Salvation in Symbols and Signs

The Faith of Jesus

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Ivor Myers (Host), James Rafferty (Host), Yvonne Lewis, Jason Bradley

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Series Code: SISS

Program Code: SISS000063A


00:31 We're still in Revelation chapter 14,
00:33 we have been looking at this beautiful message
00:35 that we describe as the everlasting gospel...
00:38 or the Bible describes it as the everlasting gospel
00:40 it is... what we describe as "The Three Angels' Messages"
00:43 Three Angels' Broadcasting Network...
00:45 Yvonne: Yes... absolutely, yes.
00:46 James: These messages and this is where it's based
00:48 and we've been... as we've been going through this
00:50 we've been realizing that the everlasting gospel
00:53 is here to counteract the counterfeit...
00:56 the counterfeit is the wine of Babylon
00:59 and when the gospel's preached, Babylon falls.
01:02 We could spend days trying to identify what Babylon is,
01:07 we could look at all the counterfeits
01:09 and try to figure them all out,
01:10 but what God is telling us is,
01:12 "No, focus on the everlasting gospel,
01:14 focus on the genuine... "
01:16 and when you focus on the genuine...
01:17 and when that is proclaimed, guess what happens?
01:19 Babylon falls.
01:21 The genuine brings down the counterfeit
01:23 so that's been our focus,
01:25 to focus on the genuine so the counterfeit falls.
01:27 We're going to go all the way down now...
01:29 well, we're not going to go all the way down,
01:30 we left off at around verse 12
01:32 and we're going to be looking at this verse
01:33 in relation to the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus
01:36 and so, we want to start with a word of prayer
01:39 and then we want to just jump right into our study,
01:40 Yvonne, would you pray for us?
01:42 Yvonne: Sure, "Oh Lord God, we just thank you
01:44 so very much that we can open your Word
01:47 and learn just what's going to happen, Lord,
01:50 and learn of your love because this whole book
01:53 is a book of love so we thank you so much
01:55 so we pray for your Spirit to enlighten and illuminate
01:59 your Word and help us to be able to apply its truth to our lives
02:04 we pray in Jesus' name, amen. "
02:06 All: "Amen. "
02:07 Okay, verse 12, Jason, would you read that for us?
02:10 Jason: 14 verse 12... sure.
02:13 "Here is the patience of the saints:
02:14 here are they that keep the commandments of God,
02:16 and the faith of Jesus. "
02:18 James: Okay, now, there's something really key
02:20 in this verse... as you read it...
02:22 you're going to find the key word
02:24 that will help us to understand this truth.
02:27 This verse is a summation, really,
02:29 of the everlasting gospel.
02:31 The everlasting gospel has produced this people
02:34 and this people... the word is, "Keep... keep... "
02:38 would you keep this for me?
02:39 Yvonne: Sure...
02:40 James: There... so in order for you to keep that pen for me,
02:43 right, I have to give it to you.
02:44 Yvonne: Right. James: Right...
02:45 so something that is kept is something that's been given
02:50 okay, so, when they keep the commandments of God
02:54 and they keep the faith of Jesus,
02:56 the obvious understanding of that is...
02:59 is that the commandments of God have been given to them
03:02 and the faith of Jesus has been given to them.
03:04 It's not something they've earned,
03:05 it's not something that they've manufactured,
03:08 it's something that has actually been handed
03:09 and they're just keeping it, they're keeping it.
03:12 That's what the everlasting gospel proposes...
03:14 is that the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus
03:17 is part of this gospel gift.
03:19 The faith of Jesus... actually, in a sense, is the gospel
03:22 because the faith of Jesus, think about this phrase...
03:26 the faith of Jesus... not the "faith in Jesus,"
03:28 because that comes as a result of the faith of Jesus
03:30 so, it could be understood as... as part of the parcel
03:33 but the faith of Jesus is the faith He exercises toward us
03:36 and the simplest way to explain that is: Calvary.
03:39 On the cross, Jesus Christ died for the sins of the entire world
03:44 and in that sense,
03:46 He was exercising faith in the entire world,
03:48 He was saying,
03:50 "I'm going to pay the price for every single sinner...
03:52 every single sin, that's my faith.
03:55 I believe that everyone will respond...
03:58 that everyone should be included in this gift of love. "
04:01 Ivor: That's good because you're talking about "Keep"
04:05 it's like God is saying, "Hold this for me,"
04:07 you know, "Hey, would you hold this?"
04:09 and we say, "Yes, Lord, we'll hold it for you. "
04:11 James: Hmmm...
04:13 Ivor: And Satan's going to come along and be like,
04:15 "Hey, what is that, can I see that?
04:17 Can I borrow it?
04:18 I just want to hold it for a second... can I just...?"
04:22 "No, you can't hold this, God has asked me to keep it"
04:25 you know what I'm saying?
04:26 "He's entrusted this to me... "
04:27 and that's what he's going to want to do at the end of time.
04:30 James: "But I got something else for you...
04:31 I got something else here for you
04:33 you're not going to be able to hold both of them though,
04:35 you're going to have to let go of that,
04:37 I can hold that for you for a while... just let me... "
04:39 Ivor: "Let me check it out for a moment... "
04:40 take it away...
04:42 Jason: That... the whole thing is...
04:46 the "faith of Jesus" is very interesting
04:48 because when you look at it like,
04:49 Christ's leadership is just absolutely amazing
04:54 so, my Uncle Arthur... Uncle Arthur...
04:58 always says like,
05:00 "You don't lead where you don't go
05:02 and you don't teach what you don't know. "
05:03 And so, Christ is setting the bar...
05:06 He's setting the precedence... coming down, having faith
05:09 that the world will receive what He's giving
05:13 and reciprocate that and so, we're called to die to self
05:20 and to honor God and keep His commandments
05:27 but He took that... He takes that chance on us...
05:31 He spared no expense...
05:32 He risked everything and came down here for us
05:35 and He leads by example.
05:37 James: And so, He exercised supreme faith
05:40 toward the human race
05:41 and when we see the faith of Jesus toward us,
05:45 it motivates us to respond, we respond in like...
05:48 now, one of the way we respond is we exercise faith in Him
05:51 so He's exercising faith toward us,
05:53 we exercise faith in Him
05:55 but we also exercise faith toward other people
05:57 the way He exercises faith toward us
05:59 and toward other people.
06:00 Christ is exercising faith toward the world
06:02 and dying for the world
06:03 and when we accept that faith of Jesus,
06:06 that means, we have the faith of Jesus,
06:08 the faith that He had toward the world
06:10 is the faith that we have toward the world
06:12 so it causes us to think about people
06:14 and to treat people differently.
06:16 Yvonne: Would this not also... the "faith of Jesus... "
06:21 would this not also vindicate the Father's character
06:25 because Jesus had faith in the Father,
06:29 He had to... because He was laying down His life
06:32 and if the Father didn't raise Him up...
06:35 or if He... "In Him was life...
06:37 it was unborrowed... underived... "
06:40 but He had to have faith in the Father...
06:42 He said... He could do nothing without Him
06:45 and without Christ... we can do nothing.
06:47 James: Yes.
06:49 Yvonne: So, would this not also, "the faith of Jesus... "
06:52 would it not also vindicate the Father's character?
06:57 He's not a vindictive, wrathful, terrible God...
07:01 He's a loving, compassionate Father...
07:03 and Jesus had faith in His Father
07:07 and He had faith in us.
07:08 James: One of the verse I want us to look at here,
07:11 this one is found in Romans chapter 3
07:14 and just to get the context, Paul is talking about the fact
07:17 that no one is righteous,
07:20 Jews and Gentiles have all gone astray...
07:23 they've all turned away from God,
07:24 there's none that seeks God... no not one,
07:26 all of us have come under the condemnation of the Law,
07:29 he says in verse 19 of Romans 3,
07:31 "Now we know that what things soever the law saith,
07:34 it saith to them who are under the law:
07:36 that every mouth may be stopped,
07:37 and all the world may become guilty before God. "
07:40 So, basically, he's just laying us out...
07:43 even religious people... laying this out flat...
07:45 none of us are any better than anyone else, okay,
07:48 and then He says, verse 20,
07:51 "Therefore by the deeds of the law
07:53 shall no flesh be justified in his sight:
07:56 for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
07:58 But... " verse 21...
08:00 "now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested,
08:05 being witnessed by the law and the prophets;
08:06 Even the righteousness of God
08:08 which is by faith of Jesus Christ... "
08:13 the faith of Jesus Christ
08:16 "unto all and upon all them that believe:
08:19 for there is no difference:
08:20 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. "
08:22 "Unto all... " that is the world
08:24 "and upon all those that believe... "
08:25 so there's no difference
08:26 between everyone else and even those who believe,
08:28 "all have sinned and have come short of the glory of God"
08:30 so it's not by the law...
08:32 it's by the faith of Jesus that we have this justification
08:35 and justification is not just the forgiveness of our sins
08:39 "justification" in the Bible
08:41 is also the fact that we have life,
08:43 justification of life,
08:45 every breath we take, comes through Calvary,
08:48 the cross of Calvary is stamped on every loaf
08:52 and every water spring.
08:53 So every breath we take, every... every...
08:56 everything we do in life... the staunch Atheist,
09:00 has life through Calvary
09:03 and you can ask yourself the question,
09:05 "Well, if the... if life comes to the staunch Atheist,
09:08 if life comes to every single human being
09:10 whether they believe or not,
09:12 through Calvary... through the sacrifice of Calvary
09:14 then what's the difference between
09:16 this life and eternal life?
09:17 Because the sacrifice of Calvary
09:20 was necessary to give us this life... this temporal life,
09:23 we think sometimes in terms of,
09:25 "Well, Calvary's cross gives us eternal life"
09:28 No, Calvary's cross gives us eternal life
09:31 and Calvary's cross gives us this life.
09:33 Not just eternal life... it gives us this life
09:35 and when we understand that, we recognize, "Whoa... "
09:38 people say, "Well, I don't believe in Christ... "
09:40 "Well, He believes in you... "
09:41 "What do you mean, 'He believes in me...?'"
09:43 "Well, He died for you... "
09:44 "Well, He died so I could have eternal life
09:46 but I'm not accepting that... "
09:47 "It doesn't matter, He died so you could have this life... "
09:49 and that's the evidence that He already loves you
09:53 and He's already done something for you. "
09:54 And when we preach the gospel,
09:56 we don't always emphasize that point.
09:57 James: But it's all through the New Testament
09:59 it's in the Old Testament too
10:01 but it's all through the Bible, it's all through the New...
10:03 it says that we live and move and have our being in Him
10:06 and Paul was talking to people who didn't believe in God.
10:08 "The unknown god... " he said...
10:10 "He's the One that gives you life... "
10:12 and he talks about how everyone
10:13 has been given a measure of faith
10:15 and that Christ has taken the sins of the whole world upon Him
10:17 and he goes all the way through...
10:19 all of these arguments, Paul brings to the table
10:21 and he's bringing it to the table right here in Romans 3.
10:23 He says, "It's not through the law that we have righteousness,
10:26 it's through the faith of Jesus,
10:29 and that is why, I believe,
10:31 when we emphasize the gospel, we need to start
10:33 with the life we have right now
10:34 because the only difference
10:36 between this life that we have right now
10:38 and eternal life, is our choice.
10:40 God is saying, "You see the life you have right now,
10:43 the life that you have came through Calvary
10:45 and I want it to continue for all eternity
10:47 and if you would say, 'Yes' to me,
10:50 this life will continue it will get better,
10:51 there'll be no more pain,
10:53 there'll be no more sorrow when the new earth comes,
10:55 all the former things are going to be wiped away... "
10:57 so, it's not exactly the same, it's just that the life itself,
11:01 that fact that you have life, that you're a person...
11:03 that you feel love
11:05 and you have these desires for something better,
11:08 all of that's going to continue
11:09 in fact, I'd say it this way and I love this thought,
11:12 this life is given to us so that we could find
11:17 a moment... maybe 30 seconds, maybe a minute... maybe longer,
11:21 a moment in this life
11:23 that we have a memory... that we treasure,
11:26 a moment where we felt completely and totally happily,
11:31 happy loved and accepted, just a moment,
11:33 think about... think about your whole life
11:35 think about that moment where you were just like
11:36 "Man, I wish I could just stay in this moment for all eternity,
11:39 this feeling right here... forever... "
11:41 that is a taste of heaven... Yvonne: Hmmm...
11:44 James: That is a taste of heaven Yvonne: Hmmm... nice.
11:46 James: Because that moment that you have
11:48 is what God...
11:49 it's an earnest of what God wants you to experience
11:51 for all eternity, you're going to...
11:52 that's the way you're going to feel
11:53 and I can't even fathom that, I'm like... "No... "
11:55 I'm so used to it ending,
11:57 like, "vacation is over," like, "love is dwindling,"
12:00 like, "something is... " no...
12:02 it's never going to end,
12:03 the way you feel in this moment right here,
12:05 this is the happiest moments of your life,
12:07 will continue on forever... that's a taste of heaven.
12:09 Ivor: Hmmm... hmmm... Yvonne: Wow! Man! wow.
12:12 Ivor: Faith of Jesus.
12:13 I think that as we look at the faith of Jesus...
12:16 James just explained what the "faith of Jesus" is
12:18 right, and so, in Revelation 14:12,
12:21 we're looking at this in the context of
12:23 the three angels' messages, right,
12:26 this is an end-time message
12:28 so, why do we need the faith of Jesus especially at this time?
12:34 So we want to take a look at that next,
12:36 let's go to 1st Peter chapter 1 verse 7.
12:38 Let me ask you guys a question,
12:41 "When do you need faith the most?"
12:44 Yvonne: Oh, wow! that's a good question.
12:48 Jason: We need it all the time but in trying to...
12:51 Ivor: We need it all the time, where is it in your life,
12:53 when people are like, "Have faith, hold on... "
12:55 James: What's your trial...
12:57 Ivor: When you're going through a trial... right,
12:58 1st Peter 1:7, what does it say?
13:00 Laughter...
13:03 Yvonne: "That the genuineness of your faith
13:05 being much more precious than gold that perishes,
13:09 though it is tested by fire,
13:11 may be found to praise and honour
13:15 and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ. "
13:17 James: King James version says,
13:19 "That the trial of your faith... "
13:20 Ivor: That's right, "the trial of your faith...
13:22 the trial of your faith," right,
13:23 so the timing you need faith the most,
13:25 you need it all the time.
13:27 The time you need the most is in trial...
13:29 is in trial, right,
13:30 the Bible tells us in Romans 10:17
13:33 "faith comes by hearing... " and "hearing by the word of God"
13:37 so what does "faith" really mean?
13:38 It means, in trying times, stand firm on the Word of God.
13:43 James: Turn to the Word of God.
13:44 Ivor: Turn to the Word of God...
13:47 depend upon the Word of God, okay,
13:49 2nd Corinthians tells us that faith comes... I'm sorry...
13:55 it's... we just quoted that...
13:59 2nd Corinthians tells that we walk by faith
14:01 and not by sight.
14:03 Let's put that all together, right,
14:05 faith is not depending upon what you see
14:08 but the Word of God.
14:11 Remember the condition that's going to be created
14:14 that we've been talking about in the last three or four programs,
14:17 an overwhelming visual assault by Satan himself.
14:23 Demons impersonating dead loved ones,
14:27 Satan impersonating Christ, and Jesus says,
14:30 "At this time, you're going to need the faith of Jesus. "
14:33 All right, so, Man! the faith of Jesus...
14:36 where can we find Jesus going through a trial of His own
14:42 that He needed faith?
14:44 James: Definitely in the wilderness.
14:45 Ivor: In the wilderness, now check this out,
14:48 why in the wilderness?
14:49 Well, see, in the wilderness, Satan comes to Him three times,
14:53 what does he begin with?
14:55 What does he open up with?
14:57 Yvonne: Appetite... James: If...
14:58 Ivor: "If you are the Son of God
15:00 because you sure don't look like Him right now. "
15:02 James: Right. Yvonne: Hmmm...
15:03 Ivor: "You look like... " James: "You're in the wilderness"
15:05 Ivor: "Yeah, in the wilderness,
15:07 this desolate place... does... "
15:08 James: "You don't have any food you don't have any water... "
15:09 Ivor: "Yeah, look at you...
15:11 by sight, you don't really look like you're the Son of God. "
15:13 What did Jesus do?
15:14 see, the chapter before the temptation...
15:19 the Word of God is spoken to Him...
15:21 "This is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. "
15:25 Jesus had an option,
15:26 He could remember the Word of God
15:29 or He could look at His circumstances
15:32 and in fact, I'm not sure if I can do this
15:34 but one of my favorite books is "The Desire or Ages... "
15:38 it talks about this temptation in the wilderness,
15:41 it says that when Satan came to Jesus,
15:44 he actually was like, "You know what?
15:47 I don't really know if are who you say you are
15:49 I'm from heaven... "
15:50 James: He came as an angel of light, 2nd Corinthians 11.
15:53 Ivor: Yeah.
15:54 James: He came as an angel of light.
15:56 Ivor: And basically said...
15:57 James: He said that
15:58 he gave Him the story of the fall of Lucifer.
16:00 Ivor: Yeah, and said, "You might be Lucifer... "
16:01 James: "You look like... "
16:02 Ivor: "You look like that angel. "
16:04 James: "You must be that angel that fell from heaven. "
16:05 Ivor: "So, if you're really the Son of God... "
16:07 so, role reversal... Yvonne: Wow!
16:10 "You're the evil one... "
16:12 all right, now, Jesus... what did He do?
16:13 He overcame those three temptations, right?
16:15 No problem, it was just like, boom! right,
16:18 because God was with Him.
16:19 All right, now, let's go over to John chapter 19 verse 12,
16:24 now...
16:25 Yvonne: But did he actually think that... did Lucifer...
16:29 I mean, did Satan actually think that the Creator, Jesus,
16:34 who... through Him everything was created...
16:37 would fall for that?
16:39 James: Here's the deal...
16:40 and here's the point that Ivor is bringing out
16:41 that I think is so important for us to understand,
16:43 we're looking at "Jesus" and we're saying,
16:46 "Well, Jesus... He is the Messiah... "
16:49 and we're not realizing that He was a man
16:52 and that Satan did think that he could deceive Him
16:56 into thinking this,
16:58 he came in the appearance of an angel of light,
17:00 Christ is out in the wilderness, seemingly forsaken of God...
17:02 hasn't eaten for 40 days, He has no water... no food...
17:05 in other words, what Ivor is bringing out here
17:09 is that we can be almost sure that we'll be okay,
17:12 because we've got the Word and we have...
17:15 but we don't realize
17:17 how overmastering Satan's delusions can be
17:19 he even tried this on the Son of God...
17:21 thinking that it could work
17:23 and the only thing that Jesus Christ could turn to
17:26 was... Jesus didn't say, "No, I'm... I'm... "
17:29 He turned to the Word of God
17:31 the only thing He could turn to...
17:33 so Christ is saying to us with this example,
17:36 "You've got to be on the Word... you've got to be on the Word. "
17:38 Ivor: Exactly.
17:39 James: The woman who's standing on the moon...
17:41 Ivor: Yeah, you can't trust your feelings or senses
17:44 right, now, go to John 12 and you've got a question for me,
17:48 you were about to say something, so go ahead,
17:50 but go to John 19... I'm sorry, John 19 verses 12 to 14,
17:53 go ahead and say what you were going to say.
17:55 Jason: Satan tried to use the Word... but he twisted it...
17:58 Ivor: Exactly... exactly... James: Yes.
17:59 Ivor: And I'm going to show you something that's monumental.
18:01 James: And he tried to use this Plan of Redemption
18:03 and he twisted it. Ivor: That's right...
18:04 James: The fall... and he twisted it.
18:06 Ivor: Now, now go to the Garden of Gethsemane, right,
18:09 just before you read John 19, Garden of Gethsemane...
18:12 Jesus is in the garden and He is praying...
18:13 He prays three times... "Father if it be possible,
18:16 let this... " what? "cup pass from me... "
18:19 Does He get an answer?
18:21 No...
18:23 He prays the second time, "What is this?
18:27 I'm talking to my Father and He's not answering me?"
18:31 I mean, imagine, your child coming to you,
18:33 "Daddy... " and you don't answer,
18:35 right, now, He's in a situation where He has not been...
18:39 in the wilderness, He had heard the voice of God,
18:43 "This is my beloved Son... "
18:44 now, He's being told... He has to drink this cup...
18:47 all right, so this is the beginning of His ultimate trial
18:51 and watch this... John 19... read it for me, verses 12 to 14.
18:56 Jason: "And from thenceforth Pilate sought to release him:
19:00 but the Jews cried out, saying,
19:02 If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend:
19:06 whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar.
19:10 When Pilate therefore heard that saying,
19:13 he brought Jesus forth,
19:14 and sat down in the judgment seat
19:16 in a place that is called the Pavement,
19:19 but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha. "
19:22 Ivor: Okay, so, Gabbatha... it means, "an exalted place... "
19:25 the Pavement is actually translated as "stone floor"
19:28 stone floor... all right... check this out...
19:32 here is Jesus... standing before someone's seat,
19:38 He's standing on stones... going to be judged...
19:43 why? For claiming to be like God,
19:48 does that ring a bell?
19:51 Yvonne: Hmmm...
19:52 Ivor: Was there an angel in heaven
19:54 who stood on a stone floor, who was cast out and judged
19:59 because he claimed to be like God?
20:03 Yeah, there was...
20:05 I want you to see what's going on here,
20:06 Satan is about to wage the most psychological...
20:10 James: battle against Christ. Ivor: against Christ...
20:12 James: He's already put the seed in there...
20:14 Ivor: Because now, think about how Lucifer is described,
20:17 think about some of the things that's said about Lucifer
20:19 like in Ezekiel 28, "claimed to be God... "
20:22 "you weakened the nations... "
20:23 what did they accuse Christ of?
20:24 "You're weakening the nations... "
20:26 James: "Claiming to be God... you're Beelzebub... "
20:28 Ivor: "You're Beelzebub... you're working by Beelzebub... "
20:30 the Bible says of Lucifer...
20:31 that he will be cast out of the Holy Mountain...
20:33 the Holy Mountain is Jerusalem,
20:35 where was Jesus taken? Out of Jerusalem...
20:38 in other words...
20:40 it's almost as if... before...
20:42 yeah, you could depend on the voice of God because...
20:44 but now, now Satan begins to wage this conflict
20:49 that, "Look, you're not just... you are that fallen angel...
20:54 you are fulfilling everything
20:57 the prophecy says you would fulfill...
21:00 claiming to be God... cast out of the holy mountain...
21:04 you weaken the nations... you'll be...
21:08 never will you be anymore
21:10 you're going to go down, you're not coming back up... "
21:14 the psychological... in other words...
21:16 it wasn't the pain that hurt Jesus...
21:18 it was the psychological warfare when He cries out,
21:21 "My God, my God... why have you forsaken me?"
21:24 James: It's an exercise of faith.
21:26 Ivor: He had to depend solely upon faith
21:28 because it was a complete role reversal
21:31 guess what Satan is going to do at the end of time?
21:35 James: The same thing.
21:36 Ivor: "You guys... you're... you are the very ones... "
21:41 James: "You missed that verse, that verse doesn't say, 'air'
21:43 no, no, no, no, no,
21:44 feet, feet, feet... on the earth... right here...
21:47 1,000 years? Come on...
21:48 you got a couple of verses wrong
21:51 and you're whole theology is upside down...
21:53 look at the whole world... knows this...
21:55 the whole world knows this. "
21:56 Ivor: "We're the right ones, you're the wrong ones,
21:58 you're the ones that are getting deceived. "
22:00 James: "I'm healing people... this is me...
22:02 this is the guy you're going to be following. "
22:03 Ivor: And at that time,
22:05 if you don't have the faith of Jesus,
22:10 Jesus could not see through the portals of the tomb.
22:12 James: You're going down.
22:13 Ivor: Yeah, you're going down so remember a guy named Job?
22:16 Remember how he went through all this stuff?
22:19 And then they were like,
22:20 "Well, Job... tsk... may as well curse God... "
22:23 and what did Job say?
22:25 "Though He... " what?
22:27 "slay me... yet will I trust in Him... "
22:30 in other words... the faith of Jesus
22:32 is going to lead God's people at the end of time to say...
22:34 Satan's going to be like, "You guys are lost... "
22:36 God's people are going to say, "Well, hey, I may be lost...
22:41 but I'm still not bowing down,
22:44 I'm still not going to receive the mark...
22:47 I'm still not going to serve you I will go down praising God
22:51 'though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him... '"
22:54 what is this going to demonstrate?
22:56 You see, Satan... remember what he said to Job?
22:58 What he said about Job? James: Yeah.
23:00 Ivor: "He's only serving you for the reward. "
23:02 James: Right. Yvonne: Right.
23:03 Ivor: You know what he's going to say at the end time?
23:04 "They just want heaven... who doesn't want to live forever?
23:07 I mean, you're a by-product, I mean, yeah, you'll be there
23:10 but they just want heaven, they don't want to die,
23:12 they just want to live forever,
23:14 they just want the reward. "
23:16 So God says, "Okay, here's what I'm going to do...
23:18 I'm going to allow you to make it appear
23:21 like they don't have a reward...
23:24 like, their sins are so great
23:26 that there's no way that I can save them. "
23:29 James: Job lost all his merchandise,
23:31 couldn't buy or sell...
23:33 and then his life was threatened. "
23:34 Yvonne: Hmmm...
23:36 Ivor: And when God's people say,
23:37 "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him... "
23:39 it will demonstrate that the people of God loved Him
23:42 not because of the reward, but because of who He was.
23:46 James: Christ was hated of all nations...
23:47 Matthew 24 says... we'll be hated of all nations,
23:50 the word "Job... "
23:52 that word... that name means "hated"
23:54 "hated one... " yeah.
23:56 Ivor: Yes, so, it is this... the faith of Jesus...
23:59 now you read the rest of Revelation chapter 14,
24:02 it's basically a harvest,
24:04 we've actually covered it before
24:06 when we talked about the 144,000 but it's a harvest.
24:08 The righteous are harvested by Christ
24:11 and the wicked are basically... are harvested for the winepress.
24:16 What is it that separates the righteous from the wicked?
24:19 The faith of Jesus.
24:21 James: Hmmm... Yvonne: Hmmm...
24:22 Ivor: Though He slay me... I'm going to trust Him.
24:25 Though He turn His back on me...
24:27 and I mean... I want you to think about that,
24:29 I mean, how often we serve God because of the reward...
24:33 Jesus said, "He who loves his life, will lose it...
24:36 and he who loses it for my sake will save it. "
24:39 We think of it only in terms of this life
24:41 but it's almost as though He is saying,
24:43 "Look, would you be willing to miss out on heaven for me?"
24:49 Yvonne: Hmmm...
24:50 Ivor: Remember how Moses wrote,
24:51 "Blot me out of the Book of Life... "
24:54 he wasn't talking about just taking back...
24:56 he was talking about the second death.
24:58 James: And Paul said the same thing in Romans 9.
25:00 Ivor: Yeah, he... in other words, look...
25:02 James: Even Christ did the same thing.
25:03 Ivor: Right, "Look, look, I am willing... "
25:05 see, most of us... we want to escape the first death
25:09 but we want heaven, guess who else wants heaven?
25:12 Satan... wanting heaven is...
25:16 Satan wants heaven more than many of us.
25:19 Yvonne: Hmmm... hmmm...
25:20 Ivor: So wanting heaven is not enough to get us there
25:22 because we have to be willing to...
25:24 we literally have to... not that God's going to let us do it
25:27 but we have to be at that place where we're like,
25:30 "All right, if I don't come up from the tomb
25:32 I'm still going to serve Him. "
25:34 James: Because the vindication of God's character is
25:36 selflessness... it's unselfishness...
25:39 it's the lack of self-focus
25:42 and that's the ultimate manifestation of it.
25:44 Christ gave us the ultimate manifestation
25:46 of this selfless love,
25:48 selfishness is inherent in the fallen human nature,
25:52 when we define sin,
25:53 we define it many times as transgression of the law,
25:55 "they keep the commandments of God... "
25:56 but keeping the commandments of God in this verse,
25:58 is... is much more than the outward code that we check off,
26:03 the code as we check off...
26:04 the ultimate definition of sin is selfishness...
26:08 selfishness...
26:09 so I can say to myself,
26:12 "Have I kept God's commandments?"
26:13 "Oh yeah, I did... "
26:15 "Have I been unselfish?" Yvonne: Hmmm...
26:17 James: Ooooh... that gets...
26:19 that is really where the rubber meets the road.
26:21 Ivor: You think about this, Jesus Himself did not consider
26:24 heaven a place to be desired while we were lost.
26:29 He was like, "Heaven... "
26:30 James: "I'm out of here... " Ivor: "I got to go... "
26:33 right, He was willing to step down from heaven,
26:36 so in return, we... we have to exercise that same...
26:42 "Hey, I'm willing... yeah, I am willing...
26:44 blot me out of the Book of Life
26:46 that your name be not blasphemed "
26:49 James: And ultimately when we get to that place,
26:51 when we embrace the selfless love of God
26:55 we will find that we have made it to heaven...
26:58 we've made it home... we're home...
26:59 when we have that, we're home
27:01 because that's what we were made for,
27:03 we were made in God's image and that's what we were made for
27:05 and that is the essence of heaven.
27:07 Streets of gold... yeah, that's cement...
27:10 that's blacktop... "it's all streets of gold"
27:14 no, it's blacktop... it's blacktop...
27:16 it's no big deal to us...
27:18 we go, "Oh, streets of gold... pearls... the gates of... "
27:21 no, unselfishness... the selfless love of God
27:25 that is the ultimate goal for all of us
27:27 and there's nothing like it...
27:29 experiencing that... there's nothing like that.
27:31 When you get to that place, you're just like,
27:32 "Yes, I could live like this forever,
27:34 this is happiness
27:36 this is the true reason why I have been created. "
27:38 Jason: Yeah. Yvonne: Hmmm...
27:39 James: We're out of time again
27:40 but we want to let people know how they can contact us
27:42 and send in for their questions.
27:44 Jason: Oh yeah, they should send their questions to:
27:46 sss as in Salvation in Symbols and Signs
27:49 @3abn. org
27:51 James: All right Salvation in Symbols and Signs
27:52 @3abn. org
27:54 this has been a good study on the faith of Jesus
27:56 commandments of God
27:57 and I've just been blessed, praise the Lord.


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Revised 2017-07-20