Participants: John Bradshaw
Series Code: IIW
Program Code: IIW001400A
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00:08 On that first Easter Sunday morning, some women went
00:10 to the tomb of Jesus to anoint His body for burial. 00:13 An angel met them and told the women Jesus 00:16 was risen from the dead, so they hurried off 00:18 to tell the eleven remaining disciples. 00:22 Luke 24:11 reveals the disciples surprising reaction. 00:31 In their disappointment, they forgot some 00:32 of the plainest statements Jesus had made to them. 00:35 Jesus had said, "I'm going up to Jerusalem, 00:37 and I'm going to die." He said that He would 00:40 be rejected by the elders and the chief priests 00:42 and the scribes, and that He'd be killed, 00:45 and He said He would rise again - 00:47 but the disciples didn't quite get it. 00:49 And now that the women were there telling the disciples 00:51 that Jesus' prophecies had been fulfilled, 00:54 they refused to believe. Such is the power 00:57 of preconceived ideas, and such is the power 00:59 of crushing disappointment. The disciples were foolish 01:02 to refuse to believe - they had let what they saw 01:05 totally destroy their faith in what they couldn't see 01:10 Maybe we make that mistake. Because we don't see the 01:13 big picture we might jump to a wrong conclusion 01:14 that doesn't involve hope. The cross of Jesus tells us 01:17 that victory often comes out of defeat, and it reminds 01:21 us that what we see is often not the whole picture. 01:24 Trust God today, even if it seems your hopes have 01:26 been dashed, even if something just doesn't make sense. 01:29 The resurrection had taken place and yet the disciples 01:32 were all doom and gloom. That resurrection says 01:36 there's a God who is alive - and He's working 01:37 in your life right now. Have faith to know that God 01:42 isn't simply the God of what you can see, He's also the God 01:46 of what you cannot see. I'm John Bradshaw 01:50 for It is Written. Follow us on Facebook 01:52 and Twitter and let's live today by Every Word. 02:01 [bluegrass music] ["Were You There"] 03:03 It has stood the test of time. 03:08 God's book, the bible. Still relevant in 03:14 today's complex world. It Is Written sharing hope 03:21 around the globe. 03:34 [mysterious music] Kim Philby was destined to 03:47 make his mark in the world. The son of a rather brilliant 03:51 father, he was educated at the best schools in England, 03:53 including Trinity College in Cambridge. 03:56 For 30 years Philby worked for British intelligence, rising 04:00 to a very high rank in the British Secret Intelligence 04:03 Service, M.I.6: he ran its entire counterespionage 04:07 programme - that is, he was in charge of stopping spies 04:11 collecting information on Britain - and set up the 04:14 section that spied on the Soviet Union. 04:23 [Music in the background] But what nobody knew was that 04:31 while Kim Philby was in charge of an important part of Great 04:35 Britain's spy programme, he himself was in fact a DOUBLE 04:38 AGENT: while supposedly protecting Britain from spies, 04:45 Philby was a spy himself, working for the Soviet Union. 04:50 He provided a lot of information to the Soviets 04:53 that led to the deaths of a large number of agents, 04:55 and he inflicted real damage on both American 04:58 and British intelligence. 05:14 Kim Philby died in Moscow in 1988. 05:17 A brilliant man, a capable man, but a double agent. 05:22 Nobody really knew just whose side he was on. 05:28 I've wondered often just how many people know 05:33 whose side GOD is on. I'm not suggesting for a 05:36 second that God is a double agent, but that many people 05:39 aren't entirely sure just whose side He is on, as life plays 05:42 out here on Planet Earth. God gets blamed for an 05:46 enormous amount of bad things: in 2005, not long after 05:50 Hurricane Katrina, Time Magazine featured 05:53 an article titled, "Where Was God?" 05:56 It investigated the myriad responses from people about 05:59 the cause of the calamity - masses felt that it was God's 06:03 judgment for just about everything. 06:06 After the Asian tsunami, the Archbishop of Canterbury 06:08 said, "Of course, this makes us doubt 06:11 God's existence." So very often when personal 06:15 tragedy strikes, the question asked is 06:17 "Why did God allow this?" That's not always a bad 06:21 question - even Jesus cried out, My God, My God, 06:25 Why hast thou forsaken me? But all too often present in 06:29 the question is the suggestion that God is the villain. 06:34 And the question gets murky for some when we start to 06:37 wrestle with matters of personal sin - "Does God still 06:40 care for me, does God still love me, is God still with me 06:43 after what I've done?" How far does the love and patience 06:48 and acceptance of God stretch in the case 06:51 of sinners committing sin? Serious questions. 06:55 And the Bible provides us with serious answers. 06:59 You don't really have to go far in the Bible to 07:01 figure this thing out. John chapter 8 describes how 07:04 Jesus handled a broken life. We find Jesus in the temple 07:09 where you'd expect it to be very reverent, very quiet, 07:14 when something strange happens. 07:17 A group of apparently upstanding men bring to Jesus 07:20 a woman who had just been caught in an act of immorality. 07:24 Angry men, a cowering, perhaps a weeping woman, there's 07:29 tension in the air as justice is being demanded. 07:33 Here's how John describes the scene. 07:36 John Chapter eight 07:58 Well, what could He say? If she's guilty, she's guilty. 08:01 Really, that settles it. But aren't you glad that it 08:06 doesn't actually settle it in the mind of God? 08:10 Not right away. If guilt "settled it", our 08:13 collective goose would have been well and truly cooked 08:14 a long time ago. And according to the Bible, 08:17 we're all in the same situation. 08:19 Romans 3:23 says, 08:24 If our misdeeds settled it, if our sins settled it, 08:29 none of us would ever have the slightest hope 08:32 of going to heaven. We'd be done! 08:35 So how did Jesus respond? John 8, we pick it up in verse 6 08:58 Now, they were right. She was a sinful woman, 09:02 and she had done wrong. But Jesus challenges these 09:06 individuals and tells them to go right ahead and stone this 09:10 poor creature as long as they themselves were without sin. 09:16 You know, when the woman heard Jesus say that, she no doubt 09:20 thought she was dead. These holy, righteous men, 09:24 she thought. They come off as being so 09:27 holy they'll probably all be throwing rocks at me. 09:30 It'll be a blizzard! But instead, they drop their 09:33 rocks and walk away, leaving Jesus, the perfect, holy, 09:39 righteous Son of God - God in the flesh - alone with this 09:44 miserable, wicked, corrupt individual, who really did 09:49 deserve to have the book thrown at her. 09:52 Now let's see how this story ends. 09:54 John 8, again we pick it up in verse 10. 10:16 Can you imagine how she felt?! You know how good you felt 10:19 when you got pulled up for speeding and the police 10:22 officer let you off with just a warning, right? 10:24 And all you avoided was a $100 fine. 10:27 This woman escaped with her life. 10:30 Now why did Jesus do that? Because that's whose side 10:35 Jesus is on. Do you remember the famous 10:38 verse in John 3:16, but what about John 3:17? It says this: 10:53 God is in the business of SAVING people. 10:57 In fact, God gives us an incredible illustration to 11:01 help us understand just whose side He is on today. 11:04 God had Israel build Him a dwelling place, a sanctuary. 11:09 In Exodus 25:8 it says: 11:20 God wanted to spend time with His people. 11:24 The sanctuary was mobile - it traveled with the Israelites 11:28 through the wilderness. And it was magnificent - 11:31 gold plated boards set in sockets of silver, 11:35 fine linen, beautiful curtains, a golden candlestick 11:39 with seven lamps giving light day and night, 11:42 gold-plated furniture and items of pure gold. 11:54 And most magnificently, the Shekinah Glory was in there 11:59 the presence of God Himself. Of course, in time the 12:04 mobile sanctuary was superseded by the temple. 12:08 Yet you'll remember that when Jesus died the veil in that 12:12 temple was torn in two by an act of God. 12:16 God was signifying that the temple services were now 12:19 obsolete - the True Lamb had come and died. 12:24 As such, it was redundant for God's people to offer animal 12:26 sacrifices anymore. In fact, you could say it was 12:29 offensive - to have faith in a lamb sacrifice would be to 12:33 fail to recognize the True Lamb had died. 12:36 The temple had really served its purpose. 12:39 So what is the Bible talking about when it talks about 12:42 a sanctuary that is still important to us today? 12:46 In the book of Hebrews we discover a sanctuary 12:50 in heaven. And according the book of 12:53 Exodus, Moses was told to by God to build the earthly 12:56 sanctuary and pattern it after the heavenly. 13:01 Now why is that important? The simple existence of the 13:05 building itself isn't the item of most major importance. 13:09 What is most important is what is going on in that sanctuary. 13:14 What is going on there shows us where God's mind is towards 13:19 the sinners of this world. I4ll tell you in a moment 13:23 where Jesus is and what he is doing. 13:26 And the answer will bless you incredibly. 13:33 In the wilderness, the children of Israel 13:35 followed God's instructions to build a beautiful temple. 13:39 The sanctuary services represented God's plan 13:42 of salvation through Jesus. It foreshadowed wonderful things 13:45 to come, and provides for us, even today, a rich 13:48 representation of the work of Jesus on our behalf. 13:52 To see and understand the beauty of God's way, as revealed in 13:55 the sanctuary, request our FREE booklet, 13:58 "Rebuilding the Temple" All you need to do is call 14:01 (800) 253-3000 and ask for your copy of 14:05 "Rebuilding the Temple." If the line's busy, 14:07 please try again. You can write to It Is Written, 14:10 P.O. Box 6, Chattanooga, TN 37401. 14:15 We'll mail a free copy to you in North America. 14:18 It Is Written is a faith-based ministry and your support makes 14:22 it possible for us to share God's good news 14:24 with the world. Thank you for your continued 14:27 prayerful support. Again, that toll-free number is, 14:30 (800) 253-3000, and our website address is 14:34 ItIsWritten.com. 14:37 After Jesus died on the cross, we know where He went. 14:40 He went to the grave. I know it says in the 14:42 Apostles' Creed - "He descended into hell, on the third day 14:45 He rose again..." - but that is true in the 14:48 Biblical sense where the word 'hell' is often used 14:50 to mean the grave. Jesus descended 14:53 into the grave. When he died, he didn4t go to 14:55 a hot place in the center of the earth. 14:57 That is just fantasy with no biblical basis at all. 15:00 The wonderful news is, though, that the grave could 15:03 not hold Jesus! He came forth triumphant. 15:06 Then where did He go? He went to heaven. 15:09 And what did He go to heaven for? 15:12 Was it just to bide His time as He waited for 15:14 the Second Coming? No, Jesus went to heaven 15:17 to do far more than that. According to the book of 15:20 Hebrews, Jesus is performing a specific role in heaven. 15:25 Hebrews 4:14 says, 15:37 Jesus went to heaven to be our High Priest. 15:40 Now let's look at Hebrews 8, verses 1 and 2. 16:01 Jesus has gone to heaven, to the heavenly sanctuary 16:05 that God made, so that He can be 16:07 our High Priest. Now think about what that 16:10 means for us. The old sanctuary service was 16:13 essentially the gospel in types and shadows. 16:17 How could God help Israel understand what the plan of 16:20 salvation was really all about? He taught them - it's like 16:24 this, He said. Sin causes death. 16:27 I want to show you how it will cause the death of my Son, 16:30 so I'll put that in the figure of 16:32 the death of a lamb. Because of your 16:34 sin the lamb dies. Here's what they'd do. 16:37 The sinner would take a lamb to this sanctuary. 16:40 He'd confess his sins over the lamb, and his sins would 16:44 be transferred - figuratively, obviously 16:47 - to the lamb. The Lamb would be killed, 16:50 and the blood would be taken inside the sanctuary, 16:54 some of the blood. In that way, the sin 16:57 was transferred into the sanctuary. 17:01 At the end of the year the entire sin record would 17:03 be dealt with, on the Day of Atonement. 17:06 The sanctuary would be cleansed, and the people would 17:09 rejoice that they stood before God absolutely pure and clean. 17:14 Does this relate to our salvation today? 17:17 You bet it does. When we need cleansing 17:19 from sin, we come to Jesus. The Holy Spirit convicts us of 17:23 our sin, and then prompts us to come to God. 17:26 We come - we are drawn to Him by God Himself. 17:30 We confess our sins. Who takes our sins? 17:33 Jesus, the Lamb. He died on the cross to pay 17:36 the penalty for our sins once and for all. 17:39 So we come to Christ, we profess faith 17:42 in the sacrifice of the Lamb when Jesus died on the cross, 17:46 and God takes our sins away. Now, back in the OT time, 17:50 when the sinner confessed, there was a middle man 17:53 - a priest, or a high priest. 17:55 Today, there's a Middle Man - our High Priest, Jesus. 18:00 Look at what we read in 1 John 2:1 - The Bible says, 18:16 As our High Priest in heaven, Jesus intercedes for us. 18:20 We come to Him with our sins, repentant. 18:22 He takes our sins from us, appeals to God in our behalf, 18:27 and gives His own perfect righteousness in place 18:31 of our sins. What this tells us is that in 18:34 heaven there is a Saviour who invites us to come to Him, 18:38 just as we are, knowing that He will have mercy on us. 18:44 Remember what it said back in Hebrews 4:14? 18:58 If you're a sinner who has faith in Jesus 19:00 and you've got your struggles, the answer is not to let go! 19:05 The knowledge that a holy, righteous Jesus is your High 19:08 Priest in heaven absolutely must inspire you 19:11 to hang on tight! The Greek word that is 19:14 translated into "hold fast" means "to cling to 19:19 tenaciously." That's like a barnacle clinging 19:22 to the side of a ship. You can hardly pry 19:25 those things off! And when you know that Jesus 19:29 is on your side in heaven, that ought to give you 19:32 confidence to live on in on such a way that nothing 19:35 can pry you off. Continuing in Heb 4:16 19:51 We are to come with confidence, because Jesus is our High 19:54 Priest, and our intercessor. I spoke to someone recently 19:57 who said to me, I hope I'm good enough 20:00 to go to heaven. And you know what 20:02 I told this person? I said, You'll never 20:05 be good enough. That's why we need Jesus! 20:08 And in fact, if you're hoping to ever be good enough for God 20:10 to save you, you need to stop hoping that right now. 20:14 Now, if what you mean is that you hope to be ready, 20:17 or you hope to see Jesus, well that's fine. 20:20 But if you're hoping to be good enough to go to heaven, 20:23 you've got another thing coming. 20:25 Now this might surprise you, but I've taught my children to 20:28 never pray that God will help them to be good. 20:31 Now why would I say that? I'll tell you why in a moment. 20:38 Planning for your financial future is a vital aspect 20:42 of Christian stewardship. For this reason, It Is Written 20:45 is pleased to offer free planned giving 20:48 and estate services. For information on how we can 20:50 help you please call 1.800.992.2219. 20:55 To receive additional material on the advantages of life 20:58 income planstages of life such as a Charitable Gift 21:00 Annuity, which can provide you with tax benefits and income 21:03 for life, call today or visit our special website: 21:07 www.hislegacy.com. You can also write to 21:13 It Is Written, Planned Giving and Trust Services, 21:16 P.O. Box 6, Chattanooga, Tennessee, 37401. 21:21 Our toll free number again is 1.800.992.2219 and our web 21:26 address www.hislegacy.com. 21:37 You know, I4ve taught my children to never 21:39 pray to be good. I remember my little boy 21:42 praying that - "Dear Jesus, help me to be good." 21:45 And I said, No, we are not going to pray that way. 21:48 Not that I want my children to pray to be bad, 21:51 you understand! But what happens 21:53 if you pray to be good? You're doomed to fail. 21:56 In Romans chapter 3, Paul is quoting the Psalms when he 22:00 writes these words: 22:08 And then verse 12 adds. 22:14 So you're going to try to be good, 22:16 or pray to be good? All you can do is FAIL! 22:20 The person who prays to be good is sooner or later going 22:22 to figure out that such an approach cannot work, 22:25 and before long one of a couple of things 22:28 is going to happen: they're either going to give 22:30 up on God, or just as bad, they're going to stay in the 22:33 church and be miserable and feel condemned. 22:36 But God didn't ever ask us to be good. 22:39 He asked us to be HOLY! And where are you going to get 22:43 holiness from? Not from yourself, 22:45 that's for sure! I've encouraged my children to 22:48 pray instead that Christ will live in their hearts; that God 22:53 would forgive them and give them new hearts. 22:55 See, if you are praying to be good, it'll never work. 22:58 If you pray for Jesus to live in your heart, 23:01 it'll never fail! When Jesus comes into your 23:04 life He brings His goodness, His righteousness, 23:07 and His holiness. And that's what we need. 23:10 And we can get that - sinners like us! 23:14 We can receive Christ's holiness freely when we come 23:18 confidently to the throne of grace. 23:21 So what's the worst thing that can happen if you admit to God 23:23 that you are a sinner? Do you think God is going 23:26 to be shocked to find that out? I don't think so! 23:29 When Jesus said in Matthew 11:28, 23:36 He wasn't referring to just the holy folks! 23:38 If you are burdened, if you are weary, if you are feeling 23:42 crushed by the weight of the mess in your life, Come to 23:46 Jesus, just as you are!!! Hebrews 9:24 23:51 is a powerful text. It tells us that Jesus 23:54 has gone... 24:07 Now I'm not attempting to minimize the seriousness 24:09 of the spiritual mess we find ourselves in, 24:12 but I'm telling you it4s impossible to overstate@ 24:15 the importance of the wonderful truth that Jesus is in heaven, 24:20 as our High Priest, FOR US! Not against us, but FOR us! 24:28 That means He will give you spiritual help. 24:31 He will provide emotional help. 24:33 He will not cast you off the moment you make a mess. 24:37 Hebrews 7:25 says this 24:52 Jesus lives "to make intercession" for us. 24:55 You can know where Jesus is - He4s in heaven. 24:58 You can know what He is doing - He4s acting as your 25:00 High Priest. And you can know that 25:03 He is for you, and not against you. 25:06 And that's good news. I want to thank him for 25:10 that right now. Why don't as we pray, we 25:14 commit ourselves to accepting Christ, his ministry as our 25:19 High Priest, and why don't we ask God for help to trust that 25:23 Jesus, through His ministry, will do with our lives 25:26 everything He wants to do. Let's pray together. 25:29 Our Father in heaven, we thank you today that we have a High 25:32 Priest in heaven. Jesus isn't AWOL. 25:35 He isn't missing. We know where He is - in 25:38 heaven's temple, heaven's sanctuary. 25:41 And we know what he is doing. He is not sitting around on a 25:45 fluffy cloud eating grapes, hanging out with angels, 25:48 just waiting to return to this earth. No. 25:51 He is actively engaged in our salvation, interceding for us 25:53 in Your presence and so we thank you. 25:56 We thank you for his blood, shed that we might be cleansed 26:01 from all of our sins. Lord, give us grace to have 26:04 faith in you. Give us confidence knowing 26:07 Jesus is in heaven for us and not against us! 26:13 And we pray with thanks today, in Jesus' name, amen. 26:18 [Prayer Music] 26:42 In the wilderness, the children of Israel 26:44 followed God's instructions to build a beautiful temple. 26:48 The sanctuary services represented God's plan 26:51 of salvation through Jesus. It foreshadowed wonderful things 26:54 to come, and provides for us, even today, a rich 26:57 representation of the work of Jesus on our behalf. 27:01 To see and understand the beauty of God's way, as revealed in 27:04 the sanctuary, request our FREE booklet, 27:07 "Rebuilding the Temple" All you need to do is call 27:10 (800) 253-3000 and ask for your copy of 27:13 "Rebuilding the Temple." If the line's busy, 27:16 please try again. You can write to It Is Written, 27:19 P.O. Box 6, Chattanooga, TN 37401. 27:24 We'll mail a free copy to you in North America. 27:28 It Is Written is a faith-based ministry. 27:30 Thank you for your continued prayerful support. 27:33 Again, that toll-free number is, (800) 253-3000, 27:37 and our website address is ItIsWritten.com. 27:42 Thanks for joining me today. Look forward to seeing you 27:45 next time. And until then, be sure to 27:47 remember: It Is Written: man shall not live 27:52 by bread alone, but by every word that 27:55 proceeds from the mouth of God [dramatic music] |
Revised 2017-01-20