Participants: Pr. Lyle Albrecht
Series Code: RIN
Program Code: RIN000012
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01:00 Good evening.
01:01 Welcome to each of you. 01:03 Are you ready to travel? 01:05 Well, I am as well. 01:07 Now, if you'll fasten your seatbelts and relax, 01:11 we shall be on our way to the city of Rome. 01:13 We're going to be visiting Rome on several occasions. 01:18 We've said, on more than one occasion we visited 01:21 other cities, that the major cities of the world are 01:24 built on the banks of a river. 01:26 And it's true here. 01:28 The river that runs through the city of Rome is the Tiber. 01:32 Now we're going to get in a helicopter and lift up 01:36 from the banks of the Tiber 01:37 and have a panoramic view of the city. 01:40 And we see the many, many domes of the various 01:43 Roman Catholic cathedrals. 01:45 I've forgotten how many there are. 01:47 There was a time, a long while back, that there was a necessity 01:53 of cathedrals because every Cardinal that makes up the 01:58 College of Cardinals, the governing body of the 01:59 church beneath the Pope himself, every Cardinal had to be a 02:03 pastor, ex officio or in name only, of one of the cathedrals 02:07 inside the city of Rome. 02:09 Well, now the College of Cardinals has outgrown 02:12 the number of cathedrals. 02:14 But we're going to look at some in a close-up tonight 02:18 beginning with the Cathedral of St. Paul outside the gate. 02:22 The apostle Paul spent his last days here in the city of Rome 02:26 down in a hole called the Mamertine. 02:30 He was left in there to die, but they couldn't wait 02:33 for his demise. 02:34 They took him out and brought him over and beheaded him. 02:39 And in the early part of the fourth century, they built 02:44 a church on the supposed site of the death of the apostle Paul. 02:47 And a few years later then, they tore that one down 02:52 and replaced it with this one that's been standing 02:55 for such a long, long time. 02:56 By the way, the facade up there contains the largest mosaic 03:02 piece of art in the world. 03:03 At least that is the claim. 03:05 I think we've said on prior occasions that during the 03:09 dark ages, the Bibles were chained to monastery desks. 03:13 They were for the private interpretation of 03:16 church leadership. 03:17 Therefore, in order to teach the folks the Bible stories 03:21 they would decorate the cathedrals with Bible art. 03:24 Maybe a sculpting, maybe a painting, 03:27 maybe a stained glass window. 03:28 And here on the exterior, it happens to be this huge mosaic 03:33 that is covered with Bible story. 03:36 Now, the style of architecture that we're going to see 03:39 largely tonight is Romanesque. 03:41 Several evenings ago, we went inside a cathedral 03:44 over in London. 03:45 And we said that the style there was Gothic. 03:49 Gothic is delicate and slender and spaghetti thin. 03:54 And Romanesque is just the reverse of that. 03:56 It is bold and stout and big pillars and broad arches. 04:00 And so this is the Romanesque style. 04:04 A true cathedral had to be built in the shape of a cross. 04:08 And if this auditorium were a cathedral, where you folks 04:11 are seated would be the nave. 04:14 The main nave, traditionally. 04:18 And then at the point of the high altar, there is an arm 04:20 that goes out in either direction. 04:22 And that is called the transept. 04:24 And behind that, behind the high altar, a little alcove 04:29 called the apse to symbolize the head part of a cross. 04:33 So nave, transept, and apse. 04:36 And we're standing to take this picture, of course, 04:40 at the end of the nave looking down toward the high altar. 04:43 We look up into the ceiling, we see that it's hand carved 04:46 out of beautiful hardwood. 04:47 And then it is covered over with gold leaf. 04:50 And in the very center of the ceiling is the coat of arms 04:53 of the Pope that was reigning at the time of the dedication. 04:57 A papal coat of arms. 04:59 Mass is about to begin. 05:02 We look up above the high altar and we see again 05:05 paintings and mosaics telling the Bible story. 05:08 They're telling about Jesus discipling His followers; 05:13 Peter, James, John, Andrew, the others. 05:15 That means teaching them, discipling. 05:17 And then beneath that He is apostling them. 05:20 Sending them out to share what He has taught. 05:26 This is a marble statue after whom the cathedral is named, 05:31 the apostle Paul. 05:32 Paul called himself the apostle to the Gentiles. 05:36 He believed that it was his mission to take the good news 05:39 of Jesus now beyond Judaism and out to the rest of the world. 05:44 And so he would go on mission journeys all through Asia Minor 05:47 and as far away as Rome. 05:49 And you remember from his last letter he said, 05:52 "If I can get out of here," talking about jail. 05:54 "If I get out of this situation, I have Spain in mind. " 05:58 And I'll tell you what. 05:59 I've been to 62 countries of the world and I've preached 06:03 in many and I've been to about all of the states to preach. 06:06 And if Jesus doesn't hurry back, I have Spain in mind. 06:09 How about you? 06:10 Now we're going to take the gospel everywhere. 06:13 We must do that. 06:14 Now, I've taken you outside to show you something that 06:17 gives this cathedral its real personality. 06:21 I didn't bring you here to the rose garden to show you 06:23 the flowers, though they are lovely. 06:25 I've brought you here to show you the colonnade. 06:27 I've forgotten how many columns and arches there are, and 06:30 that's really unimportant. 06:31 What I do well remember is, each of those columns is 06:35 different from every other one. 06:38 Some are round, some are square, some are octagonal, 06:43 some are serpentine. 06:44 But each one is different from the other. 06:48 We're now standing with our backs to the Tiber River. 06:51 And in the very center of our picture is the dome of the 06:54 largest cathedral in the world. 06:55 That is St. Peter's inside the Vatican. 06:57 We shall not go in there tonight, but we shall on 07:00 two subsequent evenings. 07:01 But I wanted you to notice this building that's over 07:03 on the extreme right. 07:05 It has two names. 07:08 It's known as the Castle of the Holy Angel 07:10 and way up at the top, there you see a bronze of an angel. 07:14 We're going to stand up there soon. 07:16 But it's also known as the tomb of Hadrian. 07:21 Roman Emperor Hadrian wanted to be buried inside this place. 07:26 He'd ordered its construction. 07:27 It was built as a safe house, ladies and gentlemen. 07:30 And it was defended at every level. 07:34 You look at that building and you look at its construction, 07:36 and you see that at each tower, there is a cantilever 07:39 with an arch. 07:40 And that, as we've talked on other evenings, was for the 07:43 purpose of pouring down hot oil upon anyone 07:46 trying to break inside. 07:47 And there were other ancient weapons, as we're going to 07:50 notice as we go higher and higher. 07:53 And so, the Emperor Hadrian who, by the way, was really an 07:56 enemy of Jesus and of Christianity. 07:59 He may have been, well, along with a madman by the name 08:04 of Nero, he may have been the worst enemy of the church that 08:08 history has ever known. 08:11 So let's move across the bridge and have a close-up. 08:14 Look at the various levels there, 08:16 and all of them have that overhang. 08:18 And we're going to then, pay our fee and go inside. 08:22 From the second level, we look back down into the courtyard 08:25 and we see cannon. 08:26 And that tells us that this was used as a fort. 08:29 At a much later date than Hadrian's, of course. 08:33 A time of modern weaponry. 08:35 And then we go further still and we look up 08:37 and there's our buddy. 08:38 And there's that cantilever. 08:40 And where he's standing, there is one of the openings. 08:43 At every level, it could be defended by throwing things 08:46 down through, or by pouring down hot water or hot oil 08:50 upon anyone trying to break in. 08:53 Now we see an ancient relic, an old war machine. 08:56 There is a catapult. 08:58 And you'll see a stack of those great big 09:00 watermelon sized stones. 09:02 And it has two in the ladle. 09:04 And that thing was cocked and it would throw those rocks 09:07 out over to the outside against any army that 09:11 might be gathered there. 09:12 In addition, there was a whole room filled with 09:15 grapefruit sized balls for the purpose of throwing by hand. 09:21 Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of these stones 09:25 perfectly rounded so that they could have fair accuracy. 09:29 And then thrown by hand. 09:30 I've thought about it, ladies and gentlemen. 09:33 You know, if you got hit with one of those, 09:35 you're going to need one of those aspirins 09:37 like they show on TV. 09:39 About like that. 09:42 An aspirin sandwich at least. 09:44 Well, we're up near the top now. 09:46 And we're looking over the wall inside the Vatican. 09:51 Vatican is 110 acres inside the city of Rome. 09:54 And as I've mentioned, we shall visit there 09:55 on subsequent evenings. 09:56 I'm going to put the camera out through that opening 09:59 and put on the wide angle lens and give you a view of something 10:04 that I find fascinating. 10:06 There is an interesting sidewalk. 10:09 It's about 25 feet above the street level. 10:11 There you see it. 10:12 And I'm going to trace it across from the bottom right-hand 10:15 of the screen. 10:16 You begin there. 10:17 And that is inside this castle now, 10:20 inside this place of safety. 10:22 And it goes all the way, through the wall, inside the Vatican, 10:27 and all the way over to the Pope's house. 10:31 How about that. 10:34 If the Pope's life was in danger, this you know, 10:36 after the empire of the Caesars and during the 10:39 holy Roman time and later the empire of the papacy. 10:42 If the Pope's life was in danger, he could 10:45 leave his house without walking down in the streets where 10:48 enemies might be, he could find safety by running over here 10:52 inside this place of Hadrian. 10:55 Well, there are many other things to see. 10:57 And so we're, from the very top, standing beneath the holy angel, 11:00 going to bid adieu and move across town. 11:07 This building, ladies and gentlemen, is the Pantheon. 11:11 And I want to tell you a little bit about that name. 11:16 The name Pantheon is taken from two New Testament words 11:20 or Greek words. 11:21 "Pan" means all. 11:23 Pan America Airlines, the airline that flew 11:26 across all the Americas. 11:27 "Pan", all. 11:29 And then "theon" or "theos" is the word for God. 11:33 The Greek word for God. 11:34 This, for hundreds of years, folk, was the place where the 11:38 pagans came to worship the gods of the sun and the moon 11:42 and the stars, and Mercury the messenger god 11:44 and a host of others. 11:45 The place of worshiping all of the pagan gods. 11:51 Christianity, born over in Jerusalem at the time of Jesus 11:57 and the disciples, began, by the second and third century, 12:00 to sweep across the Roman world like fire in dry brush. 12:04 And one by one, pagan temples became Christian churches. 12:09 And this is one example. 12:10 Today, you see out in front of it this obelisk. 12:14 And that is from Heliopolis, the north of the 12:17 continent of Africa. 12:18 Helios is one of the pagan names of the sun god. 12:22 And there we see a big gold ball to symbolize the sun. 12:25 And atop that we see a cross, 12:27 to give further evidence, archeological evidence 12:31 and historical proof, of the melding together 12:36 of Christianity with elements of the religion that was prior to 12:40 Christianity to the large degree. 12:42 And that was paganism. 12:44 We're going to go inside and we're going to see something 12:47 immediately at the roof top. 12:49 By the way, this building was built in the 6th century. 12:53 And it is, for you carpenters sake, you builders, 12:56 this was one of the very earliest uses of concrete. 13:00 And they had a pretty good mix, didn't they. 13:03 I don't know if it was a 5 or 6 bag mix, but it held up well. 13:07 That's for certain. 13:09 Yeah, concrete dome. And the thing is huge. 13:12 And nearly all of the great domes in the world today 13:15 are fashioned after the design of this one. 13:18 And some of them still are made out of concrete. 13:21 Well, you will notice a hole in the ceiling. 13:23 That hole is about 30 feet in diameter, ladies and gentlemen. 13:25 And that was so that at certain times of the year, 13:28 they could see the sun or the moon or the stars 13:31 and enjoy that in their worship of paganism. 13:34 Now if you're wondering what happens when it rains, 13:36 the answer is very simple. 13:37 The rain water came right in, but beneath that opening 13:40 there are holes drilled in the floor. 13:43 And the very center of the floor is slightly concave, 13:46 it's saucered, and the rain water drains right down 13:50 through the holes and into the drainage system down beneath. 13:55 There is a pipe organ in here, set back amidst those 14:00 beautiful, beautiful marble pillars. 14:02 And when I was here on one occasion, the maestro played. 14:05 And when those notes reverberated off of that 14:08 round marble building, it was indeed magic. 14:12 We're going to pause very briefly at the tomb of Raphael. 14:16 Raphael is buried right there. 14:20 Well, we've moved now to another cathedral. 14:23 And this one, again, is very obviously of the 14:26 Romanesque style. 14:27 Big columns and wide and broad arches. 14:31 And there is the high altar. 14:33 This, ladies and gentlemen, is the Cathedral of 14:35 San Pietro in Vincoli. 14:37 Or we, perhaps, would say St. Peter in Chains. 14:41 The apostle Paul came to Rome and was martyred. 14:45 He was beheaded. 14:46 The apostle Peter came to Rome. 14:48 And some early historians say that he was kept also in the 14:51 Mamertine hole or the Mamertine prison cave. 14:55 We can't be certain of that but we are quite certain Paul was. 14:58 But at any event, Peter was taken and executed on a cross. 15:04 And he said, "I don't deserve to die like my Lord. " 15:07 They said, "Fine then. " 15:08 And so they hung him on an inverted cross. 15:10 Hung him upside down and left him to die in that position. 15:15 And so, they show you all kinds of relics here like this one 15:20 inside the bronze case, this old, old link chain. 15:25 And they'll tell you here that this is the chain, 15:28 the very absolute chain, that Peter was chained with 15:31 when he was a prisoner here in the city of Rome. 15:35 I think that some of these ideas, we have to take with 15:39 more than a grain of salt. 15:41 Yes, maybe a teaspoon or two. 15:45 But they're put here for the purpose of reminding folks 15:48 of the mission of the church. 15:50 And I have no problem with being reminded of the mission 15:54 of the church as far as that's concerned. 15:56 As long as folks don't begin to worship those kinds of things 15:59 or any such as that. 16:01 Well, nearby there is a nail. 16:04 And they will tell you that this old spike was the one that was 16:08 driven through the feet of Jesus when He was nailed to the cross. 16:12 The Cathedral of San Pietro in Vincoli, 16:14 St. Peter in Chains. 16:16 Here then is a statue in this cathedral 16:20 of the first of the Roman Emperors to claim 16:23 to be a Christian. 16:24 This, of course, was Constantine. 16:26 Constantine was a Christian as a result of political necessity. 16:32 I think that's the fairest and most honest way to say it. 16:35 To think that he was born again would be more than a misnomer, 16:39 a mistaken idea. 16:41 When Constantine came to power, he inherited an empire 16:46 that was divided right down the center. 16:49 Paganism had been the religion of the masses for 16:52 hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years. 16:54 But in recent times, Christianity was 16:57 born in Jerusalem and spread like a wild fire driven by a 17:01 fierce Santa Ana wind. 17:04 He saw the possibility, yes the probability, 17:07 of the empire being split. 17:09 And being politically savvy, Constantine went down 17:13 to a cathedral that we're going to visit, 17:16 and said to the pastor, "I want to be a Christian. 17:18 I want to be baptized. " 17:20 And so the pastor, unable I suppose to say no to the emperor 17:24 took him into the baptistery and immersed him beneath the water. 17:28 Now when Constantine came up out of the water, 17:30 he did not come up a born again Christian, but really 17:33 a barely diluted, barely watered down pagan. 17:38 But from that point on, he began to promote Christianity. 17:41 He said, "I'm a Christian and if any of you do a Christian harm, 17:44 I'm going to take it personally. 17:46 If I hear that anyone has taken the life of a Christian, 17:50 I'm going to react in the same way as if you'd tried 17:53 to take my own life. 17:54 I am a Christian, I want everyone to be Christian. " 17:58 But then, he said at a great church meeting, 18:03 "Christians, we can't have it all our way. 18:07 The basic teaching of Christianity is to love everyone 18:11 and to be open minded. " 18:13 And so he said, "We're going to meet the pagans 18:16 in the middle of the road. " 18:18 And he, at this great church counsel, brought into the 18:22 Christian church many, many teachings and practices 18:25 that had been used by the pagans in the prior centuries. 18:30 And as a result of the influence of the baptism of Constantine, 18:34 a great deal of paganism was brought into the church. 18:37 And a lot of it is still around today, 18:40 as we've mentioned on other evenings 18:42 and we'll continue to do so as we study further. 18:46 The statue of Constantine. 18:48 And I think it's rightly placed. 18:51 Now we've come to the cathedral that is the church of the Pope. 18:57 And I say that again with the idea of ex officio. 19:03 We would traditionally think that St. Peter's inside the 19:06 Vatican is the Pope's church, but that's not the case. 19:10 St. Peter's is only ever Peter's church. 19:13 This is the Cathedral of St. John Lateran. 19:16 And it is this cathedral that the Pope is pastor of. 19:20 But again, in name only. 19:22 Again, the architecture inside is Romanesque. 19:26 So we'll step inside and have a little view down the main nave. 19:30 The high altar is unique in all of the world 19:32 because it has two statues in it. 19:35 And so we're going to go down toward them and I'm going to use 19:38 my pointer and I'm going to show you right up there. 19:41 There they are. 19:42 They're made out of brass. 19:45 And they claim here that inside these statues are the remains 19:51 of the bodies of Peter and Paul. 19:55 Now over inside the Vatican, they say, "No, Peter is buried 19:58 beneath the high altar here. " 20:00 But the folks over here disagree. 20:02 I think God only knows where Peter sleeps. 20:04 But this is a beautiful, beautiful cathedral. 20:07 More lovely in many ways than some of the others 20:09 that we have looked at. 20:11 And you just again, have to be impressed, deeply impressed, 20:15 by the beauty of the architecture. 20:18 And be reminded that this was done by men with 20:21 crude and ancient tools by our standards of today. 20:24 Now separate and apart from the church, but a part of the 20:27 church complex is the baptistery. 20:29 And this is it, I'm standing in it. 20:32 And it was down in the center where Constantine was baptized. 20:37 We're going to talk tomorrow evening about baptism 20:39 and it's place and it's importance in the church. 20:41 So be sure that you're here to travel with me 20:44 when we go to Pisa. 20:46 You may recall that last night I gave you a bit of a warning. 20:49 I said that tonight, we were going to go to cathedrals 20:54 and we were also going to go into a church 20:57 where it's a little scary. 20:59 You recall that? 21:00 Remember I told you I'd give you fair warning that if you 21:03 had a problem with nightmares or bad dreams or 21:06 any such thing, I'd tell you when to close your eyes? 21:09 Well, the time is now. 21:11 Alright? 21:12 And by the way, don't do it this way. 21:13 I've seen folk, it doesn't work. 21:15 I've seen folks do that. 21:19 This, ladies and gentlemen, is the mother church 21:22 of the Capuchin Order. 21:25 And over here, they say, "cappuccini". 21:28 Does that sound like anything that we know about here 21:32 in our environment? 21:33 You go into Starbuck's and for $5 you can 21:36 buy yourself a cup of... 21:38 ...cappuccino. 21:41 Where did cappuccino get its name? 21:43 Well, they say it was taken from the color of the robes 21:47 of the cappuccine monks. 21:49 And we're going to see some of that in a little bit. 21:52 Now, it's not what's up on the main floor in the main nave, 21:55 that we want to see, but rather what's in the basement. 21:57 So, if you have your courage up, go into the basement with me. 22:03 When the cappuccine monks, the monks who serve here, die 22:06 their remains are immediately cleaned up, 22:10 their bones are scraped, and they're stacked 22:13 with the leg bones in one area and the backbones 22:16 in another area, and certain other bones in another area. 22:20 And skull bones... 22:24 When you visit here, you're going to want to go 22:26 in the day light, I'm sure of that. 22:29 And every time I look at this picture, 22:31 I'm reminded of Mark Twain. 22:35 He was such a character. Samuel Clemens. 22:38 His nom de plume or his pen name, of course, was Mark Twain. 22:43 He was working for the St. Louis Dispatch newspaper at the time 22:48 of the first steam powered crossing of the Atlantic ocean. 22:51 And his newspaper said to him, "Mr. Twain, we will pay your way 22:57 and buy your food and all, we'll send you on this crossing 23:02 on this big side paddle wheeler across the Atlantic. 23:05 And you write back, you write us letters and 23:07 we'll print the letters. " 23:08 And so he took them up on that bargain. 23:11 And those letters now are in a book entitled, 23:14 "Innocence Abroad. " 23:16 And Mark Twain came to Rome and he went into the basement 23:20 of this church and he stood where we're standing now. 23:24 And then he wrote back and said, 23:27 "Not a place I care to be, I think, when 23:29 Gabriel blows his horn. 23:31 And the knee connected to the thigh bone, 23:33 and the thigh bone connected to the hip bone. " 23:35 You can see it in your mind, can't you. 23:37 He was just a crazy guy, that Mark Twain. 23:40 Well, we must hurry now. 23:42 Our final church is this one. 23:45 If it's not the oldest church in the city, it is second. 23:48 There is some dispute about all of that. 23:50 That's not important to us tonight. 23:52 This is the church of St. Clement dating back to the 23:56 earliest records of Christianity in the city of Rome. 23:59 And again, it's not what's here in the worship area that 24:01 we want to see, but rather what's in the basement. 24:04 In the basement, we see stone benches. 24:06 And in the middle of that, we see a statue with a carving 24:10 in the marble of the god Mithra. 24:14 Mithra was part and parcel of sun worship and Sunday keeping. 24:23 Here, ladies and gentlemen, we have a church, 24:26 one of the oldest in the city of Rome, 24:28 that was built up over the theological seminary, 24:34 if you please, of pagan sun worship. 24:37 And so when we say that Sunday observance and going to church 24:42 on Sunday had its roots in paganism, it's not an 24:46 unkind criticism. 24:48 It's simply an archeological and historical fact. 24:51 That is really what happened. 24:54 The highest god worshipped by the pagans was the sun. 24:58 It was the sun that warmed the earth in the spring time and 25:01 caused the grass to turn green again, caused fertility. 25:06 And so along with that would come the worship of the moon, 25:10 the moon goddess, Ishtar, 25:13 and Easter rabbits and Easter bunnies. 25:15 Someone asked me just last night, "How do we decide 25:19 each year which Sunday is Easter Sunday?" 25:22 And the answer is very simple. 25:25 It's always, since its origin, the first Sunday after the 25:29 first full moon of the vernal equinox. 25:33 The first Sunday after the first full moon of the spring. 25:37 Did you ever wonder what connection the little 25:41 Easter bunny and Easter eggs had with Jesus and the church? 25:45 Fertility rights. 25:47 The worshipping of the sexual powers of that little animal, 25:50 and the egg or the ovum. 25:52 And so it's quite obvious there are things in the 25:55 Christian church not placed there by Jesus or any disciples. 25:59 I want to thank you now for travelling with me. 26:06 A few evenings back, I told you about going to work for 26:11 Peggy's daddy in the logging camps 26:14 when Peggy and I were newlyweds. 26:17 Her daddy had a logging partner who was a Roman Catholic 26:23 Christian and one of the finest gentlemen I have every know. 26:29 He was a wonderful man, a good example, and lived his belief. 26:35 He was generous, he was honest to a fault, 26:39 he was a hard worker, he was a wonderful husband, 26:42 he was a wonderful father, and one of the best friends 26:46 I ever had. 26:49 Not very long ago, he died in the Catholic hospital 26:55 in Baker City, Oregon. 26:56 I happened to be holding meetings similar to these 26:59 in La Grande. 27:00 And so, I would go every afternoon to visit Uncle Mickey. 27:05 And in the last days, I went to visit him morning and evening. 27:11 I partook of the emblems of the broken body of Jesus with him. 27:16 I prayed with him the "Our Father. " 27:19 I talked to him about righteousness in Jesus 27:22 and assured him of his place in heaven. 27:30 When Uncle Mickey died they asked me, and I understand 27:35 it was his request, that I have a part in his funeral. 27:41 It, of course, was in the Catholic cathedral 27:43 in Baker, Oregon. 27:46 I was told later that it was the first time that a Protestant 27:53 ever had stood and spoken at the high altar of the cathedral 27:59 in Baker City, Oregon. 28:01 Now I tell you that story for this reason. 28:05 God has his children in all of the churches. 28:09 I've said that on many prior occasions. 28:12 And I mean that to include the Roman Catholic church. 28:16 I plan to see Uncle Mickey in God's kingdom. 28:20 If he followed all the truth that he understood, 28:23 I know he will be there and I believe he did that. 28:26 Having said that, I want to say further that, theologically, 28:33 I have many, many differences with my Catholic Christian 28:37 friends and family. 28:38 That doesn't mean that I'm better, they're worse. 28:41 It means that we are different. 28:43 I have on occasion asked folks, "What is your 28:46 Christian background?" 28:47 And from time to time, folks will say to me, 28:49 "Well, we're Protestant. " 28:50 And sometimes I have asked them, 28:51 "Could you tell me what that means. " 28:53 And sometimes they say to me, "Well that simply means, 28:55 you know, that there are Catholics and there 28:57 are Protestants, and we're Protestants. " 29:00 Luther and Calvin and Knox and Huss and Gerome and a 29:04 host of others were given the name "protestor" because 29:08 they were teaching and preaching against certain false teachings 29:13 of the church of Rome. 29:14 They were protestors and their followers and their disciples 29:18 became known as Protestants. 29:20 Protestants, at the outset, went by two rules. 29:24 The Bible and the Bible only as our rule of faith and practice. 29:27 And salvation by faith in the atoning merits 29:30 of Jesus Christ alone. 29:32 Sola Scriptura. Sola Fide. 29:34 The Bible only, and salvation by grace only. 29:39 Last night we learned that in the Bible the Lord's Day 29:44 is not Sunday, but rather it is Saturday. 29:47 That the word Sabbath in the Bible, both Old and New 29:49 Testament, always without exception, means Saturday. 29:54 To my mind at least, the Bible teaching of the Sabbath, 29:58 or Saturday, is as clear as is the plan of salvation 30:02 or the plan of righteousness by faith. 30:04 And a good while back, this thought came to me. 30:07 What if, ladies and gentlemen, we were marooned, individually, 30:12 on a desert island? 30:14 And we had no background of any religion. 30:17 No Muslim, no Buddhism, no Christianity, 30:20 no Protestantism, no Catholicism. 30:23 Nothing at all. 30:24 We are on an island alone. 30:27 And then one day, there comes in the flotsam the strongbox. 30:32 It's water tight and we open it up and inside that box we find 30:36 the captain's Bible. 30:38 And we begin to read, out of our sheer boredom at the outset, 30:42 from the Bible. 30:45 And then we fall in love with the story 30:49 and the plan of salvation and the author of salvation, 30:52 our Lord Jesus. 30:54 Would we believe that righteousness is 30:57 by faith in Jesus? 30:59 Surely we would. 31:01 Would we believe that Jesus was coming back again? 31:04 Absolutely we would. 31:06 And which day would we believe was the Sabbath day? 31:09 Which day? 31:10 I'll tell you, ladies and gentlemen, you couldn't 31:12 arrive at any other conclusion except 31:15 the Lord's Day is Saturday. 31:17 You couldn't believe anything different from that. 31:22 It is so very, very clear. 31:25 I'm going to read you, at the outset tonight, 31:28 a quotation and then we'll have a little bit of some talk, 31:32 and then we're going to talk about other quotations, 31:35 share other quotations. 31:36 You'll forgive me for reading, because these things 31:39 are in quotations that are exact and precise. 31:42 And I must be careful in that regard. 31:44 I'm giving you a quotation now from St. Catherine's Parrish 31:48 newsletter from May 21, 1995. 31:51 Listen. 31:53 "Perhaps the boldest thing and the most revolutionary thing 31:56 that the Catholic church ever did happened in the 1st century. 32:00 The holy day, the Sabbath or Saturday, was changed 32:03 from Saturday into Sunday, the Day of the Lord, 32:06 or dies domini. 32:08 It was chosen, not from any direction noted in the 32:11 scripture, but rather from the churches sense of its own power. 32:15 People who think the scriptures ought be the sole authority 32:19 should logically become Seventh-Day Adventists. " 32:21 And that's a direct quotation. 32:24 There was a man who a while back wrote a book 32:27 that he entitled, "The Protestant Dilemma. " 32:30 And I'm going to give you the short course. 32:32 Just a brief summation of this book. 32:35 The thesis was this. 32:38 We protestants say and have always said we go by the 32:40 Bible only, believe in salvation by grace and faith alone. 32:44 But when it comes to the observance of a day 32:47 and the going to church upon a day, we go on Sunday. 32:51 A day about which there is nothing in the Bible. 32:55 And when confronted, we have to make all kinds of lame excuses 32:59 and give theological discussion that are really without merit 33:03 and without base. 33:05 And he said, when it comes then to this issue, 33:08 it becomes this Protestant dilemma. 33:11 It becomes this embarrassment because really, in this area 33:15 particularly, we're not going by the Bible and the Bible only. 33:19 Now another quotation or two. 33:21 This one from Henry Cardinal Newman, Archbishop of Baltimore. 33:25 He says this, "In the course of the 4th century, 33:28 two new developments came across the face of Christendom. 33:30 In order to recommend the new Christian religion to the 33:33 heathen, there was transferred to Christianity the outward 33:36 ornaments to which the pagans had been accustomed. 33:39 Incense, lamps, candles, votive offerings, holy water, 33:44 the use of images, and statues. " 33:46 All of these, he says, are of pagan origin. 33:49 And he's exactly right. 33:50 Any honest historian, whether Catholic, Protestant, or infidel 33:53 would tell you that same thing. 33:57 As we noted during the travel log, the pagans 34:00 for hundreds and hundreds of years had worshiped the 34:03 objects in the heavens; the sun, the moon, and the stars. 34:06 There was Mercury, the messenger god. 34:08 There was Ceres, the god of crops. 34:10 And by the way, it's from that word we get our word cereal. 34:13 And you remember that when in the morning you eat 34:14 your Cheerios, won't you now. 34:17 Of course you will. 34:18 And then there was Vulcan, the god of fire. 34:21 And from that idea and from that word, we have 34:22 our word vulcanize and volcano. 34:25 My daughter called me from over the Big Island of Hawaii 34:28 just this afternoon. 34:29 And by the way, that girl has called Peggy and me 34:31 every day since her brother died. 34:33 Every day. 34:42 "I just want to tell you I love you. " 34:46 And today, she'd been looking at the great volcano 34:50 and its pouring its molten lava into the sea again. 34:54 Volcano, vulcanize from the god Vulcan. 34:57 And a host of gods, but the largest body worshipped 35:00 by the pagans was the sun, where was the largest body 35:03 to be seen with the naked eye, of course. 35:06 And some have wondered, where have the names 35:10 of the days come from? 35:12 How did they originate? 35:13 And the answer to that is very simple. 35:14 During the time of the Roman era the Caesar commanded a group 35:20 to name the days of the week because up until that time, 35:23 all through Bible times, they had been numbered. 35:24 1st day, 2nd day, 3rd day, 4th day, 5th day, 6th day... 35:27 The sixth day sometimes called the Day of Preparation. 35:30 The day to get ready for the 7th day which is 35:32 the Sabbath, of course. 35:34 But during the Roman era, they wanted names for them. 35:36 And so, this group was commissioned and they 35:39 decided that they would name the days of the week 35:42 in a descending order from the heavenly bodies 35:46 seen with the naked eye. 35:48 Beginning with the largest heavenly body, 35:50 they would name the first day of the week. 35:52 And that, of course, is sun. 35:54 And what's the second largest heavenly body we see 35:56 with the naked eye? 35:57 The moon, moon day, and right on down the line to Saturn day. 36:03 Saturday. 36:09 I'm going to read you one more quotation quickly. 36:12 "You may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, 36:15 you won't find a single line authorizing the 36:17 sanctification of Sunday. 36:19 The Bible endorses the religious observance of Saturday, 36:22 a day that we Catholics never sanctify. " 36:25 Cardinal Gibbons, "Faith of our Fathers," page 111. 36:31 Another one, briefly, from the same source. 36:33 "Of course the Catholic church claims that the change 36:35 from Saturday to Sunday was her act. 36:38 It couldn't have been otherwise as no one in those days and time 36:42 would have thought of doing anything in matters religious 36:44 or ecclesiastic without her. 36:46 And this change is a mark of our ecclesiastical power and 36:50 authority in these religious matters. " 36:53 End of quotation. 36:56 I was working in the deep south and I'd preached about 36:59 the Lord's Day being Saturday. 37:01 And coming to my meeting was a young family 37:04 new to Jesus' faith, new to Christianity and really on fire. 37:09 And so after hearing this sermon, they went to 37:12 their pastor and asked him about it. 37:15 And you remember, we've mentioned that. 37:16 I've had a lot of folks do that in the interim. 37:19 Well, I'm going to go ask my preacher what he thinks about 37:22 what you've said. 37:23 And instead of asking the preacher about, 37:26 instead of checking the Bible out by the preacher, we ought 37:28 to check the preacher out by the Bible. 37:30 That's what we ought to do. 37:31 But at any event, they came back with 2 or 3 scriptures 37:35 and like it was brand new light, you know. 37:38 And then I said, "Well, I've seen those before. " 37:41 So, they wrote to one of the most prominent televangelists, 37:44 who shall at this point remain nameless. 37:47 You know, you can hardly say anything anymore without 37:49 getting sued. 37:50 Did you know that? 37:51 Did you ladies and gentlemen know that preachers are now 37:54 being sued just like doctors for malpractice? 37:58 Yea, someone will come and say, "Pastor, I need to talk to you. 38:01 I'm having a little problem with my wife, you know. 38:04 She this or that... " 38:06 And preachers end up in court charged with malpractice for 38:12 alienation of affection and all other kinds of strange things. 38:16 Well, Christians wouldn't do that to one another. 38:21 But at any event, this was a scripture that I confronted 38:25 early in my ministry. 38:26 And I want you to turn with me, if you will please, 38:28 to Acts chapter 20. 38:30 And we're going to notice several of these passages now 38:32 that have been used through the years in really kind of a 38:35 feeble effort to try to show Sunday sacredness 38:38 or Sunday holiness or the early church worshipping on Sunday. 38:43 Alright? 38:44 I'm going to begin to read now at verse 7. 38:46 Acts chapter 20 and we shall read down through 38:49 to the end of verse 14. 38:51 Acts chapter 20 beginning with verse 7. 38:54 "Upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came 38:56 together to break bread, Paul preached to them, 38:59 ready to leave the next morning, and he continued his preaching 39:03 until midnight. " 39:04 And by the way, there have been those who've felt I have the 39:07 same problem as apostle Paul. 39:08 I preach too long sometimes. You must forgive me. 39:12 Someone said preachers oft times fall in love 39:14 with the sounding of their own voices. 39:16 And dear old HMS Richards, whom I shall love as long as I 39:19 have a mind, said to me early in my ministry, 39:22 "Remember Lyle, a sermon doesn't have to be 39:24 eternal to be immortal. " 39:27 And Paul was long in preaching. 39:29 "He continued to preach until midnight. 39:31 There were lights in the upper chamber where they 39:33 were gathered together. 39:34 And there was sitting in the window a certain young man 39:36 by the name of Eutychus, he was fallen into a deep sleep 39:38 because of the long preaching. 39:39 And he was sunk down with sleep and he fell down from the 39:42 third loft and was killed. 39:44 Paul went down and fell upon him and embraced him and said, 39:46 'Trouble no yourself, his life is in him. ' 39:48 And when he, therefore, was come up again and had broken bread 39:51 again and eaten and talked for a long while, 39:53 even until the break of day, he departed. 39:55 And they brought the young man up alive and weren't just 39:58 a little comforted. " 39:59 And then the 13th verse. 40:01 "Then we went with him down to the ship and sailed around 40:07 to Assos intending there to meet Paul 40:09 for he had decided to walk. 40:12 And he met us there in Assos and we came together again. " 40:16 Now this is the context. 40:19 Paul is preaching and he preaches until midnight. 40:25 And the room was lighted, the lights were all on, 40:29 on the first day of the week. 40:33 Now I'm not trying to deny in any sense that this is not 40:37 a Sunday meeting. 40:38 It is, indeed it is. 40:40 The context is abundantly clear. 40:43 And now let me ask you a question before we go further. 40:45 In the Bible, one day begins and the other ends when? 40:49 At midnight? No that came from the Romans. 40:51 From sunset to sunset. 40:53 Leviticus chapter 23 verse 32, "from sunset to sunset 40:57 shall ye celebrate your Sabbath. " 40:58 Mark chapter 1 and verse 30, I believe it is or 32, 41:01 "At even, when the sun did set. " 41:03 In the very beginning, Genesis 1. 41:05 "The evening and the morning were the first day" 41:08 Evening and the morning were the second day. 41:09 So in the Bible, one day begins and the other day ends 41:13 at sunset, not at midnight. 41:15 Now this, ladies and gentlemen, is according to 41:17 our calendar, Saturday. 41:19 But when the sun set here in the western sky, what day 41:22 is it now according to the Bible? 41:24 What day is it right now according to the Bible? 41:27 This is Sunday. Alright? 41:29 Instead of a Saturday night meeting, according to the Bible, 41:32 this is a Sunday meeting. 41:34 Are you with me? 41:35 Now, the point is this. 41:36 You would assume that if the folks were meeting in honor 41:39 of the resurrection, if they were meeting because 41:41 there'd been a change from Saturday to Sunday 41:43 you would have expected they would have met in the morning 41:46 at the time of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus, 41:49 or a morning worship. 41:50 No so. 41:51 But others have further said, "Well, they're 41:53 breaking bread together. 41:54 That means that they're celebrating the Lord's Supper. " 41:58 We don't have time to do it, but I want you folks to put 42:00 down in your notes, please, Acts chapter 2 down at the end 42:04 of the chapter around verse 40 and following there. 42:06 It says that the early Christian church, that they met together 42:09 and broke bread together every single day. 42:13 Now folk, if breaking bread makes a day holy, 42:15 how many days of the week are holy days? 42:17 Every one of them. 42:18 They, in the Middle East, still today don't have... 42:21 You know, we have a saying, "It's the most popular thing 42:24 since sliced bread. " 42:25 Well, they don't think sliced bread is so popular 42:28 over in the Middle East. 42:29 Their bread, still today, is like a pancake. 42:31 Pita bread, we often times call it. 42:33 And still today, the host of the meal rips the bread apart 42:38 and passes it around. 42:39 It's called breaking bread. 42:42 And so instead of having communion in church on Sunday, 42:45 the context is quite clear that they were having 42:48 a fellowship lunch. 42:49 And Paul continued to preach and it was breakfast time 42:53 and they now had fellowship breakfast. 42:55 And by the way, that's the way I really prefer to refer to it 42:58 when we eat together at church and everyone 42:59 brings a covered dish. 43:00 Please, please don't call it potluck. 43:03 That sounds to me a little bit like gambling at the casino. 43:06 You're taking some kind of a chance on ptomaine. 43:11 Fellowship lunch. 43:15 Candles were lighted and they ate together. 43:17 And then when the daylight came, instead of worshipping 43:21 Paul took off and hiked to Assos. 43:24 Ladies and gentlemen, that is a distance of 18 miles. 43:27 I have been there. 43:28 And the other folks weren't as well up on their jogging 43:30 and so they said, "You know, we got on the boat and 43:32 rowed over and there we met Paul. " 43:34 When the sun came up on Sunday morning, 43:36 Paul got up and went to work. 43:39 From time to time, some folk will ask me, 43:41 "Well, Lyle, why do you work on Sunday?" 43:44 And by the way, when I live in and around the cities, 43:47 I'm in the cities, I'm very careful not to go 43:49 out of my way to work. 43:50 I don't mow the lawn or start a chain saw when my neighbors 43:55 are either studying or in a church nearby me. 43:58 I respect their feelings. 44:01 I try to do that. 44:03 But sometimes when they ask, "Why do you work on Sunday?" 44:05 I'll reply by saying to them, "Because Jesus did, 44:08 and He's my example. " 44:09 In the beginning He's our Creator, 44:11 we said that last night. 44:12 The evening and the morning were the first day. 44:14 He started the week, He began His job on Sunday. 44:18 Jesus, my Creator, worked on Sunday. 44:21 And then He came to the time of redemption. 44:24 And He was crucified on Friday and He rested in the tomb 44:29 on the Sabbath day. 44:30 And on Sunday morning, He got up and went back to work. 44:34 How about that. 44:36 So sometimes, I simply answer by saying, "I work on Sunday 44:39 because Jesus did. " 44:42 Well, folks have said to me, "Seems to me though 44:45 that the apostles, they changed the day, 44:47 they must have changed the day. " 44:48 You know, we alluded to it last night and are going to 44:51 do it again tonight. 44:52 Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 8, it says there 44:55 when Jesus gave them rest... 44:56 And I'm paraphrasing for you now. 44:58 You go home and read it carefully in your Bibles. 45:00 It says, "When Jesus gave them rest, wouldn't He not have 45:03 afterwards spoken of another day?" 45:05 You read that in verse 9. 45:07 "There remains, therefore, this day of rest. " 45:08 Talking about the Saturday Sabbath and using it 45:11 as an example of the peace that we find when we come into 45:14 fellowship with our Lord and with His people. 45:16 Now, while this one passage from Acts chapter 20 has been used 45:20 again and again and again to try to show folks worshipping on 45:23 Sunday, we're going to look at the actual record and 45:26 we're going to do that beginning in chapter 13 45:29 of the book of Acts. 45:30 So find your way there if you will please, right now. 45:33 Acts chapter 13 and we're going to begin at the 14th verse. 45:38 Now, while we're turning to Acts, this passage 45:43 chapter 13, please, ladies and gentlemen, let me tell you that 45:47 the book of Acts is a history. 45:50 It's the history of the first 40 years of the Christian church. 45:56 Yea a little less, but the first 30 years to be more precise. 45:58 A history of the first 30 years of Christianity. 46:02 And so, this one passage from chapter 20 has been used 46:05 to try to show Paul as keeping Sunday. 46:07 Let's look at the actual record. 46:09 Chapter 13 verse 14. 46:11 It says, "When we left that place, we went over into Antioch 46:13 in Pisidia and there we went into the synagogue... " 46:16 on which day? 46:17 "... on the Sabbath day. " Alright? 46:19 Now let's notice at verse 42. 46:22 "When the Jews were gone out... " 46:23 Oh, let me pause here for just a moment. 46:25 There have been many who said, "Well sure, Paul went into the 46:28 synagogue on Saturday. 46:29 Sure he went in there, he was the apostle to the Gentiles 46:33 but he also had a burden for the Jews. 46:36 And so he would go into the synagogue on the Sabbath 46:38 to try to tell them to come to church the next morning. " 46:44 Thin soup, isn't it? 46:46 Yeah. 46:47 Ah, let's read again. Verse 42. 46:51 "When the Jews had left the synagogue, the Gentiles asked 46:54 that these same words might be preached 46:56 to them the next Sabbath. " 46:57 And then you drop down to verse 44. 46:58 "And the next Sabbath, the whole city came together 47:01 to hear the word of God. " 47:02 Jews, Gentiles, everybody. 47:04 We find the apostle Paul keeping the Saturday Sabbath here. 47:07 Now we go over to chapter 15 and we notice verse 21. 47:10 Chapter 15:21. 47:11 "Moses, of old time, has in every city those that 47:15 preach him, being read in the synagogue every Sabbath day. " 47:19 Now, chapter 17 verse 2. 47:21 Chapter 17, the book of Acts, and verse... 47:24 Well, let's back up to chapter 16. 47:26 Shall we do that? Verse 13 of chapter 16, firstly. 47:29 Alright, chapter 16 verse 13. 47:31 "And on the Sabbath day, we went out by the side of the river, 47:35 where prayer was being made, and we sat down and we spoke 47:38 with the women who were gathered there. " 47:40 It seems obvious, according to the context, that where 47:42 there was no church Paul would worship out in nature. 47:45 And some of you folks enjoy that in the summer time. 47:48 And maybe in the winter time as well. 47:50 It's great to get out into nature on the Sabbath day. 47:52 Chapter 17 and verse 2. 47:54 "Paul, as his manner was, went in to them three Sabbaths 47:57 and reasoned with them out of the scriptures. " 47:59 Let's go further shall we. Chapter 18. 48:02 Acts chapter 18 and the 4th verse. 48:04 About the apostle Paul, "He reasoned in the synagogue 48:07 every Sabbath and persuaded both Jews and Greeks. " 48:11 And you drop down there to about verse 11, it says, 48:14 "He continued to there for a year and six months, 48:16 preaching the word of God. " 48:18 Every Sabbath in that one place for a year and a half, 48:21 the apostle Paul kept the Sabbath. 48:22 Now we're going to go, you and I, over to chapter 24. 48:28 And here, it really gets good. 48:29 Chapter 24 and verse 14. 48:32 Acts chapter 24 and verse 14. 48:39 "I confess to you... ", by the way, this is the apostle Paul 48:42 defending himself before Tertullus, the orator. 48:45 He's giving answer for his faith. 48:47 "I confess unto you, that by the Way that some call heresy, 48:50 so also I worship the God of my fathers believing all the things 48:54 that are written in the Law and in the Prophets. " 48:57 Now Paul couldn't say that at the end of his life if he were 49:00 keeping Sunday or suggesting others do it. 49:03 He said, "I still practice everything that's written 49:05 in the Law and in the Prophets as well. " 49:08 And then finally, chapter 28 and the 17th verse. 49:10 Just hours, probably, before his own death 49:13 he makes this statement. 49:14 Chapter 28 and verse 17. 49:17 Acts chapter 28 verse 17. 49:19 "It came to pass that after 3 days, Paul called 49:22 the chief of the Jews together. 49:24 And when they were come together, he said unto them, 49:25 "Men and brethren, though I have committed nothing against 49:28 the people or the customs of our fathers, yet I was delivered a 49:31 prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans. " 49:33 "I've done nothing," he said, "against the teachings and the 49:36 customs of the Jewish forefathers. " 49:38 He couldn't say that if he were somehow promoting Sunday, 49:42 keeping Sunday worship. 49:44 Next, 1 Corinthians. 49:47 1 Corinthians, ladies and gentlemen, chapter 16. 49:51 And it's been used again, over and over and over by folks, 49:54 preachers, televangelists, who try to defend this idea 49:58 of the early church keeping Sunday. 50:00 And we're going to see that it just is not theologically sound. 50:04 1 Corinthians chapter 16, we're going to begin 50:06 at the very 1st verse. 50:07 And while you're turning there, let me give you 50:09 a little bit of the context. 50:10 What is happing is that there is a famine over 50:14 in the area of Jerusalem. 50:15 These folks over there are starving to death. 50:17 And Paul is on a mission journey in Asia Minor. 50:20 And word comes to the apostle Paul about 50:22 the plight of Christians. 50:24 And so he sends runners ahead, down the main highway from 50:29 here in Asia Minor over to Jerusalem and they're carrying 50:32 a message with them and they're stopping at the churches 50:35 that Paul has raised up. 50:36 And they're saying, "Look, Paul is coming. 50:39 There's a crisis in Jerusalem, the saints are starving. 50:42 Paul is going to be taking up a purse and when he gets here, 50:47 he doesn't have time to do a fundraising campaign. 50:49 He can't go around knocking on doors. 50:51 Look, you have that done so that when he arrives, 50:54 he'll be able to just take the money and hurry 50:56 on over to Jerusalem. " 50:58 Chapter 16 of 1 Corinthians, beginning with the 1st verse. 51:04 "Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given 51:08 orders to the church of Galatia, you do as well. 51:10 Upon the first day of the week, let everyone of you lay by 51:13 him in store as God has prospered so there be no 51:16 gatherings when I come. 51:17 And when I come, whomsoever you approve by your letters, 51:19 them I may bring with me to take your liberalities 51:23 on to Jerusalem. 51:24 And if it be right that they go, they may go with me. 51:27 Now I'm going to be passing through Macedonia. " 51:30 And so forth. 51:33 Paul said, "Look, lay some money aside. " 51:37 Now to try to use this passage to show folks in church 51:40 passing the offering plates down the pews is ridiculous. 51:45 Absolutely ridiculous. 51:46 I challenge you, ladies and gentlemen, if you have any 51:49 scholarly background at all, I challenge you to go to the 51:52 original language, or even to some of the more 51:55 modern translations, and read this passage there. 51:58 And some of them are this explicit. 52:00 The apostle Paul is saying, "Let each of you set aside 52:03 something at home, in the storehouse. " 52:06 I was holding meetings in Minneapolis, Minnesota. 52:09 We had a little bit of a question and answer 52:11 session one night after the meeting 52:12 and this passage came up. 52:14 And there was a young man in a remote corner that waved his arm 52:17 and eventually I recognized him. 52:19 And he stood up and he said, "I am from the Middle East. " 52:28 And he said, "I would like to share with you what I think 52:30 Paul may be saying. " 52:31 Now I want to go on record to say to you folks, 52:33 this isn't from the Bible but this is from a young man 52:37 who's roots went back hundreds and hundreds of years 52:39 into the customs and the practices of the Holy Land, 52:42 the Bible land. 52:44 He said, over in the Bible land and in the areas that Paul 52:48 was passing through, a person worked a week and then 52:52 the first day of the following week, he was paid for 52:56 the past weeks work. 52:57 He said, "What I think Paul may be saying is 53:00 that as soon as you get your check, take out something 53:03 and set it aside. " 53:05 Now again, the Bible doesn't say that. 53:08 But at the same time, it certainly doesn't say 53:10 the folks were in church passing offering plates. 53:13 Not at all. 53:18 Revelation chapter 12 and verse 17, 53:21 and we need to turn there, folks. 53:23 We alluded to it last night but it's of necessity that 53:26 tonight we take the time to read some of these verses. 53:30 Revelation chapter 12 and the last verse of that chapter, 53:34 the 17th verse. 53:35 Revelation 12:17, this is the passage about 53:38 the great red dragon that does violence to God's people 53:41 and tries to destroy Jesus Christ as soon as he comes 53:45 to planet earth as a baby. 53:46 It says in the last verse there, "The dragon was angry 53:50 against the woman," or the church, 53:51 "and he went to make war with the remnant of her seed. " 53:54 And then it tells us why he's so upset, 53:57 what angers him so. 53:58 It says, "Because they keep the commandments of God 54:02 and have also the testimony of Jesus Christ. " 54:06 Now, we're going over to chapter 14. 54:09 Revelation chapter 14 and we're going to read verse 12. 54:12 In the verses prior, as we alluded last night, 54:14 you find those who've received the mark of the beast 54:17 because of their choices, because of their 54:20 decision to follow this authority instead of 54:23 the authority of God and His word 54:25 and they receive the mark of the beast. 54:26 And then, in sudden contrast, you find God's people 54:30 and they're described in verse 12, chapter 14. 54:33 "Here are the saints, here are they that keep the commandments 54:35 of God and have also the faith of Jesus Christ. " 54:38 And then we go to the last chapter of the last book. 54:41 It's not the last book by accident, of course. 54:43 It's for those who live in the very last days. 54:45 And we're going to read verse 14. 54:47 Revelation chapter 22 and verse 14. 54:51 "Blessed are they that do the commandments, 54:54 that they may have right to the tree of life 54:56 and enter in through the gates inside the city. " 54:59 And so we find these three passages where those that are 55:03 alive to meet Jesus in peace are found as keeping all 55:07 10 of the commandments. 55:08 They're not satisfied with the discounted Decalogue. 55:10 They don't want 90% of God's will, 55:14 they want it all. 55:17 In the first of Genesis, we find a world perfect and 55:21 beautiful and lovely. 55:25 In the middle of this perfect planet is a garden. 55:30 Plants and flowers and trees and shrubs and animals. 55:33 And in the middle of the garden, we find our parents, 55:37 Adam and Eve. 55:38 God says, "This is to be your eternal home. 55:41 Live it up, train the vines, name the animals 55:44 I'll come by and visit with you. " 55:48 Then you come to chapter 3 and you find our old enemy, 55:50 the devil, coming and he tempts our parents and they 55:52 fail the test and they have to be driven from the garden. 55:55 And where once they're invited to eat freely of the fruit 55:58 of the tree of life; for the healing of the nations, 56:01 for their continued well-being, 56:04 now they're prevented from even entering the garden, let alone 56:07 eating from the fruit. 56:08 They've lost it all and death becomes a reality. 56:12 Then we move through the Bible to Revelation, the last book. 56:15 And we move through the last book to the last 3 chapters. 56:18 And what do we find? 56:19 God is re-creating planet earth as it was in its Edenic beauty. 56:24 Perhaps even more lovely. 56:25 "The meek," promised Jesus in Matthew 5 and verse 5, 56:28 "shall inherit the earth," once made new. 56:30 And there is the garden and in the middle of the garden 56:33 there is the tree of life. 56:36 And where folks were forbidden in Genesis from 56:38 coming to eat, now they're welcomed. 56:40 Welcome home, children. Eat and live forever. 56:45 Everything that is lost in the first 3 chapters of Genesis 56:49 because of sin is restored in the last 3 chapters 56:52 of Revelation because of grace. 56:55 Thank God for Jesus. 56:59 The nails in His hands. 57:00 Could His law be set aside, He need not have died. 57:05 But because His law was perfect and just and righteous, 57:10 He paid the price, He took our place. 57:15 "I," said the poet, "should have been crucified. 57:18 I should have suffered and died and I should have 57:21 hung on the cross in disgrace. 57:23 But Jesus, God's Son, took my place. " 57:28 If you love Him, keep His commandments. 57:32 Let's pray. 57:34 Thank you, Lord Jesus, for the clarity of Your word. 57:40 You love us so very much that You, long ago, 57:43 made provision for our frailties and our faults. 57:48 Because our parents slipped and fell, you came and lived 57:52 the perfect life in our place. 57:55 On a life we never lived, on a death we never died, 57:58 on a resurrection that we did not deserve, 58:00 we hang our only hope of eternity. 58:03 Thank you, dear Jesus. 58:07 In Your name, amen. |
Revised 2014-12-17