House Calls

Dressing Up For God, Pt. 3

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: John Lomacang (Host), John Stanton

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Series Code: HCL

Program Code: HCL100014


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.


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Revised 2014-12-17