Pathway to Life

Agent of Change

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

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Series Code: PTL

Program Code: PTL000004A


00:51 Good evening.
00:52 Good evening, welcome to each and every one of you
00:55 who are watching this broadcast over
00:58 Three Angel's Broadcasting Network.
01:00 We're glad that each and every one of you have joined us
01:03 here in Phoenix, Arizona.
01:04 My name is Jim Hakes.
01:06 I pastor the Paradise Valley Seventh-day Adventist Church
01:09 right here in the sunny valley of Phoenix, Arizona.
01:12 And we invite you to come on in with us
01:14 as Three Angel's Broadcasting has come here to Phoenix
01:18 to share, Pathways to Life.
01:22 And I've been blessed as each presentation has taken place.
01:28 I expect that each of you will be blessed again today
01:33 as this event happens.
01:36 3ABN is here with Pastor Lomacang and friends.
01:41 Tonight Tim Parton will be leading out in our music.
01:45 And then Pastor Lomacang will be speaking to us,
01:49 and I expect we will each one receive a blessing.
01:52 Before Tim opens up with the Word in music,
01:56 I invite you to pray with me.
01:59 And then Tim will be presenting to us the song,
02:02 I've Been Changed.
02:05 And Pastor Lomacang will be talking about,
02:07 The Agent of Change.
02:10 Will you pray with me?
02:12 Dear God, thank You for this wonderful gospel.
02:18 And it is our prayer that You will share music
02:24 through Tim tonight, that You will share
02:29 the message from the Word through Pastor Lomacang.
02:34 It is our prayer that each of us be blessed.
02:38 And we thank You, for we've asked it in the name of Jesus.
02:42 Amen.
02:46 I'm going to testify a little tonight.
02:53 Well I've been to the river and I've been baptized;
02:59 I've been washed in the blood of the Lamb.
03:04 I've been changed from the creature that once I was;
03:10 And redeemed is now my name.
03:17 I've been changed, I am newborn now;
03:22 All my life has been rearranged.
03:27 What a difference it made when the Lord came
03:31 and stayed in my heart.
03:33 Oh yes, I've been changed.
03:38 Though my sins were as scarlet, they're white as snow;
03:44 I was bound, but today I am free.
03:48 I was lost out in the darkness, but now I am found;
03:53 And I was blind, but now I see.
03:58 So I've been changed, I am newborn now;
04:02 All of my life has been rearranged.
04:07 Oh what a difference it made when the Lord came
04:11 and stayed in my heart.
04:13 Oh yes, I've been changed.
04:18 When at last in His presence I stand above,
04:23 He will wipe all the tears from my eyes.
04:28 And I'll thank Him for giving a wretch like me
04:32 a lasting hope beyond the sky.
04:37 I've been changed, I am newborn now;
04:41 All of my life has been rearranged.
04:46 Oh what a difference it made when the Lord came
04:50 and stayed in my heart.
04:52 Oh yes, I've been changed.
04:55 Oh what a difference it made when the Lord came
04:59 and stayed in my heart.
05:02 Oh yes, I've been changed.
05:09 I am changed.
05:12 And I'm going to keep the change, oh, in my heart.
05:19 Oh yes, I've been changed.
05:31 Amen. Go ahead and say amen.
05:36 We ought to be excited about being changed.
05:37 - Can you say amen again? ~ Amen.
05:39 Thank you, Tim, for warming up the piano
05:42 and warming up our hearts.
05:45 Thank you so much for coming out another night.
05:48 - Have you been blessed? ~ Amen.
05:50 We're going to ask for the Lord to continue guiding tonight.
05:52 We're talking about, The Agent of Change.
05:56 - What's the topic tonight? ~ Change.
05:58 The Agent of Change.
06:00 None of us wants to be who we use to be.
06:05 We all want to be new.
06:08 As Tim sang so heartily, we all want to be changed.
06:12 Before we go into the Bible tonight,
06:14 let's open with a word of prayer.
06:18 Loving Father in heaven, we thank You, Lord,
06:20 for the privilege and opportunity
06:23 that you lend to us in opening Your Word.
06:28 We invite Your presence to come and to speak to our hearts
06:32 in such a way that wherever we may be,
06:36 if it is where You do not desire for us to be,
06:38 Lord, come in and change us.
06:41 We ask in Jesus' name, amen.
06:47 Tonight, come with me on a journey
06:50 with the Doctor of doctors, the Psychologist of psychology,
06:57 the Architect of extreme makeovers.
07:01 His name is Jesus.
07:03 And tonight I begin by saying to you,
07:05 they ain't nothing He can't do.
07:07 - Amen, somebody. ~ Amen.
07:10 I know that, not only scripturally,
07:12 but I know that factually.
07:14 As we walk through the Bible tonight, you are going to
07:18 walk with me through the science of transformation.
07:24 The science of becoming a saint and not remaining a sinner.
07:30 We're going to walk through tonight and discover
07:33 what is means to be converted.
07:35 How do we become all that God intends for us to be?
07:40 How do we become delivered from who we use to be.
07:45 The Lord does not want us just to be intellectual Christians,
07:49 He wants us to be spiritual saints born again
07:53 by the blood of the Lamb.
07:56 And tonight we're going to walk in the Bible
07:58 through John chapter 4.
07:59 If you have your Bibles, you can turn there with me.
08:01 If not, it is going to be on the screen.
08:03 One of the most transforming stories in the Bible
08:06 brings us face to face with the familiar places in our lives.
08:13 You know, by default many of us tend to go back
08:17 to that same place, to go back to that same habit,
08:21 go back to that same thought, go back to that same practice.
08:27 Even though intellectually we may have a clear understanding
08:31 of a doctrinal position in the Bible,
08:34 there is something that happens in the human life
08:37 it's almost like a repeated behavior.
08:40 Matter of fact, it is not almost like a repeated behavior,
08:43 it is a repeated behavior.
08:46 It is an action...
08:48 It is a thought that becomes an action,
08:50 an action that becomes a habit,
08:52 a habit that becomes a character,
08:54 a character that becomes a destiny.
08:57 And I know in my own life that until I completely
09:02 surrendered myself to Jesus...
09:05 And by the way, let me make this point very clear.
09:08 Surrendering your life to Jesus may be, in the larger sense,
09:12 giving your heart to Christ through baptism
09:15 and following Him as your Lord and Savior.
09:17 But every morning we wake up we've got surrender our lives
09:22 to Jesus another day.
09:26 And I'll tell you why, as we open the Bible tonight.
09:30 Jesus takes us to one of the unknown cities in the Bible.
09:36 A city named Sychar.
09:38 And this, when you study this story we're going to cover here
09:42 in John chapter 4, you'll discover one the reasons why
09:45 Jesus takes us to a relatively unknown city.
09:48 And I discovered that this is the only place in the entire
09:51 Bible where the city Sychar is named.
09:55 Jesus takes us to an unfamiliar city
09:59 to confront our familiar places.
10:03 And He takes us to a place that walks us through one of the most
10:06 interesting conversations that Jesus has.
10:08 Jesus having a conversation with a woman at the well.
10:15 Now whether you know it or not, a woman in Bible prophecy
10:17 represents the church.
10:19 And tonight we're going to see ourselves in a very clear way
10:22 in the story of Jesus having a conversation
10:26 with the woman at the well.
10:28 And then we're going to discover the science of being
10:31 delivered from our unfamiliar places
10:36 and being transformed to become like Christ.
10:38 Let's dive into the story tonight.
10:40 John 4:3-4, the Bible says, speaking of Jesus
10:44 on His journey, the Bible says...
10:56 You know, when I read that, when I read that, I discovered
10:59 the difference between who we were and who we have become
11:05 is that Jesus needed to go through our neighborhood.
11:10 You'll catch that tomorrow.
11:13 He didn't need to go through, because there was nothing
11:15 in Samaria that He needed, but there was someone
11:18 in Samaria that needed Jesus.
11:20 There was nothing in Samaria He needed, but there was someone
11:23 in Samaria that needed Jesus.
11:26 I am so glad that the journey's that Jesus takes
11:32 are not for things, but for people.
11:35 And there is no one that is unimportant to Jesus.
11:38 So when you read in the Bible, when the Bible says
11:40 Jesus needed to go through Samaria, the point of the
11:44 matter is, if you want your life to be transformed,
11:47 let Jesus go through your life,
11:50 let Him go through your marriage,
11:52 let Him go through your neighborhood,
11:54 let Him go through your relationships.
11:56 When He goes through it, He unwraps it and He puts it
12:00 back together, making it better than it has ever been before.
12:04 I know that; I use to be a disc jockey until Jesus went through.
12:10 And everything that binds us will bind us
12:13 until Jesus decides to go through.
12:17 Look at the next verse, verse 6.
12:20 He meets a woman. And the Bible says...
12:33 In other words, it was high noon.
12:36 And when the Bible adds the narrative about Jacob's well,
12:41 I had to look into the Bible to understand the story.
12:45 You know, there are certain passages in the Bible,
12:47 and I've discovered that everything you find
12:49 in a particular scripture is put there for a reason.
12:53 And I said, why would he mention Jacob's well
12:55 when Jacob died 1694 years before this story unfolded?
13:00 Why would he even mention Jacob's well?
13:02 Because Jesus was about to confront a woman
13:07 who had more faith in her lineage than in Christ.
13:13 He had to confront the identifying marks in her life.
13:17 And let me unpack this a little slowly,
13:20 and then I'll preach like a New Yorker in a few minutes.
13:24 He had to unpack her identity;
13:28 what kept her linked to every practice in her life.
13:33 And the security that she had was, this was a well that was
13:37 connected to her family from generation to generation,
13:41 to generation, to generation.
13:43 So Jesus is meeting her at a familiar place.
13:46 The place that identifies her with her family line
13:50 as far back as 1694 years.
13:54 And when you look at your life, in many cases
13:57 who you are is often identified by what has been passed down
14:02 from generation to generation, to generation, to generation.
14:06 And we often say, "You're just like your grandfather.
14:09 You've got a temper just like him."
14:12 "You look just like your brother,
14:13 but he died before you were born."
14:17 "You know, you sing just like your great grandmother.
14:20 But that was before you were born."
14:23 There are certain things in our lives
14:25 that identifies with our past.
14:27 Some people say, "Your temper, oh, if you only knew
14:29 your grandfather, your temper would be just like his."
14:33 And so Jesus identifies something that's going to be
14:36 very significant to this woman
14:40 when He begins to meet her at the place
14:43 that is connected to her lineage.
14:46 Now before we meet the woman,
14:48 and we'll meet her in just a moment,
14:50 before we meet her, I need to make a very important point.
14:53 Lineage has a lot to do with our identity
14:58 until we meet Jesus.
15:03 Because when we meet Jesus, something happens.
15:07 When we meet Jesus and invite Him in,
15:10 something magnificent takes place.
15:13 Notice what the Bible says.
15:15 Here's how the Bible says it. 2 Corinthians 5:17
15:19 Matter of fact, read it with me.
15:20 Are you ready? Here we go.
15:24 No matter what your background, your race,
15:27 your financial status.
15:40 That word, "passed away," is a phrase meaning,
15:42 old things have died.
15:45 And I know, as I've met people from time to time,
15:49 there are certain things in people's lives
15:51 that if they just let them die...
15:56 ...they would begin to experience the abundant life
15:58 that Jesus came to give to them.
16:00 If they would just let certain things pass away.
16:04 Anybody know what I'm talking about?
16:06 There are some people that identify...
16:08 You see them coming, and know to yourself,
16:10 "Here they go with that same old story again."
16:13 "How you doing?"
16:14 And they tell you their entire life story.
16:16 They begin from the time they were seventeen,
16:18 and they're probably fifty-one.
16:20 And you say, "I heard... I know the story.
16:22 I understand."
16:24 Like the man that was laying at the pool,
16:26 and he said, "I've been here for a long period of time."
16:29 Like the woman had been bleeding for many, many years.
16:32 We so often are identified by our war stories
16:36 and the scars of our past.
16:38 But if we meet Jesus and let the past pass away,
16:43 we will understand what it means to be new in Christ.
16:45 What do you say tonight?
16:47 The point is, to be new means a whole lot more
16:51 than just saying we are Christians.
16:53 Let's allow this to be unpacked.
16:56 One of the points I'm going to bring out is that
16:58 often times we are identified by our doctrinal position.
17:02 But the older I get, I'm discovering that my mental,
17:06 emotional, and spiritual position is more of a reality
17:10 than just my doctrinal position.
17:12 In other words, what I think, how I live,
17:17 and the practices in my life identify me more with the
17:21 reality of who I am than just what I believe doctrinally.
17:26 Because there are some people who have solid doctrines
17:28 but they don't behave, they don't live in harmony
17:31 with their doctrines.
17:33 They don't live in harmony with their belief systems.
17:36 Let me show you how the Bible illustrates this.
17:39 Look at this.
17:40 Proverbs 23:7
17:41 Very short passage, but powerful.
17:48 In other words, we may not be what we think we are,
17:53 but we are what we think.
17:59 Did you get that?
18:01 We may not be what we think we are,
18:03 but we are what we think.
18:05 So now as I laid the foundation for the story,
18:08 Jesus is about to meet a woman who thinks she is
18:14 what she thinks she is, but Jesus knows that she's
18:17 not what she thinks she is.
18:20 Don't ask me to say that again.
18:24 He knows who she is.
18:26 So about noon, high noon, He sends His disciples away
18:32 because they have issues with people of other races
18:36 and they are not past their prejudices yet.
18:38 Read the story.
18:39 That's the main reason He sent them away.
18:42 Because the Jews and the Samaritans just do not converse.
18:47 So He had to send them away.
18:48 He said, "Go get something to eat.
18:50 And when you're done, come back."
18:51 He had to do that to clear the stage so that He could have
18:55 a converting experience with a person who needed to meet Him.
18:59 The Bible continues.
19:01 John 4:7
19:10 I love this passage.
19:15 Sorry for smiling.
19:17 But Jesus is the water of life.
19:20 Come on now, somebody.
19:22 Jesus could think water, and every water jug
19:27 within 100 miles will show up into the presence of Jesus.
19:31 The water of... If she had only known...
19:34 Excuse me, I'm way ahead of you.
19:36 But if she had only known who was asking her for a drink.
19:40 Jesus says, "Give Me a drink.
19:43 I'm thirsty. Give Me something to drink."
19:46 And she looks at Christ, not understanding
19:49 that she's about to have an encounter
19:52 with the Creator of everything seen and unseen.
20:00 Verse 9.
20:18 The Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.
20:22 She was able to identify Jesus.
20:24 And we were just recently in the Middle East.
20:26 You can tell the difference by the way people dress
20:29 how they are identified.
20:30 When we were in Jordan we could see that
20:32 the Jordanians dress differently from the Jews.
20:35 They have a certain identifying kind of garb they wear.
20:39 And just being there for the days that we were,
20:41 we were able to see the difference.
20:43 But when she said this to Jesus, I like the way that Jesus
20:46 responded back to her.
20:48 Notice what He said. Notice what He said.
21:15 "If you had only known."
21:20 That's something that...
21:27 Jesus is on vacation from hanging galaxies.
21:33 He took a short break between creating other worlds
21:36 to come down and have a conversation
21:39 with a woman at a well.
21:42 In a short span of three and a half years of ministry...
21:45 This Creator of heaven and earth,
21:50 this nuclear plant hidden in the garb of human flesh,
21:58 Jesus, this line of the tribe of Judah dressed in the garb
22:03 of a helpless lamb,
22:07 there's enough power in Jesus to annihilate the woman,
22:12 and He's standing in her presence with His power
22:16 turned way down so that He can turn the power
22:19 way up in her life.
22:22 I'm talking about Jesus.
22:25 I'm not talking about a president,
22:27 I'm not talking about a wealthy man.
22:28 I'm talking about a Man who has no beginning and no end,
22:32 and He's standing in front of the woman,
22:34 and He's saying to her, "If you only knew who I was."
22:39 Jesus became the undercover boss.
22:46 Have you seen that before?
22:48 Doesn't it tickle you?
22:49 The moment I saw that, I said, "That's Jesus."
22:53 He hides Himself in the garb of humanity.
22:59 He comes way down so that one day we can go way up.
23:07 He left the untarnished palaces of illimitable space and time
23:13 to have a conversation with one woman.
23:16 Ladies, you ought to say amen.
23:22 I mean, this story blows me away.
23:23 You know, she did not know in whose presence she stood.
23:26 So I've got to go back to Jeremiah to help you understand
23:29 in whose presence she stood.
23:31 Jeremiah says to the woman, "If you only read Jeremiah,
23:34 you would have known who He is."
23:36 Jeremiah says the Lord declared...
23:44 And the answer is what? No.
23:48 You know it in your own life
23:50 that there's nothing too hard for God.
23:52 I know it in my own life.
23:53 Have you been to the places in your life where you didn't think
23:56 that you can change?
23:58 But now you look back on where you use to be
24:00 only to realize that the reason why you're no longer there is
24:04 you met the Agent of change.
24:08 Tonight I'm not talking about any of the 28 fundamentals.
24:14 I am talking about the most fundamental fundamental of all.
24:17 And that is meeting Jesus.
24:20 Because, you know, until you meet Jesus,
24:22 you can have all your ducks in a row,
24:25 but you can be so unchanged that your doctrinal and intellectual
24:30 beliefs have no ability to transform and change your life.
24:35 And what we need more than anything else
24:37 is not just clear understandings of scriptural teachings,
24:40 we need to know why we always end up where we end up
24:44 and how to break the cycle of going back to where
24:48 we use to be; the familiar places in our lives.
24:53 You see, Jesus met the woman where she always was.
24:55 Jesus met a woman at the place that she showed up
24:58 every day, and He knew the time of day.
25:01 He says, "It's five to noon. She'll be here in five minutes."
25:06 Did you get that? It's noon.
25:08 If He went there at five o'clock He would not have met her.
25:11 Isn't that amazing?
25:13 That before time began Jesus put in His calendar,
25:18 "Woman at the well.
25:21 2700 years from now at noon."
25:26 That's how I think. Help me out.
25:29 "2700 years from now at noon, outside of Sychar,
25:35 got an appointment."
25:36 He wakes up that morning, checks His Rolodex,
25:39 sorry, opens up His iPad, and says,
25:41 "I've got an appointment today with the woman at the well."
25:43 Come on, somebody, say amen.
25:45 I mean, because the Bible says, "I am God and there is
25:51 none like Me; declaring the end from the beginning,
25:56 and from ancient times things that are not yet done."
26:00 So I don't believe that this was an appointment
26:02 that Jesus made that day.
26:04 I believe this was an appointment made...
26:11 ...a long time ago.
26:14 And He shows up, so that by the way He changes her life
26:19 He shows us that He can change our lives.
26:22 He came to give her something that she never had.
26:24 Which means, the Lord doesn't need us, we need Him.
26:27 Every blessing that we can ever experience
26:30 is because we simply throw ourselves on God.
26:34 And you know, when we give our all,
26:36 we get more than our all back in return.
26:39 Didn't He promise that?
26:41 Notice what He says in His Word.
26:42 Notice how He says this in His Word.
26:44 "Give, and it will be..." What?
26:58 In other words, what this scripture is saying,
27:00 we use this often for finances, but the Bible is saying,
27:04 if there's any portion of you that you hold back,
27:08 then you'll never get all that the Lord has for you.
27:11 But if you give everything of yourself,
27:14 He'll give you that back, and then some.
27:17 Good measure, pressed down,
27:19 shaken together, and running over.
27:21 And I'm getting to the place in life, my gray hair is
27:24 teaching me one thing, if I'm going to give my life to God,
27:27 I've got to give all of it.
27:30 For there to be any changes,
27:31 I've got to give every bit of it.
27:36 Now let's go back to the story.
27:38 Because you're excited to go there.
27:39 Look at the very next verse.
27:52 She still doesn't know who He is.
27:58 And then Jesus responds back.
28:01 You know what's amazing to me?
28:03 If it were us, we would have said at the very beginning,
28:06 "I'm God."
28:08 I mean, come on, help me out.
28:11 We couldn't handle that kind of power.
28:14 We would have said, "I'm God.
28:15 You don't need water, you need Me."
28:17 But Jesus is just milking this for all He has.
28:22 And every time I read this story, I want to say to Him,
28:25 "Just tell her who You are, and she'll surrender."
28:31 You know, if He came out and said to her,
28:32 "Woman, do you realize that the very well on which you stand
28:35 belongs to the earth that I made?"
28:39 He doesn't do that.
28:40 He's just drawing her heart out,
28:44 after a longing that's way inside of her.
28:46 He's pulling it out.
28:48 And He said to her, notice what He said in verse 12.
29:08 And then Jesus responds back to her.
29:32 Now as the woman is inventorying her life,
29:35 Jesus is unfolding before her something that will
29:39 take away the thirst in her life.
29:42 And so I want to pause at this particular point in the sermon
29:45 and ask the question, which Jesus is really asking her is,
29:49 how thirsty are you?
29:52 Now think about that for a moment.
29:54 Until you are thirsty for righteousness,
29:58 you'll never have that thirst quenched.
30:01 Didn't the Bible say, "Whoever hungers and thirsts
30:05 after righteousness will be filled."
30:07 Now some of us want to be righteous,
30:09 but are we thirsty for righteousness?
30:12 The difference between wanting to be righteous
30:14 and being thirsty for righteousness means this:
30:17 Until your thirst is quenched, you're not satisfied with
30:21 any other substitutes.
30:26 Simply put, until your life is where you are completely
30:31 free from the things that bind you to your past,
30:36 until you are at the place where everything that
30:38 held you at that familiar place is gone,
30:42 until all those things are gone, you're not yet satisfied.
30:47 And I know what I'm talking about.
30:49 Because the Lord delivers us, but sometimes He has to
30:52 deliver us in phases, because not that He can't deliver us
30:56 all at once, but sometimes we hold onto things in our life
30:59 and we are reluctant to let them go.
31:02 And then when we finally let them go
31:03 and we experience what God always had for us,
31:05 you know what we say?
31:07 "I should have let that thing go years ago."
31:09 Am I right?
31:12 But we hold onto it somehow.
31:14 And the woman is doing the very same thing.
31:15 She's at the well, a place of familiar occurrences.
31:18 She's got her waterpot.
31:20 She's looking at Christ, and He says, "If you only knew
31:22 who I am, I could transform your life tremendously."
31:26 She doesn't know yet who He is.
31:28 So He presses the issue. He presses the issue.
31:31 Look at the very next verse.
31:34 Verse 15.
31:41 So in other words, she got to the place where she's saying,
31:44 "I am thirsty, but if you give me this water
31:46 I'll never thirst again."
31:48 So the door is now opening.
31:50 The door is now opening.
31:51 Now Jesus is going to do something that
31:54 we don't think He should have done here,
31:56 as I think about the story.
31:57 Jesus could have simply said, "Okay, here's the water.
32:00 You'll never thirst again."
32:01 But now He goes from the surface issues in her life
32:05 to the hidden issues in her life.
32:10 Watch how He does it.
32:15 "Jesus said to her..."
32:21 Now why did He have to ask that question?
32:28 I could hear her saying, "Wasn't this about water?
32:33 What does my husband have to do with anything?"
32:36 He goes from the surface issue...
32:37 Now let me just really get clear with you.
32:39 A lot of us like to talk about the surface issues,
32:43 but when the issues start getting deep,
32:47 where the real challenges lie,
32:50 it becomes completely uncomfortable.
32:52 But I love the fact that the way that Jesus does this,
32:55 He doesn't let her back out of the conversation.
32:59 Notice how He handles this.
33:08 And He goes on to say to her,
33:10 "...in that, you have spoken truthfully."
33:12 "You've well said you have no husband."
33:14 "You've well said that you have no husband."
33:16 I'm going to go back because you just saw the scripture.
33:18 He said, "You have no husband."
33:19 Matter of fact, you know the rest of the story,
33:22 He said to her, "You've had five husbands,
33:25 and the one that you're with now is not yours."
33:30 In other words, "You keep going from one place to the next
33:33 trying to find satisfaction."
33:37 But He brought up a point that is so significant.
33:39 He says, "Go call your husband."
33:43 Now, this is where the sermon begins.
33:46 All that was foundation.
33:48 This is where the sermon begins.
33:49 Tonight we're going to talk about husbands.
33:52 Husbands, don't get nervous.
33:56 You're going to see we're not talking about
33:57 husbands married to wives, we're going to talk about
34:01 the controlling center of your life that Jesus calls
34:05 the husband of our relationship.
34:09 Look at this.
34:11 Look at this.
34:13 Romans 7:1
34:30 I'm going to introduce you tonight to the law.
34:33 To the law.
34:35 To the law called, the husband.
34:39 To the law called, the husband.
34:42 Look at Romans chapter 7. Go in your Bibles there with me.
34:44 Romans chapter 7.
34:46 Matter of fact, I'm going to give it to you in just a moment.
34:48 Don't go there.
34:50 I'm going to show you first Genesis 3:16,
34:53 give you the principle, and then we're going to go to Romans 7:2.
34:56 Look at Genesis 3:16.
34:58 This is vitally important because Jesus asked the woman
35:01 about her husband.
35:04 Let's see what the Bible says about the husband in Genesis.
35:07 Genesis 3:16
35:15 So when Jesus asked the woman for her husband,
35:19 He was in essence saying, "There's somebody else
35:22 ruling your life, and I want to break his hold on your life
35:27 so that I can have a hold on your life."
35:32 And the husband that she's married to is the barrier
35:38 between her relationship with her past
35:42 and her relationship with her future.
35:45 Let's look at that.
35:46 Let's look at that very carefully here.
35:48 Romans 7:2
36:07 I showed you the law of her husband very carefully here
36:10 in Genesis 3:16.
36:12 What's the law of her husband?
36:14 "Her desire will be for him, and he will..." Do what?
36:17 "...rule over her."
36:18 Tonight, allow me to introduce you to...
36:21 And then I'm going to prove my thesis in just a moment here.
36:23 The law of her husband is the nature that we were born with.
36:30 The sin nature. The corrupt nature.
36:33 The control center of our will.
36:35 The architect of our desires.
36:37 The orchestrator of our failure.
36:39 The power that keeps us bound to the same old behaviors.
36:44 The engineer that keeps our future locked to our past.
36:49 The law that Jesus is referring to here
36:53 is that old nature that every one of us was born with.
36:58 And the Bible says again, the woman who has a husband is what?
37:03 Now get that.
37:05 She's bound to the law as long as he what?
37:09 As long as he lives.
37:10 In other words, until our old nature is put to death...
37:14 We're talking about the agent of change.
37:16 Until who we were born as is no longer in control of us,
37:22 then somebody else is now free to be in control of us.
37:27 As long as we are bound to that nature that
37:29 we received from Adam, we will never be able to produce
37:34 children, or seeds, or practices, or lifestyle
37:38 that is connected to the Christ who wants to be
37:40 the new husband in our lives.
37:43 Let's look at that very carefully.
37:45 What happens if she's bound by the law to her husband?
37:48 Notice, her desire will be for him, and he will rule over her.
37:51 There's a particular principle, the law of her husband.
37:54 Notice what that law is all about.
37:56 Matthew chapter 7, let's look at this.
38:04 So what kind of fruit does a good tree bear?
38:07 Okay, let's keep going.
38:12 Look at this law.
38:20 So in other words, if you break this down,
38:22 being bound to that law means...
38:26 Let's make it practical.
38:27 If I want to do right and I'm married to an old sinful nature,
38:32 can I do right?
38:35 So if I want to live like Jesus, but I'm married to Adam's
38:39 nature, can I live like Jesus?
38:43 If I want to be free to do what is right and good,
38:47 but I'm married to a nature that is in control of me
38:50 that I cannot produce anything good with,
38:52 can I ever become like Jesus?
38:55 Look at the principle.
38:56 "A good tree cannot bear bad fruit,
38:58 nor can a bad tree bear..." What?
39:01 And the reason why the Bible talks bad fruit and good fruit
39:04 is, there are only two types of individuals.
39:08 How many types did I say?
39:10 Only two.
39:11 Those who are bearing good fruit,
39:12 and those who are bearing what? Bad fruit.
39:15 But tonight you're going to discover
39:16 something very important.
39:21 Bad fruit don't show up because we decide...
39:25 Sorry, good fruit don't show up because we decide
39:28 that good fruit are going to show up.
39:31 The only way that good fruit can show up
39:34 is if the tree is good.
39:38 Did you get that?
39:40 Will you find apples on an orange tree, yes or no?
39:43 Will you find oranges on an apple tree, yes or no?
39:46 Boy, that's kind of a weak yes or no.
39:48 - Yes or no? ~ No.
39:50 So what has to happen to find apples on an apple tree?
39:55 I gave you the answer.
39:57 It has to be an apple tree, right?
40:00 What has to happen for there to be righteous living
40:03 in a person's life?
40:05 We have to be connected to what kind of tree?
40:07 A righteous tree.
40:09 So we cannot make these changes intellectually.
40:12 Jeremiah makes it very clear.
40:13 Look at Jeremiah 13:23.
40:16 "Can the Ethiopian change his skin," yes or no?
40:33 Wow, it's going to get a little deeper here in just a moment.
40:37 You see, this message about agent of change,
40:39 if I were to grade any of the messages I've covered so far,
40:42 this message is the pivotal message between
40:46 all that we want to be and all that we still might be.
40:56 We may be living a life that has repeated practices and habits
40:59 that are coming up over and over,
41:02 and we're desiring for those things to be
41:04 changed in our lives.
41:05 And we get to the point where we grit our teeth,
41:09 we say, "Okay, today I'm not going to do it.
41:11 I'm not going to do it. I'm not going to do it.
41:13 I'm not going to do it."
41:14 And then we try in our own human ability
41:17 to try to hold out as long as we can.
41:19 And then eventually it shows up again.
41:21 You know why?
41:23 Because the nature of the tree has not yet been changed.
41:26 Follow me very carefully.
41:28 So can the Ethiopian change his skin?
41:30 Absolutely not.
41:32 Look at this.
41:33 When you wake up in the morning,
41:35 look at the two choices you have.
41:36 Romans 6:16
41:39 Romans 6:16
41:41 This comes down to choice.
41:43 You see, before baptism, before a person is free
41:47 to say, "I want to give my life to Christ,"
41:49 we've got to make a choice.
41:50 And notice how powerful, notice how powerful
41:53 the nature of sin is.
41:55 But also notice how powerful the nature of righteousness is.
42:00 Look at this text.
42:01 I have been studying a little more than a year now,
42:05 and I've discovered in the Bible that there are three particular
42:08 verses in Scripture that have given me
42:11 what I might refer to as the answers to life's
42:14 most important questions.
42:16 And the question is this, one of the most important
42:18 questions is this:
42:19 How can I live so that Jesus can be seen in my life?
42:25 How many of you want that?
42:27 Everyone of us want to live so that Jesus
42:30 can be seen in our lives.
42:32 So how does that happen?
42:34 Let's look at this text.
42:36 Romans 6:16
42:50 It starts by this: by presenting ourselves.
42:54 Now I use to think...
42:56 And let me just put this into context.
42:58 You know, some people may say, "Well, I'm not a Christian,
43:01 but I'm doing my own thing."
43:03 Have you heard that phrase before?
43:04 "I'm doing..." You know, no we're not.
43:06 No one does his or her own thing.
43:10 We are either doing God's thing, living righteously,
43:15 or we're doing Satan's thing, living unrighteously.
43:18 Because there's no third category in this text.
43:22 Either we have made a decision to present ourselves
43:26 to the slave of disobedience or we've made the decision
43:31 to present ourselves to the slave of obedience.
43:34 Now the Bible uses the word, slave, for a particular reason.
43:37 It's a hard word.
43:38 The word, slave, is not the kind of word we like to use.
43:40 Amen, somebody.
43:42 But the word, slave, is intended to let you know
43:45 that the moment you make that decision,
43:47 follow carefully, the moment you make that decision,
43:49 it is no longer you who is in control.
43:52 Have you ever done something that you said later on,
44:00 "I never thought I'd do that."
44:04 No amens necessary on that one.
44:07 I want you to think.
44:10 I think we've all been at the place where we've
44:12 done something, we've said,
44:13 "I never thought I could do that.
44:15 I never thought I would...
44:16 I never thought I could actually do that."
44:19 You know why it happened?
44:21 Because when we present ourselves,
44:23 when we present ourselves as a slave to disobedience,
44:27 slaves never tell the master what to do.
44:30 The master always tells the slave what to do.
44:35 This is a very important topic.
44:36 So the master, who is Satan, the moment you submit yourself
44:40 to him...handcuffed.
44:42 And he decides what you're going to do.
44:45 The moment you submit yourself to Christ,
44:48 He decides what you're going to do.
44:50 And let me tell you something.
44:52 When the Lord decides what you're going to do,
44:54 here's the difference:
44:55 When you submit to Satan, you will do things you never thought
44:57 you would ever do.
44:59 But when you submit yourself to Christ,
45:01 you will be able to do things you never thought you could do.
45:07 That's why some people, years later, they come into the church
45:09 and say, "Isn't that the guy who use to be in prison for robbery?
45:13 How is he the head treasurer of the church?
45:17 They trust him with money?"
45:19 I mean, think about it. Let's put this together.
45:21 How many of you would trust the apostle Paul,
45:24 who use to be Saul, persecutor of Christians?
45:29 How many of you would have him preach at your church
45:32 a week after his conversion?
45:34 "Who's preaching in Antioch?" "Paul."
45:37 "Haven't heard of him before."
45:38 "He used to be named Saul. He said he was converted.
45:41 He's doing an evangelistic series."
45:42 "I ain't going."
45:46 But now years later, thousands of years later,
45:49 we say, "The apostle Paul, a man of God."
45:53 But how many of you would have come to his evangelistic series
45:56 the week after he got converted?
45:57 Really, honestly?
46:00 And then when the chapter of 2 Chronicles ended
46:04 and 1 Chronicles began, the Lord said to Solomon,
46:09 "If you would walk in the ways of your father David,
46:13 and keep all My commandments as your father David did..."
46:18 You're saying, "Is He talking about the same David I know?
46:22 The guy that had an adulterous affair with a woman,
46:27 and then had her husband killed?
46:29 Is He saying that Solomon should walk in the
46:31 commandments like he did?"
46:34 Let me tell you something, brothers and sisters.
46:36 When the Lord comes into your life,
46:39 your past is not just forgiven, it is washed away.
46:44 Amen?
46:46 So the Lord looks at you, we use this word, justified.
46:48 But sometimes we don't understand what it means.
46:51 Justified simply means, and as you've said this before,
46:53 it really does mean the Lord looks at a redeemed sinner
46:57 just as if he had never sinned.
47:03 And the reason why this topic is important is because
47:04 so many people have been Christians for a long time,
47:09 and one of the most painful questions I've heard
47:11 Christians say is, way up in their years,
47:14 "You know, I'm not sure if I'm going to be saved."
47:17 I've heard many...
47:18 I've heard many Adventists say that.
47:21 "I'm not sure if I'm going to be saved."
47:25 How long you been... How... Sorry.
47:28 Okay, here's the point.
47:30 You may have been Adventist for many years,
47:32 but you may not have been a Christian for many years.
47:34 Because being an Adventist and being a Christian
47:36 is not the same thing.
47:38 And Adventist is somebody who accepts all the doctrines.
47:42 But an Adventist Christian is somebody who has been
47:44 transformed by the grace of Christ.
47:46 - Amen, someone. ~ Amen.
47:48 A Christian in any walk of life is a person who is
47:51 first transformed, then informed.
47:55 But so many of us are informed.
47:57 So many of us, as Pastor C.A. says,
47:59 so many of us are convicted by the message
48:03 but not converted by the message.
48:06 So we have more convicts in our church than converts.
48:12 Don't want that.
48:14 So what's the answer? Let's look at the Bible.
48:16 And by the way, when I say this,
48:17 the moment you submit to someone, you'll discover that
48:20 you are no longer in charge.
48:21 I've got the evidence here. Look at John 1:29.
48:24 The beauty of the message is when John saw Jesus coming,
48:27 he made a particular statement that is true about all of us.
48:30 Only Jesus can take away the sin of the world.
48:32 And the sin of the world is the broken nature
48:34 that every one of us is born with.
48:36 "Behold, the Lamb of God that..." Does what?
48:39 "...taketh away the..." What?
48:40 "...sin of the world." Yes.
48:42 But look at Romans.
48:44 When you submit to a nature that you cannot control,
48:47 Paul himself going through this experience
48:49 admitted these words...
48:50 He says, once he submitted to the wrong nature,
48:53 notice what he said...
49:04 So you wonder, "Why do I go back home?
49:06 After I leave a meeting..."
49:07 "Why do I leave the church and say,
49:09 'I'm not going to smoke tonight. I'm not going to smoke tonight.'
49:19 I didn't mean on doing that."
49:22 You know why?
49:24 Because the power that was controlling you
49:26 have not yet been broken.
49:29 And the power that controls you will make you do things
49:32 until the power that controls you has been put to death
49:37 and another power is in charge.
49:41 Let's go on. We've got to see this.
49:43 That's what Paul meant when he said in Romans 6:6-7...
49:46 "Knowing this..."
49:48 Speaking about the transformation from being
49:50 in bondage to being made free.
50:02 What body of sin?
50:03 This nature that Adam gave to every one of us
50:05 is what's in control of us.
50:07 And until this nature is put to death,
50:09 we have no freedom to do anything but what the
50:12 sin nature wants us to do.
50:15 "...that the body of sin might be done away with..."
50:17 And look at the wording.
50:28 Not sins, but sin.
50:32 The nature of sin.
50:35 That means the control center has been torn down
50:40 and a new control center has been put in place.
50:43 That means Satan no longer has you handcuffed to him,
50:47 we are now handcuffed to Christ.
50:51 But let's continue going on.
50:53 Let's continue going on.
50:55 Romans 7:4
51:03 This is one of the most misunderstood
51:05 scriptures in the Bible.
51:07 People think when it says, "You become dead to the law,"
51:09 they think you become dead to the commandments.
51:11 No.
51:12 That means you become dead to the law
51:14 that's been controlling you.
51:15 How many of you have heard of gravity?
51:21 You know what gravity is?
51:25 Gravity is in control.
51:27 What goes up must come down.
51:30 But when the law that controls the nature
51:34 has been broken, you've been freed from that controlling law.
51:38 Notice what it goes on to say further.
51:55 I've got to move a little quicker tonight.
51:56 I've got to move a little quicker.
51:58 Here's how beautiful that is. Here's how beautiful that is.
52:01 Here is where the transformation comes in.
52:03 When Jesus comes in, and that old sin nature has been
52:07 put down, the sin that was in control is no longer in control.
52:12 Who is in control now?
52:15 The apostle Paul declares...
52:19 If you're crucified, you have your nature put to death.
52:23 And notice what he says.
52:43 When the woman submitted herself to Jesus...
52:46 I want you to get this.
52:48 I have two more scriptures.
52:49 Tim make your way to the piano.
52:51 I have two more scriptures that are vitally important.
52:53 I've got to share them with you.
52:55 When the woman finally submitted herself to Jesus,
52:58 notice what happened.
53:00 The very thing that she identified with every day,
53:03 notice what happened.
53:04 Look at the verse.
53:07 The woman left her waterpot.
53:13 The very thing that she had with her every day,
53:16 every day, every day, every day, when she submitted herself
53:20 to Christ, she was finally able to put it down.
53:32 Not unusual.
53:33 They knew her to talk to men.
53:35 But this time her life was different.
53:46 And you'll discover that the city was converted because
53:49 she found Christ and left the very thing of her past identity,
53:55 let go of the husbands of her past identity,
53:58 and had a new Man in her life.
54:00 Amen, somebody.
54:01 What made the difference? What made the difference?
54:04 Joshua 24:15, very quickly. Let's read this together.
54:07 What made the difference? Choice.
54:22 Tomorrow night we're going into part two,
54:25 Getting Connected.
54:26 Tonight we've covered what it means to break the hold
54:30 on the nature that we were born with.
54:32 It's done by making one simple choice.
54:35 The question is tonight, who will you choose?
54:39 Whoever you choose is the one that will determine
54:43 how you live.
54:45 Tim.
54:52 Lord, I give You my heart,
54:56 I give You my soul.
55:01 I live for You alone.
55:05 Every breath that I take,
55:09 every moment I'm awake,
55:14 Lord, have Your way in me.
55:18 Lord, I give You my heart,
55:22 I give You my soul.
55:27 I live for You alone.
55:31 Every breath that I take,
55:35 every moment I'm awake,
55:40 Lord, have Your way in me.
55:46 I want us to sing that song one time with Tim.
55:48 Can we do that once? Can we do that?
55:49 That's what I want you to do tonight.
55:50 Give the Lord your heart and your soul.
55:54 That's the only way that the past can be put down
55:59 and the new life in Christ can come in.
56:02 Can we sing that one time together?
56:04 Lord, I give You my heart,
56:08 I give You my soul.
56:13 I live for You alone.
56:17 Every breath that I take,
56:21 every moment I'm awake,
56:25 Lord, have Your way in me.
56:30 Lord, I give You my heart,
56:33 I give You my soul.
56:38 I live for You alone.
56:42 Every breath that I take,
56:45 every moment I'm awake,
56:50 Lord, have Your way in me.
56:55 Tonight I'm going to ask you to do something.
56:57 If there's somebody here tonight that wants to give the Lord
57:00 their will, their way, their heart, their soul,
57:04 just stand with me tonight.
57:05 Just stand with me.
57:09 This is the choice I'm talking about.
57:10 Choosing, choosing moment by moment,
57:13 day by day, hour by hour.
57:16 Loving Father in heaven, the choice between our failure
57:20 and our success is choosing You.
57:23 The choice between the habits that bind us
57:26 and the Lord that frees us is You.
57:29 Precious Father, tonight we make that decision
57:33 to give You our hearts and to give You our souls,
57:38 that You'll come in and make a transitional change in us.
57:42 Sever us from the habits of our past,
57:46 sever us from the practices of our past,
57:50 the things that have kept us going back over and over
57:52 to the very same familiar places.
57:55 Lord, tonight may we choose You,
57:58 that You'll be our Deliverer,
58:00 the Husband of our future,
58:02 the One that produces fruits of righteousness through us,
58:07 the One that brings the light of life and joy and freedom to us.
58:11 Help us to choose every moment of every day
58:17 the God who has come to free us.
58:20 Father, tonight this is the freedom that we want
58:24 that is only found in our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus.
58:31 We ask for this, Father.
58:32 Please come in, by Your Holy Spirit,
58:36 and set us free.
58:38 In Jesus' name, amen.


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Revised 2018-07-02