Participants: Ron Halvorsen
Series Code: AOT
Program Code: AOT000046
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00:11 Welcome to Anchors Of Truth from the 3ABN Worship Center.
00:16 The Truth As It Is In Jesus, with Ron Halvorsen. 00:21 Well, we're just so happy to welcome you to 00:24 West Frankfort, Illinois and to the worship center of 3ABN. 00:29 And we're really looking forward to this Anchors. 00:33 But it's the final one of this year. 00:36 We're planning a whole new Anchors series for next year, 00:39 which will start, of course, in January. 00:41 And the final speaker is one that we have wanted to get 00:46 to 3ABN ever since I came here. 00:49 And that is Pastor Ron Halvorsen. 00:52 And we're looking forward to the messages that we know that 00:56 God is going to speak through him to bring to us. 01:00 I've known him for many, many years. 01:02 He was born in New York City, but he was reborn in 01:08 New York City and he's now a citizen of the kingdom of God, 01:12 rather than being a citizen of the kingdom of New York City. 01:19 But you know something? 01:20 This is a man that loves God. 01:22 I've known him for a long time. 01:24 I remember that when he was at the seminary, 01:27 I was a college student and I use to pick up his dry cleaning. 01:32 And also Jim Londis, they lived there close to each other. 01:38 And I use to pick up those guy's dry cleaning. 01:41 I admired them because, you know, they were the older boys 01:44 and I was one of the younger guys. 01:48 So this is something that we've looked forward to. 01:52 I knew Ron, we were in ministry together in New England. 01:56 He is a preacher, a soul winner, and he is a man who loves God. 02:03 He's married to his wife Carol. 02:05 And he has two wonderful children. 02:08 I'll let him tell you about them; Ron JR, a pastor. 02:12 And his daughter is also a pastor. 02:16 So this is a man that has impacted, not only a lot of 02:20 other people, but his very own family. 02:24 Just a moment ago, I dialed my father-in-law, Roy Thurman. 02:29 They worked together in New York City. 02:32 And my father-in-law has told me many of the stories 02:35 about how he and Ron would go into the ghetto 02:39 and look for people who were lost, but who had indicated 02:47 they wanted to know something about Jesus. 02:50 And they would go there and they would find them. 02:52 Ron spent a great number of years going back to 02:56 New York City and doing evangelism in that place. 03:00 He's been doing evangelism all over the world since then. 03:04 He's currently doing prayer ministry for 03:08 It Is Written television. 03:10 And in the years when people think that he should be in 03:14 retirement, he's still preaching with power 03:17 and is going to Las Vegas very soon to lead a prayer endeavor 03:24 for this city of Las Vegas in preparation for the 03:29 It Is Written crusade that will be held there by John Bradshaw. 03:33 A man of God, and I know that he is going to have a message 03:38 from our Lord for each one of you. 03:41 Let's have a little word of prayer. 03:42 Father in heaven, we just thank You tonight that we can 03:46 come to You in the name of Jesus. 03:48 We thank You, Lord, that You have, through the 03:53 foolishness of preaching, chosen to use that medium 03:58 to reach people around the world. 04:03 Your Son, Jesus, was a preacher. 04:06 He spoke, He taught, He led, and He asked for decisions. 04:13 And those were baptized. 04:15 And then all of His disciples became preachers 04:18 and they preached the Word. 04:20 And Father, we have been given the gospel commission 04:24 to take the truth of Jesus to a dying world. 04:30 We pray tonight, in a very real sense, that You'll be with us 04:34 in this meeting, that You will bless every single part of it. 04:37 And we thank You, Lord. In Jesus' name, amen. 04:42 We felt it was very fitting and proper that we also include 04:49 in this Anchors series some of the topics that Pastor Halvorsen 04:55 has mentioned, or will mention as we go along. 05:00 The first one tonight is, 05:03 Anchored In The Truth About His Birth. 05:07 It's all about Jesus and His birth. 05:10 We also felt that it was very proper to have a New Yorker 05:14 bring us this special music tonight. 05:17 And John Lomacang, our own resident New Yorker, 05:21 is going to be singing for us, I Then Shall Live. 05:47 I then shall live 05:51 as one who's been forgiven; 06:00 I'll walk with joy 06:05 to know my debts are paid. 06:14 I know my name 06:19 is clear before my Father; 06:27 I am His child, 06:33 and I am not afraid. 06:41 So greatly pardoned, 06:48 I'll forgive my brother; 06:55 The law of love 07:00 I gladly will obey. 07:19 I then shall live 07:24 as one who's learned compassion; 07:33 I've been so loved 07:38 that I'll risk loving too. 07:47 I know how fear 07:51 builds walls instead of bridges; 08:00 I'll dare to see 08:06 another's point of view. 08:14 And when relationship 08:21 demand commitment, 08:27 then I'll be there 08:33 to care and see it through. 09:01 Your kingdom come 09:06 around and through and in me; 09:15 Your power and glory, 09:21 let them shine through me. 09:28 Your hallowed name, 09:34 O may I bear with honor; 09:42 and may Your living 09:48 kingdom come in me. 09:56 The Bread of Life, 10:02 O may I share with honor; 10:11 and may You feed 10:16 the hungry world through me. 10:33 Amen, 10:42 amen, 10:51 amen. 11:08 Thank you, John. 11:11 I want to welcome, first of all, the viewing audience. 11:15 Wherever you are, this is an important series of meetings. 11:18 And for those of you who are here, we're beginning 11:22 a series on the Anchors, The Truth As It Is In Jesus. 11:27 Five biblical messages that will give you a 11:30 greater understanding, a greater appreciation, 11:33 a greater love for Jesus Christ. 11:38 And there's no other place to begin at this Christmas time 11:43 than right here with the descent of Deity; 11:47 God coming to earth in the form of a tiny baby. 11:52 The crib that captures the heart of the whole world. 11:58 But before we begin, let's bow our heads in a word of prayer 12:00 and ask God's Spirit to be with us. 12:02 Father God, we pray that You'll send to us the joyous message 12:06 of Christmas, the joy that came down at Christmas time 12:10 in the life of Christ. 12:12 May You speak to us through that Baby, that Child, that Man, 12:16 and that God. 12:18 We pray in Christ's name, amen. 12:21 Amen. 12:23 In his book, When Iron Gates Yield, 12:27 a British missionary to Tibet, who was a captive to 12:31 Chinese Communism for three years, tells an experience 12:34 he had one December 24. 12:38 After a long tiring journey over a high famous mountain pass 12:42 in the Himalayas, he was brought down on the 12:45 other side of the mountain. 12:46 The snow was blowing and the wind blowing. 12:49 They brought him to a group of little houses 12:52 about 4:30 that afternoon. 12:55 And a Tibetan landlord had swept out an upper room. 12:58 And the missionary prisoner went to that room, 13:02 he was to stay for that night. 13:03 It was a beautiful clean room. 13:05 In fact, he'd rarely seen such a clean place 13:08 in all of his travels as a prisoner to Communism. 13:13 After the meal, when it was already dark, he was ordered 13:16 to go downstairs to give hay to the horses. 13:20 And so he climbed down the notched tree trunk 13:24 to the lower floor, which was given over to the animals. 13:28 It was pitch black. 13:30 He said he stumbled around in the dark. 13:32 And he describes his feelings, "My boots squelched in the 13:36 manure and the straw. 13:39 The feted smell of animals was nauseating. 13:42 I felt my way along in the darkness, expecting 13:45 any moment to be kicked by a mule or by a horse. 13:49 'What a place,' I thought. 13:51 And then as I continued to grope my way in the darkness 13:54 towards the gray, it suddenly flashed in my mind, 13:58 'What's today? What's today?' 14:00 I thought for a moment." 14:01 You see, the days had become a little muddled in his mind 14:04 in all the travels. 14:05 And then it came to him. 14:06 It was Christmas Eve, the 24th of December. 14:11 He said, "I stood silently still in that oriental manger. 14:15 To think that my Savior came and was born 14:19 in a place like this. 14:21 And to think that my Savior came all the way from heaven 14:28 to some wretched Eastern stable. 14:32 And what's more, that this Jesus, to think He came for me. 14:42 How men try to beautify the cross and the crib. 14:47 As if to hide the fact that the birth resigned Him to the 14:51 stench of beasts, and His death exposed Him to the same roads. 14:56 God, forgive us." 14:58 He said, "I returned to my warm room, clean room, 15:02 which I enjoyed even as a prisoner. 15:05 And I bowed my head in thankfulness and worship. 15:07 In the darkness, I discovered the secret of joy. 15:11 The dark night over Bethlehem the angels sang, 15:14 'Joy to the world.'" 15:18 Wow, that's powerful. 15:21 We, who in the past have been prisoners, not to Communism 15:26 or to those in Tibet, but we who have been prisoners 15:30 to our pent up anger, to our pent up emotions, 15:33 to our pent up feelings, to our pent up sin, 15:37 and now free in Christ, must return to that place 15:40 where Jesus Christ came to set us free. 15:44 Where He broke the shackles of our doubt, 15:46 where He broke the shackles of our emotions, 15:48 where He broke the shackles of our fears and sins, 15:52 and He set us free and liberated us. 15:55 It was at a crib before the cross. 15:59 And so we too, here in modern times, we must return 16:02 to that Eastern stable where it all began. 16:05 We must again be reminded that God descended from heaven 16:09 with a baby in His arms. 16:13 A gifted woman wrote these words, "From the heights 16:17 of Deity to the depths of humanity." 16:21 And thus we find the title; 16:22 The Descent of Deity, The Descent of the Divine. 16:28 Now how do we arrive at a stable? 16:30 How do we arrive at an oriental stable? 16:32 Surely not by the mountain passes of the Himalayas, 16:34 I mean, like the prisoner in the story. 16:37 But perhaps by the mountain passes of heavenly places. 16:40 And to get there we must have the sherpa, called 16:42 the Holy Spirit, to guide us to those high places. 16:45 And first we need to go there to meet Him as God 16:48 if we are ever to understand Him as God man. 16:52 I mean, amazing isn't it. 16:55 That Christian liberation began at a crib. 16:59 Now, it is there that we meet God man as liberating grace, 17:03 the One who liberates us, sets us free. 17:06 My Bible text it taken from the first epistle of John. 17:09 And if you have your Bibles, I want you to turn with me 17:11 to the first epistle of John. 17:13 And I want you to notice here, chapter 4 verses 8 and 9. 17:17 Listen as the apostle John, who was faithful to Christ 17:22 even to Patmos, and he writes these words in his epistle. 17:26 He says: 17:45 And so, first, we must consider deity. 17:49 We begin with deity. 17:51 Our text this evening says there is, first of all, the reality 17:55 of the descent of Jesus to earth. 17:57 Secondly, there is the reality or the reasons for the 18:01 descent of Jesus Christ to earth. 18:04 And that's why in 1 John 4:9, he says, "God sent His Son..." 18:09 Notice: 18:17 Let us, therefore, look at the reality of that descent. 18:21 We begin with deity. All things do. 18:23 God who forms all things becomes man formed. 18:28 The descent of Deity is real. 18:31 God, with all power, descends in the form of a baby, powerless. 18:36 The descent of Deity is real. 18:39 Plainly it speaks about this here in Isaiah. 18:43 Notice what it says. 19:05 We begin with deity. 19:06 And all things do. 19:09 All things do. 19:10 Immanuel, God with us. 19:12 The Hebrew means that God is with us, close to us. 19:15 God is there for us. 19:17 He is there behind us and beside us and in front of us. 19:20 He's there when we pray, He's there when we don't pray. 19:25 He is the God with us. 19:27 We begin with deity. 19:29 And all things do. 19:30 Isaiah chapter 9, the Bible tells us in Isaiah chapter 9. 19:34 And he says here in verse 6: 19:51 Micah 5 verse 2 confirms it. 19:53 He tells us of the birth of Christ in this way. 20:06 The promise of this Messiah. 20:08 The promise of this God with us. 20:10 We begin with deity. And all things do. 20:12 God holds all things in His arms. 20:15 He descends to be held in the arms of a woman. 20:17 The descent of Deity is real. 20:19 God, who is blameless, descends to be blame for us. 20:23 The descent of Deity is real. 20:25 Christ, who's character is the all in all. 20:28 He is eternally inherently. 20:30 He is without cause and without beginning and 20:32 without end and without mutation. 20:35 He is timeless Jesus. 20:38 The descent of Deity is real. 20:41 God who speaks is now dumb. 20:43 I mean silent, speechless, as a little baby 20:47 in the arms of a mother. 20:49 The descent of Deity is real. 20:51 I mean it's a real Christ who comes. 20:53 God, who forms a woman, is formed of a woman. 20:56 That's the message that God has for us 20:58 in the descent of Deity. 21:01 God, who forms the forests, 21:04 lays in a manger made from the twigs of the forest. 21:08 The descent of Deity is real. 21:11 I'm amazed. 21:12 I'm amazed that so little is said about this Christ Child. 21:15 So little is spoken in these last days about His Deity. 21:19 I mean, Christ is God fully. 21:20 He covers the supernatural with flesh, 21:23 but never uses the supernatural in a fleshly way. 21:27 I mean, human weak flesh can be touched by the supernatural. 21:31 That's His message at Christmas. 21:33 You see, you and I, we can be touched by this God. 21:37 That's how near He is. 21:39 Simply put, we can all be touched by the Divine. 21:42 While you're watching this program, God can 21:44 reach out and touch you. 21:46 While you're in this auditorium, God can reach down 21:48 and touch you. 21:49 When you're walking the street in crowded ways, 21:51 when you've crowded God out, He's still there, 21:54 He wants to touch you. 21:56 That's the divine message that God has at the Christmas time. 22:00 Deity came down. 22:02 God, with hands, in all points tempted like as we. 22:05 The God with hands, but don't you ever dirty them. 22:09 God with eyes, but don't ever put lust in them. 22:12 God with a heart, a beating heart, that's true. 22:14 But don't every place envy in that heart. 22:17 God is always God, Christ is always the Divine. 22:20 I mean, He suffers as God, He feels as God, 22:24 He pains as God. 22:26 I mean, He dies the second death so that you and I 22:29 will not have to die that death. 22:34 Laying down His life... 22:37 giving up His life... 22:39 sacrificing His life. 22:42 The descent of modern theology today so tries to 22:45 humanize Jesus, so humanizing Him that they 22:48 totally degrade Him. 22:49 Supernaturally marvelous is my Jesus. 22:52 Supernaturally helpful. 22:53 We don't serve a Hollywood Christ, but a heavenly Christ. 22:59 And He's supernaturally helpful. 23:02 His life tells us that. 23:04 He heals the sick. 23:06 He feeds the hungry. 23:07 He robs the grave. 23:09 He breaks the funeral procession. 23:11 I mean, He sets multitudes free. 23:13 He restores the deranged mind. 23:15 No man born a woman can ever ascend to that place 23:18 without Him who came from that place. 23:24 He was the one who bore the woman 23:28 so that the woman might bear the Savior. 23:32 Just as the first Adam bears, in the side, the woman 23:35 and Eve comes forth... 23:37 Prime rib. 23:44 ...and so the second Adam is wounded in the side 23:47 and there comes forth the new Eve, the church of Jesus Christ. 23:50 That's the message that God has for us at this season. 23:55 Mary bled in the womb... 23:58 ...and bear a Son. 24:01 Christ bled in His heart... 24:04 ...and saved the world. 24:06 So always keep in mind, 24:09 to be God and act as a man is one thing. 24:12 But to be a man and act as if you're God is quite another. 24:17 He is the only God man. 24:22 The only God man. 24:26 You see, the mystery of the humanity of Christ, 24:31 that He came into the flesh... 24:35 Martin Luther said, "He sunk into human flesh." 24:39 Divine sunk into human flesh. 24:42 It's beyond our human comprehension. 24:43 Because His resources cannot be impoverished by any 24:46 degree of expenditure. 24:48 I mean, who is always in everywhere, 24:50 as we read in Scripture. 24:51 He is always the verity of God's truth; Jesus. 24:53 He is always the beauty of God's holiness; Jesus. 24:56 He is the purity of God's character, 24:59 the majesty of God's power, the authority of God's throne. 25:02 He is the reality of God's love. 25:06 He is and will always be the surety of God's love. 25:10 Do you wonder why we Christians so respect Him? 25:14 Do you wonder why we bow down for Him and we would be willing 25:17 to die for Him? 25:18 I mean, the pity of God's heart is in Jesus. 25:20 The legacy of God's will. 25:22 He is the oceans flowing, the rivers of God's grace. 25:25 A gifted writer said, "From the heights of heaven." 25:29 "By His humanity, Christ touched humanity." 25:37 Christ is the express image of God. 25:41 We are the reflected image. Don't forget that. 25:45 So in reality of that descent, there was a decision 25:48 of deity in verse 9; God sent. 25:52 But also, there was a declaration of that sent. 25:54 He declared it; the Son born of woman. 25:56 I mean, the Bible says His Son is not less than the Father. 25:59 It's not an apparition of the Father. 26:01 He says, "I and My Father are one." 26:05 That's John 10 verse 30. "I and My Father are one." 26:11 The Bible tells us, "The Father dwelleth in Me." 26:14 John 14:10, "The Father dwelleth in Me." 26:19 Now if Jesus was only a man, very few chapters 26:24 would have been written about Him. 26:26 If He was only a man, He would have been forgotten by now. 26:29 But He was the God man, 26:33 declared everywhere in Scripture. 26:36 I mean, there never was a time when He was not God. 26:39 And there never was in a sense. 26:42 And even now, He is God. 26:44 And that's why in 2 Corinthians, the Bible tells us... 26:47 In the book of Corinthians the second epistle. 26:50 If you have your Bibles, turn with me 26:52 to the second epistle of Corinthians. 26:54 And I want you to notice here the second epistle chapter 11. 26:59 And notice verse 31. 27:02 "The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 27:05 which is blessed forever, knoweth that I lie not." 27:10 God is blessed forever in the person of Jesus Christ, 27:15 in the deity of Jesus Christ. 27:17 Now who can really fully understand it? 27:19 There's not a theologian here, there's not a philosopher here, 27:22 there's not a person here that can fully understand the 27:25 humanity and divinity of Christ. 27:27 I mean, it's like a fly crawling across Raphael's masterpiece. 27:33 What does a fly know about it? 27:35 Bumps, some smell, perhaps color. 27:41 I don't know, I'm not a fly. 27:44 But what does it know? 27:46 I mean, the sum total of our knowledge, you and me, 27:49 is what we contain in a little box of brains 27:51 that God has given us, in our human heart. 27:54 And that is why so many reject the Divine, 27:57 so many reject the supernatural. 27:59 You see, because they want to have their own God. 28:02 They create their own God. 28:03 And so when they want to party, and they want to 28:05 drink and party, they create a Bacchus. 28:09 And when they want unbridled sex, immorality, 28:13 they create an Aphrodite. 28:15 And when they want to go to war and hate each other and kill, 28:19 they create a Zeus or Mars. 28:22 You see, they want God in their own image. 28:24 But the Bible says He is in the image of His Father. 28:30 And by the way, one of our problems is, we spend more time 28:34 contemplating what we need to become 28:37 than what He has become for us. 28:41 And by the way, that is a false pursuit of legalism. 28:45 Instead of pursuing the fact of what He has become for us. 28:49 And that leads to the reasons of the descent. 28:50 Why, the reason. 28:52 Humanity must be touched by divinity. 28:57 Because, you see, there is a limit to what we can do in 29:01 securing a place in heaven. 29:03 We humans can only submit to the touch of the divine. 29:06 We can only open the heart to the touch of the divine. 29:09 The baby does not decide to be touched by the seed. 29:12 Something mysterious is touched and the baby is born. 29:15 The Christmas message humbles us. 29:18 The Christmas message makes us solely dependent upon Deity. 29:23 The Christian message and the Christmas message 29:25 forces us to retrace our steps, 29:29 and to rethink our theological positions. 29:32 The Christmas message stops us in our tracks, 29:37 that we might walk in His tracks. 29:42 You see pagan. 29:44 There's nothing pagan by the descent of Deity. 29:48 Christmas is not pagan because we honor Him 29:51 during the wrong season. 29:52 It's pagan because we honor Him in the wrong spirit. 29:57 You see, Christmas is not pagan because we give. 30:00 It becomes pagan because we expect something in our giving. 30:06 By the way, the value of any gift is 30:07 in the love of the giver. 30:10 When my children were very young, 30:11 we had a law in our house. 30:12 It was called, the law of the Medes and Persians. 30:16 And that was; when daddy was in his office studying and praying 30:18 and reading the Word, he's not to be disturbed. 30:22 I mean, that was written in cement. 30:27 One day, I was in my office and the door was 30:29 left open a little crack. 30:31 And I was studying the Word and I heard a noise at the door. 30:33 And I looked and it was my little Diane looking in through 30:35 the crack in the door. 30:37 Beautiful. 30:38 You can imagine, she looks a lot like me. 30:44 And her blue eyes sparkled and the sun reflecting on her hair. 30:49 She looked in. 30:50 I said, "Diane," and she remembered the law. 30:54 And so she started to run. 30:56 I said, "Stop," and she stopped. 30:58 You see, in those days when you said, "stop," they stopped. 31:05 I said, "Come here," and so she came as far as the door. 31:08 The law said. 31:09 You see, where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. 31:11 I said, "Honey, come in," and she bounded in. 31:15 When she came up, she said, "Daddy, I have a gift for you." 31:17 Now you know the law went out the window. 31:19 Come on. 31:21 I said, "Well honey, give it to me." 31:23 She said, "Guess." 31:25 You parents know what that's about. 31:28 She said, "Guess." 31:31 I said, "Guess?" 31:32 And so she wanted to play a game. 31:34 And I said, "Well, is it a new car?" 31:36 And she laughed and giggled and her blue eyes sparkled. 31:40 "No, Daddy." 31:42 And I guessed of all the things I wanted to have 31:44 and couldn't have. 31:46 And finally, even the patients of a saint 31:51 wears thin. 31:53 I said, "Honey, give me the gift." 31:55 And she took it out. 31:58 And it was a lamb made of noodles. 32:00 A noodle lamb. 32:04 I took my Kmart painting off the wall 32:08 and put up a noodle lamb. 32:11 The value of the gift... 32:14 ...is in the love of the giver. 32:17 You see, the message of Christmas, the message 32:18 of the season is the gift. 32:22 The value of the gift. 32:25 You see, we human beings are always come short 32:27 of the spirit of true giving, true sacrifice. 32:30 Not because we do not desire to give unselfishly, 32:33 but because we're helpless to. 32:36 Our giving is always selfish. 32:38 Oh no, no. That's not true. 32:41 I give because I love. 32:42 Come on, yea to a degree. 32:45 You give human corruptible selfish nature. 32:49 I'm a grandfather. 32:50 I know it's hard for you to believe, but I am. 32:51 I'm a grandfather. 32:54 And I love my grandkids. 32:56 I give to them out of love. 32:59 But I do get something in return. 33:00 Come on now. 33:03 Even if I say I don't want anything in return, 33:05 I get it; I get a hug around the neck. 33:08 Especially when they were younger. 33:11 I get a kiss on the cheek. 33:14 I get a note... 33:16 ...a drawing. 33:19 I am always the benefactor... 33:23 ...of the gift of giving. 33:26 But Jesus is the only one who loved truly unselfishly, 33:29 truly unconditionally. 33:31 And that is why it is His love that gets us into heaven. 33:34 He loved at the cost of a crib. 33:36 Not to be honored, but to be humiliated. 33:38 He gets nothing in return. 33:40 When I love, I get love or a gift or something 33:42 in return for loving. 33:44 I give a gift, I get. 33:45 You expect something in return. 33:47 Come on now, I know you're saintly. 33:50 But you're human. 33:53 Deity descended... 33:57 ...knowing that if He gives the gift, 34:01 ...He will get nothing in return. 34:04 Well, He will. 34:05 He'll get the pain of the cross, 34:08 the agony of the cross, 34:12 the death of the cross in return. 34:15 How many of us would do that? 34:16 Come on. 34:19 You see, Jesus came anyway. 34:22 Here is the reason for that descent, the divine descent. 34:26 The reason is clear. 34:29 He came to earth so we might see what giving is all about, 34:35 how love is suppose to act in the flesh. 34:40 He touches us. 34:43 He doesn't for a moment sacrifice deity, 34:46 He submits it to humanity. 34:48 He will never use deity in selfish reason. 34:50 He will never use it to help Himself 34:52 out of a jam, out of a crisis. 34:54 He will surrender it to a lesser power; humanity. 34:57 All the love we've known before Him is a selfish love. 35:03 The Christmas story, the birth, the Bethlehem, the baby, 35:10 is unselfish love. 35:13 Now by the way, there are only two times really 35:15 in our human existence that we love truly unselfishly. 35:20 One is at our birth. 35:22 A baby. 35:26 Not a child, mind you. 35:29 I mean, children exploit love... 35:31 Come on. 35:33 ...in order to get things. 35:35 My grandchildren say to me, "I got good grades, Pappies." 35:39 My wallet comes out. 35:42 Come on. 35:45 "I did my homework." Like that was a great thing. 35:49 "I love you." 35:50 It comes out fast. 35:52 "Now can I have an ice cream?" 35:53 Come on. 35:55 Teenagers are great at it. 35:58 They play mind games for our affections. 35:59 Come on. 36:00 I mean, they think we don't know. 36:03 We invented it when we were teenagers. 36:07 I mean, teenagers will take out the garbage. 36:09 I've noticed that. 36:10 They will clean their rooms and do some self sacrificing thing. 36:15 Why? Because they love us. 36:18 Come on, get real. 36:20 Smell the roses. 36:22 No, they want the keys to the car. 36:26 They love us, but in a fleshly way, a human way. 36:29 They gladly give up a few fleeting moments of their time, 36:32 sit a moment with us, communicate with us, 36:35 as long as they know they'll get something out of it. 36:40 Teenage girl snuggles up to her daddy, 36:43 "I love you, daddy." 36:49 Pause. 36:52 "Can I stay out late Saturday night?" 36:54 Say no and see how much she loves you. 36:56 Come on now. 37:01 We use our love to get things, 37:05 to bargain for things, to strike a deal. 37:10 We exploit it for our benefit. 37:14 We prostitute it for something. 37:17 But a baby loves unconditionally, you see. 37:19 That's why Christmas shows us a baby; 37:22 divine, unconditional love. 37:25 That is why the crib and that is why the baby. 37:27 For a baby, it takes only the touch of someone else 37:30 to snuggle up, to coo, and to love. 37:33 A baby feels with his or her heart, not with their head. 37:36 They don't know how to use things. 37:40 So they don't need things. 37:43 They need a touch. 37:46 And that is why Jesus said, "Ye need to be born again." 37:52 You see, two time only mankind loves unselfishly. 37:55 At birth and at death. 38:01 You see, at death we have nothing 38:03 in our hands to cling. 38:07 We can't even get anything in return. 38:10 We can't take it with us when we go. 38:13 And they fight over it when we do go. 38:17 And that's why He says this, "To gain life you must lose it." 38:25 At our baptism, we bring nothing, as a baby brings. 38:29 Nothing. 38:30 We're born again, that's why He said, "Ye must be born again." 38:32 We die; we hold our breath, we go down under the water 38:35 into the grave, and we come up in newness of life. 38:38 A new life. 38:46 We die to self. 38:48 That is to nothingness. 38:51 And that is why Christ offered salvation as a gift. 38:55 By the way, if you ever think you have to pay for it, 38:58 it's no longer a gift. 39:02 Come on now. 39:03 I should have had more "amens" on that one. 39:06 But no, we like to take control. 39:09 We like to discipline ourselves. 39:12 He gives me grace, I give Him a lifetime of Sabbath keeping. 39:16 No, friends. 39:18 He gives me grace, I give Him a lifetime of clean habits. 39:21 No, friends. 39:23 I do not give Him my heart. 39:24 My heart is corruptible. 39:27 I give Him His heart. 39:32 I'm incapable to give Him. 39:40 Jesus descended to the crib as God man. 39:48 Jesus descended to the cross as God man. 39:54 And that's the reason. 39:56 And it's clear in 1 John chapter 4, again, and verse 8. 40:03 How clear can it be? 40:15 You see, love must be close to the one loved. 40:25 It's not happy to be separated. 40:27 I'm married 54 years. 40:32 Why? 40:33 I hate to be separated. 40:36 I take her along wherever I go. 40:39 Sometimes the brethren don't like that. 40:41 But I'm married 54 years. 40:43 I wonder how long they're married. 40:47 I'm not happy when I'm separated. 40:50 Why? 40:51 And God is not happy separated. 40:53 For two reasons. 40:54 The first is what I call, the intimacy of love. 40:56 And the second is, the adequacy of love. 40:58 The text tells us that "he loveth not." 41:01 But how can we understand how to love without seeing it up close? 41:05 How can we ever love a person if we haven't seen the Person love? 41:10 The ultimate love. 41:12 The most unselfish love. 41:15 The most beautiful love. 41:17 How can we? 41:19 The text tells us, "we loveth not, we knoweth not God; 41:23 for God is love." 41:25 And that's why the stable. 41:27 And that's why in John 4 verse 10, look at it. 41:32 Listen. 41:49 A propitiation, selfless, 41:53 so that we might love Him. 41:57 Learn the lesson. 41:59 If you want your children to be abusive, 42:03 be abusive in the home 42:06 to your husband, to your wife, and they'll learn. 42:10 And you'll create a whole generation of abusive 42:12 husbands and wives. 42:15 If you want your children to lie and cheat and steal, 42:19 do those things in the home and you'll create a 42:20 whole generation of liars and of thieves and of cheats. 42:27 You do not make any decision, good or bad, without affecting 42:30 the future generations. 42:33 And that is why Jesus came. 42:36 To show us unselfish love, unconditional love. 42:40 Not only to show it, but to share it. 42:46 That kind of love comes from His heart and not ours. 42:49 Therefore, we must give Him our heart, 42:50 transplanted as it were. 42:52 Why a crib? 42:53 Why not a church? Why not a cathedral? 42:55 A crib is intimate love. 42:57 You see, it is caressable love. 42:59 Intimacy is what sent His Son to us. 43:02 And adequate love, because He is totally full of love. 43:09 Selfish love is always trying for intimacy. 43:11 Have you notice that in this culture? 43:14 And always for adequacy. 43:16 It writes books about love... 43:20 ...but it escapes them. 43:22 Because love is not in the glands. 43:25 Love is in the heart. 43:27 And God came to show us that. 43:30 You see, intimate level; He comes in human form. 43:35 Human personality, a human body. 43:39 He needs to make God's love intimate, so He must touch it. 43:42 And the divine touch of Christ teaches us of our destiny. 43:46 The divine touch of Christ touches us at our duty 43:48 and our destiny. 43:49 1 John 4 verse 4 tells us that. 43:53 The touch of divinity makes for a better humanity. 43:57 For a better humanity. What do I mean by that? 43:58 Let me illustrate. 44:00 I have a glove. 44:04 We'll say the hand is the divine. 44:08 The glove is you or I. 44:11 And you know the thing about it is, the hand in the glove 44:16 does not for a moment make the glove a hand. 44:23 It is impossible for the glove to become the hand. 44:27 The cold leather of the glove is made warm by the hand. 44:30 Take the hand out of the glove and the glove is cold 44:33 and lifeless and powerless. 44:35 Without Christ, we are cold and lifeless. 44:42 The cold heart is warmed only by Christ. 44:45 You'll never come to a place, we will never come to a place 44:49 of being the heat of the hand. 44:54 It can never hold heat without the hand in the glove. 44:57 The hand give strength to the glove. 45:00 The cold leather is incapable of strength. 45:02 Aside from the hand, we will never, through eternity, 45:05 have any strength aside from the hand. 45:08 Not one moment will be without the hand, 45:11 in heaven or on earth. 45:12 I say to the glove, "Pick up the Bible, glove." 45:18 Incapable. 45:20 I say to the glove, "Practice." 45:23 Preach to it. 45:25 I can preach to it, practice it. 45:27 I mean I can yell at it, I can penalize it, 45:30 "Time out, glove." 45:34 I can even raise the standard for the glove, 45:39 and requirements. 45:42 As Israel did from 10 commandment to 250. 45:46 And how many do we have in the church today? 45:49 Come on. 45:51 But to no avail. 45:52 It's incapable. 45:53 You see, it needs a hand. 45:54 God never told us to keep the law apart from Him. 45:56 He showed Israel it was impossible. 45:59 "I will be the hand inside of you." 46:01 "I will be," He said. "I will." 46:03 And any kind of movement, any kind of good, 46:06 any kind of righteousness, comes from the hand and not the glove. 46:13 The glove merely needs to submit to the hand. 46:15 Amen. Come on. 46:18 It needs to submit to the divine touch. 46:23 And that is why divinity came to a crib. 46:26 And that is why salvation came to a stable. 46:29 To touch us, to caress us. 46:32 Stephen T. Sinatra, cardiologist, in his book, 46:35 "Heartbreak and Disease," says this. 46:37 "Touch is the most essential sense we have. 46:40 It is the first to be perceived at newborn. 46:43 It is often the last to leave us." 46:45 He talks about touching as being therapeutic. 46:48 I mean, it is essential to heart patients recovery; touch. 46:52 And when I learned that, I came home and said, 46:53 "Honey, touch time." 46:58 When I see my grandchildren; touch time. 47:02 The power of touch. 47:06 Many years ago when I was young, and it was many years ago, 47:08 I went to P.S. 100 in Brooklyn. 47:10 I've got to admit, I didn't like school. 47:13 School didn't like me, by the way. 47:18 But I went to P.S. 100, it was about six blocks away. 47:21 And when I got to school, there was always the bully there. 47:24 Met them. 47:27 He made my life miserable. 47:30 I mean he beat me up, picked on me, made life miserable. 47:38 I finally got the courage enough to tell my dad. 47:40 I said, "Dad, this bully is beating up on me." 47:43 He said, "Well, ignore him." Ignore him? 47:44 So I went to school to ignore him. 47:46 Whoa, did that hurt. 47:49 He pounded me into the pavement. 47:51 So I came home bleeding. 47:53 My father said, "What happened?" 47:54 I said, "I ignored him." 47:56 He said, "Well, don't act like you're afraid of him. 47:59 Stand up to him." 48:02 And so I stood up to him. 48:04 And I came home with a black eye. 48:09 I tried it the next day. 48:11 Boy did that hurt. 48:13 Finally, my father stayed home from work. 48:15 And very rarely did my father stay home from work, 48:17 let me tell you. 48:18 Hardest working man I've ever known. 48:21 My father walked me to school. 48:25 I took his hand and I walked to school. 48:29 The bully was there but when he saw my father, 48:34 he didn't try a thing. 48:37 He was the same bully. 48:41 But he acted differently. 48:44 Because my father was with me. 48:49 That is why Jesus came down from heaven to earth. 48:54 You see, He came down to this world to walk with us 49:00 to school and to work and to play, 49:06 home and abroad and around the world. 49:10 He came to walk us to school. 49:14 The descent of Deity. 49:18 So the devil wouldn't mess with us. 49:20 Or if he did, he would come out on the wrong side. 49:25 So that living would be bearable. 49:26 Without Jesus Christ, living is unbearable. 49:30 There is someone watching this program. 49:32 Living without Christ life is unbearable. 49:38 And dying would be unredeemable, 49:43 unredeemable. 49:46 I remember I was visiting in Morganton, South Carolina. 49:48 I was a young evangelist then. 49:51 I would visit the people before my meetings would start 49:53 and invite them to come to my meetings. 49:55 And so I had this name and I had the address, 49:58 and the preacher and I, we drove down into this little community 50:02 there in Carolina. 50:06 Now I don't know if it was North or South. 50:09 My wife probably does, if it was North or South. 50:11 But it was Carolina. Morganton, North Carolina. 50:16 I came to the house and I knocked on the door 50:18 and a little girl answered the door. 50:20 She was crying. 50:22 And right away, soon this big lug you know, I'm crying. 50:25 I don't even know what I'm crying about. 50:28 And I said, "Honey, what's wrong?" 50:29 And she said, "Mom is down at the cemetery. 50:31 Baby sister died last week." 50:36 My heart was broken. 50:39 So I quickly got in the car and drove down to the 50:43 little cemetery behind the little Baptist church 50:46 outside of Morganton, North Carolina. 50:47 I looked out over the cemetery and there was a woman 50:49 kneeling beside a new dug grave. 50:51 And she had put a little picket fence around it, 50:53 a little lamb and some plastic flowers. 50:55 And someone came along, some children or whatever, 50:57 and threw them and messed up the grave. 50:59 You see, life messes up the grave. 51:03 So I walked back and came up. 51:05 And she looked frightened for a moment. 51:06 I said, "Oh, I'm the preacher. 51:07 I just came to help you straighten out the grave." 51:11 I knelt down beside her. 51:14 I said, "Honey, this is not going to be like this forever." 51:19 Someday Jesus is going to place that baby in your arms. 51:23 She said, "I wish I could believe that." 51:25 I said, "Well, you can. 51:26 I'm having a series of meetings." 51:27 And I invited her to the meetings. 51:29 She said, "Well, I work but I'm off for an hour." 51:31 She said, "I'll run over to the little church." 51:33 So she did, she showed up that night. 51:35 And the next night, and the next night, and the next night. 51:39 On down in the meetings, she gave her life to Christ. 51:44 Life was changed. 51:46 She was baptized into the kingdom of God. 51:49 And at the end of the meetings, the last night, 51:51 people are gone and she stayed by. 51:53 And she said, "I need to talk to you." 51:56 And she sat down beside me and she said, "Pastor Ron, 52:00 when Jesus comes and we go to heaven, 52:05 I want to introduce you to my baby." 52:08 I said, "Yea, you look for the tall ugly one at the right hand 52:12 of the throne of God, that's me. 52:15 And I want to meet." 52:17 You see, Jesus came to the crib so that you and I 52:24 might come through the crypt. 52:29 Touched by His divinity. 52:32 Warmed by His humanity. 52:36 During the Nuremberg trials, 52:40 a witness told how he miraculously escaped 52:44 the Nazi gas chamber 52:48 by hiding in a cemetery in Poland. 52:52 He lived there for many months in the cemetery 52:54 with others who made the graveyard their home, 52:57 their place of refuge. 52:59 It was their secret hiding place. 53:02 He related that one day in an open grave, a woman gave birth 53:07 to an infant boy. 53:09 The 80 year old grave digger assisted at the birth. 53:14 And when the new baby uttered the first cry, 53:16 the devout elderly digger exclaimed, "Good God, 53:21 hast Thou finally sent Messiah to us? 53:26 For who else but the Messiah could be born in a grave?" 53:32 Three days later, he saw the baby sucking the mothers tears 53:37 because there was no milk. 53:40 "For unto us a child is born, 53:44 unto us a Son is given." 53:48 You see, from that moment on since Bethlehem, 53:52 the poor could never say to God, "You don't understand poverty." 53:57 Because He became poor for us. 54:02 The sick could never again say to God, 54:04 "You don't understand sickness." 54:05 He became sick for us. 54:08 The homeless could never say, "What do You know 54:09 about being homeless?" 54:11 He had no place to lay His head. 54:14 And the dying could never say again, 54:18 "You don't understand dying." 54:24 Because He died for us. 54:31 He died for us. 54:36 This Christ Child wants to be born in your heart. 54:44 He wants to find residence in your heart. 54:47 Open your heart this Christmas time. 54:50 Receive the Gift of gifts. 54:53 And know that Jesus Christ is Lord 54:58 and Savior right now. 55:03 Remember, you leave this place but you never 55:05 leave the presence of God. 55:06 And wherever you are in this world, God loves you. 55:45 When your waters are so troubled 55:49 you don't think you count at all. 55:54 Waves may seem like mountains 55:58 when your boat seems oh so small. 56:04 Somewhere past the clouds 56:08 waits a new day to begin. 56:13 You can receive Jesus Christ into your life. 56:18 You can, in your living room right now, 56:21 close your eyes and ask Him into your life. 56:26 And the divine Son, the Lord Jesus, 56:32 will come to you and be born in your heart. 56:39 And you can understand liberating grace. 56:44 You say, "Ron, how can I do that?" 56:47 First of all, confess that you're a sinner. 56:51 You need Christ to forgive you. 56:54 Repent of your sins. 56:57 Say you're sorry. 56:59 And now turn and look to Him for guidance. 57:06 I want you to take your Bible, in John, 57:08 and look at the first chapter of John. 57:10 Begin right there. 57:12 I want you to read that chapter in prayer. 57:16 And know that He who began the good work 57:18 in your heart right now, He will finish the good work. 57:24 Good night. |
Revised 2014-12-17