Participants: Frank Fournier
Series Code: HPOV
Program Code: HPOV000018A
00:01 Hello, my name is Frank Fournier
00:02 and I'm here to welcome you to Heaven's Point of View. 00:06 As you know, we've been studying 00:08 the Parable of the Prodigal Son together. 00:10 And I hope that you'll get your Bible right now, 00:13 come and join us for Heaven's Point of View. 00:46 Welcome again. 00:47 Like to invite you to turn your Bibles to Luke Chapter 15. 00:50 We're studying the Parable of the Prodigal Son. 00:55 Now in the meantime, 00:56 the Prodigal Son is in the pig pen 00:58 and we might equate that to the pig pen of sin. 01:02 He finally takes different steps to get himself back 01:06 to where he should be. 01:08 Steps to salvation if you please. 01:09 Now if I was to ask you, how many steps are there 01:12 to salvation, would you know? 01:13 But when I ask this question, 01:15 most people will say there are one step to salvation. 01:19 Well, do you know what, that's true. 01:22 Whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be what? 01:25 Saved. How many steps is that? 01:27 Well, we know that's just one step. 01:29 However, should you read the little book 01:30 called Steps to Christ. 01:31 Don't you know that there are 13 chapters there? 01:34 And for sure, there are more than one steps 01:36 if you have to take in all that could be taken in. 01:39 Some people will say there are seven steps, 01:42 but if you study the Parable of the Prodigal Son, 01:46 I want to challenge you, go through the Parable, 01:49 find out what the young man did 01:51 in order to find salvation for himself. 01:54 And you'll notice that he took three steps. 01:57 In verse 17, it says that he came to his senses. 02:04 Now what does that mean? 02:06 Actually, that's not what it says, there it says, 02:08 he came to himself which means he came to his senses. 02:13 Well, can a man be saved if he never comes to his senses 02:16 about his relationship with his Heavenly Father, 02:20 about his spiritual condition? 02:22 Well, I don't think so, God says, 02:24 I, if I be lifted up will draw all men on to me 02:27 and so we're born cornel and Jesus Christ is reaching out 02:31 through His Holy Spirit to every single individual 02:33 in the world drawing, drawing, drawing, 02:35 at a certain point in time, that individual comes to Himself. 02:39 He comes to his senses about his Christian experience, 02:42 about his relationship to God. 02:44 You understand. 02:46 The second step is found in verse 20, 02:48 it says that he comes to his Father. 02:51 Can an individual be saved if he never comes to God? 02:53 Why, no. 02:55 The Bible says in John 6:37, it says, 02:58 "If any man will come to me I will in no wise cast him out." 03:02 Come to me he says. And I will give you rest. 03:06 And there is none that can find salvation, Jesus says, 03:09 "I am the way no man comes to the Father but by me." 03:14 We need come to Jesus Christ. 03:16 Then the third step starts with the letter C, 03:18 also the three C's of salvation come, come and confess. 03:23 We're going to be studying confession in the next study. 03:27 Okay, but those are the three C's to salvation, 03:30 these are the steps that the young man took. 03:32 Now I want to study something with you that is, 03:34 that may well be the most important thing that we hear 03:39 during the time that we study 03:41 this Parable together, altogether. 03:44 I would have you turn with me to Luke Chapter 15, 03:48 we're looking at verse 18. 03:51 Notice there, the first three words in verse 18 03:54 and it says there, "I will arise." 03:58 I want you to notice the first three words 04:00 in verse 20 and it says there, "And he arose." 04:06 Did you know? 04:07 Are you old enough to know 04:09 that somethings are easier said than done? 04:12 Have you had that experience in life? 04:15 How hard must it have been for the young man to decide, 04:18 I will arise and finally, actually make the move to go. 04:22 Do you know the insult that he had given his father, 04:25 the humiliation that he had caused the family, 04:28 the embarrassment that he was. 04:30 He knew what he had done and now the idea of going back, 04:33 he wanted to go back. 04:36 I will arise. 04:38 But to actually do it, this is very, very difficult. 04:42 You can understand why because maybe 04:45 you have been in a similar situation in the past. 04:48 There is another saying that we have here in America, 04:52 as matter of fact, this saying goes well anywhere 04:56 that I use it in the whole world. 04:58 It says this, "The road to hell is paved with what? 05:02 With good intentions." What does that mean? 05:07 Well, it means that there are lot of people 05:10 who are going to find themselves in hell, figuratively, 05:13 a lot of people are going to find themselves there 05:16 all the time having good intentions 05:19 to change course, but they never get to change course. 05:23 Why not? 05:24 And so here is the question that I need to ask. 05:27 What does it take with our good intentions 05:29 that we can get to the place where we will change course? 05:33 What's missing with our good intentions? 05:36 What is it that little faculty that God has created in us 05:39 that we can use so that we can put 05:41 our good intentions into gear, so that we can put 05:44 our good intentions into action. 05:46 Do you know what it is? 05:48 Well, it's a little thing called willpower. 05:52 Do you have willpower? Well, everybody has willpower. 05:56 And all that that means is that's the decision power in us. 06:00 We can't be decisive of, but there is a problem here, 06:03 some people are not decisive, 06:06 some people will let everybody else 06:08 make their decisions for them, some people actually have 06:11 their willpower atrophied because they never use it. 06:17 You know, the desire to do right and good 06:20 is good as far as it goes. 06:23 But if we stop there, it's not good enough, 06:26 it will amount to nothing. 06:28 The Prodigal Son had a desire to get up and go, 06:31 but he had to do something more than wish and desire, 06:35 he had to put his will on the side of action, 06:38 he had to put his will on the side of faith, 06:40 he had to put his will on the side of getting up 06:43 and going back to his father and he may will have been lost 06:48 while hoping and desiring to be saved. 06:53 Have you turned with me to 1 Kings Chapter 18. 06:57 We're looking at 1 Kings Chapter 18. 07:03 This is the story of Elijah, 07:04 you've heard of Elijah in the Bible. 07:07 1 Kings Chapter 18. 07:10 Now I suppose we don't know a lot about Elijah, 07:14 he is called Elijah the tishbite, 07:16 he comes out of the mountains somewhere 07:18 and he is very close to God. 07:20 But Elijah lives at a time 07:22 when the children of Israel are in apostasy. 07:26 As a matter of fact, the king over Israel 07:28 is a man named Ahab, I think, 07:30 yeah Ahab and his wife is named Jezebel. 07:33 Ahab is a Jew, he's an Israelite 07:36 and Jezebel whoever she is in any case, 07:39 she is a Baal worshipper but she is not an Israelite. 07:42 She is one powerful woman. 07:44 As a matter of fact, how many of you have ever named 07:47 one of your daughters Jezebel, is there anybody like that? 07:50 I don't suppose there are, 07:52 because she has such a reputation. 07:54 She was powerful, so powerful in fact 07:57 that she could influence her husband 07:59 to do as she wanted and he being the king of course 08:02 influenced all of Israel to become Baal worshippers. 08:05 So practically, all of Israel except for 7, 000 people 08:09 were told in the Bible were Baal worshippers. 08:13 Well, this was a problem to God 08:15 and this was a problem to our friend Elijah as well. 08:18 God and Elijah got together one time 08:20 and they said what are we going to do to get through to Israel. 08:24 And I don't know who came up with the idea, 08:26 but I suppose it was God and He said to Elijah, 08:29 supposing now, it doesn't rain for three and half years. 08:32 Do you suppose we could get their attention? 08:35 Well, I assume that Elijah said yes 08:38 and so God says to Elijah, "Go to King Ahab, 08:40 tell him no dew, no rain for three and half years." 08:44 And so that's what happens. 08:45 Elijah makes his way to the palace, 08:47 he gets past security, gets right into Ahab's face 08:50 and he says no dew, no rain for three and half years, 08:54 turns around walks out of the palace. 08:56 And by the time, Ahab gets his senses together, 08:59 Elijah is gone and he can't find him, 09:02 he organizes people to go look for him, 09:04 but he is not found for three and half years. 09:08 For three and half years, there has been no rain, 09:11 not even any dew, the ground has parched, 09:14 animals are dying, people are dying 09:16 and at the end of three and half years, 09:18 God says to Elijah, "What do you think? 09:20 Have we got their attention yet?" 09:22 Well, Elijah says, "I suppose so." 09:24 God says "Okay, go see Ahab, tell him it's showdown time." 09:28 And Elijah goes back to Ahab and he says, 09:31 "I want you meet me, bring all of Israel." 09:34 The 850 priests and prophets of Baal bring them all up there 09:38 to the top of Mount Carmel and we're going to have a showdown. 09:42 Well, here we are, we're in 1 Kings Chapter 18, 09:45 we're looking at verse 21 now. 09:47 It's showdown time. 09:49 Okay, look at verse 21 09:51 because Elijah put his finger right on the problem. 09:55 Verse 21 "And Elijah came unto all the people, 09:58 and said how long halt you between two opinions? 10:02 If the Lord is God follow him, but if Baal, then follow him. 10:06 And the people answered him not a word." 10:09 Now, why do you suppose 10:10 the people did not answer him a word? 10:12 Well, it says right here in the text. 10:14 It says that they were halt between two opinions. 10:19 In other words, they were undecided, 10:22 they were sitting on the fence, 10:23 they didn't know on which side to get off. 10:28 Now God has something to say to these people 10:31 and He wanted to say it through Elijah. 10:35 Did you know that there are three Elijah's in the Bible? 10:39 Now this is the original Elijah that we're looking at. 10:42 One time, Jesus was with His disciples 10:45 and He said to them, "Do you see that man over there?" 10:48 He was pointing to John the Baptist. 10:50 He said, "This is the Elijah that is to come." 10:54 The first Elijah came 10:56 when Israel was at a low ebb spiritually. 11:00 And God sent Elijah to bring revival among the Israelites 11:03 and a reformation that was His work. 11:06 Well, John the Baptist was sent very similarly, 11:09 he came at a time when the Israelites 11:12 were at a low ebb spiritually and God sent John the Baptist 11:16 to prepare the way for the coming Messiah. 11:19 But do you know that there is a third Elijah in the Bible. 11:24 You could find him in the book of Malachi 11:26 in Chapter 4, it says there, 11:27 "That he will turn the hearts of the children to their fathers 11:30 and he will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children." 11:34 Now I wonder who this Elijah is. 11:37 Because he is supposed to come in the last days. 11:40 Well, if you turn with me to the book of Revelation, 11:42 we're going to go back to the book of Revelation Chapter 3 11:46 and we're going to look 11:47 at the seven churches of Revelation. 11:50 We're gonna go to the last church 11:52 just like we did in another study. 11:54 We're in Revelation Chapter 3, 11:56 we're looking at verses 15 and on. 12:00 And we've seen this before, 12:01 look at 15, Revelation Chapters 3, 12:04 "I know thy works." 12:06 Jesus said He is called here the true witness. 12:08 "I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot", 12:13 I wish you were cold or hot. 12:14 So then because "thou art Lukewarm, 12:18 neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of my mouth." 12:22 Here we find the people who have one foot in the world, 12:25 one foot in the church. 12:26 They're not on fire for God and they are not cold either, 12:29 they don't want to leave the church 12:30 because if they leave the church, they might be lost, 12:32 they don't want to leave the world 12:33 because they don't want to miss out on anything. 12:36 As a matter of fact they're neither hot nor cold, 12:39 they are lukewarm, they are on the fence 12:42 not knowing on which side to get off, 12:44 they're halted between two opinions. 12:47 And so God sent this message just like He sent a message 12:50 through Elijah to tell these people 12:53 that they are undecided, indecisive. 12:58 Ah, I wonder are you decisive 13:03 or do you have other people making your decisions for you? 13:07 You know there was a time when I had to make a-- 13:13 how should I say, a life and death decision. 13:16 I was 25 years old, it was the first time 13:19 that I had ever opened a Bible, 13:20 I'd never had my hand on a Bible before then. 13:23 I got hold of the Bible and I began to read. 13:26 My intentions were to read the Bible from cover to cover 13:29 and then to make a decision as to whether 13:32 the Bible was what it claimed to be. 13:35 Well, it didn't take very long, 13:37 within a couple of weeks I knew that this was God's word, 13:41 but then I had to come to the point of making a decision. 13:45 So one day, I got on my knees and I told God, 13:48 I says, you know, I believe the Word of God, 13:50 I believe that the Bible is what it claims to be 13:53 and I want salvation, I want to be saved, 13:55 I want to do all of that, but I am only 25 years old. 13:59 After all, there's lots of life to live yet, 14:02 so call on me some other day. 14:06 Do you know, you know, I'd hate to make it sound 14:09 like God speaks to me like He doesn't speak to other people 14:12 but do you know that God speaks to me, 14:14 I can probably count on 40 years of being a Christian, 14:17 I can probably count on one hand when God 14:19 specifically had to speak to me as an individual 14:22 and that I could hear his voice. 14:24 He spoke to me that one more time, 14:26 and He said to me, you will not have another chance. 14:31 Now, wait a minute, how can that be, 14:33 I'm only 25 years old, 14:34 surely, I can live till 60 or 70 or 80 14:37 or whatever it might be. 14:39 I've got lots of time Lord, let me live life a little more, 14:43 then I'll come back. 14:44 And God said, no, you will not have another chance. 14:49 And I just couldn't grasp why He was saying that. 14:52 But I could grasp that He was saying it, 14:55 and I knew it was God's voice. 14:57 I didn't originate those words. Where did they come from? 14:59 I knew that God was telling me 15:01 "I would not have another chance." 15:04 And so here I was, having to make a decision. 15:09 Would I follow the Lord, 15:10 would I give Him my heart or would I not. 15:12 It was obvious that this was my one opportunity 15:16 and so if it was going to be my only opportunity 15:19 then I better make the right decision. 15:20 And I chose to follow Jesus Christ. 15:23 I gave my heart to Him, to follow Him 15:25 and do you know that I have never turned back. 15:30 I have followed Him for the rest of my life up until this point. 15:33 I have given my heart fully to Jesus Christ. 15:37 Now, I need to tell you what happened. 15:40 As you know or maybe you don't know, 15:42 but I worked in the nickel and copper mines 15:45 for nine and half years. 15:48 This was probably at year 7 something like this. 15:52 And my partner and I were drilling a tunnel, 15:55 we called that a drift in those days. 15:58 Well, he and I were drilling this drift, 16:00 it was 9 feet by 9 feet in hard rock granite 16:05 and we were taking this tunnel to an ore body. 16:08 When we got to the ore body, we would cross the ore body, 16:11 the full width of it, which this one happened to be, 16:13 this vein happened to be 40 feet wide, 16:17 so we went 40 feet across and then we went 14 1/2 feet high, 16:21 then we would follow the vein as far as we could, 16:23 thousands of feet probably and it would be 14 1/2 feet high, 16:28 40 feet wide all the way through. 16:31 Then whoever would can be in with long hole machines 16:34 and they would drill 2 1/2 250 feet up, 250 feet down, 16:39 blast the whole thing and mine it from underneath. 16:43 This is how we were doing it in those days 16:45 but it just so happened in this 16:48 what they called the silstop now, 16:50 it just so happened that the ground was very, very dangerous 16:53 because there was soapstone mixed in with the ore. 16:57 Now you may not know but soapstone doesn't come in 16:59 like a granite does, like a whole. 17:02 You know, just everything is granite, 17:05 soapstone always comes in as a boulder 17:08 and it's always covered with a layer of mud, 17:10 one, two, two and half inches of mud all around. 17:13 So that if you would happen to drill more then 17:15 or past a half way mark in a boulder and blast 17:20 then there is nothing holding 17:21 the rest of the boulder up because it's mud 17:23 and that makes it very dangerous you understand. 17:26 So here we were putting extra long bolts, 17:29 we were putting expanded metal in the back, 17:32 we were trying to keep this place from caving in 17:34 on our heads and so where it was meant to be 40 feet, 17:37 it could be 50 and 55 and 60 and where it was meant to be 17:41 14 1/2 feet, it could be 16 and 20 and 25 feet 17:45 and it was all like this everywhere, 17:47 there is nothing as it should have been. 17:49 Very, very dangerous. 17:51 Well, finally we came, my partner and I remember 17:55 drilling the last cut and we went from the ore body 17:59 back into the granite, that would be the last of it all. 18:03 And so we blasted and went home, 18:05 the cross shift came in, they saw the mess 18:08 that was there and they decided that they were not going to work 18:11 under such dangerous conditions. 18:14 So when we came in the next day, 18:15 we saw this situation and oh my! 18:20 How dangerous it was. 18:23 We walked up on the muck pile, 18:24 we looked the situation over and we said to ourselves, 18:28 what in the world are we going to do? 18:30 How are we going to fix it? This is so dangerous. 18:34 At this time, my partner said, "Do you know what, 18:38 I think they cheated us last month." 18:39 We had a computer print of-- 18:43 boy, can you imagine there were computers 40 years ago. 18:46 Well anyways there were computers 40 years ago 18:48 and they gave us a computer printout of all the work 18:52 we had done the month before and my partner felt like 18:54 they had cheated us last-- the month before, 18:58 they hadn't paid us for enough bolts that we had put in. 19:00 So we went down off the muck pile, 19:02 we counted all the bolts that we had put in, 19:05 we ended up on the far side of the slope 19:07 and there we stood talking about 19:10 the second coming of Jesus Christ. 19:13 You see, I'd become a brand new Christian 19:15 and I was excited about what I was learning 19:18 so here we were standing and I was telling him about Jesus, 19:21 about the second coming and as we are standing there, 19:24 a huge rock, the size of a Volkswagen 19:27 came down right where we had been standing on the muck pile 19:31 and we just looked at each other and kind of shrugged like 19:34 well, this happens, I'm glad we weren't there. 19:37 We certainly were glad that we weren't there 19:39 and so my partner who had presence of mind said to me, 19:44 "Listen, if it begins to rain rocks in here, we'd got to go." 19:50 And he no sooner said that, that a little rock fell 19:53 right beside him and another one there 19:54 and another one there and another one there 19:56 and he began to run and because he was running, 19:59 I was running and we were both running 20:01 trying to get in to that little tunnel 20:03 that we had come in with and we-- 20:05 I remember turning back and looking 20:07 and I could remember seeing the whole thing 20:10 was beginning to come down like a ribbon, you understand. 20:13 And it was starting at the front, at the face, 20:16 what we would call the face back then 20:17 and we were running and I remember all the dust 20:20 and everything was flying past me 20:22 and I thought, I'll never make it. 20:25 Well, guess what, I did, and you can tell, right? 20:29 Got into that little 9 by 9 tunnel 20:31 and when we got there, the whole thing folded in 20:34 and here is the question. 20:38 Where would I be today had I forfeited God's protection 20:43 just a few months earlier? 20:44 Where do you think I would be? 20:45 Well friends, I can't prove it because I am here, 20:49 there is no way to prove it. 20:50 But I can tell you that God said, 20:52 you will not have another chance 20:56 and if I had told God to go jump in the lake, 20:59 If I had told God, I am not ready now, 21:01 I am gonna come back some other time and He said to me, 21:03 "No you won't, because you will not have another chance", 21:07 then there is a great possibility 21:10 that my wife would have been a widow at 25 years old. 21:16 Ah, the whole thing, can you see it, 21:18 the whole thing was based on a decision. 21:22 Is it important the decisions you make, 21:24 ah friends, don't set that aside, 21:26 don't think you can flow through life 21:28 and never make a decision. 21:29 God doesn't take decisions away from you, 21:32 He allows you to make decision 21:34 and if you make no decision, let me tell you something, 21:37 that's the wrong decision. 21:39 Read the scriptures for yourself, 21:41 understand what God is trying to say to you 21:43 and make a decision based on what God is telling you 21:46 and not what the whole world around you is telling you, 21:49 otherwise, you might well end up like the Israelites 21:51 of all in the days of Elijah worshipping Baal 21:54 and not probably even realizing it. 21:58 In Philippians 4:13, it says there, 22:02 "I can do all things to Christ that strengthens me." 22:06 Is that what it says? 22:08 "Well, do you know that that's not a question, 22:09 that's a statement." 22:11 He doesn't, all that it says is, is you can. 22:14 Ah-ha, it's not asking you if you can, 22:17 the Bible says you can, the question is, will you? 22:21 That's the question. 22:22 Oh, I can quit smoking any time I want to, 22:26 well, no problem, lot of people have quit smoking before. 22:30 It's not a question of whether you can quit smoking, 22:32 I suppose you can, the question is, will you? 22:38 And for us who are Christians, 22:41 have you ever heard someone say, 22:43 I've always wanted to be a missionary. 22:46 Really? 22:47 Well, isn't every Christian a missionary? 22:52 The question is not, can you be a missionary? 22:55 The question is will you ever make the decision 22:58 to go ahead and work like a missionary? 23:02 That's the question. 23:03 If you sin, did the devil make you do it? 23:07 No. 23:08 The devil's work is to tempt you 23:10 and he is very good at it but he can't make you do it, 23:13 if you sin, it's because 23:15 you finally make a decision to do it. 23:19 If you do well, is it because 23:21 God has forced you to do well? 23:23 Oh, no. 23:24 God will give you grace, God will give you encouragement, 23:26 God will give you whatever it takes, 23:28 He wants you to do well, but if you do well, 23:31 it's because you've made the decision to do it. 23:35 Turn with me to the book of Joel. 23:38 I want to read some quotations, 23:41 we're gonna start with the book of Joel, 23:43 I wish I had just a little more time, 23:44 this is getting exciting 23:46 and I have lot of things to share with you. 23:49 Book of Joel, we're going to Chapter 3. 23:51 Do you know that the book of Joel 23:52 is a book of prophecy? 23:54 And it's about the Holy Spirit 23:56 being poured out in the last days, 23:57 every chapter mentions the last days, 23:59 this is aimed at our time and notice what it says 24:03 in Chapter 3, we're looking at verse 14, 24:06 "Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision, 24:09 for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of" What? 24:12 "the valley of decisions." 24:14 Looking to the end of time, I suppose if we went 24:17 to the book of Revelation Chapter 13 24:18 and we saw the beast and the mark of the beast 24:20 and the image of the beast and the number of his name 24:24 and six, six, six. 24:26 Well, don't you know that at that time, 24:28 the whole world will be brought to me, 24:30 will be brought to make a decision. 24:32 You'll be asked, you have to make a decision, 24:35 the only problem is some people don't make decisions, 24:38 they'll allow other people to make decisions for them, 24:40 how dangerous that is. 24:42 Well you can understand. 24:45 Supposing something goes wrong in your church, 24:48 there is a crisis, so you go to the Pastor and you say, 24:52 Pastor, what are you gonna do? 24:54 If he says, I am going left. What do you gonna do? 24:56 I'll go left too if you don't know how to make a decision. 25:00 But friends, the Pastor could be wrong. 25:04 Ah, friends, read the Bible, read the Bible. 25:09 Know what God says to you personally 25:12 and then make your decisions based on what God says. 25:17 Let me read three quotations for you. 25:19 This is volume 4 of the testimonies 454, 25:22 "Without decision, an individual is fickle, 25:25 unstable as water and can never be truly successful." 25:30 Would you like to be successful? 25:33 Ah, somebody will say but I don't want to make a mistake, 25:36 I really don't want to make a mistake. 25:38 Well friends, if you don't make a decision, 25:40 you are making a mistake. 25:44 The second quotation I'd like to share with you says, 25:46 this is volume 4, 344 paragraph 0, 25:50 "Indecision soon becomes decision 25:53 in the wrong direction." 25:55 What is it? 25:56 Indecision soon becomes decision 26:00 in the wrong direction. 26:03 Finally, last quotation 3 testimonies 497 26:07 paragraph 3 says, "Long delays tire the angels." 26:13 It is even more excusable to make a wrong decision sometimes 26:17 than to be continually in a wrong position. 26:20 God is not afraid of you making a mistake. 26:23 As a matter of fact, everybody makes mistakes. 26:25 Do you know we probably learned more from the mistakes we make 26:30 than from doing everything just right 26:32 all the time it seems like. 26:33 Oh, yes. 26:34 God is not afraid of the mistakes you make. |
Revised 2014-12-17