Participants: John Lomacang (Host), John Stanton
Series Code: HCL
Program Code: HCL100014
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00:01 Hello, friends, grab your Bible
00:02 and a friend and sit back as we explore God's word together 00:05 on this edition of House Calls. 00:22 Well as they say, there is no place 00:24 like this place anywhere near this place, 00:26 so this must be the place. 00:28 So thank you for tuning into the place. 00:30 My name is John Lomacang. 00:31 I'm here with my good friend John Stanton. 00:33 And we're ready to make a House Call. 00:35 What do you say? We are ready to dive in. 00:37 That's a good thing John. 00:38 I'm so glad to have you here with me. 00:39 You know, I always feel protected you are 6'9 ½", 00:42 you keep saying that with shoes off. 00:43 But you're never with your shoes off, 00:45 so you are 6' 10" and I'm 6' 2½", 00:49 6'3" on a good day. But I'm shrinking. 00:51 You know, as I get older I'm compressing a little bit. 00:54 Many of our viewers understand. 00:56 Well, anyway don't compress too much, 00:57 because we need to compress into prayer. 01:00 So before we dive into anything, 01:02 let's have some pray, let's pray. 01:04 Gracious Father in heaven, 01:05 we thank you so much for this day of life 01:07 and the opportunity we have to come before You. 01:09 We just pray that You would pour out 01:11 upon us Your Holy Spirit and that we would be led 01:14 and moved by Your hand 01:16 as we go through the scriptures to seek Your will, 01:19 to seek Your wisdom 01:21 in understanding, in Jesus name, amen. 01:23 Amen, well, friends we always appreciate 01:25 you tuning into House Calls. 01:26 You know that you're so much a part of the program, 01:29 because you sent in questions. 01:31 We've computer questions 01:33 and we've questions that people mail in. 01:35 We still appreciate the mail, 01:36 because we know that some people don't like 01:38 to type on the computer. 01:40 It's just as well, if you sent it by envelope. 01:43 It kind of connects us to the fact that 01:46 we're not too far advanced to still receive questions. 01:49 And in the past I refer to that a snail mail, 01:52 only because it takes longer, 01:54 but don't worry about it, still send them, 01:56 and we have some questions today 01:57 from our friends around the world. 02:02 We've some from Indiana, from North Dakota, 02:05 some from Virginia, some from Uganda. 02:08 And we've some that come in the form of a card. 02:12 Yeah I've a neat question here today. 02:13 We have, okay, well, what do you have? 02:14 It's actually a personal question, all right. 02:18 A 90 year-old dear lady, her name is Lolita. 02:23 And she is asking, 02:25 she says, "She watches 3ABN all the time." 02:27 And she said she's got a question for me. 02:30 She grew up in Glendale, California, 02:33 went to school there for years. 02:37 Her brother Dr. Albert Nelson was their doctor 02:41 and was in practice with Dr. Stanton in West, 02:45 on West Adams Boulevard in LA. 02:48 And then also when they were up at St. Helena Hospital 02:52 there was another Dr. Stanton in the ER room there. 02:57 And also a Walter Stanton, 02:59 she brings up here all three Stanton's 03:01 just so 'cause she is asking, 03:02 am I related all three Stanton's 03:04 I'm closely related to? Wow! 03:06 The one in LA, was my grandfather. 03:10 Okay. Dr. Louis Stanton. 03:12 And my father who was Dr. John Stanton, 03:15 I'm junior was the emergency room doctor 03:18 at St. Helena Hospital for years. 03:20 And then Walter Stanton, 03:21 who some still know from Napa, California, he is my cousin. 03:25 He is my dad's oldest brother's son. 03:29 So anyway there's that connection 03:31 so anyway just want to let Lolita, 03:33 know she is right now on track there, 03:35 there is a relation. 03:36 You know, that's interesting, 03:37 I got an email yesterday on Facebook. 03:40 And by the way for those of you who don't know, 03:41 we also have the Facebook page. 03:43 We're trying to get techie too, 03:45 even though Facebook is such a drag on the engine. 03:49 We don't use Facebook here at 3ABN, 03:51 'cause you know, we try to stay on tap 03:53 and some people come to work 03:55 and just get happy with Facebook. 03:56 But we do have a House Calls page on Facebook. 03:59 And I got a message from a lady who said, 04:03 that she--her birthday is the same day as mine. 04:08 Her wedding anniversary is the same day as mine. 04:11 And she graduated the same year 04:13 that I did from high school. 04:14 And I thought wow! 04:16 You know, and she says 04:18 and at the end of it she put wow! 04:19 So there are people that are watching 04:21 and listening that find some authenticity. 04:23 But you know when I'm driving sometimes 04:25 I see towns I drive through with the name Stanton, 04:28 or Staunton, so I guess that's-- 04:30 What it says to you, yeah. 04:31 Yeah, so which is kind of like in the same vein 04:34 of maybe the European version or the-- 04:37 You know, it's English, it's a very English name. 04:39 Very English, stanton, yeah, okay. 04:41 But it's neat to know that connections here that 04:42 people have, seen my dad 04:44 has passed away for several year now. 04:47 He died in 2003, but a very well respected man. 04:52 I love and I'll see him soon. 04:54 That's right whenever I saw you daddy 04:56 is like the gentle giant, yeah. 04:58 And we could see where you got your height from. 05:00 He is really big guy. 05:01 Praise the Lord that we have the hope that we have in Him. 05:04 This is a good segue to this question says, 05:07 "Today at about 2:15 pm Central Standard Time, 05:11 Michael Reagan, Right-Wing talk show host 05:15 and Ronald Reagan's adopted son 05:18 told David Shuster on MSNBC 05:25 that the Bible says in Deuteronomy, 05:28 that the children of an illegitimate child 05:31 for the next 15 generations 05:35 cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. 05:37 Can you shed some light on this? 05:42 We had to read that question by the way. 05:44 First thing watch our program you watch, 05:47 because it's on television, 05:49 doesn't mean it has a legitimate background. 05:51 And let me just say this whether 05:52 its right wing or left wing, we need both wings to fly. 05:57 I don't want to get on the right wing plane 05:59 or a left wing plane, I want to get on the two wing plane. 06:03 That's the other thing and so much, 06:04 there's so much controversy. 06:05 But anyway let me go ahead and give some, 06:08 some clarification to this. 06:09 You know if we will gonna make heaven 06:11 based on our natural hereditary at all, 06:15 none of us would make heaven, 06:16 whether we were born illegitimately 06:18 that is outside of wedlock, or whether we were born 06:22 to two parents that come from generations of married, 06:25 family members that stay together 06:26 and never were divorced. 06:28 So that's lesser the issue, 06:30 but the thing that I like to encourage you 06:32 by is that our salvation has little to do 06:35 with our natural birth at all. 06:37 Excuse me, that's what the Bible says 06:39 that we must be born again. 06:42 And Jesus made it clear to Nicodemus, 06:43 you must be born again. 06:45 Don't feel strange if I say you must be born again. 06:48 So this adoption part or the illegitimacy of our birth 06:52 is a factor in the reality 06:55 that we're all born as sons of Adam. 06:59 Adam with a fallen nature First Corinthians 15 verse 22. 07:02 And here is the fact about all of us, 07:06 "For as in Adam all die, 07:08 even so in Christ all shall be made alive." 07:11 So whether the person was born on the front pew of a church, 07:16 in the hospital room, or in some abandoned home 07:20 somewhere with no father to be present 07:23 when the baby was bron or no marriage certificate to show 07:26 that they were connected to together. 07:28 This has little to do with your salvation 07:30 because the Bible says in John Chapter 1 07:32 verse 12 and 13 and listen to this brethren, 07:34 this is the encouraging fact 07:36 and truth about how we have the right to heaven. 07:40 If heaven was based on family line, 07:43 then Jesus had nothing to do with anything. 07:45 But it's not based on family line, it's based on scripture. 07:47 Listen to this, John Chapter 1 verse 12 and 13, 07:52 "But as many as received him," John says, 07:56 "to them he gave right to become children of God, 08:03 to those who believe in His name. 08:05 Who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, 08:09 nor of the will of man, but of God." Is that a amen? 08:13 Amen, I mean that's the beauty of the whole thing. 08:15 So it doesn't matter if you're born 08:16 of the will of the flesh, those who are naturally born 08:19 can't make heaven anyway. 08:21 But those who are born again 08:24 who receive Christ, I like the word here. 08:26 You know the King James Version says 08:29 to them He gave His power 08:31 that's what it says in the King James Version. 08:33 But I like here it says, "But as many as received Him, 08:36 to them He gave the right." 08:38 So let me tell you why this is important to me, 08:40 because I was born, my mom and dad were not married. 08:43 And here I'm preaching the gospel. 08:45 And I'm just one generation move from my parents. 08:48 And I doubted by any means that because I've not 08:52 been born into a family with both parents married, 08:54 that somehow I'm excluded from heaven, 08:57 but this tells me that I'm a son of God. 08:59 And any propensity or tendency 09:03 that might have been passed on, 09:04 because we do know that, that does happens 09:06 from generation to generation, exactly. 09:07 You broke by the cycle, 09:09 you broke that cycle because of your faith. 09:11 And that's really what its saying here, 09:13 that by faith those cycles are broken. 09:16 Praise the Lord. 09:17 And so Romans 8 verse 15 is another beautiful text, 09:22 "For you did not receive 09:24 the spirit of bondage again to fear, 09:27 but you received the Spirit of adoption 09:31 by whom we cry out, Abba, Father." 09:35 Isn't that wonderful? So we are adopted, 09:37 Jesus is our father, God our father, 09:40 we are sons and daughters of God. 09:42 We have the right now and because we have the right, 09:45 makes it clear I like that, 09:48 "Blessed are they that keep His commandments 09:50 that they may have the right to the tree of life, 09:53 that they may enter through the gates into the city." 09:56 So because we are born again in Christ Jesus 10:00 and our sons and daughters of God we have the right. 10:03 So much for the Right-Wing talk show, 10:08 this is the right answer. 10:09 I appreciate that so much. 10:11 You know, Ezekiel Chapter 18 verse 20 speaking of sin, 10:14 you know, being passed on, yes. 10:16 Because, the Israelites were very, very strong in this. 10:19 They believed that sins where passed on 10:20 and there was this constant danger 10:22 that if your father sinned that you really had no hope 10:25 and other things and so, 10:27 Jesus as He came to express in His law 10:32 and in His ways and His will 10:36 for the Israelites clarified these issues. 10:39 In Ezekiel Chapter 18 verse 20 says, 10:42 "The soul that sin shall die." 10:45 See the issue is sin and then He qualifies 10:48 this a little further, He says, 10:50 "The son shall not bear the guilt of the father." 10:53 Are you in Ezekiel 14 or Ezekiel 20? 10:55 Eighteen, oh, 18, okay, great. 10:57 "The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, 10:59 nor the father bear the guilt of the son. 11:02 The righteousness of the righteous 11:03 shall be upon himself, and wickedness 11:05 of the wickedness shall be upon himself." 11:08 So the issue really is, are you a committed sinner, 11:12 one that practices sin 11:13 and he is out of the will of God, 11:15 or you committed to righteousness, 11:16 one who practices righteousness, 11:18 that's the way you live 11:19 and are committed to God in His way? 11:21 Because in that case by faith you're saved 11:24 and it's very clear in the Old Testament too. 11:25 You just have to keep looking 11:26 and pile on the multitude of texts 11:29 and teachings on that subject. 11:31 That's right, each person is responsible 11:33 for his or her own sin or his or her own righteousness. 11:40 That's early morning lip syndrome. 11:42 Here is another one in Ezekiel 14:14, 11:45 "Even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, 11:49 were in it, they would deliver 11:52 only themselves by their righteousness." 11:55 Verse 20 of Ezekiel 14. 11:58 "Even though Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, 12:01 as I live," says the Lord God, 12:03 "they would deliver neither son nor daughter, 12:06 they would deliver only themselves 12:08 by their righteousness." 12:09 So you see clearly, we are responsible, 12:12 not my father, not my mother, 12:14 because you've some beautiful stories in the Bible. 12:17 What do you do with David and Bathsheba? 12:20 Well, you know, couldn't get any 12:22 more illegitimate than the relationship that they had. 12:25 And as a result, you know, they passed on to their son, 12:29 the judgment that came to that family. 12:32 But still the Lord said as David repented. 12:35 He's now man after my own heart. 12:38 So God is the God of forgiveness, 12:39 praise God for that. 12:40 What do you have for us John, do you have another one? 12:41 Yeah, I've got a question here, okay. 12:43 I like to know why, if you know this answer. 12:46 Samson's mother or even his father didn't die 12:49 when they saw Jesus glory? Oh, good question. 12:53 And this is a good question, 12:54 because there are several people 12:56 that we see in the Bible that, 12:59 that Jesus appeared to that God appear to, 13:03 Jesus' been the God of the Old Testament, 13:05 appeared to they did not perish, they didn't die. 13:11 And I think the reference is to what is it, Exodus 33:20. 13:19 Let me see if I'm, Exodus 33:20, 13:23 here we go, "But He said," 13:24 this is after Moses requesting to see God's glory. 13:28 He said that He is God, "You cannot see My face, 13:31 for no man shall see Me, and live." 13:34 So there is clearly a reference here 13:37 in the writing's of Moses as He understood 13:41 when God came to Him and the requested 13:45 that He would see His glory that, 13:46 God said you cannot see my face, 13:48 you cannot come face to face with me and live. 13:51 Now I believe there is obviously 13:53 some kind of reconciling to do here 13:55 between the appearance of God 13:56 before these others who did live 13:58 and what Moses was requesting 14:00 and God's appearance to Moses 14:02 on that day up on the mountain. 14:04 Moses is asking to see God in His full glory. 14:08 He wants to see everything about God. 14:10 Everything that God is and that means 14:13 He wants to be face to face with Him. 14:14 And God understands that if He would to come 14:16 before Moses unveiled in all His power 14:19 and all His full glory, that Moses just would not live 14:23 he would perish right there. 14:25 So when God approached others, 14:27 I believe it wasn't in this with this kind of intent 14:31 to show all of His glory. 14:33 But He came to each one of them in a veiled presence, 14:37 veiling His glory, veiling the fullness of who He was. 14:41 Because if He had appeared to them as Moses requested, 14:45 they also would have perished if they saw Him face to face. 14:48 So John, there clearly is a difference 14:50 in what Moses was requesting 14:52 a face to face fullness of God's glory 14:55 and then how God when He appeared before get in, 14:58 He appeared before Samson's parents, 15:01 He appeared several, 15:03 on several occasions to Abraham. 15:05 He was veiled, He veiled that glory 15:08 so they would not perish. 15:10 Yes, matter of fact in Judges Chapter 13 15:12 you find the story, I was just going over since 15:14 you to talked about that. 15:15 And Manoah said to His wife, 15:16 we surely, "we shall surely die, 15:18 because we've seen God." 15:20 But I like this part here and this is so important, 15:23 this is the key to the story, why they didn't die? 15:25 Because, you know, as you pointed out 15:27 so wonderfully when Moses decided, 15:29 when Moses desired to see God, 15:31 He said, "No you can't." 15:32 He wanted to see God's glory. 15:34 In His fullness and of course as I can't 15:37 and by the way the point is this mortal man 15:39 cannot exist in the presence of a immortal God. 15:42 And our God is consuming fire. 15:44 But God veiled Himself in the same way 15:47 that the angel of the Lord came, 15:49 but let me just go ahead and read the story. 15:50 And hear is what Monoah's wife responded by saying, 15:55 but His wife said to Him. 15:57 "If the Lord had desired to kill us, 16:01 He would not have accepted a burnt offering 16:03 and a grain offering from our hands, 16:05 nor would He have shown us all these things, 16:08 nor would He have told us 16:10 such things as these at this time." 16:13 And so the desire of the Lord when He came to Monoah 16:15 and His wife was not to kill them. 16:17 But to bring them tied into, to make it very clear. 16:20 And you find over and over in this story 16:22 in Judges Chapter 13 the reference, 16:25 the angel of the Lord, the angle of the Lord, 16:28 the agnle of the Lord so the Lord came to them 16:31 in the form of an angel. 16:33 He didn't come to them in the form His full glory, 16:36 because that would have been too much for anyone. 16:39 And definitely have, would have consumed them. 16:41 But she said it right, that was not the Lord's desire. 16:44 His desire was to bring us a message, 16:46 His desire was not to consume us, right. 16:49 Okay what do you have here? 16:50 Any more on that one? No. 16:52 Okay, well, let me go to my next mail here. 16:55 Okay, it's a good one here. 16:57 By the way all your questions are good. 16:58 Thank you so much for sending them in. 17:01 Hi, John and John. 17:02 Hey, this one is from, of just a recent one. 17:07 Why do many Christians look 17:08 for a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem? 17:11 We are gonna have some, its a really good question. 17:15 Please show me in the Bible, 17:17 are they returning, are they referring to us? 17:23 We are the temple of the living God, 17:24 thanks for clearing this up for me. 17:28 I love your Bible studies, thank you very much. 17:29 Thank you very much Loret, thank you so much Loret. 17:34 Well, you know, the problem with this is, 17:36 a lot of people forget that Revelation. 17:38 Let me just make this clear, 17:39 this, the Middle East, Jerusalem 17:43 and all the things that are happening over there now. 17:45 That's the Bible Lands. 17:47 That's not the Holy Land. 17:50 It's the Bible Lands. 17:52 And by the way when you look at this text 17:53 in Revelation Chapter 21, you go there with me, 17:58 John says, "Then I, John, saw the holy city, 18:02 New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, 18:07 prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." 18:09 So the beauty of this is, we're not looking for, 18:11 I'm not going to the Middle East looking 18:14 for this rebuilt, right, the Haj. 18:17 I'm looking for brand new, New Jerusalem. 18:21 That's gonna descend from heaven, 18:23 that's gonna come from heaven. 18:24 God is gonna allow that city to descend 18:27 at the end of the 1000 years. 18:28 So for those who are going to the Middle East, 18:31 their understanding of the Jerusalem is skewed. 18:34 The Lord is not going to rebuilt the Middle East. 18:36 He is not gonna reestablish the temple services. 18:39 And by the way when you look at that old age, old controversy 18:43 It's the Isaac, Ishmael, Jacob, Esau controversy, 18:48 that's continuing for millennia. 18:49 You know, in Hebrew, its pretty clear that was, 18:53 I'm paraphrasing, but that was for the present time, right. 18:57 And it served its purpose, 18:58 but now it was become obsolete 19:01 in that the new covenant has a high priest Jesus, 19:04 who is ministering in the heavenly sanctuary, 19:07 not the earthly sanctuary. 19:08 So there is no foundation within scripture 19:14 that there'll be another earthly sanctuary. 19:16 That time has passed. 19:18 We're now to the time where there is a High Priest 19:21 Jesus ministering in the heavenly sanctuary. 19:23 And if it's the heavenly sanctuary, He's ministering, 19:25 why would He want to have an earthly? 19:28 This is no purpose in that. 19:29 When I think the reason that comes, 19:30 the reason why Christians are looking 19:31 for that is their focus is so much on the Jews 19:35 and the Jews as the people of God still. 19:38 And that He is a covenant 19:39 that He is going to fulfill with them. 19:41 When the covenant with Israel 19:44 that He has is not about the Jews, 19:46 it's about the church. 19:48 And I said this several times, 19:49 and some people kind of step back 19:50 when they think about it, may realize its right, right. 19:53 Had the Jews accepted Christ, and fulfilled their mission, 19:58 there would have been no church. 20:01 There would be no reason for a church. 20:02 Israel would have been the church 20:05 to share the everlasting gospel with all the world. 20:08 But because they rejected it, and in fact Paul said, 20:10 because you were not willing, thus we turn to the Gentiles. 20:15 The church was formed 20:16 and now the church the Gentiles 20:18 are sharing the gospel with the world 20:20 and are going to finish that gospel. 20:22 There was no foundation anywhere 20:24 for a earthly services or earthly temple. 20:26 Matter of fact read Romans 9:6. 20:28 That's a beautiful passage when you think about that. 20:31 So many people get caught once again 20:32 on this issue of nationality. 20:35 And nationality is simply is our earthly origin. 20:39 It's our earthly description, go to, is that the one? 20:42 That's it. Okay. 20:44 " For it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. 20:47 For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, 20:51 nor are they all children 20:52 because they are the seed of Abraham, 20:54 but, "In Isaac your seed shall be called." 20:57 That is, those who are the children of the flesh, 21:01 these are not the children of God; 21:03 but the children of the promise 21:04 are counted as the seed" okay. 21:06 And so, when He says that it's those 21:09 by faith in Christ that are the children of God, 21:12 there He is declaring them Israel. 21:16 Clearly, He is saying what was Israel 21:19 by nationality by race is no longer Israel. 21:22 Exactly, and that's a big part of the problem is 21:25 that a lot of people look to the nation 21:28 rather than to the fact that 21:30 and we talked about that 21:31 in moment ago in the adoption issue. 21:33 The adoption issue is not your natural birth. 21:37 If you were saved naturally, 21:39 then you really wouldn't have to be born again. 21:41 There will be no need for Jesus. 21:43 Jesus would be a non entity. 21:45 He would be an interruption to the natural process, 21:47 but Jesus is not an interruption 21:49 to the natural process, we need Jesus. 21:51 "No man cometh unto the Father but by me." 21:53 There's one mediator between God and man, 21:55 the man Christ Jesus. 21:56 There's no other name given along 21:58 where by we must be save, than the name of Jesus. 22:00 So Jesus is so significantly important 22:03 that we could not be saved without Him. 22:06 The problem with the Jews is that they always thought that 22:08 because their father was Abraham. 22:10 Even Jesus when He came in John Chapter 5. 22:13 John Chapter 8 sorry, when He came to them. 22:17 I believe its verse 32 check that 22:19 I don't see what that says, I don't want to misquote here. 22:21 But John quoted the story or recorded the story 22:24 when Jesus came to the Jews 22:26 and talked to them about being saved 22:29 and how important it was to be to give their lives to Christ 22:35 and to overcome sin 22:37 and how they could be free from slavery. 22:40 And they said, we're Abraham seed, 22:41 we've never been slaves. 22:44 And Jesus made it very clear that 22:46 anyone who sins is a slave and then he said to them 22:49 He who the Son sets free is free indeed. 22:51 Is that the passage? 22:52 Yeah, if you are little further on, 22:54 that whole passage there but it-- 22:55 they sum it up in verse 39. 22:57 They said to Jesus that, "Abraham is our father, 22:59 Jesus said to them. 23:01 If you are Abraham children's 23:02 you would do the works of Abraham,"right. 23:04 "But now you seek to kill me, 23:06 a man who has told you the truth, 23:08 which I heard from God. 23:09 Abraham did not do this." 23:11 So and then he goes on to say, 23:13 that you do the deeds of your father, which is the devil. 23:16 So clearly they were not the God's children. 23:20 And even then that was beginning 23:21 to past that God's children were by race. 23:26 You know, we've to be very careful of this as well, 23:28 because just because Adventist had been blessed 23:31 with a special truth for these last days 23:34 to usher in the second coming of the Lord. 23:38 I believe that we can get caught up in this thing of, 23:40 well, because we're Adventism, we have all this truth. 23:44 That somehow there is some kind of an advantage for us. 23:48 I think John, we can't, that will be deceive, 23:52 we just received if we were to think that. 23:54 The issue really is God's favor 23:58 doesn't put you into the kingdom. 23:59 God's favor gives you opportunity to accomplish work 24:03 that He has given for you to do. 24:05 And that's really what the plan He had for Israel was 24:08 that they would be a light to the Gentiles. 24:11 But they took that light hold it didn't go out, 24:14 didn't do the work, and the Lord said, 24:16 now its time that I turn to the Gentiles 24:18 and do the work through the church. 24:19 That's right, and the work is the most important thing. 24:22 The work of saving souls, bringing people 24:24 to a knowledge of Christ is the real work. 24:27 Who does it is not the issue. 24:28 There are lot of people think that they've specialized 24:31 appointments, because like some people that are wealthy, 24:34 I was looking at an article just few days ago. 24:36 Someone showed to me, I forgot what magazine cover it was? 24:39 But I know that Great Britain right now 24:41 is in financial straits most of the world is. 24:44 How do you justify a $40 million royal wedding? 24:50 When your nation is in dire financial straits. 24:54 Do you just do that, because you're royal family? 24:56 When you know that, that money, 24:58 and you know, lot of people say, 24:59 well, you know, they probably have all these money 25:00 in inheritance and that's probably true. 25:03 I could be very uninformed. 25:05 But I think it'll be very self-serving 25:07 if our own government decided well, 25:09 you know, I'm the president of the United States, 25:11 or I'm the chief of whatever. 25:13 And I'm gonna go and have a $40 million wedding, 25:15 while my nation is just struggling to the nth degree. 25:19 And so what happened, the reason I mentioned 25:21 that is because sometimes people think 25:22 that because I have this sitting 25:24 or this position as a birthright, 25:27 then I could do whatever I want. 25:28 And it doesn't really matter 25:30 how it impacts other individuals. 25:31 Well, that's not the case in the story of Israel. 25:33 They thought that they had this birthright 25:35 and didn't really matter. 25:37 While you saw the birthright is something 25:39 that people could squander, thinking that the position 25:40 is more important than the call on your life. 25:43 And the call in your life is the most important, 25:44 Absolutely, not just the position. 25:46 Absolutely, John, I'm gonna have some fun here, okay. 25:51 You're ready for this next question? 25:52 Yeah, this is funny, but we have to read this one-- 25:55 We did talk about this before, 25:56 so he knows that I'm about to share this question here, okay 26:01 It's just kind of along the lines 26:02 of some of the questions we get. 26:05 I want mention who this question is from, 26:06 I'm not sure, there is even a name attached to it, yeah. 26:09 May I suggest that Pastor John Lomacang 26:12 purchase a bottle of hair color, 26:14 if 3ABN Wardrobe Department does not see the importance 26:18 of maintaining a proper appearance 26:19 on worldwide television? 26:21 Please we are to represent God's last day 26:24 people who are of a healthy appearance. 26:28 So the people can consider that God blessed us. 26:31 We should not look as if we are falling apart at the scene 26:36 Keep going, I'm taking my-- I'm taking my rebuke. 26:40 If a man has no hair, me, These are we. 26:46 I think we should be making sure 26:48 it's presented in the best appearance. 26:51 Just my opinion, but I hope Pastor John can see 26:54 the need of people being able to focus on the program 26:56 and what is being said instead of thinking oh, 26:59 that poor man, just look at his hair. 27:01 Someone needs to tell him to visit the barber shop 27:04 and ask his wife how to color his hair. 27:07 Now some men have naturally salt 27:09 and pepper hair and this is very attractive. 27:12 And anyway so he goes on a little bit, 27:14 I'm just talking about recommending 27:15 that you do something to color your hair. 27:18 Okay, I appreciate that so much, 27:21 you know why, I don't know if you, 27:24 you probably are new to the program, 27:26 because if you have been watching 3ABN 27:28 for any length of time, you may have heard me 27:30 say a number of times, 27:32 how periodically I hit the bottle, 27:34 "The hair color bottle," just to keep that in context. 27:38 And there are days, years ago, John, this is a joke, 27:42 this is kind of like a running thing on 3ABN. 27:44 Years ago, people, it was even on e-mail, 27:47 it was on the internet, people saying that, 27:49 "John's hair wasn't real," that he had on a hair piece, 27:52 because it was so even, it was so black, 27:54 there was no gray, and there was this joke, 27:57 that I mean, people even saying that, 27:59 "John is processing his hair, straitening his hair." 28:03 It's just my hair is some fixation to the viewers of 3ABN 28:08 and I went overseas and I've met people, 28:10 there was a little boy, he said, "Mommy, 28:11 there's the man, with the plastic hair." 28:16 And Doug Batchelor was there doing the series of meetings 28:17 in the General Conference there and he said, 28:20 "If I told you that there was a person in the audience 28:22 that had hair like Darth Vader." 28:24 You know, so my hair has been this fixation. 28:26 Well, let me settle the record here. 28:28 First of all, I don't process my hair. 28:32 The straightness you see 28:34 and the curls you see, that's natural. 28:35 My Mom is Filipino, my Father is African-American 28:38 and a native American-Indian. 28:40 And so that's where all that comes from, 28:43 the salt and pepper is a family heredity. 28:45 We start turning gray at 16 years old. 28:47 Fortunately, I didn't start at 16, 28:49 I started later in my mid 30s. 28:52 But let me encourage you, 28:53 because I believe that the glory 28:55 that God has given to us should begin to show, 28:58 Proverbs 20:29, and you know, 29:00 if I fall off the wagon 29:01 and hit the bottle again, you'll forgive me. 29:03 And that is, if I hit the hair color bottle 29:05 you'll be happy, some of the other viewers may complain. 29:08 But here is the text I found 29:10 because one of the young people 29:11 at our church said to me, 29:12 "Pastor, I really like your gray hair, 29:14 really makes you look distinguished." 29:16 And I went back to New York to my former church 29:19 and some of them say, "Oh, you look distinguished now, 29:21 we really believe you now, 29:23 you look like you have some experience." 29:25 So there's some, there's some benefit to that. 29:27 But Proverbs 20:29 says this, 29:30 "The glory of young men is their strength, 29:33 And the splendor of old men is their gray head." 29:39 John, got that salt and pepper beard and-- 29:40 Brane on the sides, and, you know, people tend 29:45 when you go to things like AYC or these Conventions 29:48 where there are 4,000 young people. 29:51 They look at you as a person of experience, 29:53 rather than Yo a dude. 29:56 And we want to maintain a little bit of edge there, 29:59 on some of the young guys 30:00 that are just coming up in the ministry. 30:01 So I appreciate the comment, 30:02 but thank you for the question. 30:04 If you have any one more comments 30:06 that are scriptural or opinion, 30:08 you can send those questions to housecalls@3abn.org 30:12 that's housecalls@3abn.org. 30:14 We'll download them if you chose to send them 30:18 in e-mail form, you can do so. 30:20 But if you chose to send them by letter, 30:22 I think you know the address, P.O. Box 220. 30:25 West Frankfort, Illinois, 62896. 30:28 Thank you for letting us smile today, I think-- 30:31 We have to read some of those, 30:33 I have, if some of our viewers 30:34 remember several years ago, we had a question that 30:37 we did not read on the air, that's right. 30:38 It was about my glasses. 30:40 Oh, yeah, I remember that. 30:41 And they said that I should not be 30:42 wearing stylish glasses, 30:44 that they need to be a little more plain, yeah. 30:46 And I can see now that most people 30:49 are wearing stylish glasses, 30:50 so I guess I'm fitting in now, so I'm plain. 30:53 But anyway just we do appreciate 30:55 the comments and the opinions. 30:56 Unfortunately there are opinions 30:58 sometimes we can disagree on things 31:00 that are opinions, but praise the Lord anyway. 31:03 You know, the only problem with that question is 31:04 our listeners on the radio can't get 31:07 the benefit of the visual effect. 31:09 But I think what we've said, 31:11 may be draws a mental picture, but thank you so much. 31:14 That's a great segue, by the way to our topic 31:16 because we're continuing the topic 31:17 dressing up for God. 31:19 And this is just like not sacrilegious, 31:24 but you know, it talks about God is, 31:26 and it talks about the ancient of days 31:28 and his head is pure white and hair of wool. 31:32 So, you know, if it's good enough 31:35 for the Lord, I'm in good company. 31:39 And, but yeah, we have been talking 31:42 about the topic of dressing up for God. 31:44 And we started with the Midianites 31:47 and the Canaanites and the Babylonians 31:49 and the promise that Abraham had desired for his son Isaac. 31:54 He wanted Isaac to marry someone who was-- 31:57 in fact, a woman of integrity 32:00 and he married Rebekah. 32:02 We then transition to the fact 32:03 that Rachel and Jacob, when they got married, 32:06 God called them to dedicate themselves to the Lord. 32:10 And one of the challenges found in Genesis 32:12 Chapter 35 verse 1 through 4 was the Lord said to them, 32:15 "Purify yourselves, change your garments, 32:18 put away the foreign God's that are among you. 32:20 And they remove the foreign God's 32:21 in their hands, their earrings in their ears, 32:25 and the clothing that was not to God's glory 32:28 and they buried them under the terebinth tree 32:30 or the oak tree, which was by Shechem." 32:33 That's Genesis Chapter 35 verse 1 to 4. 32:35 And so we're transitioned also 32:37 we went to the children of Egypt 32:39 that left the children of Israel 32:42 that left the land of Egypt. 32:43 How God had plunder the Egyptians 32:46 and given the Israelites all the gold and silver, 32:49 the precious stone, the expensive clothing. 32:51 But they transgressed by putting this jewellery on, 32:55 making themselves a God of gold. 32:57 And the Lord through Moses challenged them 33:00 to rededicate themselves and the Bible says, 33:02 "Those who had a willing heart, 33:04 gave the Lord all the gold and jewels 33:07 and gave to the Lord the things 33:10 that he desired for the use 33:12 in the building of the sanctuary. 33:13 And that transition text was Genesis Chapter 35, 33:17 verse 22, we talked about that yesterday. 33:20 And then one we ended on was Numbers 31, verse 50 33:26 and I'll just-- I want to just use it 33:27 as a springboard today, is that okay? 33:29 So if you have your Bibles, 33:31 turn with us to Numbers Chapter 31, verse 50. 33:34 And you're going to see, this is another passage, 33:37 because a lot of times people think 33:39 that the wearing of jewellery is a topic. 33:43 And by the way, let me just take this 33:46 show a break on the interstate here. 33:49 The topic of adornment is not an Adventist topic 33:52 or Seventh-day Adventist topic at all, 33:54 it's a biblical topic. 33:55 Because I'm not reading from the Adventist manual, 33:58 I'm reading from the Bible. 33:59 And it's within a lot of churches as well, 34:01 it's not just an Adventist church issue 34:03 either it's-- this is a issue 34:05 that many churches have grappled with 34:08 over the years as the world had begin 34:09 to come into the church. 34:11 As the world influences the church so much, 34:13 I mean, there was the time you'll never see 34:15 men wearing earrings, 34:16 let alone now pastors wearing earrings. 34:21 Some of them-- it's always gradual, yes. 34:23 You know, it's one, it's the left ear, 34:26 they say it's a symbolic about that left or right ear, 34:28 then it's now two and, and then now 34:30 it's becoming bigger and it's just, 34:31 it continues to advance. 34:34 The world does in the church. 34:37 I could see more, I can see more 34:39 the need of as the Bible says, looking unto Jesus, 34:42 the author and finisher of our faith. 34:44 When you look at Jesus, you begin to see an example 34:46 that is far in contrast 34:49 to what the world talks about, 34:51 but let me go ahead and read the text here 34:52 in Deuteronomy, I mean, Numbers Chapter 31 34:55 of verse 50, is that I what I said? 34:58 Yeah, Numbers 31 verse 50. 35:00 And by the way I have glasses here, 35:02 they used to be a fashion statement, 35:03 but now they are no longer a fashion statement, 35:06 they are in fact necessary 35:08 for this little tiny Bible texts. 35:10 It says, "Therefore we have brought 35:13 an offering for the Lord, 35:16 what every man found of ornaments of gold, 35:20 armlets and bracelets and signet rings 35:24 and earrings and necklaces, 35:26 to make atonement for ourselves before the Lord." 35:30 Why make an adornment of yourself. 35:33 The Lord called, the Lord called 35:35 the children of Israel 35:38 to bring their atonement to the Lord 35:42 and in this sense many of them 35:45 instead of dividing the plunder, 35:47 they begin to use the plunder. 35:50 The word plunder there simply means 35:52 what they got from destroying their enemies, 35:54 now they find adorning to themselves. 35:57 But God said, no, no, that's not the purpose of it. 35:59 The purpose of the articles that your enemies had 36:01 are not for your use now, 36:03 if it was not acceptable on them, 36:05 is not gonna be acceptable on you. 36:07 And so they brought them to the Lord, 36:09 but that's just kind of the transition of stage 36:11 where as God is looking at our bodies as His temple 36:15 and not to be the place of foreign gods 36:17 and strange ornaments, but-- 36:19 Well, there and there's a connection 36:20 to the adornment and may be we'll get 36:22 into this a little bit later. 36:23 Yeah, go head and mention because we reiterate that. 36:24 But the issue with regard to the type and anti type, 36:29 the yearly festival we talked about this, 36:31 I think answering a question in the last program. 36:34 The yearly ceremonies and festivals 36:36 and the cycle of the Jewish system 36:39 was one that ended in the Day of Atonement. 36:42 A complete atonement of oneness, 36:43 between the people and the Lord 36:45 through the ministration of the high priest 36:47 in the most holy place, right. 36:49 And now we know that Jesus from 1844 on 36:52 has entered into the most holy place 36:53 to minister as our high priest for us 36:57 to bring about a finishing or completion 36:59 of the atonement of one man bringing in into us together. 37:03 And you'll see a connection here in the Bible 37:05 of the taking off of jewellery 37:08 to become one with the Lord. 37:10 And that was part of the atonement process 37:13 even as we just read in this verse 37:15 from Numbers 31 verse 50. 37:19 And so then if they did this 37:21 in the typical and the type of the atonement, 37:24 then why not in the anti-type during this process 37:27 how much more should we be getting rid of all, 37:30 of our jewellery and making sure 37:32 that we're not using it ourselves, 37:34 but building up God's kingdom 37:36 and allowing Him to become at one with us. 37:38 So I think there's a lot of parallels 37:40 and similarities there that we can learn 37:44 from, from the Bible. 37:46 Not in just the area of adornment, 37:48 but in the time in which we live, 37:49 how much more important it is 37:51 to become one with Christ? 37:53 That's right, very good point. 37:54 And by the way you'll notice 37:55 as you made reference of the temple services. 37:57 Only the high priest wore these jewels, 37:59 the breastplate, he had the 12 stones, Ephod. 38:04 So you clearly see that the one who is in fact 38:09 standing as our high priest is Christ. 38:12 The glory and the adornment goes to Him. 38:13 He is the one who is over all the tribes of Israel. 38:16 He is the one who is over all the affairs of men, 38:19 which is so clearly pointed out in the Bible. 38:21 And you'll also see scriptures that are contrasts. 38:24 By the way go with us to Judges. 38:27 Judges Chapter 8 verse 24 down to verse 26. 38:31 You will find another reference there. 38:37 Matter of fact, if you read for us, 38:41 John, Judges Chapter 8 verse 22 to 25. 38:46 Yeah, verse 22 to 25, 38:47 that's the context over there. 38:49 Okay, "Then the men of Israel 38:51 said to Gideon, "Rule over us, 38:54 both you and your son, and your grandson also, 38:57 for you have delivered us from the hand of Midian. 39:00 But Gideon said to them, 39:01 "I will not rule over you, 39:02 nor shall my son rule over you, 39:04 the Lord shall rule over you. 39:07 Then Gideon said to them, 39:09 "I would like to make a request of you, 39:13 that each of you would give me 39:14 the earrings from his plunder. 39:16 For they had golden earrings, 39:18 because they also were 39:20 or they were Ishmaelites. 39:22 There you go. 39:23 So who had the earrings and these things? 39:26 The Ishmaelites did. 39:27 Not Isaac, the Ishmael. Yeah. 39:30 Okay, Isaac the son of the promise. 39:32 There you go, keep going. 39:34 "So they answered, "We will gladly give them." 39:37 And they spread out a garment, 39:38 and each man threw into it 39:40 the earrings from his plunder." 39:41 Okay, and it talked about the weight of it, 39:44 how heavy these earrings were. 39:46 Matter of fact, nowadays if you see 39:47 some of these earrings, I don't know how people, 39:50 I mean, I fear for some of the people 39:52 when I see the size of the earrings. 39:54 And if I was just talking about woman, 39:56 I would say that, but nowadays 39:58 we're talking about both genders, yeah. 39:59 Because sometimes, let's just get frank about it, 40:03 sometimes you go to a store 40:05 or sometimes you go out in society 40:07 and you see guys they have this huge hole, 40:09 you could see it from a distance. 40:10 It looks like a target. 40:12 And I'm trying to be very frankly, 40:13 I'm not laughing at all. 40:14 But it looks like a huge hole and you go, 40:18 and what you see is that the ear lobe, 40:20 it has been stretched wide open. 40:22 And there is a stainless steel ring 40:23 that has been placed in there, 40:25 whether it's small or sometimes 40:26 it's huge and you, if you want to, 40:29 you could literally hook them. 40:31 And honestly if you put a hook in each ear 40:33 and brace them on a wall, 40:35 they're not going anywhere because 40:36 they're not gonna rip their ears off. 40:39 Got to smile on that one, yeah. 40:42 And you're asking yourself like, okay, 40:46 can you tell me the purpose for that? 40:48 Or you start looking at the societies 40:50 that these things come from in the ancient setting. 40:52 You go back to, I don't want to just say Africa, 40:55 but you go back to the Indian cultures. 40:57 You go back to the Asian cultures, 40:58 you go to the African cultures, 41:00 you go to the Native American cultures. 41:02 These were practices that were prevalent 41:03 in a great degree, 41:05 but they had significances to them. 41:07 Now in our society, nowadays you have some shops 41:12 that sell all these stainless steel studs 41:14 and needles and earrings and literally, I mean, 41:19 I don't know if you even know who Dennis Rodman is. 41:22 If you have access to the internet just put, 41:24 Dennis Rodman/Jewellery, and you'll see 41:27 what I'm talking about, or just put, 41:29 what they do they call them nowadays? 41:31 Spikes, what do you call? Studs. 41:34 Studs. All over the upper ear. 41:36 You know, the upper ears, 41:37 some people do it all the way around. 41:39 Some of the guys do it here. 41:41 Some of the noses and literally, 41:43 I've seen some people, you know, a Photoshop? 41:46 Photoshop is a drawing program. 41:48 It's in art program, it's a graphic program. 41:50 If you were to use the tool 41:52 that merges one picture to the other, 41:55 you could literally merge a person's face 41:58 and merge it into morph it into a cow's face. 42:02 Because, you know, 42:03 with the holes right there like that, 42:04 you could actually see what they do to the cows, 42:08 how they put those clasps on the ear 42:10 and sometimes through the nose 42:12 to be a form of guiding them. 42:14 And when you look at that perhaps you think, 42:16 whose body temple are they doing that too? 42:19 And that's still Lord's temple, yeah. 42:21 That's the big issue here. 42:22 And we don't want to belittle this 42:24 or anyone who is in this practicing, 42:26 you maybe, you maybe in that 42:28 and we're not judging anyway you as a person. 42:34 But what we're saying is that it's out of harmony 42:36 with the word of God and God would ask 42:38 if you want to draw close to Him, 42:40 that you take off earrings. 42:41 And I think that's the point here 42:42 if you read this and it's for context. 42:44 Gideon opens up and says, 42:47 "I will not rule over you, 42:48 nor shall my son rule over you, 42:50 the Lord shall rule over you." 42:52 And because He rules over you, 42:54 take off or get rid off your earrings. 42:57 See, that's the issue. 42:58 It's who is the Lord of your life? 43:00 A lot people, we said this several times before. 43:03 A lot of people had made Jesus their Savior, 43:06 but not their Lord, that's right. 43:09 And so being your Savior is one thing 43:12 that He provided His body, 43:14 His life as a sacrifice for you 43:16 and He made a way for you 43:17 to come before the Father 43:18 and accept His sacrifice by faith 43:21 and that the penalty of sin 43:22 that was appointed for you 43:24 is now taking care by Christ himself. 43:27 But then, have you made Jesus 43:29 the Lord of your life? 43:31 And that involves ordering your life 43:33 in harmony with His will, 43:35 according to His word and that can be some-- 43:39 that really involve some lifestyle changes. 43:43 And that's what they understood 43:44 as well in the Old Testament. 43:46 As a matter of fact, 43:48 there is a amazing parallel in the Bible. 43:51 There is a contrast between being set free 43:54 and being a slave or a servant. 43:57 As a matter of fact, 43:58 in the Bible you may notice this as you read. 44:01 If you look up the word Hebrews, 44:04 oh, there is an entire Book of Hebrews, 44:06 but the reason for the word Hebrews, 44:09 it's often the very word used 44:12 when the Israelites referred to themselves 44:14 at the time of slavery. 44:17 When other nations referred to the Hebrews, 44:20 they were referring to the Israel 44:22 at the time of their slavery. 44:24 That is, the word Hebrews 44:26 has a lot of connotation to being a slave, a servant. 44:29 Either you were bought, or you were sold, 44:32 or you were purchased. 44:34 And something that was interesting 44:35 about that whole context if you go back 44:37 to the law of the servants, this is interesting. 44:42 You'll begin to see that the contrast is, 44:44 when you are someone's slave or someone's servant 44:49 or you are own by someone else. 44:51 You bare their, you bare their stamp 44:56 or you bare their-- I'm looking for a word here 44:58 that connects with the ornament. 45:00 Well, they do branding of their cattle and things, 45:03 which signify that they belong to the owner 45:06 Right, some signet there. 45:07 But, they were also doing some of that with people. 45:10 Right, so there is some signet connection 45:12 between you and your owner. 45:13 And let's look at this very quickly here in Exodus 21. 45:17 We are covering something's that you may 45:18 not have considered before. 45:19 And once again the principle is, 45:21 the major principle, I'll just go ahead 45:23 and share this with you in a moment here. 45:24 But, Exodus Chapter 21 45:27 and we're going to read down to 45:29 read verse 6, but let's just go ahead 45:32 and show you the context, start with verse 2. 45:35 "If you buy a Hebrew servant," 45:38 you'll not see the word Israelite servant, 45:40 because Israel means overcomer. 45:42 "If you buy a Hebrew servant, 45:44 he shall serve six years, 45:45 and in the seventh year he shall go out 45:47 free and pay nothing. 45:49 If he comes in by himself, 45:50 he shall go out by himself, 45:52 if he comes in married, 45:53 then his wife shall go out with him. 45:55 If his master has given him a wife, 45:57 and she has borne him sons or daughters, 45:59 the wife and her children shall be her master's, 46:02 and he shall go out by himself." 46:04 Strange isn't it? 46:06 "But if the servant plainly says, 46:08 'I love my master, my wife, and my children, 46:11 I will not go out free," look at this. 46:14 "Then his master shall bring him to the judges. 46:18 He shall also bring him to the door, 46:21 or to the doorpost, 46:23 and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl, 46:26 and he shall serve him forever." 46:30 Notice that what's happened in here 46:32 and by the way the word servant 46:33 forever means till he dies, till they day he dies. 46:37 But notice what they did 46:38 as a symbol of servant hood. 46:40 "They pierced the ear," 46:42 which says simply, now you're this man's property 46:45 for the rest of your life. 46:47 But you know, when you look at the context 46:51 and I heard this, I don't know 46:52 if this is true or not, 46:53 but I heard this and I don't know 46:55 how many preachers preach things that are not true, 46:56 but it was an Adventist preacher 46:57 that said this, not so much 46:59 the reason why I know it's necessarily true, 47:02 but, here is the point. 47:04 One person said that when Jesus 47:05 put the Romans Centurions 47:08 ear back on that Peter cut off. 47:10 The Roman Centurions ear had a hole in it before, 47:13 when he put it back on the hole was no longer there. 47:17 I heard that and I've to look that up, 47:18 but I thought to myself now the story make sense, 47:22 because the hole in the ear 47:24 was a symbol of ownership 47:25 and that's what the symbol was 47:27 when you now was the property of someone 47:29 for the rest of your life. 47:30 But after, if that were not the case 47:32 then there was no need for a hole there. 47:34 Here's the connection, if we are servants of Christ, 47:37 if we are children of the Lord, 47:39 we are not the property of someone else. 47:41 There should be no holes in the Lord's temple 47:43 and the overruling factor is our body 47:45 is the temple of the Lord. 47:47 And also makes sense in reference to the fact 47:49 that when Jesus delivers us, 47:50 he sets us free. 47:52 He sets us free from the bondage of sin, 47:54 the sin of the world, that's right. 47:56 So in many respects coming out of the world 47:59 part of that coming out of the world is 48:01 to taking off the jewelry and the earrings, 48:04 and other things that are a symbol of the world 48:07 Yes, that's right, very much so. 48:10 But, the question that I want to raise 48:11 and John if we go down to point K. 48:13 The question we want to raise here is, 48:18 why is it that there are certain things 48:19 that the church struggles with today? 48:22 One of the big issues in the church is music. 48:26 People fight over that, that's just like politics. 48:29 And another issue in the church is politics. 48:31 Keep politics out of, politics out of religion. 48:34 But some people fight with music, 48:37 or the beat, the coda. 48:40 Drums or no drums, beat or no beat, 48:43 you know horns or no horns, 48:44 all kinds of ridiculous issues. 48:47 In fact when you boil it down, 48:48 you really can't fill a cup of water with it, 48:51 because it sometimes has so little weight to it. 48:54 But, the reason why, 48:55 I asked that question is because, 48:57 when you look at, when you look at the entrance 48:59 of a lot of things that are an issue, 49:01 you tie it back to Satan who was once was Lucifer. 49:05 The Garden of Eden, why is death, 49:06 the topic of death such an issue nowadays? 49:08 Because Satan told the first lie, 49:10 you'll not surely die. 49:12 Why is the issue of music such a big deal? 49:14 Because one of Satan's gifts before the fall was, 49:16 he was a master musician. 49:19 So that's the tool he uses nowadays 49:21 to create controversy even in the Christian church. 49:24 But there is something else. 49:26 Ezekiel Chapter 28 and read those verses for us, John. 49:29 Look at how he was-- look at 49:31 how he was made in the very beginning. 49:33 Ezekiel, 28, verse 12-- verse 12 49:36 and I think part of 13, okay, go for it. 49:39 "Son of man, take up a lamentation 49:41 for the king of Tyre, and say to him, 49:43 Thus says the Lord God, 49:45 you were the seal on perfection full of wisdom, 49:48 and perfect in beauty. 49:50 You were in Eden, the garden of God, 49:52 every precious stone was your covering, 49:55 sardius, topaz, diamond, beryl, onyx and jasper, 49:58 sapphire, turquoise, and emerald with gold. 50:01 The workmanship of your timbrels and pipes 50:03 was prepared before you, prepared for you 50:05 on the day you were created. 50:08 And what happened as a result of his wonderful beauty 50:11 look in verse 17. 50:12 "Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty, 50:15 You corrupted your wisdom 50:16 for the sake of your splendor." 50:17 That is for your glory. 50:19 And what happens here now, 50:21 we have to really handle this in the right context, 50:24 because Lucifer didn't adorn himself, right. 50:27 That's how God made him. 50:29 God covered him in that sense. 50:32 And so before his fall that every precious stone 50:35 was his covering God believes, 50:37 God believes in jewellery, 50:40 but God believes in the proper use of it 50:43 and the divine use of it. 50:45 Heaven is gonna be streets of gold, 50:47 12 foundations, the gates made of pearl, 50:51 the walls made of gold, clear as jasper, 50:54 the walls are clear as crystal clear as jasper. 50:57 And you find all the foundations 50:58 with all the precious stones there. 51:00 But in the fallen sense, 51:01 His glory was no longer preserved. 51:04 God put these things there and some people ask then. 51:06 Why would these things have been put there, 51:11 if God did not intend for us to wear it down here? 51:15 Why would he make Lucifer that way? 51:17 Why would the New Jerusalem be adorned that way, 51:20 if God did not intend for us to wear it down here? 51:24 And the beauty of the story is 51:25 God is the one that adorns us. 51:28 So you have to look at the comparison 51:30 in scripture to how God adorns the sinful man? 51:33 Does God adorn the sinful man 51:34 for the glory of the sinful man, 51:36 or does God adorn 51:37 the sinful man for God's glory. 51:40 And that's where the transition comes in, 51:41 want text before you. 51:43 No good point. 51:44 Let's go to Isaiah Chapter 60, 51:51 then we're gonna go back to Ezekiel, 51:52 so don't loose that. 51:53 Isaiah Chapter 61 verse 10, Isaiah Chapter 61 verse 10. 52:00 And much of the Bible, friends, 52:01 is written in the affect of the orient, 52:05 in the Asian context. 52:08 So, when you look at the bride adorned for her husband. 52:12 Okay, read verse 10 of Isaiah Chapter 61, 52:16 Isaiah 61, verse 10, John. 52:18 "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, 52:20 My soul shall be joyful in my God, 52:23 For He has clothed me 52:24 with the garments of salvation, 52:26 He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, 52:29 as a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, 52:33 and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels." 52:36 Okay, and he has given the picture here 52:38 of the oriental wedding. 52:40 I've been to some oriental weddings. 52:42 It's a feast to behold, the eyes are just dazzled. 52:45 The bride changes so many times 52:46 during the wedding, 52:47 from one gloriously stunning outfit to the other. 52:51 I mean when she walks into the room is like, 52:53 oh, and everybody claps because 52:54 she brings this another brides, 52:56 with this bride satin, or bride silk 52:58 and yellow and blue and every color seems like 53:02 it's been vividly recreated 53:05 and studded with things that are glittering. 53:08 But that's the glory of the bride, 53:09 that's why you find the very same picture 53:11 as a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, 53:15 as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. 53:19 That's the oriental wedding. 53:21 And that's the picture you find 53:22 in Revelation of the New Jerusalem. 53:24 As a bride adorns herself for her husband. 53:28 So, you see clearly here, 53:31 the Lord makes a comparison 53:33 between the glory that is seen in the New Jerusalem. 53:36 The glory that is seen in the oriental bride, 53:40 as he makes reference to it and then His righteousness. 53:43 In other words, if you think that, 53:45 that's beautiful, you put on my righteousness, 53:48 you put on my salvation, 53:49 and you will really see my glory. 53:51 So, we're going to what passage now, 53:53 John, where are you? 53:55 Well, I was turning to Ezekiel. 53:57 Okay, Ezekiel 16. Yeah. 54:00 This is an amazing passage 54:01 and I think we have probably 54:03 one more program on this topic, 54:05 because it goes by so quickly. 54:07 But Ezekiel 16, and look at some of the passages here. 54:11 We're gonna see the picture come out again. 54:13 God's love for his children, God's love for his people. 54:18 Okay, verse one and two. 54:21 "Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 54:23 "Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know 54:26 her abominations, and say, 54:28 'Thus says the Lord God to Jerusalem, 54:31 "Your birth and your nativity are from the land of Canaan, 54:34 your father was an Amorite 54:36 and your mother a Hittite," okay. 54:38 "As for your nativity, 54:40 on the day you were born your navel cord was not cut, 54:44 nor were you washed in water to cleanse you, 54:47 you were not rubbed with salt 54:48 nor wrapped in swaddling cloths." 54:51 He goes on and talks about, 54:54 but then he talks about the transition 54:57 and then you find this transition 54:59 down in verse 7. 55:01 "And I made you thrive like a plant in the field, 55:04 and you grew, matured, and became very beautiful." 55:07 And then he describes. 55:09 "Your breasts were formed, your hair grew, 55:12 but you were naked and bare. 55:14 When I passed by you again and looked upon you, 55:17 indeed your time was the time of love, 55:19 so I spread My wing over you and covered your nakedness. 55:23 Yes, I swore an oath to you 55:25 and entered into a covenant with you, 55:27 and you became Mine," says the Lord God." 55:29 You know, notice the symbolism here, 55:31 its literal being naked? 55:34 This is in a literal you know, of anything here. 55:37 He is speaking very spiritually 55:39 in very spiritual terms. 55:40 That's right, and I want to almost, 55:43 and so what you're going to see here, 55:45 as we continue and we're gonna go 55:47 to the next program and cover this 55:50 in an upcoming program. 55:51 So, we're just laying the foundation, 55:53 so to speak this is kind of the hook, 55:55 to go to the next stage. 55:56 You don't want to miss the next stage, 55:58 because this is gonna be amazing. 55:59 How God talks about, how He looked 56:01 at His bride and changed the way 56:03 she was to the way she has become. 56:07 And He uses some amazingly beautiful language 56:10 to talk about the glory of His church, 56:13 the beauty of His bride. 56:15 How she has become by the work 56:18 that He is carried forward in her life. 56:20 You know, the next program 56:22 I think when we come back. 56:24 We're gonna begin to transition 56:25 to some New Testament-- exactly. 56:27 For existing things and we will finish up on that. 56:29 All the way down in Revelation 56:30 we'll finish up on, oh, yes. 56:32 You see a picture of the two churches 56:33 and what they were dressed in. 56:35 And you're gonna see a lot of parallels 56:36 in those two churches to what we find here 56:39 in the Old Testament 56:40 in the Book of Ezekiel, Chapter 16 56:42 And by the way, we didn't finish this reading yet, 56:45 because the rest of the verses 56:46 that come after this are just tremendous. 56:48 And what God is gonna show us here, 56:50 is how much He loves His people. 56:51 How much He glories in them 56:54 being the representatives of His righteousness, 56:56 His salvation, His message, His hope. 56:59 And John, there's lot of hope 57:00 that people need nowadays. 57:02 Yeah, they do, because we are putting hope 57:03 in things too often and those things 57:06 we're finding bring about emptiness. 57:08 They are not giving us the fullness. 57:09 One of the reasons, why I'm in ministry today, 57:11 those things did not satisfy, 57:14 but the Lord always satisfies you. 57:15 That's right friends, and so, you know at House Calls, 57:17 we believe in presenting Jesus 57:18 in His most glorious and most beautiful form. 57:21 Why accept a substitute 57:23 when the real picture of Jesus is there 57:26 for every one of us to see. 57:28 If you want to have Christ in your life 57:29 and reflect His beauty, 57:30 accept Him in your life today. 57:33 God bless you. |
Revised 2014-12-17