Participants: John Bradshaw
Series Code: AOT
Program Code: AOT000013
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00:13 Welcome to Anchors of Truth live from the
00:15 3ABN Worship Center, the sanctuary 00:18 series with John Bradshaw. 00:21 Well, we're so happy that you can be with 00:24 us tonight because we've been having a real 00:27 rain storm here and just before the meeting 00:29 started. In fact, some of us were making really, 00:32 really praying that we would be on the air 00:35 tonight, real storm came through here, 00:37 a lot of hail. I'm hope there's not a lot of 00:40 hail damage, but there's a real heavy 00:44 windstorm, lot of rain, I'm sure there's some 00:47 kind of damage around somewhere. 00:49 But we're just so thankful that we're able 00:51 to start, start on time and from all indications 00:55 you are receiving us. So, that means that we 00:58 are getting out. We were just really enjoying 01:02 this series with Pastor John Bradshaw. 01:05 For some of you this is your first opportunity 01:07 to get acquainted with him. He's the new 01:10 speaker director of it is written. 01:13 And he is not a stranger to a lot of you 01:15 because for 16 years he was an evangelist 01:19 with Amazing Facts, converted at the age 01:21 of 23 by reading the Great Controversy, 01:25 he came to this country from New Zealand 01:28 and most of his ministry has been right here 01:31 in the United States. Pastored in Lexington, 01:35 Kentucky and also College Place, Washington 01:38 and he is now the speaker director as I said 01:43 of It Is Written. John has a wonderful wife, 01:47 Melissa and two children, Jacob is ten and 01:53 Shannon is eight. And they reside in Simi Valley, 01:58 California. And they are watching us tonight by 02:01 Internet. And some of you are watching by 02:04 Internet. And if you have a friend that maybe 02:07 cannot receive 3ABN by television, 02:10 you can call them and tell them to go to 02:13 3abn.org, click on watch live, 02:18 follow the instructions and they will be able to 02:21 see this program as well. We're so happy that 02:26 you could be with us; we're so pleased that 02:28 John Bradshaw is here. 02:30 Tonight we're looking forward to the title of 02:32 his message Intentionality, that's not 02:35 an easy word for me to say, 02:37 but it is a very important word and you 02:42 will see why? Before he comes to speak 02:46 John Lomacang, our pastor, our friend, 02:50 our ambassador of 3ABN is going to sing 02:54 "God leads His dear children along." 03:18 In shady green pastures, so rich and so sweet, 03:29 God leads His dear children along; 03:38 Where the water's cool flow 03:43 bathes the weary one's feet, 03:48 As God leads His dear children along. 03:59 Some through the waters, some through the flood, 04:07 Some through the fire, but all through the blood; 04:18 Some through great sorrow, yet God gives a song, 04:26 In the night seasons and all the day long. 04:51 With sorrows befall us and Satan opposed, 04:58 Still God leads His dear children along; 05:06 Through faith we will conquer, 05:10 and defeat all our foes, 05:14 For God leads His dear children along 05:23 He lead some through the water, 05:27 and some through the flood, 05:31 Some through the fire, but all through the blood; 05:44 Some through great sorrows, yet God gives a song, 05:52 In the night seasons, in the night 06:05 seasons and all the day long, Lord. 06:41 Good evening everyone? Good evening. 06:44 It is a privilege to be here with you to be 06:49 able to open the Bible and talk about some 06:52 of the greatest that, the greatest things 06:54 that we could possibly talk about. 06:57 Themes not just of time, but of eternity. 07:02 This world I was talking with Pastor 07:05 John Lomacang just before. We were talking 07:08 about the weather. We've had some weather 07:13 here recently. And that was talk of a storm 07:19 watch. John was saying you know this; 07:22 this whole world is caught in a storm and it is, 07:27 it just is. There is a way out of the storm 07:29 though; there is a guide to get us out of 07:33 the storms of this world to a safe, 07:36 sheltered place and His name is Jesus. Amen. 07:39 And I just loved to be able to talk about that. 07:41 You know, I hope you don't mind me doing this, 07:42 I just want to mention one thing it, 07:44 it is written and we have something coming up 07:46 that 3ABN is gonna be a very important part of, 07:49 that's called Babylon rising, a four night event 07:52 looking at how the prophecies of the Bible 07:55 help us make sense of what's going on in 07:58 the world today. And I want to encourage you 08:00 to be part of that, starts May 25 then goes 08:03 26, 27 and 28 that's of May next month, 08:07 not far away. That's, that's its getting closer 08:10 everyday. Now, if you'd like to register to 08:13 be a host site, get in touch with us at it is 08:16 written babylonisrising.org, 08:20 babylonisrising.com, oh! Someone saying, 08:22 man he doesn't even know the address. 08:24 And that right, I'm pretty sure it's .com, 08:27 babylonisrising.com. And if, if you're really 08:31 confused just contact it is written, 08:34 itiswritten.com, babylonisrising.com that 08:37 will lead you through just what you need to 08:38 do be a host site. Now, I wanna encourage 08:40 you this is some that you can, you can, 08:43 you can sit in front of the television and 08:45 watch on 3ABN. This is something you can 08:47 access via the Internet, via your mobile device; 08:51 we've got ourselves a nice little what is that? 08:54 Mobile friendly website now, 08:56 so if you watch on your iPhone or whatever 08:59 then it's good for that. However, 09:00 you want to do it, tell someone about it, 09:02 let people know this is something that we 09:06 want to encourage you to be part of, 09:08 because we are letting people know that in 09:10 the storms of these last days of the earth's 09:13 history. There is a shelter, there is a save 09:16 place and we can make sense of the madness 09:20 looking at the prophecies of the Bible as they 09:22 point to Jesus as our Lord and Savior. 09:24 That's Babylon rising starting May 25. 09:28 I wonder if we could pray now and ask God's 09:30 special blessing on our time as we study 09:33 the sanctuary Part-3 now series and this one 09:37 is called Intentionality. The first time around 09:41 Reality, second time Spirituality and now 09:45 Intentionality. And if you see a pattern 09:47 developing that's good. And if you wonder, 09:50 did I scratch my head trying to find words 09:52 ending in Ality? You know the answer is yes. 09:57 Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, 10:01 it is always a privilege to be able to come to 10:03 you in the name of Jesus Your Son. 10:07 We are thankful this day because there is a 10:10 Savior; we are thankful this day because 10:15 Your sacred word points us to Christ and shows 10:21 us that there is a hope for humanity in a 10:24 hurting world. As we study the, 10:28 study these "Anchors of Truth" we pray 10:33 Your special blessing in Jesus name, amen. 10:41 Here's the story as I read it, 10:44 it was reported in the Milwaukee Journal 10:47 in 1946. And so, because it appeared in a 10:50 newspaper I'm just going to assume that the 10:52 story is true I think it is. It was during the 10:57 last days of World War II in 1945, 11:03 German forces were occupying the City of 11:05 Sastin near the Czechoslovakian border 11:10 close to Austria. Now, I got to check and 11:13 see whether it's in Czechoslovakia that's it 11:15 is now in Slovakia because Czechoslovakia 11:20 split into two countries on the first day 11:22 of 1993. So, what was in Czechoslovakia is 11:25 now in Slovakia. Russian forces were bearing 11:30 down upon the German troops, and when 11:32 I say bearing down they were close, 11:34 you could hear them. Remember the war is 11:37 coming to an end, the German troops are 11:39 fleeing for their lives, trying to get back to 11:42 Germany before all hope for they must lost. 11:45 Now, there was a Nazi Commandant that 11:48 day they were, they had occupied the 11:51 mayor's office in the Townhall in Sastin 11:54 that's what the German troops it setup the 11:56 headquarters. And this particular military 11:59 leader was nervous, his personal car was 12:05 was outside, motor was running, 12:08 they was just waiting for him to come and 12:09 get into the car and leave and go to safety. 12:12 And, and he had become now, 12:15 but he had a problem, the problem was he 12:17 had a whole Pile of trunks not, 12:20 I mean swimming trunks I mean those kind of 12:23 trunks. He had trunks you know, 12:25 cases let's its call him cases, stuffed to the 12:28 brim with Czechoslovakian Korunas. 12:32 Now, Korunas, the Koruna was the unit of 12:35 currency. They had looted the 12:37 Czechoslovakian Central Bank and just 12:41 taken all of the money and stuff it into these 12:45 cases, these trunks and this man was planning 12:48 to be fabulously rich one day, but now here 12:51 came the Russian troops, what you're gonna 12:53 do? He had to get in this car, there wasn't 12:56 time to wait, there wasn't room in the car 12:58 for him and his trunks. So, he found a couple 13:01 of Czechoslovakian peasants, he said, look, 13:05 guard these trunks, I will be back for them 13:08 one day, don't let anything happen to them, 13:10 don't mess with them, don't look in them, 13:13 when I come back I will reward you handsomely, 13:15 you'll be very rich, you'll never have any 13:16 more financial worries, just guard these trunks. 13:20 Off he went, the next day Russian troops 13:24 came into their office, what was the mayor's 13:26 office in the Townhall and they found the Pile 13:29 of trunks they broke one open and discovered 13:32 filled with money. What a happy day for a 13:37 Russian military man to stumble across 13:39 an obscene amount of money and it was all 13:44 his, but you got to remember there was 13:47 something on his mind, on his mind was getting 13:49 the job done, getting the war over, 13:52 pursuing the, the fleeing Germans. 13:55 And as he said to somebody else, 13:57 who knows if I'll even be alive this time tomorrow. 14:01 So, let's do something with this money. 14:04 No one knows what that man's name was, 14:05 I bet if they found out that had built a memorial 14:08 to the man there in Sastin. He said here's 14:09 what we're gonna do? We're gonna divide 14:12 this money among all the people here in Sastin. 14:16 It was I think a hundred, now I wrote it down 14:17 a 105 million. No, no, no, no one hundred 14:21 and fifty, three million Korunas, three hundred 14:24 million. In 1946 dollars more than 6 million 14:30 US dollars. And so, they decided that they 14:35 would just divide the money up among the 14:38 people of Sastin, however old you were, 14:42 you got a thousand Korunas, 50 years old 14:45 50,000, 5 years old 5000, they split it all. 14:51 People with large families ended up with 14:53 maybe 200,000 Korunas, it was a massive sum 14:58 of money in that day. These poor literally 15:04 downtrodden people went in a moment 15:08 without expecting it from rags to riches, 15:15 from rags to great riches. And I have to 15:20 admit that when I first read that story, 15:23 I read that story with a little touch of envy. 15:27 Haven't you ever wondered what it would 15:29 be like? Just to fall into all that money. 15:32 I remember when I was a kid and we'd read 15:34 these comic books and that would be a 15:36 comic book story about Scrooge McDuck, 15:39 who had so much money, he had enormous 15:41 boats built and he would swim around in his 15:44 massive, I mean it was ridiculous of course, 15:46 but he would swim around his massive piles 15:49 of money and as a child look at that comic 15:52 book and think, well that would be nice, 15:57 money is not all bad you know, I mean if, 15:59 if you're burdened by your great riches, 16:01 just come and talk to me I'm sure we can 16:03 work something out without too much trouble. 16:06 God isn't against money? Not at all, 16:09 you read in the Bible there was Solomon 16:10 fantastically wealthy, David wonderfully wealthy, 16:13 Abraham very rich man. Now, the Bible says, 16:17 the problem is the love of money. 16:18 The love of money is the root of all kinds of 16:20 evil the word of God says. In reality, in the 16:23 grand scheme of things worldly wealth while 16:26 it's good, it's not what the Christian, 16:28 it's not what the believer in God is striving 16:31 after, worldly wealth can be a curse. 16:36 Not very many years ago a baker in England 16:38 his Keith Goff won the lottery, he won, 16:42 it was either eight or nine million pounds at 16:45 the time it was close to $14 million. 16:48 He said at the time my wife and I will never 16:52 have to worry again. About year ago he died, 16:57 he lost his marriage, he lost his friends, 17:01 now he gained a whole lot of friends to begin 17:03 with then he lost them. He lost most of his 17:06 money, he lost his health, ended up having 17:09 a heart attack and heart trouble because 17:10 he spend all his time worrying about his 17:13 money. Before he died he said that he 17:16 wished he had never won the lottery. 17:19 He said, what's the point of having money 17:21 when it sends you to bed crying? 17:24 Rags to riches, sounds nice, might be, 17:28 might not be. Rags to riches, well whatever 17:35 happens with you and your money, 17:37 if you get in an inheritance, or win the, 17:40 no you're not gonna win the lottery. Amen. 17:43 If you happen to fall into a whole pile of 17:45 money, may the road rise up to meet you 17:47 and God bless you, but that's not why 17:48 we're here on this earth. One good thing 17:51 we know for sure is that the believer in 17:53 Jesus can go instantaneously from rags 18:01 to righteousness. Amen. Open with me 18:03 your Bible, we gonna go to the Book of 18:04 Philippians, Philippians chapter 3, 18:08 Philippians chapter 3. In Philippians chapter 3, 18:12 the Apostle Paul is dealing with the question 18:14 of experiencing true righteousness. 18:18 Now, he made it clear that there was a true 18:20 righteousness and a false righteousness. 18:24 Philippians its right after Ephesians, 18:26 I've just discovered. Philippians and chapter 3 18:30 and, and the Apostle Paul was somebody who, 18:35 who if anybody could be self righteous it 18:38 would be the Apostle Paul. Here's what he says 18:42 in Philippians chapter 3 and verse 4 he says: 18:45 Though I might also have confidence in the 18:47 flesh. I might, if any man thinketh that he 18:52 hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, 18:54 I more. If you think you've got a reason to 18:58 feel self-righteous, I've got more reasons than 19:01 you. And he goes onto say this. 19:06 He describes himself in verse 5 as having 19:08 been circumcised the eight day of the stock 19:11 of Israel, of the Tribe of Benjamin. 19:14 What do you think he, what do you think he 19:15 were, he referenced the Tribe the Benjamin 19:18 because that's the tribe that what? 19:20 That King Saul came from. It's possible that 19:22 Saul was named after King Saul possible. 19:26 So, he says, I'm even from the same tribe 19:28 as the first King of Israel. He says that: 19:31 I am a Hebrew of the Hebrews when it 19:33 comes to the law I am a Pharisee. 19:35 If you want to know how zealous I've been, 19:38 I persecuted the Church, when it came to the 19:40 righteousness which is in the law I was 19:44 blameless. Now, I don't know, if you can say, 19:48 when it comes to the righteousness as 19:51 contained in the law, when it comes to the 19:54 ideals and biblical teachings and principles 19:57 as held by the Church I am blameless, 20:02 if you tell me you are, well I'll tell you, 20:03 you're kidding yourself, but Paul was able to 20:05 say that he was blameless, that's a 20:09 righteous character, but then he went onto 20:13 say this: Yea doubtless, and I count all things 20:17 but what? Loss for the Excellency of the 20:22 knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: 20:24 for whom I have suffered the loss of all things. 20:27 And notice he says: And I do count them but 20:30 dung. That's, that's graphic I know, 20:33 there are some versions they put it politely 20:34 and say, refuse. I count them as refuse that 20:38 I might win Christ. Now, it's like somebody 20:44 saying, my family has been in the Church for 20:46 five generations. My father was a pastor, 20:49 my grandfather was a pastor, 20:51 I've got uncles and aunts, who sailed the seas 20:53 as missionaries, serving the Church in far 20:55 flung parts of the world. I eat ripe, 20:59 I tithe, I go to Church when the Lord says 21:04 in the Bible I ought to go to Church, 21:07 if the Church teaches it, I am for it, 21:11 that's the kind of attitude that Paul was 21:13 talking about here. Now, that's not to say 21:15 that those things are bad things, those are 21:17 good Paul's lineage was an advantage to him. 21:22 He grew up with rich traditions. 21:25 He grew up with solid teachings. 21:28 He grew up surrounded like he was an 21:32 incubator of the Church of his day. 21:34 Paul had some advantages down there, 21:37 but he recognized something. 21:39 He recognized that when it came to being 21:41 righteous. All the goodness that a man or 21:45 woman can conjure up isn't worth a thing. 21:53 And it wouldn't hurt us to think about that 21:55 for a moment because there are people still, 21:56 still, who assume that because they go to 22:00 Church every week, because they don't 22:05 commit adultery, because they don't cheat, 22:09 a text time, they think that that they got 22:13 to be righteous because they went to Church 22:15 school, went to a Church University, 22:19 you would be surprised how pervasive this 22:21 idea was? I grew up in the system, 22:24 system not going to save you, hasn't ever 22:27 saved anybody, they're as good as Pharisees, 22:31 when they rely on this stuff? Lots of outward 22:34 observance, great profession, the good 22:36 amount of dedication to what indeed is a 22:40 good and perhaps a just and godly cause, 22:44 but when you think that because of all of that 22:47 you're gonna get a leg up towards the 22:50 kingdom of heaven, that's not how Paul 22:53 saw it. He said all the attributes that I might 22:57 have considered to contribute to my 22:59 righteousness, all of the things that I 23:02 might have been tempted to lean on in the 23:04 flesh and cause me to think that maybe I'm 23:07 a little better or right in the eyes of God. 23:09 Paul said, it's just refuse, it's just dung. 23:12 Righteousness involves an awful lot, it, 23:15 it's not just saying the right words, 23:17 it's not just making the right movements, 23:20 it's not just doing the right things outwardly 23:22 that constitutes righteousness. 23:25 Now, there is no question. You may have 23:26 heard they said, righteousness is right 23:29 doing, now that's right, that's right, 23:32 but if you focus on the doing in order to be 23:34 right, you'll never be righteous. 23:36 Right doing can only come from right being. 23:41 Amen. And the sanctuary, that's helps 23:44 us understand how in the eyes of God we can 23:48 be right. Paul tells us explicitly in his letter 23:54 to the Philippians. That what we need is not 23:57 our own righteousness, but and you got to 24:00 try to get your head around us, 24:01 what we need is the righteousness of God. 24:07 Now, you start talking like this and you can 24:10 make people nervous. The righteousness 24:13 of God is some pretty righteous righteousness. 24:18 Do you think we could call this righteousness 24:20 that Paul was talking about complete 24:22 righteousness? Could we call it that? 24:25 I, I hope we can because it's God's 24:27 righteousness of it's incomplete and God 24:29 got some issues. Do you think we could call 24:32 God's righteousness perfect righteousness? 24:34 Yes or no? Yes. No question. 24:37 God's righteousness would be perfect 24:39 righteousness. And what Paul is telling us is 24:42 that we ought to have perfect 24:45 righteousness, complete righteousness, 24:49 God's righteousness. Now, that might be 24:53 intimidating, if you would have take a 24:56 little violent think about your wickedness 25:00 and your sinfulness. Let me digress you for a 25:04 moment. Did you way that here it said that 25:07 the biggest battle we ever have to fight 25:09 is the battle against self? Did you ever 25:11 hear that's it? Let, let me define that for you. 25:14 That might be, that might be driving pass 25:17 McDonalds and saying, I can't go by without 25:20 getting a quarter pounder with cheese, 25:23 I have to do it. That might be, 25:29 that that might be self, right? I, I know I 25:35 shouldn't eat that big bucket load of M&Ms, 25:38 but I can't help it. I have to have them. 25:42 That might be self, right? Sure it might. 25:45 It might be sitting at the table and someone 25:46 says, I'm gonna reach over and take the 25:48 last crop of corn and you say, 25:50 no you won't. And you grab and say, 25:52 I got it. That might be self, could that be self? 25:57 Could you call it that? Could you call that 25:58 self? Sure, you could, you could that would 26:01 be okay. But let me come at this from 26:03 another angle, if you're sitting around be 26:06 molding your spiritual lack and you were 26:08 saying, God couldn't love me. 26:11 I'm gonna tell you what you've got. 26:12 You've got a problem with self. 26:15 If you're saying, I'm too sinful to go to 26:17 heaven, then you've got a problem with self, 26:19 you've got a problem way worse then 26:21 somebody who lies awake at night dreaming 26:23 of a plateful of Spare Ribs. You've got it way 26:25 worse than that. If you're saying, well God 26:28 calls me to come, but I fell into sin this 26:31 morning and so I think I need to just go away 26:34 from God for a while and I'll come to God, 26:36 that's just self-centeredness. 26:39 Because what you're doing is you're looking 26:41 at yourself, your own sin and you're saying 26:44 my sin is bigger than my savior. 26:48 You'll fixated on self, when you're doing that? 26:51 When we ought to be fixated on Jesus, 26:54 bigger than any sin we can commit, 26:56 with grace that abounds much more than the 26:58 sin that abounds in our lives. I'm not 27:00 minimizing sin, don't you think for a moment 27:02 I'm. Sin leads to death, it brings separation 27:05 from God, God wants it out of our lives, 27:09 but if you sit around whole day worrying 27:11 about how bad you are instead of praising 27:13 the Lord all day for how good Jesus is? 27:15 You've got a major self problem. Amen. 27:18 And it would be good to get the victory. 27:21 Now, again I say, if we talk about having the 27:23 righteousness of God, some folks are gonna 27:26 get nervous because it's very, very righteous, 27:29 righteousness. And of course it's difficult to 27:32 imagine you wouldn't even, you wouldn't 27:34 even want to use those words, would you? 27:36 How you're doing today buddy? 27:37 I'm great. What makes you so great? 27:39 I got the righteousness of God. 27:43 That would be a hard thing to say in 27:45 conversation, wouldn't it? That would be 27:47 difficult. It's hard to imagine, but that's 27:50 exactly what Paul said, we are after in 27:52 this world is not self-righteousness, 27:55 not our own righteousness, but the 27:56 righteousness of God. Isaiah got it straight, 28:00 he said in Isaiah 64 and verse 8 that: 28:02 Our righteousness is as, what? 28:05 Filthy rags, we know that verse. 28:08 Our righteousness is our as filthy rags. 28:12 We all fade as a leave. Our inequities like 28:15 the wind have taken us away. 28:17 What you can come up with in your best 28:19 efforts? Nothingness, what God has? 28:23 Now, that's a different story. 28:26 I want you to consider the crises that we 28:28 find ourselves in. I know I've mentioned this 28:30 before in this theater on, but I will 28:33 mention it again. In the beginning we had 28:35 some righteousness grandparents, 28:37 Adam and Eve and they were okay. 28:39 They will make perfect, they didn't have a 28:41 sin problem, it could be said they, they didn't 28:44 need a savior to save them from their sin 28:47 because they had never sinned. 28:49 They were made right created perfect; 28:54 they were on face-to -face terms with God. 28:57 They could dwell in the presence of God 28:59 when God came in all His full glory and 29:02 righteousness. They didn't have to run in 29:03 high. They're not like to people in Revelation 29:05 chapter 6. Who see a lamb? A lamb and 29:09 instead of looking at a lamb they call to 29:11 the mountains to fall on them. 29:12 No, Adam and Eve could say, hey here God 29:14 coming, lets go. They could go and communion 29:17 with God face-to-face, but then they sinned, 29:21 their sin separated them from God and then 29:24 they had children. And their children were 29:28 born not with the perfect righteousness 29:31 that Adam and Eve were created with. 29:34 Their children were born bent, they were 29:37 born tainted, they were born touched by sin. 29:42 I'm not suggesting they were born sinners. 29:45 Now, that's a different story, 29:47 I mean when I and, and we're not gonna 29:48 play around splitting hairs and fighting 29:50 about words Yea. But when folks were born 29:54 after sin they were, they were not in the 29:59 same standing as Adam and Eve would, 30:02 they needed something, 30:05 they needed righteousness. 30:07 They were born bent now; there were something 30:11 in them that was gonna drive them 30:13 in a selfish direction. Sin was going to occur 30:18 in their lives. They needed some help. 30:22 Adam and Eve could not say after sin, 30:26 God we're sorry and from now on we're gonna 30:28 get it right, we'll never sin again. 30:30 And then that that wouldn't help because 30:33 the perfection had been broken. 30:35 They couldn't say, how about if we never think 30:38 another bad thought, never eat another piece 30:40 of food that we shouldn't eat. 30:41 How about if we never talk to another snake? 30:43 Well that work okay. It couldn't, I wonder, 30:46 if you've a broken something. 30:48 I know you have, you broke a vase. 30:50 A vase is like vase, but better. 30:57 You broke a vase and you scurried around 30:59 to get the pieces and you put it back together. 31:01 It wasn't perfect again, was it? 31:04 No, there was a crack or there was something 31:05 missing or if you looked you knew where the 31:08 Super Glue had gone, you could just tell. 31:11 It's floored now, but that's not the best 31:14 example of that. You could say maybe, 31:18 maybe the sin issue that you have is a bit like 31:20 a computer that has a virus. 31:23 You say, well we'll be careful about 31:24 what we run on our computer, 31:26 we'll be careful about what websites we go to, 31:27 we won't open any other, it's any, 31:29 any email attachments that we can't be 31:31 certain about. We'll get it fixed and 31:34 then we'll keep it straight. 31:36 That wouldn't be the best example of this. 31:39 Maybe it's like somebody dying 31:41 and the doctor saying; well if we tries real hard 31:43 maybe he'll be able to drive himself home 31:46 from the mortuary. Now, we're getting close to it. 31:52 See what Adam and Eve sinned the nature 31:53 was fundamentally changed. They now had 31:57 a flaw in nature there was nothing perfect 32:00 about them anymore. You see, they now had 32:04 a problem within, which meant that they needed 32:08 help from above? Amen. Something had to step 32:13 into their life now, instead of righteousness. 32:15 Amen. They were wearing rags. 32:21 That's what happened in the Garden of Eden, 32:23 perfect example. When Adam and Eve find, 32:26 they figured out what they've done, 32:27 they found themselves unclothe not clothed 32:29 anymore, naked. They said we outta do 32:31 something about this, this is embarrassing. 32:33 So, they made themselves some clothing, 32:34 they stitched some fig leaves together 32:36 and God said, no that, that's not gonna do. 32:41 You need something else. You know friend, 32:48 when you wake up to the fact that there's sin 32:50 in your life and you say well I'll, I'll change 32:53 myself from now on. Now, sure there needs 32:56 to be some changes, but your changes cannot 32:59 bring you back into right standing with God, 33:01 cannot do it. When you wake up and you say 33:05 I got to, I got to behave differently, 33:07 talk differently, act differently, 33:08 dress differently. Whatever the case might be 33:10 that might be right, but your changes don't bring 33:14 you back to righteousness in the sight of God. 33:17 It just doesn't work. Adam and Eve's fig 33:21 leaves weren't going to help them one little bit. 33:24 They weren't going to be clothed until 33:28 God clothe them. And He clothe them 33:32 there with skins. Where those skins come from? 33:38 Animals, what happened to those animals 33:43 that enabled them to furnish clothing for 33:45 Adam and Eve? They died and it can not 33:48 have been good, but death of the animal 33:54 was necessary before Adam and Eve could be 33:58 clothed and acceptable in the Sight of God. 34:04 You see what we have to understand today 34:06 is that the death of Jesus is necessary before 34:12 unrighteous sinners can be seen to be righteous 34:17 or acceptable in the Sight of an Holy God. 34:24 Our own righteousness cannot get it there, 34:28 Jeremiah asked a question, 34:30 can an Ethiopian change the color of his skin? 34:34 Can a leopard change his spots? You know, 34:38 the answer to those questions obviously no, 34:40 you are not gonna find a striped, 34:44 a striped leopard. Not gonna do it, 34:49 if I stood before you and said you know, 34:52 really I'm an Ethiopian, but I had surgery 34:56 and now I'm the whitest person in the world. 35:01 I don't know anyone whiter than me. 35:03 I get sunburn in the dark; I had to be careful 35:07 when there is a full moon. Feels that way sometimes, 35:14 if I tell you I once was black and now I'm white. 35:16 You're gonna say, oh! That, that's really funny, 35:19 that's really it would, it would be kind of silly, 35:20 really. It's just not possible. Jesus goes on 35:24 and says through the Prophet Jeremiah. 35:26 Neither can you do good who is accustomed 35:30 to doing evil. Just in the same way these 35:33 other things are impossibilities, 35:36 so you evil person becoming righteous 35:38 person not possible at all. 35:40 It's like when Paul wrote to the Romans 35:42 and he said: There was none that do with 35:45 good no, not one. When my son was this big, 35:51 we were kneeling down to pray one night 35:52 and I don't know, if, if I said this in response 35:54 to him, but I said listen, when you pray 35:58 don't ever pray that Jesus will help you 36:02 to be good. Don't ever pray that, never. 36:06 And from that day to this and I say that 36:08 kindly now, from that day to this I have 36:11 drilled it into my kids never ever pray 36:15 that Jesus will help you to be good, 36:19 don't do it. And you know, why right? 36:21 If my kids pray that prayer long enough 36:23 you know, what they're gonna end up doing? 36:25 They're gonna end up leaving the Church, 36:26 here's why? Because they'll pray, 36:28 dear Jesus help me to be good and then they'll 36:31 run out into the world and they say. 36:32 Wow! That was a failure and the next day 36:34 they're gonna said, Oh! Lord help me to be good 36:37 and, and they're gonna fall again and 36:38 then they say, well the problem is I'm not 36:40 praying hard enough. So, they'll pray for an hour, 36:42 help me to be good, help me to be good 36:45 and then they'll go out into the world 36:46 and crash and burn and then they're gonna say, 36:50 this doesn't work. It doesn't and it doesn't, 36:53 because we read in the Bible there is none 36:56 that does good and, if you are praying that 36:59 God will help you to do good you are praying 37:01 a loosing prayer. It won't happen. 37:06 You're praying an impossibility. 37:09 Jesus hasn't asked us to be good. 37:12 Jesus has asked us to be Holy. Amen. 37:16 When Christ comes into your life, 37:18 He'll make you Holy. And then when Jesus 37:21 lives His life in you, His goodness is gonna be 37:24 manifest in your life. You, you're not gonna 37:26 claim to be good, you might claim to be 37:28 surrendered to the Lord. You might claim to be 37:31 emptied of self and filled with the Spirit 37:33 that's all right, but if you're praying God 37:36 make me good, you are praying in opposition 37:40 to the plainest statements in the Bible. 37:43 Amen. No point praying to be good it won't happen; 37:48 you can pray instead of ask my children to do. 37:51 Pray that Jesus will give you a new heart. Amen. 37:54 Pray that Christ will recreate you in His image; 37:57 pray that Jesus will live His life in you, 37:59 if Jesus is living his life in you, 38:01 you can't be bad, because Christ is living 38:06 His life in you. What we need is Christ? 38:12 What we need is Christ's righteousness? 38:15 Without the righteousness that Jesus gives us 38:18 we are dirty, we are desperate, 38:22 we are decadent and we are dead, 38:25 spiritually dead. And so, now let's consider 38:29 this in the light of the heavenly sanctuary. 38:31 You will recall at one day a diet reform preacher 38:34 wearing an interesting outfit made from 38:37 camel's hair. Looked into the crowd one day 38:40 and he saw somebody that he recognized 38:41 and I don't know that he'd ever seen him 38:43 face-to-face, but you don't have to meet 38:45 Jesus face-to-face to recognize him. 38:48 And he looked into the crowd and he said: 38:49 Behold the Lamb of God who takes away 38:52 the sins of the world. Jesus, He could have 38:55 called them the door; He could have called 38:57 him the way, the truth and the life, 38:59 He could have called them the Amen, 39:01 He could have called them the bread instead 39:03 He said there is the Lamb, the Lamb. 39:06 And He said that in a certain 39:07 sense prophetically. In a certain sense 39:10 prophetically because looking forward Jesus 39:13 the Lamb would die on an old rugged cross. 39:17 He chose his metaphor carefully quoting the 39:20 Prophet Isaiah who said that he was oppressed 39:22 and he was afflicted, yet he didn't even 39:24 open his mouth. He was brought as a Lamb to 39:28 the slaughter and as a sheep before a sheer 39:30 is dumb or mute. So, he openeth not his mouth, 39:33 Isaiah 53 and verse 7. Isaiah said there he, 39:36 that's the one right there. 39:38 The Lamb, they knew what Lambs did? 39:41 Lambs died, they understood, 39:44 Lambs were taken to the temple and their throats 39:48 were slit from ear-to-ear. 39:50 And if you've never seen that, you don't want to, 39:52 it's ugly blood flows out of the open throat 39:56 of a Lamb and gushes forth like a river. 39:58 It's awful, Jesus was described by John Baptist 40:04 as the Lamb and when was saying that 40:07 he was announcing, ladies and gentleman 40:09 I bring to you the true sacrifice, 40:12 the great sacrifice, the one who will pay the 40:16 ultimate price for the sins of the world. 40:18 Writing to the Hebrews the writer said, 40:20 sacrifices couldn't make the people who brought 40:22 them pure, the only thing that could make sinners 40:25 pure would be the blood of Jesus Christ. Amen. 40:30 Jesus the Lamb, come with me to Calvary. 40:34 Calvary is out in an open space not on a hill, 40:37 it's out in an open space. 40:40 Everyday there was a Calvary; 40:43 Israel was camped around the sanctuary 40:48 in this middle place. There was an area 40:50 you had to walk across an open piece of the field 40:53 or ground to get to the sanctuary and inside 40:58 that sanctuary enclosure in the courtyard. 41:01 It was an alter there and there was an alter 41:04 of burnt offering and near that alter animals 41:08 of all kinds not just Lambs, but animals 41:11 were sacrificed and given and offered up 41:18 out in the courtyard. There was an alter 41:21 and we could name that alter Calvary. 41:25 You know, you know what's interesting 41:26 and let me say this, I will probably come back 41:28 to this in a later presentation 41:31 Jesus death on the Cross was pre-figured out 41:33 there in the courtyard that alter, 41:35 isn't that right? Jesus death on the Cross 41:38 was pre-figured out on that alter where the, 41:41 where the animals died right there. 41:43 You know, what was interesting? 41:46 And maybe this is out of context a little bit, 41:48 but I'll say it anyway. Jesus died, 41:51 the Lamb died. Now, what if the sinner had 41:55 come down to the sanctuary, 41:56 killed the Lamb and said, great I'm out of here 41:59 and just left and nothing more happened. 42:02 That sacrifice wouldn't have helped him. 42:05 The Lamb would die, the blood needed to be taken 42:09 inside the sanctuary for the death of the Lamb 42:13 to be worth anything. You know, if you don't 42:17 have a Savior, who's ministering his blood 42:18 for you in heaven's sanctuary then frankly 42:21 you have a worthless Savior. That's the truth, 42:24 Jesus could have died on a thousand crosses, 42:26 yet if He never ministered the blood 42:28 in the sanctuary, the sacrifice on the Cross 42:31 wouldn't be enough. Now, I know I just opened 42:34 myself up there to be really misunderstood, 42:36 but in the sanctuary service the death 42:39 of the Lamb was a sufficient sacrifice, 42:45 but the blood of the Lamb then had to be ministered. 42:48 When Jesus died on the old rugged Cross that 42:51 was a complete and perfect sacrifice, 42:55 but there was blood that still had to be ministered 42:57 in the sanctuary. Jesus died out there on 43:01 the Cross, recognized at the, at the sanctuary 43:08 where the animal died. You see before the sinner 43:12 could get anywhere in the plan of salvation, 43:15 they had to be death. What if there was no Lamb, 43:18 what if there was no animal sacrifice? 43:20 What if God had said, you figure out how 43:23 to make your way into the throne room of God? 43:26 The sinners would have been desperate without 43:28 hope in the world. There would have been 43:31 nothing for them to do and no way for them to go, 43:34 there had to be a Lamb, there had to 43:39 be a sacrifice. We look at the sanctuary 43:43 and its parade, if I can use that word of 43:45 sacrifices and animals and, and blood that 43:48 flowed and sacrifice-after-sacrifice 43:52 without those sacrifices. There was no way at all 43:57 into the presence of Almighty God. 43:59 You couldn't come down to the sanctuary 44:01 and do a deal with the priest and say, 44:03 I've been good this week, I've been giving 44:08 money to the poor; I've been helping little 44:10 old ladies to cross the street, I've been running 44:12 errands for people, I've been volunteering, 44:15 I've been helping out of the 44:16 Church Community Center. The priest would look at 44:18 you like you are not, he would say, 44:20 this is nothing man, where's the Lamb? Amen. 44:25 And when it comes to our relationship with God, 44:27 you can do it all, you can be from the Tribe 44:30 of Benjamin, circumcised on the right day 44:33 of Pharisee, zealous, persecuting the Church 44:36 and God will say, I'm not recommending 44:39 persecuting a Church by the way. 44:40 And God will say, well that's fine, 44:44 where is the Lamb? Where is the Lamb? 44:47 All our goodness amongst are nothing, 44:50 God's question is where's the Lamb? 44:53 Abraham took his Son up to the hillside 44:56 you know, you know, the most amazing thing 44:57 about that story. God speaks to Abraham, 44:59 he says Abraham, I want you take your son 45:01 then God rubs it in there. Take your son, 45:06 your only son, God had the knife stuck 45:08 and then he twisted it, he said whom you love? 45:11 Amen. And Abraham he is gonna ah! 45:14 That hurts, and take him up there and offer him 45:18 as a burnt offering. And so, Abraham takes 45:22 the boy and you think, Abraham is a hero 45:25 for taking the boy. I think the boy is a hero 45:29 for going along with his dad. 45:30 Amen, amen. How old is that kid? 45:34 Sixteen, 17, 18 years old and Dad said, 45:37 boy I have something to explain to you. 45:42 God spoke to me and he said, I have to kill you. 45:50 My recommendation, this is just my recommendation. 45:54 If there are any 16 or 17 year old boys 45:57 and your dad ever says that to you, I would, 46:00 I would seek a second opinion. 46:02 I just, I absolutely would, I would. Isaac says, 46:09 alright, where do I lay? Give me, 46:12 I mean we know the, we know the story. 46:15 Here's the wood and all, but where is the Lamb? 46:19 Isaac said, I'm willing that just knocks me out. 46:23 He said, dad I'm willing for you to go through 46:25 with that. Amen. You know what? 46:27 You know what it says to me? If you want to say 46:29 to this father, it says Abraham must have been 46:32 such a Godly father. Amen. Isaac must have 46:37 known that his dad was the real deal, 46:41 so that when dad said, boy I know this might 46:44 sound strange to you, but God told me. 46:46 The son said, well that makes sense to me 46:48 because I know you and God are mighty close. 46:50 Amen. Unbelievable, here's the wood, 46:53 but where's the Lamb? That's the question 46:57 God says to us where is the Lamb? 47:00 Oh! Friend, where would we be without the Lamb? 47:04 Amen. We'd have nothing, we'd be without hope. 47:07 This life would be miserable, 47:10 if we didn't have the Lamb. Jesus the light, 47:16 I've seen them, I've seen them. 47:17 That little potter, they don't bleed anymore, 47:22 they twitch a little bit and then they bleed 47:24 like mad dead. And Jesus, the Lamb slain 47:30 from the foundation of the world carried the 47:32 wood himself as far as he could before Simon 47:35 was a, was enlisted to help out. God up there, 47:40 at the top of Calvary and he didn't put up 47:42 a fight Bible says, he laid down his life. 47:46 I imagine Jesus laying down on a Cross moving 47:49 His hand over and looking up with the 47:50 Roman soldier with the mallet and 47:52 the nails and say, is this way you'd like my hand? 47:56 Have I got this one in the right place? 47:58 He didn't fight, he submitted, 48:01 he surrendered, he laid down His life. 48:05 Why in the world would Jesus who made the cosmos? 48:10 Jesus who spoke and the Milky Way appeared. 48:13 Did you know there are billions of 48:15 galaxies out there? I can't even get my 48:16 head around there. Our galaxy is 200 million 48:18 light years across, if you travel the 186 thousand 48:22 miles a second for, for 200 million years. 48:26 That's not isn't it? That's just one that 48:28 Jesus made, He made billions. Amen. 48:32 And after He had made billions of galaxies. 48:35 He came down to this tiny little infinitesimally 48:39 small corner of the galaxy 'cause a couple 48:41 of people had sinned, if was me, 48:43 I'd have said, start again. I made them like 48:47 that I can make more, but Jesus said, 48:51 oh! No, no I can't do that, I understand 48:54 they were big issues to take, the honor of God, 48:56 the character of God, Satan making accusations 48:59 about God. God said we'll show everything 49:01 Jesus came to this teeny, tiny place and laid down 49:06 His life, so that you and I might live 49:08 and not die. Amen. Doesn't make sense to me? 49:14 The only way it can make sense is when I read 49:16 the Bible and it says, God so loved the world 49:19 that He gave us only begotten Son 49:21 and I look at Calvary and say, if that's what 49:23 love looks like. Wow! Jesus gave all. 49:33 And out there that alter of burnt offering. 49:39 The sacrifices offered out there signified 49:42 not only Christ's sacrifice primarily, 49:45 but secondarily us. The rabbis used to teach 49:50 that when the sinner brought the Lamb, 49:52 he was in a very real sense bringing himself. 49:55 Amen. And he was giving himself to die. 49:58 You know in figure, so down there when the 50:03 offering was given, this is representative 50:05 of the idea that we give ourselves. 50:09 So, Jesus died how do I, how do I benefit 50:11 from there. You know something when it comes 50:18 to Christianity and I hope I don't come up 50:20 wrong when I say this? You can't really be 50:23 in until you're all in. Amen. That's just 50:25 the truth, isn't that right? Amen. 50:27 You've heard that all saying, it's been said 50:29 a million times Jesus isn't Lord at all until 50:32 he is Lord of all. And that's true isn't it? 50:36 That's absolutely true, that burnt offering. 50:38 Now, what's interesting about the burnt offering, 50:41 it was given willingly, it was a, you don't have 50:44 to bring it, no one said, you have to. 50:46 It was a free will offering if you please. 50:50 And that person brought that, burnt offerings 50:52 were given for about seven different reasons, 50:54 but one reason and I, I want to say a 50:56 primary reason was to show consecration 50:59 and total consecration to God. 51:02 The offering was given and burned up. 51:06 The Hebrew name for that sacrifice was "Olah," 51:10 not as an Olah, but Olah, the word means 51:14 to cause to a sin, the idea of an offering 51:17 that reaches up to God. Now, when the Greeks 51:21 translated, this Olah was translated into Greek. 51:23 The word used was "Holocausta." 51:28 In fact, if you read the do 8 version 51:29 of the Bible or a Jerusalem Bible; 51:31 you'll read for the word burnt offered. 51:33 It would just say holocaust. 51:35 And all into recent history that, that's, 51:37 that's a jarring way to describe this 51:40 burnt offering, all given, all consumed 51:46 totally given. The burnt offerings 51:49 were offered daily, morning and evening. 51:51 God we are consecrating ourselves to You. 51:54 We are giving ourselves to You. 51:59 The burnt offering was given totally; 52:01 the burnt offering was burnt completely. 52:04 This says, when we come to God 52:06 and consecrate ourselves we're, we're not to hold 52:08 something back. Now, listen if you're growing 52:11 in your faith, if you can be honest enough 52:14 to admit you're not a spiritual superman. 52:16 You say, well I'm just the spiritual, 52:19 I'm, I'm just growing that's alright. 52:22 We're not, we're not worrying today about 52:24 where we're not yet, we're thankful that 52:26 where we are because Jesus is growing us 52:29 and guiding us. Can I say it like that? Amen. 52:31 I don't want anybody being discouraged, 52:33 but what God asks is that we give ourselves 52:35 to Him completely, completely. 52:41 Lord take everything that I've got. 52:45 There's no point saying, well Lord I'll give you 52:47 a little and hold back a lot. I'll give you some, 52:49 but I won't give you most. I'll give you most, 52:51 but I won't give you all. God is saying when 52:55 we look into the sanctuary, these offerings 52:57 were given totally. Penitent sinners brought 53:01 their offerings and there were a variety 53:03 of different offerings off course. 53:04 Burnt offerings were totally consumed, 53:07 it's as though we come to God and say, 53:10 Lord consume me totally and completely. 53:17 Which says to me that as a Christian 53:19 and again I've got to be hood carefully 53:21 as you're gonna think that I'm, I'm 53:23 I'm pussyfooting here. Before you worry about 53:30 behavioral issues, can I say that? 53:33 First thing is get your attitude right. 53:36 Amen. Lord take all of me. 53:39 Now, I might not be complete yet. 53:41 There might be difficulty here and a stumbling 53:44 block there and a weakness there, 53:46 but Lord please take all of me and if you take 53:51 all of me, you'll complete all of me and 53:54 with Christ in my life. I will have his 53:58 righteousness and that's gonna be enough 54:01 for you Lord. Amen. The one who came to God 54:05 with a burned offering say, Lord I've got 54:09 to be all yours. And you know, 54:12 you know what I agree, what I don't read 54:14 in the Bible. I don't read about God saying 54:19 to a penitent sinner. I don't, I don't want 54:22 your offering, you're not righteous enough 54:25 for me. Isn't it good to know that you can 54:29 turn up by faith to heaven's sanctuary 54:31 and say I'm here? And know that doesn't 54:34 say oh! Not you're again. God doesn't say 54:37 you're not good enough for me, 54:39 God says you are welcome. Amen. 54:42 I will take your heart. Amen. There is a story 54:45 and it's told and that I think the eight chapter 54:47 of Luke, it come to Jesus they say, 54:51 Lord, there's a centurion here and 54:53 he has a sick servant and he wishes that you 54:57 would go down to his house and heal the servant. 55:00 And we are recommending that you do that 55:02 because after all he's given a whole bunch 55:04 of money to the Church and he helped us build 55:06 the synagogue, they said he is worthy. 55:09 That's his words or their words. 55:14 The centurion sends a message on the other hand. 55:16 He says, Lord, do not come to my house 55:20 for I'm not worthy. What's going on here, 55:26 one group says he's worthy another and 55:28 the man himself says he is not. 55:29 Maybe they don't have their story lined up. 55:34 The man said, I know all you need to do is say 55:36 the word and my servant will be healed. 55:38 Jesus said, now that's faith, I've never seen 55:39 faith like that before that's faith. 55:43 And the brother's servant was healed not because 55:46 of his worthiness because he was right, 55:49 he was unworthy. Do you know what 55:51 I read in a book? A little book called 55:53 Steps to Christ, a powerful book. 55:56 The book said, our great need is itself 56:00 an argument. And please most eloquently 56:03 in our behalf. Amen. You know what says to me, 56:06 if you've got a need and you recognize that 56:09 need and you press that need up against 56:11 God's throne. God will say, yes I will press you, 56:15 yes I will help you, yes I will restore you 56:19 and if you come to God saying Lord as 56:21 unworthy is I am I trust in the worthiness 56:25 of the Lamb. God says, you thank you I will 56:28 take your sin and give you my righteousness. 56:31 Amen. Tonight we're gonna have the 56:34 righteousness of God, tonight? 56:37 Isn't that something? Not as a cloak for sin, 56:39 God will remove our sin and clothe us with 56:43 His own righteousness. Without it there's no 56:45 heaven for us, without it there's no eternal 56:48 life for us, but with it stretching before us 56:51 eternity and all of its blessings and 56:54 the greatest blessing that we might be forever 56:56 in the presence of Almighty God. Amen. 56:59 Let us pray briefly, oh! Father in heaven, 57:02 we thank you that the sanctuary service 57:04 with its sacrifices teaches us, 57:07 our righteousness just won't cut it, 57:10 but we need the righteousness of the Lamb. 57:12 We ask for it yea verily we claim it, 57:14 we believe in it now tonight. 57:17 We thank You that You would give us 57:18 Your righteousness and we pray in Jesus name, amen. 57:24 I'm so glad you joined us, may God richly bless you. |
Revised 2014-12-17