Voice of Prophecy Speaks

What Ever Happened To Right And Wrong?

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Lonnie Melashenko

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Series Code: VOPS

Program Code: VOPS000009


00:30 Hello, everyone.
00:31 "The nice thing about crime," someone said,
00:36 "is that it usually happens to someone else."
00:39 and However, rising crime statistics tell us more
00:41 and more that someone else is likely to be you.
00:47 We have been robbed. Victims of road rage.
00:51 Sued by someone we didn't even know.
00:54 See facts are crime's showing up in some surprising ways.
00:58 Enron, anthrax, shoe bombs, snipers.
01:02 No longer if we just kind of shrug our shoulders and say,
01:05 "Well, crime that something that happens to someone else."
01:08 Now, crime and violence is everywhere.
01:11 In fact it's big business, weaseling into politics
01:14 and government, infecting police departments
01:17 and even Washington D.C. Students bomb their schools,
01:22 kid's murder teachers and fellow classmates.
01:25 Even small children carry guns.
01:30 We've had in recent years cult murders, assassinations,
01:34 hijacking, jihad, terrorists, mailbox bombs,
01:39 Wall Street and government corruption,
01:41 reported every day in countries all over the world.
01:44 The question tonight is why all the lawlessness?
01:47 Whatever happened to right and wrong?
01:52 I received the Los Angeles Times when I'm at home
01:54 and sportswriter, the late Jim Murray, said
01:58 and I'm gonna paraphrase what he said.
02:00 He said, "Americans have bred a generation of rebels,
02:04 questioning, skeptical, challenging.
02:06 Children who imitate TV's role models.
02:08 Oh, come on, TV violence, Mom?
02:10 No, I'm just watching Rambo. Fathers cheat at work.
02:14 Both parents cheat on each other.
02:16 The children see it all
02:17 and the broken homes are leaving ugly scars.
02:20 And who's to instill a sense of right and wrong
02:22 if parents won't?
02:23 Says, Jim Murray.
02:24 I mean, schools can't teach morality.
02:26 We've outgrown the Bible's moral standard.
02:30 Well, I don't know but maybe Jim Murray is right.
02:34 But would you like to know how all of this snowballed,
02:37 especially in our 21st century modern society?
02:40 Now this may shock you,
02:41 but it actually started with preachers.
02:47 Of all people in one of the strangest developments
02:49 in the 20th century religious world,
02:51 we have watched this amazing spectacle
02:53 of churches adopting attitudes
02:56 that disregard God's boundaries calling it freedom.
03:03 Churches saying, well, God's laws no longer apply.
03:08 His commandments have been abolished,
03:10 they're no longer relevant and in fact,
03:12 they're impossible to keep.
03:15 Now this whole convoluted philosophy
03:17 got started a few years ago
03:18 and it catapulted in popularity with the publication of a book
03:22 when I was going to college Southern California book
03:25 by a certain Dr. Joseph Fletcher,
03:28 a book called "Situation Ethics."
03:32 Now he claimed to be a Christian psychologist
03:35 but Fletcher shocked the world when he announced,
03:38 hey, modern Christians.
03:41 You don't need rules,
03:42 you don't need laws to govern behavior.
03:44 You see, God wants us to be "love children."
03:48 Free love.
03:49 He gave us a brain so you decide
03:52 what's right for you, in your situation
03:53 depending on the situation, I'll decide for me.
03:56 But we'll just go out and do the "loving thing."
03:59 And in my era that exploded
04:02 in the Haight-Ashbury hippie era of the 1970s,
04:05 the drug culture of LSD and marijuana.
04:08 But you know what happened
04:10 is that preachers then got on the bandwagon
04:12 and they said, hey, Dr. Fletcher is right,
04:14 "it makes sense, we're not under the law,
04:16 Bible says, we're under grace," and the result?
04:20 Fletcher scored a real hit, because now all of a sudden
04:24 why have you figured it out long enough
04:25 adultery could for example, be okay for some people
04:30 depending on the situation.
04:31 You know you do your own thing,
04:32 meant that everybody was right,
04:35 drugs, the thief, the crook, the murderer.
04:39 And tens and tens of millions of Christians
04:41 for the past 50 years have bought into this.
04:45 In fact psychologists jumped on the bandwagon.
04:48 Have you heard of a gentleman by the name of Dr. Spock,
04:51 he wrote in his parenting manual,
04:52 and he said, "Moms, Dads, don't discipline your children.
04:56 Well, that will stifle their creativity and their freedom.
04:59 Just let them do their own thing."
05:01 Have you heard that expression? No.
05:04 But folks, do you know what?
05:07 This I submit is twisted thinking.
05:11 In fact Dr. Spock finally apologized
05:14 in "Redbook Magazine."
05:16 He realized, "oops, maybe we made a big mistake
05:20 and he confessed.
05:22 He said, I was wrong.
05:23 I have helped breed a whole generation of American rebels."
05:28 And I'm so glad that my fellow ministers
05:30 and other denominations priests and rabbi's and bishops,
05:33 they are now back pedaling too.
05:36 But "uh-oh, too late."
05:39 Because in 2003, 2004, we're reaping a bumper harvest
05:43 of broken homes and children out of control,
05:46 and crimes so violent that we shudder.
05:50 And the Voice of Prophecy speaks once again to us today,
05:54 in the words of Hosea, the prophet,
05:56 in chapter 8 and verse 7.
05:59 He predicted a last-day prophecy of our day
06:03 almost quoting sports-writer Jim Murray word for word.
06:06 He says, "They sow the wind, and reap the whirlwind."
06:14 You see, ladies and gentlemen, Dr. Fletcher forgot something.
06:19 He forgot human nature.
06:22 Because who determines
06:24 when a situation is right or wrong?
06:29 Isn't even the moral judgment of good people
06:32 often imperfect at times?
06:35 In fact the Bible says, we're not good judges at all.
06:37 Proverbs 14:12 says, "There is a way
06:41 that seems right to a man, but its end is," what?
06:45 "The way of death."
06:47 You see, Dr. Fletcher, you forgot something.
06:49 You forgot that even love does not tell you what to do.
06:56 Now, justice can.
06:57 Laws can. Rules can.
07:01 They come to our rescue and help us.
07:02 In fact, they're kind of like a roadmap.
07:05 They give us direction on how to express ourselves.
07:10 The human beings need a standard of right and wrong
07:13 that's outside of ourselves
07:15 and not just our own feelings and desires,
07:18 as the Apostle Paul says in 2 Timothy 4:3, 4.
07:22 You see folks, we don't get freedom
07:25 by throwing out the rules.
07:29 Couple of years ago Phil Draper and Jeannie
07:30 and our Voice of Prophecy Staff were doing a series of meetings
07:33 down in Caracas, Venezuela.
07:35 You've been watching them in the news
07:36 with all the problems and revelation so forth.
07:38 Well, their President Chavez, in order to get political votes
07:44 and get into the office where he now,
07:45 he made a campaign promise
07:47 and he said, folks, "If you will vote for me,
07:49 I'll give you brand new freedoms
07:51 you've never have enjoyed before.
07:53 In fact, I will remove all the traffic signs
07:56 and the stoplights in town."
07:59 No more rules and he did.
08:02 Can you imagine what the result is down there?
08:05 Absolute total chaos. He even went further than that.
08:09 For those who are not wealthy, didn't have money, he said,
08:12 well, you just go and rob from the rich.
08:14 Take what's you need.
08:16 You go down there, here is a picture,
08:18 they have bars on their windows,
08:20 15 stories high in all of the apartments.
08:24 You see whenever you removed standards of right and wrong,
08:28 whenever you suspend the rules,
08:30 whenever human beings have no laws
08:32 total license, chaos follows.
08:36 Friend, listen, you tell me.
08:38 Do we need rules down here in 2003, 2004?
08:41 Yes. Oh, what are the rules?
08:45 Who's to decide what's right and wrong?
08:50 Well, in God's prophetic word, the Bible.
08:53 God gave human beings a 10-word formula
08:59 for a crime-free society.
09:01 Just 10 words.
09:04 And had they always been followed,
09:05 even preachers like Billy Graham now admit
09:08 the crime would never have it existed.
09:11 Everyone would be safe and happy any place on Earth.
09:15 So right now let's hit the pause button
09:17 and rewind and go back in our Bibles
09:20 to when the wild-west shoot-em-up
09:22 bandito outlaw Israelites blasted their way
09:25 out of slavery in Egypt.
09:27 You know, the Bible says that they were so wild-eyed
09:30 and they were so criminal,
09:31 they didn't know their right hand from their left.
09:34 I mean, for 400 years remember
09:36 they have been caged up like slaves living like animals.
09:39 Total totalitarian terror reigned.
09:43 They were killing, they were raping,
09:44 they were stealing, they were embezzling.
09:45 They were immoral scam.
09:48 What a motley bunch when the dear Lord
09:50 came down to meet them at Sinai.
09:53 He had, had the thunder rolled its kettle drums
09:56 and lightning shook its fiery white lances,
09:58 and God said, "Okay, enough already.
10:00 You can't go on living like this
10:01 so I'm going you some rules
10:04 etched on stone with My own finger.
10:08 So, you can learn to get along with each other.
10:11 Are you listening, He said."
10:12 Notice what it says in Exodus 20:12,
10:14 He said now, "I am the Lord your God,
10:17 who brought you out of the land of Egypt,
10:18 out of the house of bondage."
10:20 I'm the One who opened up the Red Sea before you.
10:22 I'm your Deliverer.
10:23 I'm your Protector because I care about you,
10:27 you can trust Me.
10:28 These rules are going to be for your own good.
10:32 Kind of like buying a new car?
10:34 Haven't had too many those in my life time
10:35 I must assure you.
10:37 But whenever I bought a new car,
10:38 the two times in the glove compartment
10:41 is the owner's manual.
10:42 Now I'll tell you I've read it right through both times,
10:44 because it tells you what grade of motor oil for the engine,
10:46 the type of gasoline to run in the gas
10:50 thank for tip-top optimum performance.
10:54 Well, God says to the Israelites
10:56 and My divine law
10:58 is like the manufacturer's specifications,
11:01 so that you can live life in peace and safety.
11:05 It's very simple, very quick, clear,
11:08 reference point to know right from wrong.
11:11 Because what I'm gonna give you
11:12 is a reflection of what God is like.
11:15 I want you to be like God. So here, take a look.
11:18 And in Exodus 20, just to summarize quickly
11:21 you can look on the screen
11:22 and see the full text if you wish.
11:23 But number one God says,
11:24 "I guarantee that you'll be happiest
11:27 if you don't get confused about who to worship."
11:30 Exodus 20:3, "You shall have no other gods before me."
11:34 Number two, He says,
11:35 "Don't worship stuff, materialism."
11:40 Number three, "Don't swear."
11:43 Number four, "Don't forget to take time off with Me."
11:47 Number five, "Your family, they're holy."
11:50 Number six, "Life is sacred." Seven, "Marriage is holy."
11:56 Number eight, " The right for people our property."
11:58 That is holy. Number nine, "Truth is holy.
12:03 And finally number ten, "You got to have holy motives."
12:07 Well, as the people listen to this,
12:09 voice of voice of thunder there they were very impressed
12:12 and especially since it was just in ten words.
12:16 According the Jewish Mishnah and the Jewish Rabbi's,
12:20 the original Ten Commandments was in just ten words.
12:24 I mean compared to all the libraries of law books
12:26 that we have in our countries, awesome.
12:30 Well, this is great.
12:32 If that's God's will, just ten words, we'll do it.
12:37 God, of course, knowing how forgetful
12:38 we humans being tend to be,
12:40 not wanting to trust the frail memory of man,
12:43 He wrote those Ten Commandments down in stone.
12:47 Notice Exodus 31:18, "When the Lord finished
12:50 speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai,
12:53 He gave him the two tables of the Testimony,
12:55 the tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God."
12:59 Now what I'd like to point out right now
13:00 was it this was not the very first time
13:02 the God gave the Ten Commandments.
13:05 Many people they say, well, those are just for Jews.
13:07 Maybe it was the first time
13:08 that they received them in written form like this.
13:12 But those commandments existed from all eternity.
13:17 Long before Mount Sinai or even Adam and Eve,
13:20 Paul says they existed.
13:23 God's eternal, unchangeable standard of right
13:26 the basis of God's government in heaven.
13:29 In fact, did you know that the angels were governed
13:32 by those commandments?
13:34 They were given the choice either of following God's law
13:37 or just ignoring it and rebelling against it.
13:41 We're already talked in previous night and you know
13:43 that Satan and his angels chose situation ethics.
13:49 We'll do our own thing.
13:51 Thank you very much we'll make our own rules.
13:53 And this rebellion of course led to their expulsion
13:56 from heaven as it says in Revelation 12:7-9
13:59 it talks about "war broke out in heaven."
14:02 Why?
14:04 Because they chose not to remain loyal to God's law,
14:09 His commandments.
14:10 Notice Psalm 103:20, "Bless the Lord, ye His angels,
14:16 that excel in strength, that do His commandments."
14:22 You see, folks, the reason heaven
14:23 is a perfect place of perfect happiness
14:27 is because they don't have any law-breakers up there.
14:32 Adam and Eve had a knowledge of those
14:33 Ten Commandments in the Garden of Eden.
14:36 In fact, as long as they kept
14:37 the Ten Commandments law of God,
14:39 they obeyed it the Garden of Eden.
14:41 It was paradise for them perfect happiness,
14:44 perfect peace, perfect bliss.
14:47 And that's why when they sinned,
14:49 they broke that law
14:52 and they felt the emotions of shame and guilt.
14:56 In fact, you noticed very clearly
14:58 that when Cain, remember when he became angry,
15:00 killed his brother Abel, God asked him in Genesis 4:6,7.
15:05 God said, Cain. "Why are you angry?
15:10 Why has your countenance fallen?
15:12 If you do well, will you not be accepted?
15:15 And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door."
15:20 You see God's law of the sixth commandment,
15:22 "Thou shalt not kill" had to be in effect at the time
15:25 because Paul says in Romans 4:15,
15:27 "Where no law is, there is no transgression."
15:32 You see the Bible clearly says long, long, long
15:34 before Mt. Sinai's Ten Commandments
15:37 that God blessed Abraham because he obeyed the law.
15:42 Genesis 26:5 "Because Abraham obeyed
15:47 My voice and kept My charge, My Commandments,
15:49 My statutes and My laws."
15:52 So you see long before Sinai.
15:54 In fact, you recall the Old Testament
15:57 story of the young movie star Hunk,
15:59 we would say today, Joseph.
16:01 And he is almost affair with the original Madonna,
16:05 Potiphar's wife.
16:07 And how did Joseph's sensitive conscience lead him
16:10 to resist her sexual rendezvous temptation.
16:14 When he pushed her aside,
16:17 listen to what he said in Genesis 39:9.
16:21 "My master has withheld nothing from me except you,
16:26 because you are his wife.
16:28 How could I do such a wicked thing
16:30 and sin against God?"
16:33 Well, now how could Joseph know
16:35 adultery was wrong when the Ten Commandments
16:38 hadn't been written for another 500 years?
16:41 Because he already knew
16:43 of God's standard of right and wrong.
16:44 Amen, amen.
16:46 Long before Pharaoh placed the children of Israel
16:48 under bondage in Egypt, they knew God's Law.
16:52 But during slavery they forgot.
16:55 But the point is, our Bible tonight is consistent.
16:59 God's law has always been there
17:01 because His perfect laws govern His universe.
17:04 He's got laws of nature, laws of physics.
17:07 Aren't you glad you're not gonna
17:08 hit the ceiling here in two minutes
17:09 because you don't know of gravity will hold you down?
17:11 We know that this consistent laws of flight,
17:14 laws of astronomy, medicine, nuclear fission,
17:16 instinct pauses in 1 Corinthians 14,
17:19 "For God is not the author of confusion."
17:23 I'm so glad he says,
17:25 "Let all things be done decently and in order."
17:28 Amen.
17:29 You know folks, when you think about it,
17:30 no government, no society can exist without laws.
17:33 Even our kids can't go outside and play games
17:36 in the playground without some kind of rules.
17:39 So the Bible says in Romans 2:13
17:44 "For it is not those who hear the law
17:48 who are righteous in God's sight,
17:50 but it is those who obey the law
17:53 who will be declared," what?
17:55 "Righteous." That's Paul.
17:58 He's saying, in another words,
17:59 "Yes, it's important to know the rules
18:02 but it's more important to play by the rules."
18:06 If you want to win the Olympics spiritually,
18:08 God says follow the rules.
18:10 But He's saying, you got to do it
18:12 for the right reason or, you know,
18:13 what, you're just a legalist, you're Pharisee.
18:17 Don't keep them, Jesus says,
18:19 unless "If you love Me then keep my commandments."
18:24 In fact, you see love is the basis for the commandments.
18:27 Matthew 22:37-40, Jesus said.
18:30 "You shall love the Lord
18:31 your God with all of your heart,
18:33 with all of your soul, with all your mind.
18:35 This is the first and great commandment.
18:37 But the second is like it,
18:39 You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
18:41 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."
18:45 And you know every single Jew knew
18:47 exactly what Jesus was saying there.
18:49 Jesus was saying, you can boil the Ten Commandments
18:51 down to just two sections.
18:54 Number one, the first tells us how to love God
18:58 and that's found in the first four commandments of the ten.
19:01 The second section tells us how to love each other,
19:04 our fellow mankind.
19:06 That's defined in the last six.
19:08 In other words,
19:09 you have our vertical obligation to God, first.
19:13 Second, our horizontal relationships with each other.
19:17 Jut ten words. Ten Commands.
19:21 That's all you need, God says.
19:23 But do you know what man say and our attorney?
19:26 Well, thank you very much, God.
19:28 But we don't think ten is enough.
19:31 We'll try to come up with our own sets of laws
19:34 and estimates indicate lawyers and attorneys
19:37 and law schools have come up with--
19:39 Can anybody guess how many laws we have?
19:42 Thirty five million laws
19:46 drafted by man the control behavior.
19:49 Has it worth.
19:51 Look at the mess. Look at our courts.
19:54 Folks, not God, just Ten Commandments,
19:58 in ten words He drafted a code of conduct
20:01 that covers all human behavior and I say tonight
20:04 only God could write such a law with no defects.
20:08 In fact Psalm 19:7, 11.
20:12 "The Law of the Lord is perfect
20:15 and in keeping them there is great" what?
20:18 "Reward."
20:19 That's because the Ten Commandments
20:21 are a perfect mirror of God Himself.
20:26 They're reflect Him, they reflect His character.
20:29 They are what I'd like to call codified love.
20:34 As theologian August Strong wrote,
20:38 "Law is only the transcript of God's nature."
20:44 And say, guess what's happening
20:46 in churches in the last 25 years?
20:51 Preachers are now saying, you listen to them on Sunday,
20:54 whether it's on radio or television.
20:56 Well, you know, I think we need the commandments
20:58 in fact more than ever.
21:00 Even Dr. Laura Schlessinger wrote a book call,
21:03 "The Ten Commandments."
21:04 It's on the best-seller list.
21:05 I was at NRB in-- or I was in Los Angeles,
21:10 I stood next to Dr. Laura, she stands about this high.
21:13 She was a Jew receiving this award from the NRB for her book
21:16 of the "Ten Commandments" bestseller.
21:18 You listen to radio and television evangelists
21:20 and they're all preaching about the Ten Commandments,
21:22 they're don't say any more, well, you know,
21:24 may be we're not under the law weren't-- they don't say that.
21:27 They're saying now we've misunderstood that text.
21:30 Even Billy Graham says,
21:31 Jesus did not come to do away with the law.
21:34 Billy Graham says, He came to make them
21:36 tougher than ever to keep.
21:38 Because any change in the Law of God,
21:41 you see, would make that law less than perfect.
21:44 But a perfect law never needs to be altered
21:48 because Jesus said in Matthew 5:17.
21:51 "Don't even think, don't even think
21:53 that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets.
21:56 I did not come to destroy
21:58 but to fulfill" or fill them up to their full measure.
22:04 Luke 16:17 Jesus went on to say,
22:06 "it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away
22:10 than for one tittle of the Law to fail."
22:14 You see folks,
22:15 if Jesus could've done away with the law,
22:19 then they wouldn't be any more sin.
22:22 And Jesus wouldn't have to die on the cross.
22:25 In fact, His death would have been a meaningless charade.
22:29 You see, if there's no law, then Paul says there's no sin.
22:33 Hey, Jesus, didn't have to die.
22:35 No friend, Jesus didn't come to destroy the law,
22:39 He came to free us from the penalty of the law.
22:43 To free us from the slavery of breaking it, disobeying it.
22:48 Well, someone says, you know, law and the rules
22:50 kind of offence me and they restrict my happiness.
22:54 Oh, on the contrary, God intended His law
22:58 would guarantee freedom and safety everywhere.
23:02 I want you to think about it this way for a moment.
23:04 You know, if all of those terrorists on September 11,
23:07 if they were all born-again Christians
23:10 all obeying God's laws,
23:12 we would all be flying safely today.
23:15 Amen.
23:16 See God says in Deuteronomy 5:29,
23:20 "O that there were such an heart in them,
23:23 that they would fear Me, and keep all My commandments
23:25 always, that it might be well with them,
23:28 and with their children," how long?
23:30 Forever. "Forever."
23:33 Think about it when you drive in the smoky mountains
23:35 or in the skyline drive in Lake Tahoe,
23:38 you folks in California.
23:39 Why do we build guardrails on bridges and mountain roads?
23:44 To restrict us, so we can't just go
23:45 right off there and enjoy that little flight mount.
23:48 They protect us from danger.
23:53 God gave His law like a guardrail
23:56 to protect us on the road of life.
23:58 Romans 3:20 says
24:00 Lon, "by the law is the knowledge of sin."
24:05 In Romans 7:7 he says,
24:06 "I would have not known sin except through the law.
24:10 For I would not have known covetousness
24:12 unless the law had said, 'You shall not covet.'"
24:16 What Paul saying is that law
24:20 is like this mirror I have up here, okay.
24:24 You see that?
24:25 This mirror perfectly reflects what God is like,
24:31 His perfect character.
24:34 Now each morning when I look in that mirror,
24:38 I don't always like myself.
24:41 In fact, I see my hair kind of askew
24:43 and beard there and face
24:46 kind of needs re-arranging and this mirror tells me,
24:48 "Lon, what you been doing, eating dirt?"
24:51 You need to get that sink over there Lon,
24:53 reach for the soap and water and the washcloth and hey,
24:56 come on clean up.
24:59 But then do I take this mirror
25:01 and try to clean myself with the mirror?
25:05 No, I don't rub this on my face or try to shave with it
25:07 or clean myself with the mirror.
25:09 Can applying this mirror to my face
25:12 and solve my cleansing problem?
25:14 Absolutely not.
25:15 This simply points me to the water and the soap.
25:20 Well, folks, it's exactly the same with God's law.
25:24 When Paul looked into that mirror,
25:27 Ouch! He said.
25:29 That mirror of the Ten Commandments,
25:31 it reflects God.
25:32 It reflects perfection.
25:34 A perfect standard shows us, "Paul, you got problems.
25:37 You got smudges.
25:38 You got sins, you look pretty bad.
25:39 I mean especially compared to God,
25:41 since this reflects Him."
25:43 But what's the solution?
25:45 If I really want to get cleaned up, I need soap.
25:49 I need forgiveness.
25:50 Well, I need to hurry and get to Calvary for the cleansing
25:52 through Jesus' blood, don't you agree?
25:54 Amen.
25:55 Obeying the Ten Commandments can't cleanse me.
25:59 They only tell me, "Lon, boy, you need soap and water."
26:03 Do you ever need the blood of Jesus Christ
26:05 to get you cleaned up?
26:06 Amen.
26:07 But you see, some Christians have gotten a little confused
26:09 about this over the decades and they say, "Well, hey,
26:12 why don't we just get rid of the law,
26:15 let's get rid of the mirror.
26:16 Let's do away with those Ten Commandments
26:18 and well, you won't be guilty of breaking them anymore."
26:21 That old law? Well, it's just too technical.
26:23 This mirror is too legalistic.
26:26 We're not under the law,
26:27 we are under grace, we don't need it.
26:28 So I just take this mirror and I'm gonna get rid of it.
26:34 I smashed it.
26:36 Now that doing away with the mirror,
26:39 does that clean up the problem of my face?
26:43 Does doing away with God's mirror solve our sin problem?
26:48 No.
26:49 Doesn't clean up our spiritual face.
26:52 But as we look in God's mirror, sure,
26:54 maybe we're not pleased with what we see
26:56 but that law is a guide, simply,
26:58 a guardrail to remind us we need to hurry
27:01 over to the cleansing blood of Calvary's cross.
27:03 We need Jesus' soap and water of salvation.
27:06 His blood that forgives, His power that has power,
27:12 power to change us and help Lonnie obey the law,
27:15 so I can start living a life of victory.
27:17 Happy, guilt-free.
27:20 And how does God do this miracle?
27:23 How does He do that?
27:27 Well, at the very gates of the Garden of Eden,
27:29 God instituted a graphic reminder
27:32 that disobeying brings death.
27:35 The wages of sin is what? Death.
27:38 Walking along beside Adam were two pets.
27:43 He'd named them.
27:45 And God one day says to Adam,
27:47 "Adam, I want you to take one of these pets."
27:49 "Well, okay, what for, God?"
27:51 "Well, Adam because you don't really understand
27:53 what sin does to you
27:55 and you certainly don't understand
27:56 what it's doing to me, Adam.
27:59 So I'm gonna show you.
28:01 Adam, where is the knife
28:02 that you were using to prune the garden this morning?"
28:05 Oh, Adam says,
28:06 "Here I just left it right over here."
28:09 Oh, says God, "Okay.
28:12 Adam, I want you to take that knife now
28:15 and I want you to prune that lamb's throat."
28:19 "What?" Adam says, "What do You mean?
28:23 God, why would you ask me to do this?"
28:24 Adam pleads, "No, please."
28:26 "Adam, I want you to take that knife
28:30 and prune that lamb's throat."
28:32 "Oh, please, God."
28:33 And he falls down there and he holds that little lamb
28:36 and finally he-- He does it and he slits its throat.
28:40 And in horror he and Eve watch there
28:43 and that innocent lamb is jumping around on that altar
28:45 and it's slain to show the sinner,
28:47 you see, what sin does,
28:49 it causes death to the heart of God.
28:54 And Adam is looking there.
28:55 God says, "Now Adam, take the other lamb."
29:01 "What for?" "For your wife, Adam."
29:06 Please and she kneels down beside
29:08 and they go through this horror again.
29:10 And Adam begins to understand God's holy law
29:14 that the innocent son of God
29:15 must die to pay for breaking God's law.
29:19 Christ, the Lamb of God, who would one day
29:21 take man's punishment and suffer His death.
29:25 You see, that law could not save anyone.
29:27 Never has, it never will.
29:29 Galatians 3:21 says,
29:32 "For if there had been a law given
29:35 which could have given life, truly righteousness
29:38 would have been by the law."
29:41 Folks, keeping the law does not bring cleansing.
29:45 Keeping laws does not forgive.
29:47 Only Christ's sacrifice on Calvary
29:49 pays the price for my sin.
29:52 Romans 6:23, "For the wages of sin is death,
29:55 but the gift of God is eternal life
29:57 through Jesus Christ, our Lord."
29:59 Praise the Lord.
30:00 You don't earn salvation by keeping the law.
30:03 Ephesians 2:8, 9,
30:04 "For by grace you have been saved through faith,
30:08 and that not of yourselves,
30:09 it is the gift of God, not of works,
30:11 lest anyone should boast."
30:15 Someone says tonight well, "Lon,
30:17 if then we're save my grace,
30:20 aren't we free to just go right and out and disobey that law?"
30:25 Never.
30:26 Paul wrote, Romans 6:1, 2 "What shall we say then?
30:32 Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?
30:35 Certainly not!
30:37 How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?"
30:41 I like The King James Version that one,
30:43 "Do we then make void the law through faith?
30:46 God forbid!"
30:47 Paul says "Yea, we establish the law!"
30:51 You see, the Good News of the Gospel's amazing grace
30:55 is that grace doesn't do away with God's law.
30:59 When He forgives me, He also gives me
31:02 the miracle power being born again
31:04 to start obeying and doing His well.
31:07 Amen.
31:08 I want to tell you about friend of mine by the name of Bill.
31:11 I went to college in the 1960s in and Riverside California
31:15 and Bill was in Christian college.
31:17 Bill was Hippie.
31:18 He was not a Christian before he came to our college,
31:20 he was when he came.
31:21 But he had been living in the 60s
31:23 in Hermosa Beach California working as a caricature artist
31:26 in Hollywood's Universal Studios.
31:28 And let me tell you Bill is one top-flight caricature artist
31:33 he made good money.
31:35 Most of his friends, unfortunately,
31:36 were on drugs or in jail, but not Bill.
31:38 He had lot of parties, he had good life.
31:41 Decide I do all my cleaning my apartment
31:43 I'll advertise for a maid
31:45 and he did put a advertisement the Hollywood Free Press.
31:48 Here came a young lady one day she wanted to work for him
31:50 if he would gonna pay good money.
31:52 And so we got this maid
31:53 and he put up a blackboard inside his front door
31:56 which told her what responsibilities were.
31:58 Monday, he wrote out the rules.
32:00 You got to do general cleanup, get this mess back in shape.
32:03 Tuesday, do my washing,
32:05 Wednesday, if I have any ironing you do that.
32:07 Thursday, cooking but Friday was general clean up again
32:10 get ready for the next big bash on the weekend.
32:13 Well this young lady came in kind of not too sure about
32:16 this character but she obeyed that rule list
32:18 because of the good money she was getting paid for.
32:21 Well, to make a long story short
32:22 Bill says that believe it or not,
32:25 this young lady I found out one day
32:26 as I was coming to from work
32:28 she's very attractive, never noticed that before.
32:30 We had a lot in common.
32:32 You know, what one day we fell in love
32:34 and I did something I thought I would never ever do
32:36 is a bachelor I ask her to marry me.
32:39 She said yes.
32:41 He says now she moves into this apartment with me.
32:43 He said Lon, what do you think happened to that blackboard
32:46 that list of rules up behind the front door
32:48 tells Monday it's this Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday
32:51 straight into the trash can.
32:53 But he said guess what happened.
32:56 She was now doing all those rules.
32:59 In fact, she was doing more--
33:00 she wasn't getting paid to do it now.
33:02 She was starching your shirts better than ever,
33:05 she was even helping wash the car
33:06 once in a while and doing the lawn
33:08 because all of those rules now were written where?
33:12 On her heart.
33:13 She did those things now because she loved him.
33:16 And God's word says it's identically the same
33:19 when we fall in love with Jesus.
33:21 Bible says when we accept Christ as Savior and Lord,
33:24 He takes His law and He writes it on our heart.
33:28 Hebrews 8:10 and on.
33:31 "I will put My laws in their mind
33:33 and write them on their hearts."
33:36 Mothers Days coming up.
33:39 We all love our mothers
33:40 and it is easy to do something real sweat,
33:43 real nice for someone you love, isn't it?
33:46 And friend, that's the only way I'll ever be able to obey.
33:51 Love has to motivate me
33:53 to want to love and obey His law.
33:56 In fact, that is the only way Jesus was able
33:58 to keep the Ten Commandments because of love.
34:01 John 15:10 Jesus says
34:03 "I have kept my Father's commandments
34:05 and abide in His love."
34:08 Amen.
34:09 See Jesus never demands Lon, you better keep that law.
34:14 No, He says, "Lon, if you love Me,
34:18 keep My commandments."
34:19 And He says "I'll help you love Me
34:21 and I'll help you keep them, too."
34:24 I want you to come with me in your imagination
34:26 to a garden outside of Old Jerusalem
34:30 2003 years ago or their abouts.
34:34 Jesus is praying there
34:36 I've been to that Garden of Gethsemane
34:37 it's not a Hollywood scene by the way
34:39 with every hair in place and cameras clicking.
34:42 Cypress trees wept heavy dew on His stricken form
34:46 and he clutches the ground as if to be kept from
34:49 separating from His Father in agony the Bible says
34:52 He sweat so hard it became great drops of blood
34:55 trickling down His face
34:58 He prayed "O my Father, if it is possible,
35:01 let this cup pass from me, nevertheless,
35:05 not as I will, but as You will."
35:08 I want to tell you the fate of the human race
35:11 hung in the balance
35:13 and the universe held its breath.
35:16 With this young Galilean just wipe the sweat
35:18 from His brow and say, well, let those wretches
35:21 suffer the consequence of their own sin
35:24 or would He carry the cross for you, for me?
35:30 Pay the price to pardon our sins.
35:32 Praise the Lord.
35:33 And let wicked men nail Him to a cross.
35:36 I want to tell you that awful crisis
35:38 when everything was at stake I'm so thankful
35:41 Jesus dipped His pen of love in the crimson ink
35:44 that drained like liquid love from His own veins
35:48 and He wrote pardoned across your record and mine.
35:52 Amen. On that old rugged cross.
35:54 Amazing grace, costly grace.
35:58 Folks, forgiveness cost something.
36:01 The infinite price God was willing to pay
36:03 to satisfy the claims of His broken law
36:06 and save guilty humans was the life
36:09 of His precious Son, Jesus Christ.
36:12 Do you see, God could no more ignore guilty man sins
36:19 but He couldn't change His law,
36:21 and that is why we needed a Savior.
36:24 Thank God He gave us Jesus to die as our substitute.
36:28 John 3:16 repeated with me "For God so loved the world,
36:33 that He gave His only begotten Son,
36:35 that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish,
36:39 but have everlasting life."
36:40 Amen.
36:42 Now here's why this is so important tonight.
36:46 The Voice of Prophecy speaks again
36:48 through the Book of Revelation and it tells us God's people
36:53 ready to meet Jesus, ready to go home with Him
36:56 to spend eternity in that heavenly city,
36:59 God says something stunning about those people
37:01 just here the hedge of eternity
37:03 that you can know exactly who they are.
37:05 In fact, it says they stand out tonight they're identifiable.
37:09 here they are
37:11 "Here is the patience of the saints,
37:13 here are those who" what?
37:16 "Keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus."
37:20 Amen.
37:21 By the way Revelation 14 paints the most spectacular
37:24 picture of the second coming of Jesus in all of the Bible.
37:27 We've tried to have an artist do this.
37:30 Revelation 14:14 says
37:31 "I looked, and behold, a white cloud,
37:34 and on the cloud sat One like the Son of Man,
37:37 having on His head a golden crown,
37:38 and in His hand a sharp sickle."
37:41 Which is metaphor for the harvest
37:43 the end of the world.
37:44 But I want you to notice.
37:45 It says God's people will be doing something
37:48 and it's gonna be making Satan furious
37:50 just before Jesus comes.
37:51 says
37:53 the "Dragon was enraged with the woman,
37:55 and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring,
37:58 who keep the commandments of God
38:01 and have the testimony of Jesus."
38:04 There you have it, the blackboard.
38:07 God's law is written in their hearts.
38:12 The last book of the Bible says
38:14 God's people love their Creator,
38:16 they love their Redeemer so much that they want to do
38:19 all that He asks and His will is written on their hearts.
38:25 With outstretched arms tonight,
38:27 Jesus is inviting to you and to me.
38:30 Come, tonight I want to give you forgiveness.
38:34 Tonight I want to give you power to live to obey
38:36 and I want to wash away your sin.
38:39 Jesus said friend, if you really love Me,
38:43 will you keep My Commandments?
38:45 Revelation 22:17 Jesus said "And let him who thirsts come.
38:50 Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely."
38:56 It was 40 below zero in Borislav, Ukraine,
39:01 when I was their in 1992 with Jeannie and my parents,
39:04 Voice of Prophecy team conducting
39:06 the first Bible meetings ever
39:08 since the fall of the Soviet Union.
39:11 And I want to tell you was a thrill for me
39:12 to go back to my grandparents
39:14 came from and to see those people
39:16 who never heard about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
39:18 Thousands came out in the cold
39:20 40 below zero than wait for two hours here
39:21 my dad sing base Basso Profundo.
39:24 Dad used to sing base in the King's Heralds Quartet
39:26 if you saw the other night when I was one.
39:29 But from night to night there was a young man
39:33 who was coming I didn't know
39:34 that he could speak a little bit English
39:35 his name was Orrest
39:37 and he was a young retired soviet naval officer.
39:41 But one night he came up to me
39:42 and in very broken English I added long time listed
39:44 but he said he had been stationed
39:46 during the cold-war in Soviet sub off of Miami.
39:51 And he says we're out there in the depths of the Atlantic
39:54 playing cat-and-mouse with the U.S. Navy.
39:56 This was the real hunt for Red October.
40:00 He said I drank, I lived an immoral life
40:02 I carouse, I broke all of God's laws.
40:04 But as he came to our meetings he sat right about
40:06 where you are ma'am, every night.
40:07 He said I've been feeling strangely drawn
40:10 to accept this person you're calling Christ.
40:13 And when Orrest finally did
40:15 I'll tell you mysterious change completely overwhelmed him
40:19 because now he started to love spiritual things.
40:22 He loved to open his Bible and read it
40:24 he loved to sing hymns
40:25 no more carousing gave up his old way of life.
40:28 When I finally stood with him in the baptistery
40:31 and I raised my hand and I talked about who he was
40:34 and how I was taught to hate him
40:36 and he was taught to hate me by our government's
40:39 those red communist, you know.
40:41 When he was baptized I tell you
40:43 I could not keep the tears back.
40:44 What a thrill because from an enemy,
40:46 Orrest became not only my friend
40:48 he became my brother.
40:50 Amen.
40:51 God's law written on his heart. Amen.
40:54 He is over there tonight he may be watching.
40:56 Friend, this salvation can be yours, too.
40:59 Jesus not only wants to forgive you.
41:01 He wants to change you and give you power
41:04 to begin a brand new life that wins
41:06 and tonight He's inviting-- friend,
41:09 don't let anything hold you back.
41:12 Whether it's pleasure or money
41:15 or career don't let anything separate you from eternal life.
41:20 Jesus is calling for you, come He says,
41:23 I can change your life completely.
41:25 I not only want to forgive you and give you peace
41:28 but my grace and my power
41:31 and help you began keeping My law.
41:33 Amen. I'll do it for you He says.
41:35 You may feel weak, Jesus says I'm strong.
41:38 No matter what you've done in the past,
41:40 Jesus will forgive you.
41:43 He'll cleanse you, He will give you
41:45 His strength to live a brand new life.
41:49 Do you have a longing deep down in your soul
41:52 for the peace tonight that only Jesus can give?
41:57 As Joey and Phil sing the song quietly respond,
41:59 "Jesus, I'm coming, I'm coming right now."
42:12 The world will try to satisfy
42:18 That longing in your soul
42:23 You may search the wide world over
42:29 But you'll be just as before
42:34 You'll never find true satisfaction
42:40 Until you've found the Lord
42:45 For only Jesus can satisfy your soul
42:53 Satisfy your soul
42:56 Only Jesus Can satisfy
43:02 Your soul
43:06 And only He can change your heart
43:12 And make you whole
43:16 He'll give you peace you never knew
43:22 Sweet love and joy and Heaven too
43:27 For only Jesus can satisfy
43:34 Your soul
43:39 Before they sing the rest of that beautiful song,
43:41 I'd like to have us go to prayer for a moment,
43:43 if you bow your head with me.
43:45 Precious Savior, I want to thank You
43:47 for speaking to our hearts tonight
43:49 and teaching us about Your ten positive promises,
43:54 that they're given for victory in our lives.
43:57 Victory they can reshape our lives to serve you better
44:03 and all you ask is an honest response
44:05 and desired to do your will.
44:08 We want to invite you Lord would you come
44:10 and would you write those precepts
44:12 on our hearts beautiful mirror,
44:16 so we can reflect the picture of You.
44:20 Lord, we can do it that You promise to motivate us
44:24 to walk to obey all ten of Your commandments.
44:29 And Father, I'm sure that there are some tonight
44:31 have never understood this quite like this before
44:34 that obedience is not an option
44:37 it's a thrilling part of the Christian life.
44:41 For tonight by faith we would like
44:43 this brand new life, this new experience,
44:46 this miracle and having You reach down
44:50 and right Your law in our hearts.
44:54 This very moment friend, if you wish to invite Jesus
44:56 to come in and not only forgive your sins,
45:00 but to work this miracle in your heart,
45:02 so you can begin to love Jesus and love His holy law.
45:07 Would you join me in just reaching your hand
45:08 toward heaven and saying Lord, please help me.
45:10 Help me to open your mind your heart
45:14 the door of your heart this wonderful power
45:18 and then the row captains
45:19 will pass those containers down the rows just now
45:22 and I want you to take out the decision card
45:24 and mark your commitment for Jesus Christ tonight.
45:28 Well our heads are still bowed in this prayer.
45:32 If you need a pencil you can take.
45:33 One thank you row captains,
45:34 making sure those are passed down every row.
45:37 The first one I hope we can all checked this,
45:40 I invite Jesus into my life asking Him
45:42 to write His holy law of love on my heart.
45:47 And secondly many will want to choose the second one too.
45:50 By God's grace I lovingly choose
45:54 to obey Jesus and keep His commandments.
45:59 And number three, I need prayer for power to obey God's will.
46:05 I would check that when every day.
46:08 And number four maybe there's someone
46:10 would like some additional materials on this
46:11 we'll be happy to place that in your hands.
46:14 Just mark your decision,
46:17 the containers will come back down your row
46:19 you place that card in it as Joey sings again.
46:25 If you could have the fame and fortune
46:32 All the wealth you could obtain
46:37 Yet you have not Christ within
46:43 Your living here would be in vain
46:47 There'll come a time when death shall call you
46:54 Riches can not help you then
46:59 So come to Jesus for only He can satisfy
47:07 Satisfy your soul
47:09 Only Jesus can satisfy
47:16 Your soul
47:19 And only He can change your heart
47:25 And make you whole
47:29 He'll give you peace you never knew
47:35 Sweet love and joy and Heaven too
47:41 For only Jesus can satisfy
47:47 Your soul
47:50 He'll give you peace you never knew
47:56 Sweet love and joy and Heaven too
48:02 For only Jesus can satisfy
48:08 Your soul
48:14 Amen. Amen.
48:20 We want to continue this prayer for just a moment.
48:22 Lord, may angels be here now
48:25 right now beside us to guard us from Satan.
48:27 Bless each commitment and send us divine empowering
48:30 to love and obey You in Jesus name, amen.
48:35 Amen.
48:36 Be sure to stop by our Discover Bible,
48:38 stand tonight both sides and your downlink locations
48:41 and also people are really enjoying
48:43 the hospitality center.
48:44 Come on over, meet our staff
48:46 wherever you are into downlink locations
48:48 Friday night "Millions Fooled By A Myth."
48:53 We'll see you then.
48:55 Remember friend, as you go God really does love you.
49:00 Goodnight.


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Revised 2014-12-17