Participants: John Lomacang (Host), John Stanton
Series Code: HCL
Program Code: HCL100012
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00:01 Hello, friends, grab your Bible
00:02 and a friend and sit back as we explore 00:05 God's word together on this edition of House Calls. 00:22 Friends, welcome to the most 00:23 exciting program on television. 00:25 If we didn't believe that we wouldn't be here. 00:27 And that's why, John and John, 00:29 are in the saddle together again. 00:30 So thank you for tuning in 00:32 and it's always good to know that I'm not by myself, 00:36 and John, thank you 00:37 for chaperoning me on this program. 00:39 Yeah, hey, it's good to monitor you 00:41 and make sure I can keep you in line 00:42 and everything else that goes along with that, 00:44 because you can get out of control sometimes. 00:46 That's right, I get happy about the word of God. 00:48 All right, well, it's an exciting program 00:50 we've got, actually a new series today, that's right. 00:52 And we'll get into that here in just a minute, 00:54 but I know that we like to start with prayer, 00:55 so why don't we do that, okay. 00:57 All right, gracious Father in Heaven, 00:59 we just pray for Your blessing here today 01:01 that You would open up the word 01:02 in a way that maybe we don't even comprehend 01:05 in the way You move and lead 01:07 and give us knowledge and wisdom 01:08 and we just put it in your hands. 01:10 We pray that each heart that is watching, 01:12 that is listening will also receive a word 01:14 from You here today, in Jesus name, amen. 01:17 Amen, and on that note friends, 01:19 don't forget to get your Bibles, 01:20 get your pens and get all the questions 01:24 that you would like to share with us 01:26 and you can send those to housecalls@3abn.org 01:30 that's housecalls@3abn.org. 01:33 And, we know that your questions 01:34 make a difference on this program 01:37 and also if you want to hit the record button, 01:39 because today our topic is "Dressing up for God." 01:43 It's one that we're gonna be covering 01:44 in a number of programs. 01:46 It's more than just a gleaming topic, John. 01:49 It's more like an exhaustive study 01:51 on the topic of what the Bible says 01:52 about appropriate dress and adornment. 01:54 And by the way, this is not something 01:56 that is just denominational, this is scriptural. 02:00 I remember looking at a magazine article 02:03 and it was really amazing how the picture said it all 02:07 where there was somebody coming to church, 02:09 and the way they were dressed, 02:12 the usher was by the door and said, 02:14 I know you're not coming up in here 02:15 dress like that and it wasn't an Adventist Magazine, yeah. 02:19 Very amazing article talking about 02:21 how important is for Christians to remember 02:23 that the world doesn't set the trend 02:25 for the Christian Church, but the Christian Church 02:27 should be a reflection to the world 02:30 of what God would want us to be. 02:32 It's a very important topic-- 02:33 And a few years ago this wasn't a big issue. 02:35 They shouldn't come up much, 02:36 because it didn't matter really 02:37 what church you attended, 02:40 typically you didn't have a lot of debate 02:43 about the subject, because people were 02:44 fairly modestly dressed. 02:46 I don't care what church it is, 02:47 you look there and you didn't have 02:49 a ton of jewelry and everybody ducked out. 02:51 Now it's a little different, 02:52 things have changed in the world 02:54 and the church is kind of following 02:56 the world in many respects, 02:57 so it's time to get back to the word 02:58 which we'll do today. 02:59 That's right, and by the way 03:01 I know you have questions 03:02 and if at any point in the program, 03:04 a question comes up in your mind, 03:05 send that question to housecalls@3abn.org 03:08 that's housecalls@3abn.org and we'll download 03:12 those questions and hopefully get an answer 03:14 to you as soon as we can. 03:15 But John, why don't you begin 03:16 with our question today, 03:17 what do you have for us? 03:18 You know, I've had a couple of questions today 03:20 and I like to spend all our time 03:22 on these two questions, 03:23 at least our question and answer time, all right. 03:25 Because they're almost the antithesis 03:27 of the type of question that we would get. 03:30 One is a pursuer of the word, 03:32 wants to know the truth, the other one is wondering, 03:35 why the truth is so important? 03:37 And why we belabor on some issues 03:40 especially with regard to the Sabbath truth. 03:42 And so we'll look at both these questions 03:44 and we'll answer maybe using similar text 03:46 to answer both questions. 03:48 But let me read you the first one here. 03:50 This one is from Linda, and she says, 03:53 "John and John, hope you're both well 03:55 and the weather is nice. 03:56 I am having a discussion with my pastor. 04:00 He says, you can choose the day you worship, 04:02 Saturday or Sunday. 04:04 You can eat anything you want. 04:06 There is no black or white in the church, 04:08 but grey areas. 04:09 To be saved, you only need to believe in Christ. 04:12 Baptism isn't the importance, isn't the important thing. 04:17 There are many forms, I don't agree with this 04:20 and asked him to show me the verse that says this, 04:23 also to give me the churches interpretation of each. 04:26 He gave me these verses and she quotes from 04:31 Hebrews 4:1 through 12, 8:13, 04:35 Colossians 2, the entire Chapter Genesis 9:3, 04:38 several others here. 04:40 He said, these will lead you 04:41 into the churches interpretation. 04:43 And she said she read those, 04:44 she still doesn't understand the churches interpretation. 04:47 So, she is confused about this, okay. 04:50 Anyway then she goes down, 04:52 let me read a little further here. 04:56 But especially about the subject of eating 04:57 anything you want, the Bible doesn't seem to say that. 05:00 Please let me know if you can help me 05:02 understand these issues. 05:03 This is a non-denominational church that she attends. 05:06 Okay, so a woman who is pursuing the word 05:10 wants to know the truth, 05:12 has a little bit of struggle taking each topic 05:15 and going through the word 05:16 and finding all that says about that, that topic. 05:19 And so that's the first question. 05:20 Now, let me read the second question. 05:21 Oh, yeah, okay. Equally is amazing. 05:24 Okay, here we go. The age of computers, right. 05:30 Okay, this question is 05:31 for the two John's on House Calls. 05:33 I am a believer born again in Jesus Christ 05:36 and I'm one who goes to church on a Sunday. 05:38 My question is how come you're sure, 05:40 how can you be sure the Sabbath is Saturday? 05:43 And the Bible never says that God started 05:46 creating the world on any specific day. 05:49 How do you know that when the Bible said 05:51 that God rested on the Sabbath, 05:52 it was not a Monday, Thursday and so on? 05:56 If it said that He started on Sunday 05:59 then we can say for sure, yes, Sabbath is Saturday. 06:02 And I can say the same thing for Sunday, 06:04 the day that I worship on. 06:06 Another thing, is it so important 06:08 that about what we-- what day we worship on? 06:11 The truth is that I've chosen 06:14 to go to church and worship. 06:15 Have you ever heard that the vertebra, 06:18 heard of the vertebra and the rib, 06:20 to me this is a rib issue, 06:21 it's not such a big deal to God. 06:24 As long as He has my heart 06:26 and I've a relationship with Him, 06:28 to me this is what is important. 06:32 Can you explain to me how it is than 06:35 that when I attend church in the presence of the Lord 06:37 when He is there our church is being blessed 06:40 and that there is so much love there, 06:43 lives are being changed not only by sermons. 06:46 Don't you think that if we were doing something wrong, 06:49 God would bother showing-- 06:51 God wouldn't bother showing up. 06:54 See here, one time I was getting to the point 06:56 where I was grasping for so much at one time 06:58 that I said to Jesus, Lord, this is so hard 07:01 and I literally felt His hands touch 07:02 one of my shoulders and this is no joke, 07:05 He said these were His words, child I am so simple. 07:09 And from that very moment I got calm and understood 07:12 that He is about the relationship with Him 07:15 and the love of others. 07:16 Why pollute the water with things like this. 07:19 These things are rib issues not vertebra. 07:22 And she goes on to talk about, 07:23 you know, the Sabbath Sunday issue 07:24 is not really the big issue 07:27 and anyway why can't we just agree to get along, 07:33 I believe in Jesus and then it won't matter so much." 07:37 So yeah, sometimes there, it's very long quote, 07:41 so I am going to paraphrase a little bit there, 07:42 but you can see the antithesis here of both questions. 07:46 And I am not saying the questions 07:48 are right and wrong, 07:50 but you see the approach here from one side is, 07:54 give me the word, 07:55 tell me what the Bible says and I'm gonna do it. 07:56 The other one is I know when you say the Bible says 08:00 and I know that, you know, the Bible is important 08:03 to Christianity, but does it really matter. 08:05 Okay, and we'll hear on some of these issues too, 08:09 because I know that we need 08:10 to at least address some of them. 08:13 Let's address the Sabbath first, 08:14 because that was the big issue with the sender, 08:17 at the second question that I read there. 08:19 You know, the first thing I think she mentioned was 08:22 how do we know that the Sabbath is Saturday? 08:26 The first answer would be obviously 08:27 the seventh day is the Sabbath, 08:29 that's in the Fourth Commandment, that's right. 08:31 And so we know that the first day is Sunday 08:34 and I don't hear anybody saying 08:35 how do we know the first day is Sunday? 08:38 No, no that question doesn't come up very often. 08:41 The first day clearly is Sunday 08:42 and everybody acknowledges that. 08:44 The opposite of that is to the Jewish 08:46 have been keeping the Sabbath for centuries. 08:48 They know exactly, millennia, exactly. 08:51 So they know exactly what day the Sabbath is. 08:55 And they haven't missed one in a millennius, several-- 08:57 The whole nation. 08:58 And this is a nation and one given to times 09:01 and prophecies and other things, 09:03 they're going to keep track. 09:05 So you know, it is very clear, in fact the Book of Luke, 09:09 Luke's recording of the resurrection of Christ, 09:12 it says pretty clearly that preparation day was Friday, 09:17 the Sabbath was Saturday 09:18 and the first day of the week he says, 09:20 was the resurrection day 09:22 which everybody acknowledges is Sunday, right. 09:24 So, you know, that is a good argument to make, 09:28 but it's not a valid argument, 09:30 because the answer is so obvious 09:33 that you can't really assert that as a reason 09:36 for not keeping the Sabbath, right. 09:38 But there are several other things here too 09:40 that I'll, you know, I'll let you get in on here too. 09:42 It's a-- You know, she wants to get 09:45 to the heart of worship 09:47 and the Sabbath really is at the heart of worship, 09:51 because when if you look at the Fourth Commandment 09:54 when you see it and talking about the seventh day 09:56 is the Sabbath, the Lord thy God, 09:58 six days you shall work, 09:59 but the seventh day is the Sabbath 10:01 and then connecting it with the creation. 10:04 Then when you get to the end of the Bible, 10:06 you get to the Book of Revelation 10:07 and it calls people back to worship, 10:10 restating then again that God is the Creator, 10:13 clearly a connection here between 10:14 Sabbath keeping and God's, and God being our Creator. 10:19 And so, you know, my suggestion, 10:21 I don't think it's my suggestion 10:22 I guess, I should rephrase that. 10:24 God's word says, that when you come together 10:27 to worship, you're worshiping your Creator. 10:30 And if you read Revelation Chapter 4, 10:32 we worship Him because He is the Creator. 10:36 So when you worship God as the Creator 10:38 that entails acknowledging His creatorship 10:41 and the memorial of His creation 10:43 which is the seventh day Sabbath, right. 10:47 So that is the word what the word of God says, 10:51 and here it, it says so much more 10:52 on this and I'll let you time in here little bit too, 10:54 because I think the real centre 10:56 though here is that either you're pursuing truth 11:00 and you want to do what God says 11:02 that He wants you to do in His word, 11:05 or you just don't. 11:07 And you chalk it up to well, let's just love each other 11:10 and let's deal with these certain aspects of God, 11:12 but not the other aspects of God. 11:14 When the word clearly says that keeping the truth, 11:17 following the truth is essential 11:19 to one salvation, that's right. 11:21 You know, just because 11:22 and I agree with her on this point. 11:26 We believe and we're saved, that's a fact. 11:30 When you believe in God, 11:31 and you put your faith and trust in Him, 11:34 He gives you the free gift of salvation. 11:37 But that doesn't mean that works 11:38 are completely divorced from our salvation experience, 11:43 because by rejecting good works, 11:47 by rejecting God's word, you may start out 11:50 believing in having that relationship with God, 11:52 but it goes no further and you can end up 11:53 losing that relationship with God. 11:56 And that's of course well, 11:57 Satan brings in this false teaching of one saved, 11:59 always saved to, kind of meet that at the paths, 12:01 'cause he knows that's a very biblical teaching. 12:06 But, you know, this whole thing about well, 12:10 it doesn't matter what you do, 12:12 how you worship as long as you believe in God, 12:13 really isn't in the Bible. No, it's not. 12:17 And I'll read one verse 12:18 and then I'll hand it off to you. Sure, I'm okay-- 12:19 From Second Thessalonians Chapter 2, 12:25 if you read through these books 12:27 of specially these letters of Paul, 12:29 you'll see over and over again, 12:31 he encouraged the church to hold 12:32 steadfast to the truth of the word of God. 12:34 Okay, where you're turning now? 12:36 I'm reading from Second Thessalonians Chapter 2. 12:38 Okay, go on. 12:39 And he encourages the church to hold on the truth, 12:42 because there are some that are coming 12:44 into the church that are teaching heresy, 12:47 they're teaching stuff that is not in God's word 12:50 and they're leading people 12:51 away from the truth, all right. 12:54 And if the church in response to that were to say, 12:58 well it doesn't really matter, 12:59 just believe, just love Jesus and you're okay. 13:02 Then the church, Paul knows would have fallen, right. 13:05 It would have fallen into apostasy 13:07 and it would not be-- it would be unrecoverable. 13:10 But Paul encourage the church to stand up for the truth, 13:13 for the word of God 13:14 and keep those things which were once 13:16 and for all deliver to the saints 13:18 by him and by the rest of the apostles. 13:20 Okay, what verse you're in? 13:21 So I'm reading from Second Thessalonians 13:23 Chapter 2 verse 9, and look at this, 13:28 "The coming of the lawless one 13:30 is according to the working of who? 13:32 Satan. Satan. 13:33 With all power, signs, and what kind of wonders? 13:36 Lying wonders. Lying wonders. 13:38 He is a liar. He is exposed as a liar. 13:40 Christ acknowledged and pointed to him as a liar. 13:44 And with all unrighteous deception verse 10, 13:47 "Among those who perish because they did not do" what? 13:50 "Receive the love of the truth." 13:52 They didn't receive the love of the truth 13:54 that they might be saved. 13:56 Let me ask you question, does the truth save? 14:02 If you're reading this, the truth is involved 14:06 in the salvation equatio. Exactly. 14:09 So it's not just believing in Jesus 14:11 and His love and a good experience 14:13 and being kind to one another. 14:14 It's believing the truth in addition to that, 14:17 that saves you. 14:19 And it says here in verse 11 it gets worse. 14:21 And for this reason God will send them 14:23 a strong delusion that they should believe the lie, 14:26 they actually-- there are those who believe 14:28 the lie that they have been taught 14:30 to the point where they're lost 14:32 and they don't even know it. 14:35 Verse 12, "That they might be condemned 14:37 who do not believe the truth, 14:38 but have pleasure in unrighteousness. 14:40 Paul is giving this counsel to people in the church. 14:43 He is not writing to the heathen. 14:45 No, he is not. 14:46 He is writing to the church, 14:47 because there are some in the church 14:49 who have not believed the truth, 14:50 who have not followed righteousness 14:52 that they might be saved and they are deluded, 14:54 they have been even given a delusion by God, 14:56 because they're believing a lie 14:58 and they're rejecting truth and they're no longer saved. 15:02 No, they can't be. 15:03 So, I'll hand it off to you, 15:04 because this is a serious issue. 15:06 The truth is a serious issue 15:07 and when we say it doesn't matter 15:09 really what you believe, 15:10 what day you worship on and by the way 15:12 that is a commandment, not a suggestion. 15:15 When he say, it doesn't matter, 15:16 they're on dangerous ground by the word of God, 15:19 that is dangerous ground. 15:22 I'll tell you, you know, 15:23 you put that together really well 15:24 and I sat back listening and taking notes 15:27 and I came up with one, two, three, 15:29 four, five, six, seven, scriptures 15:31 and since we're in first-- 15:33 and since we're in Second Thessalonians. 15:35 Let's go to First Timothy, let's begin there. 15:38 I want you to see Chapter 4, First Timothy Chapter 4 15:42 and there's a injunction or there is a warning 15:47 that Timothy brings out 15:48 and we'll see it again in Second Timothy. 15:51 And let me say this and I know that, 15:55 you know, people have various flavors of religion, 15:57 various approaches to what they believe 16:00 and how they put their walk with Christ together. 16:03 But the walk with Christ, remember Jesus said, 16:05 I am the way, the truth and the life, yeah. 16:09 And He didn't exclude truth, 16:12 He said I am the way, the truth and the life. 16:15 And when Paul proclaimed and warned 16:20 the Christians of his era, 16:22 he said to them it's important 16:23 that you'll not exclude truth. 16:26 And notice this, First Timothy 4 16:29 starting with verse 1 and then I'm gonna jump down 16:32 to verse 16 but it starts with verse 1, 16:35 "Now the Spirit expressly says," 16:38 and we're in the New King James version 16:40 "That in latter times some will depart from the faith, 16:44 giving heed to deceiving spirits 16:47 and doctrines of demons, speaking lies in hypocrisy, 16:51 having their own consciences seared with a hot iron." 16:56 Notice what happens here, it says, 16:57 "They will depart from the faith." 17:01 And it talks about doctrines of demons, 17:04 but it also says, speaking lies. 17:06 So doctrines of demons also bring 17:08 to that equation speaking lies. 17:10 Doctrines of Christ is speaking truth. 17:14 Doctrines of the Holy Spirit seeking truth. 17:17 And by the way Jesus and the Holy Spirit is same level. 17:20 You find here, but if you go down to verse 16, 17:23 notice what Paul says, the answer to this. 17:25 He says, "Take heed to yourselves," 17:28 in other words be careful "and to the doctrine." 17:32 Notice doctrines are not excluded 17:34 "Continue in them, for in doing this 17:38 you will save both yourself and those who hear you." 17:43 Salvation is there again. 17:45 The issue of salvation does not exclude the doctrines, 17:48 it does not exclude the truth. 17:51 If it excluded the truth, then Paul wouldn't say, 17:54 do these things and you'll both save 17:56 yourself and those who hear you, yeah. 17:58 And-- you know, verse 3 I think some people 18:02 would read on, okay. 18:03 First Timothy did not to side track you at all 18:05 but it says "Forbidding to marry, 18:06 and commanding to abstain from foods 18:08 which God created to be received." 18:09 Some would say well, see that's the lie to abstain 18:12 from unclean meats or something like that. 18:16 And that's not the context here all 18:17 what he is talking about 18:18 if you read the writings of Paul-- 18:20 But if you read. 18:21 Well, let me finish to say, 18:22 you read the writings of Paul, 18:23 he says very clearly here that the debate of the day was 18:27 whether or not you can eat foods 18:28 that were offered to idols? 18:29 Right, not, clean versus unclean. 18:32 Clean versus unclean food was not an issue. 18:35 They're pretty much the early church understood 18:37 that clean foods were permissible 18:40 and unclean was not, 18:41 that's something talked throughout the bible. 18:43 This was an issue of eating foods 18:44 offered to idols and that became a debate, 18:46 a divisive thing within the church. 18:48 So I just want to mention that but you had-- 18:51 But if you finish that same verse, verse 3, 18:53 notice how the verse ends. 18:57 "Those who believe and know the truth." 19:00 Okay there it is. 19:01 The basis of what they were to practice 19:03 was based on the fact that they believe 19:05 and they know the truth. 19:07 Once again you see the truth is connected with salvation, 19:10 that entire Chapter 4 is talked about salvation. 19:16 Satan will lead people away by doctrines of demons, 19:19 speaking lies, but it says those who are, 19:21 those who are safer, those who know the truth 19:24 and then Paul says, make sure that you continue 19:26 in that way, by doing this you'll both save yourself 19:29 and the person who hears you. 19:30 But Proverbs 14, sorry Proverbs 16 let's go there 19:38 and look at what it says, 19:41 Proverbs 16 this is why it's important. 19:44 That first question, I want to go ahead 19:46 and address it, because those-- 19:48 one of those person said, you know, 19:52 my pastor said, there are so many different ways 19:54 you can be baptized, 19:56 didn't really matter what you eat, 19:58 pick a day it doesn't really matter. 20:00 It just sounded like he worked out at circus. 20:03 You know like pick the ride, you know, 20:05 pick the teddy bear, pick the game, 20:07 pick the price, yeah. 20:08 It's like he didn't have any foundation whatsoever, 20:10 he was like a kite with no string. 20:12 He blew in whatever direction the wind would take him. 20:15 But the Bible made it very clear 20:17 that there is a way that is right 20:19 and in some people's mind I would say, 20:21 in this pastor's mind the way that I heard 20:23 the question phrase, if this is in fact 20:24 true about him, this is-- 20:26 there's a way that seems right, 20:29 just pick any way. 20:30 But if you notice Proverbs 16:25 it says, 20:32 "There is a way that seems right to a man, 20:35 but its end is the way of death." 20:39 So because it just seems right to do 20:41 this and do that and it doesn't really matter 20:42 what you do, what church you go to, 20:45 how you worship, what day you chose, 20:48 what method of baptism, it could be anyway 20:49 from sprinkling to rose petals, 20:51 to dry cleaning, to mass baptism with a hose. 20:54 It could be immersion, it could be through the mail 20:56 it could be just believe and said be saved. 20:58 So, it's not the feeling here, yeah. 21:00 Because the second question also talked about 21:03 when she is in church, 21:04 she feels this wonderful experience of love, yeah. 21:07 God's presence and people who care for one another. 21:10 And it was a very emotional thing for her. 21:13 And I think just because, just because 21:18 we believe in God and we have a good emotion 21:21 about it, a good experience doesn't mean 21:24 that we're doing necessary the right thing, 21:26 because it seems right, but it can't be, 21:30 the end can't be one that leads to death, that's right. 21:33 And so we have to be very careful 21:35 not just to feel, you know, like we're Christians. 21:39 But we need to make sure 21:40 that we're following the word of God. 21:43 Because Christians that were dying in the dungeons, 21:48 and in the Roman Coliseums, 21:51 really didn't feel like Christians? 21:53 You know, it was not about a feeling, 21:55 it was about a strong life changing decision 22:00 that I would die for. 22:02 So it doesn't really have 22:03 a whole lot to do with feelings. 22:05 Although feelings are valid in the sense that, 22:08 you know, I feel sick, 22:09 I feel lightheaded, I feel dizzy, 22:11 I feel happy, those are emotions, 22:13 but when it comes to the truth 22:15 Isaiah 3 and verse 20, Jesus simply says, 22:18 "This is the way walk in it." 22:21 That's just a command rather than a suggestion. 22:25 In Isaiah 8:20, right. 22:28 To the law and to the testimony 22:29 if they speak not according to this word, 22:32 there was no light in them. 22:34 In other words don't go there, 22:35 test what it was there from John, 22:37 test the spirits to see 22:39 whether or not they are of God, that's right. 22:41 Test what someone is saying 22:43 because you just don't-- because they see 22:45 they're Christian, these days especially 22:47 after warning after warning about heresy 22:50 and about apostasy of the church 22:52 and those living in the last days 22:53 who say that they believe in God, 22:55 but don't really follow God, we've got to make sure 22:58 that we're examining what we're being told. 23:04 And for people that think that it doesn't really matter 23:05 what your church teaches, you know, when after baptism, 23:08 the-- after the resurrection of Jesus, 23:10 He made it very clear, He gave a command He says, 23:13 I'll not only go there for make disciples 23:15 and baptize them. 23:16 But He says, teaching them to observe 23:18 all things that I command you. 23:20 Notice not that I suggest, 23:22 but that I command you and He says 23:25 and then doing this I am with you always 23:28 even through the end. 23:30 And so that was quite a contrast between 23:33 the person who wants to know 23:34 and the person who says well, it doesn't really matter. 23:37 You know, here we are Woodstock, 23:39 let's just go ahead and-- 23:41 You know, just some counsel to the girl 23:42 that had the pastor that was doing that. 23:45 In a lot of that text that he, he referenced there were once 23:49 that we've explained in past programs, right. 23:54 You know, and the stuff taken is 23:56 very much taken out of context 23:58 to strain teach something that is not true to be true. 24:02 That's right, and so my counsel would be 24:04 find a real good Bible study, 24:07 find a pastor who is teaching the right thing, 24:10 find a church who is teaching the truth. 24:13 And we of course suggest 24:14 the Seventh-day Adventist Church 24:15 because it is very, very Bible based, 24:17 Bible oriented church. 24:19 And in addition to that one, 24:20 I mentioned, you know, Bible studies. 24:23 I would suggest her to-- maybe get 24:25 the Amazing Facts Bible study course. 24:27 You know, 14, I think the first 14 lessons 24:30 are the beginning lessons and there is another 13 24:32 after that, covers extensively throughout God's word, 24:36 all these different truths. 24:38 Get those study guides, 24:39 if she can get those study guides, 24:41 she will find that text after text after text 24:44 exists on these various topics 24:46 that she can use and hopefully sharing with her pastor. 24:49 But if a pastor doesn't listen, 24:50 I would say don't bother, 24:53 you don't want to create a fight, 24:54 I mean, you know, arguments aren't for fighting, 24:57 arguments are for coming to the truth, 25:00 the knowledge of the truth. 25:01 And if you're arguing or discussing 25:05 with somebody these truths 25:07 and you're not meeting in the middle, 25:09 you're not meeting according to God's word. 25:12 My suggestion is it's not the time 25:15 for that person at least to see 25:17 the word of God and to hear it. 25:19 That's right, it doesn't really make us difference, 25:22 if you're just going to argue the point 25:24 rather than just move forward in doing God's word. 25:27 And we've a lot of people in our church 25:30 that had been at that point of decision that's said, 25:32 well, this is what my church said, 25:33 this is what my pastor said, 25:35 and it came down to what he said to me. 25:37 Well, you've got the problem, 25:38 you solve it and they said we have, 25:39 we're not coming back, yeah. 25:41 They're members in good and regular standing. 25:44 Oh, that simply means they're solid, 25:46 they're in the word of God, 25:47 they're studying, they're growing. 25:49 And it does make a difference, 25:50 but thank you for that John. 25:52 We have a question here from a gentleman in Uganda. 25:55 Welcome, if you're watching from Uganda. 25:57 We've always got people watching from Australia, 26:00 all the way to Uganda, Europe, 26:02 the islands of the sea, you name it. 26:07 He says, this is Edima, 26:12 I'm not going to-- not give his name, 26:14 last name, from Uganda. 26:17 And his point was, paying tithe means nailing 26:21 Jesus back to the torture stake. 26:26 That sounds so Jehovah's witness, 26:29 that's how they referred to the cross, 26:31 the cross, that torture stake. 26:33 Tithe was meant for the Levites, 26:35 serving at the physical temple. 26:39 We are the spiritual temple now. 26:41 Our High Priest Jesus instructed us 26:44 to practice giving. 26:46 Comment on this through e-mail, 26:50 this e-mail address. 26:52 Okay, you just wanted an e-mail response. 26:55 Well, I'll respond on air, okay. 26:57 And you will get an e-mail response too, 26:59 but here's the point. 27:00 A tithing is not anything that has to do 27:04 with nailing Jesus to the cross. 27:06 You know, when you go all the way back to the 27:08 Melchizedek Priesthood, you find that Abraham vowed, 27:13 this is even before the Levitical Priesthood 27:15 and you have to understand this. 27:16 Before the Levitical Priesthood, 27:18 Abraham because God blessed him so much 27:20 and Abraham wasn't a Jew. 27:22 Abraham was from Caldia, 27:24 he was from the Province of Babylon. 27:26 He promised because of God's faithfulness 27:28 to him that one-tenth of everything he had, 27:31 he would give to Melchizedek 27:32 as an offering as a thank offering to God 27:35 and he said this is the tithe. 27:37 So you see that it goes far the back 27:39 than even the Levitical Priesthood. 27:41 And then in the New Testament, you find it also there even 27:44 after the crucifixion of Christ, tithe is talked about. 27:48 So this is the topic that is throughout the Bible, 27:52 or as a matter of fact, if you look at it, 27:54 God had established tithing as a means 27:56 where by His work is furnished. 27:58 And you know, amazing to me-- 28:01 this is not a denominational issue, 28:03 this is cross denominational. 28:05 And so when Jesus asked the question in Malachi 3, 28:09 was for the purpose of getting His people 28:11 to the place where they would be 28:12 honest to God and returned to Him 28:14 what already belong to Him. 28:16 Malachi 3 and verse 8, excuse me, 28:18 "Will a man rob God? 28:20 Yet you have robbed Me, 28:22 but you say, in what way have we robbed You? 28:24 In tithes and offerings." 28:26 And John, Malachi is a "Book of Returns." 28:28 If you look at the Book of Malachi, 28:31 it has four chapters. 28:32 But in Malachi, Malachi, addresses 28:35 the various ways that the children of God 28:38 had turned away from Him 28:40 and that He wanted them to return back. 28:43 And so when you reignites, 28:44 return unto Me and I'll return unto you, 28:47 that's one of the ways 28:48 that they turned away from God, 28:50 not just in tithing and offering. 28:51 You know Jesus, it also says, 28:53 Jesus is assumed His high priestly ministry 28:56 after the order of Melchizedek. 29:00 Right, not after Levitical Priesthood. 29:02 Did Melchizedek receive tithes? 29:07 Yeah, yes, he did. Yes, he did. 29:09 And so if he is after that order, 29:11 he also receives tithes. 29:13 Right, the praising of His people 29:15 is also a way of returning to God 29:18 what belongs to Him. 29:20 When you look at this whole topic 29:22 though and I want to just do this briefly. 29:24 When you look at this entire topic, 29:26 tithing and I want to go back to his original point. 29:29 Tithing is not a way of nailing Jesus 29:32 to the cross that is not found anywhere. 29:36 You have the tithe of the land, 29:38 you have a tithe of the cattle, 29:40 and some people offered offerings to God, 29:43 but that was not in the sense saying, 29:46 tithe in and of itself is the way by 29:49 where the means where by we nail Jesus 29:51 to the cross, that's not what that means at all. 29:54 But anyway, I think 29:55 we've gone past our time on questions today 29:58 and we just covered two actually. 30:00 Yeah, the first one was a couple, 30:01 was a couple of long ones, but-- 30:03 But if you have any questions and comments, 30:05 you can send those here to us at House Calls. 30:08 Send those to the e-mail housecalls@3abn.org 30:10 that's housecalls@3abn.org 30:13 and we'll try out best to respond to your questions 30:16 and your comments and even those of you 30:18 who just want an e-mail response 30:19 please indicate that as was done here 30:22 in the question that we just read to you. 30:26 Well, John, our topic today is called "Dressing up for God" 30:29 and the reason I've mentioned 30:31 in the beginning of the program 30:32 while we're gonna talk about this, 30:33 is because lot of people don't think about 30:36 dressing up for God. 30:37 Let me just talk about this 30:38 from the perspective of a world view 30:41 and I've traveled a bit. 30:42 I've been around the world, 30:44 I've seen dress from various cultures, 30:46 in Africa, in Australia, in New Guinea, 30:49 in Asia, in Europe and the islands of the sea 30:52 and while they're cultural dress differences, 30:57 there is one thing that is across the board 30:59 and the Bible refers to this as adornment. 31:04 And so one of the first principles is 31:06 if you're dressing in the societal dress, 31:09 let's use some contrasts. 31:12 In America, we go to work we wear suits and ties, 31:16 the women may wear a nice outfit to work, 31:21 they have work clothing and then also there's clothing 31:23 that people use for worship, 31:25 for weddings and you will see a diff 31:27 quite a bit in American society. 31:29 You could say, oh that person is going to a wedding. 31:31 Oh, that person is a bridegroom. 31:32 Oh, that person is an usher. 31:34 Oh, that person is a policeman. 31:36 Everybody has different kinds of clothing 31:38 for the professions and also when it comes to worship, 31:42 some churches, some pastors use robes 31:45 where they preach in, we don't do that, 31:47 at least I don't do that and I know you don't do that. 31:51 My personal view it seems little archaic 31:53 and kind of sets up kind of somewhat 31:55 I'm the preacher, you're the member 31:58 barrier type of thing. 31:59 But, now pulling all the cultures together 32:03 there is a standard in the scriptures 32:05 that lets us know that modesty. 32:08 How we should dress when we come to the house of God. 32:11 You shouldn't come to the Lord's house 32:13 and have a tough time keeping your mind on Jesus 32:16 because of the way people are dressed. 32:19 Secondly, it also talks about ornamentation 32:22 or the wearing of jewelry 32:24 and the Bible talks about that. 32:26 But that's what we're gonna talk about on this program 32:28 and a number of other programs to come. 32:30 But anything you want to say 32:31 about that before we go to artifacts. 32:32 No, it's an important-- it's an important topic, 32:33 because again the church didn't have 32:36 this issue in the past. 32:39 And now we're finding that the issue 32:40 is becoming more and more prominent, 32:44 because of the way the world is. 32:47 It seems like there has been over the last, 32:51 10 to 12, 15 years in explosion of body tattoo, 32:56 body art, piercings in places that weren't pierced before. 33:00 I mean its just an explosion of that kind of 33:04 almost an-- I don't know what to call, 33:07 acceleration of that, I mean, it's a little bit, 33:09 you know, with the ears and things, 33:10 but then it became up on the top of the ears 33:12 and then-- so the world itself is really increasing 33:18 in its desire to adorn one's body 33:21 with all this different stuff 33:22 and so now it's coming to the church. 33:24 And, you know, John, I won't just say this 33:26 for the record and I know it's for the record, 33:28 but I've a hard time 33:29 seeing preachers that dress that way. 33:32 There are some churches where the preachers 33:34 were earrings and preach, 33:36 were its allowed and I'm-- and this is not 33:38 in the subject of dress, it's in the sense of earrings, 33:42 but there are some preachers 33:43 that preach in orange suits, purple suits, yellow suits-- 33:48 it's not just jewelry, it's like distract to him-- 33:51 Okay, you know, someone turn off the lights, 33:53 'cause I can't see the washroom 33:56 because the preacher is blocking it. 33:58 You know, there is modesty all the way 34:00 across the board and there is a way to represent Christ. 34:03 And if the world is gonna be setting the trends, 34:06 there are churches nowadays that you dress 34:09 so dressed down that the preacher 34:11 have barely has on a t-shirt, 34:14 but has all this, you know, 34:15 artifacts on and he is got dread locks 34:18 and he's got earrings, he's got a nose ring 34:20 and he is like dude! 34:22 And he's like God's my homey-- 34:24 Because he is trying to appeal 34:25 to those groups, yeah. 34:27 Yeah, but he did bring God so low 34:29 that you kind of come to this Jesus 34:31 that has-- He's you know hanging out with me 34:35 rather than I'm having a relationship with Him, 34:37 we kind of brought God-- 34:39 bring God down to such a low, low level. 34:41 And I want to say this as I say this, 34:43 the Lord meets everyone of us where we are, 34:45 whether sinner or righteous, He meets us all where we're, 34:48 but He doesn't leave us the way we find us. 34:51 He didn't find the demoniac bound 34:53 in chains and decide to wear chains 34:55 to hang out with a demoniac, right. 34:57 You know, He didn't find, Adam and Eve, 34:59 and leaves and decide to leave them in leaves, 35:02 He said you got to cover up, 35:04 you see, so we're gonna look at this topic 35:06 from various perspectives and understand 35:08 that the Christian church needs 35:10 to get back to setting standards that the world has 35:13 for--to total sense have almost abandoned. 35:18 John, you and I know, we're basketball players 35:20 and when you look at basketball players, 35:23 what do see mostly nowadays? 35:25 Oh, there's tattoos everywhere, yeah. 35:27 You remember years ago-- the word tattoo was, 35:32 you know, the name of the little guy 35:34 on Fantasy Island. 35:36 I think, Dennis Rodman, 35:37 kind of started that, didn't he? 35:38 Right, Dennis. Right that's the first-- 35:40 Major, I'm sure he didn't started, 35:42 but he has first major tattoos everywhere. 35:45 Yeah, and the rings come out of the nose 35:47 and it's like, ahh. 35:48 When everybody saw a tattoo, they thought, Dennis Rodman. 35:51 But nowadays it's like 35:53 you look at the basketball players, 35:55 they look like art galleries and names on their neck 35:59 and you know it's just, and the world has so impacted 36:05 the church that you can't tell preacher, 36:09 basketball player, Bible worker, 36:12 they all kind of look the same. 36:14 And let's pause here for just a minute, 36:15 because I don't want to get people 36:17 to set people up immediately in opposition 36:19 to what we are saying. Not at all. 36:21 Because what we are simply saying is 36:23 that the Bible does speak pretty clearly 36:25 about these subjects. Yes. 36:26 And I think most of them that are dressing in this way 36:29 and they put the tattoos and the piercing. 36:31 They don't really understand 36:32 that the Bible does have some clear 36:34 teachings on this subject. Truth. 36:36 And so it also, we need to acknowledge to that 36:39 there are some that have come out of the world 36:41 when they were already tattooed and things 36:43 and they have chosen not to get those removed 36:46 and that's fine too. 36:49 We have to be careful that 36:50 they don't hear what we're not's, 36:51 that they are hearing or don't hear 36:53 what we're not saying. Right. 36:54 So, we're not trying to come out to you 36:56 with this stuff change now. 36:58 In fact, I wouldn't even advocate that 37:00 we're trying to give someone 37:01 ammunition to clean house in the church, 37:04 because I tell you there are lot of brethren, 37:06 lot of sisters in the church that clean house, 37:09 they do just as much damage as those who, who don't. 37:13 So, we've got to be careful of that as well. 37:16 But we don't want to give him a sledgehammer 37:18 that starts swinging in all directions-- 37:19 Yeah, and I've used this text several times here recently, 37:22 because you know, as you and I've seen 37:24 like this subject of music-- That music has been 37:26 so devise in the church. 37:28 Or people are aking it device-- 37:29 People are making it divisive, yeah. 37:31 And you'll see that with my point here, 37:34 they do it in the name of righteousness, 37:36 not in the name of, you know, Holiness or Jesus-- 37:40 Just whatever, I mean, 37:41 it's a name of let's be more righteous, 37:43 so we need to improve the standards of the church 37:45 and music ends up dividing the church. 37:48 And we've got to be careful that 37:49 we're not dividing in this respect, 37:51 but at the same time I think we're asking 37:54 each person individually to make themselves accountable 37:58 to God by His word in how they dress. 38:01 And I think if all of us who are doing that, 38:02 we're gonna see an incredible improvement in the church 38:06 as we're worshiping, coming together to worship 38:08 and to give ourselves to Him each week. And you know-- 38:10 And so that's what we're saying, 38:11 we're not attacking those that are doing this 38:15 even though we're using some clear examples 38:17 of what the world is like. 38:18 Right and that's the thing, we're talking about 38:20 the fact that their needs to be a contrast. 38:24 I know of someone who is in the nursing field 38:28 and they say that as a matter of fact 38:31 they're training now to be a nurse 38:33 and they say well, one of the criteria is that 38:36 we don't dress with the jewels 38:39 and the necklaces and the earrings, 38:40 because our patients would-- For professional reasons, 38:43 reach up and grab and pull 38:46 and in some institutions it could be very damaging, 38:50 in the sense of injuring the nurse or the professional 38:53 that's working with this patient or her patients. 38:56 But I also want to add this point John. 38:58 We have to keep in mind that because some thing may divide, 39:03 it should not be the reason why we don't talk about it. 39:07 Jesus said in John 10:34, 39:10 "Don't think I came to bring peace on the earth, 39:12 I did not come to bring peace but a sword" 39:15 and the sword if you look at the sword 39:17 as the Bible talks about it when Jesus comes back, 39:19 He'll have, He'll be called the "Word of God," 39:22 He'll have a sword, a two edged sword 39:24 and that in the verbal sense 39:26 He will be-- He is the word of God. 39:29 Hebrews talks about the Bible as sharper 39:32 than any two edged sword 39:34 and the sword of the spirit is the word of God. 39:36 So when you preach the word, when you share the word, 39:39 you're going to inevitably and inadvertently 39:42 and sometimes intentionally 39:45 present something that's going to divide, 39:47 but what you have to keep in mind is, as the person--. 39:50 Let's use a surgeon for an example. 39:53 The surgeon doesn't cut up his patient. Right. 39:56 But he has instruments that can cut, 39:58 I mean, if he decides to-- Thankfully they do that. 40:02 If they anesthetize their patient 40:05 or put them under, make sure that they're sleeping 40:07 when they do the surgery. 40:08 They have surgical tools that are extremely sharp. 40:11 Their job is not to cut up the patient, 40:13 their job is to cut out the problem, 40:16 to remove the thing that may be hindering 40:18 that person from growth or full health. 40:20 But to sew that person up 40:22 and bring them back to whole again. 40:24 In the same way the teachings of Christ are intended to 40:28 remove the things that are causing us 40:31 to have an unhealthy walk with Christ, 40:33 but to leave the sinner whole on that note, 40:37 so we'll transition into that. 40:39 And one of the things I want to point out-- 40:42 When I was over in Australia 40:43 and I know some of the brethren 40:44 over in Australia appreciate this. 40:48 They say, it's gone to the place 40:50 where some people come to church 40:51 and one of the guys is not even a girl 40:53 as you--but one of the guys young man said to me, 40:56 you know, I find some of my other comrades, 40:59 my same age, they come to church 41:02 with a flip-flops and shorts, 41:05 like we're going to go skiing, or like they skied to church, 41:10 or they like they're gonna hang ten, 41:12 you know, on boogie board to come to church 41:15 and then it's become so fashionably faddy, 41:23 fad and in the sense that, you know, 41:26 there is no difference between what the Bible talks about 41:28 modesty in coming before the Lord bringing your best. 41:31 And what it looks like when you go to the beach. Yeah. 41:34 And so times have definitely changed 41:37 and the world has made a strange 41:39 and strong impact on the church. Yeah, yeah. 41:42 So, what we're gonna do today is we're gonna start, 41:43 we're gonna walk through the topic of adornment. 41:45 We're gonna talk about tattoos. 41:47 We talked about modesty and dress 41:48 and as you know the program has about 15 41:50 or so minutes left to it. 41:51 We're not gonna cover that all today. 41:52 We're gonna talk about some trends in the Bible 41:54 that have talked about there 41:55 and by the way you have to keep in mind 41:56 everything that's mentioned in the Bible is not mentioned 42:00 to be an example for us to follow, 42:02 because it talks about polygamy, 42:04 it talks about multiple wives, 42:06 it talks about Solomon having 700 wives, 42:09 definitely not a recommendation, 42:11 can you say amen, John? Amen, amen. 42:13 It talks about people who had, 42:16 who had been involved in promiscuity, 42:18 immorality, sexual immorality. 42:21 Those are not practices 42:22 that the Bible is giving us an example to follow. 42:26 Number of things that are there written for the history 42:29 for us to understand what the Bible wants us 42:31 to do and not to do. 42:32 And so let's begin, I want to start with a story 42:35 that many people don't know 42:38 but it's in the Book of Genesis. 42:40 Genesis Chapter 24 and the verses 42:43 that we highlight here today, 42:45 we're gonna be talking about the Midianites, 42:47 and the Chaldeans, and the Canaanites. 42:51 Abraham had a son by the name of Isaac. 42:56 And Isaac was a young man whose father wanted him 43:03 to have an appropriate bride. 43:06 He wanted him to be married to a young lady 43:09 who will not be a dishonor to the family. 43:13 And so if you begin 43:14 in the Book of Genesis Chapter 24, 43:18 let's go ahead and John, if you could, 43:21 I don't know if you're there, are you there? I am here. 43:24 Read for us for verse 1 down to verse 4 43:29 and I'll just go ahead 43:30 and we'll work back and forth on this. 43:33 Genesis 24 verse 1 Yes, Isaacs's marriage, yes. 43:36 "Now Abraham was old well advanced in age 43:39 and the Lord had blessed Abraham in all things. 43:42 So Abraham said to the older servant of his house, 43:45 who ruled over all that he had, 43:47 Please put your hand under my thigh, 43:50 and I will make you swear by the Lord, 43:52 the God of heaven and the God of the earth, 43:55 that you would not take a wife for my son 43:57 from the daughters of the Canaanites, 43:59 among whom I dwell, but you shall go to my country 44:02 and to my family, and take a wife for my son Isaac." 44:06 Just read verse 5 too. 44:07 "And the servant said to him, 44:09 Perhaps the woman will not be willing 44:11 to follow me to this land. 44:13 Must I take your son back to the land from which you came?" 44:18 And now I want to add verse 6 "But Abraham said to him, 44:20 "Beware that you do not take my son back there." 44:23 In other words when you think about it, 44:25 when the Lord called Abraham out. Stay out-- 44:28 Abraham, exactly, He called him out he said, 44:30 come out stay out. 44:31 And the beautiful thing about the story is 44:33 it covers Chapter 25 and verse 53 44:35 because it's a long story. 44:37 Let me summarize it 44:38 and show you the high points of the story here. 44:39 And one of the first examples in scripture 44:41 were jewelry is talked about 44:43 and in the cultures of the Babylonians, 44:46 the Egyptians, the Chaldeans, the Midianites. 44:49 It was not uncommon in the word we call it dowry, 44:54 that's still prevalent in some lands 44:57 where there is gift to the perspective bride, 45:00 there's a gift to the family. 45:01 And so Abraham servant prays and he asked God for sign, 45:06 so that the woman that he is about to choose 45:08 would be the one that God has for Isaac. 45:12 And I want go ahead and take you to the story now. 45:14 Let's go down to verse. 45:21 Oh, yeah, verse 13 of Genesis 24 45:26 "Behold, I stand here by the well of water, 45:30 and the daughters of the men of the city 45:32 are coming out to draw water. 45:34 Now let it be, that the young woman to whom 45:37 I say, Please let down your pitcher that I may drink, 45:40 and she says, Drink, 45:42 and I will also give to your camels a drink, 45:45 let her be the one whom You have appointed 45:49 for Your servant Isaac. 45:51 And by this I will know that 45:53 You have shown kindness to my master." 45:56 And I like this read verse 15, John. 45:59 "And it happened, before he had finished speaking, 46:01 that behold, Rebekah, who was born to Bethuel, 46:05 son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, 46:08 Abraham's brother, came out with her pitcher 46:10 on her shoulder. Go ahead. 46:14 "Now the young woman was very beautiful to behold, a virgin, 46:17 no man had known her. 46:19 And she went down to the well, 46:20 filled her pitcher, and came up." 46:22 And so what happened, 46:23 the servant you find in verse 17, 46:25 he went to meet her he said, wow she is beautiful, 46:27 I think that she will fit, 46:29 but that was not the only criteria. 46:31 He said, I just don't want somebody that looks good, 46:34 but I want somebody who is going to be 46:36 willing to be a servant 46:38 and you will notice in this sense, 46:39 he ask if she offers me something to drink 46:42 and she says she is going to even feed my camels 46:45 or water my camels and she did that. 46:47 She did exactly what the Lord had placed upon his heart 46:51 to do, but notice the response there, 46:53 because he looked at her and he said. 46:55 She will be wonderful candidate for a bride. 46:58 And look at verse 22-- 46:59 And part of the reason for that though is that, 47:01 he asked her for the drink. 47:03 But when she asked, 47:05 if she can also give some water to the camel, 47:07 she went above and beyond what she was asked. 47:09 She was a woman who went out of her way 47:13 to bless somebody else, 47:15 and that's the kind of character 47:17 that I think we see here in choosing a wife. Right. 47:22 That we need to find and that those 47:24 who are single out there look for that one 47:25 that will go the extra mile. That's right. 47:27 That will be a blessing to those around her, 47:29 not just is the kind that takes, takes, takes. 47:33 And you know how difficult it would have been for the woman 47:35 to go get that water and water the camels 47:37 and that's a lot of work. Yeah. 47:38 She was willing to really be a woman of virtue. 47:42 She was a virtuous woman, she was pure, 47:44 she was beautiful, she was lovely. 47:46 And then when Abraham servant went with, 47:49 when he went looking for the wife 47:51 he took gifts with him. 47:53 And look at the gifts that he gave to her, verse 22. 47:58 And it says "So it was, 47:59 when the camels had finished drinking, 48:02 that the man took a golden nose ring 48:06 weighing half a shekel, that's pretty heavy. 48:09 And two bracelets for her wrists 48:12 weighing ten shekels of gold, 48:15 and said, whose daughter are you? 48:17 Tell me, please, is there room in your father's house 48:21 for us to lodge?" 48:23 So notice what he did right away, 48:24 he gave for a dowry and she excepted that dowry, 48:27 but he wanted to go even further, 48:29 he wanted to find out from the family 48:31 whether or not she would, that would be okay with them. 48:33 And in that culture, in some cultures today, 48:37 I don't know how much is practiced still, 48:39 but they're arranged, 48:40 where the family members all get together 48:42 and discuss this arrangement 48:43 before there is even ever a wedding. 48:46 And so as you get together, you go down to verse 30, 48:49 and he is there in the house 48:52 and verse 29 to lead into that go ahead, verse 29-- 48:55 "Now Rebekah had a brother whose name was Laban." 48:57 Who appears latter on in the Genesis story. 49:00 That's right. 49:01 "And Laban ran out to the man by the well. 49:03 So it came to pass, when he saw the nose ring, 49:05 and the bracelets on his sister's wrists, 49:08 and when he heard the words of his sister 49:10 Rebekah, saying, "Thus the man spoke to me," 49:13 that he went to the man. 49:14 And there he stood by the camels at the well. 49:17 And he said, "Come in, O blessed of the Lord! 49:21 Why do you stand outside? 49:22 For I have prepared the house, and a place for the camels. 49:26 Then the man came to the house. 49:27 And he unloaded the camels, 49:29 and provided straw and feed for the camels, 49:30 and water to wash his feet 49:33 and the feet of the men who were with him." 49:36 It looks like he give them food 49:38 and he tells him about his mission 49:40 little bit as to why he is there. 49:42 And so when he asked it, 49:43 so he is telling the story 49:44 and he is relaying when he asked her, 49:46 whose daughter are you? 49:47 So he goes back to account, 49:48 because this is quite a long story. 49:50 We go down to verse 47, 49:51 and then he is telling the story 49:53 what happen when he met Rebekah and he says, 49:56 "Then I asked her, and said, Whose daughter are you? 49:58 And she said, The daughter of Bethuel, 50:00 Nahor's son, whom Milcah bore to him. 50:04 And I put the nose ring on her nose 50:07 and the bracelets on her wrists 50:09 and I bowed my head and worship the Lord 50:11 and bless the Lord God of my Master Abraham, 50:14 who had led me in the way of truth 50:16 to take the daughter of my master's brother for his son. 50:19 And so what happened, this entire arrangement continues 50:22 and then you get down to verse, 50:24 we read verse 47, now look at verse 53, 50:27 what sealed the deal. 50:29 "Then the servant brought out jewelry of silver, 50:32 jewelry of gold, and clothing and gave them to Rebekah. 50:35 He also gave precious things to her brother and her mother. 50:40 And he and the men who were with him 50:42 ate and drank and stayed all night. 50:44 Then they arose in the morning, 50:45 and he said, "Send me away to my master." 50:49 And as you read the story further, 50:51 they gave him permission to take Rebekah, 50:55 as the wife of Isaac. 50:57 And this entire story covers the account of the dowry 51:01 which is something that's almost been 51:02 lost sight of nowadays. 51:04 I think that if people made more of an investment, 51:06 if people said okay I want to marry your daughter 51:09 and the father or the mother or the family said okay, 51:11 how much you're gonna pay us. Right. 51:13 I think, a far or less, 51:16 far fewer people would be 51:17 backing out of this relationships 51:19 as though it's nothing. 51:20 Far a fewer people will say, well, I want my money back 51:23 because in this sense you don't get it back. 51:25 And the dowry was anything from great wealth, 51:28 sometimes it was cattle, sometimes it was land, 51:30 but in this sense, Abraham is very wealthy man 51:34 and he sent with his servant 51:37 these articles to give to Isaac and Rebekah. 51:41 But where we want to windup the program today is 51:43 because as you look at this, 51:45 this was practice that was among the Midianites, 51:47 the Chaldeans, the Canaanites, 51:50 but you will notice that in this story 51:52 there are no Israelites. 51:54 The nation of Israel is not even in existence, 51:56 because, Isaac and Rebekah, 52:00 didn't have their children yet. 52:02 They're gonna have sons, to Issac and Rebekah 52:05 is going to be born Jacob and Esau. 52:08 To Jacob, is going to be born the sons of Israel. Right. 52:12 And so what we're gonna do now 52:13 is transition before the winding of the program 52:16 and we're gonna go now. 52:17 Remember the story, there is a man called Laban, 52:19 and Laban has a part to play in this story, 52:22 because you will see that 52:23 as we go down to verse Chapter 31 of Genesis. 52:27 We're gonna lay the foundation 52:28 and by the way this is not the-- 52:30 We're just laying some foundation in this program. 52:33 We're gonna see Laban mentioned again. 52:35 And okay, Rachel and Leah 52:39 and now I'll start with verse 1 of Chapter 31 52:42 because this is were Isaac has sons, 52:46 Isaac and Rebekah has sons, Jacob and Esau, 52:48 and I'll go ahead and verse 30, 52:50 Chapter 31 verse 1. 52:52 "Now Jacob heard the words of Laban's sons, saying, 52:55 "Jacob has taken away all that was our father's, 52:58 and from what was our father's 53:00 he has acquired all this wealth." 53:02 Okay, so Jacob now, you know the story 53:05 when he desires to marry Rachel there is deal made. 53:11 Okay, if you work for me for x amount of years, 53:13 7 then got to 14, then I will go ahead 53:16 and give you permission to marry my daughter. 53:18 Well, they got to the place were Rachel thought that 53:20 the father was robbing them and he says, 53:22 I think that he is spending all my wealth. 53:24 Yet, the Lord had to come to the place 53:28 were they came to some agreement 53:29 to deal with this issues. 53:31 Look at verse 7, and Jacob is speaking here, 53:34 it says "Yet your father has deceived me 53:36 and changed my wages ten times, 53:39 but God did not allow him to hurt me." 53:42 And so Rachel and Leah now are upset with their father 53:45 and look at verse 14 53:47 "Then Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, 53:49 "Is there still any portion 53:51 or inheritance for us in our father's house? 53:54 Are we not considered strangers by him? 53:56 For he has sold us, 53:58 and also completely consumed our money. 54:00 For all these riches which God has taken from our father 54:05 are really ours and our children's now then, 54:09 whatever God has said to you, do it." 54:11 And so what she did look at verse 19. 54:14 "Now Laban had gone to shear his sheep, 54:16 and Rachel had stolen the household idols 54:20 that were her father's. 54:21 And Jacob stole away, unknown to Laban, 54:24 the Syrian, in that he did not tell him 54:29 that he intended to flee." 54:31 And so now the father came back looking for his gods, 54:34 he came back looking for this articles that were stolen. 54:37 Now John, pick up the story at verse 30 now. 54:41 Verse 30 "And now you have surely gone 54:43 because you greatly long for your father's house, 54:45 but why did you steal my gods?" Okay. 54:49 "Then Jacob answered and said to Laban, 54:51 "Because I was afraid, for I said, 54:53 Perhaps you would take your daughters 54:54 from me by force." 54:56 So Laban catches up with Jacob down the road here 55:01 and Jacob is explaining why he left. Exactly. 55:05 And now verse 32 "With whomever you find your gods," 55:09 but Jacob doesn't know that 55:12 Rachel stole these things. Right. 55:14 He doesn't know she is hiding them. 55:15 And so he says okay "Your gods are missing 55:17 whomever you find it, where ever you find these gods 55:20 do with them as you please. 55:21 But now the story goes on 55:23 and with whomever you find your gods, 55:25 do not let them live. 55:27 In the presence of your brethren, 55:28 identify what I have of yours and take it with you." 55:31 For Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them." 55:35 And it says in verse 34 55:36 "Now Rachel had taken the household idols 55:38 and put them in the camel's saddle, and sat on them. 55:41 And Laban search all about the tent 55:43 but did not find them. 55:45 And she said to her father, 55:46 "Let it not displease my lord that I cannot rise before you, 55:48 for the manner of woman is with me." 55:51 And he searched but did not find the household idols. 55:54 And we're gonna see as we continue, 55:57 but I want to windup this program on is 55:59 we're gonna see what God has done, 56:02 because remember now, 56:04 Jacob and Rachel, are going to establish their family, 56:09 the story is going to continue. 56:10 The culture has been established here. 56:11 We're seeing the history of the family. That's right. 56:13 With the dowries and the rings, 56:15 nose rings all the other things. 56:16 We're gonna see what God does 56:17 as He calls them to be Israelites. 56:19 That's right, so this story is beautiful 56:22 and the reason why we begin this way 56:23 and I thank you for saying that John, 56:25 the reason why we begin this way. 56:27 Is in order for us to understand 56:28 why God says what He does. 56:30 God knows history better than we. 56:33 He sees the end from the beginning, 56:36 from ancient times, 56:37 things that are not even happening yet. 56:40 And he sets up a precedent by coming to Jacob, 56:46 by coming to Rachel, and he says, 56:49 I'm gonna bless your household, 56:52 but I don't want you to take upon yourself 56:56 the parameters of the blessing, 56:57 I'll outline them. 56:59 In our next program you're gonna see 57:01 what God did as He prepared to bless the entire world 57:05 with the sons of Jacob. 57:07 And he did not only with the nation of Israel. 57:09 That's right, as he brought them out 57:10 and continue to impress upon them throughout the times, 57:14 because they went where they wavered back and forth, 57:15 in and out, but he also does that with spiritual Israel 57:18 which is the church today. 57:20 Well, friends remember, 57:21 the Lord always has a plan for your lives. 57:23 And here at House Calls we firmly believe that, 57:25 that's why the standards that God establishes 57:27 is to get us ready for the House Call, 57:29 He is gonna make on our life. 57:30 So as you get ready for that, 57:32 you can do so by giving your life to Christ today. |
Revised 2014-12-17