Participants: Pr. David Asscherick
Series Code: DP
Program Code: DP000009
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00:15 What are we going to begin by doing?
00:17 - [Audience] Praying. - Praying, so let's 00:20 do that together. Father in heaven, we come 00:22 before You this evening and we are thrilled, You have 00:26 put a joy in our hearts. Father, we ask that as we 00:28 open Your word tonight, that You would open our hearts 00:31 that we may understand with clarity and with accuracy 00:34 the great things that You are teaching us out of Your word. 00:38 Father, please, may we tonight have an experience, 00:41 an extraordinary experience with You, not because 00:43 of a man, but because of the man, Jesus Christ. 00:47 So please Father, be with us now as we open Your word 00:49 in Jesus' name, let everyone say amen. 00:53 Okay, let's begin with just a little bit of review 00:56 and we'll look to the screen. Last night we did: 00:59 "The Actual, Certain, Definite, Unavoidable Identity" 01:03 "of the Antichrist Figure. " We saw from the Bible 01:06 that the Antichristian figure is none other than the Roman 01:09 church-state, it fits all of the identifying characteristics 01:12 and we gave you 10 of them. It was a little kingdom, 01:14 it came up among them, after them, plucked up 3 and was 01:19 diverse, or different from the others. 01:21 Those are the first 5, then it had a prominent man 01:23 at its head that guided it and spoke for it, 01:26 spoke words of blasphemy, you remember the 3 Biblical 01:28 definitions of blasphemy: claims to be able to forgive 01:31 sins, claims to be God on earth, and persecutes the people 01:34 of God in the name of God, all of those are met 01:37 by that power. Then it would think to change 01:39 times and laws, but not just some Sterling Heights Ordinance, 01:43 it would think to change the very times and laws of God, 01:47 and that's what we're going to talk about tonight, 01:48 and then ruled for 1260 prophetic days or literal years. 01:53 So let's go to Daniel 7:25 again, this is review, 01:56 but just listen to this powerful verse describing part 02:00 of the enterprises of this Antichrist, Antichristian power. 02:04 It says: [text on screen] 02:18 That's one of the identifying characteristics, so we put 02:21 this up on the screen last night, let's read it again 02:24 quickly. This is from Lucious Ferarris' 02:26 Prompta Bibliotheca, an article entitled "Papa", 02:29 literally scores, probably hundreds and thousands 02:32 of references just like this could be given, but I just 02:35 give you this one very quickly: [text on screen] 02:42 There might not be any problem with explaining or interpreting, 02:46 but there would be a significant problem with this word 02:48 right here: "modify". What does the word "modify" mean? 02:51 It means to change, that's exactly what Daniel 7:25 said, 02:54 that he would think to change the very times and laws of God. 02:57 [text on screen] 03:07 Go to your study guide and let's begin with our 2 part 03:11 series entitled "The Rock That Simply Will Not Role". 03:14 I want to let you know, when we come back together 03:17 on Thursday night we have an extremely important 03:23 and exciting announcement that we're going to be making, 03:27 and I'm not very good at keeping secrets that I'm excited about, 03:30 but I'm not going to spill the beans tonight, 03:32 so Thursday night we have an exciting announcement. 03:36 It's not just the message, it's an announcement, and it involves 03:38 Scott Moore, the young man who was just up here, 03:41 I'll tell you more about it on Thursday, but let's go 03:44 to our study guide. It says: We live in a time 03:46 in which very few things are solid and lasting. 03:49 The promises and pledges of politicians are fleeting, 03:52 the moral values of society are increasingly in flux, 03:57 the economy can be strong, then weak, then strong again 04:01 all in a short time. Even the most stable and secure 04:04 jobs can be lost in a moment, and I probably should have added 04:07 "especially in Michigan". ... and a seemingly stable 04:11 marriage can fall to pieces in short order. 04:15 Life is unstable, uncertain and prone to dramatic 04:18 upheavals. Life is characterized by change 04:21 more than stability, yet the human heart longs for solidity 04:27 and stability. In this lesson we will see 04:30 that there is a source of unmovable and unshakable 04:33 stability, we will see that there is something that can 04:36 be trusted to last, even through life's uncertain times 04:39 and storms, an anchor, a rock that won't roll. 04:45 Tradition or Scripture? I'd like to draw your 04:47 attention to a quotation that is on the screen, this is taken 04:51 from Adrian Nampon's "Doctrine Defined by the Council of Trent" 04:54 and this is what the Roman church-state says: 04:57 [text on screen] 05:05 Notice that: there is a foundation, there is a bedrock, 05:08 upon which the church is built, this is the claim of the Roman 05:11 church-state, but that bedrock is tradition and is not 05:15 Scripture. Now look at the subheading: 05:18 Tradition or Scripture? There are many differences 05:21 that separate the Roman church-state from Scripture 05:23 based believers, but the central difference is found 05:27 in the desperate emphases put on tradition versus Scripture, 05:33 and that is essential. Tradition versus Scripture. 05:38 One camp has the former has the foundation, the other camp 05:42 has the latter. The word "tradition" occurs 05:48 guess how many times in the Bible, somebody take a guess. 05:52 Hundred times? No. Zero? No. 05:54 13 times. 13 times in the Bible, 05:58 and only 2 of them are positive in context, in other words 06:02 13 times in the Bible, all of them in the New Testament 06:04 and only 2 of them are positive. In other words, tradition 06:08 in a Scriptural context you find was consistently something 06:12 negative, now, we'll talk about what makes for a good 06:14 tradition, and what makes for a bad tradition 06:16 in just a moment, not all traditions are bad. 06:19 It goes on to say: consider, for example, the following text, 06:22 there are many texts there: Matthew 15, but look at this one 06:25 here, Mark 7:13, Jesus speaking, He was speaking to the religious 06:29 leaders of His day who had established various traditions 06:34 that caused them to actually ignore and neglect the words 06:38 and the law of God. Jesus said: [text on screen] 06:50 So notice, in Jesus' mind when Scripture and tradition 06:54 came into conflict, when the word of God and tradition came 06:57 into conflict which one was given precedence? 07:00 Which one was given priority? Scripture of course. 07:03 He said "Hey listen, you guys make of none effect" 07:06 "the words of God by your traditions that you've handed" 07:09 "down from generation to generation", He said 07:12 "You do this about many things. " 07:14 There are several passages there 07:15 that you can look up in your own time, but what you find 07:18 in these passages is that tradition in this context 07:20 is not given a positive connotation. 07:23 Notice the last paragraph on the study guide. 07:25 There is nothing wrong with traditions per se. 07:31 For example, one of the traditions that we have 07:33 in the family that I grew up in is every Christmas 07:36 morning my mum would make these things called sticky buns. 07:39 You know what sticky buns are? 07:42 I tell you! My mouth's salivating right now just 07:45 thinking about them. They were probably 100% 07:48 bad for you, but there was so much motherly love in them 07:53 that we never died from eating them, and they were 07:55 just basically sugar, and white bread, and butter, 07:58 and cinnamon, and yum! And every December 25th 08:01 you just [makes sniffing sound], 08:04 we were excited about the presents, but I was more 08:06 excited about those sticky buns, anything wrong with that 08:09 tradition? [Audience] No. 08:11 No, because that tradition doesn't go against the law 08:14 of God, that tradition doesn't go against the Bible. 08:16 Are we clear on that? [Audience] Yes. 08:19 But the problem comes when you have a tradition, or an idea, 08:22 that comes into conflict with what God says. 08:25 In that circumstance what God says must not be made 08:28 subordinate to a tradition. Nothing wrong with traditions, 08:30 every night we have a tradition here: we have our little guys 08:33 come up and they do their introduction, they smile 08:36 with their pearly whites, Nate tries not to look awkward 08:39 in an awkward situation, it's kind of a little tradition 08:41 of ours, nothing wrong with that tradition, 08:44 but if that tradition was somehow in conflict with God's 08:47 word then we would have to somehow jettison the tradition 08:50 and keep the Bible, does that make sense everyone? 08:52 [Audience] Yes. Okay, so let's continue. 08:55 There's nothing wrong with traditions per se, 08:58 but when traditions conflict with the commandments of God 09:01 there is a problem. One must be made subordinate 09:03 to the other. The Roman church-state 09:06 makes Scripture bow to tradition. 09:09 While Scripture based believers, of which I am one, 09:11 would insist that traditions bow to God's command and word. 09:14 This is the essential difference between these 2 camps. 09:17 There are many differences, but the essential difference 09:20 that separates adherence to the Roman church-state's 09:22 philosophy and the Scripture based philosophy is: 09:25 what prominence, what position do we give to tradition? 09:29 Again, I want to emphasize, there is nothing wrong 09:32 with tradition so long as those traditions do not go over 09:35 and against what God's word says, are we all clear on that? 09:39 Top of the second page. It is significant to note 09:41 that the word "law" occurs approximately... guess how 09:45 many times... 500 times in the Bible. 09:49 Think about that, the word "law" occurs some 500 times, 09:52 how many times did I say the word "tradition" occurs? 09:55 13 times. The word "commandments" 09:58 occurs some 350 times, the simple difference 10:02 in numerical occurrence between "tradition" and "law" 10:06 commandments is telling indeed. 10:08 In other words, just from that even if you didn't look up 10:11 any of the verses you have "law" 500 times; 10:14 "commandments" 350 times; "tradition" 13 times, 10:18 of which only 2 are positive, that tells you that tradition 10:22 is going to be made subordinate to the word of God. 10:28 "The Antichrist and God's law" is the subheading on page 2 10:31 of the study guide. Last lesson we learned 10:33 that one of the identifying characteristics of 10:35 the Antichrist is that he would intend to change times and laws. 10:44 Think of it! The Antichrist is so bold 10:47 as to think that it can change the very law of God. 10:50 Can this power actually change the law of God? Yes or no. 10:54 [Audience] No. No, in order to change 10:57 the law of God you'd have to go to heaven, somehow you'd 11:00 have to figure out how to get there, then you'd have to go 11:02 up to God, take Him off of His throne and then change 11:05 His law. No man can do that, 11:08 no power can do that, no church can do that, no tradition 11:12 that he does change the law of God, but that he intends 11:15 to change, or King James says he "thinks to change the times" 11:20 "and laws of God", but even to intend this is amazing enough. 11:24 Now, with this sort of backdrop in your mind, go with me 11:27 to the book of Revelation, and I want to show you 11:30 a fascinating contrast. We go to the book of 11:32 Revelation 12, and I want you to notice 11:39 this remarkable contrast. We've already spent a whole lot 11:42 of time in Revelation 12, we're going to spend a whole lot 11:45 more time there, but I want to direct your attention 11:48 to the final climax of all of Revelation 12, incidentally, 11:51 as I've already told you, many scholars and commentators 11:54 believe that Revelation 12 is the climax of the whole book. 11:57 So if Revelation 12:17 is the pinnacle of Revelation 12, 12:00 and Revelation 12 is the pinnacle of the whole book 12:03 then that would tell you that this would be the pinnacle verse 12:06 of the whole book. Look at the verse, 12:09 Revelation 12:17, it says: "And the Dragon", 12:14 who's the Dragon? Satan. 12:16 "And Satan was enraged with the woman", who's the woman 12:21 in Bible prophecy? God's true church. 12:24 "And he went to make war with the rest of her offspring" 12:27 "who keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony" 12:32 "of Jesus Christ. " In other words, the dragon 12:35 would make this all out, frontal assault on God's last day 12:39 people, and John says these last day people keep 12:44 God's commandments. Now look at Revelation 14:12. 12:49 You're there in Revelation 12:17, 12:51 look at Revelation 14:12. It says: "Here is the patience", 12:57 or if you prefer, "the endurance of the saints", 13:01 who are the saints everyone? What you should say is: 13:05 "We are!" So who are the saints everyone? 13:08 [Audience] We are. "Here is the endurance" 13:10 "of the saints, here are those who keep the traditions of men", 13:17 no, what does it say? "... here are those who keep" 13:20 "the commandments of God", and they also have faith. 13:23 Now look at those 2 verses, one says the commandments 13:26 of God, and the testimony of Jesus. 13:29 One says they keep the commandments of God 13:31 and they have the faith of Jesus. 13:34 Listen, the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus 13:37 go hand in hand. In fact, you can't even keep 13:40 the commandments of God if you don't have faith in Jesus. 13:42 Paul says: "I know that in me that is in my flesh" 13:45 "dwells no good thing", you can't even do one good thing 13:48 without Jesus Christ in your life, and even if you did do 13:51 something good it's probably for selfish reasons, 13:53 and the apostle Paul says: "Should we do evil" 13:56 "that good may come?" Even the best we do 13:59 apart from Christ, is not good enough. 14:02 You need the faith relationship with Jesus, 14:05 and the commandments of God, they go together like 2 legs 14:07 or 2 wings. 14:10 So notice that, now go to Revelation 22. 14:13 Revelation 22:14. How many of you want 14:15 to go to heaven? How many of you want to go 14:18 to the New Jerusalem? Okay, well then guess 14:20 what you're going to be doing, Revelation 22:14: 14:23 "Blessed are those who do His commandments that they may" 14:26 "have the right to the tree of life and may enter through" 14:29 "the gates into the city. " Do you know what city 14:32 that is? That's the New Jerusalem. 14:34 So how many people here tonight want to go to 14:37 the New Jerusalem some day; want to go to heaven? 14:40 Okay, then you're all going to be commandment keepers. 14:43 Not in order to gain the favor of God, but because God 14:46 has already bestowed His favor upon you in the person 14:49 of Jesus Christ. Look at that, 3 verse, 14:51 Revelation 12:17, Revelation 14:12, 14:54 Revelation 22:14. John in Revelation says 14:57 the last day people will keep God's commandments. 15:00 I have a question for you tonight: do you think 15:02 God's last day people are going to keep His commandments? 15:05 That's exactly what the Bible says. 15:08 Now, what's remarkable is that concerning God's law 15:11 one camp says: "do away", and the other 15:19 seeks to honor and obey; that's right on your 15:22 study guide. One camp says "we can modify," 15:25 "change, and interpret the laws of God", and other camp says 15:28 "No, we'll keep God's law by faith, we'll keep God's law" 15:32 "by His grace, we'll keep God's law by His power. " 15:36 So that's a remarkable contrast in Revelation, and we'll see 15:39 that develop further and still further, that God's faithful 15:42 people will be obeying God, and the Antichristian power 15:46 will be seeking to do away with the very laws and times 15:49 of God. We're back to the study guide, 15:51 hopefully we're getting everything filled in. 15:54 It says: "Which is the rock upon which the church" 15:57 "of Jesus Christ is built?" That's a question 15:59 that is often asked, and Scripture is absolutely clear 16:03 on this point: Jesus Christ is the Rock. 16:12 Consider the following text that unmistakably established 16:16 this. Some people say: "well wait" 16:18 "a minute, I thought that Jesus built His church upon Peter," 16:21 "isn't that what He said there? 'I'm going to build My church'" 16:24 "'upon Peter'?" We'll come back to that 16:27 in just a minute, let's look at a few texts though. 16:30 1 Corinthians 10:4, it says: [text on screen] 16:33 This is Paul recounting the experience of Moses 16:35 and the people in the wilderness. [text on screen] 16:47 Is that plain enough everyone? It's as plain as can be. 16:52 They all drank of the same spiritual drink that was, 16:55 remember, Moses stood there and he struck the rock 16:57 and what came out of the rock? Water. 17:00 And they all drank of that same spiritual drink and the Rock 17:04 that followed them was Christ, there's not mistaking 17:08 who the Rock was. We can look at another one, 17:10 Ephesians 2:20; again, the apostle Paul: [text on screen] 17:26 You know what a cornerstone is, right? 17:28 The corner stone is, especially in ancient times, 17:31 when we didn't have the quarrying and the hewing 17:34 facilities that we have today, you would find a nice 17:37 big solid rock and you would set that stone and you would 17:42 level that stone and you would put it right into place 17:45 and then everything else would build off of the cornerstone. 17:50 The cornerstone was where the plum line was, 17:53 the corner stone set the pace for the rest of the building. 17:56 If the cornerstone was off, the building would be off, 17:58 that's why you had your best stone, was your cornerstone. 18:01 Your most solid stone was your corner stone, and this 18:04 analogy taken from Psalm 118 is that Jesus is the cornerstone. 18:13 Who's the corner stone? Who's that first, critical piece 18:16 in the building of God's people? Jesus Christ. 18:20 Let's look at another one. Matthew 21:44, Jesus speaking. 18:26 Let's actually go to that verse. Go with me to Matthew 21, 18:30 let's look at that in our Bibles because I want you to see 18:33 the whole context, Matthew 21. 18:36 Matthew 21:42. 18:45 Jesus said to them, Matthew 21:42, 18:48 I still hear some pages, I'll wait for you, don't worry. 18:51 "Have you never read in the Scriptures, the stone" 18:55 "which the builders rejected has become the chief" 19:00 "cornerstone, this was the Lord's doing and it is" 19:03 "marvelous in our eyes. " This is Jesus speaking 19:06 to the religious leaders of His day, He says: 19:08 "Hey, haven't you read in Psalm 118", of course, 19:11 it wasn't called Psalm 118 at the time, but He's quoting 19:14 from what we would call Psalm 118, He says: 19:17 "Hey, haven't you read that the very stone that the builders" 19:19 "said, Nah, we don't need that stone, that that stone" 19:22 "became the chief stone, the cornerstone," 19:25 "the first stone. " Verse 43: 19:27 "Therefore I say to you", Jesus speaking to the religious 19:30 leaders of His day, "the kingdom of God will be taken away" 19:33 "from you, and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. " 19:36 Verse 44: [text on screen] 19:44 Who is that stone? Who's the chief cornerstone? 19:47 Jesus. Jesus is basically saying 19:49 to the religious leaders of His day: "You'd better come" 19:52 "to grips with who I am. Whoever falls on this stone," 19:55 "whoever confessed that he's a sinner in need of a Saviour," 19:58 "whoever falls on this stone will be broken," 20:01 "but if you don't fall on this stone, this stone will" 20:04 "grind you to powder. " Quick questions: 20:06 where does that imagery, does that sound familiar to us: 20:08 a stone grinding something to powder? 20:10 Does that sound familiar? What does that sound like? 20:13 It sounds like Daniel 2, doesn't it? 20:15 That's exactly the image that Jesus is drawing up here, 20:17 so the stone that struck the image was the kingdom of God 20:21 that grew and became a great mountain. 20:26 The kingdom of God becomes a great mountain 20:29 because Jesus is the chief cornerstone. 20:34 So our message is entitled: "The Rock that simply" 20:37 "will not roll". Now look at Matthew 7, 20:39 since you're there in Matthew, let's make it easy on you, 20:42 Matthew 7:24, Jesus speaking, 20:49 Matthew 7:24, He comes to the end of what's called 20:52 the Sermon on the Mount: "Therefore, whoever hears" 20:55 "these sayings of mine and does them, I will liken him" 20:58 "to a wise man, who built his house on rock, and the rain" 21:03 "descended and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat" 21:06 "on that house, and it did not fall for it was founded" 21:09 "upon the rock. For everyone who hears" 21:12 "these sayings of mine and does not do them" 21:15 "is like a foolish man who built his house on the sand," 21:18 "and the rains descended, and the floods came, and the wind" 21:20 "blew, and beat on that house and it fell, and great" 21:23 "was its fall. " Now look at verse 28: 21:26 "And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings" 21:29 "that the people were astonished at His teaching. " 21:31 Why? Why were they surprised? 21:33 Verse 29: "For He taught them as one having authority" 21:36 "and not as the scribes. " Jesus basically says: 21:39 "If you follow My words, if you obey what I'm" 21:41 "telling you here in the Sermon on the Mount," 21:44 "and in My other teachings, that's the equivalent" 21:47 "of building your house on a rock, but if you want to have" 21:50 "your own ideas, your own opinions, your own traditions," 21:52 "that's like building your house on the sand. " 21:56 So we ask the questions: Who was the rock that Jesus 22:00 built His church upon? It would be Jesus. 22:03 Now go to Matthew 16, somebody says Peter, 22:07 and I think they're just being a little facetious. 22:09 Go to Matthew 16. 22:14 I think that was Kevin, and he's clever, 22:17 so... ahhh... Matthew 16:13. 22:20 This is the verse, now you've got to hang in there 22:22 for this verse, and really understand it. 22:25 Do you want to understand this verse? 22:28 - [Audience] Yeah. - Yeah, me too. 22:30 So let's look at it, Matthew 16:13, Jesus takes 22:33 a Barna Report, He takes a public opinion survey. 22:36 "Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi," 22:39 "and He asked His disciples saying, Who do men say" 22:41 "that I, the Son of Man, am?" "I want to know what's" 22:44 "the word of the streets, what are people saying about Me?" 22:47 "Out there in the streets, who are people saying that I am?" 22:50 Then they begin to say, verse 14: "Some say" 22:52 "You're John the Baptist, some say Elijah," 22:55 "others say Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. " 22:57 Jesus says: "Okay, I'm satisfied that you give Me" 23:00 "an accurate representation of what others are saying", 23:03 there He says in verse 15: "Who do you say that I am?" 23:06 Then Peter speaks up on behalf of the rest of the apostles, 23:09 "Simon Peter answered and said, You are the Christ", 23:11 or the Messiah, same word. "Kristos" in the Greek 23:14 is "the anointed" and "Meshiach" in the Hebrew is "the anointed". 23:17 "You're the anointed, You're the Messiah," 23:19 "the Son of the living God. Jesus answered and said" 23:22 "to him, Blessed are you Simon Barjona," 23:24 "for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you," 23:27 "but My Father, who is in heaven. " 23:30 Here it is, verse 18, drum roll please: 23:32 "And I say to you that you are Peter, and on this Rock" 23:35 "I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not" 23:38 "prevail against it. " There it is, "Jesus is going" 23:40 "to build His church on Peter. " That's what people say, 23:43 they say: "Oh, that verse plainly teaches that Jesus" 23:46 "is going to build His church on Peter. " 23:48 There's just 3 problems with that, problem 1 is: 23:51 it does not agree with the rest of Scripture. 23:53 We've already seen who is the Rock. 23:57 Who's the rock? [Audience] Jesus. 23:59 Okay, that's the first problem. The second problem is 24:02 that notice He says "the gates of hell will not" 24:05 "prevail against it", but notice just in a few short verses, 24:07 the gates of hell do prevail against Peter. 24:10 Verse 21, that same chapter, verse 21: "From that time" 24:13 "Jesus began to show His disciples that He must" 24:16 "go to Jerusalem, that He must suffer many things from" 24:19 "the elders, and chief priests and scribes and be killed," 24:21 "and be raised the 3rd day. And Peter took Him aside" 24:24 "and began to rebuke Him", can you imagine Peter 24:27 rebuking the Lord of glory. He says: "Far be it from You," 24:30 "this is not going to happen to You. " 24:33 Verse 23: "And He turned and said to Peter, get behind Me," 24:39 "Satan". Question: "get behind me Satan," 24:42 "for you do not savor the things that be of God, but the things" 24:45 "that be of men. " Did the gates of hell 24:48 prevail against Peter? Yeah, about 20 seconds later. 24:52 He says: "You're Peter, and on this rock I'm going" 24:55 "to build my church and the gates of hell won't prevail" 24:58 "against it", and moments later He says: "I'm going to go" 25:01 "to Jerusalem, I'm going to be killed and I'll raise again" 25:04 "the third day", and Peter says: "No, this isn't going to happen" 25:06 and He says "Get behind me, Satan", that's proof positive 2 25:09 the gates of hell did prevail against Peter, 25:12 and reason 3, it's just a very simple matter of looking 25:15 at the actual language. Look at verse 18: 25:18 "I say that you are Peter. " The Greek word for Peter 25:22 is "petros", this doesn't come across in the English, 25:24 so you need to follow this: "You are 'Petros'", 25:27 the word "petros", you can look it up in any 25:30 Strong's Concordance of the Greek language, 25:32 "petros" is: [text on screen] 25:40 "... but upon this rock", and the word for rock is "Petra", 25:45 "large, monolithic, unmovable, mass of rock" 25:49 "I will build my church. " If you look at it 25:52 in the Greek it's so plain, first of all, you don't 25:55 have to know Greek, not at all, the Scripture makes 25:58 it very clear that Jesus is the chief cornerstone, 26:01 but in the language that's being employed here 26:04 it's very simple, He says: "You're Peter, you're a little" 26:06 "rolling stone, you go this way and that way," 26:09 "you say, Let me walk out onto the water and come after you" 26:12 "and then you sink 2 seconds later, you're a little" 26:14 "rolling stone and I'm glad you're following me," 26:17 "but I need a more stable, sure foundation" 26:20 "for my church, and upon this 'Petra', large, unmovable," 26:22 "monolithic, mass of rock I'm going to build my church. " 26:25 The church is built on Jesus, not on a sinful man. 26:30 So far so good? Okay, let's continue, 26:32 it gets even better. So notice, you can fill all 26:36 that in, what about Matthew 16? You should be able to fill 26:38 every bit in, so I'm on page 3. 26:43 No problem, you can do that, can't you? 26:46 I want to go back to a slide I just missed, and I want 26:49 to be crystal clear that I am not making fun of anyone, 26:54 I'm over that, we left those days back in junior high school, 26:59 the "nanny nanny, boo boo", "my dad can beat up" 27:01 "your dad", "your nose is too big", those days are over, okay? 27:04 What we're interested in is truth. 27:09 We've already said: God is not against people, 27:13 but God is against systems that obscure the person 27:19 of Jesus Christ. Now we're talking about 27:22 the changing of God's law. What we're actually going 27:24 to discover is that right in the heart of God's law, 27:28 the 10 commandment law, this power has actually 27:31 changed God's law. You say: "What?!" 27:34 "Impossible!" Of course, they can't actually 27:37 change it, but they've tried to change it. 27:40 One of the things that they've done is the second commandment 27:43 in the Catechism, notice, not the Bible, but the Catechism, 27:47 the 2nd commandment has been removed. 27:50 The 2nd commandment says: "Thou shalt not make unto thee" 27:53 "any graven image, or any likeness of anything" 27:55 "that is in the heaven above, the earth beneath," 27:58 "or the waters under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down" 28:01 "thyself to them, nor serve them, for I, the Lord thy God," 28:04 "am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers" 28:06 "upon the children unto the 3rd and 4th generation of them" 28:09 "that hate me, but showing mercy unto thousands of them" 28:12 "that love Me and keep My commandments. " 28:14 So far so good? That commandment is gone 28:17 in the Catechism, you don't believe me? 28:19 You go find any Catechism, it's gone in the Roman 28:22 church-state's Catechism. It is not there. 28:25 Well, that doesn't sound so good: 9 commandments. 28:28 We have to have the 10 commandments, so what happened 28:30 is the 10th commandment was divided into 2. 28:33 So there actually has been an effrontery, a frontal attack 28:36 on the very law of God, and this actually also begins to involve 28:38 the Sabbath commandment, which is the 4th commandment: 28:42 "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy, 6 days" 28:44 "shalt thou labor and do all thy work, but the 7th day" 28:47 "is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. " 28:50 Even that has been attacked and changed, we'll talk 28:53 more about that tomorrow. The point here is that 28:55 the 10 commandment law has been attacked directly by this power, 28:58 and that's one of the identifiers, Daniel said, 29:01 he would actually think to change the very laws of God 29:04 and supplant the laws of God with his traditions. 29:07 Now, you're there in Matthew 16, so go back 1 chapter 29:11 to Matthew 15, and let's just look at a very simple 29:15 outplaying of how this works when tradition comes into 29:18 contradistinction to God's law. Matthew 15:1: 29:23 "Then the scribes and the Pharisees who were from" 29:26 "Jerusalem saying, Why do your disciples transgress" 29:29 "the traditions of the elders, for they do not wash their" 29:33 "hands when they eat bread. " I recommend that you wash 29:36 your hands before you eat, but that was a ritual 29:39 cleansing that they were talking about, not so much 29:42 for cleanliness, but a ritual cleansing. 29:44 Verse 3: "He answered and said to them, Why do you" 29:47 "transgress the command of God because of your tradition?" 29:50 "For God commanded, saying, Honor your father" 29:53 "and your mother, and he that curses father and mother," 29:56 "let him be put to death. " Which of the 10 commandments 29:58 is that? "Honor thy father and" 30:01 "thy mother", that's number 5. 30:03 Verse 5 says: "But you say, whoever says to his father" 30:07 "or mother, whatever profit you might have received" 30:09 "from me, it is a gift to God, then He need not honor" 30:12 "his father or mother, thus you have made" 30:15 "the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition. " 30:20 This is very simple, there was a tradition that basically said; 30:25 first of all, we know that we should all take care 30:27 of our parents because they took care of us when we were 30:30 little babies, just very simple, that's just good common sense. 30:33 So too in the time of Jesus, so too in the time of the disciples 30:38 so too even for that, "honor thy father and thy mother". 30:41 When they get older and they need your help, and they need 30:44 assistance, you take care of them, not just in terms 30:47 of physically, but you give them financial resources if 30:50 they need, it's just basic common sense, it's also 30:52 a Biblical principle, but what was happening in the days 30:55 of Jesus is that they were saying is the money that you 30:58 normally would give to your parents who need your 31:01 assistance because they're retired and can't work anymore, 31:04 that money, you can actually take that money and bring 31:07 it to the temple and God understands. 31:10 So there was a tradition that money that could have gone 31:12 to your parents, or should have gone to your parents, 31:15 if it was given to the temple God understood. 31:18 Jesus says "Hey, wait a minute, you're giving My disciples" 31:21 "a hard time because they break your silly traditions?" 31:23 "You violate the very command of God by your sill tradition" 31:26 "that says you can neglect your parents just to make" 31:29 "a contribution to the temple", and guess who was the recipients 31:32 of the moneys that went to the temple: the very people 31:35 that upheld that tradition. Are we all together so far? 31:38 Let's pick it up in verse 7: "You hypocrites!" 31:40 He says "You're hypocrites", "Well did Isaiah prophesy" 31:43 "about you saying", now look at verse 8 and 9, phenomenal, 31:46 "these people draw near to Me with their mouth and honor" 31:49 "Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me", 31:53 and look at verse 9, it's so phenomenally easy to understand: 31:58 "in vain to they worship Me, teaching as doctrines" 32:02 "the commandments of men. " Could the be any plainer? 32:08 When the traditions of man come into conflict with God's law 32:12 and God's word, which one has to be subordinate to the other? 32:16 Tradition is subordinate to the laws of God. 32:20 Very interesting. So what we find is when 32:23 we go to the teachings, the actual teachings of the Roman 32:26 Church-state, tradition has superseded the very laws 32:31 of God, just as prophecy said, that they would think to change 32:34 the very times and laws of God. 32:40 You're there still on your study guide, it says: 32:43 Really this is what we would expect when we consider 32:46 Jesus' words - I'm at the top of page 3- in passages like 32:49 Matthew 5:17,18, Jesus said: [text on screen] 33:13 Jesus says "Hey listen, even the earth, this solid earth," 33:18 "the terra firma is less stable than God's law. " 33:22 So far so good? Okay, now buckle your safety 33:25 belt because this gets incredible. 33:28 The law of God, the big Biblical picture. 33:31 The law of God is solid, unmovable, and unchangeable, 33:34 it is a transcript of God's own character, that's the word 33:38 you'd write in there, it is a transcript of the character 33:41 of God; God is holy, the law is holy, 33:44 God is good, the law is good, God is righteous, the law 33:47 is righteous, the law is a transcript of the very character 33:50 of God. Abraham kept God's law, 33:55 so did Moses and the many Old Testament prophets, 33:57 and Jesus, and the disciples. Now, some people say 34:02 "well wait a minute, I thought the law began with Moses. " 34:04 "I thought the law began in the days of Moses. " 34:07 No, no, no. Did Cain sin, yes or no? 34:11 Yeah, Cain sinned when He murdered Abel because there 34:16 was a command that said "Thou shalt not kill. " 34:20 So Genesis 26:5: [text on screen] 34:25 Who came first: Abraham or Moses? 34:28 Abraham because it was Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, then 34:30 the children of Israel went to Egypt for 400 years, 34:33 and then Moses came out of that, so Abraham is before Moses 34:36 by several hundred years. [text on screen] 34:43 Did God have commandments in the days of Abraham? 34:46 Sure He did. [continues reading text] 34:49 What did happen in the days of Moses is that the law 34:52 of God was codified. You say "what does codified mean?" 34:58 It's a fancy-dancy word for "written down". 35:01 It was written in the days of Moses, you say "Oh really?" 35:06 "It was written in the days of Moses?" 35:08 Look, this gets incredible. The law of God came directly 35:14 from God to Moses. As if that wasn't enough, 35:19 the law of God was written, God's 10 commandment law 35:22 was written with His own finger. Look at the book of Exodus, 35:27 second book of the Bible, Exodus 31. 35:32 Just quickly look at it, Exodus 31, don't take my word 35:35 for it, let's see what the Bible says, Exodus 31:18. 35:40 Second book of the Old Testament, you can find it. 35:45 Exodus 31:18. It says: "And when He had made" 35:51 "an end of speaking with him on Mount Sinai," 35:54 "He", being God, "gave Moses 2 tablets of the testimony," 35:59 "tablets of stone written with the finger of God. " 36:05 So they were written by who? God wrote them. 36:08 You can fill in all the blanks. The law of God was written 36:11 by the finger of God on tablets of stone. 36:15 You might be looking at that picture and thinking 36:18 "Hmmm, the 10 commandments look a little blue there, I've never" 36:21 "seen that before. " Who thinks those commandments 36:24 look a little blue? 36:26 Yeah, they're purposefully blue, I made them blue, 36:29 and I'll explain why in just a moment. 36:31 What happened is that Moses comes down the mountain 36:34 with these 2 tablets of stone that have the 10 commandments 36:37 on them, and God had told him specifically what to do with 36:40 those commandments. He was to take them 36:42 and put them into the Ark of the Covenant. 36:45 You remember "Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark". 36:50 How many people have heard of the Ark of the Covenant before? 36:53 We think "Oh, it's so holy"; let me tell you what the Ark 36:56 is all about. The Ark is a glorified box. 37:01 That's what the Ark is. Do you know what made 37:04 the Ark so special? It wasn't the Ark itself, 37:07 it's what's inside of the Ark, if you go to a shoe store 37:10 and you say "Oh, I really like those shoes, I've got to have" 37:13 "that pair of shoes right there, that's the shoes I want. " 37:16 They say "Well, we'll go and see if we have your size. " 37:19 So they run in the back and sure enough, they come out 37:21 and they say "Yep, we don't have the shoes in your size," 37:24 "but we've got the box. " [Audience laughs] 37:27 "We've got the box", are you going to buy the box? 37:30 No, because you're interested in what's inside of the box. 37:32 If they came out and they said "Oh yeah, we do have" 37:35 "those shoes right in your size, but we don't have the box", 37:38 would you take the shoes? Sure, because you want 37:40 what's in the box, not the box itself. What really makes 37:44 the Ark special, we think "Oh, the Ark with the cherubim" 37:46 "and the gold plating, and the mercy seat", what made the Ark 37:50 so special is that what was inside of it was the very 37:54 tablets of stone written by God's own finger. 38:00 That's what made that thing so special, phenomenal. 38:04 In fact, I gave you the verse right there, so it says: 38:06 The law as placed in the Ark. Why did God write His law 38:12 on tables of stone? To show that it was temporary, 38:15 transient, and passing away, right? 38:17 My dad used to say to me, in fact, I remember one time 38:20 I was on vacation with him down in Corpus Christi, Texas, 38:23 and there was a hurricane, this is years and years ago, 38:25 there's a hurricane off in the distance, you could actually 38:28 see the waves frothing up and doing their thing. 38:31 I lived in South Dakota, we don't have many oceans 38:34 in South Dakota, and I was looking at that ocean, 38:36 and it was hot, and I wanted to get out there and I said 38:39 "Dad, can I go swimming?" He said "No, you're not" 38:42 "going swimming, boy. " We walked a little further 38:45 down the beach and I said "Papa, I've got to go swimming," 38:47 "can I please go swimming?" He said "Boy, you're not going" 38:50 "swimming", remember I told you my dad was a military dad, 38:53 36 years in the military; I asked him one more time, 38:55 I said "Dad, please can I go swimming?", and I'll never 38:58 forget, he turned around with that index finger that's about 39:01 that long and he pointed right at me, he said: 39:04 "Boy, you ain't going swimming and that's written in stone!" 39:07 [Audience laughs] 39:09 What did that means? Did that mean "ask one more" 39:12 "time and he'll let me go?" [Audience] No. 39:14 It meant "case closed, if you want to eat tonight" 39:17 "stop asking. " So when God writes His law 39:20 on tables of stone what He's saying is it doesn't change. 39:22 This is phenomenal, buckle your safety belts: Blue Commandments? 39:25 That's the subheading, "Blue Commandments?" 39:28 You've got to be kidding me. As amazing as it sounds, 39:31 the 10 commandments were blue. 39:34 How do we know that? They were carved out of the very 39:37 throne of God, which is made of blue sapphire. 39:41 Open your Bible to Exodus 24. I'm going to show you 39:45 something here that is going to absolutely blow your mind. 39:49 Exodus 24:9. 39:58 This is Mount Sinai, "Then Moses went up, also Aaron, Nadab," 40:01 "and Abihu, and 70 of the elders of Israel, and they saw" 40:04 "the God of Israel, and there was under His feet a paved work" 40:09 "of sapphire stone. " What color is sapphire? 40:12 [Audience] Blue. "... a sapphire stone, and it" 40:15 "was like the very heavens in its clarity, but on the nobles" 40:18 "of the children of Israel he did not lay His hands" 40:20 "so they saw God and they ate and they drank. " 40:23 They go up to confirm the covenant, that was common. 40:26 What do we do when we have a wedding? 40:29 After a wedding what do you go to? A meal. 40:32 That's a tradition, that's ancient, because after 40:35 a covenant is sealed you have a meal, here the covenant 40:37 was sealed and they had a meal. Jesus, when He seals the new 40:40 covenant in the upper room in the New Testament has 40:43 the last supper, so here they're having a meal, and they're 40:46 sealing the covenant. This happens even today in 40:48 business partnerships, a great big business deal goes through, 40:51 a big merger of 2 companies, they have a big party, 40:54 they have a dinner, why? Because they're sealing 40:57 the covenant. Now look at verse 12: 40:59 "Then the Lord said to Moses, Come up to Me on the mountain" 41:02 "and I will be there, and I will give you tablets of stone" 41:05 "and the law and commandments, which I have written" 41:08 "that you may teach them. " Now this is interesting. 41:11 Keep your finger right there, and look at your study guide. 41:14 Underneath the feet of God there was a pavement like blue 41:17 sapphire stone. I've given you 2 texts there, 41:20 Ezekiel 1 and Ezekiel 10, you can go look at those verses, 41:23 and it will show you that God's throne is made of sapphire; 41:28 as plain as can be, in Ezekiel 10:1 Ezekiel says 41:31 "I saw God's sapphire throne. " So what's His throne made of? 41:36 - [Audience] Sapphire. - Now look at this: 41:38 Note especially Exodus 24:12, "Then the Lord said to Moses," 41:42 "Come up to Me on the mountain and be there, and I will" 41:44 "give you tablets of stone and the law, and the commandments," 41:48 "which I have written, that you may teach them. " 41:51 The literal rendering in the Hebrew reads: "I will give you" 41:55 "tablets of THE stone", that's what you'd write in there. 42:00 Now, that's the definite article "I'm going to give you" 42:03 "tablets of THE stone. " You say "what stone?" 42:06 The only other stone that's mentioned is mentioned 2 verses 42:09 before, it's "THE sapphire stone" that God is standing on, 42:13 and that His throne is made of. God says "You come up," 42:17 "I'm going to give you 2 tablets of the stone. " 42:20 The only other stone that's mentioned in context 42:23 is that sapphire stone. Now it gets even better, 42:26 look at this: It's a specific stone, the only stone mentioned 42:29 in this passage is the one found in verse 10, a sapphire stone, 42:33 so the 10 commandments were carved out of that blue sapphire 42:35 stone that makes up God's standing platform and throne. 42:38 Talk about awesome! And look at Exodus 32:16, 42:41 I've written it in here for you, "Now the tablets were" 42:44 "the work of God. " We like to say that God 42:48 wrote it with His own finger, but according to that verse, 42:51 not only did God write it, God made those tablets. 42:55 Do you know what He made them out of? 42:56 A blue sapphire stone. The tablets were the work 43:00 of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved 43:02 on tablets; so both the tablets, and the writing were the work 43:05 of God. We're just getting started, 43:09 look at the next paragraph: The Jews were required 43:12 to wear blue tassels on the borders of their garments. 43:15 How many of you new that? 43:18 Open your Bibles to Numbers 15, I appreciate those responses. 43:21 Numbers 15. You're in Exodus, 43:24 come on, see if you can beat me there, Leviticus, Numbers. 43:27 Chapter what? [Audience] 15. Can you beat me there? 43:30 I'm there! Numbers 15:37. 43:37 I've got 11 minutes and 30 seconds, let's go! 43:40 Numbers 15. You've got to see this, 43:45 this is out of this world. Verse 37, again, "The Lord" 43:48 "spoke to Moses", who spoke to Moses? [Audience] The Lord. 43:50 So this was God's idea, verse 38: "Speak to" 43:53 "the children of Israel and tell them to make tassels" 43:57 "on the corners of their garments throughout" 44:00 "their generations and to put a blues thread in the tassels" 44:03 "of the corners. " What, is this a fashion statement? 44:06 Why is God so interested in the blue? Why blue? 44:09 Look at verse 39, He tells us why blue. 44:11 "And you shall have the tassel that you may look upon it" 44:14 "and remember all the commandments of the Lord" 44:22 "and do them", now notice this, this is phenomenal, "that you" 44:26 "may not following the harlotry. " 44:31 That's what it says, "I don't want you to be a harlot," 44:34 "leave My commandments and go after the world", 44:36 "that you may not follow the harlotry to which your own" 44:39 "heart and your own eyes are inclined, and that you may" 44:41 "remember and do all My commandments, and be holy," 44:45 "for I am your God, I am the Lord, God, who brought you" 44:48 "out of the land of Egypt. " Isn't this fascinating? 44:50 God says: "Moses, tell the children of Israel that if" 44:53 "they're My people, the Jewish people, they're going to put" 44:56 "a fringe on the borders of their garment, and there's" 44:59 "going to be a tassel there, and that tassel has to be blue", 45:01 and then He says, "because I want them to remember" 45:04 "My commandments. " Why blue? 45:06 Why would blue remind them of the commandments? 45:09 Because the commandments were written on blue sapphire stone. 45:13 You think "Wow, that's amazing, I didn't know that. " 45:16 Well, it gets even better, again, we're just getting 45:19 started. Look at this now, it says, 45:21 where am I at? Here I am. 45:23 I'm at the Macedonian Cultural Arts Center, that's where 45:26 I'm at. Here we go. 45:28 This is phenomenal, open your Bible to the book of Revelation. 45:31 Revelation 17. You've already learned a lot 45:35 more about the book of Revelation than you think. 45:38 What's a woman in Bible prophecy? A church. 45:41 What's a beast in Bible prophecy? A kingdom. 45:44 So what you find in Revelation 17 is a woman 45:47 on a beast. Think about it: a woman 45:49 on a beast would be a church that's in control of the state. 45:55 You see, that's very simple, a woman in Bible prophecy's 45:58 a church, a beast in Bible prophecy's a nation, 46:01 so here in Revelation 17 you have an unfaithful woman, 46:04 a harlot woman, on the back of a beast, so you have 46:07 an unfaithful church in charge of the state. 46:09 It's going to get better, watch. Revelation 17:1: "And one of" 46:12 "the 7 angels who had 7 bowls came and talked with me" 46:15 "saying to me 'Hey, come here, I want to show you something'," 46:18 "the judgment of the great harlot", or whore, "who sits" 46:21 "on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth have" 46:23 "committed fornication, the inhabitants of the earth" 46:26 "were made drunk with the wine of her fornication. " 46:29 "So he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness," 46:31 "and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was" 46:34 "full of the names of blasphemy, having 7 heads and 10 horns. " 46:37 This all sounds familiar. Verse 4: "And the woman" 46:40 "was arrayed in purple, and scarlet and adorned with gold," 46:44 "and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand" 46:47 "a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness" 46:50 "of her fornication, and on her head a name was written:" 46:53 "Mystery, Babylon the Great, The mother of harlots, and of" 46:56 "the abominations of the earth" This is fascinating, 46:58 verse 6 says that this woman was drunk with the blood of 47:01 the saints, so this is a persecuting, unfaithful church. 47:04 Look in your study guide, a chaste woman would be 47:09 a faithful church with 1 husband, a harlot woman 47:11 would be an unfaithful church with numerous lovers. 47:18 I want you to notice the 3 colors that that woman 47:21 was wearing, see if you can remember them, what 3 colors? 47:23 Purple, and scarlet and gold. 47:29 Go to Exodus 28, phenomenal. Here God gives very specific 47:36 instructions to Moses about how the priests were to dress. 47:42 Everything was specific, it had to be just a certain way. 47:46 Sometimes people have a hard time reading the last part of 47:48 Exodus and all of Leviticus, you get trapped up in there. 47:52 Beloved listen, Leviticus is an instruction manual, the last 47:56 half of Exodus is an instruction manual, God was giving them 47:59 very explicit instructions how to conduct themselves 48:02 in the sanctuary, and how to build the sanctuary, 48:04 and how to dress in the sanctuary, and how to perform 48:07 the rites and rituals of the sanctuary. 48:10 So in Exodus 28 God says "This is how Aaron and his sons" 48:13 "are supposed to dress... " Exodus 28:31: 48:16 "You shall make the robe of the ephod", that was what 48:20 the priests wore, "all of blue. there shall be an opening" 48:25 "for his head in the middle of it, it shall have a woven" 48:28 "binding all around its opening, like the opening in a coat" 48:31 "of mail, so it does not tear, and upon its hem you shall" 48:34 "make pomegranates of blue, and purple and scarlet" 48:40 "all around its hem, and bells of gold between them all. " 48:44 Wow, isn't this interesting? Look at the colors 48:46 that the high priest was supposed to wear: purple, 48:49 scarlet, blue and gold. What were the 3 colors 48:53 that the woman was wearing? Scarlet, purple and gold. 48:58 So she's wearing the colors of the high priests, but what 49:01 color is absent? [Audience] Blue. 49:04 Why? Because she's forgotten the commandments and the law 49:08 of God. 49:13 Let's keep going, what is the purpose of the law? 49:17 Some people say "Wait a minute, I thought we were New Testament" 49:23 "Christians, what's all this talk about the law?" 49:27 Remember, we already read in the book of Revelation 49:32 that God's last day... is Revelation in the New 49:34 Testament or the Old Testament? New Testament. 49:37 So it says in the New Testament that God's people will be 49:40 keeping His law. Amen? [Audience] Amen. 49:43 You might be thinking "Whoa, Pastor Asscherick, that's great" 49:45 "you made that up", you wish I made it up, I didn't make 49:48 it up, the harlot woman of Revelation 17, she was wearing 49:51 gold, and purple, and scarlet, but she didn't have blue. 49:56 Now look at this, this is taken from "The Legends of the Jews", 49:58 Vol. 3, by Louis Ginzberg, page 118, 119. 50:04 Beloved, this is what the Jews have historically believed 50:07 about the 10 commandment law, that it was written on 50:10 the very stone taken from God's throne. 50:13 Look at this: [text on screen] 50:23 That's what the Jews have believed. 50:26 Those 10 commandments weren't made out of some rock, 50:30 some rock that Moses just found in the Sinai desert floor. 50:33 No! They were carved out of a blue sapphire stone, 50:37 and look at this one, also from Ginsberg's "Legends of the Jews" 50:40 Vol. 6, page 49, [text on screen] 50:51 Beloved, I want you to think about that, the law of God 50:54 is taken from the very throne of God. 50:59 Remember, where was that law placed? 51:02 In the Ark, do you know what the Ark is a symbol of? 51:05 The throne of God. We had the 2 angels 51:08 that came up and what was between those 2 angels? 51:12 The mercy seat, and what was above the mercy seat? 51:15 The Shekinah glory, which represented the very presence 51:17 of God Himself; it was the presence of God Himself. 51:21 So here in the Most Holy place of the heavenly sanctuary 51:23 is the mercy seat, the throne, and what's under the throne? 51:28 The tablets of stone made out of blue sapphire, cut from the very 51:32 throne of God. The Antichrist power says: 51:36 "Bah, we can do away... " You what?! 51:43 Can you do away with God's throne? Impossible. 51:47 Now let's wrap this up, first of all, the law is like 51:51 a mirror, it is not like a bar of soap. 51:57 What is the purpose of the law? Write there on your sheet: 52:00 the law is like a mirror, the law is designed to show us 52:02 2 things, 1- the righteousness of God, 52:08 and 2- the unrighteousness of man, that's the purpose 52:12 of the law. Have you ever had a black 52:14 bean on your tooth? Have you ever gone out 52:17 and eaten Mexican and got a bean on your tooth? 52:20 Anyone ever done that? A big old piece of parsley 52:23 on your tooth, ever done that? For those of you who are 52:25 married, have you ever got home and been washing you face 52:28 before you go to bed, and then you see that big piece of bean 52:31 on your tooth, ever done that? Yeah, it happens to me too. 52:34 I remember one time it happened to me, I turned to my wife, 52:36 I said "Sweetie!", we had been visiting with our friends 52:39 for 2 or 3 hours after we ate, "Sweetie! Do you see this?" 52:42 [Audience laughs] "Can you see that sweetie?" 52:45 She said "Oh yeah, you've got a great big piece of bean," 52:47 "I've been meaning to tell you that all night. " 52:50 I say "Sweetie, I've got news for you: I can't see that!" 52:53 "My eyes don't do that, so I need you to tell me" 52:56 "that that's there, you're my help meet, help me out now. " 53:01 The mirror told me that I had a problem, the mirror didn't 53:06 solve my problem. Someone say "amen"! 53:09 - [Audience] Amen. - The mirror told me I had 53:12 a need, the mirror tells me I need help. 53:19 The law is like a mirror, this is what James says 53:22 in the New Testament. "A man looks into the perfect" 53:25 "law of liberty and when we look into that mirror we see" 53:28 "that we are all unrighteous, there is none that does good," 53:31 "no, not one. " The law tells us God is 53:33 righteous, we're unrighteous, we need a Saviour. 53:38 Can you imagine trying to take that mirror and trying to scrub 53:41 your face up? The purpose of God's law 53:44 is to show us how righteous He is, and conversely, 53:46 how unrighteous we are, and then drive us to Jesus because 53:51 we need a Saviour to take away our unrighteousness and our sin. 53:56 That's the purpose of the law. We don't keep the law of God 54:00 in order to be saved, in fact, go right down to your study 54:02 guide, the underlined portion says: So God's faithful 54:06 will keep His law because they love Him, not in order to be 54:09 saved, but because they are saved. 54:12 Some people today say "don't worry about that old law," 54:16 "the law has been done away with, the law has been nailed" 54:18 "to the cross", whoa! Something was nailed 54:21 to the cross, but let me tell you what wasn't nailed 54:24 to the cross, it wasn't God's 10 commandment law. 54:27 Which one of those commandments do you want to get rid of, 54:30 I just gave them to you quickly in brief, which one do you 54:32 want to throw out? The one that says you can have 54:35 other God's, number 1 Anyone here want to throw 54:38 that one out? How about 2, that says don't 54:41 worship an image, anyone want to throw that one out? 54:43 How about 3 that says we're not going to take the name 54:46 of the Lord thy God in vain, anyone here, any New Testament 54:49 Christian want to say we don't need that? 54:51 How about 4 that says "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy" 54:54 let's throw that one out, right? How about the one that says 54:57 "honor your father and your mother", should we get 54:59 rid of that one as New Testament Christians? 55:02 Oh, but the one that says "don't kill", that's for 55:05 the Old Testament; I don't think so. 55:08 How about the one that says "Thou shalt not steal", 55:10 or "commit adultery"? No. What about the one that says 55:13 "don't lie?" Or the one that says... 55:16 Which one are you going to get rid of? 55:18 - [Audience] None of them. - Amen. 55:21 The difference is the New Testament was trying to 55:24 communicate to us that we don't keep the law in order 55:26 to be saved, but because we are saved, the law tells us 55:29 we need a Saviour, the law drives us to Jesus 55:32 and Jesus saves us. Then God gives us power 55:35 to keep His law, not in order to be saved, but because 55:37 we are saved. 55:39 The law is like a mirror! I want to ask 2 questions 55:42 as we close tonight, and the ministry partners are going 55:45 to be handing out a decision card, in fact they're going 55:48 to stand up and do that right now; my ministry partners are 55:50 just ready to go just like that, a decision card. 55:53 2 questions tonight's as we close, 1: has this presentation 55:56 been clear, yes or no? [Audience] Yes. 55:58 Do you see the conflict over the law of God, that God's law 56:01 is eternal and lasting, but others are going to try 56:04 to take away from that law. Do you see the conflict, 56:07 yes or no? [Audience] Yes. 56:09 Daniel 7 says that the Antichristian power is actually 56:12 going to seek to try to do away with God's law, yet God's law 56:15 is eternal, it's immutable, it's everlasting. 56:17 We saw in Revelation that that woman was actually wearing 56:20 the colors of the high priest, but she didn't have blue, why? 56:23 Because she had forgotten God's commandments. 56:26 Beloved, we do need the law, but the law doesn't save us. 56:32 Someone say amen to that. [Audience] Amen. 56:34 I want to say it again, the law doesn't save us, only Jesus 56:37 can save us. 56:41 So you've got a card in front of you, I just want to quickly 56:44 go over it. Please take a moment 56:46 to fill that out, our ministry partners are putting 56:49 there cards in your hands, if anyone needs one just lift 56:52 your hand up to heaven. I see one there, excellent. 56:54 1, it say: "I understood tonight's presentation", 56:57 please fill this out, it helps me to know if we're 57:00 getting it. I look at these cards 57:02 and it's very helpful for me to know, are we getting it? 57:05 1- "I understood tonight's presentation", 57:08 2- "I reaffirm my personal acceptance of Jesus Christ's" 57:10 "death for me. " Do you want to do that, 57:13 just check it, say "Yeah, tonight, hallelujah, glory to" 57:16 "God, I reaffirm my commitment to Jesus, I'll do that. " 57:18 If I had a pen up here I'd fill that out no problem. 57:21 3- "For the first time I want to accept Jesus Christ" 57:24 "as my personal Saviour from sin and death. " 57:26 If you've never accepted Christ as your personal Saviour 57:29 before, this'll be the time to do it. 57:32 Or maybe you did, a long time ago, so long ago you can 57:35 barely remember, and you want to come back, you check that. 57:38 4- "I have wandered from God and His plan for my life," 57:40 "and I want to return to Him. " Check that if that applies 57:43 to you. 5- "I'd like to be baptized. " 57:46 As we've already said, Thursday night we begin our baptismal 57:49 class right over here. We're going to have a baptism 57:51 at the end of this meeting, not this meeting, but at 57:55 the end of the month we're going to have a powerful baptism. |
Revised 2014-12-17