promise 14:22 is that you will have trouble. 14:25 Oh, it's a terrible promise but it is true. 14:28 Never mind we have a God in heaven, 14:30 He knows what to do with it 14:31 and He doesn't allow any trouble to go 14:33 one hare's breath beyond it, where it needs to go. 14:37 It is good for me 14:39 that I have been afflicted that I might learn. 14:45 Now the problem with that is that we are all different. 14:50 Some people learn their lessons gently, easily. 14:53 They read the Bible of God 14:54 and they say, oh, is that what God wants? 14:56 Why? I'll give it to Him. 14:59 Really? Yes. 15:00 There are people like that. 15:02 I suppose there are people like that. 15:03 Maybe we all take our Bibles 15:05 and just do that, read from cover to cover 15:07 and say 'yes' to God, 'yes' to God, all the time 15:10 and when we come to the end of the Bible 15:12 we will be like Jesus. 15:13 Well, it doesn't work quiet that way. 15:15 I understand we have a lot of struggles, 15:17 we have lot of temptations, the devil is not dead, 15:20 we are in a world of sin 15:21 and so we have to meet life as it is. 15:24 But friends, wouldn't it be better 15:26 if we learn the easy way? 15:29 Why is it that some people can't learn 15:32 but through the slow discipline of suffering? 15:40 Do you hear God's voice when He gives you a blessing? 15:45 Do you give Him the proper response? 15:48 Or does God have to go out of His way 15:50 to get your attention? 15:52 Do you know that God is serious? 15:55 He wants you. He wants your soul. 15:59 He wants you in the kingdom 16:01 and He is going to do whatever it takes 16:03 and if you are going to be stubborn 16:05 then He'll know what to do also. 16:08 Let's go back now to Luke Chapter 15 16:11 we are studying the Parable of the Prodigal Son 16:13 and we're going through it verse by verse. 16:16 We're in Luke Chapter 15. 16:20 And we are looking at verse 15 also. 16:23 "And he went," this is the Prodigal Son, 16:25 "he went and he joined himself to a citizen of that country 16:29 and that citizen sent him into the fields to feed swine." 16:35 Now you got to, you got to admire 16:38 Jesus Christ sense of humor. 16:43 Jewish people and pigs don't get along very well. 16:46 And this is who He is talking to 16:48 and He's giving them the parable 16:50 and before it's all over they are in the pig pen. 16:52 I can't imagine how they were relating to this thing 16:55 when He was giving it to them. 16:57 I just don't know 16:59 but in any case the Prodigal runs out of money, 17:01 he runs out of hope 17:03 I suppose we could say that, he needed help, 17:06 he tried the help himself that didn't work, 17:08 he went through a man of the far country 17:10 that didn't work, instead of turning to his father 17:13 he turned to that, to human beings. 17:16 Curse it is the man that trusts a man, 17:19 that's what the Bible says. 17:21 Now friends, why do we do that? 17:23 I mean, isn't that something we always do. 17:26 Do you know, when I was young the first car I bought cost $50. 17:31 How far do you go on with a $50 car? 17:35 Well, you know I don't know 17:38 today you wouldn't get down the block I guess 17:40 but six months after I bought that car 17:42 sold it for $150 it wasn't so was a bad deal really 17:46 but being that it was an old car 17:47 you can imagine I remember driving down the road 17:50 and all of a sudden my car begins to stutter 17:52 and sputter and to spit and of course it would stop. 17:55 Now what do you think it's the first thing I did 17:57 when my car would sputter and spit and stop? 18:00 Why? 18:01 I would open the hood of course. 18:02 Now I want you to know 18:04 I don't know anything about mechanizing a car. 18:06 I don't know what to do, 18:08 I don't know what I'm looking at but it just bigger than I am, 18:12 when I have a problem 18:13 I have to exhaust all my resources before I turn 18:17 for help outside of myself you understand. 18:19 So I would lift the hood, I would jiggle some wires 18:22 I would knock on the block or on the starter 18:24 or whatever it might be 18:25 and I would try too get the, the car started. 18:30 It doesn't work. 18:31 In 1997, when I was leaving Africa 18:36 I had one more assignment 18:37 I was asked to go up to the top of the mountain somewhere 18:40 and share a series of meetings with a group of people. 18:43 I don't remember who they were, 18:44 I don't even remember where it is, 18:46 all I remember is that this road was terrible. 18:49 It was a terrible road. 18:51 I did make it in with my four wheel drive to this village 18:53 and I did accomplish what I was sent to accomplish. 18:57 On my way out I ran into a bog, 19:01 I don't know the road disappeared 19:03 and I was up to my eye bruising mud as it were. 19:06 Well, anyway, what do you think I did? 19:08 Well, of course, the thing is to do jack up 19:11 the pickup put logs and put logs 19:13 and put whatever you can under it 19:15 and when you've got the pickup standing out of the water 19:17 then you crank it up and you drive out right? 19:20 Well, we did this over and over again 19:22 because every time we cranked it, 19:24 it went about six inches fell off the logs 19:26 and we were in the mud again. 19:28 Finally a young man came to me and he says, 19:30 don't you think we ought to pray? 19:32 Oh, I said as it come to that. 19:35 Well, I was kidding of course. 19:37 Why didn't we start with that? 19:38 Isn't that the way to go? 19:40 And so of course, we gathered the people 19:41 that were there, we had a word of prayer. 19:43 I jumped into the pickup, turn the key 19:46 and drove right out of the mud. 19:48 Isn't that amazing? 19:50 There is a God in heaven who hears our prayer. 19:52 It's amazing that we are so secular, 19:55 we are so scientific, 19:57 we understand cause to the effect 19:59 and if there's any effect there must be a cause 20:01 and so we try to solve problems with what we know. 20:05 But friends, the problems are bigger than we are 20:08 because the devil exists, you understand. 20:10 Do you remember Moses? 20:12 Now Moses was an admirable character of course, 20:16 and what's amazing to me in studying his life 20:19 is that, every time Moses had a problem, 20:24 he would go to the sanctuary 20:26 to the temple there in the wilderness 20:27 and he would throw himself on his face. 20:32 Now, if I was God I think 20:34 how to hit him by the side of the head. 20:35 Moses lived to be 120 years old 20:38 at 110 if he would have a problem he, 20:40 God could say, now wait a minute. 20:42 Didn't you face a problem 20:43 similar to this some time in the past? 20:45 Hey, do what you can. 20:46 But you know Moses never did that. 20:48 Do you know why he never did that? 20:51 Its because he knew that the devil, Satan 20:54 is far more intelligent than he is 20:56 and even if it's a problem he's had before 20:59 nothing is exactly the same 21:01 and the devil would've put a twist in it 21:04 and Moses did not waste his time trying this or that 21:08 to solve a problem. 21:09 He went straight to God threw himself on his face 21:12 and he said, Lord, I need your wisdom, 21:14 I need your help. 21:16 And Moses is known to be 21:17 the greatest human leader this world has ever known 21:21 and I believe that's the reason. 21:23 I do and I think that is the reason. 21:26 Turn with me to Jonah, 21:28 the Book of Jonah is not easy to find. 21:30 It's in the Minor Prophets. 21:31 We're gonna go to the Book of Jonah Chapter 1. 21:36 In Jonah Chapter 1, 21:38 we've already, we've already said if I can find Jonah, 21:43 there he is, 21:44 that God asked Jonah to go and cry against Ninevites. 21:48 Jonah refused and then there came a storm at sea 21:51 so unnatural, supernatural storm 21:56 that even the mariners knew something was different. 21:59 And so the captain went from mariner, sailor to sailor 22:02 and he said to them, do you know why the storm is here. 22:06 I mean, have you offended your God or what? 22:09 And everyone could just shrug and say, well, I don't know. 22:12 And he couldn't find anyone 22:14 who could explain why the storm was so ravaging. 22:18 So finally the captain goes down to the bottom of the ship 22:21 and there he finds Jonah and he calls him the sleeper. 22:25 Can you imagine the whole world is convulsing 22:28 and the symbol of Christianity here, 22:31 Jonah himself a prophet 22:33 is in the bottom of the ship sleeping? 22:37 Isn't that what Christianity is like? 22:39 The whole world is convulsing. 22:41 All the kinds of storms, all kinds of crimes, 22:44 all kinds of disease, all kinds of whatever, 22:48 and what are Christians doing? 22:49 Oh, friends, we are asleep. 22:54 We think we are increase with good in need of nothing. 22:56 We don't know the situation that we are in. 23:00 And so the captain takes Jonah up on deck 23:05 and he says to Jonah, do you have any idea 23:08 why this storm is so fierce? 23:10 And Jonah said, why sure, I do have an idea. 23:13 As a matter of fact it's on my account. 23:15 Now listen, I'm a prophet. 23:18 God speaks through me, now you do what I say 23:21 because God is telling you 23:22 what to do and everything will be all right. 23:26 Now, if these men had done what Jesus said, 23:29 what Jonah said to do they would've been all right 23:32 but I wanted you to notice what they did. 23:33 We're looking at verse 12 this is Jonah Chapter 1. 23:37 "And he said unto them, Take me up, 23:40 and cast me forth into the sea 23:42 so the shall be calm unto you, 23:44 for I know that for my sake 23:46 this great tempest is come upon you." 23:48 Now, did they do it? 23:50 Why no, verse 13, 23:53 "Nevertheless the men rowed hard to bring it to the land 23:56 but they could not for the sea was wrought, 23:59 and was tempestuous against them." 24:03 Isn't that amazing? 24:04 But somebody will says but how unreasonable is it, 24:07 I mean this command from God 24:09 that they throw man overboard is just not reasonable. 24:13 Well, friends, is it less reasonable 24:15 then for God to ask Abraham to sacrifice his own son? 24:19 How unreasonable is that? 24:22 And what about for a man to give his inheritance 24:25 to a boy that's too immature 24:27 or what about Elijah going to widow in Sarepta 24:30 and saying give me your last piece of breath 24:32 that I may eat 24:33 and the widow is about to die of starvation with her son. 24:37 How unreasonable is that? 24:39 But friends, when the command comes from God 24:43 it is no longer unreasonable. 24:47 It really is and so the Prodigal went to a man 24:52 of a far country looking, hoping to find help. 24:57 Do you think he found it? No, no. 25:01 Do you think he got any fatter? 25:03 No. 25:04 Did he get any richer? No, no. 25:08 Cursed is the man that trusts a man. 25:14 I remember going swimming with my father. 25:18 I was, this was the first 25:21 my first recollection of going swimming. 25:23 I was probably four years old. 25:25 We are at a beach, I assume we are in Canada, 25:27 I don't think my father ever left Canada. 25:30 You can imagine there are beaches in Canada 25:32 but anyway there are 25:33 and we were walking into the water 25:36 hand in hand with my father 25:37 and when we hit the water I said to my father, 25:40 dad, let me go I can do it myself. 25:44 I assume I don't remember this 25:46 but I assume he said to me, no, no, no, no 25:49 you've never done this before, you don't know 25:50 what you are facing come with me 25:52 and so when we had water up to our waist, 25:54 my waist not his, I said, dad let me go, 25:57 I can do it myself. 25:59 And we kept on going until I had water to my chin 26:03 and I said dad, let me go. 26:05 I can do this myself. 26:07 And do you know what he did, 26:09 why, he let me go. 26:11 Do you know what I learned? 26:13 I learned that my head was heavier than my feet. 26:16 As soon as he let me go my, 26:18 I remember my feet leaving the ground and my head going in 26:23 and my dad pick me up spitting and sputtering and coughing 26:26 and I learned something. 26:28 I still needed my dad. 26:32 For a month or two I don't know how long yet 26:34 but I needed him that day. |
Revised 2014-12-17