Participants: John Lomacang (Host), Shelley Quinn
Series Code: 15HC
Program Code: 15HC000006A
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00:52 Hello and welcome. It is so good to see your smiling faces
00:56 here today. And we want to welcome those of you who are 00:59 watching by television or Internet or who are listening 01:03 on the radio as well. We're so glad that you could 01:05 join us today. I have the privilege of speaking with you 01:09 this hour and I have two purposes. 01:11 Number one: we are going to focus 01:14 on a lie. We're going to focus on a lie 01:18 that entered the church around 200 AD 01:22 and has become a tradition - not only in the Catholic church 01:26 but it has become a tradition in the Protestant church. 01:31 Most Protestants believe this lie. 01:34 And it is a lie that assassinates the character 01:38 of God. So today we're going to defend God's character 01:42 as we discuss this. 01:45 I was telling the group here earlier 01:47 that at 3ABN we have to have 01:51 our program titles - our presentation titles - 01:55 in a little ahead of time so they can publish 01:57 these on the Internet and put it in print. 02:00 And so usually you end up - for me, anyway - 02:03 I'm giving a title before I have a presentation. 02:06 And I had prayed and the Lord gave me 02:09 the title Love's Justice. 02:13 So that's the title that I gave them. 02:16 Well, we've been so busy and as I said, I've been 02:19 operating like a hummingbird on steroids lately, 02:22 that it wasn't until last Friday that the Lord gave me 02:25 the message to go with that title. 02:28 So that's what we'll be discussing today 02:30 is Love's Justice. 02:32 But first before we do that I want to invite out my pastor 02:36 John Lomacang. And you know, John is a magnificent speaker. 02:41 He's a manservant of God 02:43 but he also has a beautiful beautiful music ministry. 02:48 And you're going to be singing a Steven Green song 02:51 I Will Go. Thank you, John. 03:22 Give me ears to hear Your Spirit; 03:28 give me feet to follow through. 03:33 Give me hands to touch the hurting 03:39 and the faith to follow You. 03:49 Give me grace to be a servant; 03:55 give me mercy for the lost. 04:01 Give me passion for Your glory; 04:07 give me passion for the cross. 04:13 I will go where there are no easy roads; 04:19 leave the comfort that I know. 04:24 I will go 04:27 and let this journey be my guide. 04:31 I will go... 04:36 I will go. 04:53 I'll let go of my ambition; 04:59 cut the roots that run too deep. 05:05 I will learn to give away 05:10 what I cannot really keep... 05:16 what I cannot 05:19 really keep. 05:23 Help me see 05:27 with eyes of faith; 05:32 give me strength 05:35 to run this race. 05:38 And I will go 05:41 where there are no easy roads; 05:45 leave the comfort that I know. 05:51 I will go 05:53 and let this journey be my guide. 05:57 I will go... 06:00 yes, I will go. 06:04 I will go, Lord, where 06:07 Your glory is unknown; 06:10 I will live for You alone. 06:16 I will go because 06:20 my life is not my own. 06:23 I will go... 06:28 I will go... 06:36 I will 06:39 go. 06:50 Amen! Thank you, John, for that beautiful song 06:54 and that beautiful message. 06:55 And that's what we are talking about today 06:59 is going and sharing your faith. 07:02 You know, as we've been... How many of you enjoyed 07:05 last night that "barn burner" that Pastor Carter preached! 07:09 Amen! There've been some wonderful messages here 07:12 at Camp Meeting and we've got more wonderful messages 07:15 coming. But what I would like you to do right now 07:18 is to open your Bibles to John chapter 3. 07:22 John chapter 3. 07:24 Because what we are going to look at today 07:27 is not necessarily new to you in many aspects 07:32 but I want to place the focus on it today 07:35 so that you can share with others this wonderful wonderful 07:41 Biblical truth. And if you'll just keep your finger there 07:45 in John chapter 3 I would like to set up 07:49 the context of this message before we begin there. 07:52 But let's pray first. 07:54 Heavenly Father, once again we come before You in the name 07:57 of Jesus. And oh, Father, how we thank you 08:01 for the gift of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, 08:04 the gift of Your Holy Spirit, 08:05 and the gift of Your Word. 08:07 Oh Lord, we know we are saved by grace and we could never 08:10 save ourselves. But we are so grateful to You 08:14 for Your plan and for who You are. 08:16 And we praise You because You are worthy of praise. 08:19 Father, now our prayer is You will send Your Holy Spirit 08:23 to be our teacher. Give us ears to hear what the Spirit 08:26 has to say and give us a heart 08:30 that is willing to do what You ask us to do. 08:33 In Jesus' name, Amen. 08:36 You know, we all are aware that the Bible says in 08:40 I John 4:8 and 4:16 that God is love. 08:45 What does that mean? 08:47 The very essence of God's divine being 08:51 is self-sacrificing love. 08:56 As I was studying a couple of weeks ago 09:00 and focusing on one of my favorite scriptures 09:03 something suddenly occurred to me. 09:06 It is God's nature of self-sacrificing love 09:12 that establishes His holiness. 09:16 Don't let this go over your head. Let me repeat it. 09:20 It is God's nature of self-sacrificing love 09:25 that establishes His holiness. 09:28 His complete separation from sin. 09:33 Now did you know it is also His love 09:36 that will establish our holiness? 09:39 Our separation from the malice of sin? 09:42 I would like to show you - and the truck will bring this up - 09:46 that I Thessalonians 3... 09:49 chapter 3 and verses 12 and 13... 09:53 We won't take time to turn to every scripture today, 09:55 but I Thessalonians chapter 3 verses 12 and 13. 10:02 God's divine love establishes our hearts 10:06 blameless in holiness. 10:08 Paul writes to the Thessalonians and says: 10:19 Who's doing the work here? 10:21 The Lord. "May the Lord make you... " 10:24 may He cause you... "to increase and abound in love 10:29 just as we do to you and to others. " 10:50 How does God establish our hearts blameless in holiness? 10:55 Romans 5:5 says that He pours out His love 10:59 into our hearts by the power of the Holy Spirit. 11:02 And as we open our hearts to Him 11:04 and say: "Lord pour out Your Holy Spirit into me" 11:08 the Spirit's not just the Spirit of holiness. 11:10 He is the Spirit of love... He is God; God is love. 11:14 So as this Holy Spirit... as He indwells us 11:20 this very nature of self-sacrificing love 11:24 enters into our heart and that is how God enables us. 11:28 He empowers us to love Him with all of our heart, 11:31 soul, mind, and strength and to love one another 11:35 as we love ourselves. 11:37 It is God's love - His self-sacrificing love - 11:41 that establishes His holiness. 11:45 And it is God's self-sacrificing love 11:48 that will establish our holiness. 11:52 Did you know that God's divine love 11:57 is a fire that consumes sin? 12:02 When the Israelites in Exodus chapter 4 12:06 when they witnessed the glory of the Lord on the mountain 12:10 it was like a consuming fire. 12:14 And in Hebrews 12:29 it says 12:18 "For indeed our God is a consuming fire. " 12:25 J.D. - my husband... we had a burn pit built. 12:31 When he mows the lawn... Sometimes we travel so much 12:34 that the lawn will get up quite a ways. He'll mow the lawn. 12:38 If he just allows it to lay on the ground, 12:40 the grass underneath it gets brown. 12:43 So he rakes it up and he puts this dry grass 12:46 into the burn pit. 12:48 He tosses in a match and suddenly the fire just goes 12:54 froom... the grass is consumed. 12:58 That's the way God's love is. All right! 13:01 The nature of God's love - His self-sacrificing love - 13:06 consumes sin. And this is why people cannot stand 13:10 in the presence of a holy God. 13:13 Why God said: "They can't see Me face to face... 13:15 not till you're covered with the righteousness of Jesus Christ. " 13:20 Divine love makes God good, virtuous, incorruptible, 13:23 righteous, trustworthy, patient, 13:27 kind, filled with tender mercies and humble. 13:31 You know, I marvel at the humility of the trinity. 13:36 When Jesus Christ was on earth 13:39 He walked in absolute surrender to the Father. 13:43 He did all things to bring glory to the Father. 13:46 He only spoke what the Father said to speak; 13:48 He only did what the Father said to do. 13:52 He worked in perfect cooperation with the Father 13:55 never competing with Him. 13:57 Then when He sent the Holy Spirit the Bible tells us 14:00 that the Holy Spirit does not compete for glory with Jesus. 14:05 He brings all glory to Jesus 14:08 and the Father gives glory to the Son. 14:11 The self-sacrificing love of God 14:15 is the foundation of His character, 14:20 His creation, and His sovereignty. 14:23 God is sovereign because 14:28 He is our Creator who inhabits eternity. 14:33 He is self-existing; He is eternal; 14:36 He is omnipotent... all powerful. 14:39 He is omniscient... all knowing. 14:41 And He is omnipresent... He is everywhere. 14:46 So God - to insure the honor and stability of His righteous 14:52 government - He legislated righteous moral laws 14:57 because He intends for His people to live 15:01 in a loving and harmonious community. 15:05 And these laws that He legisla- ted are for our own protection. 15:09 And they're actually promises of something that God will do 15:12 in us and for us if we are in covenant relationship with Him. 15:16 Therefore conformity to those laws 15:20 is required and justice is required. 15:25 We often say that the great controversy is the battle 15:28 between good and evil. I want to expand our thinking 15:32 today. The great controversy 15:34 is the battle between self-sacrificing love 15:40 and love of self. 15:43 You are familiar with Ezekiel 28 where the Bible is 15:49 speaking of Lucifer and how he was created perfect 15:53 in wisdom, perfect in beauty. 15:55 He was an anointed cherub. 15:58 But then Isaiah 14 shows that Lucifer 16:04 started... with all of this beauty and his majesty... 16:07 began to be lifted up in his heart and he said: 16:11 "I will ascend... " "I will exalt my throne... " 16:16 "I will be like the Most High God. " 16:19 Do you realize that the power - 16:24 the hellish power of pride - 16:27 has a Satanic origin? 16:29 The hellish power of pride is the working of self love. 16:36 It is absolutely opposite 16:40 to divine, self-sacrificing love and the humility of God. 16:44 It is something that... This pride will cause 16:50 people to have self-exaltation and rebel against God. 16:55 And that is exactly what Lucifer did. 16:57 So the great controversy is between self-sacrificing love 17:02 of God and self love. 17:05 It is between humility and pride. 17:09 It is between good and evil. 17:12 Satan, being the father of all lies as Jesus called him, 17:16 maligned God's character. 17:19 He distorted the truth saying that God was unfair, 17:23 unjust... that God was selfish. 17:26 And he deceived other created beings 17:28 and we know 1/3 of the angels followed him, didn't they? 17:33 But did you know 17:34 that he came to earth to start a rebellion here? 17:40 And what did he do? In the Garden of Eden 17:44 he perpetrated a lie against God 17:46 indicating that God was selfish, unfair, unjust. 17:52 And he said to the woman: "Did God really say 17:56 you cannot eat of the trees of the garden? " 17:58 And she says: "Oh, no... just this one tree. 18:01 And if we do we'll die. " 18:04 But the lie that Satan perpetrated was: 18:07 "You will be like God and you shall not surely die. " 18:13 This is a lie that he is per- petrating in the church today. 18:19 You know, sin is habit forming 18:22 and it is a contagious condition. 18:24 In the fallen nature of man after that first sin we find 18:29 that everyone has become a sinner and fallen short 18:32 of the glory of God's self-sacrificing love. 18:38 The God of divine love and love's justice 18:41 suddenly faced this dilemma of sin and salvation. 18:46 Created beings... He had weighed them in the balance 18:49 of His divine justice. He found them wanting. 18:54 God hates sin. He cannot bear what sin does... the pain 19:00 and the suffering that it brings to the citizens of His kingdom 19:04 who are victimized by sin. 19:07 He declares that sin is deserving of punishment 19:10 and justice demands judgment and punishment 19:15 of those who are guilty of breaking His law. 19:18 God is just and He executes justice in righteousness. 19:23 Love's justice is totally fair. 19:26 It is perfect in every respect. 19:28 So let me ask you this question: 19:30 how does the Lord of justice - 19:34 the ultimate Judge of all of the earth 19:37 who always makes righteous judgments without partiality 19:41 judging each person according to their own actions - 19:45 how does this Creator - 19:47 our Creator of infinite benevolence 19:51 whose loving hearts wants all men to be saved - 19:55 how does He reconcile His justice and His mercy? 20:01 How does this just God satisfy justice 20:05 and pardon man's sin at the same time 20:09 so that He can remain consistent with His perfect nature? 20:13 How fortunate we are that love's justice is two-sided. 20:19 On the one side you have paternal, fatherly justice 20:24 that provides grace, mercy, and pardon. 20:28 On the other side we have avenging justice 20:32 and this metes out merited punishment. 20:36 So we're going to look at paternal justice first 20:39 and then we're going to get to John chapter 3, I promise. 20:42 In His holiness and righteous- ness God cannot overlook sin. 20:46 Justice does not demand grace. 20:51 Ah, but we have a heavenly Father 20:54 whose heart overflows with love for us. 20:58 And because of His love He offers us this grace. 21:04 He offers us every good and perfect gift. Amen! 21:08 He sent His Son! 21:12 Roman 5:8 says that God demonstrated His love for us 21:16 by this: that He sent His Son to die for us 21:19 while we were yet sinners so that we could be given 21:24 the unearned, undeserved gift of grace called salvation. 21:29 Hallelujah! That is exciting. 21:32 Christ bore our sins in His body on the cross. 21:36 God caused the iniquity of us all 21:40 to fall on Him and He made Christ - who knew no sin - 21:45 to become sin for us 21:48 that we might become 21:51 the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. 21:54 So love's justice on the one side... this paternal 21:59 Fatherly justice... offered Christ's righteousness 22:03 to sinners to deliver us from sin and save us by grace 22:07 as our substitute... your substitute... my substitute. 22:13 Christ bore our penalty of death. Yes He did! 22:17 Oh praise the Lord! 22:19 When He did this He reconciled us to God, making us 22:23 friends with God. Yes! And God's pardon to unholy sinners... 22:29 How many of you are unholy sinners? 22:31 God's pardon to unholy sinners - glory to God - 22:35 everybody's hand should have gone up - 22:38 is only because He secures our acquittal 22:44 from guilt by Christ's death. Yes! 22:50 By His divine grace He offers us the gift of 22:54 repentance, forgiveness, and salvation... all sealed 22:58 by the blood of Jesus. 23:00 Forgiving sinners by His grace does not 23:03 compromise His holy justice. 23:07 Christ's substitutionary death satisfied the demands 23:12 of the law and of justice 23:15 and it makes it consistent. By His death 23:19 when God came down to die for us 23:21 it makes it consistent for Him to remain a just God 23:26 and the justifier. So now with that background 23:31 let's look at John chapter 3. 23:33 This is a passage of Christ's words that are very familiar 23:37 to you. Most of you even at home will recognize 23:40 these scriptures. But what I want to show you 23:45 in this passage is that it begins with a parallel, 23:49 a parallelism - a corresponding truth - 23:52 and then Jesus speaks 23:55 a series of five juxtaposed statements. 24:00 Do you know what it means to juxtapose? 24:02 If I say "a juxtaposition? " Many of you do. 24:06 A juxtaposition is when you are putting up 24:10 one thing side by side with another thing 24:14 to show their contrast. 24:18 So for an example... I can't think of an example. 24:21 Let's say that I am... I'm 24:25 applying for a job at NASA. 24:29 And I go to NASA and I have my interview 24:32 and this guy really likes me and he says: "Hey, 24:35 I think she'd be a good fit around here. " 24:37 But then the director of human resources comes in 24:42 and he says: "Now wait a minute. 24:44 You know we had that other candidate earlier... " 24:47 And the big boss says: "Yeah, but I didn't like him. 24:51 He just wasn't very nice. She's nice. " 24:53 And he'll say: "Yes, but, his resume says 24:58 that he has a Ph. D. in applied mathematics. 25:03 Her resume says she doesn't even know her 25:07 multiplication tables. " Do you see the juxtaposition? 25:10 It's like here's one thing but the total contrast 25:14 is something else. Well we're going to look at some of those 25:16 in just a second. Let's start with John chapter 3 25:19 and verse 14. This is the parallel comparison 25:24 where there are corresponding truths. 25:26 John chapter 3 and verse 14. Jesus said: 25:48 So the snake and the pole were a 25:55 type of Christ's death on the cross. 25:58 It was a pre-figuring of Christ's death on the cross. 26:02 So we see those two statements are parallel. 26:05 Jesus said: "Just as this so is this. " 26:09 The snake on the pole... the Son of Man will be lifted up. 26:11 So those are parallel. But now He's going to give us 26:15 five juxtapositions. Let's look at verse 16. 26:20 Excuse me... I skipped verse 15. 26:24 Verse 15: 26:32 In the Greek that is appolumi 26:35 and it means to be utterly blotted out. 26:38 To vanish into nothingness; to be destroyed completely. 26:43 And so He says: 26:55 Do you see the juxtaposition there? 26:57 On the one side people are perishing; 27:01 on the other side they have eternal life. 27:04 These are strikingly different thoughts 27:06 of utter and permanent destruction 27:09 versus the unending future reality of eternal life. 27:12 It's either the way of death or the way of life. 27:16 And then in verse 16 He continues... 27:19 John 3 and verse 16. 27:22 This is His second juxtaposition. 27:40 Do you see again the marked contrast? 27:43 It's either utter and permanent destruction... 27:47 you're going to perish - appolumi... 27:49 or have eternal life. 27:52 You know, many Christian denominations... 27:54 and I was brought up in one... 27:56 teach that man has an immortal soul 28:03 and at death this soul goes either to heaven or to hell. 28:07 And they also teach that hell is an eternal torment. 28:11 One of conscious and constant torment. 28:17 This false teaching assassinates the character - 28:23 Amen! - of God - that's right. 28:25 How can heaven's God - 28:29 the God whose very essence is self-sacrificing love - 28:33 even be connected to that thought? 28:37 This lie alone has kept more people 28:42 at arm's length or even made them walk away from God. 28:47 Because to say that there is an eternal torment - 28:53 a conscious torment - 28:55 this makes heaven's God of infinite love 29:01 more sadistic, more... 29:07 it makes Him a sadistic dictator and tormentor. 29:10 Worse that Germany's Hitler, 29:15 Russia's Stalin, or Pol Pot of the Khmer Rouge combined! 29:21 To think that God... I mean I grew up thinking... 29:25 I had a relative that I wasn't sure was going to make it 29:27 to heaven... And I grew up thinking 29:29 all my life that that relative was burning in hell 29:33 because as soon as you died you either went to heaven 29:36 or to hell. And I was troubled by that all my life 29:40 and I served the Lord out of fear. 29:43 I've been baptized four times. 29:45 Twice because I was just scared to death 29:48 I hadn't been baptized right. 29:50 I grew up in a church that taught... a different church... 29:53 I did not grow up an Adventist. 29:55 But a Sunday-keeping church that taught if you weren't 29:58 baptized just right you weren't going to make it. 30:01 So I got baptized a couple of times then. 30:04 Once because I joined a church that was a non-denominational 30:07 church that... They had been Baptist so when they switched to 30:11 non-denominational they still kept some practices. 30:14 So I just went down front to join the church and they 30:16 dunked me before I knew what happened. 30:19 But the last time that I was baptized - all right! - 30:22 I knew what it meant. 30:23 I knew that I was being buried with Christ. 30:26 It was symbolic that I was being buried with Christ 30:29 to raise up... as Romans 6 says... to walk in newness of 30:33 life. But before I served God out of fear. 30:39 Even then I was serving God out of fear. 30:42 You know, John wrote in I John chapter 4 and verse 18 30:45 "There's no fear in love 30:47 but perfect love casts out fear. " 30:52 Because fear involves torment. 30:55 This false teaching on hell 30:58 has caused many to become atheists because 31:01 they cannot reconcile the idea of "God is love" 31:06 and yet that God is a God of torment. 31:10 But as you have heard 31:13 Pastor Carter use several times in his presentations - 31:18 I already had it in my notes - 31:20 my cry is "sola scriptura. " 31:23 The Bible and the Bible only. 31:26 Let us go to the Bible to find out what the Bible has to say 31:30 about death, what the Bible has to say about hell, 31:34 what the Bible has to say about God's character. 31:38 We hold a precious truth... a Biblical truth. 31:42 The truth about the mortal soul. 31:46 The truth about hell. 31:48 And when I first found out... I wasn't even an Adventist 31:52 when I first found this out. 31:54 I was praying to God. He had already called me into 31:56 full-time ministry, and as I was praying to God one day 31:59 He impressed this thought upon me. 32:01 "Ask Me what you will. 32:04 Whatever is confusing you ask Me. " 32:07 And when I study that's how I'm studying. 32:09 I'm saying: "Lord, show me" if I've got a question. 32:13 Well when He said that I said: "OK, I do not understand 32:16 how You can be a God of love and torment somebody 32:19 through conscious torment throughout eternity. " 32:25 In fact, I said: "Lord, You're the Ancient of Days. 32:28 That would make other people like the Ancient of Days 32:30 if they had no beginning and no end. " 32:32 All right. And you know what? The Lord sat me down 32:35 and taught me the truth. 32:37 And when I came into the Adventist church 32:40 and found out that the Adventist church believed that as well 32:43 I was so excited! 32:45 But you know what? We don't talk about it any more. 32:48 We take it for granted. 32:51 J.D. said he grew up Adventist. 32:54 He didn't know. He said: "No big deal to me... 32:57 I've always known the truth about hell. " 33:00 There are so many people out there who don't know the truth 33:02 about hell, who don't know what the Bible says about the 33:06 mortal soul. We need to get out and teach them - Yes! - 33:09 because they will get closer to God if we do. 33:12 To be immortal means that you are exempt from death 33:15 and the Bible says only one person is immortal. 33:20 I Timothy chapter 6 verses 15 and 16 33:25 says God alone is immortal. 33:28 Look at this: 33:44 Only God is immortal! 33:47 It is a lie that man has an immortal soul. 33:51 Now it is the truth that you have already been given 33:55 the gift of eternal life if you're in Christ. 34:00 It is in your account. 34:02 But when do you put on immortality? 34:04 Let's look at I Corinthians 15 verses 51 through 55 34:09 because believers who are saved the Bible says 34:12 put on immortality at the last trump, 34:15 at the close of earth's history. 34:17 I Corinthians 15:51: 34:50 When? At the last trump! 34:54 It is not until the close of earth's history. 35:22 Since only the saved are given eternal life 35:28 and since we do not put on this immortality 35:32 until the last trump, do you realize what this means? 35:37 There are no disembodied spirits 35:41 floating around the earth 35:43 or no disembodied spirits up in heaven. 35:46 Ha, I'll tell you a little more of how I was taught 35:49 in just a moment. But if we will get this truth out 35:53 people will be protected from the New Age mysticism 35:59 of channeling spirits or thinking someone is 36:02 coming to tell them something 36:04 which is a deception and a lie. 36:07 Let me ask you this: do you know how 36:10 the philosophy of the immortal soul entered the church? 36:14 It's an amazing amazing story. 36:20 The apostolic fathers during the first century 36:23 and 3/4 of the second century 36:26 they taught that there were only two options: 36:32 the way of death or the way of life. 36:35 You're either going to perish or you're going to have 36:37 eternal life. That lines up with the scriptures, doesn't it? 36:41 So throughout 3/4 of the second century 36:46 they were still teaching this. 36:48 Now that was in direct contradiction to what 36:52 pagan philosophers were teaching at the time. 36:56 Socrates and Plato - 36:59 two Greek pagan philosophers - 37:03 taught that the soul was immortal. 37:07 And there was a pagan philosopher who was a pupil 37:13 of Plato. He lived in Carthage, Tunisia. 37:18 His is thought to have been the son of a Roman centurion. 37:22 He is also thought to have been a trained lawyer. 37:27 In 197 AD he had a conversion to Christianity 37:33 and he became a prolific ecclesiastical writer. 37:39 He wrote great volumes - a massive body of works - 37:44 of Latin Christian literature. 37:48 But this man, whose name was Tertullian... 37:51 Have you heard of Tertullian? Tertullian 37:54 became a Christian 197 AD 37:58 and one of the things that he wrote... one of his works... 38:02 is called Resurrection of the Flesh. 38:07 And what he taught in this 38:10 and what he actually does: he quotes Plato 38:15 saying that man's soul is immortal. 38:21 And because we have an immortal soul 38:23 our soul doesn't need saving... only our body. 38:26 And actually that's kind of how I grew up thinking. 38:29 I believed that when I died I would go to heaven 38:32 and then Jesus would bring me back to resurrect my body 38:36 'cause I was taught this immor- tal soul, this pagan philosophy. 38:41 But what happened was Tertullian further reasoned 38:46 since souls are immortal and cannot be destroyed 38:51 impenitent sinners would suffer a conscious, 38:56 on-going, never-ending punishment in hell 39:01 in direct contradiction of scripture. 39:06 Satan got this lie in: "You shall not surely die. " 39:11 He got it into the church through Plato and Tertullian. 39:15 So now let's look at John 3:16 again. 39:19 "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son 39:22 that whosoever believes in Him should not perish 39:25 but have everlasting life. " 39:28 Only the saved, those who are surrendered and led by 39:30 the Spirit, receive the gift of eternal life. 39:35 So what's the opposite of eternal life? 39:37 Eternal? Death! 39:40 The lost are destroyed utterly and permanently. 39:43 You know, Paul has a juxtaposition of his own. 39:47 He says it this way in Romans 6:23: 39:49 "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God 39:53 is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. " 39:57 It's either or. Amen! 40:00 You're not going to have an eternal life in hell. 40:04 All right; all right. 40:05 The choice is eternal life in Christ 40:08 or eternal second death referred to in Revelation. 40:13 And we'll get there in just a few minutes if we have time. 40:17 John 3:17 continuing. Here is the 3rd juxtaposition. 40:23 Jesus says in John 3:17: 40:34 He goes on with another juxtaposition in verse 18: 40:52 Now, if we go on through verses 19 and 21 40:56 and we will - we're going to see the juxtaposition - 40:59 comparison, the contrast - 41:01 of man's response. First let's look in verse 19 41:07 the response of the evil: 41:33 So that's the response of the evil. 41:35 Now the juxtaposition... the contrast. Verse 21: 41:55 What does it mean to be "done in God? " 41:58 That it's been done by God's divine help. 42:01 That you've done this with complete and total dependence 42:05 upon God... which is God's plan of salvation. 42:10 So He sets before each human being 42:14 the choice of the path of life 42:16 where we find joy in His presence forevermore 42:19 or the path of death 42:21 where you'll be totally destroyed. 42:23 Let me ask: on which path are you walking? 42:27 Let me... somebody... I heard a precious little voice say: 42:31 "Hopefully the path of life. " 42:35 Let me give you some assurance. 42:37 I John chapter 5 verses 10 through 12. 42:40 Listen to this juxtaposition: 42:43 "And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal 42:47 life and this life is in His Son. 42:49 He who has the Son has life. 42:53 He who does not have the Son does not have life. " 42:59 Eternal life is available only through Christ. 43:02 And as I said it's already deposited. 43:05 If you're in Christ, you've got that deposited 43:07 into your account. 43:09 Immortality will be given you at the last trump. 43:13 So on one side of the scales we see that love's justice 43:17 is paternal. It is a fatherly 43:23 remunerative-type justice. 43:26 It's God's standard of love for His benefits and His grace. 43:32 I praise God for His paternal justice, don't you? 43:37 I am a debtor... I will be a debtor throughout 43:39 eternity to God's paternal justice. 43:42 But on the other side is God's avenging and punitive 43:47 judgment. And on that side, people are judged 43:52 by their conduct and their works. 43:55 Do you realize you're not judged by your conduct and your works? 43:58 You're judged by the righteousness of Jesus Christ. 44:01 You will be rewarded according to your works 44:04 but you are not judged according to your works. 44:09 That makes my feet do a happy dance! 44:11 Hallelujah! Hallelujah! 44:16 So on this side of avenging justice 44:20 we've got God judging people by their conduct, 44:26 by their works. And He will inflict merited punishment 44:30 on transgressors who fail to heed His warnings 44:34 and deserve judgment. 44:36 You know, when we look at the world 44:39 and all the evil, the pain and the suffering, 44:42 sometimes we want to say: "Where is justice? " 44:45 It's on its way... it's on its way. 44:49 Justice demands punishment of the guilty. 44:53 GOD HATES SIN. 44:55 He declares it to be deserving of punishment. 45:00 God will repay. He promises to execute 45:03 merited punishment upon the sinners for all the wrongs 45:07 that they perpetrated against mankind. 45:09 Love's final justice will condemn and snuff out sin, 45:13 bringing it to an end and bringing comfort to His people. 45:17 There is a kingdom principle... again, another juxtaposition... 45:21 that is written in Galatians chapter 6 verses 7 and 8. 45:24 "God will not be mocked. You reap what you sow. " 45:27 If you sow to the flesh, what are you going to reap? 45:30 Destruction. 45:32 If you sow to the Spirit, you will reap eternal life. 45:36 You know, sinners actually sometimes realize 45:40 that God is going to... they're aware of God's judgment 45:44 on sin. Romans 1:32. Paul says this 45:48 talking about these sinners it says: 45:51 "who... " these people... "knowing the righteous judgment 45:54 of God that those who practice such things are deserving 45:57 of death not only do the same 46:00 but also approve of those who practice them. " 46:04 Do you realize that makes sin suicidal? 46:08 Sinners will willingly sacrifice the gift of eternal life 46:13 to just enjoy the temporary pleasures of sin. 46:19 Sin is suicidal. 46:22 There will be a repayment for evil. 46:25 These sinners who disobey God's law and work contrary 46:29 to His righteous ways and His loving will 46:32 shall suffer the displeasure of God. 46:35 The gavel of divine justice will fall. 46:38 It will come down upon those who have refused God's love, 46:43 who've spurned His grace, 46:45 who've hated His truths and exploited His people. 46:49 By their own rebellion 46:52 sinners will forfeit God's favor. 46:56 They will cast themselves out of the court 47:00 of love's paternal justice 47:03 and into the fiery furnace of love's avenging justice. 47:09 And until the very end they will be gnashing their teeth 47:11 against Him. Did you know? How many of you have heard? 47:16 You know, Jesus seven times - mostly in parables - 47:19 talked about weeping and gnashing of teeth. 47:21 I grew up thinking people are grinding their teeth 47:26 in fear, in pain. But you know what that term actually 47:30 means? Gnashing your teeth? 47:32 That was an idiom... a figure of speech in the Bible... 47:36 used to talk about people who were furiously angry. 47:40 Let me give you a couple examples. 47:42 Psalm 35:16 says: "With ungodly mockers at feasts 47:47 they gnash their teeth against me. " 47:50 Lamentations 2:16 says: "All Your enemies have opened 47:52 their mouth against You. 47:54 They hiss and they gnash their teeth. " 47:56 And Acts 7:54 says 47:58 those that were present at Stephen's stoning 48:02 "gnashed their teeth against him. " 48:05 It is a figure of speech that Jesus was using 48:09 to say that the unrepentant sinner 48:13 at the very end is still furiously angry with God. 48:18 They're not remorseful to the very end. 48:21 But let's consider God's anguish. 48:24 Here we have a God of love who must execute judgment 48:30 to fulfill love's justice. 48:32 God cannot ignore the behavior of sin. 48:34 Justice demands that He act in judgment. 48:37 And Paul tells us that God desires that all men should 48:41 be saved. Peter tells us: "Hey! Don't be fooled. 48:45 He's patient; He's longsuffering. 48:47 Don't think He's waiting this long. 48:49 But He's not willing that any should perish 48:52 but they should come to repentance. " 48:55 And God Himself in Ezekiel 33:11... listen to the 49:00 heart of a loving Father. 49:02 He says: "Say to them: 'As I live says the Lord God 49:06 I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked' - 49:10 Amen! - 'but that the wicked would turn from his way 49:13 and live. ' Yes! 'Turn from your evil ways. 49:17 Why should you die O house of Israel? ' " 49:20 What is He talking about here? What death? 49:22 It has to be the second death. 49:24 Man is appointed to die once. All of us are going to die 49:28 the natural death unless we're alive when Jesus returns. 49:31 The second death is what He's referring to 49:34 that is mentioned four times in Revelation. 49:37 And let's look quickly at those. 49:39 In Revelation chapter 2 and verse 11 Jesus says: 50:03 And then let's look at Revelation chapter 20 50:06 and verse 4 is where we'll begin. John says: 50:30 "But the rest of the dead did not live again until the 50:32 thousand years were finished. " 50:34 He's talking about... he says: "This is the 1st resurrection. " 50:37 Those who are living and reigning 50:39 for a thousand years with Jesus. 50:58 I remember when I was writing a book 51:01 my sister who - bless her heart - went to sleep in Jesus 51:05 a little over a year ago - 51:07 she would... There were no boundaries 51:10 where she was concerned. So I could tell her I was on 51:13 a tight schedule... she'd continue calling. 51:15 So what I'd do is I would read to her 51:17 what I was writing and that gave her that time, 51:19 that talk time with me. 51:21 And I got to John 5:28 and 29 51:24 and I was reading Jesus' words... 51:26 He says: "Do not marvel at this. " 51:31 There's a screen for this. 51:51 Then I read to her Daniel 12:2 51:54 that was in my manuscript: "And many of those who sleep 51:56 in the dust of the earth shall awake: some to everlasting 52:00 life, some to shame and everlasting contempt. " 52:03 Then I continued on and she's going: "Whoa! 52:05 Hold the phone! " She says: "Come back. 52:08 What did you just say? " And I said: "Well, 52:10 there's two resurrections. Revelation... You know, Jesus 52:13 says there's two resurrections. Paul mentions it in Acts. 52:16 Daniel mentions. Jesus says in Revelation 20 52:20 that the first resurrection. They live a thousand years. 52:23 Then the evil are going to be resurrected. " 52:26 And she's saying: "Wait! You're telling me that my mother 52:30 is not in heaven right now? " 52:32 And I said: "Well actually she's not. " 52:34 She got so upset with me 52:36 she was screaming at me over the phone. 52:38 And she said: "I just hate you! 52:41 Every time I talk to you... " She said: "Everything I've been 52:43 brought up you're telling me is not the truth. 52:45 I just hate you! " And I said: 52:47 "Sunny, go get your Strong's Concordance out. 52:51 Look up death; look up sleep. 52:54 Look up rest; look up on the resurrection 52:57 and what happens when we die. " She hung up. 53:02 I mean, she slammed the phone down. 53:04 About six hours later she called me back 53:07 calm as a cucumber and she said: "Well you're right. " 53:12 She said: "We just sleep when we die. " 53:14 She said: "I can't believe... How could? " 53:17 She started naming off some other ministers and she said: 53:20 "I just love their ministry. How could they teach this? " 53:23 If we get into the sola scrip- tura we will find the answer. 53:27 Now I want to go real quickly; my time's almost out. 53:31 I've got a couple more. Revelation 20:11-15. 53:36 The great white throne judgment. Says: 54:46 The results of sin we don't have time to go to. 54:50 The final fourth scripture 54:54 was Revelation 21:8. 54:56 But... well, I'll read it real quickly. 54:59 Revelation 21:8: 55:16 The result of sin is that sinners will be judged. 55:19 Hell is the response of a just and holy God 55:23 who will destroy evil. 55:26 He will destroy sin, bringing it to an end. 55:31 The supreme holiness of God, founded and established on 55:35 infinite love, will judge the seriousness of spiritual 55:40 nature of sin, but His heart of infinite love will be broken. 55:46 It is against His nature to inflict pain, suffering, 55:51 and death... but He will. 55:53 Isaiah 28 verse 21 says that He's going to perform 55:58 "His strange act. " 56:01 What an assault it is against God's character 56:04 to think that He is going to torment 56:08 and torture people forever and ever. 56:11 We've got to get this truth out that that is 56:13 NOT what the Bible says. Amen! You know, 56:17 we think of Jesus. The first advent He came 56:20 as the Lamb of God but the second advent He's 56:22 coming as the Lion of Judah. 56:25 And He is coming to rescue His people. 56:28 He is coming to rescue us 56:30 who've been held as prisoners of war. 56:33 And He is going to subdue His enemies 56:36 who have rejected grace, continued in their evil ways, 56:39 and taken advantage of God's patience and mercy. 56:43 And He is going to consume them 56:48 in the flame - the fiery flame - of His divine love. 56:52 God's purpose is to restore His creation order 56:55 so that all who willingly acknowledge His love and 56:58 sovereignty may receive the benefits of eternal life 57:03 with him. Amen! And Nahum 1:9 says: 57:06 "God will make an utter end of sin 57:10 and affliction shall not rise a second time. " 57:14 In the end, love will prevail. Amen! 57:18 In the end, love's justice will prevail. Amen! 57:24 Praise the Lord for His paternal justice. Amen. |
Revised 2024-09-16